Template:SSB4 to SSBU changelist/Mega Man

Aesthetics

• Due to the aesthetic used in Ultimate, Mega Man's model features a more subdued color scheme. Some of the mechanical details on his body are more pronounced, and his armor has a more realistic metallic sheen.
• Mega Man's Mega Buster now emits a small, blue ring-shaped particle upon firing. This resembles the effect present in Mega Man 8, Mega Man & Bass, and Mega Man 11.
• Mega Man now opens his mouth a little while firing the Mega Buster on the ground, unlike in his own games. He also opens his mouth while shielding.
• Mega Man has a new shield break animation.
• Mega Man emits sparks whenever he takes damage. This is shared with Samus, Dark Samus, and R.O.B., all of which are mechanical-based fighters.
• All of Mega Man's victory animations have been changed in some way:
  • The victory animation where Mega Man points upwards then outwards is modified so he is dashing in instead of falling from the sky.
  • The victory animation where he strikes his title screen pose from Rockman has been reanimated to be slightly slower.
  • Mega Man now shoots thrice instead of twice in his standing victory animation.
• Unlike other characters, Mega Man's Boxing Ring is now "The Blue Bomber" from the PAL version of Smash 4 across all English versions, rather than "Blue Metal Hero" from the NTSC version.
• When KO'd by reaching 0 HP during his final stock in Stamina Mode, Mega Man no longer emits his orbs immediately; he now only does so after a short while when he isn't the last victim, alongside the regular instant KO effect.

Attributes

• Like all characters, Mega Man's jumpsquat animation takes 3 frames to complete (down from 4).
• Mega Man dashes faster (1.456 → 1.602).
  • Mega Man's initial dash is significantly faster (1.5 → 1.958).
• Mega Man walks faster (1.078 → 1.132).
• Mega Man's air speed is faster (1.1 → 1.155).
• Mega Man's traction is higher (0.06 → 0.094), although due to the universal changes, it is much lower relative to the cast, going from above average to notably below average.
• Forward roll has less ending lag (FAF 31 → 30).
• Forward roll grants less intangibility (frames 4-17 → 4-15).
• Back roll has more startup with less intangibility (frames 4-17 → 5-16), and more ending lag (FAF 31 → 35).
• Spot dodge has less ending lag (FAF 28 → 26).
• Spot dodge grants less intangibility (frames 3-18 → 3-17).
• Air dodge grants more intangibility (frames 3-28 → 3-30).
• Air dodge has more ending lag (FAF 34 → 46).
• The reintroduction of directional air dodges improves Mega Man's recovery more than other characters', as due to Rush Coil not causing helplessness, he can get additional distance with a directional air dodge after using it.
• The ability to tech aerial footstools in Ultimate hinders Mega Man's KO setups at high percents.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack/Forward tilt:
  • Neutral attack and forward tilt's shots last longer (18 frames → 23), allowing them to cover more distance and thus increasing their range.
  • Both moves deal less shield damage (1 → 0 (Mega Buster), 0 → -1 (shots)).
  • Mega Man centers his eyes for a bit after using his forward tilt.
• Up tilt:
  • The ability to use any ground attack out of a run in Ultimate benefits up tilt's usage, as combined with its sheer knockback and Mega Man's faster ground movement, it can catch landings and punish opponents much more effectively for KOs.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt's clean hit has more base knockback (80 → 92), but less knockback scaling (70 → 60). This makes it safer on hit at low percents, but hinders its KO potential.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack deals more damage (1% → 1.2% (hits 1-7), 3% → 4% (hit 8); 10% → 12.4% (total)), with knockback not compensated on the last hit, improving its KO potential.
  • Its linking hits have a lower hitlag multiplier (1× → 0.5×), and one of their hitboxes has lower set knockback (65 → 36), making them harder to SDI out of and allowing them to connect more reliably.
  • One of dash attack's looping hitboxes is bigger (1u → 3u).
  • The last hit has gained a shieldstun multiplier of 2.1×, making it safer on shield.
  • The final hit has a larger hitbox (6u → 8u).
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash has much less ending lag (FAF 70 → 55), significantly improving its utility as a projectile and long range KO option.
  • The shot travels faster, allowing it to cover more distance.
  • It deals less damage when fully charged (19.5% → 14.95%), reducing its maximum KO potential.
• Up smash:
  • Up smash's last hit has increased base knockback (30 → 34).
  • Up smash's looping hits have a new hitbox, improving its consistency.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash deals more knockback (30 base/99 scaling → 31/103 (clean), 105 scaling → 106 (mid), 35 base/36 scaling → 60/40 (late)), improving its KO potential.

