Luigi (SSBM)

Luigi (, Luigi) is an unlockable character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Luigi is markedly similar to, though his moveset and attributes (such as traction and aerial mobility) are different in many ways, making him a semi-clone. Like in Smash 64, Luigi's voice consists of high-pitched versions of some of Charles Martinet's Mario voice clips from Super Mario 64.

Luigi currently ranks 12th on the tier list, in the B- tier, placing him three places above his older brother Mario. This is a drastic improvement from his last place ranking in Super Smash Bros. Luigi is notable for having some of the best aerials in all of Melee; they are very fast, very powerful and have very low ending and landing lag. Luigi's wavedash is the longest in the game, taking him nearly half the distance of Final Destination at a high speed (only slightly slower than Captain Falcon's dash). Luigi also has a wide array of efficient combo and KO moves both in the air and on the ground. Luigi's traction, which is the lowest in the game, works as a double edged sword; while it gives him an excellent wavedash, it also limits some of his approaches on the ground if he's not wavedashing, as well as his out of shield options (as he often gets pushed too far away for fast follow-ups when his shield is hit). His approach options are generally poor; he struggles to approach on the ground despite his excellent movement due to his short range and lack of disjointed hitboxes, while his aerial approaches are hampered by his high short hop and slow falling speed (giving him one of the worst SHFFLs in the game) and his extremely poor aerial mobility (the worst in the game). This problem is compounded with his difficulty in forcing opponents to approach (mainly as a result of his very poor projectile). Additionally, his recovery is easy to edgeguard, being very linear and slow despite covering a large distance.

Nevertheless, Luigi’s good combo game and terrific wavedash allow him to be considered a decent character in competitive play, with solid matchups all-around with above average results.

How to unlock
To unlock Luigi, the player must clear the first level of Adventure Mode with a two as the second digit of the seconds portion of the clock. (XX:X2XX). After this requirement is met, a cinematic plays when the player finishes the level, showing Luigi replacing Mario in the level to battle alongside. The player must then defeat Luigi within one minute. After Adventure Mode is completed, the player will face off against Luigi.

Alternately, playing 800 versus matches will also give the opportunity to unlock Luigi.

When fought against, Luigi appears in Mushroom Kingdom II.

Attributes
While Luigi may initially appear to be a clone of his older brother Mario, similar to, Luigi is a semi-clone of Mario who exchanges mobility for extra power, despite the inverse being true in the Mario games. Many significant differences are present between their ground, aerial, and special attacks, and Luigi possesses several unique moves. Luigi's attributes can also wildly vary from Mario's; Luigi's air speed, dashing speed, and traction are among the lowest in the game, whereas Mario's are about average. Luigi's jumps are also much higher than Mario's. Luigi has the longest wavedash in the game as a result of his low traction.

Luigi's primary advantage in this regard is his impressive KO potential in his grounded moveset. Luigi's wavedash functions as his primary method of approaching and movement on the ground, allowing him to traverse large distances very quickly and with a great deal of maneuverability. Luigi can combine his excellent wavedash with a variety of powerful smash attacks to produce some of the best wavesmashes in the game. His down smash is highly versatile, acting as combo starter due to its completely vertical knockback, as a juggling move, or as a KO move at high percentages. His forward smash has extremely high knockback scaling (135; the highest in the game), making it a powerful KO move (if a risky one due to its high ending lag). His up smash has intangibility on his head and is effective at KOing on the upper blast line and on floaty opponents, in addition to outprioritizing attacks from above Luigi.Luigi's up special can act as a powerful vertical finisher if sweetspotted, though it leaves Luigi in a helpless state and is very laggy; it is very punishable if the sweetspot is missed or the opponent avoids the attack (such as by shielding it). As a result, its use is often restricted to punishing very laggy moves (such as 's Vanish) unless it can be edge cancelled.

Despite having the lowest air speed in the game, all of Luigi's aerial attacks are extremely solid. His forward aerial has quick startup and high knockback (at the Sakurai angle; 45° against aerial opponents), making it a useful attack for both KOing and edgeguarding. Down aerial boasts excellent utility with both its sweetspot and sourspot hitboxes; the sweetspot (near Luigi's hips), while difficult to land, is a meteor smash with solid power, making it great for edgeguarding offstage and starting combos onstage. The sourspot launches at the same angle as forward aerial with only slightly less power, making the attack a great choice for edgeguarding for any case. His back aerial has good range and works well for setting up edgeguards, while his up aerial is useful for hitting opponents above him and has low knockback which allows it to combo effectively into more aerials (such as a down or neutral aerial) on floaty opponents, and also works as a somewhat situational edgeguarding tool. Above all, however, is his neutral aerial, which is one of the most versatile attacks in the game. It is a standard sex kick that comes out on frame 3; however, it is the only sex kick that launches opponents vertically, along with disproportionately high hitstun. This makes it an incredible combo starter and even a situational KO option near the upper blast line, and thanks to its incredible speed, it is possibly the most notorious combo breaker in the game, as Luigi is able to use it to break opposing combos and start one of his own instantaneously.

