User:Thegameandwatch/AFD 2020/Joker (SSBU)


 * ''For smasher info, see Smasher:Joker.


 * Why so serious?!
 * Byleth Recruits ...Byleth!

Joker (, Joker) will be a fake and nonexistent   playable character you won't see coming in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He wouldn’t be announced at on December 6th, 2018 as the second DLC character but was announced at First of April in 2029 and is the Last character for the Fighters Pass. He is planned for release before the end of December 3078. Joker is never going to be classified as a fighter but if he was he would be the #100 fighter.

Xander Mobus, who voices Joker in Persona 5 and the announcer, Master Hand, and Crazy Hand in Brawl, reprises his role as the character in the English version of the game, while Nobody voices him in Japanese.

Joker’sAttributes


Nothing

Update history
JOKER 🃏 has been buffed via game updates. Although update 2.0.0 granted inconsequential buffs to his neutral and up TILT, update 3.1.0 noticeably improved his Air game. forward air was heavily improved in three distinct ways. Its hits connect better thanks to improved ranges and, more notably, its first and second hits had their ending lag reduced to the point that it and 's neutral attack are currently the only ones in Ultimate that are capable of Final Smash canceling reliably. Down air connects much better against airborne opponents, which was a notorious flaw that remained unaddressed throughout SSB4's lifespan. Back air's range was increased to the point that it is actually on par with 's and out-ranges 's, while the duration of up smash's L-canceling was increased.

Gun received a new hitbox that increased its vertical range, thus allowing its grounded version to hit opponents on 's low platforms. Rebellion Gauge, Rebel's Guard and uncharged Gun had their ending lag noticeably reduced by varying amounts. Lastly, Joker indirectly benefits from the update's changes to shield damage for projectiles, as they make it somewhat easier for him to handle camping.

However, update 4.0.0 removed Joker's most useful combo option. Update 3.1.0 introduced an unintentional mechanic that decreased the ending lag of neutral attack's third hit by 10 frames if it was inputted manually. This gave his neutral attack the ability to combo into itself (via L-canceling), forward smash, grab, or Rebellion Gauge at low to medium percents. The sheer effectiveness of this technique even saw, a pioneer of Joker's metagame in Persona 5, christen it the "Dreamland Express" as proposed by his Twitch chat. Despite the loss of this option, it is not enough to eclipse the other buffs that update 3.1.0 granted Joker in the first place.

In update 7.0.0, Joker was among the numerous characters whose shields were enlarged, which decreased his vulnerability to shield stabbing.

Overall, Joker's buffs have improved his moveset's utility, granted him new potential set-ups, and slightly improved his defense. Sol has notably viewed the buffs as sufficient enough to render Joker better than he was in Persona 5, although he made this statement before the Dreamland Express was removed. However, how these buffs will affect him the long run remains to be seen.

 

 

 

 

Moveset

 * Joker has a Fighter ability called the Rebellion Gauge, which fills up over time. Joker can also charge it by being hit, or when Joker (or his teammates, if he is in a Team Battle) is behind in either score/stock. If Rebel's Guard is used while the opponent attacks, the Gauge fills up faster. When it is full, Joker automatically summons Arsene, who grants several changes:
 * If Joker is in an uninterruptible animation such as an attack, Arsene can be delayed for up to 31 frames. Arsene can also disappear in a similar fashion, although the delay is much shorter.
 * Curiously, if Arsene disappears during an attack, Awakened Joker's moves will deal increased knockback without Arsene's values being applied.
 * A dramatic screen effect consisting of Joker's eyes occurs (if the camera is close enough to the fighters, and the battle is either 1-on-1 or against CPU players only), where Joker removes either his masquerade mask or glasses (depending on his costume), which also alters his character icon in the HUD until the Gauge empties. If Joker is standing still during this, he gains intangibility during the animation.
 * Arsene will attack in tandem with Joker during all attacks except his pummel, throws, floor attacks and edge attack, enhancing his damage output and range. Many of his moves gain an additional blue slash effect while attacking. All of Arsene's attacks use the "heavy melee" hit sounds of heavyweights such as.
 * Joker's special moves change to "Gun Special", "Eigaon", "Wings of Rebellion", and "Tetrakarn/Makarakarn", all enhanced versions of his previous moves.
 * Joker announces "Arsene!" or "Persona!" upon summoning Arsene, and "Return!" or "Enough." upon using up his Gauge. He also announces "Endure!", "Not yet!" or "More..." when being attacked while performing Rebel's Guard.
 * On the first frame Joker would call out or recall Arsene, the animation can be skipped if Joker is already in an uninterruptible animation.
 * Upon summoning Arsene, the Rebellion Gauge will slowly drain, and a small amount of Gauge will be lost each time Joker is damaged.
 * Joker can wall jump.

