Mr. Game & Watch (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate)

This article is about Mr. Game & Watch's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For other uses, see Mr. Game & Watch.

“	Now his attacks mimic the animations from his original appearance. For his side special, Judge, he pulls out a hammer and numbers 1-9 are displayed. If you pull off a 9 attack, it will really knock the opponent back. His Final Smash turns him into an octopus that can pull opponents off the stage!	”
—Description from the Super Smash Blog.

Mr. Game & Watch
Universe	Game & Watch
Also appears in	Melee Brawl SSBWU/3DS
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Octopus

Mr. Game & Watch is a veteran fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, first playable in Super Smash Bros. Melee. He was confirmed during Nintendo's E3 2018 presentation. He is classed as #26.

When unlocked, he is fought at Flat Zone X. He retains his voice clips from Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. 4.

Attributes

Strengths

• Has large disjointed hitboxes on several moves.
• All throw animations use the same animation, making for unpredictable throws.

• Small body frame and low crouch, allowing him to avoid more attacks.

• Less fluid animations on all attacks to simulate the frame-by-frame movements of his original games, thus making him more unpredictable.
• Up Aerial and Down Tilt can occasionally "super jump" opponents and delay down aerial moves.
• Has an amazing aerial and combo game.
• Chef can knock back opponents if hit at point-blank range and has enough strength to stop most attacks.
• Judge #9 can 0% KO players if used correctly. It will always KO if the target hit has 40% or higher damage. In addition, each Judge has various effects, such as freezing or inflicting high shield damage.
• Fire is one of the best moves in the game and the best up special in the game for several reasons. It provides him with an amazing recovery and allows him to edgeguard opponents very well while being very resistant to being edgeguarded himself giving him a tremendous offstage presence, is the single best OoS option in the game due to its frame 3 hitbox and intangibility throughout the move, can be used as a potent combo starter and extender, can stage spike opponents offstage or KO them outright at high percents due to its high knockback, and is a fantastic option for getting out of disadvantage.
• Oil Panic provides Mr. Game & Watch with an amazing defensive tool against projectiles as it absorbs energy based projectiles and reflects anything it can't absorb. The move can so be used as an attack when it the bucket is full from absorbing projectiles and can even OHKO characters at 0% depending on what was absorbed.
• Possesses a fantastic set of smash attacks due to their high power and low ending lag.
• Down Throw provides the most available and interesting mindgames.

Weaknesses

• Extremely light and therefore very easy to launch.

• Spamming Judge can result in harsh punishment as it is very predictable. Hitting a "1" will also deal 12% damage to Mr. Game & Watch, regardless if it hits the opponent or not.
• Down Aerial can only spike at the start of the move. If Mr. Game & Watch was not hit when starting this move, the downward momentum is extremely fast and can cause self-destructs. However, if hit the Stall-Then-Fall effect can be used to a greater extent in addition to creating interesting mindgames.
• Oil Panic must be completely full in order to be used.
• Somewhat weak throws and rather slow attack speed with grabs.

Summary

Mr. Game & Watch is a short, lightweight character that has some typical attributes of characters in his weight class. He has fast air speed, a small size, and a very low crouch that allows him to evade many attacks like Marth and Lucina's Shield Breaker and Simon's forward tilt. However, he has fairly average walking and running speeds.

Unlike most other lightweights, Mr. Game & Watch possesses attacks with large disjointed hitboxes and has numerous, powerful KO options. All of his smash attacks have very high power and low ending lag throughout, with each of them possessing unique attributes. Forward smash is among the strongest in the game if sweetspotted while having low endlag and good range, with the sweetspot being safe on shield. Up smash is very strong, and comes with full body invincibility while the hitboxes are active. While it has slow startup, it has minimal endlag and is completely safe on shield. Down smash sends opponents at an awkward semi-spike angle offstage, while its sweetspot buries opponents long enough to lead into a forward smash, even at medium percents. It also has a very large hitbox, allowing it to easily 2-frame many recoveries, and acts as an excellent punish option on rolls. Like his other smash attacks, down smash is safe on shield when spaced properly. Overall, Mr. Game & Watch possesses an excellent arsenal of smash attacks.

