Jigglypuff (SSB4): Difference between revisions

'''Jigglypuff''' ({{Ja|プリン|Purin}}, ''Purin'') is a playable character in ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]''. It was formally added to the official website on November 5th, 2014, though the launch of {{for3ds}} in Japan two months prior meant that its return to the series was already known. It was also seen several times during the [[Super Smash Bros. for Wii U: 50-Fact Extravaganza]]. Jigglypuff is once again voiced by Rachael Lillis in English and Mika Kanai in Japanese, albeit via recycled voice clips. As in previous games, it also has different voice actresses in French and German.

Jigglypuff is currently ranked 58th out of 58 on the [[tier list]], placing it at the bottom of both the H tier and the overall tier list. This is a very slight drop from its already abysmal placement in ''Brawl'', where it ranked in the bottom tier at 36th out of 38. Jigglypuff retains its strong air game; it has nearly unrivaled aerial mobility thanks to its high [[air speed]] and multiple [[midair jump]]s, as well as good [[juggling]] ability thanks to its fast and long-lasting aerial attacks. All of these attributes facilitate a strong [[edgeguarding]] ability, for it can perform its signature [[Wall of Pain]] technique, and it has a potent finisher in its back aerial. Additionally, [[Rest]] has regained some of its power that was lost in ''Brawl''.

Overall, Jigglypuff's weaknesses almost completely nullify its strengths, which has resulted in it remaining a bottom-tier character. When coupled with its lack of any remotely worthwhile buffs, Jigglypuff has received virtually no tournament representation or results at high levels of play. However, it does have some positive results to its credit; {{Sm|Hungrybox}}, {{Sm|Serynder}}, and {{Sm|CrazieCuban}} have performed decently with it at regional tournaments, while {{Sm|LeeT}} notably placed 33rd at [[Shine 2016]] while exclusively using Jigglypuff as a solo main.

Jigglypuff is a character of the extremes, as evident with its attributes: it has the second highest [[traction]], the second fastest [[air speed]], it is tied for the eleventh fastest [[air acceleration]], the slowest [[falling speed]] and the lowest [[gravity]]. These attributes make Jigglypuff a very mobile character in the air and give it easily controllable ground movement. However, it has the slowest [[walking]] speed and the second slowest [[dash]]ing speed, the lightest [[weight]] and the lowest [[jump]]s. As such, these attributes make Jigglypuff unable to quickly traverse the stage on foot and susceptible to early KOs. To make up for its low jumping force, however, it has six [[midair jump]]s, which further enhance its aerial evasiveness.

Unsurprisingly, Jigglypuff's main strength is its formidable air game. Excluding back aerial, all of its aerial attacks have lingering hitboxes, and in the case of down aerial, multiple hits. Their duration is the primary reason Jigglypuff is deceptively difficult to challenge in the air, as opponents will most likely collide with an attack's final frames. All of its aerials, aside from its up aerial, also have enough range to be [[spacing|spaced]] correctly thanks to Jigglypuff's aerial mobility, allowing it to zone and [[approach]] opponents safely in the air. Each of Jigglypuff's aerials also have their own distinct strengths. Neutral aerial is its fastest aerial and one of the strongest [[sex kick]]s in the game, even when stale, and can easily [[gimp]] poor recoveries due to its late hitbox being sufficiently strong enough to do so. Due to its speed and power, it also works as a good [[out of shield]] or approach option. Forward aerial has the second weakest knockback of Jigglypuff's aerials, but this grants it good combo potential in return. It can also easily put opponents off-stage, and is the main component of the very well-known [[wall of pain]]: once an opponent with a poor recovery is sent off-stage, Jigglypuff can follow up with several other forward aerials until they reach the blast zone, from where Jigglypuff can finish the opponent off with another forward or a neutral aerial. Back aerial is Jigglypuff's strongest aerial, KOing reliably at 135%. It is also safe on shield due to its high damage output and above average hitlag, though it is also its slowest aerial, making it a bit predictable. Up aerial has a very long-lasting hitbox, which can be problematic for any opponent that has issues dealing with [[juggling]]. Lastly, down aerial can be used as a highly damaging out of shield or pressuring option, and has low ending lag. It can sometimes also work as an anti-juggling option against characters with slow aerial mobility or moves.

