Fox McCloud
Fox is another character that you really don't see much of outside his vehicle of choice. It's appropriate, then, that Fox mirrors his Arwing in both speed and firepower. One of the quickest characters in the game, Fox is very good at juggling opponents in the air and has some lightning-fast smash attacks. His newly enhanced blaster shoots considerably faster than it did in the original SSB, and Fox even uses it to deal some additional damage after all of his throws. Most impressive, however, is his updated jet pack attack. From the look of it, it launches Fox almost twice as far as it did originally, and takes less time to start up. A definite advantage when you're trying to get back from the edge.
| Attack |
Description |
| B button |
Blaster - Fox's blaster is much faster than in the original SSB, and fires out a volley of shots instead of the original single blast. It's also one of the few "no reaction" attacks in the game, as it only raises the enemy's percentage without knocking them back at all. |
| Side-B |
Fox Illusion - Fox dashes across the screen at lightning speed, leaving a blue trail behind him and damaging anyone in his path. |
| Up-B |
Fire Fox - Fox fires up his jetpack and blasts in whatever direction you push the stick in, igniting anyone in the way. |
| Down-B |
Reflector - Fox generates a hexagonal shield that reflects all projectiles and knocks back enemies when it's initially used. |
Ness
Ness was one of the hardest characters to play in the original SSB. His jumps were awkward and slow, and his PK Thunder attack required a lot of practice if you were going to use it as a third jump. Luckily, practice makes perfect. Ness' directional air attacks are simply devestating, and his new B attack looks like it could be one of the most powerful attacks in the game. Just be ready to deal with a significantly different sense of movement when you play as him.
| Attack |
Description |
| B button |
PK Flash - Ness launches a slow moving ball of manually guided energy that blows the living crap out of whoever it connects with. It can be charged up much like Samus' blaster or Donkey Kong's giant punch. |
| Side-B |
PK Fire - Ness shoots out a small flame that turns into a raging fire if it connects with an enemy. If used in the air, Ness will throw the attack downward diagonally. |
| Up-B |
PK Thunder - Ness launches a quick moving ball of manually guided energy that damages the enemy. If Ness hits himself with the PK Thunder attack, he can rocket himself across the screen - useful for coming back from the edge of a stage, and smashing into enemies. |
| Down-B |
Psi Magnet - Ness creates an energy shield around himself that absorbs the damage from energy attacks and adds it to his health. |
Ice Climbers
Spawned from one of Nintendo's oldest franchises, the Ice Climbers are going to be very interesting to play as. You control the blue one (Popo), and the pink one (Nana) basically mirrors your every move. Think Sonic and Tails, and you'll get an idea of how they work together. They can also combine their strengths for their special attacks, such as the Rubber Jump. However, there are instances where one of the Ice Climbers will be knocked away, and the other will be left to fend for itself. If Popo is knocked off the stage, Nana runs around confusedly and attempts to attack the enemies by herself. Same deal if Nana's knocked away, except that you still get to control Popo. When this occurs, many attacks lose power significantly, and you become much more vulnerable. So it's an interesting compromise. The Ice Climbers are very powerful when they're together, but if you separate them they become very vulnerable. Also worth noting is that the Ice Climbers can't move horizontally in mid-air. It's true to the NES game, but will be very difficult to get used to.
| Attack |
Description |
| B button |
Ice Shot - The Ice Climbers each make a block of ice and knock them towards their enemies. |
| Side-B |
Tornado Hammer - The Ice Climbers team up and spin across the stage with their hammers extended, knocking away any enemies. |
| Up-B |
Rubber Jump - Popo launches Nana into the air on a line, damaging any enemies in the way. At the peak of the jump, Nana yanks on the line and throws Popo even higher. Easily the highest triple jump in the game, but it can't be performed with only one Ice Climber. |
| Down-B |
Blizzard - The Ice Climbers blow icy air out of their mouths, freezing enemies in their tracks. |
Kirby
Half the fun of playing as Kirby is seeing what he looks like as he absorbs new powers from his enemies. Whether walking around in a snow suit from the Ice Climbers or wearing Bowser's trademarked angry face and flaming mane, he always manages to be overwhelmingly adorable. The majority of Kirby's attacks involve turning into some other form and using it to pummel his opponents. He even turns into a fireball this time around when he does his running dash attack. But, according to many people, Kirby was supposedly "too powerful" in the original SSB. While I don't subscribe to that idea for a moment, HAL seems to agree with it. As such, Kirby has been "toned down" for the sequel. His attacks are a bit harder to string together, and his Down-B attack no longer renders him invincible to most attacks.