Luigi's grab game is also good. Although his grab range is merely average, it is still much longer than Mario's and his aforementioned long wavedash allows Luigi to extend its reach. His throws have many varied uses. Both his down throw and up throw function as combo starters, leading into juggles with moves like up tilt, neutral air, and down smash; fast fallers such as and  are generally more susceptible to up throw, while down throw is more suitable for floaty characters like Marth. Up throw is also a viable chain grab on fast-fallers at low percentages. His forward throw and back throws can set up a variety of edgeguards, with his back throw having sufficiently high knockback to function as a kill move at high percentages.

Luigi's strange variety of attributes, however, acts as a double-edged sword. Despite a highly effective wavedash, Luigi's movement without wavedashing is poor; while his moonwalk is decent, his dash is slow and his short initial dash animation gives him a very short dash-dance. Additionally, Luigi's projectile, Fireballs are poor; they have low hitstun, travel slowly, and have high ending lag, making them some of the more situational projectiles in the game. In addition, Luigi's air game, despite his powerful aerials, lacks much needed synergy with his stellar ground movement due to his low air speed. Furthermore, it, along with his low falling speed, leaves him highly vulnerable to juggles, as he cannot reach the ground effectively to escape them (this is one of the major factors in his poor matchup with Marth, who is capable of both starting and maintaining juggles on Luigi very effectively). A very high short hop and a low falling speed also gives Luigi among the worst SHFFLs in the game, even with his low-lag aerials. Finally, his low falling speed is what makes him vulnerable to being KOed off the top blast line (especially by characters with powerful vertical finishers, like Fox and ), and being juggled in the air.

Outside of his approach, Luigi suffers from an exploitable recovery. Although his two primary recovery moves, Super Jump Punch and Green Missile have decent range (and Green Missile can be used repeatedly when recovering high), they are extremely linear in trajectory; Super Jump Punch does not move Luigi horizontally at all and Green Missile moves him horizontally and then causes him to fall significantly during the high ending lag. The slow and linear nature of these moves make his recovery easy to edgeguard on reaction, undermining his otherwise relatively long recovery. While Fireball can be used as a potentially potent edgeguard breaker, characters with reflectors can easily punish and gimp Luigi as a result, on top of its high ending lag. His Super Jump Punch also makes for one of the poorest meteor cancels in the game. He can also recover using the Luigi Cyclone, which gives vertical and horizontal distance, but strangely, the Cyclone needs to be "charged" before it allows Luigi to rise while using it (the move becomes "charged" when it is completed or is interrupted while Luigi is touching the ground). In comparison to Mario Tornado and Dr. Tornado, it also requires intense button mashing to rise; many Luigi players must hold the controller in a different way to normal (such as balancing it on their leg) to be able to press the B button fast enough to utilize the Cyclone as an effective recovery move.

Overall, Luigi is a character that tends to run hot and cold. He lacks many particularly safe approaches on the ground outside of wavedashing, and his aerial approaches are very poor, which generally leaves him vulnerable to characters with good zoning ability. Additionally, Luigi is over-reliant on wavedashing; a highly effective Luigi player must have perfect control over his wavedash distance. However, if Luigi can get within range to where he can land his blows, he can quickly and efficiently take the opponents' stock with effective use of his wavesmashes and versatile aerials. While he requires a large amount of technical skill and relies on situational attacks more than most characters, mastering Luigi's moveset rewards players with unpredictability and very strong offensive potential that can't be taken lightly by opponents.

Changes from Super Smash Bros.
Given that Luigi was considered to be the worst character in Smash 64 being ranked at the lowest position on the latest tier list at 12th, Luigi was significantly buffed from his transition from Smash 64 to Melee. Luigi greatly benefits from Melee's new mechanics most notably wavedashing. Wavedashing immensely improves Luigi's otherwise poor grounded mobility and it now gives his low traction an advantage rather than it only being a huge detriment. Luigi also benefits from the inclusion of up and down throws as it gives him a powerful chaingrabbing game. A wide variety of his moves have also seen improvements to their speed and some moves such as down smash and neutral aerial have gained combo potential.

