Ganondorf (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)

''This article is about Ganondorf's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For other uses, see Ganondorf.''

Ganondorf (ガノンドロフ, Ganondorofu) returns in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. His design is based upon his appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (although he isn't as tall as he was in Twilight Princess). He retains his hand-to-hand combat style, and does not use his sword outside of taunts. The Smash Bros. Dojo states that Ganondorf is the heaviest human character in the game. He is the only semi-clone to be based off of a character from another series.

Despite several of his moves being the strongest of their kind in the game (in terms of damage and knockback), Ganondorf is currently last on the tier list due to his very sluggish moves, terrible out of shield options along with an average spot dodge, very limited approach options, poor pressure, poor horizontal recovery and predictable vertically, poor mobility, very poor metagame, and the fact that L-canceling does not exist in Brawl.

How to Unlock
To unlock Ganondorf, the player must either -
 * Clear Classic Mode on Hard with Zelda or Link
 * Play 200 brawls
 * Have Ganondorf join your party in the Subspace Emissary by collecting the Link and Zelda trophies in the Subspace world.

Note: With the exception of the third option, Ganondorf has to be fought in a 1v1 fight at Final Destination to unlock him.

Attributes
Ganondorf is a heavy, fast falling, very slow character (the 2nd slowest to be exact) with slightly above average range (excluding his grab and up smash, which have very low horizontal range), very strong attacks, including more than one of the strongest attacks in the game. His attacks, whether in the sweetspot or the sourspot, are still very powerful (which actually results in a problem for him, since this doesn't allow him combos). Almost all of his moves have above average knockback and can KO as well, although some have low priority (this case is severe, as the moves with low priority are mostly used to approach, but some of Ganondorf's moves' priority are not bad). His leg attacks have enough priority to clank with swords and even cut through them (most of the time). His side special grants him Super armor (only helpful in team battles or FFAS) while he is holding the opponent and it leaves opponents vulnerable for a bit of time if used on the ground, leaving them open for another quick attack being a true set up like down tilt (on most characters), his jab (some that can avoid the down tilt but not the jab) or several characters getting hit by dash attack and side tilt for kills, and even up air on platforms. He can also use it for tech-chases to predict the opponent, for example regrabbing with it or getting a down aerial or down angled forward smash, the damage side special does is fairly low though. In the air, Ganondorf's side special can cause a Ganoncide, which is one of the worst in the game because, even when it's impossible to escape from it or control the trajectory, landing it is very hard work. Ganondorf is arguably the character least affected by Smash DI, because he has the lowest number of multi-hitting moves, effectively rendering escape and punishment of his attacks ineffective: only the down smash is affected in such a way, not even the neutral aerial is affected, but this isn't all good news, having low multi-hit moves is bad since it becomes alot easier for the opponents to shield said move. Ganondorf's dash attack provides him with a quick speed boost, and the move is a hard hitter as well and can also KO. Ganondorf's aerials are also very strong; all have high knockback, and his down aerial is an extremely strong, reliable spike (sometimes can KO even at 0%, depending from how far they are from the bottom and how good their recovery is), Ganondorf`s advanced Super-Jump glitch is very situational, but, if done right, he travels higher in the air, useful for an aerial Reverse Warlock Punch, his most powerful move.

However, Ganondorf's extremely high power and heavy weight are counter-balanced with many factors. Ganondorf is a tall target (though most heavyweights have this problem). His horizontal standing grab range is the shortest in the game (though his pivot grab has good range, but slower start-up). Because of his poor grab range and slow moves, his out of shield options are the worst in the game (though his grab is the shortest in the game, it can sometimes still shield grab depending on the range of the opponent's attack and the shieldstun of it), Ganon can't even take the sky out of shield due to jump lag (7 frames). To cripple even more his defense, he has an average spot dodge which can only punish moves with lightly long lag. Ganondorf has very bad air speed, and very small second jump (though it auto-sweetspot ledges, allowing him to plank). He lacks a projectile and he is easy to camp for those who have a projectile. Ganondorf's overall ground attack speed is the slowest in the game along with Ike (but Ganondorf aerial attacks are only laggy if he lands while attacking; Ganondorf's fastest ground attack is his grab which has 7 frames start-up). Some attacks have low priority as aforementioned, mainly those which are required for him to play 'good'. His recovery is predictable and does not travel much horizontal distance and having a start-up of 14 frames, being easy to hit out of by above where he has no hitboxes and though it's situational, most characters can hit him out of his up special grab at certain percents (Falco, for example, when he has around 90% damage he can dair spike him out of his up special grab), it is one of the worst because of. Many of Ganondorf's attacks have no low hitboxes, which means it can be hard to hit smaller characters with many of his attacks. He, like Captain Falcon and Wolf, has a very fast falling speed and a heavy weight that can backfire by being very vulnerable to chain grabs. Ganondorf's mobility is very poor. This means that characters with a good projectile can easily break his approach and force him to jump and still get very little distance, so it's suggested to all Ganondorf mains to learn to powershield every projectile aimed on him. Also, half of his moveset can be ducked under by certain characters (jab, ftilt, non-down angled Fsmash, dsmash, auto-canceled short hop dair, Warlock Punch, grounded Wizard's Foot and even standing grab and dash grab).

