Fox (SSBM): Difference between revisions

'''Fox''' ({{ja|フォックス|Fokkusu}}, ''Fox'') is a playable [[starter character]] in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]''.

Fox currently ranks 1st on the ''Melee'' [[tier list]], a moderate improvement from his already high 4th ranking in ''Smash 64'' and is his best placement in the series to date. He is emblematic of speed, possessing fast attacks that also give him excellent comboing and damaging abilities. Overall, he can dominate foes with his quick movement and overpowering offense in all areas of his game. He also boasts numerous approaching methods, giving him some of the best neutral game options among the entire cast. He has access to effective, long-distance recovery options in [[Fire Fox]] and [[Fox Illusion]]. He has KO options and setups at a wide variety of percentages, and his high falling speed makes him resilient to vertical KOs. His aerial game also includes several low-lag yet effective and powerful moves to complement his ground game, especially when [[SHFFL]]'d, and is incredibly effective at approaching and edgeguarding. The main reason for Fox's success, however, is his {{b|Reflector|Fox}} (also known as the "shine"), which is one of the most versatile tools in the game. Aside from its intended purpose, the Reflector activates on frame 1 (making it the fastest move in the game), has set knockback, and can be [[jump cancel]]ed; this allows for [[shine spike]] gimps, neutral stance resets, getup option mixups, and even combos when [[wavedash]]ing is incorporated.

Despite being ranked first, Fox is not flawless. One of Fox’s primary weaknesses is his rather short [[reach]], due to his lack of disjointed hitboxes outside of his Shine. As such, he gets outspaced by other top tiers, especially in aerial combat, though his fast movement can compensate for this. His high falling speed makes him very easy to combo and chaingrab off of a single conversion from the opponent, and his light weight can result in extremely early horizontal KOs if the player's [[DI]] is poor. Although he boasts long-distance recovery options, their linear paths makes it easier for certain characters like {{SSBM|Marth}} to predict his recovery path and [[edge guard]] or [[gimp]] him. Fox also has an extremely high technical learning curve, as most of his techniques require extremely nimble fingers and fast reaction time. Also, due to his aforementioned flaws, Fox is considered to be a glass cannon, where he could lose a stock if a single mistake is made, giving him a high cerebral learning curve. So while Fox has incredible fighting prowess and potential, many consider Fox to be arguably the hardest character to play as and master, requiring a lot of practice. Although Fox can rack up damage quickly, his combo game is rather unreliable, as many of his strings rely on tech-chasing and DI mixups rather than guaranteed hits. Fox also lacks a good combo finisher in his kit, as his shine spike is extremely situational and cannot be properly used to end his combos. Unlike other top tiers, such as {{SSBM|Falco}}, {{SSBM|Marth}}, {{SSBM|Sheik}}, and {{SSBM|Captain Falcon}}, who can net a kill off of starting a combo at mid percents, Fox's best option after a combo is to create an edgeguard situation (usually with his {{Mvsub|Fox|SSBM|back aerial}}), which gives the opponent a chance to recover. As such, Fox relies on getting a kill confirm at high percents to net KOs if he can't successfully edgeguard or shine spike his opponents.

==Attributes==

==Changes from ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]''==

===Aesthetics===

**{{nerf|This new taunt has much more ending lag (FAF 60 → 110), making it riskier to use.}}

===Attributes===

*{{change|Fox [[falling speed|fall]]s significantly faster (2 (60) → 2.8), to the point where it is now almost as high as his [[fast fall]]ing speed in the previous game. His increased falling speed aids his [[approach]] and pressure ability due to his very strong [[SHFFL]], and makes him harder to KO vertically, but makes him more susceptible to combos.}}

**{{nerf|Fox's [[fast fall]]ing speed is also faster (3.2 (96) → 3.4). However, the difference between his falling speed and fast falling speed is much lower (increase: 60% → 21.4%), which makes it more predictable when landing and gives him fewer options in the air.}}

*{{nerf|Fox's snout and the darker portion of his tail now have hurtboxes. This make Fox easier to hit.}}

*{{buff|The introduction of [[air dodge]]s has immensely benefited Fox as it gives him access to [[wavedashing]] and wavelanding and his fast jumping and falling speed allow him to make excellent use of wavedashing.}}

**{{buff|Fire Fox has a larger hitbox (3u → 4u).}}

**{{buff|Fire Fox travels further and faster.}}

**{{buff|Fox can now grab ledges from behind after dashing with Fire Fox.}}

**{{buff|Fire Fox has less landing lag (12 frames → 6/3).}}

==Version history==

Despite this, his tournament viability is not severely affected, as he is also ranked 1st on the [[PAL tier list]] (though recently, this has become more debatable).

Fox Illusion Move.jpg|Using [[Fox Illusion]] on Pokémon Stadium.

FoxReflectorMelee.jpg|[[Reflector (Fox)|Reflecting]] [[Charizard]]'s Flamethrower on [[Brinstar]].

FalcoClassicMode.jpg|Lying next to {{SSBM|Falco}} on [[Corneria]].

CaptainFalconClassicMode.jpg|Knocked back by {{SSBM|Captain Falcon}}'s [[Falcon Kick]] on Corneria.

==External links==

{{SSBMCharacters}}

{{EnemiesAdvSSBM}}