Mr. Game & Watch


 * "Mr. G" redirects here. For the alter ego, see Smasher:Goblin.

Mr. Game & Watch (, Mr. Game & Watch) is a composite representation of various generic characters featured in Nintendo's  products and video game series created in 1980 by Gunpei Yokoi.

Origin
The composite Mr. Game & Watch character debuted in Super Smash Bros. Melee. While some Game & Watch games starred specific characters, such as Mario in , a majority simply starred nameless, simply-drawn characters. These characters, due to the LCD display of the Game & Watch, could only move in alternating, preset frames, similar to the numbers on a calculator. Also, the animation frames were monochrome, simply being black LCD frames against a preset background.

In translating this era of gaming to Smash, many of these generic characters' animations and abilities were combined into one new entity, Mr. Game & Watch. Visually, Mr. Game & Watch's standard design most heavily resembles the people in need of rescue from Fire and the pedestrians from Manhole. In keeping with the limitations of the Game & Watch's animations, Mr. Game & Watch is rendered as a flat, two-dimensional character with a choppy, frame-by-frame animation style.

Since debuting in Melee, Mr. Game & Watch has made a few appearances in other games. He has a minor speaking role as the host of one of the menus in . He has also made a number of cameos in other Nintendo games, including multiple entries in the WarioWare series, ', ', and .

As a playable character
Mr. Game & Watch makes his Super Smash Bros. series debut as the final unlockable character in Melee. Mr. Game & Watch can be unlocked one of four ways: completing either or Adventure Mode with all characters on any difficulty and stock or the Target Test with all characters, or playing 1000 vs. mode matches.

Mr. Game & Watch fights with a variety of items derived from the Game & Watch series. Chef, his neutral special move, launches sausages at random distances from a pan. At closer distances said pan can be used as a semi-spike. Judgment, his side special move, is a hammer with randomly chosen strength and effects, ranging from weak (1) to strong (9). Fire, his up special move, launches Mr. Game & Watch at a lengthy vertical distance, with the help of a firefighter team; note that this is the only up special attack which gets more distance when a character is big by getting a mushroom. Lastly, Oil Panic, his down special move, allows him to catch energy based projectiles. Once three projectiles are caught, the contents can be dumped as a flow of oil, causing damage depending on the projectiles caught. This move can be used to cause the Kamikaze Glitch.

Mr. Game & Watch translated well into Super Smash Bros. Melee. However, this proves to become a severe disadvantage. His movement is choppy and sluggish, thus meaning he becomes dependent on wavedashing and dash-dancing as his primary method of movement. His moves, primarily his special moves, have very limited uses in competitive play and only two of his aerial attacks can be L-canceled. However, the few usable moves he has come equipped with high range and very large hitboxes, many of which are powerful finishers. Aside from his moves, Mr. Game & Watch's throws are very useful due to the fact they can all be used to chain grab. Mr. Game & Watch's defensive game is arguably his worst property; with an extremely small shield (which leaves his hands and feet unprotected, even at maximum size) and a very poor sidestep and roll, he has a very weak defensive game. This, combined with the fact that he is very light, causes him to die at very low percentages. Mr. Game & Watch players must therefore be able to read their opponents ridiculously well in order to simply survive and to have a chance in competitive play. As a result, Mr. Game & Watch is currently ranked in the bottom of the C- tier at 19th out of 26 in the Melee tier list.

Trophies
As a playable character, Mr. Game & Watch has three trophies - a normal trophy won beating the with Mr. Game & Watch on any difficulty, and "Smash Red" and "Smash Blue" trophies are acquired by beating the Adventure and All-Star modes, respectively.

As a playable character
Mr. Game & Watch returns as an unlockable playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He has been heavily buffed, moving up from the bottom tier of Melee to the mid-high tier in Brawl. Mr. Game & Watch's attacks have been powered up and sped up, and he arguably has the best set of smash attacks in the game. He has been given a new technique, called Bucket Braking, which lets him negate all knockback while in midair.

Interestingly, in a DOJO!! update where Sakurai explained some mysteries about the Subspace Emissary, he says that Tabuu used Mr. Game & Watch's flat qualities to create Shadow Bugs, making Mr. Game & Watch the origin of Shadow Bugs, though Mr. Game & Watch is not aware of it himself.

Mr. Game & Watch has been significantly buffed from Melee, as he benefits from Brawl's new physics, along with other various buffs. The introduction of hitstun canceling and momentum canceling helps Mr. Game & Watch more than most characters, as it not only makes him harder to combo but it also significantly improves his endurance mainly due to Bucket Braking. Other new Brawl mechanics such as B-reversing also help him out, and the removal of certain Melee mechanics such as L-canceling affects him less than other characters. His shield game has been improved significantly. His shield is much larger, and his sidestep is no longer one of the worst in the game. Overall, Mr. Game & Watch is a much more effective character than in Melee, although he still struggles against the stronger characters in the game, resulting in his results being above average, ranking 16th out of 38 in the current Brawl tier list in the upper mid-tier.

