Pre-Release The Transition: New Mechanics, Re-works, Balance Changes Thread

[Awesomeperson159]

I initially wrote a list of all the characters and their balance changes on the Smash Bros Ultimate Speculation Thread. However, it was soon buried under several pages, so for reference, I have it all here. This thread will have all the new re-works, changes and mechanics either a) displayed in video by Nintendo or b) in patch notes.

What the circles mean:

means a nerf.

means (mostly) even, aesthetic, or new move of unknown effect.

means a buff.
Credit to the Smash Bros. Wiki for the icons.

From E3, Treehouse, smashbros.com
General
Similar fall speed to Smash 4 (may be floatier or faster falling, not doing pixel measurements)
A bit faster than 4
Seems to be good for casuals (like Brawl) while still retaining competitive viability (like Melee), to deliver an experience that leans more towards both ends at once than Sm4sh. What I mean is that it's more competitive than 4 while still being more beginner-friendly than Melee, not slow like Brawl or anything.
Damage increased during 1v1s, by a multiplier of 1.2.

New animation, which I call the Power Hit animation (like KO Punch, zooms in with lines to indicate power while the background turns dark blue). Plays when the opponent takes a fatal blow on their last stock in a 1v1 (extreme hype intensifies) or the opponent takes a powerful move (i.e. Falcon Punch, Super Jump Punch (fire sweetspot on luigi), Warlock Punch...).

Stages
New stages: Mario Odyssey, Plateau Tower, Moray Towers
Omega form, Battlefield form, AND hazardless forms all available (thx sakurai)

Fighters
New perfect shields: now, releasing the Shield button right when your shield gets hit will cause the character to turn bright white with yellow eyes with no shield damage. Additionally, perfect shielding a weak attack will give you less time to retaliate than a strong attack (pointed out by Metal B )
Directional air dodging from Melee is back (although without the freefall), however directional airdodges have so much ending lag that usually, they can only be used once before landing. It will use Brawl airdodge if no direction is inputted. There is wavelanding, but also heavy landing lag if used repeatedly (no more wavedashing to approach/dodge safely) and also no airdodge immediately out of double jump (pointed out by NobleClamtasm )
Dodges can be staled, which adds ending lag and significantly reduces intangibility frames.
Dashes can be cancelled into any move
Fighters with mechanics like Limit, Pocket... where they store something is now on HUD
Fighters glow after being thrown/command thrown/grab released for 60 frames, during which they are immune to grabs/command grabs (pointed out by Iridium )
You can tech wavelanding IF you've been hit first (pointed out by Teeb147 )
EVERYTHING (including footstools, spin animation, being on a wall when hit) is techable, except grounded spikes.
All jumpsquat lasts 3 frames
You can roll out of jab locks
SH aerials do only 85% damage, though in a 1v1 this comes out at an overall 1.02x instead of 1.2x multiplier.
No more pivoting, though dash cancelling would probably negate this, and you can still dash-dance.
Wavelanding snaps the ledge.
Shield can no longer cancel out of dash.
You can't cancel initial dashes.
Smash attacks can be held for longer, but stops charging after a second.
Ledge attacks have increased intangibility, making them a better getup option. This is partially nullified by perfect shielding, which blocks all shield damage and is easier to do on getup attacks.
Most grabs are slower, most spotdodges are faster, and most backwards rolls are much slower.
RCO lag has been removed.

Spoiler: June Demo Build

Mario (01)

New Taunts (Cappy, Thumbs Up)

New Alts (Mario Maker, Wedding). Removed Fire Mario and Wario alts.

New animations for FAir, Dash Attack, DSmash, UThrow, and F.L.U.D.D.

Super Jump Punch has Cappy on Mario's head and has a chance to use Purple Coins from Odyssey.

NAir (10 > 6), FAir (26 > 17), BAir (12 > 6), UAir (12 > 8), and DAir (19 > 15) all have reduced landing lag.

Spotdodge has less ending lag (FAF 27 > 24).

Jab 2 deals more damage (1.5 > 2).

Jab 3 comes out earlier (7 > 3).

FTilt has less ending lag (FAF 31 > 26, cooldown 25 > 20).

Mario pummels faster.

DAir has less ending lag (FAF 39 > 37, same cooldown).

DAir's final hit comes out earlier (25 > 23), making it connect more reliably.

DAir deals more damage (looping hits 1 > 1.4, final hit 5 > 5.5).

Fireball has slightly less ending lag (FAF 53 > 50, cooldown 36 > 33).

F.L.U.D.D. has less ending lag (FAF 75 > 68, cooldown 54 > 47).

Back roll has more ending lag (FAF 30 > 35).

Dash attack's new animation no longer lowers Mario's hurtbox, making it less effective for dodging.

UTilt seems to have more knockback, making it harder to combo into itself.

DTilt seems to have a shallower angle and more knockback, reducing its combo potential.

FSmash has more startup lag (17 > 20).

Standing grab has more ending lag (FAF 29 > 35, cooldown 22 > 28).

Dash grab has slightly more startup lag (8 > 9) and more ending lag (FAF 36 > 43, cooldown 28 > 34).

DThrow has a shallower angle, reducing its combo potential.

Cape has slightly more startup lag (12 > 13).

Linking hits of Super Jump Punch deal less damage (total 2% less damage).

Overall: So far, nerfed, combo game was nerfed but can still rack damage fairly effectively
DK (02)

New Final Smash (Extremely long jab combo before finishing with a deadly punch)

Charged Giant Punch now has the Power Hit animation (like KO Punch, zooms in with lines to indicate power while the background turns dark blue)

Cargo throw now only uses 1 hand (like he carries Pauline in the arcade game)

FSmash, DTilt, and FAir have new animations.

Charging Giant Punch and ending Spinning Kong have new animations.

NAir (17 > 10), FAir (29 > 17), BAir (18 > 11), UAir (25 > 15), and DAir (24 >14) all have reduced landing lag.

Spotdodge has less ending lag (FAF 29 > 27).

3 frame jumpsquat benefits DK a lot, as he can get into the air to follow up faster.

Jab 2 comes out faster (6 > 4).

Dash Attack has less ending lag (FAF 42 > 35, cooldown 18 > 11 assuming late hit lasts the same amount of time).

Dash Attack deals more damage (clean 10 > 12, late 8 > 9).

FTilt has less ending lag (FAF 38 > 36, cooldown 27 > 25).

DTilt has slightly less startup lag (7 > 6).

FSmash deals slightly more damage (21/20 > 22/21).

USmash seems to have the same animation but comes out earlier (14 > 12), making it hit grounded foes more easily.

USmash deals slightly more damage (18 > 19).

Sweetspot DSmash deals slightly more damage (17 > 17.5).

Cargo BThrow deals more damage (12 > 13).

UThrow deals more damage (9 > 12).

Giant Punch no longer leaves DK in helplessness,

Aerial Spinning Kong now has a well-connecting multi-hit and high-knockback finisher (the new 13th hit finisher deals 2%).

Grounded Hand Slap has less startup and ending lag.

Aerial Hand Slap has less landing lag, making it safer on shield and a decent combo starter.

Rolls have more ending lag (forward FAF 30 > 31, backward FAF 30 > 36).

FTilt deals less damage (neutral 10 > 7).

UTilt deals less damage (9/10/11 > 8/9/10).

DTilt has more ending lag (FAF 23 > 25, cooldown 14 > 17).

Grab has more ending lag (FAF 31 > 39).

Dash Grab comes out later (10 > 11) and has more ending lag (39 > 47).

Sour Giant Punch deals less damage (18 > 15).

Aerial Spinning Kong covers less distance. and does reasonable damage (first hit 10 > 5, multi-hits 5/4 > 1).

Overall: So far, buffed, with a slightly faster, safer moveset.
Link (03)

Design Updated (now matches BoTW)

New Final Smash (ancient arrow from BoTW)

NAir (10 > 6), FAir (12 > 11), BAir (10 > 6), UAir (23 > 14), and DAir (32 > 19) all have less landing lag.

Spotdodge and forward roll have less ending lag.

Master Sword is longer (although Smash isn't known for accurate hitboxes).

Link seems to dash faster and jump higher.

Jab 1 has less ending lag (FAF 28 > 25, cooldown 21 > 17).

UTilt deals more damage (9 > 10/11)

FSmash hit 2 has less startup (12 > 10) and ending lag (FAF 68 > 60, cooldown 56 > 50).

FSmash now shoots a beam when link is at 0%.

Standing grab has less startup (12 > 6) and ending lag (FAF 62 > 35, cooldown 45 > 29).

Hit 1 of FAir now links reliably into hit 2. Because of this, it will usually deal 18%, more than either hit of old FAir.

Hit 2 of FAir comes out earlier (26 > 24).

Hit 2 of FAir deals more knockback.

Hit 1 of BAir deals more damage (3 > 5).

Hit 2 of BAir deals more damage (5 > 7) and has less startup lag (18 > 15).

Early DAir deals more damage (15 > 18).

No longer has ZAir, which means Link can Z-drop items with minimal lag.