Ganondorf is a unique character. His extreme power means that a single blow from him can turn the tide of a match with opponents in the danger zone as low as 30% (his earliest killer, Warlock Punch, essentially guarantees kills at damages as low as 13% or 14% when reversed), but landing that blow is usually difficult. Opponents need to relentlessly pummel him with attacks and keep him from executing his big finishers, or they may see themselves down a stock. He can rack damage extremely quickly, with moves like short hop the 0% combo dair twice into short hop Uair or Usmash or low percent Dtilt juggling, but landing that hit that allows that can be extremely difficult. Thanks to his Flame Choke, which puts the opponent in a very bad position he can tech-chase into very powerful moves in terms of both damage and knockback like his Forward Smash, which kills at fairly low percents, or even into another Flame Choke. So as said before, he can find it very difficult to land a move, but once he does it, with proper prediction he can become a lethal character.

Changes from Melee to Brawl
Ganondorf has been severely nerfed from Melee to Brawl. Ganondorf has had a good deal of changes from Melee to Brawl, beginning with a general design change to his Twilight Princess incarnation and a new voice actor. The animations of his attacks are largely different as well. Ganondorf's moves and attributes also underwent a lot of changes, the result of which is that while he was Middle tier in Melee, he is currently the lowest in the Brawl tier list.

He has now the 2nd slowest dash speed, and his dodge rolls are slower (though still very fast for his weight class). In general, his attacks are slower and with lower priority but with generally greater power and reach: his neutral jab, forward tilt, and downwards tilt are noticeable. Volcano Kick, his upwards tilt, has a vacuum effect, has 81 frames start-up instead of 88, has an incredibly long disjointed range and completely cancels knockback if knocked close to it (can act like a spike on aerial characters, for example being great for punishing Snake's C4 jump) but has slight less killing power and purely vertical knockback if hit from far. His upwards smash is now a single, vertical kick with less lag at the end. It also has a far larger hitbox (has incredible vertical range, but poor horizontal range). His Warlock Punch, now fired from his left hand, was made faster and can be reversed during the start-up frames for more damage and knockback. Gerudo Dragon was replaced with Flame Choke, his new side special. Dark Dive is weaker during the grab (11% compared to 17% and can even get hit out of it when the opponent has around 50% damage or higher due it's poor hitstun), but can now grab edgeguarders and hit enemies with an uppercut at the end. Wizard's Foot no longer enables a midair jump if one was used already making his horizontal recovery much worse, the aerial Wizard's Foot must hit during the initial frames to spike and the grounded version has much lower knockback, but the non-spike hitbox of aerial Wizard's Foot has very high upwards knockback. His side smash can be angled up or down, and it has more horizontal knockback than vertical knockback. His down smash is slower, hooking opponents into the second kick better. His dash attack has better range and is much stronger, while 2nd kick of neutral aerial is weaker. His fair has 3 frames slower start-up and has 10 frames longer landing lag than his non-L-canceled one had in Melee, now having only 1 frame less landing lag than his dair. His bair no longer has the 5 frame duration it had in Melee. Finally, his down aerial auto-cancels during short hops, making it easier to abuse.