For a gallery of Joker's hitboxes, see here.

''For simplicity, damage values for Joker and Arsene's individual attacks are separated by a slash (/). With Arsene active, the total damage of a move is the sum of both listed values.''

Up to date as of version 3.6.

On-screen appearance

 * Drops from the top of the screen, similar to how the party begins most battles in Persona 5, then adjusts a glove just like in his up taunt.

Taunts
Morgana appears for each of Joker's taunts. If he is present, Arsene will also rear back and flourish with his left arm when Joker taunts, making a pose identical to his official artwork.


 * Up taunt: Smiles and tugs his glove while facing towards the camera, imitating the splash screen from the end of All-Out Attack. Morgana pumps his paw while saying "Looking cool, Joker!" before posing akimbo.
 * Side taunt: Poses with his gun pointed, gun arm over his dagger arm. Morgana poses akimbo and playfully laughs while showing starry eyes.
 * Down taunt: Faces his back towards the camera. Morgana goes "He-hey!" while bouncing on the spot, before crossing his arms.

If Joker is involved in a fight with more than four fighters, Morgana will not appear during his taunts.

Idle poses

 * Twirls his knife towards his chest.
 * Twirls his gun before posing.

Victory poses
In all three of his victory poses, the transition to the victory screen will showcase a puff of cartoony smoke with star decals, and ending screen will always result in Joker moving continuously to the left with the results background being dimmed down, replicating the victory screen from Persona 5. Upon accessing the results screen, Joker will say "Begone," "Nice," or "Hah!" If there are three or more players, the color scheme will match the player's port (CPUs are always red). In Team Battles, the color will match the player's team color. If Joker wins on Mementos, the color of the victory screen will match the color of the stage, and the victory music will be replaced with the corresponding victory fanfare from the game Mementos' design is currently derived from.
 * Left: Morgana happily bounces around Joker. Joker gestures to Morgana before running towards the left.
 * Up: Joker scratches his head as Morgana, transformed as the Morganamobile, drives up next to Joker, picks him up, and drives towards the left.
 * Right: Morgana turns dramatically toward the screen, which ends up hitting him in the face. Joker gestures to Morgana before running towards the left.
 * Special: If Joker wins a Stock or Stamina match with All-Out Attack, the match will conclude on the splash screen without returning to gameplay, and this will persist into the victory screen, just like in Persona 5.
 * Team: If Joker is in a Team Battle and someone else poses in front, he will perform an exclusive animation where he tightens his glove and maintains a stance with his knife, although both of these are ported directly from his in-game up taunt and idle animation respectively. If he poses in front, none of the other fighters on his team will be seen.

When transitioning to the results screen, one of the Phantom Thieves will say one of the following quotes in place of the announcer's usual "[character] wins!"

In competitive play
From Ultimate, hopes were high on Joker when he was released, due to improvements to his notoriously awful Final Smash. However, the game’s mechanics proved to be detrimental some of his best tools, especially his aerial game, while his ground game, notoriously the worst in Persona 5, was made even worse. With this, his perception dropped significantly, with the general perception of him being not only a bottom tier but the worst character in the game.

