Snake (SSBU)/Forward aerial

Hitbox visualization showing Snake's forward aerial.

Overview

Snake performs a powerful midair axe kick. The move's sweetspot is one of the strongest meteor smashes in the game, being able to KO opponents at extremely early percentages if they are offstage, and possesses excellent reach, both horizontally and vertically. Due to this, it is a useful option for hard reads as it allows a player to potentially take an opponent's stock with just a single read. Its sourspot sends the opponent upwards and also deals powerful knockback, allowing it to KO at very high percentages. Forward aerial can additionally be used in combination with grenades, as it can be confirmed into from the grenades, although doing so is situational.

The sweetspot also has some combo potential onstage at low to mid percentages. It can combo into an up tilt or neutral aerial on middleweights until around 50% if used in a short hop fast fall, and can even combo into an up aerial at higher percentages, which can even act as a KO confirm at high percents.

The move has some glaring weaknesses, however. It is extremely laggy in all aspects, having high startup lag, ending lag, and landing lag. It doesn't come out until frame 23, making it the slowest aerial in the game, tied with Mega Man's down aerial. Its long cooldown and high landing lag also make it very unsafe on shield. Because of this, it is highly committal, as its slow startup makes it difficult to land, while its high ending lag and landing lag make it very easy to punish if it whiffs. Thus, it is a move that should be used sparingly in order to avoid being put into a disadvantageous situation.

Despite both the sweetspot and sourspot being quite powerful, the sourspot outprioritizes the sweetspot and doesn't KO until very high percentages. As a result, it requires proper spacing and positioning in order to land the sweetspot.

In the end, Snake's forward aerial is arguably his most "high-risk, high-reward" move, as its flaws can leave Snake in a very dangerous situation where he can take heavy damage or be KO'd outright, yet it will almost always result in a stock taken if it connects on an opponent offstage. It demands cautious use and should be used sporadically, but has immense payoff if successfully landed.

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
0	0	0	14.0%	0		Forward	35	90	0		4.7	legl	0.0	-1.3	0.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Kick		All	All
1	0	0	15.0%	0		Forward	35	90	0		4.5	kneel	6.0	-0.3	0.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Kick		All	All
2	0	0	15.0%	0		Forward	35	90	0		5.5	kneel	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0×	1.0×	0%							Kick		All	All

Timing

The move adds upward momentum of 0.8 (in units per frame) to Snake on frame 23.

Attack

Initial autocancel	1-3
Hitboxes	23-26
Ending autocancel	63-
Interruptible	70
Animation length	73

Landing lag

Interruptible	20
Animation length	31

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Hitbox

Autocancel

Interruptible

Snake's moveset

Neutral attack (1 · 2 · 3) · Forward tilt (1 · 2) · 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
Floor attack (front) · Floor attack (back) · Floor attack (trip) · Edge attack
Neutral special · Side special · Up special · Down special · Final Smash
Up taunt · Side taunt · Down taunt