Mr. Game & Watch (SSBU)/Up smash

Hitbox visualization showing Mr. Game & Watch's up smash.

Overview

Mr. Game & Watch will don a heavy scuba-diving helmet, leans backward, then charges his forehead forwards to perform a powerful upward-arcing headbutt while wearing it, referencing his original game, Octopus. The move is one of the most powerful of its kind; dealing high damage and knockback which makes it a viable KO option and it also has a fairly large hitbox; combined with the fact that the hitbox extends shortways upon the sway of Mr. Game & Watch's head (which is further coupled with the fact that the hitbox focuses on the actual sway of his head), giving it deceptive range. Its startup is rather high as it comes out on the 21st frame, but in contrast its endlag is extremely low - as it only has 13 frames of cooldown; which is excellent for baiting the opponent and makes it very difficult to whiff-punish. In addition to its minimal endlag, it grants Mr. Game & Watch invincibility during the frames where the hitboxes activate, which makes challenging the move extremely risky, as the opponent could potentially get themselves KO'd while Mr. Game & Watch remains completely untouched, which is further combined with its noticeable lingering hitbox; which makes it function as Super Armor.

Lastly, the move has two more strengths. The first of these is its combo starting potential at low percents. Due to the low cooldown, the move can lead into combo extending moves such as neutral aerial, up aerial, or Fire. The second is its extreme safety on shield. Due to the move's high startup and low cooldown as well as its relatively high shieldstun, it is -6 on shield when fresh which is very safe for a smash attack. Lastly, the move possesses the noticeable trait of increased Mr. Game & Watch's head into a giant size at the initial frame where the invincibility and hitboxes activate, which will last on-stage for a long period when striking an opponent behind him or at closer range.

Overall, it is considered to be one of the best up smashes in the game; due to the move's high power, minimal ending lag, invincibility, combo-starting potential, and safety on shield, which makes it a very useful tool in Mr. Game & Watch's kit, although its slow startup can occasionally make it difficult to land.

Hitboxes

ID	Part	Rehit rate	Damage	SD	Angle	Angle type	BK	KS	FKV	Set weight	Radius	Bone	Offset			H×	SDI×	T%	Clang	Rebound	Effect	Type	G	A	Sound	Direct	Hit bits	Hit part	Blockable	Reflectable	Absorbable	Flinchless	No GFX	Heedless
Early hit
0	0	0	16.0%	0		Standard	40	98	0		5.5	top	0.0	9.5	-6.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Punch		All	All
Late hit
0	0	0	16.0%	0		Standard	40	98	0		5.5	top	0.0	9.5 to 8.0	-6.0 to 5.5	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Punch		All	All

Timing

Charges between	15-16
Early hit	21
Late hit	22-25
Invincibility	21-25
Interruptible	39
Animation length	43

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Charge interval

Hitbox

Hitbox change

Vulnerable

Invincible

Interruptible

Mr. Game & Watch's moveset

Neutral attack (1 · inf) · Forward tilt · Up tilt · Down tilt · Dash attack · Forward smash · Up smash · Down smash
Neutral aerial · Forward aerial · Back aerial · Up aerial · Down aerial
Grab · Pummel · Forward throw · Back throw · Up throw · Down throw
Forward roll · Back roll · Spot dodge · Air dodge · Techs
Floor attack (front) · Floor getups (front) · Floor attack (back) · Floor getups (back) · Floor attack (trip) · Floor getups (trip)
Edge attack · Edge getups
Neutral special · Side special · Up special · Down special · Final Smash