Luigi (SSBM)

This page is about Luigi's Melee appearance. For information about his SSB appearance, see here.

Luigi (Japanese: ルイージ, Ruīji) is an unlockable character in Melee. Luigi's moveset is markedly similar to that of Mario, though his attacks often differ in knockback and trajectory. Per his physics in previous Nintendo games, Luigi is a floaty character with a high jump and low traction. As a result of his low traction, Luigi can lay claim to the longest wavedash in the game, which allows him to slide across the stage in lengthy bursts at speeds nearly as fast as Captain Falcon's dash. Luigi is also well-known for his powerful aerial attacks and the hit-or-miss nature of his Super Jump Punch and Green Missile.

Unlocking Luigi

To unlock Luigi, the player must clear the first level of Adventure mode with a 2 in the "seconds" digit of the clock. (Example: XX:X2^XX). After this requirement is met, Luigi will replace Mario in the accompanying cut-scene and battle. The player must then defeat Luigi within one minute. After Adventure Mode is completed, the player will face a CPU Luigi challenger and must defeat him to unlock Luigi.

Alternately, playing 800 versus matches will also unlock Luigi.

Luigi in competitive play

Luigi's aerial attacks are quick, effective and virtually lag-free. Additionally, due to his floaty nature and low-lag aerial attacks, Luigi's greatest strengths at high level play are the abilities to string together multiple aerials in single short hops and wavelanding aerials for fast and easy mobility along the stage.

Luigi is also a character who relies more heavily on luck than most of the others. With the 12.5% chance of a spontaneous misfire occurring on his Green Missile, Luigi can self-destruct unintentionally on smaller stages, but can also sometimes make a lucky recovery. Additionally, in order for his recovery to be at its most effective, Luigi needs to use his cyclone (down B) and rapidly tap B; to gain any height, he needs to have "charged" his cyclone by using it on the surface of the stage before being sent flying. As such, there is no guarantee that his maximum recovery distance will always be available in combat. Aside from possible misfires, Luigi's recovery is slow and predictable, due to his low air speed and his up B triple jump, which does not move Luigi horizontally at all.

Luigi's advantages and disadvantages are fairly distinct and as the game's depth has slowly been uncovered, his position in the tier list has fallen considerably from his rank in previous tier lists. Currently, he is ranked 14th in the tier list and second amongst the low tier characters, but in the past he has ranked as high as 6th. Although there is always debate amongst Luigi players, there is a general consensus that Luigi has difficult matchups against higher-tiered characters such as Marth and Sheik, in part because his strength in mid-air cannot coordinate easily with his reliance on ground-based movement and his low horizontal air speed. Many of the tournament-seasoned Luigis have either dropped off the professional scene or taken up different characters to keep pace with the steadily intensifying competition.

Moveset

Ground attacks

Neutral A combo

• A - Jab = 1-3%
• A-A - Jab = 1-2%
• A-A-A - Bump = 2-5%

Total damage = 4-10%

Luigi's neutral A combo is a three-hit attack consisting of two jabs followed by a hip bump. This combo can inflict up to 10% damage over three hits. It is useful as a low-damage opener. Because the third strike of the combo knocks the opponent away, and has a medium amount of lag, many players elect to omit the third strike of the combo. Luigi can also repeat the first strike of the neutral A by interrupting the combo with "down" on the control stick after each jab.

Another use of Luigi's neutral A is to interrupt projectiles. Since Luigi lacks a reflector, jabs serve as a low-lag alternative (as opposed to shielding). Examples of projectile-jabbing utility can be best seen against Mario's fireballs, Link's boomerangs and Dr. Mario's pills. Additionally, Luigi can use combo the first two punches into a Super Jump Punch against fast-fallers at higher percentages. However, it is easy to miss the final attack.

Tilts

• Forward tilt - Roundhouse = 5-10% damage

Luigi's forward tilt is a sideways kick with medium knockback. It is often used to knock back the opponent, giving Luigi extra time to maneuver; he cannot, however, combo out of his forward tilt. Like some other forward tilts, Luigi's can be angled; it is unique in this aspect because it has set knockback when angled downwards, but knocks back the target normally when angled up or sideways.

• Up tilt - Kittenswipe = 4-9% damage

Luigi's up tilt is a swipe that arcs over Luigi's head. Its upward trajectory makes up tilt well suited for comboing, especially against fast-fallers. The kittenswipe hits slightly in front of and behind him as well as above him, so juggling fast fallers can be effective for at least a few strikes even if they DI competently. Also, its hitbox lends itself better to hitting opponents on platforms than a lower-ranged up smash.

• Down tilt - Crouch Kick = 4-9% damage

In this attack Luigi crouches down and kicks low to the ground. It is a low-knockback attack, but unsuited to combos because it is too laggy. Since this attack hugs the ground, it can be used to attack a sweet spotting enemy, but competitive Luigi players rarely use this attack otherwise.

Smashes

• Forward smash - Poke = 7-19% damage

Luigi winds up and launches his hand straight into his opponent, sending them at a forward and upward trajectory. It can be angled up or down to vary the hitbox and shield stab the opponent. Luigi can also use forward smash as a combo finisher, in some cases. Additionally, charging a forward smash will cease Luigi momentum mid-wavedash, allowing him to come to an unexpected stop.

