Rising Uppercut

Rising Uppercut (, Rising Uppercut) is Little Mac's up special move. In Super Smash Bros. 4, it is one of the more powerful up specials in the game and serves as Little Mac's primary means of vertical recovery, but has been cited to be the worst recovery move in the entire Smash series.

Overview
Rising Uppercut is an attack similar to Corkscrew, causing Little Mac to spin as he ascends, finishing with an uppercut punch with his other hand. The attack creates a stream of successive hits and ends with a strong upward blow. While the move deals less damage than most of his moveset (10% if all hits connect), the final hit is capable of KOing middleweights at 115% or earlier, due to its high knockback scaling. It can be angled up to 18° left or right through directional inputs. In Ultimate, if used in the air, there is a 0.08× air acceleration multiplier preventing the angle from being significant.

The grounded version has a few frames of intangibility at the start, allowing Little Mac to potentially escape or interrupt multi-hitting attacks if an enemy is close enough (such as 's jab infinite). The aerial version sends Little Mac a shorter distance upwards but keeps its high knockback, making it Little Mac's only dependable aerial KO move alongside Jolt Haymaker. Little Mac can move left or right during the ascent, with the grounded version giving much more control.

This is Little Mac's only means of vertical recovery, but it is very poor at doing so in comparison to other up special moves due to its numerous flaws. The aerial version lacks horizontal momentum and gives vertical distance that travels as low as an average jump, giving it some of the worst distance of any recovery move in the series. However, if Mac's neutral aerial is the last action performed in the air before using this move, the move will go slightly further horizontally. Additionally, although its hitboxes are rather disjointed, the move does not edge sweet spot until the very end and has a small auto-sweetspot. As a result, recovering too high will result in Mac being knocked off by any sufficiently long hitbox, while recovering too low will often result in Mac missing the ledge entirely.

To maximize the move's recovery potential, the player should save Little Mac's second jump and attempt to end the move directly beside a ledge to prevent opponents from punishing the move's vulnerability, and to potentially interrupt opponents with Mac's fist hitbox as it pokes through the ledge.

Like most of Little Mac's special moves, Rising Uppercut has a unique 8-bit sound if he is using a Wireframe alternate costume.

In Ultimate, the move behaves in the exact same way, but the aerial version has been buffed to go slightly higher and Little Mac can grab ledges slightly earlier, increasing its recovery potential. There is also a small amount of horizontal movement allowed as Little Mac nears the peak of the uppercut. If Mac uses his neutral aerial or down aerial and buffers the move, he will retain a slight bit more horizontal momentum. Offensively, the move's knockback was increased as of the 13.0.0 patch; combined with the knockback changes to up tilt, this allows an up tilt to Rising Uppercut to be a powerful KO combo at high percents.

Customization
Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the variations:


 * 1) Rising Uppercut: Default.
 * 2) Tornado Uppercut: Increased vertical recovery, but only hits a single time for 2% damage with weak knockback, unable to KO at a realistic percent. Also increases landing lag.
 * 3) Rising Smash: A stronger, electric version that hits twice (at the beginning and end of the move), instead of hitting multiple times. The first hit connects to the second hit, which deals extremely high knockback and damage. The move is capable of KOing at as low as 57%. However, it has slightly higher startup and significantly increased ending lag, and also possesses little horizontal movement. Both hits tend to have difficulty connecting after 60%. Unlike the default, it does not go any higher on the ground than it does in the air, and it gives even less vertical distance if it's used while Mac is falling down. However, if used right after a double jump, the height gained by this move and the default Rising Uppercut is almost the same.

Origin
The uppercut is one of Little Mac's signature moves in Punch-Out!!. In Punch-Out!! for the NES, Little Mac visibly jumps off the ground when he performs any punches to the head, as he is too small to reach his opponents' heads otherwise. The spinning motion bears a strong resemblance to the 3-Star Uppercut from Punch-Out!! for the Wii, which is a more powerful variant of the uppercut. In Doc Louis's Punch-Out!!, Doc Louis spins in a similar way when he throws a single-star uppercut.

The uppercut is a real boxing technique that has existed since the beginning of the sport. It involves a vertical punch that moves directly upwards. It is useful in close ranges and as a counterattack, as the opponent is left wide open and can be caught off guard with a high amount of force quickly making contact with the chin or face for massive damage and a potential knockout.

Trivia

 * If the game is paused during Rising Uppercut's beginning frames, one of Little Mac's feet can be seen clipping into his upper thigh.