Patch 8.20.0 granted Joker several useful buffs: his neutral aerial, down and forward tilts, and decreased lag from his Final Smashes revamped his aerial game to be more daunting than before. As such, his representation and results slowly improved over time thanks due to dedicated mains, Despite this, Joker's most critical weaknesses remain unaltered.

Patch 9.0.0, however, reverted Joker's biggest buff: as a result of the fixing of an unintentional mechanic, his manual Forward aerial no longer combos into itself or any KO moves, hindering his combo ability. This change, however, has gone relatively unnoticed by many pro players due to Joker’s lack of competitive presence and therefore has little effect on his already negative perception. His cons are considered too detrimental for him to be viable in the current metagame, and his multitude of buffs, which improve him at a quality-of-life level, have not made enough impact to shift Joker from being considered the worst character overall. Because of this, he is expected to remain ranked as a bottom-tier, especially if he doesn't receive further buffs from future patches. Despite his shortcomings, they haven't stopped Joker from gaining some impressive results.

Active
Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the Fall 2019 PGRU, which recognizes the official top 50 players in the world in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate from July 13th, 2019 to December 15th, 2019.
 * - Placed 13th at and 17th at  with solo Joker.
 * (#51) - One of the best Joker players in Japan. Placed 3rd at, 4th at , and 33rd at with solo Joker.
 * - Co-mains Joker with and placed 1st at, 25th at , and 33rd at , , and.
 * - Rank #4 in Poland but usually considered #1 with a 65th place finish at with a win on.
 * - Placed 33rd at and 65th at . Ranked 12th on the Massachusetts Ultimate Power Rankings with wins over, , and.
 * - Placed 5th at both and, 17th at , and 49th at.
 * (#1) - The best Joker player in the world, as well as the overall best player in the world. Placed 1st at, , , , , , , , and , 2nd at , , and , and 4th at with primarily Joker. Has wins over , , , , , , , , , and.
 * - Placed 2nd at, 3rd at , 7th at , and 17th at both and.
 * - Mains and has a strong Joker secondary. Placed 1st at  and, 2nd at , and 3rd at . Ranked 1st on the Dutch Ultimate Power Rankings.
 * - Has a strong Joker secondary and is considered one of the best Joker players in the United States. Placed 1st at both and  with Joker as one of his characters.
 * - One of the best Joker players in Japan. Placed 4th at and 5th at  using Joker alongside  and.
 * - Placed 5th at.
 * - Co-main Joker with and is considered the best Joker player in Canada. Placed 17th at  and 25th at  with primarily Joker and Ken. Ranked 3rd on the Montreal Ultimate Power Rankings.
 * (#38) - Placed 13th at both and, 25th at both  and , and 49th at . Mainly plays Pichu and Sheik now, but still has Joker as a secondary.
 * - Placed 5th at, 9th at both and , 13th at , 17th at both  and , and 33rd at.
 * - One of the best Joker players in Germany. Placed 3rd at and 5th at  with solo Joker.
 * (#7) - Co-mains Joker with and is the best Joker player in Japan and one of the two best in the world. Placed 1st at, , , , , , , and , with Umebura SP 7 going solo Joker, 5th at , 7th at both  and , and 25th at . Has wins over , , , , , ,  and.
 * - The best Joker player in Michigan. Placed 5th at, and 9th at both and . Has wins over Daybreak, Gomakenpi, and BooBear. Formerly 8th on the Michigan Ultimate Power Rankings.

Inactive

 * - Placed 5th at and 49th at.
 * (#3) - One of the best Joker players in the world before switching back to Wario. Placed 1st at, 2nd at , 13th at , and 33rd at with solo Joker. Has wins over , , and.
 * (#51) - Co-mained Joker with . Placed 17th at and 33rd at both  and  prior to dropping Joker for solo Sonic.

: A Heroic Legacy
Byleth's Classic Mode route is themed around the Fire Emblem fighters and stages from across the Smash series, fought in order of release year. All battles are stamina battles and the player always starts with 100 HP.