Bow has less startup (18 > 15) and ending lag (FAF 47 > 46, cooldown 29 > 31).

Link can pick up arrows, which can be used as items or used for a duel shot with his bow.

Boomerang deals more damage (early 7 > 10, late 5 > 5.5).

Boomerang now has a return hitbox dealing 3% instead of a windbox, increasing its utility.

Link no longer uses his double jump after getting hit out of aerial Spin Attack.

Link now uses the Remote Bomb rune. Now deals consistent damage (5/8/9 > ~1 base with throw + 7 explosion damage) and can be detonated remotely.

Back roll has more ending lag (31 > 36).

Jab 1 comes out later (7 > 8).

Jab 2 comes out later (6 > 7).

Jab combo deals the same damage but jab 3 deals 1% less damage (5 > 4), hindering its KO potential.

FTilt has more ending lag (FAF 38 > 40, cooldown 19 > 21).

UTilt has a new animation, with less range in front of Link.

DTilt deals less damage (11 > 9).

FSmash 1 has more startup lag (15 > 17).

FSmash 1 sweetspot deals less damage (14 > 13), hindering its KO potential.

DSmash hit 1 comes out later (9 > 12).

FThrow and BThrow deal less throw damage (4 > 2.5), lowering their already poor damage output and KO potential.

Hit 1 of FAir deals less damage (11 > 8) and has more startup lag (14 > 15), and hit 2 deals less damage (13 > 10).

Remote bombs now have a 40 frame animation when you detonate them.

Overall: Buffed so far, faster, stronger, and has better range, although the frame data nerfs hurt
Samus (04)

New UThrow: Launches a missile into opponent, knocking them upwards (pointed out by PlasmaSnow12 )

Dark Samus alt replaced by black and yellow alt

Can charge Charge Shot in the air.

Bombs explode on contact.

Roll has less overall lag.

Forward smash's sweetspot is larger.

Down smash deals increased knockback.

NAir has much less overall lag.

UAir hits connect better.

DAir has much less landing lag.

Grab is faster.

BThrow deals more knockback.

Side B travels faster and stalls before flying forward.

Screw Attack has less ending lag.

BAir has slightly less startup lag.

FAir has less landing lag.

Jab 1 now has low set knockback and hitstun, making it struggle to combo into other moves, including Jab 2.

Dash Attack has significantly more knockback and an awful angle for follow-ups, greatly hindering its once powerful combo potential.

DThrow has a tweaked angle, hindering its combo potential.

Pummel is slower.

Overall: Although Samus received numerous buffs, her combo game was nerfed greatly and she is a much more projectile-focused character, meaning she was arguably slightly nerfed.
Dark Samus (04 Echo)
Differences from Samus:

Different idle, victory, taunt, and movement animations, along with slightly tweaked move animations.

Dark Samus has reduced falling speed, making it harder to combo, but reducing its aerial mobility.

Bomb has more horizontal knockback.

A lot of Samus' fire attacks have the electric effect for Dark Samus, slightly increasing the hitstun.

Dash Attack is similar to that of Sm4sh Samus in terms of angle, increasing its combo potential.

Electric effects on multi-hit moves increases the hitlag, making them easier to SDI.

Overall: Old Dash Attack is a huge boon for Dark Samus, and it makes Samus look not nearly as strong as Dark Samus.
Yoshi (05)

Grab animation significantly changed (pointed out by Zinith )

FTilt has a new animation. (pointed out by Zinith )

Run animation changed, now more upright.

Egg Throw now bounces off the ground (pointed out by YoshiandToad ) and has less startup lag (discovered by @BlobSSB, pointed out by Zinith )

BAir: Hits are much faster (pointed out by Zinith ). Startup lag reduced.

BAir's hits have more active frames (discovered by @BlobSSB, pointed out by Zinith )

Dash Attack has reduced startup lag (discovered by Nikes )

DAir has much less startup lag.

Dash Attack covers a shorter distance (discovered by Nikes )

Grab has slightly more startup lag.

Grounded Yoshi Bomb hit 2 comes out slightly slower.

Egg Lay has slightly more startup lag.

Overall: A few nice buffs and a few minor nerfs means Yoshi is better overall.
Kirby (06)

Fully Charged Hammer now has the Power Hit Animation

New Rock: Chest from BoTW

Dash attack reverted to that of Melee. Compared to his old one, it's faster, deals more damage, is a single hit, and KOs.

Inhale: More projectiles can be inhaled including Samus's Charge Shot (pointed out by Iridium )

Dash speed greatly increased.

Air speed slightly increased.

Jab can lock.

UTilt has more range.

DTilt seems to trip more often.

FSmash sends kirby farther, improving its range.

DSmash has increased range and the tips of Kirby's feet semi-spike.

BAir has less landing lag.

Kirbycide KOs opponents first.

Inhale seems to have more range and less ending lag.

Charged Hammer deals more knockback.

Up-B has a bigger, better ascending hitbox.

Charged Hammer Flip has less startup lag.

UTilt has more ending lag, hindering its combo potential.

FSmash has slightly more ending lag.

Aerial Rock has slightly more startup lag.

Overall: Tons of buffs, especially to his lackluster speed, along with minimal nerfs, makes this puff significantly better.
Fox (07)

New Final Smash: Hops in a ship, blasts opponent with lasers with the Star Fox Crew.

Sourspot DTilt has a better angle for combos.

All aerials have less landing lag.

FAir makes fox hover slightly, aiding his recovery.

BAir has more knockback.

Fire Fox has more knockback, making it riskier to edgeguard.

Shine has less startup lag.

Jab 1 and 2 have much less ending lag, making them better combo starters and making them connect better.

Only the first shine shine-stalls (pointed out by Rhus )

DTilt has more ending lag.

Dash Attack is a worse combo starter.

USmash does significantly less knockback.

UAir has less knockback,

Side-B has more start-up and grounded ending lag, stops when it hits a shield, causes freefall, and has less range.

Overall: Significant nerfs to his kill moves and specials make him worse, even with the buffs to his aerials.
Pikachu (08)

Thunder makes Pikachu turn bright yellow when hit

Volt Tackle (final smash) is now a fast combo, similar to the final smashes of Greninja, Ike, etc.

New Alts: Pikachu Libre, Female Pokémon Trainer Pikachu

Quick attack now has an arrow pointing where it will go. This makes it easier to use, but also to predict.

New Nair (strikes a pose while charging self with electricity). Multi-hits like that of Mewtwo and enables disgusting combos including Drag-Down NAir into USmash and UTilt.

Thunder hitting Pikachu does significantly more knockback, because Pika's confirms need to kill 30% earlier.

DAir: Now a powerful meteor smash, improving its edgeguarding potential. (pointed out by Iridium )

Dash Attack now deals more damage and has less ending lag.

DSmash has less ending lag.

FAir deals more damage.

BAir is much faster.

UThrow deals more damage.

Aerial Thunder Jolt deals more damage.

FSmash has slightly less startup lag.

Skull Bash has significantly less lag on hit (about halved), making it much safer. (pointed out by Iridium )

DSmash deals less damage.

DThrow deals less damage but still has the same knockback.

Thunder Jolt has slightly more startup lag.

Grab comes out slightly slower.

Overall: NAir is way too good and they buffed things that were already good with fairly insignificant nerfs, sakurai pls nerf
Luigi (09)

New UTilt: Uppercut (pointed out by MarioMeteor )

New dash animation (pointed out by MarioMeteor )

New green missile charging and misfire animations (pointed out by MarioMeteor )

Uses Poltergust for his throws.

Up-B sweetspot has the Power Hit Animation, and seems to have a bit more horizontal distance. It also has significantly less landing lag.

New Combo: UTilt -> DAir -> FTilt (or maybe even an Up-B, from the proximity)

FTilt has slightly less startup and Luigi faces the front while using it.

Dash cancelling gives him something resembling good-ranged attacks and decent approach options due to his traction, such as slide-in FSmash.

Cyclone comes out slightly faster.

Down Taunt's hitbox comes out slightly slower.

Overall: Wasn't at the demo, but a few minuscule buffs can be picked out from his trailer. Also he can almost approach now which is always nice.
Ness (10)

New Grab: Holds onto opponents with PSI

New Pummel: Charges opponents with PSI (a very slow pummel).

PK Thunder Self-Hit hitbox now has the Power Hit Animation

New arrow on PK Thunder (points in the direction you will get launched if it hits at that angle. Makes it easier for new players, but makes it easier to read (pointed out by ottobot )

PK Starstorm: Projectiles move slowly however swarm the screen, and gets characters from EarthBound (don't know their names rip) that know PK Starstorm to help him cast it

PK Flash: Increased speed, removed freefall, longer lifespan, and reduced lag. Now less PK Trash (pointed out by Blank1 )

Up Smash: Knockback increased (pointed out by MysticKnives )

Ness' DSmash (and presumably USmash) have a hitbox when you charge them. When charging, it will even hang off nearby ledges and hit opponents. When combined with the increased max charge time, this improves his edgeguarding ability.

