Olimar (SSBU)

Olimar (, Pikmin & Olimar) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was officially revealed on June 12th, 2018 alongside and the rest of the returning roster. In addition, Alph (, Pikmin & Alph) returns as an alternate character alongside Olimar. Olimar is classified as Fighter #40. Olimar uses to assist him in attacking his foes, with a core playstyle revolving around managing and using his various Pikmin combinations to his advantage.

As in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. 4, Hajime Wakai's portrayals of the Pikmin from ' and ', and Atsuko Asahi's portrayals of the Winged Pikmin from , were repurposed for Ultimate.

Olimar is ranked 28th out of 82 on the current tier list, placing him in the A- tier. This is a slight improvement to his SSB4 incarnation where he was ranked 21st out of 54.

How to unlock
Complete one of the following: Olimar must then be defeated on Distant Planet (the Ω form is used in World of Light).
 * Play VS. matches, with Olimar being the 48th character to be unlocked.
 * Clear with  or any character in his unlock tree, being the last character unlocked after.
 * Have Olimar join the player's party in World of Light.

Attributes
Olimar is a small, floaty, lightweight character with disjointed attacks. He has the 33rd slowest dashing speed, 8th worst air speed, 32nd highest air acceleration (tied with and, among others), very low gravity, low traction (tied with ), below-average falling speed, and above-average jump height. Due to these attributes, Olimar has below-average mobility for the most part.

What sets Olimar apart from a majority of the cast is that his stronger attacks do not come from him. Instead, he utilizes Pikmin to perform disjointed attacks and function as projectiles to attack opponents from a distance during his smash attacks, most of his aerials, and side special move. Olimar starts off with 3 Pikmin at the start of each battle, and can have up to 3 at any given point. Each Pikmin has their own hit points, and will die if they take too much damage or fall into the blast zone. Pikmin are obtained in a specific order: Red, Yellow, Blue, White and Purple, then back to Red. also appear via Olimar's up special move, although they lack hurtboxes and hit points like the other Pikmin.

Pikmin Pluck, Olimar's neutral special move, enables him to gain Pikmin when used on any solid surface in the event he has less than 3 Pikmin available. It's very laggy when used in air, but is somewhat quick on the ground and is best used if spaced out. Pikmin Order, Olimar's down special move, can be used to quickly call all Pikmin back. It is a very quick and efficient cycling tool for getting to a desired Pikmin that has already been plucked. It also grants super armor during its first few frames, although this can be risky to use as a strictly defense measure due to the super armor's minimal amount of frames. It will function as a combo breaking move in dangerous situations as well.

Winged Pikmin, Olimar's up special move, is a very flexible recovery option. The Winged Pikmin can be moved freely around the air, and their travel can be canceled with an aerial attack. However, canceling the Winged Pikmin will render Olimar helpless. Additionally, consecutive usage of the Winged Pikmin will tire them out, which results in their travel distance and maneuverability both worsening. Although sporadic usage of the Winged Pikmin will prevent them from tiring out, their travel distance and maneuverability will still worsen depending on Olimar's lineup of Pikmin: Purple Pikmin are the heaviest, whereas White Pikmin are the lightest.

His primary damage-racking move and an excellent utility move is his side special, Pikmin Throw. Olimar throws his Pikmin forward. The thrown Pikmin, except for Purple, cling to the target and deal elemental damage over time. Purple Pikmin don't cling to opponents and instead deal a single strong hit as they are in the air. If they don't land on a target, they become miniature, independent hurtboxes that run back toward Olimar. When clinging to the opponent, they can be killed or damaged by certain moves, such as a down smash that covers the user in a hitbox. However, this can be used to an advantage, as the Pikmin can be used to block certain moves such as Charge Shot, even when clinging to. Pikmin Throw can also be used to get rid of unneeded or less useful Pikmin to get to a desired one if a different one needs to be plucked.