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

Role in World of Light
Due to his status as downloadable content, Joker does not have a legitimate role in World of Light. Instead, he is unlocked for use in the mode after freeing 10 fighters from Galeem's control. If loading an existing save file that meets this condition prior to downloading Joker, he is immediately unlocked.

Spirits
Joker's Fighter Spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. It also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 500 coins, but only after Joker has been downloaded. Unlocking Joker in World of Light allows the player to preview the first spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a Fighter Spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. His student outfit has a Fighter Spirit of its own, available through the shop. Each Fighter Spirit has an alternate version that replaces them with their artwork in Ultimate. Arsene also makes an appearance in Joker's Fighter Spirits, having a unique render when shown with Joker's Ultimate artwork. Because of this, Joker's Ultimate renders in his Fighter Spirits will show him without his mask/glasses on.

Additionally, he appears in the Phantom Thieves of Hearts Spirit.

Trivia

 * Joker's internal codename within the game files is "jack". It is probably a wordplay on "jack" and "joker" being both types of playing cards; additionally, it may reference Atlus' mascot, Jack Frost. The codename was reportedly discovered in November 2018 by data miners on a leaked retail copy. However, this discovery was only made public in January 2019, after Joker had already been officially revealed.
 * Joker is the only character who can air dodge multiple times without landing in Ultimate, due to Gun allowing him to dodge between shots.
 * However, prior to version, was able to air dodge multiple times after using Abandon Ship!.
 * Joker is the first selectable character in the series to share their voice actor with the announcer in the English version of the game, barring Master Hand's playable appearances, as Master Hand is not a normally selectable character outside of these circumstances.
 * Joker and are the only DLC in the series to be announced before the game's release.
 * Joker and are the only newcomers in Ultimate to be announced without any gameplay footage in their first reveal trailer.
 * While 's reveal trailer doesn't feature gameplay footage, a brief showcase was showed by Masahiro Sakurai during the same Nintendo Direct.
 * Joker is one of two fighters who has two reveal trailers, he shares this distinction with.
 * Joker's first reveal trailer has two variants. One which was played during The Game Awards 2018, and one which was officially posted online afterward with dialogue altered to remove references to the Game Awards.
 * Out of all the characters reveals in both Smash 4 and Ultimate, Joker is the only character to be revealed at/in a non-Nintendo event/video.
 * Joker is the first and so far only DLC character in Ultimate to not have a tagline in their first reveal trailer.
 * Joker,, , , , , , and are the only characters who make any sounds during their idle animations.
 * In Joker's reveal trailer, it is mentioned that he must have gone to The Game Awards 2018 to steal a treasure. According to Masahiro Sakurai in a Famitsu column, the treasure was an invitation to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
 * The invitation is depicted as being enclosed in an envelope with a wax seal in the shape of the Super Smash Bros. logo. This is a callback to previous character reveal trailers for in Smash 4 and  in Ultimate, and was later re-used in the reveal trailer for.
 * An instrumental arrangement of Life Will Change plays fittingly during the reveal, as the song plays while the Phantom Thieves are infiltrating a Palace to steal a treasure after sending out a calling card.
 * Interestingly, despite Life Will Change being featured, it is not available as a track in-game.
 * Coincidentally, the concept of Palaces in the Persona series is vaguely similar to the "world of imagination" concept used to justify the Super Smash Bros. games, where events and characters are imaginary and are affected by cognition in the "real world" (including toys, such as Joker's Gun, becoming real and functional similar to the fighters themselves). As such, Joker's announcement and inclusion in the Smash Bros. world, particularly with regards to the "treasure" being stolen, can be considered a variation of the Phantom Thieves infiltrating a Palace.
 * After and, Joker is the third guest fighter to represent Sega, as Atlus was acquired by Sega Sammy Holdings in 2013.
