Peach (SSBM)

Peach in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	Mario
Other playable appearances	in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Starter
Tier	S (6)

“	A princess with royal recovery abilities.	”
—Melee's instruction manual

Announced at E3 2001, Peach (ピーチ, Peach) is a starter character in Super Smash Bros. Melee and it was her first appearance in the Super Smash Bros. series.

Currently, Peach is 6th in the S tier, the highest ranked of any Mario character (not including sub-series, though she is still ranked higher than them, too). Her float cancel gives her a fantastic aerial game, and she can play mindgames by using Toad. Peach also has good chaingrabbing abilities, which is particularly useful against higher tiered characters. She is also the owner of one of the best projectiles in the game. Additionally, Peach's recovery is among the best in the game, with many options available to her, allowing her to recover at almost any angle. However, Peach's primary flaw is her light weight and floatiness, which makes her more susceptible to KOs, especially on the upper blast lines. Additionally, her slow dash and weak ground attacks, save for her down smash, impair her approach while on the ground.

Attributes

Peach does not fall into any specific archetype of fighting game character; her attributes are quite varied, with below average weight, a low falling speed, and among the slowest dashes in the game, alongside a high air speed. These attributes form the crux of Peach's combat: a focus on aerial combat, while forgoing most of her ground-based options.

Arguably Peach's primary strength is her dominant air game. Despite a poor SHFFL due to a low falling speed and high jumping speed, Peach's unique ability to float gives her an enormous advantage in the air over other characters; in addition to allowing her to easily and effectively pursue characters she has knocked into the air, her midair jump's unusual properties allow her to utilise the Double Jump Cancel, a technique that allows for her to quickly perform aerials in rapid succession. Outside of this, Peach's fast neutral and back aerials make them potent out of shield options. As a further benefit from her excellent aerial game, Peach's vegetables can become a powerful approaching technique compounded with her DJC.

As a result of her powerful aerial game, Peach owns among the most powerful, albeit specialised, approaches in the game. Against primarily ground-based opponents with poor aerial games, such as the Ice Climbers or Luigi, Peach can quickly overwhelm such opponents. Her vegetables can also allow her to easily camp against other characters, and due to their propensity to "bounce" upon striking other characters, they can be compounded with her DJC to combo either by themselves or with her aerials.

Regardless of her average grab range, Peach also owns a powerful throwing game. Her up throw can potentially chainthrow characters with high falling speed, as well as lead into her other throws. Peach's down throw can also lead to a variety of options for herself, including another throw, a tilt, or a DJCed aerial. In addition, her forward throw and back throw can both be used as KO moves, with the former having the highest knockback for a forward throw in the game and the latter allowing her to easily segue into her powerful edgeguard game.

As a final, powerful benefit for Peach, she also boasts arguably one of the best recoveries in the game. With a high air speed, low falling speed, the ability to float, a long midair jump, the ability to recover with her side special and a long recovery special, Peach is extremely difficult to KO off the edges, even with her below average weight. Her fast neutral, up, and back aerials can also act as deterrents to edgeguarders, while her vegetables, if they are in hand during her recovery, can further aggravate such pursuers. Despite this powerful recovery, however, Peach's low falling speed and below average weight can also allow her to be easily KOed via the upper blast line, and vertical finishers can more easily KO Peach than other top tiered characters. Additionally, excessive overuse of Peach Bomber to recover can be seen as stalling, which be considered a grounds for disqualification in tournaments.

Barring her grab and throw game, however, Peach suffers on the ground. Peach's side and down tilt attacks are slow, though good reads by players can potentially allow for her to use them as combo starters. Peach's smashes also suffer from similar problems, though her down smash can inflict significant damage to opponents and shields, while her up smash can potentially act as a potent KO move. A slow dashing speed (the second lowest in the game) also prevents her from easily pursuing opponents on foot, and her various attributes give her the shortest wavedash in the game, preventing her from taking advantage of wavesmashing. Arguably Peach's best attack on the ground takes form of her dash attack; the attack can act as a useful combo starter, but barring this, the use of Peach's ground game for approaching should be avoided by players, and instead, they should be used to either continue combos or to finish them.