Outside of his smash attacks, Mr. Game & Watch's other moves have strong KOing potential. Forward tilt comes out quickly, has a lingering hitbox, and kills under 120% by the ledge, sending characters at a semi-spike. Down tilt lowers Mr. Game & Watch's hurtbox to match his crouch, allowing him to whiff-punish certain attacks. It also possesses high power and semi-spikes opponents offstage, leading to edgeguards and killing outright at 100%. His new forward aerial's explosion kills opponents at 115% by the ledge, while his down aerial has been strengthened to become a viable kill move around 130%. Similarly, his back aerial now sends at a flatter angle, and the final hit possesses enough power to KO below 100% offstage. The clean hit on down aerial boasts a powerful meteor smash that can KO below 65%, and the late hit also deals good knockback that can KO near 130%, and even sooner if it connects near the top blast zone, courtesy of the move's upward launch angle. The move's low ending lag allows as to be used as a potent edgeguarding and landing option, giving him a deadly mixup game in the air at all times.

Oil Panic is used as Mr. Game & Watch's primary defense against camping and projectiles, as it both absorbs energy hit boxes from moves such as Mega Buster and PK Fire, and reflects items like King K. Rool's Cannonball and Peach's Turnips. This can lead to massive advantages against certain characters- Ness, Snake, Olimar, and Pikachu have notable difficulty fighting Mr. Game & Watch as it severely limits their play styles and movesets. Oil Panic also has the notable ability of carrying over the charge to subsequent stocks, which can be used as a lethal finisher and even mind games. The area in which Oil Panic can absorb projectiles is also deceptively large, which allows Mr. Game & Watch to store energy into Oil Panic merely by standing close to just the edge of any energy hit box. However, Oil Panic has the glaring weakness of being filled with extremely weak moves such as Fox's blaster. This causes Mr. Game & Watch to fill Oil Panic extremely quickly, rendering its defensive value useless, and forces him to either hold onto a weak use of it, or dump it without purposefully damaging the opponent in order to use it again as a defensive tool. Oil Panic is also a potent combo finisher with nearly instantaneous startup lag, with its fairly large, lingering hitbox coming out on just frame 2, as well as extreme knockback that can kill at single digit percents when at max power (power is dependent on projectiles absorbed). It is also notably difficult to defend against a fully charged use of it, as the lingering hitbox can still hit spot dodges if timed even slightly off, and a powerful enough charge can break a full shield, allowing Mr. Game & Watch to punish with one of his powerful smash attacks.

Mr. Game & Watch also has a very potent combo and juggling game. Down throw combos into Oil Panic, Judge, and neutral air at low percentages. Chef can deal massive damage if multiple 'food' items hit, allowing it to get around 30-40% off of a single edgeguard. The pan also hits opponents into the stream of meat through a semi spike, and at high percents can launch opponents fast enough to miss the food entirely and lead to more ledge trapping. Chef's speed and pattern makes it extremely difficult for certain characters to recover, such as Ganondorf or Mario. Not only does Chef deal massive damage, but landing the move allows Mr. Game & Watch to follow up with a grab, neutral aerial, forward tilt, dash attack, and even Judge. Up tilt, though having worse range, deals high damage and combos into neutral aerial and Judge at low percentages. Once Mr. Game & Watch has his opponents above him, he can juggle them for massive damage using his up and neutral aerials. His up air acts similar to Megaman's up air, pushing opponents upwards, albeit with much less force. All in all, Mr. Game & Watch's strong KO power is also paired with highly damaging combos and juggles.

