Isabelle (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate)

This article is about Isabelle's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For other uses see Isabelle.

“	Isabelle joins the battle from Animal Crossing: New Leaf! She uses various trinkets from around the village to battle. Her side special, ""Fishing Rod,"" not only allows her to snag and bring opponents closer, it can also be used as a recovery move.	”
—Description from the Super Smash Blog.

Isabelle is a newcomer fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, serving as an unlockable character. She was confirmed in a surprise announcement during the September 13th Nintendo Direct.

When unlocked, she is fought at Town and City.

Attributes

Strengths

One of the best ledge trappers in the game.
Pocket can be used to store items or some projectiles.
Fishing Rod can be used to reel in distant opponents or to grab ledges.
Balloon Trip provides a long distance recovery.
Has many tools available to prevent opponent from safely approaching.

Weaknesses

Relatively light Weight.
Very little ability to force an approach.
Poor mobility.
Below average range.

Summary

To be added

Moveset

Ground Attacks

Normal

Neutral Attack: Swings a toy hammer.
Forward Tilt: Swings an umbrella in front of her.
Up Tilt: Swings a broom overhead.
Down Tilt: Plucks grass. Exactly like Villager.
Dash Attack: Trips and drops a pot on the ground in front of her.

Smash Attacks

Forward Smash: Explodes a party popper in front of her.
Up Smash: Blows a whistle and a sign pops up out of the ground in front of her.
Down Smash: Throws a bucket of water to each side.

Other attacks

Floor Attack (Front):
Floor Attack (Back):
Floor Attack (Trip):
Ledge Attack: Smacks the ground with pom-poms.

Aerial Attacks

Neutral aerial: Spins around with pom-poms in her hands.
Forward aerial: Shoots a ball from a slingshot in front of her, exactly like Villager.
Back aerial: Shoots a ball from a slingshot behind her, exactly like Villager.
Up aerial: Swings turnips above her, exactly like Villager does.
Down aerial: Swings turnips below her, exactly like Villager.

Grabs and Throws

Grab: Catches the opponent using a bug-net.
Pummel: Tugs on her victim caught in the bug-net.
Throws: Hurls the opponent in one of four directions depending on the direction chosen.

Special Moves

Isabelle's Special Moves
	Ultimate
Standard Special	Pocket
Side Special	Fishing Rod
Up Special	Balloon Trip
Down Special	Lloid Trap
Final Smash	Dream Town Hall

Taunts

Up Taunt: Isabelle faces toward the player and waves with a smile, wagging her tail.
Down Taunt: She twirls her hands around and jumps up.
Side Taunt: She closes her eyes, with an open smile clapping her hands.

On-Screen Appearance

She comes out of a Town Hall, the one also used in her Final Smash.

Idle Poses

She stretches her arms, in a similar fashion to waking up.^[1]
She looks at her tail.

Victory Poses

Isabelle happily jumps up and down twice, and then performs the Pride emotion.^[1]
She waves at a flying gyroid, and innocently faces the camera.
Waves energetically with her left then right hands, then poses with her arms wide open and a joyful smile.

In competitive play

Isabelle overall has poor reception competitively, even being outclassed by her counterpart Villager, who also does not fair well in the meta game. Very few dedicated players main Isabelle, and the few that do have little to no tournament success.

Isabelle has numerous flaws, which are far from compensated, including below average mobility, poor damage output, short range, and tools that often can not force an approach. In addition, her primary recovery move, Balloon Trip, is somewhat slow moving and leaves her vulnerable the entire time. While she does have her fishing rod as a tether recovery option, this is somewhat situational. Outside of characters with even worse mobility than her, those with large hurt boxes, and slow projectiles, Isabelle does not fare well.

Outside of the update which significantly reduced shield damage of projectiles, she has been buffed significantly overtime. But, when combining the new meta game threats of DLC, and other characters receiving buffs, the benefits are not as noticeable. This is in addition to most of Isabelle's key flaws not being addressed, resulting in her remaining as a very exploitable, "one trick pony" character.

Classic Mode: Best in Show

Isabelle's opponents are composed of nearly every female challenger that appears in the base game. The only base roster female characters absent are Dark Samus and Spiky-eared Pichu. Popo of the Ice Climbers is the only male character fought in this route, because neither Popo nor Nana can spawn alone, regardless of which one is the leader. Additionally, the music that plays in each round alters, with odd numbered routes playing title themes from the Animal Crossing series, and even numbered routes playing music from that stage's home universe.

Role in World of Light

Although Isabelle does not appear in the World of Light opening cutscene, she was vaporized and later imprisoned alongside the rest of the fighters (sans Kirby) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light.

She can be found near a small town on a secluded road, that requires the spirit of Kapp'n (Wild World) to be driven through a tunnel to reach. Freeing her unlocks a path to the town.

Palette Swaps

Trivia

Isabelle is the third character to be promoted from Assist Trophy to a playable fighter after Little Mac from Punch-Out!! and Dark Samus from the Metroid Prime series.
If Isabelle's winter outfit Amiibo is used for the first time on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's amiibo settings she will start off with her second pallet already equipped.
Isabelle receiving her invitation in a letter during her trailer is a reference to the E3 trailer of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U where Villager also received his invitation in a letter.
- Additionally, Isabelle, Villager, and Joker are the only characters to receive a visible invitation through their trailers.
Isabelle is the second fighter in the Smash Bros. series to be a domesticated dog, the first being the Duck Hunt dog. This does not include Fox, Wolf, or Lucario.