Luigi Cyclone

Luigi Cyclone is Luigi's Down Special Move. It is similar to the Mario Tornado. The attack makes Luigi spin around wildly. It can be used as a vertical recovery move by button-mashing the B button, though this works best after a jump because the move carries Luigi's momentum with it. The move is very hard to use in other situations, as it requires pressing the special move button very quickly, which in SSB64 in Melee is nearly impossible to do. In Brawl, however, this is much easier due to the game being slower. It is a multi-hit attack since SSBM.

In Super Smash Bros.
In the original, there are a total of 2 hits, 1 at the beginning of the hit, and one at the end when Luigi sends out his hands (extremely powerful). The "Smash 64" one is in the middle of difficulty between Melee and Brawl and has by far the best power of any of the 3 cyclones. It is usually considered Luigi's other main killing move outside of Up B. It goes Diagonally in the air but it is possible to aim the control stick to only send the cyclone vertical. This takes very quick hand speed as well.

In Melee
In Super Smash Brothers Melee, the Luigi Cyclone is the primary vertical recovery as long as someone has very quick tap speed. There are a total of 2 hits very similar to Smash 64 with one right at the beginning and one when Luigi raises his hands. This version of the cyclone has the best combo ability and very low killing ability/gimping ability. Unlike in Brawl the momentum of a jump does not contribute to the performance of the cyclone, so you are able to gain the same height in all situations. However, unlike other smash games, the Melee cyclone needs to be "charged" by performing it so that the last few frames (when the second set of hitboxes comes out)occur on the ground. It is also by far the hardest cyclone to do fully, with only people with very fast hand speed being able to do it correctly. It takes around twice the hand speed as a Jumpless Rising Cyclone from Brawl, but the rising cyclone in Melee cannot be performed from the ground. It is also a very quick out of shield move and is a good approaching move but with low priority. It is a primary combo starter vs fast fallers or heavies. In addition, using this move on the ground and hitting left or right on the control stick allows for very rapid horizontal movement, equal in speed to Captain Falcon's full dash. Hence it is tied for the fastest means of ground movement. If you press b again after you execute the technique on the ground Luigi will hop into the air, which can be useful to combo opponents to a slightly higher damage percentage. When in the air, even if you only press b one time instead of mashing it, the charge will be wasted when used in the air unless you are able to direct the cyclone so that you land on a platform at the end or immediately following the attack lag frames.

The cyclone also becomes "charged" immediately when executed on the ground, even if Luigi is knocked out of the animation after only one frame. Thus it can be useful to force a clash when charging it so as to eliminate the risk of punishment from endlag.

In Brawl
In Super Smash Bros Brawl, the Luigi Cyclone can travel across the stage quickly, has more hits than Melee, less power, and is very good at gimping certain characters. The vertical recovery distance is now much easier to perform than its Super Smash Bros. Melee counterpart. It has less vertical distance than Smash 64 but has the most horizontal distance of all 3 games. Also, the Up B has better horizontal distance allowing Luigi to recover much easier than any other smash game. The Brawl cyclone is also one of the better moves Luigi has to approach and bait. There are a few main techniques using the Cyclone in Brawl.


 * Cyclone Cancel (CC): Pressing Down+B right before Luigi touches the ground allows him to instantly use the move again. . This also allows Luigi to rise slightly on the ground if he taps the b on the ground while moving.
 * Jumpless Rising Cyclone: (JRC) Using the Cyclone without Jumping is much harder than using it with jumping. It takes around double the tap speed. However it is considered usually better as it allows Luigi to make a double jump afterward as well.
 * Normal Rising cyclone. (NRC): Using the cyclone with jumping is by far the easiest way to recover. It does however leave Luigi open for gimps as Luigi doesn't have a 2nd jump anymore otherwise.
 * Stationary Aerial Cyclone. (SAC): Using the cyclone to keep Luigi in the same area in mid-air. Takes exactly half the tap speed as the other cyclones. Also known as a Half Rising Cyclone or HRC.
 * Aerial Cyclone Gimp (ACG): Jumping and then using a fully powered cyclone to kill a character off the top (usually someone with a slow down aerial like snake) or to fast fall and then fully tap cyclone off stage vs someone's recovery, usually this is vs. Diddy or Marth. Similar to the Meta Knight Up Air and then tornado gimp but less effective.
 * Full Rising Cyclone (FRC): A fully vertical/horizontal cyclone

Trivia

 * The Luigi Cyclone has no effect whatsoever on the tornadoes on Hyrule Castle. Attempting to attack or enter the tornadoes is not advised.
 * On certain levels against certain characters a Luigi with lower port priority will start with the cyclone charged and will immediately be able to execute a rising one when the match starts. For example, if Luigi is against Marth on Dreamland he will start with the cyclone charged, but against Fox he will not. The list appears to be random.