Moveset

Peach's aerial attacks

For a gallery of Peach's hitboxes, see here.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			1-3%	Slaps the opponent twice. The first hit is usually used to start combos.
			1-2%
Forward tilt			3-13%	Does a 180 degree kick. Capable of seriously juggling heavies at low percentages if they lose their second jump. Can KO opponents above 120%.
Up tilt			6-12%	Bashes her crown upwards. Does not have much combo potential, but can be followed up by correctly spaced aerials and Peach Parasol.
Down tilt			6-12%	Sweeps the ground with her arm and hand. It meteor smashes if the opponent hits her forearm and not her hand. The meteor smash is usually used over the ledge against aerial or recovering opponents. The meteor can KO grounded opponents under 150%. This meteor smash is moderately difficult to land on aerial opponents because of its small hitbox and can only be used effectively over a ledge to KO. Whether this attack is sweetspotted or sourspotted on grounded opponents, it has good combo potential, as it can set up floating aerial strings.
Dash attack			3-12%	Called "the push" by most competitive players, the attack makes Peach lunge forward and split her hands apart. Good for juggling opponents at low damage percentages, and makes for a fantastic combo starter, as it can be follow up by all her aerials, up tilt, and even Peach Parasol for flashy plays. It can also set up her up throw chaingrab. Overall, an integral move in Peach's competitive metagame.
Forward smash			17% (Frying Pan), 12% (Tennis Racket), 15% (Golf Club, Sweet), 13% (Golf Club, Sour)	Swings one of the following. Damage and knockback vary with each weapon, though all three possess very low knockback. Frying pan - Strongest of the three, KOing at about 120%. Sends opponents upwards. Tennis racket - Weakest of the three, uncharged hit does not KO until ridiculously high percentages. Good for edgeguarding. Golf club - Sweetspot at tip is somewhat powerful, KOing at 130% if fully charged. Sourspot, however, will not KO until over 200% regardless of charge. Good for edgeguarding.
Up smash			8-25%	Quick upwards slap. If sweetspotted (located her palm and her hand), the attack sends opponent upward with high vertical knockback. If sourspotted (located her shoulders and her finger), the move has weak vertical knockback. When sweetspotted, this move can KO opponents at around 73% when fully charged. When sourspotted, it can combo into an aerial attack against fastfallers at high percentages.
Down smash			6-95%	Spins around to the ground, multiple hits. This move has extremely high horizontal knockback if it is fully charged and multiple hits land. If the opponent is above 100% it has moderate horizontal knockback scaling since it deals only one hit on opponent, but it can KO at high percentage if first hit landed. Deals more damage, if the opponent attempts to crouch cancel or two metal opponents is very close to Peach. Multiple hits are semi-spikes. Most damaging move in Melee. Can be used to shield stab opponents. When fully charged and multiple hits land, this move can KO opponents at low percentage under 20% due to the very powerful semi-spike. Multiple hits cannot hit opponents above 100%. Hits 5 times.
Neutral aerial			4-14%	Twirls in the air. Can KO at high percentage. Good OoS option because of its speed (frame 2).
Forward aerial			8-15%	Bashes her crown in front of her for huge knockback. It is arguably her best aerial for KOing. If spaced correctly, a float canceled, falling fair can combo into a dash attack.
Back aerial			5-14%	Bashes her rear backwards for good knockback. Has passable power for it to be a finisher. Good OoS option.
Up aerial			7-14%	A quick kick at an upwards angle. Can KO opponents at above 110%.
Down aerial			1-11%	Kicks downward four times. Good combo starter but deals low damage and produces barely any knockback. This attack's hitboxes push the opponent upward and can easily set up a KO from a neutral aerial, forward aerial, or back aerial depending opponent's DI. Hits 4 times.
Grab			—
Pummel			1-3%	Stomps opponent with foot.
Forward throw			1-10%	Slaps the foe in front of her for very good knockback. Strongest forward throw in the game.
Back throw			6-11%	Puts opponent behind her and hits them with her rear. The throw can KO opponents above 170% if used near the edge.
Up throw			4-9%	Pushes the opponent forcing them up. Can chaingrab characters with moderate to floaty falling speeds at 0%. Fastfallers must be around 40% damage in order to chain grab this way. She can finish with an up smash or an aerial.
Down throw			3-7%	Puts opponent down and sits on them. Can chaingrab floaty characters, heavyweights and fastfallers at high percentages.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			6%	Swirls herself around in a similar fashion to Mario's down smash.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			6%	Swirls herself around in a similar fashion to Mario's down smash.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			6%	Launches herself off the ledge to a short distance on the stage, rear first.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			10%	Somewhat slowly gets up and swirls her foot in a 360° motion in front of herself, similar to Mario's down smash, only much weaker and less range.
Neutral special		Toad	18% (Total)	Holds a Toad in front of herself, being a counterattack. When an attack hits Toad, he will fire spores at the opponent, with the spores having the same knockback regardless of the attack countered. The spores themselves can be absorbed. Compared to moves such as Fox's Reflector and Marth's Counter, it is somewhat laggy. Hits 6 times.
Side special		Peach Bomber	16% (Ground), 18% (Air)	Lunges forward. If Peach hits opponent, it will produce an explosion and knock them away.
Up special		Peach Parasol	11% (Total), 3% (Flying Hits)	Jumps upward while holding her parasol, a recovery move. Her parasol allows her to descend very slowly (similarly to the Parasol item), and it is possible to put the parasol down at any time to fast fall - it is even possible to put the parasol back up. The parasol itself does slash damage. Can be used as a followup to an up tilt and dash attack. The Parasol initially hits 8 times, then can cause additional damage to any character who hits the top.
Down special		Vegetable	11-41% Depending on the vegetable/item.	Pulls out a vegetable, which can be used as a projectile.

Vegetable

Face	Damage	Pull Rate
Smile	13%	60.34%
Wide-Eye	13%	5.17%
Asleep	13%	8.62%
Frown	13%	10.34%
Curve-Eye	13%	5.17%
Wink	17%	6.9%
Dot-Eye	23%	1.72%
Stitch-Face	41%	1.72%
Mr. Saturn	11%	0.33%
Bob-omb	35%	0.33%
Beam Sword	—	0.33%

Taunt

Peach performs a spin, then poses and winks. She says "Sweet!" after performing this taunt.