Each Pikmin has different properties that both affect how they interact with moves and Olimar's inputs. Red Pikmin have average projectile range, deal the second-highest damage, have the fire effect, reduce throw knockback, and are immune to fire attacks. Yellow Pikmin have an arcing path with slightly lower range, have the electric effect, have a larger hitbox (≈50% larger compared to the other Pikmin), and are immune to electric attacks. Blue Pikmin have average projectile range, higher throw power and damage, have the water effect, and are immune to water attacks. White Pikmin have the longest projectile range, deal the least direct damage in exchange for the most cling damage, and have the darkness effect. Purple Pikmin have the shortest projectile range, but deal the most damage and knockback and do not cling to opponents but act as a standard projectile with knockback instead.

Neutral attack is a that is quick overall, and is best suited for low percent set-ups into down tilt, a grab, and Pikmin Throw or if used for jab locking. Forward tilt is a wind-up punch that is laggy overall and his slowest tilt attack. However, it possesses respectable power that makes it useful for creating space and, more notably, it is his only non-Pikmin attack that can KO at reasonable percents. Up tilt is a simple spinning hop that is best suited as an anti-air move, yet can also set be followed up with an up aerial at low percents if the opponent fails to DI properly. Down tilt is Olimar's most useful tilt attack: it is a lunging tackle that can start combos at varying percents, 2-frame, function as a pseudo-crawl, and is his best spacing option in most scenarios thanks to its quick start-up.

Olimar's aerials have great utility despite his mediocre air speed. His forward and back aerials are great for edgeguarding thanks to their wide arc. His up aerial is effective for juggling and combos into itself and low to medium percents, whereas his down aerial can meteor smash in its earlier frames while still possessing a weaker lingering hitbox in its later frames, thus making it a solid tool for denying juggles. Furthermore, using Olimar's Pikmin-based aerials cycles through his Pikmin, which can be either a blessing or curse depending on the situation. Olimar's neutral aerial is his only aerial that does not utilize Pikmin, and thus has much less range in comparison. However, it still has some utility as a niche combo tool and landing option.

Olimar's throws are disproportionately powerful for a character of his size, specifically while using blue Pikmin. Up throw is a reliable kill move above approximately 130% with blue Pikmin (having very high base knockback) and can potentially set up juggling scenarios, while down throw reliably combos into forward aerial at low to medium percents and Pikmin Throw at higher percents, meaning that he can get very large amounts of damage off of a grab. Both forward and back throws can kill at ledge at about 130%, and also can set up edgeguards and ledgetraps. (Note: Blue Pikmin drastically increase the knockback and damage of throws. White Pikmin increase the range of the grab itself, while Purple Pikmin lower grab range. Red Pikmin make throws deal decreased knockback, making them more useful for combos starting from a grab.)

Having relatively long range for a character of his size also makes Olimar great at camping out and approaching hand-to-hand combatants, such as or, and further accentuate his strong punishment game. All of Olimar's aforementioned qualities give him a strong damage racking capability to complement his zoning focused playstyle.

However, Olimar does have some noticeable weaknesses to counterbalance his strengths. One of his most noteworthy issues is his defenselessness without his Pikmin. Although they can be plucked rather quickly, he can only do so when on the ground and there is still enough time to punish Olimar if he doesn't secure his space before gaining more Pikmin. His physical attacks themselves also provide niche/situational utility compared to his Pikmin moves and have significantly less range. Therefore, he is at his greatest disadvantage if the opponent manages to keep him airborne and within his space due to the very short range and limited scope of his physical attacks. On the flipside, his recovery becomes noticeably worsened when he does have Pikmin; as a result, he may have to resort to casting them aside if it improves his chances of recovering safely, and thus ridding himself of major defenses.

Olimar's below-average dashing and air speeds also make him susceptible to rushdown-oriented fighters overwhelming him while he's in a disadvantage state. This, in turn, is further compounded by his aforementioned difficulty at escaping a disadvantage state without Pikmin. Finally, Olimar's zoning capabilities are severely hindered by characters with a reflector, as Olimar's side special is both a projectile and his primary damage-racking move. On top of that, all of Olimar's smash attacks do damage solely through the use of Pikmin as projectiles, making a reflected smash attack potentially deadly, even at lower percents.