Normal

 * Neutral attack - Quick palm strike. Moderate knockback, deals more damage if the tip of the attack connects. Very slow for a jab 8 frames, and ends on frame 25 which makes it one of the slowest jabs in the game. This attack is good to use out of a Perfect Shield 7%, 9% if tipped and 5% if hit from very close.
 * Dash attack - Shoulder tackle. Ganondorf gains a quick speed boost during the move. Like King Dedede's, this can KO at high percentages. The 2nd strongest dash attack. Some characters can be dash attacked after a grounded Flame Choke. 15%.
 * Strong Side - Ganondorf leans back a little and thrusts one leg straight forward. Surprisingly the same range as his jab, but slightly slower start up, good low angle horizontal knockback, so it's a semi-spike, so also good for KOing characters with poor horizontal recovery, fairly quick. Often referred to as the "Sparta" Kick due to this attack resembling a kick from a famous scene from the movie 300. Ganondorf makes a similar kick in the final battle of Twilight Princess. 12%-13%.
 * Strong Up - Volcano Kick, Ganondorf lifts his leg for a very long time before smashing it down in an explosion. Has vacuum properties, and has huge damage and knockback if it connects, and it does very high damage on shields. Does less damage and with only vertical knockback if it connects from far. The explosion has incredibly long range, which is disjointed which is about as long as the vacuum  His slowest start up attack (81 frames of start-up lag, almost 1.5 seconds), yet not one of his longer end lag attacks. 27%, 19% if hit from far.
 * Strong Down - Ganondorf kneels on one leg and sweeps the other leg forward. Great range and sets up for aerials and has great priority, including a slight disjoint in the end but is not safe when shielded. Lowest knockback out of all of his tilts. 12%. It also stuns weak enemies in the SSE before destroying them.

Smash

 * Side Smash - Elbow thrust, with a dark magic effect on contact. Moderately quick startup and very high knockback, killing reliably at 70%. Although farther hitboxes do exactly the same damage, they have slightly less knockback. Can be angled up or down. This is somewhat unique to other Side Smashes that can be angled as the damage does not increase when angled upward and does not decrease when angled downward. Stutter Stepping increases its range a bit. This attack also has a disjointed hitbox. Ganondorf used a similar elbow strike attack in Twilight Princess, but it lacked dark magic. 24%-35%
 * Up Smash - Ganondorf does a high kick, lifting his leg to about thirty degrees from vertical quickly. Has lots of IASA frames. Very effective to charge it as it's safe on shields, but unfortunately it has poor horizontal range. Has a slight disjoint in the farthest horizontal range. 19%-26% damage if hit with leg, 22%-30% damage if hit with foot.
 * Down Smash - Ganondorf sweeps his leg forward, then backwards. The knockback from the first kick usually makes the second kick connect as well. First hit comes out fairly fast (at least in comparison to Ganondorf's other moves) but second hit is somewhat laggy. Nearly useless move in general because the 1st hit can be Smash DIed out of the 2nd hit and it's weak compared to his other moves. CPUs can also Air dodge to avoid it. 19%-26%.

Other

 * Ledge Attack - Backhands the edgeguarding opponent. If the opponent is a distance away, the attack knocks them away. If the opponent is standing close to Ganondorf, the attack will throw the opponent off the ledge. 10%.
 * 100% Ledge Attack - Ducks slightly and delivers a kick across the ground. Comes out fast, and Ganon keeps low. 10%. This move has a sweetspot similar to Usmash, it is on the foot but is small. Does 17% this way.
 * Trip attack - Does a rising, spinning kick. Reach of the attack extends across the entire height of his legs, and the attack is incredibly fast. 6%.
 * Floor attack - Flips upward, kicking with his feet, similar to his up-aerial.