| Attack |
Description |
| B button |
Vacuum - Kirby tries to inhale an enemy. If he succeeds, he can spit the enemy back out with A, or hit B to swallow them. If he swallows them, his B attack emulates the B attack of whatever character he swallowed. He can discard the power by taunting. |
| Side-B |
Hammer - Kirby whips out a hammer and spins it around himself. If used in the air, he spins the hammer vertically, as opposed to horizontally. |
| Up-B |
Final Cutter - Kirby takes out a sword, leaps in the air with it, and comes crashing back down to the ground. Upon impact, a wave of energy streaks across the ground in front of him. |
| Down-B |
Stone - Kirby turns into some variety of heavy objects, such as a rock, a weight, or a spiky ball. If he uses this power in the air, he falls to the ground and knocks away anyone in his path. |
Samus
Samus is all about blowing things up. In addition to her blaster and bombs, she now has a missile attack that automatically aims itself towards the closest enemy. When it comes to up-close attacks, however, she has a bit of trouble. Many of her attacks are very slow and easily evaded. Especially her grappling beam. Luckily, her Screw Attack is still around for endlessly annoying fun. And in SSBM, her grappling beam can be fired out in the air, allowing her to grab onto ledges and pull herself up. This should help immensely when she tries to come back from the edge, since her third jump doesn't push her up all that high.
| Attack |
Description |
| B button |
Charge Shot - Tapping B will cause Samus to charge up her blaster. If you hit right or left while charging up, you roll to the side and maintain your charged up power. You can then proceed to charge up again. If you hit B again while charging up, Samus will fire her blaster. After she's charged up to the max level, she'll sparkle slightly. At that point, pressing B won't charge up any more. It'll just fire the blaster. |
| Side-B |
Missile - Samus fires a missile at the enemy. If you press lightly on the stick, it is a weaker and slightly guided missile. If you press the stick quickly, as if executing a smash attack, the missile won't be guided, but it will be faster and more powerful. |
| Up-B |
Screw Attack - Samus leaps into the air and captures enemies in a spinning ball of pain. |
| Down-B |
Bomb - Samus rolls into a ball and drops a small bomb, which explodes after several seconds or on impact with an enemy. Like in Super Metroid, Samus can also use these bombs to propel herself into the air. |
Princess Zelda / Sheik
Zelda is one of the more unique characters in SSBM. When you start off the battle, you play as plain old Zelda and have one specific set of attacks. However, use her Down-B attack and BOOM. Zelda transforms into Sheik, taking on a completely different set of attacks. This comes as quite a suprise, since up till recently it was assumed that you would only be able to play as Sheik. It's also a good explanation for why Zelda's box on the character select screen has been left blank for so long. As Sheik, Zelda will be able to perform a variety of ninja-like moves, such as throwing darts, using a very Castlevania-esque whip, and teleporting. HAL has gone to painstaking efforts to make Sheik move as gracefully and smoothly as possible in order to maintain her ninja image. They've even gone so far as to write all of her attacks out in Kanji to make her seem more foreign. As plain old Zelda, her attacks are more energy-based, and are derivatives of the three magics used in Ocarina of Time.
| - Zelda - |
| Attack |
Description |
| B button |
Nayru's Love - Zelda creates a sheild around herself composed of several crystal fragments. These fragments rotate, damaging enemies and reflecting projectiles. |
| Side-B |
Din's Fire - Zelda launches a small ball of guidable fire which explodes when you release the B button. |
| Up-B |
Farore's Wind - Zelda teleports from place to place, similar to Pikachu's Agility attack. She damages enemies at the beginning and end of her 'port. |
| Down-B |
Sheik Change - Zelda transforms into Sheik, and takes on a completely different set of attacks. |
| - Sheik - |
| Attack |
Description |
| B button |
Charge Needle - Sheik throws several darts in front of her. If in the air, she throws them down diagonally. The longer you hold the B button, the more needles she'll throw. |
| Side-B |
Iron Wire Dance - Sheik attacks enemies with a whip. If she holds the B button after using it, she can wiggle it around, additionally damaging enemies or deflecting projectiles. |
| Up-B |
Elude - Sheik disappears in a small fireball, and reappears elsewhere. Similar to Pikachu's Agility attack. |
| Down-B |
Zelda Change - Sheik transforms into Zelda, and takes on a completely different set of attacks. |
Link
Link was one of the most entertaining characters to play as in the original SSB, but he had some very jarring weaknesses. Most importantly, he was very bad at coming back from the edge. His triple jump hardly lifted him in the air at all, and provided minimal horizontal movement. Luckily, all of his weaknesses seem to have been removed in SSBM. From what I've seen, his triple jump now propels him twice as far into the air, and he can shoot his hookshot into surfaces and pull himself towards them. Much like Samus and her grappling beam. His boomerang has been shrunk and moved to Side-B, while his B attack now has him pull out his bow and launch an arrow across the screen. It's a nice balance to his incredibly strong sword attacks. Link has the potential to be one of the best characters in SSBM, now that his returning power has been brought up to the level of the rest of his attacks.
| Attack |
Description |
| B button |
Bow and Arrow - Link shoots his bow and arrow. The longer he holds the button, the longer the arc of the arrow will be. For example, if you just tap the button, the arrow will quickly fall to the ground - actually quite useful as an edge attack. |
| Side-B |
Boomerang - Link throws a boomerang in front of him. It's faster and smaller than the one in the original SSB, and can be aimed on the diagonal as well. |
| Up-B |
Spin Attack - Link spins his sword around himself in a circle, hitting enemies multiple times. If used in the air, this attack pushes Link upwards significantly. |
| Down-B |
Bomb - Link pulls out a bomb, and then throws it like he would throw any regular item. |
