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This article is about Joker’s appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For other uses, see Joker.
Joker steals the show when he joins the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate game as a playable fighter! This speedy fighter wields a knife and a gun to rack up damage. When his Rebellion Gauge is full, Joker summons his Persona, Arsene, to immediately power up his attacks for a limited time. This pack also includes Mementos, a stage that changes colors, depending on which music track is playing!
—Description of Joker's challenger pack from the official website.

Joker is a downloadable newcomer in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, representing Atlus' Persona series. He is the first DLC fighter of the Fighters Pass, and is classified as fighter #71. His inclusion was revealed at the Game Awards on December 6th, 2018, the day before Ultimate's release, and was released on April 17th, 2019.

Attributes[]

Strengths[]

  • Somewhat slim form, making him difficult to hit.
  • Fast mobility, enabling quick movement around the stage.
  • Capable of wall jumping.
  • Fast startup on many moves.
  • Low knockback on moves, resulting in a strong combo and juggling game.
  • Possesses combo throws.
  • Possesses good edgeguarding capabilities.
  • High damage output when Arsene is active.
  • Gun enables movement options for evasion and recovery while setting up combos.
  • Eiha deals damage over time while Eiagon does the same but possesses greater knockback for juggling.
  • Grappling Hook enables recovery well off stage vertically and can anti-air opponents for setups if grabbed.
  • Wings of Rebellion offers Joker invincibility on startup, making it difficult to interrupt on startup, and travels far.
  • Rebel's Guard can block attacks and reduce knockback for a long duration, giving Joker protection against aggression while charging Rebellion Gauge.
  • Tetrakarn/Makarakarn can intercept both forms of attacks, and has a long duration.

Weaknesses[]

  • Short reach, necessitating being close to the opponent.
  • Lacks KO options when Arsene is not active.
  • Arsene lasts a short amount of time, with the duration being shortened if Joker takes damage.
  • Struggles with recovering horizontally, though using Gun to dash remedies this somewhat.
  • Wings of Rebellion makes Joker easy to intercept due to having no hitbox and linear path.
  • Struggles against disjointed reach and small characters.

Summary[]

Joker is a combo-reliant character in a similar vein to Sheik, excelling in stringing together moves off aerials and grabs for a mix-up playstyle, though unlike similar characters his combo game can be supplemented by Arsene to increase his damage output and effectively finish off combos into KOs.

Joker possesses high falling speed, average weight, and fast ground speed, which results in good mobility on the ground and air. Unlike most humanoid characters, Joker has a rather slim frame, which gives him a rather difficult hitbox for opponents to connect to and allows him to avoid most attacks.

Joker's strength lies in his powerful combo game due to the low startup and knockback of his moves. His Down Tilt, the first hit of his Forward Air, Neutral Air, and Down Air serve as good combo starters, while his Up Aerial, Back Aerial, Forward Tilt, and Smash attacks serve as good finishers. Joker's throws also support his combo game, with Down Throw and Up Throw being most notable. The fast startup of Joker's moves also enables him to punish overextensions and whiffed moves exceptionally at close range, and enables him to edgeguard opponents well.

Joker's Special Moves offer a wide number of options to make his approach tricky. Despite its appearance, Gun is a disjointed hitbox that can be used to set up into various combos with its variations, most notably its aerial downward version, though it can also be used for evasion and recovery due to its ability to initiate a roll or jump while firing. Eiha is a more conventional projectile which can intercept others, and when connected, can deal damage over time to the opponent. Grappling Hook gives Joker an effective recovery when off-stage due to its range and ability to snap on ledges, and when used on the ground can catch opponents and draw them closer for setups. Rebel's Guard is Joker's most defensive option, as it allows him to block most attacks with their damage output halved and knockback negated while simultaneously filling up Rebellion Gauge.