Air speed and dash speed increased.

PSI Magnet now has a small hitbox on Ness (pointed out by Iridium )

Jab connects more reliably.

USmash deals much more knockback.

Ness' hands have a hitbox during NAir, improving its range.

New Up Air: Waves his hands up in the air with PSI. It's a multihit that deals more damage and hits 5 times, while retaining old up air's knockback and

BAir deals more damage.

DAir deals more knockback and is much stronger, with less ending lag.

PK Fire has less ending lag.

PK Fire has a bigger hitbox.

PK Thunder Self-Hit covers more distance.

PSI Magnet is larger, and doesn't stop his momentum in the air.

His new up air has less horizontal range, making it worse to land with and slightly harder to hit.

DThrow deals more knockback, weakening its combo potential.

PK Fire has increased startup lag.

PK Thunder Self-Hit deals less knockback, making the move safer to edgeguard.

USmash has significantly increased startup lag.

Overall: Buffed with more damaging moves and mobility, in exchange for a slightly weakened grab game.
Captain Falcon (11)

New FSmash, a flaming backhand punch.

Blood Falcon costume reads "HELL HAWK" instead of "BLOOD HAWK".

Falcon Punch: Gained the Power Hit Animation, now has a bigger vertical hitbox shaped like a pheonix

Raptor Boost gives Super Armor when he uses the attack

USmash has slightly less ending lag.

NAir hit 2 comes out much earlier.

USmash has more startup lag.

Falcon Dive has more startup lag.

FSmash has slightly more startup lag.

B-Reversed Falcon Punch has slightly more startup lag.

Overall: Too early to tell without any info from the demo, but has a few nice-looking tweaks on moves and slightly more startup lag on attacks,
Jigglypuff (12)

Rest: Gained the Power Hit Animation

Puff Up: Now has an angry face when puffing up, and is much faster

Jab 1 has less ending lag.

Jab 2 has less startup lag.

Rollout: Uncharged has much less lag (only 1 spin) (pointed out by MarioMeteor )

UAir: Significantly less lag and earlier autocancelling allows it to combo better, specifically into FAir (maybe more aerials)

BAir: Ending lag decreased, autocancels earlier.

Puff Up ha a new, disjointed hitbox at the end much better for KOing (in the trailer, Mario and Toon Link get pushed away, and then jigglypuff yells her name, red sparks appear, and they get KO'd despite being far away). (pointed out by Erimir )

Overall: Any and every buff for the Puff is welcome, and the lack of visible nerfs is promising.
Peach (13)

Toad helps her when using her grab

Toad animation changed: instead of sticking him out, Toad seems to protect peach more (pointed out by YoshiandToad )

Toad seems to have less startup lag.

Aerial Peach Bomber is much faster and has less startup lag.

Turnips bounce after hitting an opponent, instead of disappearing.

FSmash is now a random order again, making it impossible to prepare the weapon you want to use.

Peach has a new down tilt, like Zelda's. Compared to her old one, seems to have slightly less startup, but has much more ending lag.

Turnips take even longer to pull out.

DSmash has slightly more ending lag.

FSmash has more ending lag.

Overall: Not in the demo, but seems have gotten a mix of buffs and nerfs.
Daisy (13 Echo)
Differences from Peach:

Different animations for taunts, victory screen, etc. and a more energetic idle animation

Uses Blue Toad.

Has daisies instead of hearts.

Parasol hits 5 times instead of 6.

Slightly shorter, making her harder to hit, but all of her moves still have the same range

Daisy Bomber has reduced startup lag in the air.

Overall: Looks the same as Peach from the trailer.
Bowser (14)

Giga Bowser: Warps behind the stage, a crosshair appears, and when you press A, wherever it is you punch and screen KO anyone there (at any percent)

New DSmash: Swipes quickly (at least for Bowser) in front and behind him (Pointed out by bibbit ). Also deals much more knockback, making it a vastly superior move.

Tough Guy has stronger armor, to the point where he can walk through Villager's slingshot and the multihit of Mewtwo's USmash.

DTilt is faster and connects more reliably.

Sourspot USmash does more damage.

All aerials have significantly less landing lag.

FAir has less startup lag.

Grab comes out faster.

UThrow deals more damage and knockback, making it a better kill throw.

DThrow is faster and deals more damage.

Fire Breath now has a hitbox at the end which causes slight knockback.

Side-B is faster.

Grounded Up-B has less ending lag and deals more damage.

Aerial Up-B's last hitbox deals drastically more knockback, making it risky to edgeguard and a potent kill move.

Jab Combo deals less damage.

DTilt deals less damage.

UAir has a sourspot.

UThrow's increased knockback removes most of its combo potential.

Side-B no longer autocancels.

Overall: Although it seems like he was buffed, the removal of UThrow combos make him even, if not slightly nerfed.
Ice Climbers (15)

Belay: Now has a blue rope

New DSmash: Lead smashes in front along the ground, AI smashes behind. Compared to the old one, much lower damage, but less ending lag (pointed out by B Blackrider213 )

DThrow has a new animation: Popo jumps up and slams foes into the ground.

New DSmash has more range.

Side-B ends with a strong hit and the aerial version actually gives recovery if solo

Both ICs use grounded Blizzard on 1 side, improving its damage.

Up-B can be used to save Nana via teleportation and covers more distance.

UTilt does more knockback and damage, making it a better anti-air.

New DSmash only hits on one side if lead IC is solo.

Blizzard no longer hits behind ICs.

Nana: Now hops on the spot panicking when Popo is grabbed, no longer making Popo immune to grabs.

No longer attacks when Popo pummels (pointed out by MrGameguycolor )

Nana can neither grab nor throw; she will never grab and taunt when Popo throws (pointed out by MrGameguycolor )

The removal of chaingrabbing significantly hurts their effectiveness.

Overall: Basically Melee ICs (bc they undid most of Brawl's buffs) that can't do anything out of a grab but with a few buffs, meaning we have found the single most nerfed character in the entire game. The problem is all of their jank got removed, but that was the only thing that made them viable in any other game.
Sheik (16)

Not sure if this is in Smash 4, but Up-B has a fire effect

New final smash: The Sheikah Symbol appears in front of her, and everyone caught in it gets slashed repeatedly until they get KO'd (pointed out by Blank1 )

Grenade: String now moves straight out, removed freefall (pointed out by TenZaBlade )

FSmash links into itself better, and it has slightly more range.

FAir's range has been increased.

UAir does slightly more knockback.

BAir does much more knockback, making it a viable KO move at high percents.

Sheik has a new pummel, where she knees the foe. Faster than the old one.

Aerial Needle Storm has slightly more knockback.

Bouncing Fish has slightly more knockback.

The removal of perfect pivoting also removes some of Sheik's combos.

FThrow and DThrow have slightly more knockback, reducing their combo potential.

Needle Storm charges slower.

Needle Storm doesn't cancel immediately, instead taking a while after charging before cancellable.

Vanish no longer has intangibility on startup.

The start-up of Bouncing Fish is longer and has an aesthetic splash of water.

Overall: Very slightly nerfed; better air game, worse combo game.
Zelda (17)

Model is re-designed, based on A Link between Worlds

Final Smash: Changed to Triforce of Wisdom (Pulls enemies into the Triforce of Wisdom, which then explodes into light)

The phantom can be left behind and remotely activated (pointed out by Katy Parry )

Din's Fire: No longer causes freefall

Zelda dashes much faster and jumps much higher.

Jab now has a rapid jab and a finisher.

Jab has much less startup, going from slowest in the game to an average speed.

Jab combo deals more knockback, picking up KOs at reasonable percent.

Dash Attack deals more damage and knockback.

Both Lightning Kicks have much less landing lag.

DAir Sweetspot deals more damage and knockback.

Zelda can move in the air during Naryu's love.

Farore's Wind has less startup and ending lag, preserves more momentum after a jump, and can drift much sooner after the warp.

Phantom: Now a one hit button move, has 4 charging phases: Level One - Kick, Level Two - Fist, Level Three - Strike, Level Four - Slash (pointed out by Katy Parry ). Can also be left behind and remotely activated. This also makes it unsafe to reflect it, as

Overall: Significantly buffed, with faster, stronger attacks and significantly better attributes.
Dr. Mario (18)

No longer a clone due to new moves

Super Sheet has a new animation to show its vertical range (pointed out by MrGameguycolor )

New DAir: Thrusts legs down to spike the opponent. The meteor angle makes it much better for edgeguarding.

New DAir has more startup lag.

Overall: Not at demo, but that stomp looks nice.
Pichu (19)

Final Smash: Identical to that of Pikachu

No longer a clone due to new moves

New Combo (maybe): USmash->Thunder (pointed out by Murlough )

FTilt now trips and has an electric effect (pointed out by Octorockandroll )

Pichu can now crawl.

With the new rage mechanic, Pichu can rack tons of rage due to its self-harm ability.

Dash Attack has much less ending lag.

Electric attacks generally have more range.

Pichu's grab range has been increased.

Thunder meteors foes into the blast, instead of shocking foes upwards.