Overall, Olimar is a versatile zoner who has an unorthodox manner of fighting involving the management of his Pikmin. Due to his poor disadvantage and his need for careful cycling and management of his Pikmin, he generally can't afford to be reckless in his play.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4
Olimar was buffed significantly overall in his transition from SSB4 to Ultimate, with many aspects of his core playstyle being buffed and further improved by general gameplay mechanic changes.

Each Pikmin's various attributes have been improved. Red and Purple Pikmin deal more damage on average, Blue Pikmin's throw strength has been drastically improved, White Pikmin deals even more damage when latched to an opponent via Pikmin Throw, and all aerial attacks that use Pikmin have more range, especially Yellow Pikmin, which improves their usage on spacing. These changes further strengthen Olimar's already respectable damage output and zoning abilities. Adding to this, all of Olimar's Pikmin-based aerials now have transcendent priority, which allows Olimar to trade moves much more safely than in SSB4, fixing one of his biggest flaws from that game.

Olimar's grab game has been noticeably buffed as well. His grab has much more range, which can now be extended depending on the amount of Pikmin he has with him, and all of his throws deal more damage on average. As mentioned before, Blue Pikmin's increased throw strength means Olimar now possesses some of the most dangerous KO throws in the game, with up throw in particular having the potential to become even stronger than the likes of, or. Other notable buffs includde to up smash, which has less ending lag to the point it has gained combo potential at low percents, (heightening Olimar's out of shield game), and Pikmin Pluck, which is faster overall. Finally, in terms of universal changes, Olimar's mobility, while still below-average, has been improved via faster dashing and air speeds.

However, Olimar received some slight nerfs. At the cost of their stronger attributes, Pikmin are even easier to kill in general; they have slightly lower HP, are now left vulnerable to attacks if Olimar gets hit with a move with enough high knockback move, they can be hit by moves that Olimar already shielded or perfect shielded, and dead Pikmin temporarily becomes the active Pikmin in Olimar's squad upon their death. The former two changes make it harder for Olimar to keep his Pikmin alive, forcing to replenish them more often, while the latter two changes worsen Olimar's consistency for punishing opponents.

Olimar's down throw launches opponents at a more horizontal angle, making follow-ups less reliable. In exchange for longer range, Olimar's grabs tend to have more ending lag, making them riskier to throw out. His recovery also became less abusable as a result of the travel distance of his up special, Winged Pikmin, being further reduced with consecutive use, as well as its regeneration time being slower. Despite his faster mobility, Olimar now possesses one of the slowest initial dashes in the game, due to other fighters' initial dashes getting far more substantial buffs than his. Finally, his hurtbox is larger vertically, making it easier to hit Olimar.

Overall, Olimar's oppressive damage output and camping abilities have been improved further, though this comes in exchange for Pikmin being even frailer than before and Olimar himself being more susceptible to punishment. He has also seen some noticeable nerfs in game updates, which have somewhat affected his viability. Regardless, these nerfs are not enough to outweigh his buffs, and Olimar is considered to be better than he was in SSB4.

Update history
Olimar received a mix of buffs, nerfs and glitch fixes via game updates, but was nerfed overall. Update fixed an infamous glitch which allowed Pikmin to double the strength of the spirit multiplier, causing attacks with his Pikmin to deal massive amounts of damage under the right circumstances. However, he received a glitch in this same update that caused all of his smash attacks to no longer increase in damage while being charged. While this glitch was fixed in update, this update also introduced another glitch that causes reflected Pikmin to inflict damage onto himself after they've returned to him, leading to the possibility of unintentional self-destructs caused by Olimar using moves that boast a great amount of KO power. The changes made to the shield mechanics in this same update also harmed him by making his smash attacks less safe on perfect shield. In addition, like with many other projectiles, his forward smash and Pikmin throw now deal less shield damage, although the amount of shieldstun went unchanged.