However, Luigi has also seen some significant nerfs. Despite gaining some new KO options, many of Luigi's attacks have reduced KO potential including his up smash, back throw and Luigi Cyclone (which is also slower). His recovery is also worse. While his new side special Green Missile grants him an extra recovery option, it is very slow and predictable and it can easily be challenged most of the time. Luigi Cyclone grants less height and it now needs to be charged on the ground before it can be used in the air for recovery purposes and Super Jump Punch covers much less distance especially horizontally. In addition, Super Jump Punch is both slower and much weaker especially the aerial version and it is a lot more difficult to combo into. Despite gaining new combo options, he has also lost one of his most valuable combo options in the form of his up aerial which now has increased startup lag, a worse auto-cancel window and it no longer sends opponents vertically significantly hindering its combo and juggling potential (no longer leading into Super Jump Punch) although it now has less ending lag and higher edgeguarding potential.

Overall, while Luigi's direct changes do not significantly buff him, the changes to the game's mechanics (mainly the inclusion of wavedashing) have immensely helped him pushing him into the mid tiers. It also helps that his damage output and auto-cancel ability are greater relative to the cast making him shine in those areas more than he did in Smash 64.

Ground attacks

 * Neutral attack:
 * Forward tilt:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward tilt:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:

Aerial attacks

 * Neutral aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:

Throws/other attacks

 * Grabs:
 * Forward throw:
 * Back throw:
 * Taunt:
 * Back throw:
 * Taunt:
 * Taunt:
 * Taunt:
 * Taunt:

Special moves

 * Fireball:
 * Green Missile:
 * Super Jump Punch:
 * Luigi Cyclone:
 * Green Missile:
 * Super Jump Punch:
 * Luigi Cyclone:
 * Super Jump Punch:
 * Luigi Cyclone:
 * Luigi Cyclone:
 * Luigi Cyclone:
 * Luigi Cyclone:
 * Luigi Cyclone:
 * Luigi Cyclone:
 * Luigi Cyclone:
 * Luigi Cyclone:
 * Luigi Cyclone:
 * Luigi Cyclone:
 * Luigi Cyclone:
 * Luigi Cyclone:
 * Luigi Cyclone:
 * Luigi Cyclone:

Version history
PAL

Moveset
For a gallery of Luigi's hitboxes, see here.

Stats
NTSC

PAL

Most historically significant players
Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the 2019 MPGR, which recognizes the official top 100 players in the world in Super Smash Bros. Melee.


 * See also: Category:Luigi players (SSBM)


 * - The best Luigi player of all time but is currently inactive. Ranked 63rd on the 2018 MPGR. Placed 7th at and 25th at, taking sets over players such as  and.
 * - One of the best Luigi players in the world. Placed 9th at  and 33rd at  with wins over, , and . Was ranked 90th on the 2017 SSBMRank.
 * - Currently considered the best active Luigi player in the world. Placed 7th at, 17th at , and 25th at with wins over , , , and . Ranked 52nd on the 2022 MPGR.
 * - The best Luigi in Europe. Placed 7th at and 9th at . Has wins over, , and . Ranked 25th on the European Melee Power Rankings.
 * (#74) - Previously considered the best Luigi player in the world. Placed 7th at and 25th at  with wins over, , and . Ranked 58th on the 2018 MPGR.
 * (#75) - The former best Luigi player in SoCal before he switched to Fox. Placed 33rd at and . Has wins over, , , and.
 * - Placed 33rd at and 49th at . Has wins over, , and . Ranked as high as 9th on the SoCal Melee Power Rankings.
 * - The best Luigi in MD/VA. Notably defeated Mango at Pound 3 and also has wins over dizzkidboogie, Swiftbass, Husband, and Cool Lime. He was ranked 98th on the 2013 SSBMRank.
 * - He discovered and popularized the Vududash. Placed 7th at and 25th at . Ranked 5th on the Pittsburgh Melee Power Rankings.

Tier placement and history
Luigi was once ranked quite high on the tier list, hovering around positions 6 to 9 for about the first year of Melee's metagame. He then saw a large drop to 12th, which can be attributed to his low traction leading to slippery movement, predictable recovery, and short reach, which many players of top tier characters began adapting to and countering in their own metagames, resulting in worse matchups for Luigi; he was also seen as outclassed by both and, who either had more power or a less risky combo game, respectively. He then fell to the top of low tier for many years to come. However, with excellent performances by dedicated professionals such as and  showing Luigi's extremely quick mobility and approach with the wavedash and waveland, as well as his great aerial game and KO power despite his poor reach, opinions of Luigi began to change. In recent tournaments such as EVO 2013 and The Big House 5, Luigi players have placed relatively high with lacking similar performances by Mario, resulting in Luigi pulling ahead back into the middle tier, three spots above Mario at 12th place. Today, Luigi is still a solid mid tier character who has a relatively small, but strong, player base, and he makes decent impressions in large tournaments.