FTilt deals recoil damage due to the electric effect.

Overall: Lots of visible buffs, and it's not even in the demo. Potentially the only lightweight to benefit from rage.
Falco (20)

New final smash, like that of Fox but with a more wild flight pattern (pointed out by YoshiandToad ). Spams barrel rolls during it. A lot.

Rapid jab: New finisher (pointed out by IndigoSSB )

New spot dodge (pointed out by IndigoSSB )

Laser fire rate increased (pointed out by IndigoSSB ), to the point where it looks like he has Melee Lasers. It has 2.4 shots per second.

Shine has much less ending lag.

New spotdodge means you can no longer dab on the haters, significantly reducing its taunting potential.

Overall: Not in demo, but specials are better. However, Nintendo realized that his spotdodge since Melee was him dabbing, and Falco mains destroyed the haters too hard.
Marth (21)

Now fully dubbed in english outside of Japan (pointed out by Iridium )

New idle, crouching, and spotdodge animations.

New victory animation: jumps in the air, swings his sword twice, and lands in his counter animation.

Dancing Blade's neutral inputs have new animations.

Dolphin Blade leaves afterimages.

Dancing Blade: Now strikes much faster, making the move connect better.

Shield Breaker: Can be angled, power hit animation if it hits a shield

The tipper hitbox seems to be larger.

Jab connects more reliably.

All aerials have less landing lag.

Sourspot DAir launches at a more horizontal angle, making it better for edgeguards.

Jab has a new animation, a horizontal slash, which lowers its vertical range.

Dancing blade's fourth down-angled strike hits 3 times instead of 5.

Overall: Buffed a bit, especially his aerials.
Lucina (21 Echo)

Dancing Blade: Now strikes much faster, making the move connect better.

Shield Breaker: Can be angled, power hit animation if it hits a shield

Jab has a new animation, a horizontal slash, which lowers its vertical range.

Overall: Not at demo, but probably got Marth's buffs.
Young Link (22)

New final smash, not shown

No longer a clone due to link reworks

Rapid jab is faster and has a finisher.

Bombs don't hit Young Link if they hit a foe.

Overall: Not at demo, but seems to be buffed.
Ganondorf (23)

Model updated to look like Melee

Warlock Punch now has the power hit animation

Dash speed increased.

Jump height increased.

Jab's sourspot has been removed.

UTilt has significantly less startup and ending lag. It also deals slightly more damage and knockback.

All smash attacks have disjointed hitboxes.

All aerials have significantly less landing lag.

FAir leans forward more like Melee, improving its reach.

FAir's auto-cancel window has been restored after being removed by a glitch in 4.

Grab range improved.

UThrow deals more damage.

Warlock Punch deals more damage and is stronger.

Grounded Flame Choke has less ending lag, increasing the amount of true follow-ups.

Dark Dive has higher knockback, launches at a more horizontal angle, and has less ending lag, increasing its edgeguarding and KO potential. It also deals damage to opponents who trade hits.

Grounded Wizard's Foot travels faster and has significantly less ending lag. The sourspot is also now on the leg instead of the foot, making the sweetspot easier to hit.

New FSmash: Swings a sword overhead in a broad, heavy, slow swing for massive damage (like Ike's FSmash). Compared to his old one, has much more range and deals more damage.

New DSmash: Jabs his sword along the ground on both sides (like Cloud's dsmash) (pointed out by DesireDelta ). Compared to his old one, has more range, has less startup, semi-spikes opponents, connects better, has a lower hitbox placement that hits crouching opponents, and lowers Ganondord's hurtbox.

New USmash: Swings his sword completely over his head, from one side to another (like Ike's usmash) (pointed out by DesireDelta ). Compared to his old one, has less startup and much more range.

New FSmash has slightly more startup and ending lag.

New USmash has more ending lag.

UAir has more startup and no longer hits below, making it much worse for edgeguarding and preventing jab locks.

Opponents can mash out of Ganoncide, significantly hindering its utility.

Overall: Significantly buffed and my boy EVEN USES THE GIANT SWORD IN HIS POCKET which is nice, although he's worse at edgeguarding (rip ganoncide lol)
Mewtwo (24)

New animations for NAir, Idle, Dash Attack, BAir, BThrow, and Disable.

New FTilt: a tail swipe. Compared to his old one, deals more damage and knockback.

FSmash can be angled.

USmash has more horizontal range.

Shadow Ball charges faster.

DTilt has more ending lag, reducing its combo potential.

Charged Shadow Ball is smaller and travels slower.

Confusion halts Mewtwo's momentum (like Mario's Cape), reducing its recovery utility.

Overall: Fairly even, with some nice buffs and necessary nerfs.
Roy (25)

New dash animation (pointed out by MarioMeteor )

Double-Edge Dance strikes much faster, making the incredibly powerful final hit connect significantly better.

Charged Neutral B has the power hit animation and can be reversed before the attack

Jab has a new animation with more range.

Overall: Not in demo, but some minor buffs can be picked out from the trailer
Chrom (25 Echo)
Differences from Roy:

Different idle, taunts, and victory animations.

Flame effects removed.

Chrom uses a more proper sword swing, compared to Roy backhanding so he can hit with the hilt of his flaming noodle.

New final smash: Awakening Aether, which uses the Awakening animation for Aether, as Chrom yells a critical hit line and launches the opponent.

Unlike the Wet Pool Noodle, the Falchion deals equal damage throughout the blade, meaning its tip does something.

Has a different recovery move: a faster version of Ike's Aether. Instead of throwing the sword up, he knocks foes up and jumps up, sword in hand. Compared to Blazer, has more vertical distance.

Aether has less horizontal distance than Blazer.

Overall: Looks to be the Lucina of Roy, the difference being that Marth benefits from his sweetspot and his sourspot isn't that bad while Roy's sourspot is his worst attribute (to the point of his sword being referred to as the Wet Pool Noodle, because that's how much knockback the sourspots did in Melee).
Mr. Game & Watch (26)

All his attacks turn him into the characters from the game it's based on (Chef turns him into the chef, Judge turns him into the judge, etc.)

Final Smash is now a command grab that carries foes into the blast zone.

Overall: Not at demo, and no balance changes can be picked out.
Meta Knight (27)

New alt: Galacta Knight (pointed out by Whababa ). More specifically, now actually looks like Galacta Knight on his pink alt.

Pummel is faster.

Shuttle Loop: Reduced BKB on second hit

Overall: Too early to tell, not at demo
Pit (28)

New Final Smash: Stuns nearby foes, then Pit flies off on a chariot with winged horses and a crosshair appears. Wherever it is when A is pressed, Pit will charge through the enemy.

New animations for FSmash, NAir, and Rapid Jab (pointed out by TMNTSSB4 )

Multihits connect much better (pointed out by TMNTSSB4 and LancerStaff )

UAir: Damage increased (10 total -> 12 total) (pointed out by LancerStaff )

Dash attack has increased knockback and an altered animation. He lunges faster and farther.

FAir and UAir deal more knockback.

BAir's sourspot seems to be gone.

DAir has a bigger hitbox.

All aerials have reduced landing lag.

Palutena's Bow has less ending lag and shoots faster arrows.

Upperdash Arm now has less ending lag when it slips off the ledge.

Power of Flight can grab the ledge when facing backwards.

Guardian Orbitars have decreased startup lag.

DAir: Clean hit damage decreased (10 -> 9), weakening its edgeguarding potential. (pointed out by LancerStaff )

Overall: Buffed a lot.
Dark Pit (28 Echo)
No changes can be found in his trailer, and he was not at E3, although it can be assumed he got most of Pit's buffs.
Zero Suit Samus (29)

New Idle Animation.

New Final Smash: Fires a laser with her Power Suit whilst on top of her gunship in the background.

Overall: Not at the demo, and nobody has a clue about ZSS changes.
Wario (30)

Max Waft has Power Hit effect

Dash Attack changed to Brawl F-Smash, shoulder bash. (pointed out by Murlough )

Final Smash: Wario-Man is now a short animation of him beating up nearby foes before launching them.

USmash has more horizontal range.

BAir has much less ending lag.

Overall: Not at demo, but seems to be buffed.
Snake (31)

New DSmash (pointed out by MarioMeteor )

Snake got by far the most benefit from 3 frame jumpsquat, as his old one was 3 times as much (9 frames), making his ground-to-air game significantly better.

NAir is faster, has less ending lag, and connects better.

FAir has slightly less ending lag.

UThrow is a better combo throw than it was in Brawl due to combos being in Ultimate.

Remote Missile travels faster and turns quicker.

C4 sticks to foes more reliably than it did in Brawl.

Snake remains crouched when detonating C4 during a crouch.

UTilt has less horizontal range, making it not have a more disjointed hitbox than Melee Marth's grab.

Chain grabbing's removal means Snake is worse at damage racking with DThrow.