Lastly, Mr. Game & Watch possesses a fantastic recovery option, as well as large, disjointed aerials. This means that he is a formidable edgeguarder and is extremely hard to gimp himself. His up special, Fire, has frame 3 startup, invincibility in its early frames, and a strong upwards hitbox on its initial hitbox, and decent launch power horizontally, allowing for early off stage kills if it hits opposite the blast zone. This makes it deadly, as it can stage spike unwary opponents while also easily gimping characters with poor recoveries, like Chrom. It is also an extremely useful combo breaker and one of the game's best out-of-shield options due to its fast startup and invincibility. His back air, Turtle Bridge, is a large, long lasting disjointed multi-hit move that has high knockback at the final hit. Its large disjoint beats out a lot of recoveries that have hitboxes, and the multi-hit nature of the move makes it hard to tech for stage spikes and often drags opponents stuck in the move closer to the blast zone. For many characters, getting hit with Turtle Bridge is often fatal offstage, as the move lingers long enough to shift the opponent closer to the blast zone before dealing the final knock back on the last hit. On the ledge, Chef punishes ledge hangers and covers getup attack and rolls (hit by the pan), forcing opponents to jump. This can easily allow Mr. Game & Watch to follow up with neutral aerial and force the opponent back offstage. His new forward aerial can be comboed into with Chef and has strong KO potential on its own. Lastly, his up air has the notable quality of having no set limit on its distance, which can lead to interesting interactions when reflected by opponents, and subsequently by Mr. Game & Watch himself. Overall, Mr. Game & Watch is extremely deadly off the stage and at the ledge to all characters, even those with great recoveries like Pit, Rosalina, and even himself.

Despite these strengths, Mr. Game & Watch possesses a few notable weaknesses. He is tied with Squirtle being the third lightest character in the game, which makes his horizontal and vertical endurance terrible. In addition, despite having disjointed hitboxes, his overall range is mediocre. This is worsened by the fact that many of his disjointed moves like down tilt, up tilt, and forward smash have underwhelming range for a disjoint. This makes characters like Ike and Cloud able to easily keep Mr. Game & Watch at arm's length. Also, while his new forward air possesses more damage and knockback, it has very low priority, so any move can hit the bomb and make it disappear. This makes it unsuitable for approaching and forces Mr. Game & Watch to approach with his back air instead. It is also a much more situational move in general, due to its higher lag and delayed hitbox, as the bomb will only explode upon touching the ground or waiting for half a second. Also, none of his aerials can autocancel in a short hop. Due to this, he has a somewhat lackluster neutral game and a rather poor approach. While Mr. Game & Watch's down throw and up throw are good at starting combos, Mr. Game & Watch's throws don't KO until very high percents, with his strongest throw, down throw, KOing at around 200%. He also has mediocre defensive attributes, possessing slow and short-reaching spot dodges and rolls.

All in all, Mr. Game & Watch is a very powerful glass cannon with unique properties to a majority of his moves, and is viewed by many to be the most potent glass cannon character in the game, and possibly the series. He possesses extremely high damage output and powerful KO options while being very vulnerable himself. Overall his strengths considerably outweigh his weaknesses, making Mr. Game & Watch one of the most fragile characters, but also one of the most powerful in all of Smash as many players either consider him a high tier or top tier character with most considering him top tier. He is also one of the most disliked characters in competitive play, having a reputation for being one of the most frustrating characters to deal with due to his amazing out of shield options, brutal combo game, strong offstage presence and powerful low lag smash attacks which makes him very difficult to punish and allows him to deal large damage and close out stocks quickly in a short amount of time.

Changes from SSBWU/3DS

Aesthetics

• Mr. Game & Watch's appearance is largely unchanged from SSB4, though his outline is thicker and a darker gray and his feet are slightly larger.
• The following moves temporarily alter Mr. Game & Watch's appearance to resemble the characters from the Game & Watch games they are based on:
  • Neutral attack (Greenhouse), forward tilt (Lion), up tilt (Flagman), down tilt (Manhole), forward smash (Fire Attack), down smash (Vermin), up aerial (Spitball Sparky), all throws (Ball), Chef, Judge and Oil Panic.
  • This significantly changes most of Mr. Game & Watch's attack animations both functionally and aesthetically, and it makes him more expressive overall.
• Mr. Game & Watch's walking animation has been changed; now looking less flippant.
• Like in Melee, Mr. Game & Watch now makes a noise when getting KOed, and he also has a new sound for getting Star KOed. Both use the sound of his up and side taunts.
• Mr. Game & Watch has a new victory animation where he juggles balls using his appearance from Ball. This replaces the victory pose where he jumps up and down.
• Mr. Game & Watch's mouth is open during his clapping animation, similar to his Melee appearance.

