Wolf (SSBB)

Wolf (, Wolf) is an unlockable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He was confirmed on the Smash Dojo website on March 31st, 2008. Wolf's special moves are similar to and 's, but his physical attacks are mostly all completely different.

Wolf is voiced by Jay Ward in the English version and by Mahito Ōba reprising his role from Star Fox: Assault in the Japanese version.

Wolf is ranked 14th on the current Brawl tier list at the top of the C tier. Wolf possesses great mobility, with among the best air speed, and high, fast jumps. Wolf additionally possesses great air to ground transitioning, as he has fast falling speed, and aerials that either have low landing lag or can be auto-cancelled in a short hop. Wolf in general has fast attacks with disproportionately far reach (his being especially notorious in this regard), which when combined with the aforementioned mobility and an effective DACUS, results in effective approaching capabilities. Wolf also has an effective transcendent projectile in his, a very quick with both hitboxes and frame 1 intangibility that gives him a strong option to escape disadvantage, an all-purpose throw in his , well rounded power throughout his moveset, and above-average comboing capabilities by Brawl standards.

Wolf has two major weaknesses, however: his extreme vulnerability to chain throws and an exploitable recovery. Because of Wolf's combination of heavy weight, very fast falling speed, and very fast gravity, four characters possess devastating chain throws on Wolf that can either infinite him, zero-death him ( and ), or deal an absurd amount of damage , while many others can perform chain throws that result in significant damage. Wolf additionally possesses a precise recovery that is heavily susceptible to gimps, and has a particular vulnerability to meteor smashes, as Wolf suffers a 60 frame delay when meteor cancelling, over twice as much as most other characters (even low knockback meteor smashes can send Wolf down too far to recover, which is why Falco's standard chain grab to  finish is fatal to him). His two recovery moves additionally both have small edge sweet spots, which significantly limits his recovery flexibility on stages with thin ledges like and Lylat Cruise. Another problem for Wolf is his atrocious vertical momentum cancelling as a result of his fast fall being barely faster than his normal falling speed, which causes Wolf to have a vertical endurance potential that is significantly worse than what is typical of characters with fast falling speeds (thus losing one of their primary strengths while still possessing their general weaknesses). Overall, Wolf has an above-average matchup spread with only a few s (primarily driven by the aforementioned chain grab vulnerability), and his tournament results have periodically fluctuated between being unusually good for a non-high tier character (where he has outperformed some high tier characters), to being just merely above average.

How to unlock
Complete one of the following:
 * Play 450 VS. matches.
 * Complete Boss Battles with or.
 * After completing The Subspace Emissary, enter a secret room fairly deep in The Ruins. (Note that this method does not show the challenger approaching screen, but a cutscene of Wolf challenging the player instead.)

The player must then fight and defeat Wolf on Lylat Cruise.

Attributes
Of the three playable Star Fox characters present in Brawl, Wolf's characteristics as a fighter are the most individual. Wolf is by far the heaviest space animal, but ranks only three places above in terms of weight. Despite possessing a larger body frame than Fox and Falco, Wolf leans down while standing and moving along the ground, and has the shortest stance of the three. His dash speed is slow, barely outpacing his walk, but he has the third fastest fall speed, and fourth fastest horizontal air speed. While these attributes provide him with good aerial mobility, Wolf is vulnerable to chain grabbing, juggling, and certain locks due to his heavy weight and rapid falling speed. It should also be noted that fast falling does not accelerate Wolf's fall by a considerable amount, which hinders his ability to vertical momentum cancel in comparison to characters with quicker fast falls, such as. However, his ability to momentum cancel horizontally, aided by his fast back aerial and his horizontally based midair jump, is one of the best in the game when compared to other characters' abilities to momentum cancel horizontally without DI.

Most of Wolf's standard attacks start quickly and have good reach, and he has a DACUS that propels him a considerable distance along the ground. Many of his attacks have the potential to KO, such as back aerial, up tilt, and his smashes. The speed and reach of his attacks allow him to punish effectively on the ground as well as in the air, and their solid damage dealing properties can build opponents' damage quickly. However, since many of his standard attacks are effective for racking up damage, they may suffer from stale move negation if not used carefully, and cause problems when Wolf tries to KO. Many of Wolf's attacks also have poor shield stun effects, which allow opponents to shield grab him easily if they block his hits.

Wolf also has a proficient air game. His neutral aerial is fast, has a long duration, and deals decent horizontal knockback. His forward aerial has low startup, sets up well into itself, and has surprising vertical KO power. His back aerial is quick, powerful, and range, making it among his best finishers. His up aerial is a relatively good juggler at low percentages and doesn't have a particularly high amount of lag. Lastly, his down aerial has two very large and overlapping hitboxes and is a meteor smash with high knockback scaling, making it very good at edgeguarding.