Overall: Sakurai, why'd you buff Snake? Sakurai? Sakurai? SAKURAAAIII
(at least they nerfed UTilt)
Ike (32)

Default Ike is now Path of Radiance Ike (pointed out by Idon )

Idle Stance now uses his limp arm Path of Radiance stance (Even if wearing the Radiant Dawn costume) (pointed out by Idon )

Down-B now has a blue flame effect (pointed out by Idon )

Radiant Dawn Ike now voiced slightly differently compared to Path of Radiance Ike (pointed out by Idon )

Great Aether has new cinematic shot at the beginning (pointed out by Idon )

Fully Charged Eruption shoots a massive column of blue flame and has the power hit animation

Significantly decreased landing lag on all of his aerials

Movement speed increased

UTilt and FTilt have significantly decreased ending lag.

UAir has a new animation: an overhead slash. More range, and faster.

FAir has more ending lag.

New UAir has a shorter hitbox duration.

Overall: Seems to have a few good buffs with minimal nerfs, especially the buff to his landing lag.
Pokémon Trainer (33-35)

Zard is back on Trainer.

Female Trainer Alts

Squirtle: New dash animation (pointed out by EMT~ )

New dash attack or dash attack animation. Again, he has water around him while doing it (pointed out by EMT~ )

NO MORE TERRIBLE MECHANICS! YAY! No more stamina (solo mains are viable), no more type effectiveness

Changing Pokémon seemingly makes you intangible, being a quick and useful dodge

From the Armada-Zer0 match at the Invitational, it looks like they removed shellshifting on Squirtle (pointed out by EMT~ )

Overall: I forgot what ZeRo said about Trainer (other than Ivysaur is the best), but Trainer has certainly been buffed.
Diddy Kong (36)

Now has a 3-jab combo.

DSmash Hit 2 comes out much faster.

DSmash has significantly less ending lag.

Monkey Flip Attack has a few extra frames of startup.

Overall: Not at demo, so too early to tell, however, his frame data was tweaked.
Lucas (37)

PK Starstorm updated to match that of Ness

Overall: Not at demo, and no non-aesthetic changes have been spotted in his trailer.
Sonic (38)

Super Sonic now slices across the screen at blazing fast speed (at least 5x his dash speed), knocking opponents up and juggling them into the blast zone

Homing Attack now has a reticle (pointed out by TenZaBlade )

Dash Cancelling benefits Sonic a ton, as he can cancel his incredibly fast dash into any attack to surprise his opponents.

DTilt has a tweaked angle, making it a better combo starter.

All of his aerials except NAir have much less landing lag.

Homing Attack can be charged, and attacks almost immediately if you hit A.

A grounded charged Spin Dash can now be released in the air while keeping its charge.

UAir's hits connect less reliably.

Spin Dash can't be shield cancelled during a charge (can you believe sonic actually has to commit to something, it's crazy) and stops when it hits a shield.

Spring Jump has more ending lag, making it a worse combo starter and chaining into an aerial less reliably.

Overall: Slightly buffed, but I'm happy that they nerfed the Spin Dash (yay)
King Dedede (39)

New Final Smash: Hits opponents into a stadium, pins them against a wall and uses his jet hammer for a missile barrage (pointed out by YoshiandToad ). No longer allows escape.

Can inhale and spit projectiles, including his own Gordos.

DTilt and UTilt can be reversed during startup.

New BAir: Backwards hammer swing. Closer to the Brawl version, and has less landing lag.

Overall: Not at demo, but seems to be buffed a good amount.
Olimar (40)

New grab: Uses all of his pikmin, pummels with his own fists, new UThrow (the pikmin work together to lob the opponent upwards) (pointed out by Dig Dug )

His helmet gets cracked while in hitstun if he takes enough knockback.

His new pummel (uppercut) is much faster.

Overall: Not in demo, but has a new grab.
Lucario (41)

FSmash has more range.

Aura Sphere has less ending lag.

Double Team's counter activates faster.

Overall: Not at demo, but a few buffs can be picked out
R.O.B. (42)

DThrow: Now buries, making any follow-up R.O.B. feels like a true combo.

NAir is faster.

R.O.B. has a fuel gauge on his chasis, displaying fuel left for Up-B.

Overall: Not at demo, but a few buffs can be picked out.
Toon Link (43)

Toon Link is now more expressive.

USmash has an altered animation.

Jab hitbox is slightly larger (pointed out by ILJ )

DAir has reduced ending lag (pointed out by ILJ )

New FSmash: Uppercuts with his sword, finisher of a 4-hit combo in Windwaker (pointed out by Khao ). Compared to his old one, cannot follow up if it misses.

Overall: Not at demo, but has a few re-worked moves to seperate from Young Link
Wolf (44)

New, cleaner jab finisher, dash attack, FAir, FThrow, UThrow, DThrow, and Blaster animations.

New Nair, acts like that of Fox.

Wolf Flash no longer has a helpless state.

The removal of chaingrabbing increases Wolf's endurance against certain characters.

Overall: Not at demo, but has a bunch of new animations in his trailer.
Villager (45)

Villager's rapid jabs have a finishing blow now, so after you release the attack button, Villager will throw out one last powerful punch (pointed out by DakotaBonez )

Pocket's grab animation has less ending lag, and his Grab pockets items.

DAir always meteors.

Edge getup attack covers more range.

Timber can bounce once.

Villager loses one balloon for his move Balloon Trip, if he/she uses it too many times in a row.

NAir deals less damage.

UTilt has less range.

Overall: I guess he's been buffed? The timber changes and DAir changes are nice, and there hasn't been too many nerfs.
Mega Man (46)

2 more characters in Final Smash, Proto Man and Bass

Leaf Shield: Faster, no longer loses leaves (pointed out by Erimir )

FSmash moves farther.

Overall: May be buffed, however too early to tell
Wii Fit Trainer (47)

WFT is more expressive and has a more defined face.

UTilt has more range.

Deep Breathing's initial speed is faster.

Overall: Not at demo, but seems to be buffed
Rosalina (48)

New NAir (pointed out by Murlough ). Compared to her old one, has much less endlag and hits in front first, however, has slightly more startup and much less range. It also has a neat visual glitch where her dress flies up, revealing that they didn't bother to add her legs or body above her knees.

Spoiler: AAA this is genuinely in the trailer btw pause at 0:05

Shield covers Luma as well.

Power Star pulls opponents in and grows bigger and faster, making it better.

Power Star is shorter.

Overall: Not at demo, too early to tell.
Little Mac (49)

New final smash, dashes forward with a jab flurry

The buff EVERY Mac player was waiting for, Jolt no longer triggers helplessness. Note that if he uses it in the air, it only has one charge and only refreshes when Mac touches the ground, like a double-jump.

KO punch now gives vertical momentum and does full KB in the air. It also has a new animation with an increased vertical hitbox, potentially going through platforms.

Can turn around before Straight Lunge

Aerials have reduced landing lag.

Mac jumps higher.

Straight Lunge can be cancelled by shielding.

KO Punch deals more damage.

Rising Uppercut is stronger, and has better overall distance.

Rising Uppercut always snaps the ledge, which is the opposite of what it did in Sm4sh.

Grounded Jolt Haymaker has less ending lag after going off stage, making it a potent edgeguarding tool.

Jab auto-transitions into 3-jab combo instead of rapid jab, which is a buff because he has a terrible rapid jab that a monkey with a controller could SDI out of.

FTilt has significantly less ending lag, making it actually safe on shield (something Mac never had).

FSmash actually hits adjacent opponents, due to the dead zone being removed.

The removal of powershielding makes it easier to destroy shield with high-damage attacks like Down-Angled FSmash.

Aerials are decent combo starters and deal more damage, making them more versatile.

Grab range has been increased and ending lag has been reduced, to the point where he has quite a good grab, instead of an incredibly terrible one.

DThrow has a more inwards angle and less knockback, improving its combo potential.

Straight Lunge charges faster, can release earlier, carries momentum, and is a good recovery option.

Rising Uppercut deals more damage.

Counter's damage multiplier has been increased, and its ending lag reduced, making it easier to KO with and harder to SD with.

KO Punch has much less ending lag.

KO Punch deals less knockback, even with the damage increase.

Grounded Jolt Haymaker covers less distance.

DTilt has slightly more ending lag, removing a few follow-up options, but it's still fairly safe on shield and still true combos into KO punch at KO percents.

UTilt has a few more frames of ending lag, making it not true combo into itself against most characters.

Overall: Buffed, with safer aerials and better specials/recovery, and moves that ACTUALLY FUNCTION, but why did they buff KO punch?
Greninja (50)

New DTilt: Sweeps the floor with his left hand. Launches at a much better angle for follow-ups.

Substitute activates faster.

During Shadow Sneak, Greninja's eyes on his shadow flash a bright red when he's about to strike, making it easier to avoid.

Overall: Not at demo, but if footstools are techable (which I believe they are) then his combo game may be weaker.
Miis (51-53)

New specials
Palutena (54)

Sidestep now has a visible warping effect.

Has Explosive Custom Side Special from 4 (pointed out by Murlough ). An exploding, multi-hit projectile that kills fairly well.

Counter now reflects projectiles (pointed out by Murlough ). Reflect portion also has less startup.