As a playable character
Mr. Game & Watch is once again an unlockable playable character in SSB4. He was teased before release in a small appearance at the end of 's reveal trailer to illustrate how the two are the oldest characters in Smash Bros. history (even older than Mario and Donkey Kong); in that cameo, he notably performs his down taunt from Brawl, which was replaced by the release of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

Overall, Mr. Game & Watch was nerfed in the transition to Smash 4. The removal of Bucket Braking was his most notable negative change, as it greatly hinders his endurance (especially horizontally), considering his status as a lightweight character. Several of his moves also have additional ending lag, such as his up tilt, down tilt, and neutral aerial, and some of his moves are weaker finishers, such as his forward aerial. However, his attacks possess high damage output, with some becoming more efficient, including his back aerial's multiple hits linking better, and up smash, which now includes invincibility on startup. His throws have also improved, as they are all now performed much faster, with down throw being especially great at starting combos. However, his nerfs are considerably enough to cause a drop in his tier placement, now ranking 38th out of 54 on the Smash 4 tier list, and he has seen lackluster tournament representation, although his results have been above-average.

As a playable character
Mr. Game & Watch is once again an unlockable playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, alongside the entire playable roster of the series. He now changes appearance depending on the game from which the move he is using originates. His moveset has been significantly altered; for instance, he has a new forward aerial in the form of a bomb projectile, and his up air now functions similarly to Mega Man's. In addition, his Final Smash, Octopus, now carries and drags opponents offscreen.

Having been regarded as a lower mid-tier character in SSB4 (38th out of 54), Mr. Game & Watch has been significantly buffed in his transition to Ultimate. In a similar fashion to Link, Mr. Game & Watch has undergone a massive overhaul in his moveset that goes beyond changes to aesthetic appearances; a majority of his moves have been altered in range, damage, knockback, lag, or have been completely reworked altogether in their purpose and utility. As a result, Mr. Game & Watch has undergone a plethora of buffs and nerfs in his transition to Ultimate, arguably the most out of any other returning veteran. While these changes have weakened his most powerful tools and set-ups from SSB4, they have also greatly improved several of his more underwhelming moves in his toolkit from the previous game. As a result, he is widely agreed to be a high tier or top tier character and his iteration in Ultimate is almost universally agreed to be his best, being ranked 18th out of 82 on the current Ultimate tier list.

Trivia

 * Conceptually, Mr. Game & Watch is the only 2D playable character in the Smash Bros. series. However, in the technical sense, he is composed of a 3D model just like all other characters; this model is flattened along one axis to provide the illusion he is 2D. This flattening effect is applied to other characters in 2D stages such as Flat Zone and Pac-Land. The 2D illusion is broken somewhat when Mr. Game & Watch becomes metal, is a false character, is covered in, or if the Z-axis glitch is performed on him. as his body is no longer featureless and appears to be rounded. This can also occur during certain cinematic Final Smashes, such as Dede-Rush, Triple Wolf, or Supernova. His amiibo is also 3D, though it more emulates his 2D appearance than using a fully 3D model.
 * Mr. Game & Watch is technically the oldest playable character in the Super Smash Bros. series, having debuted in April 1980 (Pac-Man would debut in Japan a month later).
 * Although the Game & Watch was first released in 1980, Mr. Game & Watch didn't conceptually exist until Super Smash Bros. Melee. This has led to some debate over whether or not Mr. Game & Watch should be considered the same entity as the playable characters from the original Game & Watch handhelds.
 * That said, Mr. Game & Watch, as a character in Smash Bros., is an amalgamation of different Game & Watch titles, so it's likely that he represents the entire Game & Watch brand rather than a specific game. This is further supported in Ultimate, where Mr. Game & Watch, for several of his moves, changes his appearance to resemble the character in the game from which the move originated.
 * Mr. Game & Watch and Falco are the only characters who appeared as unlockable in multiple titles to remain as unlockable in both versions of Super Smash Bros. 4.
 * Counting the two versions separately, they, along with Jigglypuff, are also tied for the most unlockable appearances in the series, with five.
 * Although Mr. Game & Watch has always been a unique character as opposed to a clone, he incidentally shared all of his attributes - except for his weight, air speed, and air acceleration - with Mario in Melee. The two characters shared their dashing speed, walking speed, falling speed, fast falling speed, traction, and gravity.

Mr. Game & Watch