- This article is about Little Mac's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For other uses, see Little Mac.
| “ | As a boxer, Little Mac fights with his fists alone—no kicks! When his Power Meter fills up, he can use a special KO Uppercut, which can really turn a battle around. For his Final Smash, he turns into Giga Mac and pummels the opponent with a furious rush of punches! | ” |
| —Description from the Super Smash Blog. | ||
Little Mac is a veteran fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, first playable in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. His return was confirmed at the E3 2018 Conference on June 12th, 2018.
When unlocked, he is fought at the Punch-Out version of Boxing Ring.
Attributes[]
Strengths[]
- Fast grounded frame data overall.
- Incredibly powerful smash attacks that deal high damage and knockback.
- Smash attacks grant Little Mac some super armor when used, allowing him to tank attacks and punish enemies.
- K.O. Punch kills incredibly early and can't be shielded.
- Fast dash speed and initial dash, both being the 3rd fastest of their respective categories.
- Quick rolls. Additionally, his forward roll is very long distanced along with low lag.
- Up Smash is especially strong at the beginning of the move.
- Slip Counter can act as a recovery option due to moving Little Mac forward in the air if successful.
Weaknesses[]
- Virtually non-existent air game.
- Despite good air speed, his other aerial attributes are very poor as he has very low jumps, the 6th lowest air acceleration, and his directional air dodge has the least distance of the cast.
- Bad recovery options, with Jolt Haymaker providing poor horizontal recovery and Rising Uppercut being shorter than his second jump. This makes him prone to gimps.
- Straight Lunge has enormous end lag, lasting for almost three seconds. This makes him easily punishable.
- K.O. Uppercut performs far worse in the air than on the ground, severely reducing damage and knockback.
- His weight is very low, meaning he can be killed early by anyone middleweight or above. For such a heavy hitter, he cannot take attacks very well, making him a “glass cannon” of sorts.
- Short range on most of his attacks.
- Poor approach options due to relying heavily on close-quarters combat.
- Slip Counter can cause a self-destruct if Little Mac moves offstage while counterattacking. It is also prone to missing opponents.
- No projectiles.
Summary[]
Little Mac focuses more on heavy hitting and close range combat than zoning and defense. As a result, he is one of the most powerful characters in the game, with both KO Uppercut and fully charged forward smash being critical hits. His speed also makes him useful to get in and out, quickly overwhelming opponents with quick, sound strikes. Said strikes are extremely easy to break shields with, making Little Mac an easy punisher.
Unfortunately, Little Mac is only this strong on the ground. When forced to jump, Little Mac’s strengths drop exponentially, and reveals his weakness—aerial combat. Little Mac’s aerial game is abysmal, having absolutely dreadful recovery options, with Rising Uppercut gaining height less than his second jump. As a result, he is susceptible to gimping, and can be killed easily once offstage. Moreover, many of his moves possess great end lag, such as Straight Lunge. If missed, Little Mac stands still holding his fist for almost three seconds. Even if it connects, the target can easily return to Mac and hit him with a smash attack. His light weight is also a disadvantage when combined with his aerial capabilities, meaning he can easily be knocked offstage and gimped.
Conclusively, though Little Mac‘s punches are among the most powerful, his poor aerial game, high end lag, and light weight ultimately take away from this small heavy-hitter.
Changes from 3DS/Wii U[]
Attributes[]
- For his Final Smash; Little Mac transforms into Giga Mac, but now traps opponents in front of him with an uppercut and unleashes a barrage of punches before launching them.
- Now has 8 colors at total, with 2 of them as Wireframe Mac.
Ground Attacks[]
Aerial Attacks[]
Grabs and Throws[]
Special Attacks[]
- Jolt Haymaker no longer puts Little Mac into free fall when used over the ledge.
- Straight Lunge can now be reversed just before launching the attack.
- Straight Lunge can also be cancelled into shield while charging it; this does not, however, store the charge.
Moveset[]
Ground Attacks[]
Normal[]
- Neutral Attack: A left jab, followed by a right hook, followed by a left uppercut. If the button is mashed, Little Mac will perform an extremely fast flurry of alternating punches, followed by a right uppercut. Holding the attack button will have Little Mac repeat the first hit rapidly. Actually has KO potential for a neutral attack, KOing most characters at around 165%.
- Forward Tilt: A one-two combo. Deals excellent knockback and can KO enemies at less than 100% near the ledge. It is also very fast, coming out at frame 4.
- Up Tilt: An overhead arcing backfist. Quite fast and can combo into Rising Uppercut or itself at low percents.
- Down Tilt: A crouching short straight-punch. Can consistently combo into Jolt Haymaker at medium percentages. Extremely fast.
- Dash Attack: A lunging overhand punch. Fast and can KO at high percentages near the ledge. It is notoriously unsafe on shield and easily punishable if shielded.