Joker's most powerful asset however is his unique Rebellion Gauge; by charging it with Rebel's Guard or by taking damage, Joker can amplify the knockback and damage output of his combo game with Arsene's own power to rival that of Ganondorf's, allowing him to finish combos consistently and deal damage quickly in a short amount of time. Arsene also amplifies his Special moves to a powerful extent; Gun Special inflicts more damage and knockback, Eiagon deals knockback and its effect lasts longer, Wings of Rebellion travels significantly far and cannot be interrupted on startup, and Tetrakarn and Makarankarn grant Joker vast defensive options due to its long duration.

Joker's main weaknesses lie in the short reach of his attacks and lack of consistent kill options outside of edgeguarding when Arsene is not active. These weaknesses makes approaching characters with disjointed reach such as Lucina or small characters such as Pikachu difficult, as Joker's approach can be negated well enough without too much commitment. In addition, Arsene's strengths only last for a short period of time, necessitating Joker to make the most out of them; however, if Joker takes damage, Arsene's duration will be reduced, which can accelerate his removal. Joker's normal recovery, while exceptional vertically, is rather lacking horizontally, which makes him easy to pressure toward the side blast zones, and Wings of Rebellion, while being a longer recovery, is also a more vulnerable one due to Joker having no hitbox and traveling in a linear path.

In short, Joker requires creatively pressuring with moves and grabs to initiate combos, as well as bait out aggression with Rebel's Guard to charge Arsene quickly. In addition, though Arsene provides massive strength, they must be used strategically in the short time they are available in order to consistently deal high damage and secure stocks.

Moveset (Joker)[]

Rebellion Gauge[]

Rebellion Gauge is Joker's unique gauge that appears alongside his damage meter, which allows him to call upon his Persona, Arsene. It is filled over time or when Joker takes damage, though it fills up more if Rebel's Guard is used, with the amount given greater when Joker is behind a stock. If Joker is KO'd, he retains 20% of the gauge.

Upon filling up Rebellion Gauge, Joker will shout "Arsene!" or "Persona!", summoning the being while taking off his mask (or his glasses if in his Student outfit), with the same object disappearing from his damage meter while the gauge turns blue. If Joker is not in hitstun or moving when Arsene is summoned, he gains invincibility during its startup and briefly stops his initial momentum, with a cut-in of Joker's face appearing if the match is a 1v1.

While Arsene is present, the Persona will attack in tandem with Joker, increasing its damage output and knockback, visually indicated by a blue slash. Joker's Special Moves also upgrade to Gun Special, Eigaon, Wings of Rebellion, and Tetrakarn/Makarakarn. The Rebellion Gauge drains slowly over a span of thirty seconds when Arsene is active, with Arsene's duration being shortened if Joker gets damaged. If completely emptied, Joker will shout, "Return!" or "Enough," and put on his mask or glasses again while dismissing Arsene, with Joker being given invincibility and halting his momentum if not in hitstun or moving. Arsene will disappear briefly when Joker is grabbed or stunned, and if Joker is KO'd while Arsene is present, the Persona will disappear and the Rebellion Gauge will be reset to its charging state.

Ground Attacks[]

Normal[]

  • Neutral Attack: Performs an inward slash, backhanded stab, then an outward slash.
  • Forward Tilt: Performs a double thrust with his knife, with the second thrust going at a higher angle.
  • Up Tilt: An upwards swing with his knife that sends it spinning into the air before Joker catches it backhandedly.
  • Down Tilt: A baseball slide. Based off of Joker’s ability to slide under lasers in Persona 5.
  • Dash Attack: Performs a roundhouse kick followed by a baby freeze, a variation of the freeze break-dancing move.

Smash Attacks[]

  • Forward Smash: Rears back and swings downwards with both hands in front of him, similar to Falco’s forward smash.
  • Up Smash: Spins inwards while facing the screen, performing a knife uppercut with his right arm.
  • Down Smash: Sweeps the floor with a knife swipe in front of himself, then behind.