FTilt and UTilt move faster, allowing them to hit far-away foes faster.

FSmash and Dash Attack have less ending lag.

Overall: Not in the demo, but seems to have more useful, faster moves.
Pac-Man (55)

Hydrant: Hitting water will cancel the windbox

Final Smash: No longer controlled by player, instead Pac-Man dashes across the screen

New UTilt. He raises his fist rather than doing his headbutt thing. Similar speed to Sm4sh. (pointed out by EMT~ )

Hitboxes turn Pac-Man's trampoline green, making it behave like a red trampoline. (pointed out by

New 8-Bit character added to his taunt pool (pointed out by TenZaBlade )

Grab speed (FINALLY) increased (pointed out by DaUsername )

Bonus fruit: Charges much faster, (pointed out by xzx )

Dash speed increased (pointed out by xzx )

NAir: Hitbox size increased (pointed out by xzx )

BAir: Landing lag decreased (22->18?) (pointed out by xzx )

DAir: Angle modified, making opponents knocked away instead of up (pointed out by xzx ). A better move for edgeguarding, giving it a use.

General lag decreased (pointed out by xzx )

Side B: End lag decreased (pointed out by xzx )

Bonus Fruit: Damage increased at full charge (pointed out by xzx )

Overall: Buffed a lot from Smash 4, with a faster moveset.
:ultrobin Robin (56) :ultrobin

Elwind launches the projectiles out diagonally.

The decrease to jumpsquat benefits Robin especially, as his jumpsquat time is more than halved (7 frames->3).

Overall: Not at demo, too early to tell.
Shulk (57)

Fiora appears during Final Smash.

Monado Arts: Input a direction to quickly pick a monado art.

NAir is faster.

DAir has less startup lag and more range.

Back Slash has less startup lag.

Air Slash hit 2 comes out faster, making it connect more reliably.

Overall: Not at demo, but seems to be buffed, with faster moves.
Bowser Jr. (58)

Final Smash hits much faster.

DTilt can eat food now.

Clown Cannon shoots faster, can have multiple cannonballs on the screen at once, and spiral in a straight line like the cannonballs in Kirby.

Final Smash has lowered duration.

Overall: Not in the demo, but at least they buffed the worst projectile in the game.
Duck Hunt (59)

The initial Can kick sends the Can farther. In Sm4sh, the Can ends up right next to DH if the move is done from the ground, but the Can seems to travel some distance in the DH trailer (pointed out by EMT~ )

UpB no longer makes you helpless upon ending. Good buff for Duck Hunt's exploitable recovery (pointed out by EMT~ )

The Gunmen look like they shoot more quickly upon use of the move (pointed out by EMT~ )

Jab Combo is faster.

UTilt is slightly faster.

Overall: Not in demo, but seems to be buffed with faster moves.
Ryu (60)

In 1v1s, Ryu always faces his foe (pointed out by mister_subarashi ). This makes it easier to get hit by Disable and makes it hard to use BAir, but makes it very hard to get hit from behind by Back Slash or Nosferatu.

Jab can now lock.

Can now cancel aerials into specials, similarly to certain ground attacks.

Overall: Buffed a bit, but not much is currently known.
Cloud (61)

Cross Slash's slashes are now very thin.

Dash Attack can hit opponents hanging off of ledges.

Aerials have reduced landing lag.

Climhazzard's downwards attack has less landing lag and a wider window during which it sweetspots the ledge.

Limit charges faster.

Can only have a limit charge for 15 seconds before losing it (pointed out by Murlough , confirmed by Tweek)

Loses limit if hit during Limit Charge.

NAir has a new animation, which has less range.

UAir no longer has a hitbox during the sword's initial ascension. This increases its startup, weakens its combo potential and prevents it from hitting grounded opponents as easily.

DAir's autocancel window is later.

Finishing Touch has a smaller hitbox.

Limit Cross Slash has less knockback.

Overall: Nerfed, but why less landing lag on aerials? Also, I hope they fix Climhazzard more.
Corrin (62)

Corrin has a new pummel, a knee. Faster than before.

Side B no longer causes Corrin to hop, lowering his/her hurtbox during the move.

Draconic Ascent has reduced startup lag.

No longer drifts after Up-B. (pointed out by Iridium )

Side B ends faster when idle. You still cannot drop by yourself.

Overall: Not many known balance changes. Seems to come out fairly even.
Bayonetta (63)

Grab is now magical, suspending opponents with black magic.

After A.B. Kick, you can D.A.B. Kick and then A.B. Kick again (found by @SoraKibzu on Twitter, pointed out by Zerp )

Witch time duration modified, either based off countered attack's KB or damage (pointed out by Murlough )

Held NAir has more landing lag.

FAir has a new angle that doesn't connect into Side-B.

DAir has reduced knockback.

Bullet Climax's charge can no longer be cancelled.

D.A.B. Kick no longer has an autocancel window.

Witch Twist has more startup.

Witch Time's intangibility has been removed, its effect duration has been decreased, and its ending lag has been decreased, making it easy to punish with a grab and less damaging if you hit it.

Overall: Her incredible specials have been nerfed (particularly Witch Time) and her incredible air game is slightly laggier. However, MKLeo singlehandedly killed Bayo by performing the Bayo Ladder several times on Plup in front of Sakurai.

Note that when MKLeo carried Plup's Ridley off the top with Bayonetta, 1. Ridley has a ridiculously large hitbox, making him easy to combo, and 2. Plup plays Melee, so he probably doesn't know how to DI that combo.

Still has 4 jumps if she uses Witch Twist.
Inklings (64)
- All alts are different models
- Most attacks give foes Ink (increasing damage by up to 3x)
- Neutral Special: Shoots a short stream of ink with the Splattershot
- Side Special throws remote bombs.
- Down Special: Pulls out a Splat Roller and rolls over foes, burying them
- Final Smash: Pulls out the Killer Wail and blasts foes
- Smash attacks use weapons like Slosher and Inkbrush

Overall: Looks alright, and does lots of damage.
Ridley (65)
- Neutral Special: Shoots a bouncing fireball. Charge to shoot tons at a time.
- Side Special: Dashes forward, grabbing nearby foes and dragging them along the ground for massive damage and knockback. Can easily be mashed out of.
- Up Special: Flies in a given direction. Think a purple version of Pit's Up-B but with more startup.
- Down Special: Charges up (for maybe 20 frames?), before releasing his tail like a spear. Normally deals 1%, however has a sweetspot at the tip that deals 50%, triggers the powerful hit animation, and causes an opponent to fall over (as if they were impaled). With the exception of Shield Shulk, shatters shield in 1 hit (unless it's unblockable, in which case you get hit anyways, or the shields have more health, in which case your shield gets severely degraded to the point of nearly breaking). However, it's a free hit either way if the tiny sweetspot lands.
- Final Smash: Throws foes onto the side of Samus' ship, then blows up the ship with a giant fiery death ray, KO'ing any on-board foes.

Overall: So much damage, but absolute combo food and pretty slow.
Simon (66)
- Neutral Special: Axe: Throws an axe in an arc.
- Side Special: Cross: Throws a straight, piercing boomerang.
- Up Special: Uppercut: Uppercuts. Stolen from Richter's moveset in the Castlevania games.
- Down Special: Holy Water: Throws a vial of Holy Water. Functionally just Arcfire.
- Final Smash: Grand Cross: Shoves foes in a coffin and blasts them with crosses.

Overall: What is that disjoint? Not the most mobile, but his aerials have so much range he can hit you across half the stage. Can't wait for my Luigi to have a -3 MU vs that whip.
Richter (66 Echo)
Differences from Simon:

Different taunt and victory animations.

Holy Water is blue. I bet you've always wanted Blue Arcfire on a clone of Simon Belmont.

Overall: We don't even know anything about Simon, let alone Richter.
King K. Rool (67)
- Neutral? Special: Crown Throw: Throws his crown like a boomerang. Can be pocketed by Villager and King K. Rool won't get it back. May be side special.
- Side? Special: Blunderbuss: Shoots a cannonball out of a blunderbuss and then can suck it (and opponents) back in. May be neutral special.
- Up? Special: Helicopter Backback: Flies up, similarly to Snake's Cypher.
- Down? Special: Stomach Attack: A counter in which he inflates his belly all over people who hit it. Probably more effective than it sounds.
- Final Smash: Blast-o-Matic: Throws foes onto DK Island and then plays the DK64 Game Over animation in which he uses the Blast-o-Matic to blow up DK Island with a giant death ray, dealing huge damage and knockback to trapped foes.

Overall: Good looking, for a heavy.

Spoiler: Frame Data (WIP)

Note: This was gathered going frame by frame in the character showcase videos (the mini combo videos Nintendo released on the website) and comparing it to Kurogane Hammer, and the ending lag might be wrong.