Update was, by far, the update that nerfed Olimar the most. The size of Olimar's hurtbox has been enlarged, making him easier to hit even while shielding. His forward and up smashes had their ending lag increased, with the former smash attack also having its clean hitbox harder to land due to its duration being shortened. This same updated also noticeably reduced the Winged Pikmin's overall travel distance when they are used consecutively, hampering his recovery. However, update undid update 3.1.0.'s nerf to his clean forward smash's duration.

Like many other characters, Olimar's shield was enlarged in update, which compensated his larger hurtbox by both fully covering him and making him less vulnerable to shield stabbing. Update buffed End of Day's KO potential and range. Prior to update 10.0.0, if Olimar tried to use an aerial attack out of Winged Pikmin after using forward smash or Pikmin Throw, the move would act as if there were no Pikmin. This bug had plagued Olimar since SSB4 and was finally fixed in 10.0.0, indirectly buffing Olimar.

Due to Olimar's strongest traits being toned down, he is considered to be significantly worse than he was at the launch of Ultimate. Though initially claimed he would drop Olimar, he eventually went back on this and continues to use him in bracket with excellent results. has also continued to dominate the Japanese scene with Olimar, but has seen a notable drop off in results after the patch. Overall, Dabuz and Shuton's continued success with the character indicates that Olimar remains a viable character in the right hands, even in spite of his nerfs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Moveset
For a gallery of Olimar's hitboxes, see here.
 * All Pikmin-based moves and grabs use the next Pikmin in the line to perform the given attack. Upon performing a move, that Pikmin goes to the back of the line. In general:
 * Red Pikmin deal more damage for attacks, but less for throws.
 * Yellow Pikmin have larger hitboxes.
 * Blue Pikmin have more damaging throws.
 * White Pikmin are very weak in attacks, but have significantly longer grab and toss range and deal more latch damage.
 * Purple Pikmin are very strong in damage and knockback, but have very poor range and can't latch.

Announcer calls
The announcer also calls the Pikmin in the Japanese, Chinese, and Korean versions.

On-screen appearance

 * Exits the Hocotate Ship and then plucks three Pikmin, after which the Hocotate Ship disappears in a puff of smoke.

Taunts

 * Up taunt: Joyfully jumps in place twice.
 * Side taunt: Lies down on the ground, rolls around as if basking in nature, and then gets up.
 * Down taunt: Swings his hips twice.

Idle poses

 * Rubs his helmet with both hands.
 * Moves his arms back and forward in a basic limber exercise.

Olimar
 

Alph
 

Victory poses

 * Left: Performs a toe touching exercise while a rests on the ground and a  looks around, waving its arms, and occasionally jumping.
 * Up: Plucks a White, Blue, and . The White Pikmin and Blue Pikmin bounce off Olimar's head, whereas the Purple Pikmin squashes him onto the ground. Olimar's eyes will comically bulge outward upon being squashed before his expression returns to normal, whereas Alph will comically wince upon being squashed before his expression returns to normal.
 * Right: Sways in place while a Red, Yellow, and Blue Pikmin walk around him in a circle.

Tier placement and history
In the early metagame, Olimar was widely considered a contender for the best character in Ultimate, alongside others like and. Olimar had many strengths, including stronger throws, a faster Pikmin Pluck, and less lag on his smash attacks, particularly his up smash. This, along with Olimar's increased speed, made him a rather campy character, overwhelming the opponent with his Pikmin and recover them quickly when they are killed. As a result of these strengths, players such as, , and performed spectacularly with Olimar and consistently placed in top 8 at many tournaments.