Other attacks[]

  • Floor Attack (Front): Slashes in front of himself, then behind himself.
  • Floor Attack (Back): Slashes behind himself, then in front of himself.
  • Floor Attack (Trip): Kicks behind himself, then in front of himself.
  • Edge Attack: Climbs up and slashes outward.

Aerial Attacks[]

  • Neutral aerial: Strikes in a circle while doing two inward corkscrews in the air.
  • Forward aerial: A hook kick, followed by a roundhouse kick, acting similar to Zero Suit Samus' forward aerial.
  • Back aerial: An upward swipe behind himself.
  • Up aerial: A corkscrew flying kick with a finishing kick, similar to Sheik's up aerial.
  • Down aerial: A delayed downward arcing swipe similar to Marth's down aerial.

Grabs and Throws[]

  • Grab: Reaches out with one arm.
  • Pummel: Knees his opponent.
  • Forward Throw: Tosses the opponent forward with a flourish of his arm.
  • Back Throw: Trips the opponent over his foot, similar to Marth’s back throw.
  • Up Throw: Throws the opponent directly upwards with a flourish.
  • Down Throw: Magically slams the opponent onto the ground while posing and flourishing his left arm, sending the opponent bouncing upwards.

Special Moves[]

Joker's Special Moves
Ultimate
w/o Arsene with Arsene
Standard Special Gun Gun Special
Side Special Eiha Eigaon
Up Special Grappling Hook Wings of Rebellion
Down Special Rebel's Guard Tetrakarn/Makarakarn
Final Smash All-Out Attack

Taunts[]

  • Up Taunt: Readjusts his sleeve while Morgana says "Looking cool, Joker!"
  • Down Taunt: Turns his back to the camera and looks sideways while Morgana says "Hey hey!"
  • Side Taunt: Crosses his arms while holding out his knife and gun straight while Morgana meows

On-Screen Appearance[]

  • Drops onto the ground before adjusting his sleeve

Idle Poses[]

  • Spins his gun before holding it close to himself.
  • Spins his knife toward himself.

Victory Poses[]

Joker's Victory Poses reference the victory screen in Persona 5, with the transition to the victory screen showcasing a puff of cartoony smoke before showing Joker moving continuously left. When transitioning to the results screen, Joker will say "Begone.", "Nice.", or "Hah!"

  • Joker walks forward scratching his head as Morgana transforms into the Morgana Van and drives next to him. Joker then gets into the van as it continuously drives toward the left.
  • Morgana bounces around Joker in the background as Joker beckons before running towards the left.
  • Morgana runs into the camera as Joker beckons before running towards the left.
  • If the game ends with All-Out Attack, the victory screen will stay on the image at the end of the attack with the results being displayed immediately following the announcer calling "GAME!". This only applies if Joker wins a Stock or Stamina battle and if All-Out Attack finishes off the opponent over 100%.

Rather than the announcer calling out "Joker wins!", one of the Phantom Thieves may follow up Joker's win with a quote.

Phantom Thief Quotes
Ryuji Sakamoto ...Hah! Losers!
Yeah-hah! Nice!
Ha-ha! Who's next?
Morgana Smash is as wild as ever, eh Joker?
A brilliant victory!
Alright! Victory!
Mm-mm! Good work!
Ann Takamaki Feels great, huh?
Aren't we the best?
Done and done!
Yusuke Kitagawa And the curtain... falls.
We've done it!
Well... Onto the next triumph!
Makoto Niijima No time to waste!
Don't forget this feeling!
Done and done!
Futaba Sakura Heh heh heh! They're done for!
Impressive!
Okay! Moving right along!
Haru Okumura That was graceful!
Onto the next battle!
So much for them!

Moveset (Arsene)[]

If Arsene is activated, he will attack alongside Joker for all his moves barring throws, get-up attack, and ledge attack.