Note that all values are subject to change, and FAF is probably wrong, since the people at Nintendo probably aren't buffering everything (though it's a possibility. or it might be a bot that does set inputs)

FSmash: Hitbox comes out 5 frames later (15-20)

Cape: Hitbox comes out 1 frame later (12-13)

Grab: Ending lag increased (FAF 31-39)

Giant Punch: Hitbox comes out 6 frames later (19-25)

Dash Attack: Ending lag reduced (FAF 42-37)

Bombs generate at least 5 frames slower (get frame 17-22+)

Spin Attack (grounded): Hitbox comes out 5 frames later (10-15)

Spin Attack (grounded) has 2 more frames of ending lag (FAF 82-84)

USmash: Ending lag increased (FAF 78-79)

Grab comes out 3 frames earlier (16-13)

BAir comes out 1 frame earlier (11-10)

BAir has 4 more frames of ending lag (FAF 39-43)

DTilt has 4 more frames of ending lag (FAF 40-44)

FAir: Landing lag reduced (24-19)

Roll has much less ending lag (FAF 40 -> 29?)

DAir comes out 6 frames earlier (16-10)

Grab comes out at least 1 frame slower (14-15+)

BAir: Hit 2 comes out 4 frames earlier (17-13), hit 3 comes out 8 frames earlier (25-17)

Grounded Yoshi Bomb Hit 2 comes out 2 frames later (27-29)

Egg Toss has reduced startup lag (15 -> 14) (discovered by @BlobSSB, pointed out by Zinith )

BAir has reduced startup lag (11 -> 10) (discovered by @BlobSSB, pointed out by Zinith )

Individual hits of BAir each have 5-6 active frames instead of 1 (discovered by @BlobSSB, pointed out by Zinith )

Egg Lay comes out 2 frames slower (21-23)

Dash Attack comes out 2 frames earlier (12-10)

Hammer Flip Full Charge comes out 1 frame earlier (11-10)

Aerial Stone comes out 2 frames later (29-31)

Fox Illusion comes out 4 frames later (21-25)

Shine comes out 3 frames earlier (6-3)

Standing Grab comes out 1 frame later (6-7)

Thunder Jolt comes out 2 frames later (19-21)

Clean FSmash comes out 1 frame earlier (18-17)

Skull Bash has less lag on hit (44-21) (pointed out by Zapp Branniglenn )

Luigi Cyclone comes out 1 frame earlier (10-9)

Down Taunt spike comes out 4 frames later (45-49)

PK Fire comes out 3 frames later (21-24)

USmash comes out 7 frames later (6-13)

USmash comes out 2 frames later (22-24)

USmash has 1 frame less ending lag (FAF 52-51)

Falcon Dive comes out 3 frames later (14-17)

NAir hit 2 comes out 7 frames earlier (20-13)

FSmash comes out 1 frame later (19-20)

B-Reversed Falcon Punch comes out 2 frames later (61-63)

Jab 2 comes out 2 frames earlier (Hitbox out frame 5-3)

DTilt has more ending lag (FAF 28 -> 36)

Vegetable pulls out slower (FAF 43-53)

DSmash has slightly more ending lag (FAF 55 -> 57)

FSmash has more ending lag (FAF 46-51)

BAir has slightly more ending lag (FAF 54-55)

Aerial Daisy Bomber comes out 6 frames faster (20-14), matching Grounded Peach Bomber.

Be sure to correct me if I miss anything. I only have specials for newcomers.

Also, feel free to discuss the changes! Found a change particularly good or bad? Like a mechanic? Think a character is OP? Want to compain about Pikachu's NAir? Want to think Mashedpotato Samurai for buffing Cloud's BAir? Leave your opinion or your questions! I'll have frame data changes from the fighter videos soon enough.

 

[Murlough]

Palutena Counter Reflects now! I guess my keyboard lagged when I typed that.

 

[YoshiandToad]

Peach/Daisy's Toad Counter also has a significantly different animation with Toad seemingly protecting her rather than her forcing him out in front of her. Trying to work out if that alters the mechanics of the counter itself but it's a bit too early to tell.

Falco has a totally different Final Smash

Dedede has a totally different Final Smash

 

[Chibi-Chan]

Great breakdown! I watched the gameplay after but couldn't get a good feel of the base game mechanics like gravity, movespeed, momentum, stun, combo potential, etc... Anybody got a good analysis for that?

 

[SciCore]

- Knuckles is either an assist or newcomer (probably the former)

He is 100% an assist, he appeared during the invitational.

 

[DesireDelta]

Ganon has a New Down-Smash(Similar to that of Cloud's) and Up-Smash(Similar to that of Ike's). Both also use his Sword

 

[Erimir]

Mega Man's Leaf Shield has less start up, rotates (and hits) faster and doesn't lose leaves.

 

[Dig Dug]

Olimar's grab got reworked a lot.

-He now grabs with all of his Pikmin instead of just one.
-His pummel now has Olimar punching the opponent instead of having the Pikmin hit them
-Up throw now has a different animation with the three Pikmin working together to toss the opponent up. They didn't show his other throws in his video, but with the change to his grab I'm assuming they're different, too.

 

[Idon]

Ike confirmed changes:
Default Ike is now Path of Radiance Ike
Idle Stance now uses his limp arm Path of Radiance stance (Even if wearing the Radiant Dawn costume)
Up-Air is no longer helicopter, quick overhead arcing slash.
Down-B now has a blue flame effect
Neutral-B now causes multiple ranged explosions expanding outwards at a certain charge
Radiant Dawn Ike now voiced slightly differently compared to Path of Radiance Ike
Great Aether has new cinematic shot at the beginning

TLDR; NO ****ING SWORD BEAAAAAAAAAAAMS

 

[Blackrider213]

It was mentioned I think during a Treehouse show or during the Smash tourney that Link's grab is no longer a clawshot because Breath of the Wild Link doesn't use it.

 

[DakotaBonez]

Villager's rapid jabs have a finishing blow now, so after you release the attack button, Villager will throw out one last powerful punch.
source: https://youtu.be/dSOqac7YLqY?t=845

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

I feel bad knowing that Giga Bowser, Wario-Man, Giga Mac, and Mega Lucario will no longer operate like standard fighters. Wario-Man was often very amusing to play as.

 

[NotLiquid]

I'm tempted to say Mario's Up Smash was nerfed. I could've sworn I saw MKLeo stuff it on startup and despite Rage it failed to KO Sonic at high percentages.

Conversely some of Sonic's moves look buffed. Leo propped up a shield at one point the second he hit the ground after an Up Smash. I might be remembering wrong but I don't think it had as little end lag in Smash 4 as they did in that demo.

 

[Idon]

I'm tempted to say Mario's Up Smash was nerfed. I could've sworn I saw MKLeo stuff it on startup and despite Rage it failed to KO Sonic at high percentages.

Conversely some of Sonic's moves look buffed. Leo propped up a shield at one point the second he hit the ground again. I might be remembering wrong but I don't think his Up Smash had as little end lag in Smash 4 as they did in that demo.

Of all characters to need buffs, Sonic is nooooooot one of them.
I'd be pissed if this was true.

 

[NotLiquid]

Of all characters to need buffs, Sonic is nooooooot one of them.
I'd be pissed if this was true.

On the other hand, it was mentioned on Twitter that he can't shield cancel his Spin Dash anymore, so that's a nerf.

 

[EMT~]

Some possible changes I noticed with characters I'm more familiar with:

Duck Hunt:
-The initial Can kick sends the Can farther. In Sm4sh, the Can ends up right next to DH if the move is done from the ground, but the Can seems to travel some distance in the DH trailer.
-UpB no longer makes you helpless upon ending (YEAH BUDDY).
-The Gunmen look like they shoot more quickly upon use of the move.

Pac-Man:
-Side-B looks like a two-hit move now rather than being single-hit.
-Looks like a new UTilt. He raises his fist rather than doing his headbutt thing.
-I think some things changed about the trampoline. In the Pac-Man character trailer, it looks like Ike's FSmash changes the color of the trampoline, implying that certain attacks might trigger a bounce on it. Also, I think the amount of bounces the trampoline lasts for has decreased by one, as only PacMan's initial use of the move and the above attack triggered the trampoline before Ike was put into helpless by landing on it.
Correction: Looking at the invitational, it looks like the number of bounces for the Trampoline hasn't changed. That makes me wonder what exactly happened in the PacMan-Ike encounter in the PacMan trailer.

Squirtle:
-Some new form of mobility wherein he rides on water while on the ground. I'm guessing a new dash animation.
-New dash attack or dash attack animation. Again, he has water around him while doing it.
-From the Armada-Zer0 match at the Invitational, it looks like they removed shellshifting ATs.

G&W:
-Possible throw->Judge combo?
-I'm sad it's his Smash 4 incarnation and not his Melee/Brawl/PM incarnation

 

[DakotaBonez]

I'm tempted to say Mario's Up Smash was nerfed. I could've sworn I saw MKLeo stuff it on startup and despite Rage it failed to KO Sonic at high percentages.

Conversely some of Sonic's moves look buffed. Leo propped up a shield at one point the second he hit the ground after an Up Smash. I might be remembering wrong but I don't think it had as little end lag in Smash 4 as they did in that demo.