Aerial Attacks

 * Neutral Aerial - Double kick.The first hit will hit hard but weak compared to his other aerials and the second hit deals a weaker attack that lacks KO potential. First hit deals 11% while the second does 7%.
 * Forward Aerial - Swings his hand forward in an overhead arc downwards. High knockback. Slower, longer range, high land lag and slightly weaker than the knee, and has somewhat of a sweetspot, which is the fist (doing 17% damage), whereas if it connects with his arm, it does 15%, though this only affects damage, and the attack is still powerful wherever it hits. Sweetspot is fairly safe on shields due its high amount of shieldstun, while the sourspot is unsafe on shields.
 * Back Aerial - Backhand. One of Ganondorf's fastest aerials, good knockback. Can be ground canceled. 16%.
 * Up Aerial - Overhead Flip Kick. The hitbox travels in a large arc, hitting opponents above and behind as well. Fast and good for edge guarding. Very strong at the start and semi-spike at the end. Hit in last few frames is great at gimping recoveries that either lacks horizontally, vertically or lacks both. Ganondorf's fastest attack. 13%.
 * Down Aerial - Thunder Stomp. Ganondorf kicks his legs downward, with an electric effect if the attack connects. Will always spike if it hits, even if not sweetspotted. 23% damage. If connected with body instead of his leg, the attack will do 17%. The strongest spike in the game (before his Wizard's Foot and then Ness's down aerial), often KOing even at 0% (although, with DI, and if their recovery is well-timed, some characters can survive this up to around 80%). This spike is so powerful, grounded opponents will be launched upwards, getting Star KOed at high enough damages (most characters lower than 100%). Can be auto-canceled after short hops making it a great approach move, and is also a solid edgeguarding move. Given its quick start-up and deceptive horizontal range it can be difficult for characters off-stage to avoid it.

Grabs & Throws

 * Range - High vertical range but one of the shortest horizontal grab ranges except the pivot grab which has good range.
 * Pummel - Knees opponent. A moderate speed pummel that is slow for a 2% pummel. 2%.
 * Forward Throw - Punches his opponent forward. High damage for a throw and good power. 13%.
 * Back Throw - Throws opponent backward and kicks them. Strong knockback for a throw, it easily sets up edgeguard opportunities, and can even KO at high percents when near the edge. 10%.
 * Up Throw - Throws opponent upward and jabs his/her back. A poor throw that isn't strong enough to KO under 200%, but has too high of base knockback to be effective at setting up more attacks at low percentages. 7%.
 * Down Throw - Throws his opponent violently on the ground. A weak throw that works very well for setting up at low percentages. Can often be led into a Flame Choke, uair, bair, or even dair depending on the opponent's DI. 7%.

On-screen appearance

 * Emerges from a portal of dark magic. It also appears to be similar to the purple color of subspace.

Taunts
Up: Floats in the air, curls into a ball, spins, opens up from his curled position and poses, all while laughing maniacally. (same as in melee)

Down: Takes his sword out, dark energy pulses from the tip, looks at it, then puts it away. It is possible to hack such that Ganondorf is permanently holding an invisible Beam Sword, using his sword as the visible weapon.

Side: Punches his hands together, and dark energy appears.

Role in the Subspace Emissary
Ganondorf first appears in a control room on the Island of Ancients giving Bowser the coordinates to find King Dedede, who stole Wario's trophies. Later in the same control room Master Hand gives him the orders to destroy the Isle of the Ancients. He then appears in the island base as a hologram and orders the R.O.B. Squad to activate all of the Subspace Bombs they had. When the Ancient Minister gets in their path, Ganondorf presses an overide button that forces the R.O.B.s to ignore the Minister. When the Ancient Minister continues to intervene, Ganondorf presses the override button again and the R.O.B.S attack the Ancient Minister, setting him aflame. The heroes attempt to stop the R.O.B.s, so Ganondorf sends a flock of Auroros to distract them. Suddenly, the burning Ancient Minister fires beams from his eyes, destroying the Auroros, and reveals that he, himself, is a R.O.B. who was disguised, and proceeds to help the others fight the advancing Subspace troops. After the Isle of the Ancients is engulfed in Subspace, Ganondorf appears on the Subspace Gunship as it's commander along with Bowser, but he retreats into Subspace with Bowser when the Gunship is destroyed by Kirby and his Dragoon. Ganondorf decides it is the time to betray the Master Hand so he takes out the last remaining Dark Cannon and aims it at Bowser, his own co-captain and the most loyal of Master Hand's henchmen. After shooting Bowser in a suprise atack with the dark cannon, Ganondorf kicks the Bowser trophy out of the way and goes up to the edge of a ledge. When Ganondorf presents himself to Master Hand preparing to betray him for complete control of the Subspace Army, he sees that Master Hand was literally a puppet of Tabuu, the supreme leader of the Subspace Army. Ganondorf tries to attack him, but is defeated and turned into a trophy. As he was falling however, he bumped into Master Hand, freeing him from Tabuu's control. Master Hand then attempts to attack Tabuu, but is defeated with ease. When Kirby finds Ganondorf's trophy the resurrected Bowser appears and brutally attacks his trophy as an act of revenge before tossing it aside. If Link and Zelda were rescued, a cutscene will show Ganondorf being revived by Link and Zelda (with a bit of a headache from the abuse treatment) and after Link and Zelda walk away he clenches his fist in anger he then helps the heroes defeat Tabuu.