Lastly, Jigglypuff has among the least effective [[Character customization|custom moves]] in the game, with only three having utility that overall surpass the default versions. Relentless Rollout has much less power, but is much faster, hits multiple times and pierces opponents, making it less punishable and allowing it to be used as a recovery mix-up. Pound Blitz is slower and less powerful, but can still pressure shields while hitting multiple times and granting more momentum. Hyper Voice is better for protecting Jigglypuff, since it deals reasonable knockback and works in the air. These benefits are marginal, however, and its other custom moves are disregarded in favor of the default versions due to their infamously low utility. Spinphony is its most notably inferior custom move, as it has very high start-up lag, a very long interval between its active hitboxes, deals no damage whatsoever, and very long ending lag, to where one could use it from the upper blast zone of the stage, and be dragged down to the lower blast zone by the ending of the move, which are flaws that more than make up for the moves' utility at reversing opponents out.

Overall, Jigglypuff can rack up damage and KO opponents fast, but can be KO'd just as quickly. As a result of its very risky playstyle and mechanics, its popularity among competitive players still remains poor, as it has notoriously low tournament representation and almost no tournament results in singles at high levels of play. Even so, Jigglypuff has already received better representation and results than in ''Brawl'', as it has more dedicated players, such as {{Sm|CrazieCuban}}, {{Sm|Hungrybox}}, {{Sm|RDR7}}, {{Sm|LeeT}}, and {{Sm|Serynder}}, who have performed decently at their local regionals. It should also be noted that Jigglypuff fares much better in [[doubles]], as its combination of evasiveness and strength are well-suited to this environment courtesy of a teammate's attacks giving Jigglypuff many new options.

On the other hand, Jigglypuff benefits from the drastic changes to [[hitstun]], as it is now able to perform true combos with its aerials again, although its air game has been nerfed: its up, down and back aerials (particularly the latter) have increased lag. Its forward aerial, which was a staple move in previous games, deals less damage and has much less knockback scaling, making it significantly less useful compared to what it was, while its lower short hop removes both its notable ability to use two aerials in one short hop. Due to this, a down aerial no longer autocancels out of a short hop, nerfing its approach. Its ground game was also weakened, as it no longer as access to its [[DACUS]] and its smash attacks deal less damage and knockback, with the reduction in endlag for its down and up smashes and its faster dashing speed failing to compensate for this well enough. Lastly, because of these changes, its KOing ability is thus worse, and even with the changes to hitstun allowing for some confirms into Rest, it still has difficulty landing said move.

Despite these buffs, however, they do not properly compensate for the large nerfs it has received. As a result, it is one of the few characters to have been clearly nerfed in its transition from ''Brawl'', alongside {{SSB4|Meta Knight}}, {{SSB4|Marth}}, {{SSB4|Falco}}, {{SSB4|Olimar}} and {{SSB4|King Dedede}}. However, it is important to note several points: the former three characters (as well as several bottom tier characters like {{SSB4|Charizard}}, {{SSB4|Ganondorf}} and {{SSB4|Zelda}}) have received buffs over game updates, whereas Jigglypuff has not. Despite the latter two characters not receiving noticeable buffs on game updates, their nerfs in the transition are not significant enough to worsen their respective standings among the ''SSB4'' cast when compared to Jigglypuff's more critical flaws. The majority of the ''Brawl'' cast has also been buffed to varying degrees, most notably its fellow bottom-tiered characters, such as {{SSB4|Mario}} and {{SSB4|Captain Falcon}}. Lastly, it doesn't really benefit from a slightly more favorable matchup spread due to certain dominant characters from ''Brawl'', such as {{SSBB|Meta Knight}}, being nerfed, as they still have clear strengths that Jigglypuff either lacks or said strengths get counterbalanced by its weaknesses, allowing those characters to overcome Jigglypuff. As such, Jigglypuff's standing among the rest of the cast is worse than in ''Brawl'', which is reflected in its tier position and it once again lacking viability in competitive play.

*{{change|Jigglypuff's design has undergone a few changes, much like the other playable Pokémon in ''SSB4''. It now has smaller eyes, which are a brighter shade of cyan and farther apart from each other. Its mouth is also wider, positioned higher and stays closed as a smile, rather than being perpetually open. Additionally, Jigglypuff is also more expressive.}}

*{{change|The general change in size between smaller and larger characters makes Jigglypuff's hurtbox smaller than in ''Brawl'', which is especially noticeable among characters typically depicted as large or small in their respective series. However, this also hinders its range.}}

*{{buff|Neutral aerial deals 1% more damage (10% → 11%) and has increased knockback (20 (base)/90 (scaling) → 30/100), significantly improving its KO potential.}}

*{{buff|Forward aerial's decreased knockback scaling improves its combo potential, similarly to in ''Melee''.}}

*{{nerf|Back aerial has increased start-up (8 frames → 12), ending (20 frames → 27) and landing lag (15 frames → 18). It also has decreased active frames (4 frames → 2) and a slower [[autocancel]] window (frame 23 → 28). Altogether, these changes significantly hinder its spacing and [[Wall of Pain]] potentials.}}