It seemed like the blast zones were significantly extended off the visible screen in all directions.
It also looks like Air Friction has been increased. Like, the character's get launched at much higher speeds, but they also come to a stop much faster.

 

[edde]

link's downb is not only a sprite change... its also remote controlled

 

[Deleted member 269706]

I could be completely wrong, but I was under the impression that Sheik's recovery had some kind of invincibility on start-up in the WiiU/3DS release. In a set between MKLeo and Zero, MKLeo scores a KO against Zero in what I believe was the same startup of Sheik's recovery. I'll try and find a link for someone more knowledgeable than myself to confirm

found it: https://youtu.be/q_mbvCzjpPw?t=2600

 

[Zinith]

I've noticed two more things while going through Yoshi's trailer (where else would I be?)

His back air is faster and it's easier to connect all hits

His Down B SEEMS to have Super or Heavy Armor during startup

Emphasis on "seems"

 

[mister_subarashi]

This thread should REALLY be stickied. As for changes:

- Ryu is always facing the opponent during one-on-one matches
- Option to turn off stage hazards is in, confirmed by Nario
- Stage selection comes before character selection
- There is some sort of Throw Tech going on, almost seems like he did a Perfect Block on that throw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CacpUbFBPgA
Edit: turns out that both players need to grab at almost the same time for it to happen, like most fighting games. In short, both throws cancel eachother out.
- No wavedashing, but there is a documented example of wavelanding. Assuming it wasn't a bug, wavelanding is in in some form.
- No L-Cancelling (to reduce lag in moves like in Melee, only the usual L-Cancel to avoid downed state that's in the other games)
- No momentum preservation when jumping after dashing (GODDAMMIT Sakurai!)

 

[DjinnandTonic]

Since they said that ALL characters are back... does that mean that Isaac from Golden Sun is an Assist Trophy again? That would make my day.

From the trailer: It looks like Corrin's Side-B can be cancelled once it sticks, instead of being forced to follow through into the kick.
Fox and Falco have a new cutscene Final Smash instead of the Landmaster. Presumably Wolf does too, but I can't confirm that.
Villager, Cloud, and Robin got unique meters on their HUDs to aid their special functions like Pocket, Limit, and Weapon Durability. Possibly other characters with special mechanics might have something too, but those were the ones mentioned directly in the trailer.
Shulk: Fiora added to his Final Smash
Dedede: Brand new cutscene Final Smash

 

[Chimera]

Can anyone give me a summary of the Air dodging change? I’ve heard you can only dodge once in the air, while also hearing you can still doge multiple times but it gets worse as you do it.

 

[NobleClamtasm]

Can anyone give me a summary of the Air dodging change? I’ve heard you can only dodge once in the air, while also hearing you can still doge multiple times but it gets worse as you do it.

• You cannot air dodge immediately after a jump, so that smooth frame perfect wavedash you see in Melee currently isn’t possible
• Directional air dodge still produces a sliding effect that on the ground, so wavelanding is definitely still a thing
• Due to a trait that was carried over from Smash 4’s engine, there is landing lag when you airdodge into the ground, making it lack the same utility it has in Melee
• You cannot wavedash/land off ledges
• Unconfirmed: If the stale airdodge penalty affects the amount of landing lag you get or wavedash distance

And keep in mind this is a demo. With a few tweaks, the wavedashing we know and love can see a return in the final game.

 

[Chimera]

• You cannot air dodge immediately after a jump, so that smooth frame perfect wavedash you see in Melee currently isn’t possible
• Directional air dodge still produces a sliding effect that on the ground, so wavelanding is definitely still a thing
• Due to a trait that was carried over from Smash 4’s engine, there is landing lag when you airdodge into the ground, making it lack the same utility it has in Melee
• You cannot wavedash/land off ledges
• Unconfirmed: If the stale airdodge penalty affects the amount of landing lag you get or wavedash distance

And keep in mind this is a demo. With a few tweaks, the wavedashing we know and love can see a return in the final game.

I appreciate the response, but I’m not really asking about wavedashing/landing:

 

[Deleted member]

Greninja

1. Red eyes now appear in Shadow Sneak's shadow immediately before activating the attack.
2. Shadow Sneak's forward attack animation is different; Greninja performs a single kick rather than a flip. Functionally the same though.

 

[Octavium]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/152575989283553282/456529775666790420/Dash_Dance_examples.gif
Can we talk about dash dancing for a second? Here's a clip of ZeRo using it, it looks very useful.

 

[Awesomeperson159]

Thanks for the replies, everyone! I'll try to update this daily.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/152575989283553282/456529775666790420/Dash_Dance_examples.gif
Can we talk about dash dancing for a second? Here's a clip of ZeRo using it, it looks very useful.

It was in Sm4sh, too. Top players (like Poke in this clip, as an example) can do it. It's difficulty might be similar to that of Melee (in that it's easier than other games). Perfect pivoting is in every game (though you'll trip in brawl).

 

[Octavium]

It was in Sm4sh, too. Top players (like Poke in this clip, as an example) can do it. It's difficulty might be similar to that of Melee (in that it's easier than other games). Perfect pivoting is in every game (though you'll trip in brawl).

Yes it was but it was called extended dash dancing or dance throtting and it was very difficult to be consistent with. The new one seems to be one action for one direction. Making it much more consistent and fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azRrqKUJ-5o

 

[TimeSmash]

A small change, but in the video displaying the Perfect Shield mechanic, I noticed that when a Perfect Shield is performed, the character's eyes will turn yellow, in the same way they did when having a Final Smash aura

 

[Awesomeperson159]

Added everything that was commented, thanks for telling me! I didn't view all the treehouse stuffs, so anything related to that would be useful.
EDIT: Forgot Perfect Shield, thanks TimeSmash!

 

[MarioMeteor]

Bowser’s down tilt tripped before, that’s not a new change. Here are some things I noticed

- Mario’s dash attack, down smash and Cape have slightly more exaggerated animations.
- Luigi’s up tilt seems to be different (an uppercut instead of a swipe), as does his forward tilt (now he faces the camera like Mario). His Green Missile also has a different charging animation, and now he spins when he Misfires. Finally, he now dashes like he does in the Mario games, leaning back with his fists in front of his chests.
- Jigglypuff’s Rollout is now much faster when uncharged (she rolls once then stops).
- Roy’s dashing animation looks to be unique now instead of just Marth’s but faster. Also his down air sets you on fire now.
- Snake has a new down smash.

 

[Blank1]

idk if this has been mentioned, but Ness might have a new U-Air and a different looking N-Air

Footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUx5nK7Yyis

Edit: Nakat uses the new U-Air in a match. It seems to have the same kill power while also being multi-hit

https://youtu.be/9_eZO0WTL30?t=3m27s

 

[Awesomeperson159]

Great breakdown! I watched the gameplay after but couldn't get a good feel of the base game mechanics like gravity, movespeed, momentum, stun, combo potential, etc... Anybody got a good analysis for that?

- Gravity is similar to Sm4sh, might be a bit floatier or heavier
- Speed seems to be similar to Sm4sh
- Air friction seems to be higher
- Hitstun caps out at a shorter amount for faster, more dramatic launches
- High combo potential (though w/o airdodge freefall or massive hitstun, it's no Melee or 64)

 

[-crump-]

disregard this post thanks

 

[mister_subarashi]

Added everything that was commented, thanks for telling me! I didn't view all the treehouse stuffs, so anything related to that would be useful.
EDIT: Forgot Perfect Shield, thanks TimeSmash!

The thread is coming along really nicely, good job on keeping it updated Awesomeperson159! Now where's that damn sticky?

For all you eagle eyed folks out there, I know that a dash can now be canceled with smashes, tilts and so on (they even showed a bit of it in the Treehouse stream), but did anyone notice if the dashes can be down canceled like good ol' Melee? Or are we stuck with block canceling?

 

[bibbit]

Thanks for making this thread; it's a great place to compile all the character-specific changes.

Bowser has a new downsmash in which he swipes in front and behind him. Pretty quick (for a bowser smash attack), strong enough, and more horizontal range than his old one.

 

[TenZaBlade]

Things I observed from watching tons of footage:

Sonic - Homing Attack makes a reticle appear over the opponent he's homing into much like the actual Sonic games
Pac-Man - new 8bit character added to the pool of his taunt (need to double-check)
Sheik: Grenade changed-- string shoots straight out iirc and doesn't cause you to go into freefall afterward

 

[PlasmaSnow12]

Link will fire sword beams if he has no damage, but I do not know which attacks trigger them.
Samus's Bombs seem to explode on proximity again. Also her super missile seems to have a slight delay after firing and heads at a slight angle, but that could be my imagination. Also, she has a new up throw where she fires a missile into the opponent point blank, launching them upwards.
Inklings seem to get buffs when they have more ink in their tanks? Also, ink on the stages will slow fighters down

 

[Zinith]

From the Direct when they were presenting the Spirit Tracks stage, I noticed that Yoshi has a completely different Forward Tilt. I initially thought it was a new Jab, but I saw his usual Jab earlier in the video.