Victory Theme

An orchestrated cover of the iconic "Level Completed" music from Super Mario Bros..

In Competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Melee Character Matchups

Avg.

Notable players

See also: Category:Peach professionals (SSBM)

Active

•  Alan
•  Azusa
•  Armada
•  Bladewise
•  CAOTIC
•  DoH
•  Excel_Zero
•  Hanky Panky
•  Irish Mafia
•  Kalamazhu
•  MacD
•  Riddlebox
•  Shippu
•  Silly Kyle
•  Trif
•  VA
•  VaNz
•  Vwins
•  Wife
•  SOLAR

Tier placement and history

Due to Peach's great aerial potential and combo ability, as well as her powerful potential mindgames, she has been a character consistently ranking in the top tiers of the Melee tier list. However, as time progressed, Armada became the only Smasher who was able to win money from large tournaments with Peach, with all other Peach players being rather lackluster and falling short of the top 8 at national tournaments. Outside of Armada, representation of Peach in tournaments has still been ubiquitous, with many pre-top 8 placements, but other dedicated Peach players have seldom been able to earn significant money. Despite this, Peach is still ranked in the top tier at 6th place, and is still considered by some smashers to be one of the most powerful characters in the game.

In Single Player Modes

In Classic Mode

Peach can appear in one-on-one battles, as an ally, on a team with Bowser, Mario, Ness, or Zelda, or as a metal opponent. Peach is fought on Battlefield when on a team with Bowser or in the metal battle, and on Temple when on a team with Zelda. In other cases, she is fought on either Princess Peach's Castle or Mushroom Kingdom II. Unusually, unlike every other Mario character (including sub-series), Peach does not appear as a giant opponent, making her the only Mario character overall that is ineligible for this battle type.

In Adventure Mode

Peach appears in the second portion of Stage 1 along with Mario or Luigi on Princess Peach's Castle.

In All-Star Mode

Peach and her allies are fought on Princess Peach's Castle.

In Event Matches

Peach appears in the following event matches:

• Event 10: All-Star Match 1: Peach is the fourth of five opponents the player must fight in this series of staged battles. The player's character battles her on the Princess Peach's Castle stage, and their character has 2 stock while Peach has 1. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat her and the other four characters one-by-one with the overall time and life the player has: Mario, Donkey Kong, Bowser, and Yoshi.
• Event 15: Girl Power: Peach is one of the opponents fought along with Samus, and Zelda. The player's character is tiny and must KO all opponents in a two stock battle.
• Event 19: Peach's Peril: As Mario, the player must prevent Peach from being KOed by Bowser for 1 minute. If Mario or Peach dies, the event results in a failure.
• Event 25: Gargantuans: A tiny Peach makes a cameo appearance in this event. She is not required to be KO'd to complete the event, though she can be KO'd without penalty.
• Event 35: Time for a Checkup: As Luigi, the player must KO Dr. Mario and Peach in a 1 stock battle. Peach wears her white alternate costume in this event to emulate the white garb traditionally worn by nurses.
• Event 38: Super Mario Bros. 2: The player must KO Mario, Luigi, and Peach in a 2 stock battle.

Ending images

• Peachclassic.jpg

  Classic

• Peachadventure.jpg

  Adventure

• Peachallstar.jpg

  All-Star

Trophy descriptions

Peach

"Princess Peach presides over the Mushroom Kingdom from her huge castle. Her loyal subject Toad does his best to protect her but always seems to fail spectacularly. Besides her royal duties, Peach is interested in both tennis and golf; since she's so magnanimous, she'll even deign to play a few matches with the evil Bowser. "

• Super Mario Bros. [10/85]

Peach (Smash Red)

"Peach's ability to float is invaluable in Super Smash Bros. Melee, as she can return from incredible distances. Balancing this talent, though, is the fact that she's quite light and can be sent flying with a single powerful attack. Her attacks are fairly weak, so you'll have to hang around to win."

• B: Toad
• Smash B: Peach Bomber

Peach (Smash Blue)

"Peach's Smash A attack will set her swinging with either a frying pan, tennis racket, or golf club. These bludgeoning devices appear randomly and have different reaches and power levels. The princess uses Toad to absorb attacks, and he counters by sending spores out at attackers. Don't worry about the little guy, though; he takes his job seriously. "

• Up & B: Peach Parasol
• Down & B: Vegetable

• 

  Character trophy

• 

  Smash red

• 

  Smash blue

Alternate costumes

Peach's alternate costumes in SSBM

Trivia

• When Peach uses Peach Parasol at the end of the match, she will be rewarded with the Parasol Finish bonus. In addition, if she uses it with the Parasol item, her up special animation will remain the same, but with the Parasol in her hands instead.
• Peach, Marth, and Roy are the only characters in Melee with a special move that can counter. She is also the only non-Fire Emblem with a counter-like move.
  • Out of these three counterattack moves, Peach's is the only one that is not a down special move.