Ground Attacks[]

Normal[]

  • Neutral Attack: Performs an upward swipe, downwards finger point, then a hand thrust.
  • Forward Tilt: Thrusts his right hand forwards before raising it in a beckoning gesture.
  • Up Tilt: Raises his hand with a beckoning gesture.
  • Down Tilt: A baseball slide alongside Joker.
  • Dash Attack: A delayed football kick, which only affects the damage of Joker’s second kick.

Smash Attacks[]

  • Forward Smash: Swings his arms downwards, causing an X-shaped slash in front of the duo.
  • Up Smash: Waves his arm above himself with his left arm.
  • Down Smash: Kicks in front, then behind himself, similar to Samus’s down smash without a leg sweep.

Aerial Attacks[]

  • Neutral Aerial: Lays his back against Joker and slashes alongside him, forming a perfect circle slash around the duo.
  • Forward Aerial: A delayed roundhouse kick that only affects Joker’s second kick.
  • Back Aerial: A downward wave of his hand, causing the duo’s attacks to interlock with each other.
  • Up Aerial: A delayed kick upwards after Joker’s looping kicks, affecting only the last hit.
  • Down Aerial: A delayed foot stomp that acts independently from Joker’s slash, causing the move to hit twice. Unlike Joker's attack, it meteor smashes opponents.

In competitive play[]

Joker had a mixed, albeit positive reception on his release. Many players praised his movement with his horizontal and vertical speed alongside his great combo ability, and noted how all these traits were supplemented when Arsène was activated, granting him much greater damage and kill potential. His downward-angled Gun and Eiha/Eigaon were also viewed as fantastic tools that allowed him to easily escape disadvantageous situations and rack up percentage, respectively. However, many also noted how Joker had difficulty killing when Arsène was not active, given that his kill setups are unsafe on shield and quite difficult to consistently land, as well as many of his moves outright having low base knockback or knockback growth, which resulted in players labeling his kill potential as "inconsistent". In addition, players also remarked base Joker's relatively low damage output per move, seemingly exploitable recoveries with and without Arsène, and lack of out of shield options. Thus, initial opinions on him were divided: players such as Tweek and CaptainZack labeled him as a potential top tier character while others such as Leffen and VoiD regarded him as a mid-tier and low-high tier character, respectively.

However, opinions regarding Joker's viability had improved substantially since MkLeo, the best Ultimate player in the world, started using the character. MkLeo utilized Joker's quick movement, remarkable frame data, combos such as the drag-down combos, and the powerful advantage state of Arsène to place in the top 2 at every tournament he has attended since MomoCon 2019. Thanks to MkLeo's success, several other top players have picked up Joker as a secondary or co-main. Most notably, Zackray had used Joker as a co-main to win several Japanese nationals and a supermajor and is considered to be the best player in Japan. Due to their success, many top players have named Joker as the single best character in the game. On the other hand, some argue that Joker's success largely relies on MkLeo's skill as a player, which allows him to push the character extremely far, as no players outside of Zackray have even come close to his achievements. Regardless, Joker is commonly considered a top tier and one of the best characters in the game despite nerfs in subsequent patches, with Zackray getting 2nd at Kagaribi 4, the first supermajor after COVID-19, and using Joker to defeat Yamanaction, Raito, HERO, Tea and ProtoBanham's Lucina.

However, in online tournaments, MKLeo has opted not to play Joker due to the nature of Smash Ultimate's netcode necessitating a different playstyle, rather than doing so with Joker, he has decided to choose different characters, such as Byleth, Cloud and Pyra/Mythra. This has led to a perception that Joker is a significantly weaker character online, due to his more technical combos and reactionary playstyle becoming too hard to perform or unrewarding. However, Joker still possesses traits that are effective online, such as quick movements, a difficult to react to projectile, fast smash attacks and powerful aerials when Arsene is active. Most recently, the success of players such as Sharp in online tournaments has challenged the perception that Joker is not well suited for the online metagame.

Classic Mode: Shadows[]

Joker's Classic Mode is a reference to the Persona 5 mechanic of battling Shadows before recruiting them as Personas, with the opponent of the last battle, who previously appeared in a dark palette, to assist Joker in the subsequent battle in a light palette swap.