Wolf's special moves are variants of Fox and Falco's, with different animations and properties. His neutral special,, is a gun that fires projectile lasers, and its firing rate is slower than that of its counterparts. However, its lasers deal significant hitstun, the most damage, and have the most vertical reach - no character is capable of ducking under these lasers on level ground. It also serves as a melee weapon, delivering extra damage to foes if the blaster itself contacts them. Wolf's down special, Reflector, is a versatile move that deflects projectiles and grants him invincibility frames, which may be used to avoid attacks, and escape chain throws if his opponent makes an error. The reflector has very short reach, and delivers very weak set knockback and the least damage, but it can be used to gimp fast falling opponents with poor and/or slow vertical recoveries such as.

While Wolf's air speed and recovery moves allow him to travel a considerable distance in order to recover, these moves are easily predicted, and his ledge sweet spot is one of the smallest in the game. As such, he is easily gimped, and his recovery is susceptible to edge-hogging. Wolf also suffers from the highest meteor cancel delay in the game (a window of 60 frames, compared to the average of 25, with no other character having more than 32), making it very difficult for him to survive meteors even at low percentages. This, in combination with his vulnerability to chain throwing, poses a problem, since some chain throws, such as King Dedede's down throw chain throw, can force him offstage. His side special, Wolf Flash, sends Wolf diagonally across and upward in a fast 'flash', and is used to recover horizontally. It has the potential to meteor smash if sweet spotted. Wolf Flash also has unusual characteristics that may be utilised to help Wolf recover. His up special, Fire Wolf, is a move that propels Wolf in a direction of the players' choosing. It has the least start up lag in comparison to Fox and Falco's counterpart moves, drags opponents along with it, and delivers knockback at the end, but has a very small ledge sweet spot.

Overall, Wolf is a balanced character who may face problems when matched against opponents that can exploit his weaknesses, but has strengths that earn him the position of a viable tournament contender.

Most historically significant players

 * See also: Category:Wolf players (SSBB)


 * - Was perhaps the most prominent Wolf player in Brawl's early competitive life before Kain's and Seagull Joe's emergence, including placing top 16 at MLG Raleigh 2010 and MLG Columbus 2010, and ranking 4th on NorCal's 2011 power ranking, albeit while using Wolf alongside a co-main.
 * - A prominent Wolf player in Brawl's early competitive life, who was one of the biggest innovators of Wolf's metagame, and a noted inspiration to several competitive Wolf players, including Seagull Joe. His 49th placing at additionally set the high-water mark for a solo Wolf player at a supermajor, which while later tied by a few more Wolf players, it wouldn't be outright exceeded until several years later with Seagull Joe's 9th at.
 * - Widely considered the best Wolf player and one of the overall best players not using a top/high tier character during Brawl's competitive prime, dominating the Midwest of the United States and being largely responsible for Wolf's significant rise on the sixth tier list from lowish-mid tier to borderline high tier. Kain additionally tied JJWolf's aforementioned mark for best placing for a solo Wolf at a supermajor, when he placed 49th at, and he would place 9th among 96 entrants at , one of the largest -banned tournaments. Kain was one of three Wolf players ranked on the 2014 SSBBRank, the final and only national ranking for Brawl before the release of Smash 4, ranking at 74th despite his lapsed tournament activity after 2012.
 * - Was generally considered the third best Wolf under Kain and Seagull Joe during the later half of Brawl's competitive life, and was the only other Wolf player besides those two to be ranked on the 2014 SSBBRank, being ranked at 94th. His most notable tournament performance was at the Meta Knight-banned, where he placed 17th in the main bracket using solo Wolf, as well as placing 2nd among 63 players in the tournament's mid + low tier bracket.
 * - Widely considered second best Wolf player under Kain during Brawl's competitive prime, while Seagull Joe would take up the mantle of best Wolf player after farther advancement and Kain's inactivity in the post-2012 era. He would first tie JJWolf's best placing for a solo Wolf at a supermajor by placing 49th at, and then he would later shatter the record by placing 9th at , standing as the best all-time placing for a Wolf at a Brawl major or supermajor, while then going on to be the highest ranking Wolf player on the 2014 SSBBRank at 37th. Seagull Joe would also be one of the best Brawl players in the post-Smash 4 era, with his most notable results being placing 5th at and 4th at , while getting ranked 10th on the 2016-2017 SSBBRank and 12th on the 2018-2019 SSBBRank.