Subsequent updates, however, hurt Olimar, both directly and indirectly. Patches 3.0.0 and 3.1.0 nerfed Olimar's smash attacks and made them less safe on shield, while Pikmin Throw dealt less shield damage. The nerfs saw a decline in Olimar's results, with Myran seeing a dip in results and Dabuz picking up as a co-main. Despite these nerfs, the three notable Olimar players continued to see strong and respectable placements up to and throughout the pandemic period, however the additions of DLC characters served to hurt Olimar, as DLC characters with positive matchups against Olimar such as and / became somewhat popular in the metagame. This led to Dabuz and Shuton picking up Min Min and the Aegis, respectively, to complement their Olimars. As it stands, Olimar is still considered a viable character and in high tier with him being ranked 28th on the first and current tier list, however opinions on the character have noticeably declined since the early metagame.

Most historically significant players
See also: Category:Olimar players (SSBU)


 * - Placed 1st at, 3rd at , 4th at , 9th at , and 25th at with wins over players like , , and . Previously ranked 5th on the Texas Power Rankings.
 * - Co-mains with Olimar and is one of the two best Olimar players in the world. Placed 1st at  and 2nd at, , , and . Ranked 7th on the PGRU v3 NA.
 * - One of the best Olimar players in the United States. Placed 7th at, 25th at , 33rd at , and 49th at both and  with wins over players like , , and . Ranked as high as 2nd on the NorCal Ultimate Power Rankings.
 * - One of the best Olimar players in the world during the early metagame. Placed 2nd at, 3rd at , 5th at , and 9th at both and  with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 15th on the PGRU v3 NA.
 * - One of the best Olimar players in Japan. Placed 9th at both and  as well as 13th at,  and  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - Co-mains Olimar alongside and  and is the best Olimar player in the world. Placed 1st at, , , , and . Ranked 13th on the Fall 2019 PGRU.
 * - One of the best Olimar players in Japan. Placed 1st at, 13th at , 17th at , 25th at , and 33rd at with wins over players like Shuton, , and.

: Planetary Explorer
Olimar faces off against characters who are space travelers in their respective series.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Olimar has  accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light
While Olimar and Alph are both absent from the World of Light opening cutscene, they were vaporized and later imprisoned alongside the rest of the fighters (except ) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light.

Olimar can be found in the mode by choosing to save instead of  or. The spirit of a magician is needed in order to enlarge some mushrooms to reach him.

As a side note, once Olimar has been rescued, Alph (due to his status as an alternate character of Olimar) will have been 'rescued' as well, resulting in him also being available as a playable character within the story.

Spirits
Olimar's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Olimar has been unlocked. Unlocking Olimar in World of Light allows the player to preview the spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. Alph has a fighter spirit of his own, available through the shop. Each fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces them with their artwork in Ultimate.

Each type of Pikmin that Olimar utilizes in his moveset also possess a spirit of their own, as either primary or support spirits.

Trivia

 * During the official Ultimate website's launch on June 12th, 2018, Olimar's name was erroneously labeled as "OLIMER" in English variants of his fighter page. The typo was later corrected.
 * The part of Olimar's showcase trailer where Alph crouches next to a prone Olimar is a reference to a scene in Pikmin 3 after Alph initially rescues Olimar from the.
 * Olimar's (and Alph's) official artwork resembles 's pose in her Pikmin 3 artwork (the same one used for her spirit), albeit flipped.
 * In World of Light, Olimar and the s will never be spawned as a false character in battles with Galeem and Dharkon. While will also not appear, he was never initially imprisoned in the first place, unlike the other fighters.
 * Olimar is the only fighter to have an alternate costume of a different character beyond a gender swap in the same pose as his default costume, excluding the Mii Fighters.
 * Olimar's helmet can be detached from his head under certain circumstances. This is particularly noticeable during 's Gates of Hell throw if the game is slowed down.
 * Since update 2.0.0, if Olimar's Pikmin latch onto something and it changes size with them still latched on, they will change their size too. This is most noticeable with the Mother Brain, though Super and Poison Mushrooms will also do this, as long as they are applied by the character the Pikmin are latched onto.
 * Excluding DLC fighters, Olimar is the playable character featured in the least amount of spirit battles, only appearing in 5.

Olimar (SSBU)