Exclusive Stickers
These stickers can only be used by Ganondorf or by a select few including him:


 * Boomerang: [Weapon] Attack +4
 * Bowser (Mario Power Tennis): [Darkness] Attack +21
 * Colin: [Specials: Direct] Attack +4
 * Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule: [Electric] Attack +31
 * Darknut: [Slash] Attack +13
 * Epona & Link: [Arm, Leg] Attack +9
 * Fierce Deity Link: [Slash] Attack +21
 * Ganondorf (Ocarina of Time): [Darkness] Attack +29
 * Ganondorf (Wind Waker): [Darkness] Attack +33
 * Happy Mask Salesman: [Leg] Attack +9
 * Hylian Shield (Twilight Princess): Slash Resistance +10
 * Lantern: [Flame] Resistance +7
 * Legend of Outset: [Arm] Attack +26
 * Linebeck: [Throwing] Attack +20
 * Link (Link to the Past): [Electric] Resistance +31
 * Link (Twilight Princess): [Slash] Resistance +27
 * Link (Wind Waker): [Flame] Attack +31
 * Link with Goron Mask: [Slash] Attack +17
 * Link's Grandma: [Arm, Leg] Attack +2
 * Lon Lon Milk: Launch Power +18
 * Midna & Wolf Link: [Leg] Attack +26
 * Moblin: [Slash] Attack +15
 * Octorok: [Leg] Attack +4
 * Petey Piranha (Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour!): [Darkness] Attack +47
 * Phantom Ganon: [Darkness] Attack +40
 * Piece of Heart: Heart Container Effect +50
 * Revolver Ocelot: [Darkness] Attack +17
 * Ridley (Metroid): [Darkness] Attack +30
 * Salvatore: [Electric] Attack +9
 * Shadow Beast: [Darkness] Attack +28
 * Sheik: [Body, Spin] Attack +17
 * Skull Kid (Ocarina of Time): [Darkness] Attack +7
 * Space Pirate: [Darkness] Attack +13
 * Tingle (Wind Waker): [Flame] Resistance +24
 * Young Zelda (Minish Cap): [Battering] Resistance +16
 * Zelda (Ocarina of Time): [Flame] Resistance +18

Trophy description
''A man who wants to use the power of the Triforce to conquer the world. In Twilight Princess, he gives strength to the Twilight King, Zant, and tries to change the land into a world of darkness. He possesses Zelda, transforms into a magical beast, and attacks Link. In the end, however, Link deals him a finishing blow and defeats him''.
 * The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64)
 * The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)

Trivia

 * Ganondorf is the only playable villain who is never fought in the Subspace Emissary, excluding his Dark clone in The Great Maze.
 * Ganondorf holds the world record for Home-Run Contest in solo mode (9336.5 feet, or 2845.8 meters).
 * Though Ganondorf can be the first character unlocked by playing Classic Mode as Link/Zelda on hard, he is one of the last characters to be unlocked when playing the Subspace Emissary.
 * Ganondorf is the only character to have three moves with grab hitboxes.
 * Ganondorf side tilt attack has been subjected to an existing popular Internet meme relating to the movie "300." | Many YouTube videos often recreate the famous movie scene where King Leonidas (represented by Ganondorf) kicks the Persian messenger (represented by a random character) in the bottomless pit (often uses stages created from Stage Builder or the destroyed Bridge of Eldin).
 * The sound clip that plays on the Wiimote's speaker when Ganondorf is selected is a sound clip from Melee, despite Ganondorf having a different voice actor in Brawl.
 * Coincidentally, all the main characters (excluding Toon Link) from the Zelda series are placed in the bottom tier.
 * In both games that he appears on Super Smash Bros his worst matchup have always being vs Sheik; on SSBM having 20:80 and on SSBB having 0 (even though vs Captain Olimar its matchup is 0 too)