Round Opponent Stage Music Notes
1 Mr. Game & Watch (x8) Mementos Last Surprise
2 Giant Kirby Kalos Pokémon League Aria of the Soul Mr. Game & Watch appears as a CPU ally in his white palette swap.
3 Samus and Dark Samus Mementos Mass Destruction Kirby appears as a CPU ally in his blue palette swap.
4 Meta Knight Mementos Beneath The Mask Dark Samus appears as a CPU ally in her white palette swap.
5 Dark Link, Dark Toon Link and Dark Young Link Mementos Reach Out to the Truth Meta Knight appears as a CPU ally in his white palette swap.
6 Giant Incineroar Mementos (Omega Form) Rivers in the Desert Link appears as a CPU ally in his Fierce Deity palette swap.
7 Bonus Stage
Final Master Hand Mementos (Omega Form) Our Beginning On intensity 7 or higher, Crazy hand joins the fight alongside Master Hand.

Palette Swaps[]

Gallery[]

Videos[]

Trivia[]

  • Joker's code name within the game's files is "jack"; a possible reference to Jack Frost, one of the many demons found in the Megami Tensei series, one of the Personas the protagonist can acquire in the Persona series, and the mascot of Atlus.
  • Joker is the second Third-Party character to have originally debuted in the 21st Century after Bayonetta.
  • Joker is the only fighter:
    • To wield a knife.
    • To share his English voice actor with the Announcer, Master Hand, and Crazy Hand (being Xander Mobus).
    • To represent a spin-off series, as Persona is a spin-off of the Megami Tensei series.
    • To have two different trailers: the teaser shows him breaking into The 2018 Game Awards to steal a Smash invitation. The second one is more traditional and picks up where the initial teaser left off.
      • The teaser is also the only trailer to feature songs not included in Ultimate, being "Life Will Change (Instrumental)" and "The Spirit".
    • To have his artwork change in the U.I., as his mask or glasses will disappear when Arsene is present.
    • To receive a completely unique Victory Screen, as it lacks the Announcer calling out Joker's name for winning, and the only one to possess one transition from the game screen to victory screen.
      • He is also the only character to receive a unique transition.
    • To have five different Victory Poses: his initial three screens, the screen after winning a battle with an All-Out Attack, and his pose exclusive to Team Battles.
    • To have more than one Victory Theme, being "Triumph" from Persona 5, "Period" from Persona 4, and "After the Battle" from Persona 3.
  • Joker is the third character:
    • To represent Sega, following Sonic and Bayonetta. Atlus was acquired by Sega Sammy Holdings in 2013.
    • To receive his invitation letter in his trailer, the two first are Villager and Isabelle.
      • This also means Joker is the first character outside of the Animal Crossing universe, first DLC character and first third-party character to be shown having an invitation.
    • To originate from an M-Rated series, the first two being Snake and Bayonetta.
  • Joker is one of the only few characters to speak while KO'd, saying "What?!" Joker shares this line with Ryu.
  • Joker is the first fighter in Ultimate to have at one point not had any games playable on the Switch.
  • Unlike in Persona 5, All-Out Attack will have the opponent emit stars rather than blood, likely to remain within the game's rating and to avoid the implication that the Phantom Thieves have brutally murdered the opponent as it usually is in the original game.
  • Joker's render was initially leaked by Best Buy on March 31st, 2019.
  • Joker currently has the longest wait between the initial reveal and launch, being four months.
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Newcomers Banjo & Kazooie  · Byleth  · Chrom  · Daisy  · Dark Samus  · Hero  · Incineroar  · Inkling  · Isabelle  · Joker  · Kazuya  · Ken  · King K. Rool  · Min Min  · Piranha Plant  · Pyra/Mythra  · Richter  · Ridley  · Sephiroth  · Simon  · Sora  · Steve  · Terry
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