*{{buff|Up aerial has increased active frames (9 frames → 13) and increased vertical range.}}

*{{nerf|Down aerial deals 2% less damage if all hits connect (16% → 14%). It also has increased start-up lag (frame 5 → 7) and no longer autocancels from a short hop.}}

*{{buff|Dash and pivot grabs have decreased start-up lag (frame 10-11 → 8-9 (dash), frame 10-11 → 9-10 (pivot)).}}

*{{nerf|Fully charged [[Rollout]] deals 4% less damage (18% → 14%) and has decreased knockback. Jigglypuff can also no longer move in midair after hitting an opponent, significantly hindering its recovery potential.}}

*{{buff|[[Rest]] deals 5% more damage (15% → 20%), which largely restores its power from ''Melee'' despite having decreased knockback scaling (75 → 66). It also has a larger hitbox (2.6u → 3.4u) and has decreased ending lag (246 frames → 226), slightly improving its accuracy and safety.}}

*{{change|The implementation of blast KOs from the upper blast line hinders Rest's safety as a KOing option, due to it possibly allowing the opponent to respawn quickly and have a chance to punish Jigglypuff. However, the lengthening of [[screen KO]]s hinders an opponent's chance to punish Jigglypuff, as they now last just as long as [[star KO]]s.}}

*{{change|Puff Up's aesthetic visuals have changed. Jigglypuff's eyes continue to glow yellow from the [[Final Smash]] effect when performing Puff Up and it now makes the stage shake.}}

Jigglypuff is notorious for not receiving any direct changes despite being universally considered a bottom-tier character. However, the changes to shield mechanics in updates [[1.1.0]] and [[1.1.1]] indirectly nerfed Jigglypuff, as the increased [[shieldstun]] makes its susceptibility to being instantly KO'd by having its shield broken more of a liability. Conversely, these changes also make Jigglypuff's attacks slightly safer on shield (most notably its back aerial) and benefits Pound's high shield damage output, slightly improving its limited approach. It also slightly benefits from the nerfs given to some of its hardest matchups in game updates, such as {{SSB4|Diddy Kong}}, {{SSB4|Sheik}}, {{SSB4|Zero Suit Samus}} and {{SSB4|Bayonetta}}. Overall, Jigglypuff fares worse relative to the cast than it did during the initial release, due to not receiving any truly significant changes from game updates.

|neutraldesc=Two alternating punches. It is very quick, which allows it to function as a pseudo-[[jab cancel]] into itself, forward tilt, down tilt, a grab or [[Pound]]. However, it is extremely short-ranged.

|utiltdesc=A scorpion kick. Has some start-up, but is somewhat powerful for a tilt attack, as it begins KOing at 143%. Although it is best used for scoring KOs, it also possesses some combo potential similarly to {{SSB4|Kirby}}'s up tilt, though not to the same degree. It can combo into itself up to three times, a reversed forward tilt, an uncharged up smash, or a short hopped up aerial. However, these combos are only effective against heavyweights and fast-fallers beginning at 0% and up to 36%, with the first combo in particular only being effective against fast-fallers when it is used up to three times. While it can hit opponents in front of Jigglypuff, it has to practically touch them in order to land it.

|dashdesc=A lunging headbutt. Decently quick with good knockback for a dash attack and its hitbox blocks opposing attacks, although it is unsafe on hit at low percentages, and Jigglypuff's slow dashing speed somewhat limits its utility. Begins KOing at 129% when near the edge.

|dsmashdesc=A spinning split kick. It is short-ranged, but is a [[semi-spike]] that deals horizontal knockback that can launch opponents sliding a long way across the stage. It can also hit below the edge, placing recovering opponents in a very vulnerable position.

|grabdesc=Reaches out. Jigglypuff's overall grab range is the second shortest in the game, surpassed only by {{SSB4|R.O.B.}}'s. However, each of its grabs has low ending lag.

|pummeldesc=A slap. Its damage output and decent speed make it very effective, to the point that it is perceived as one of the best pummels in the game.

|bthrowdesc=A [[wikipedia:Suplex#German suplex|German suplex]]. Good for setting up edgeguards with its aerials.

|nsdefdesc=[[bulbapedia:Rollout (move)|Rolls forward to slam into the opponent]], similarly to [[Egg Roll]]. The move's power, range, and speed can be increased by holding the special button. When it is fully charged, Jigglypuff will giggle and briefly flash. Hitting a non-shielding opponent will cause Jigglypuff to rebound, which renders it unable to do anything else until it lands or is hit. This makes Rollout dangerous to use off-stage or at an edge, since the rebound will cause Jigglypuff to spin helplessly as it descends to the lower blast line.