In Classic Mode, Luigi can appear as an ordinary opponent, an ally in team and giant battles, alongside, , or in a team, a giant opponent, the sole member of a multi-character battle, or a metal character. In all appearances, he either appears on or Mushroom Kingdom II with the exception of the metal battle and when on a team with Yoshi, where he will fight the player on  or Yoshi's Story, respectively.

Adventure Mode
Luigi can appear in the Adventure Mode if the player finishes the first stage, Mushroom Kingdom, with the number two anywhere in the seconds meter (ex. 3:42:35), a cutscene will occur which will show Luigi taking Mario's place in the upcoming battle (unusually, it does not count if there is a two in the tens column, but not the ones column: ex. 3.25:35 will not count). The player will then have to battle a team of Luigi and. Of note is that Luigi can appear in the Adventure Mode without being unlocked; encountering him in the Adventure Mode prior to unlocking him is actually one of two criteria the player can meet to unlock him. Humorously, defeating Luigi yields the Luigi KO bonus, which is the one that awards least points to the player: a measly 20 points.

If the player has unlocked Luigi, Metal Luigi will appear in Stage 11-2: stage alongside Metal Mario.

All-Star Mode
Luigi and his allies are fought on.

Event Matches
Luigi is featured in the following event matches:
 * Event 31: Mario Bros. Madness: The player chooses any character and must fight and Luigi in a two-timed match on . The player must have the most points within the two minutes to clear this event.
 * Event 35: Time for a Checkup: The player controls Luigi must defeat a team of and  on Yoshi's Story.
 * Event 38: Super Mario Bros. 2: The player chooses any character and must defeat Mario, Luigi, and Peach in a two-stock match on Mushroom Kingdom II. Both the characters and the stage are a direct throwback to the original Super Mario Bros. 2, an NES sequel to Super Mario Bros.
 * Event 40: All-Star Match 4: Luigi is the second opponent to be fought in this series of staged battles. The player battles him on Mushroom Kingdom II, which will transition to the next stage if Luigi gets defeated. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat him along with, , , and.
 * Event 42: Trouble King 2: The player controls Luigi and must defeat a giant on the stage Poké Floats, with both players having two stocks each.

Trophies
In addition to the normal trophy about Luigi as a character, there are two trophies about him as a fighter, unlocked by completing both Adventure and All-Star modes respectively with Luigi on any difficulty:

Trivia

 * A beta platform that doesn't exist in the actual Hyrule Temple stage can be seen in the short clip that plays when the player completes a single player mode with Luigi.
 * Beating Luigi in the Adventure Mode only gives the player 20 bonus points, the smallest bonus point increase in the game. Luigi is also the only unlockable character who can appear in Adventure Mode prior to unlocking him.
 * Luigi is the only unlockable character to have his own cinematic, which plays when the player meets the criterion in Adventure Mode.
 * Luigi is the only SSB64 veteran and is overall one of the only Melee characters (,, , , and ) to not appear in the Melee intro.
 * Like in Smash 64, Luigi's voice clips in Melee are simply higher-pitched versions of Mario's (most of which are taken from Super Mario 64). This is despite the fact that Luigi had his own distinct voice in Mario Kart 64 (albeit by the same actor), which came out over two years before Smash 64. This is also the last time to do so to date.
 * There appear to be some errors with Luigi's voice clips when it comes to the pitch modulation, as some voice clips retain their original un-altered pitch, and in one case, namely his Luigi Cyclone voice clip, it is pitched slightly lower.
 * The only unique sound Luigi has in Melee is the Spring sound effect from Super Mario World, used in one of his victory poses (Green Missile simply reused Skull Bash's sound effect, and all other clips belonged to Mario).
 * Luigi is the only character in Melee that has a taunt that can damage a player.
 * Because of this, he is the only character where the Poser Power and Poser KO bonuses can be utilized.
 * and Luigi are the only veterans to be unlockable in Melee.
 * Luigi is the only playable character in Melee to already make his playable debut on the GameCube before this game, as Luigi's Mansion was released before Melee.