 * Joker is the second character to have his victory theme directly ripped from a non-Smash game, the first being Sonic.
 * He is also the second character whose victory theme plays continuously rather than playing the results theme afterward, with the first being Cloud.
 * Joker had his render leaked on March 31st, 2019, by Best Buy before his official render was revealed.
 * Joker is the only character so far whose character render changes under certain circumstances, as his mask (or glasses, in his alternate costume) will be removed when Arsene is present.
 * Joker is the only character so far who utilizes a knife in his standard moveset.
 * Joker is the only character with the distinction of having more than one victory theme in one game.
 * Joker's Classic Mode can be considered an antithesis of Mewtwo's. Both characters "recruit" the opponent they defeated on the previous round; however, Mewtwo's partners are turned into "corrupted" alternate costumes, while Joker's allies now have light alternate costumes to represent that they were "purified".
 * Joker and 's routes are the only time in the Super Smash Bros. series where Master Hand is not fought on the respective game's Final Destination, not counting the Master Hand glitch in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
 * Joker is the only character in the series who:
 * has more than three victory poses, with the presence of his normal three, his All-Out Attack victory screen, and his exclusive Team Battle victory pose.
 * is not announced on the results screen, instead, there is a comment from one of the Phantom Thieves.
 * has a victory pose reserved for Team Battles.
 * can manually select a victory pose if he is the leading character of a winning team in a Team Battle.
 * Joker is one of the few characters to speak during a KO: his alternate KO line has him saying "What?!" ("", "I'm sorry...").
 * Excluding use of a Boss Galaga, Joker is one of the few fighters to spin differently in their Star KO: he spins forwards instead of away from the screen, similar to how Star KOs acted in Smash 4. He shares this trait with, , , and.
 * When KO'd by reaching 0 HP in Stamina Mode with no stock remaining, Joker uses a unique knockout scream rather than his KO or high damage voice clips, although this can be difficult to hear under normal circumstances due to extremely low volume. also share this trait.
 * Additionally, Arsene laughs maniacally if Joker is KO'd in this way. However there is only an animation and no audio.
 * Prior to patch 4.0.0, a glitch can occur if Joker is defeated by a Star KO with a full Rebellion Gauge: Arsene will appear in the background, hovering where Joker was KO'd.
 * If Arsene is activated by a CPU Joker on the Online Training stage, although his model will unmask as normal, Joker's render will remain masked.
 * Joker is the only character who speaks when transitioning from the victory animation to the results, saying either "Begone," "Nice," or "Hah!"
 * Joker is the only character to not have the announcer talk and not have the crowd chant during his victory animation.
 * Joker is the only character in the Fighters Pass whose demonstration video is not hosted by Masahiro Sakurai. Instead, he had a Nintendo Direct-styled presentation.
 * Additionally, Joker is the second DLC character to not have his entire moveset demonstrated, following Piranha Plant, and is also the only challenger on the Fighters Pass with this distinction.
 * Joker is the only character who speaks when transitioning from the victory animation to the results, saying either "Begone," "Nice," or "Hah!"
 * Joker is the only character to not have the announcer talk and not have the crowd chant during his victory animation.
 * Joker is the only character in the Fighters Pass whose demonstration video is not hosted by Masahiro Sakurai. Instead, he had a Nintendo Direct-styled presentation.
 * Additionally, Joker is the second DLC character to not have his entire moveset demonstrated, following Piranha Plant, and is also the only challenger on the Fighters Pass with
 * The Joker goes to school.
 * He meets his match, the grisly ghoul.
 * He will not be in smash
 * Joker is not actually the Persona 5 Joker, but in fact, the Joker from DC Comics cosplaying as that Joker.
 * Masahiro Sakurai is also considering putting Batman in the game as well.
 * He is the first character to come out in the 3100 century
 * Joker also owns a chocolate factory, he rigs the contest so that Haru and Ryuji wins it so they could get married in it.
 * For those who lost the contest Joker would yell "YOU GET NOTHING, YOU LOSE, GOOD DAY SIR!"