Smash Attacks[]
- Forward Smash (Straight Smash): Steps forward and throws one of three right punch variations, depending on which angle the control stick is tilted. Because Little Mac steps forward during the attack, this gives forward smash deceptively good range.
- Up: An uppercut. Deals high vertical knockback and also gives Little Mac super armor from frames 8-15.
- Forward: A cross. Deals the most knockback out of the three variations. Also gives Little Mac super armor from frames 8-15.
- Down: A body hook. Deals the most damage out of the three punch variations, but its low knockback makes it unsuited for KOing opponents. Deals very high shield damage and also gives Little Mac super armor from frames 9-15.
- Up Smash: A wide uppercut. The first frame of up smash is when it is the strongest, dealing flame damage and massive vertical knockback. It is one of the strongest up smashes in the game and also gives Little Mac super armor from frames 8-13.
- Down Smash: Spins 180 degrees to throw a quick, downward angled right hook in each direction. Powerfully launches opponents at a semi-spike angle and also gives Little Mac super armor during frames 7-10 and 15-17.
Other attacks[]
- Floor Attack (Front): Gets up while throwing a punch behind himself, then in front of himself.
- Floor Attack (Back): Gets up while throwing a punch in front of himself, then behind himself.
- Floor Attack (Trip): Gets up while throwing a punch in front of himself, then behind himself.
- Edge Attack: Throws a lunging punch while climbing up the ledge.
Aerial Attacks[]
- Neutral aerial (Weak Jab): A downward angled straight jab. The fastest aerial of any kind in the game, coming out on frame 2. It can be used to get out of combos, but deals incredibly low knockback, barely even flinching opponents.
- Forward aerial: A hook. Can actually gimp opponents with poor recoveries offstage.
- Back aerial: A backfist. Little Mac's strongest aerial, but it is too weak to KO.
- Up aerial: An upward arcing hook. Extremely fast for an up aerial but has awful range and noticeable ending lag.
- Down aerial: A downwards punch. Can meteor smash opponents but the meteor smash itself is incredibly weak.
Grabs and Throws[]
- Grab: Clinches the opponent. Has average range.
- Pummel: A body hook. Weak but very fast.
- Forward Throw: Rears his arm back and throws an overhand. Has no real use outside of launching opponents offstage.
- Back Throw: Spins the opponent around and throws an uppercut. Little Mac's only throw with KO potential.
- Up Throw: An uppercut. Nearby opponents will be launched at a near-perfect vertical trajectory. Nearly useless compared to his other throws.
- Down Throw: A double axe handle. Has limited combo potential but can launch opponents onto a platform, putting them into a tech-chase situation.
Special Moves[]
| Little Mac's Special Moves | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 3DS/Wii U | Ultimate | ||
| Standard Special | Straight Lunge | ||
| Side Special | Jolt Haymaker | ||
| Up Special | Rising Uppercut | ||
| Down Special | Slip Counter | ||
| Final Smash | Giga Mac | Giga Mac Rush | |
Taunts[]
- Up Taunt:
- Down Taunt:
- Side Taunt:
On-Screen Appearance[]
Runs on stage, taking his sweater off. For the 6th and 8th color variation, he does the same but no sweater taken off.
Idle Poses[]
Victory Poses[]
In competitive play[]
During the early metagame, players had high hopes for Little Mac due to improvements to his notoriously awful recovery and ability to cancel grounded moves. However, Little Mac's changes and the game’s mechanics proved to be detrimental to some of his best tools, especially his ground game, while his weak aerial game, notoriously the worst in 3DS/Wii U, was made even worse. Because of this, opinions on Little Mac dropped significantly, with the consensus believing that he is not only a bottom tier, but the worst character in the game.
Even in spite of useful buffs and representation from top Little Mac mains such as Kwaz and Tarakotori, his cons have largely prevented him from achieving consistent success in top-level play. Even in the online metagame, Peanut’s strong presence in weekly tournaments have failed to offset his lack of aerial utility and vulnerability to edgeguards, represented by Little Mac proceeding to see low representation in both national level tournaments and Wi-Fi Warrior Ranked tournaments.
Classic Mode: Friendly Sparring[]
Little Mac fights fighters that are close range martial artists. During the battles, every item except the Sandbag is disabled. As such, the Sandbag can be hit but will only spawn visual confetti.
Role in World of Light[]
Although Little Mac does not appear in the World of Light opening cutscene, he was one of most of the other characters (aside from Kirby, who had managed to escape) to be captured by Galeem.
Little Mac can be found near a city area blocked through a door. To reach him, the player must first complete the Power Plant sub-area so the door can open.
Palette Swaps[]
Gallery[]
External links[]
Reveal Trailer:
49 Little Mac – Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
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