• Up smash - Headbutt = 9-23% damage

This up smash is nearly identical to Mario and Dr. Mario's headbutt with an up-and-behind trajectory, ideal for setting up aerial combos with Luigi. The player can also buffer a simple up smash in at the end of a wavedash which allows for an alternative vertical launcher to Luigi's common wavedash to down smash approach.

• Down smash - Sweep Kick = 9-23% damage

Luigi kicks out twice in a breakdancing motion, first in front and then behind. This attack has an upward trajectory and its knockback provides for aerial combos against low-damage enemies and KO's against high-damage enemies. The combination of the Sweep Kick's speed, range, comboability and power make it Luigi's most-used smash in competitive play.

Throws

• Forward throw - 4-7% damage

This throw is relatively weak but can be used near the ledge to set up Luigi's enemy for an edge-guard.

• Back throw - 5-10% damage

Luigi's strongest throw, it is used for throwing enemies off-stage.

• Up throw - 4-7% damage

Luigi's up throw can chain grab fast-fallers at low damage, as seen in Greenish Machine 2. If a person DI's, Luigi can follow the opponent up with a wavedash. This throw can also combo into up smash, down smash, or up tilt in various cases..

• Down throw - 3-7% damage

This throw sends the enemy upwards and slightly to the side, depending on the target's DI. Though it has low knockback, it does not stun the opponent long enough to combo or chain grab.

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial - Sex kick - 4-15% damage

Luigi's neutral aerial has the same knockback properties of most sex kicks; however, this sex kick is unique in that it sends enemies upwards. For this reason, Luigi's sex kick is a popular tool for juggling and comboing opponents. This neutral aerial has high speed and range, so it can be used as a combo breaker as well as a combo starter of Luigi's own.

• Forward aerial - Chop - 6-12% damage

Luigi's forward aerial is a chop with the hand. It has high horizontal knockback and is one of his primary KO'ing aerial attacks. It also has high knockback at low damage which lends itself well to Luigi's wavelanding ability, allowing him to string together multiple aerials over a long distance, with proper spacing.

• Back aerial - Drop Kick - 6-11% damage

Racking up damage in the air is quick and easy with Luigi back aerial kick which, like Mario and Dr. Mario's back aerials, comes out fast enough so that the user can often kick multiple times per jump. This attack is commonly used to edge-guard the opponent, because Luigi is facing backwards in position to edge-hog.

• Up aerial - Flip Kick - 7-13% damage

Due to Luigi's low falling speed, his up aerial flip kick doesn't offer the same juggling properties from the ground as Mario's; however, it is often used against opponents above Luigi on platforms, or as a vertical launcher to set up an aerial finisher like the Chop. The opponent's trajectory upon being hit is dependent on which part of the flip kick you are hitting them with.

• Down aerial - Spin Kick - 8-16% damage

Luigi sticks his feet out with a little twist and knocks its target outwards horizontally, making it a valuable edgeguarding alternative to the back aerial that also offers a little more power. Luigi's down aerial can also spike if he hits the opponent with his hip (in a similar fashion to Young Link's down aerial spike). Luigi's down aerial spike is a meteor smash and therefore can be meteor canceled.

Special moves

• Neutral B - Fireball - 6% damage

Luigi unleashes a green fireball that floats horizontally through mid-air (instead of bouncing like Mario's. This projectile has little use in competitive play, because it is too slow and can't be used in concert with other attacks besides sometimes to approach.

• Forward B - Green Missile - 9-26% damage

In this attack Luigi rears his head, charges up, and rockets off sideways. It is Luigi's primary means of recovery, and has a 1 in 8 chance of "misfiring," or sending Luigi much farther than usual and inflicting much more damage and knockback with very little lag. The Green Missile is Luigi's only special attack that is not at least aesthetically similar to Mario's special attack.

• Up B - Super Jump Punch - 1-25% damage

Super Jump Punch is an attack in which Luigi jumps up in mid-air with his fist raised. It is one of Luigi's triple jumps, but is more well-known for its attacking properties. This attack has a sweet spot - if the player hits the enemy with the center of the attack's hitbox (in a similar fashion to Jigglypuff's Rest), Super Jump Punch's knockback will be very high and the enemy is launched upwards. If the player hits the enemy with the side of the attack's hitbox, the enemy will not be knocked back at all. This property enables the Luigi Ladder, because a player can only be knocked out past the top blast line by an attack with knockback.

• Down B - Luigi Cyclone - up to 19% damage

Luigi spins around with his fists outstretched, hurting anybody that comes in contact with him. Unlike Mario and Dr. Mario's down B attacks, the Luigi Cyclone is not a multi-hit attack and lacks combo potential; however, Luigi can move considerably far side-to-side with this attack when on the ground, almost as fast as he can while wavedashing. Players often take advantage of the maneuverability granted by this attack, sometimes using it in aerial combos like with up tilt.

To recover with this attack the way Mario and Dr. Mario can, Luigi must first use the Cyclone on the ground once before attempting to gain height from it in mid-air.

Other attacks

• Taunt - 1% damage

Luigi's taunt, a casual kick against the ground, is the only taunt in Melee that can damage the opponent. Taunt normally sends the enemy upwards with set knockback, but if Luigi connects with the bottom of his foot, the taunt can also serve as a spike and a meteor smash. Since it is slow and very weak, Luigi's taunt is rarely used in competitive play. This is one of the moves sometimes used just for laughs because it is very hard to hit somebody with it. People don't use the taunt as much when an opponent dies because they prefer to use a down b in order to charge it.