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial's shots last longer (18 frames → 23), allowing them to cover more distance and thus increasing their range.
  • The move deals less shield damage (1 → -0.5 (Mega Buster), 0 → -1 (shots)).
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial has less landing lag (19 frames → 11). Combined with its launch angle, this grants it combo ability into itself from low to mid percents.
  • It deals significantly more knockback (23 base/90 scaling → 48/118), now KOing reliably below 170% from the center of Final Destination, compared to being unable to KO below 250% under the same circumstances.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial's first two hits launch grounded opponents vertically instead of horizontally along the ground, allowing them to connect more reliably.
  • The move has slightly more ending lag (FAF 43 → 45).
  • The third hit has altered knockback (30 base/180 scaling → 20/183), hindering its overall KO potential, although its KO potential from across the stage is slightly better.
• Up aerial:
  • The changes to air dodges drastically benefit Mega Man's up aerial compared to others, as due to being a projectile, it can juggle opponents more effectively by constantly pressuring them into using up their air dodges.
  • It has one frame more landing lag (19 frames → 20).
  • Due to the new buffer for short hopped aerials, which no longer allows for full hopped aerials to be performed in the first frame of a jump, the move can no longer auto-cancel in a full hop.
  • The first six hits have smaller hitboxes (7u → 5u (hits 1-3), 8.5u → 7u (hits 4-6), but are placed higher (Y offset: 0u → 3u). This increases their vertical range, but decreases their horizontal range.
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial has less landing lag (24 frames → 14).
  • The shot lasts longer (11 frames → 13), allowing it to cover more distance and thus increasing its range.
  • The late hit against grounded opponents has more base knockback (5 → 40), but less knockback scaling (90 → 70), slightly hindering its KO potential.

Throws and other attacks

• Grabs:
  • All grabs have slightly longer range (Z2 offset: 8.4 → 8.9 (standing), 10.5 → 10.6 (dash), -14.4 → -14.8 (pivot)).
  • All grabs have increased ending lag (FAF 31 → 38 (standing), 38 → 46 (dash), 36 → 41 (pivot)).
  • Dash and pivot grab have slightly more startup lag (frame 8 → 9 (dash), 9 → 10 (pivot)).
• The speed of Mega Man's throws is no longer weight-dependent. This reduces down throw's combo potential on lightweights, but increases it on heavyweights.
• Mega Man's throws are all reanimated to be less stiff.
• Pummel:
  • Pummel deals more hitlag (5 frames → 14), but has less startup (frame 5 → 1) and significantly less ending lag (FAF 29 → 7), shortening its duration. This makes it much more reliable for racking up damage.
  • It deals much less damage (3% → 1.3%).
• Edge attack:
  • Edge attack deals more damage (7% → 9%).

Special moves

• Metal Blade:
  • Metal Blade deals less shield damage.
  • Its damage outputs have been reversed: it deals more damage per hit when spawned (3% → 5%), but less when thrown as an item (5% → 3%).
  • Metal Blade wobbles once it sticks to the ground or another surface.
  • Mega Man now appears surprised if the move fails to spawn a Metal Blade.
• Crash Bomber:
  • Upon latching onto a surface, Crash Bomber can now explode on contact with opponents before its timer finishes, improving its utility.
  • The explosion's last hit has more base knockback (40 → 70), but drastically less knockback scaling (120 → 65). This improves its combo ability, but significantly hinders its KO power.
  • Crash Bomber visually flashes more intensely.
• Rush Coil:
  • Rush Coil no longer incurs 30 frames of landing lag, allowing Mega Man to land onstage with it much more safely without having to grab the ledge.
• Leaf Shield:
  • Leaf Shield has significantly less startup (frame 50 → 9) and ending lag (FAF 54 → 36) when activated, making it much safer to use.
  • The leaves spin faster around Mega Man, do not vanish upon hitting opponents, and deal more knockback (14 base/22 scaling → 35/20) with a faster rehit rate (18 frames → 11). This allows the move to protect Mega Man much more effectively, with the hits of the circling leaves now comboing opponents in range until the shield is thrown.
    • This also increases the move's overall damage output, despite each hit from the circling shield dealing less damage (2% → 1.5%).
  • The shield can be thrown much faster after its activation (frame 22 → 13).
    • However, the throw's total duration has not been fully compensated (FAF 56 → 54), increasing its ending lag by seven frames.
  • Leaf Shield no longer allows Mega Man to shield, grab, or hang onto ledges while the shield is active. This prevents him from dealing extra damage to grabbed opponents with the leaves.
  • The shield has a shorter maximum duration, and Mega Man always throws it automatically after it ends, potentially leaving him open to punishment if the shield's duration ends when he is close to opponents.
  • Leaf Shield requires holding the special move button for it to spin around Mega Man; otherwise, it will be thrown automatically.
  • The thrown shield's hits have a higher hitlag multiplier (0.3× → 0.5×). This makes them easier to DI, but gives Mega Man more time to follow up.
• Mega Legends:
  • Both Proto Man and Bass have been added at the end of the Final Smash's cutscene.
  • The final hit has lower knockback scaling (140 → 130), weakening its KO potential.