Tier placement and history
Wolf was ranked 16th on the first tier list (September 2008), in the high tier. He then saw a large drop, falling to 20th place on the second tier list (January 2009), and again dropping to 22nd on the third (June 2009). He hovered around the 22nd spot for a few more revisions of the list. Wolf's drop was largely due to his extreme vulnerability to chaingrabs (some of which are infinites and 0-deaths), as well as having a poor recovery. Around late 2010, several Wolf players started doing very well in tournaments ( was noted for being of the most dominant forces in the American Midwest). Wolf's strong mobility, aerial game, and general all-around fighting abilities were recognized in the sixth tier list (July 2011), when Wolf jumped up six places to the 16th position. Wolf was also recognized to have one of the best matchups against the overly dominant, as well as many even or close to even matchups against the other top tier characters; Wolf generally had strong matchups outside of the characters who are able to chaingrab him effectively. Wolf is currently ranked at 14th place in the upper-mid tier, in the eighth tier list, as of April 2013.

Role in The Subspace Emissary
Wolf, like and, does not play a major role, or influence the story of The Subspace Emissary, and is not even seen interacting with any other characters, but may join the player's party after Tabuu has been defeated. To encounter Wolf, the player must enter a particular Red Door in The Ruins stage, which will take them to Lylat Cruise after a brief cut-scene. In the cut-scene, Wolf is seen flying his Wolfen, jumping out, and landing on the cruise ship. Wolf strikes a pose, then rushes forward to attack. Although he is the only character present in the cut-scene, he appears to stare at his challenger. The player must then defeat him in a one-life stock battle, and if they win the match, Wolf joins the party. This will also unlock him if he has not yet been unlocked.

In Classic Mode, Wolf can appear as an opponent or ally in Stage 7 if he has been unlocked along with, , and on Lylat Cruise. Wolf can also appear as an opponent in Stage 11, but only if he hasn't appeared in Stage 7.

All-Star Mode
In All-Star Mode, Wolf is fought in Stage 16 alongside and  on Lylat Cruise.

Solo Events

 * Event 36: High-Tech Special Forces: Wolf is one of the bounty hunters along with and  that  must defeat.
 * Event 38: The Wolf Hunts the Fox: The player controls Wolf, who must defeat and  on Lylat Cruise.
 * Event 39: All-Star Battle x2: Wolf is one of the eight opponents fought in this event along with, , , , , Snake, and.

Co-Op Events

 * Co-Op Event 14: The Dark Guardians: and Wolf, who are tiny, must defeat a giant  and a giant  on New Pork City.
 * Co-Op Event 19: Shadow of Andross: A team of Fox and Falco must defeat Wolf on Lylat Cruise while being attacked by an Andross Assist Trophy.
 * Co-Op Event 20: The Final Battle for Two: Both players select a character and must defeat, , King Dedede, Wolf, and Ganondorf on.
 * Co-Op Event 21: The True All-Star Battle: Both players select a character and take on the entire roster on, Wolf being the last opponent.

Trophies
Wolf's main and Final Smash trophies can be obtained by clearing and All-Star mode respectively with Wolf.

Trivia

 * There is an animation error in Wolf's tumbling animation where his left arm will detach from his elbow.
 * Strangely, in some of Wolf's animations, his right shoulder pad will mysteriously flip upside down and return to its original position when the animation ends. This is noticeable when he performs an up smash, turns around while braking from a dash, and lands after doing his forward aerial.
 * Wolf has a few aerial animations that are directly carried over from, which results in him briefly assuming Fox's falling animation before reverting to his own. This applies to his air dodging animation and his forward, upward, and downward item throwing animations.
 * Masahiro Sakurai stated that Wolf, along with and, were almost cut from Brawl due to time constraints and their late consideration for inclusion in the game, hence why they are excluded from and cannot be unlocked while playing through the main Subspace Emissary story. His popularity and similarities to Fox and  were key to his inclusion in Brawl . This explains why he uses so many animations from other characters and why some of said animations are bugged. It also explains why he looks less polished than other newcomers.
 * Oddly, in The Subspace Emissary, Wolf's fast falling speed (1.9) is lower than his regular falling speed (2.142). This means that he can actually slow down by his descent in midair by fast falling. This also occurs with Metal Mario in the original Super Smash Bros.
 * Wolf was the last character to be confirmed for Super Smash Bros. Brawl due to being confirmed on the Smash Dojo website on March 31st, 2008, two months after the game's initial release.
 * When clipping through Wolf's cybernetic eyepatch via a hacked camera, it's revealed that he has a functional left eye.
 * A similar effect happens when looking through his cybernetic eyepatch in Star Fox Assault.
 * Wolf's supine floor attack is the only arm-based attack that involves him throwing a punch rather than using his claws.
 * Wolf's victory pose where he crosses his arms is a reference to Star Fox Assault; the only pose Wolf makes in Story Mode is him crossing his arms in his Wolfen.