Attributes

• Like all characters, Mr. Game & Watch's jumpsquat takes 3 frames to complete (down from 5).
• Mr. Game & Watch runs faster (1.5264 → 1.679).
  • His initial dash is significantly faster (1.5 → 1.98).
• Mr. Game & Watch walks slightly faster (1.1242 → 1.18).
• Mr. Game and Watch's traction has been significantly increased (0.06 → 0.131), now tied for the 5th highest in the entire game.
• Mr. Game & Watch's air speed is slightly higher (1.12 → 1.176).
• Forward roll has more ending lag (FAF 30 → 31) and grants less intangibility (frames 4-16 → 4-15).
• Back roll has more startup with less intangibility (frames 4-16 → 5-16), and more ending lag (FAF 30 → 36).
• Spot dodge has more startup (frame 2 → 3).
• Air dodge has more startup (frame 2 → 3) and significantly more ending lag (FAF 32 → 60).
• Air dodge grants more intangibility (frames 2-26 → 3-28).
• The reintroduction of directional air dodges improves Mr. Game & Watch's recovery more than other characters', as due to Fire not causing helplessness, he can get additional distance with a directional air dodge after using it.
• Mr. Game and Watch has his hurtboxes modeled to match the new animation changes made to his attacks. This increases his hurtbox size for some of his attacks (notably Chef and up tilt), but reduces it for others (notably down tilt and neutral attack).

Ground Attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The first hit transitions into the neutral infinite faster (frame 12 → 7).
  • The first hit and infinite have altered angles to keep opponents closer to Mr. Game & Watch (83°/85° → 361°/180° (hit 1), 74°/40° → 361° (infinite)), and the latter has gained a hitstun modifier of 4, allowing the move to lock opponents and connect better.
  • The infinite's finisher deals more damage (2% → 3%), with its knockback scaling not fully compensated (180 → 160).
  • The infinite has gained a shieldstun multiplier of 10×. This allows it to lock opponents into their shields between each hit, and thus pressure them more effectively, without allowing opponents to cancel shieldstun like other neutral infinites, as the move pushes them out of range before they can shield 10 hits.
  • The finisher has a larger hitbox (5.5u/4u → 6u/4u), and its farthest hitbox is placed higher (Y offset: 8.5u → 9.5u), improving its vertical range.
  • The first hit has smaller hitboxes (5.5u/4u/3u → 3.8u/4.3u), with the hitbox that reached behind Mr. Game & Watch being removed.
  • The first hit has a higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 1.5×), making it easier to SDI.
  • The infinite deal less damage per hit (1% → 0.8%).
  • The infinite no longer uses set knockback (5/10 set/100 scaling → 12 base/20 scaling), causing it to connect less reliably at high percents.
  • The finisher has considerably more ending lag (FAF 24 → 35).
  • The first hit no longer uses set knockback (5/10/20 set/100 scaling → 25/20 base/22/15 scaling). At high percents, this causes it to connect less reliably into the infinite, but gives it a guaranteed jab cancel followup into Fire thanks to the latter's faster startup.
  • The infinite has a higher hitlag multiplier (0.5× → 0.7×), but a lower SDI multiplier (1× → 0.8×).
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt has less startup with a longer hitbox duration (frames 10 (clean)/11-17 (late) → 8-9/10-20).
  • It deals more damage (10%/9% → 12%/10% (clean), 4% → 6% (late)) with knockback partially compensated only on the clean sweetspot (100 → 96), improving its KO potential.
  • The late hit has significantly more knockback scaling (100 → 135/120). Combined with its increased damage, this grants it KO potential.
  • The move has smaller hitboxes (4.8u/4u → 4u/3.5u (clean), 4.5u/3.5u → 3.3u/2.8u (late)), the sourspot does not extend as far (Z offset: 5u-16u → 7u-12u, Y offset: 4u → 4.5u), and the sweetspot has been moved towards Mr. Game and Watch and does not extend as far vertically (Z offset: 16u → 15u, Y offset: 4u-7u → 4.5u-6.5u). This reduces its range overall.
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt has less ending lag (FAF 36 → 34).
  • It grants intangibility on Mr. Game & Watch's hands throughout the entire move, as well as his raised arm during each hit's active frames, allowing it to beat out opposing attacks more effectively.
  • The first hit uses weight-independent set knockback (20 base/125/127 scaling → 60/80 set/100 scaling) and launches opponents at lower angles (100°/115° → 170°/145°), now being specifically designed to connect into the second hit. This allows the move to consistently deal its full damage and provide a higher frame advantage over the opponent.
  • The second hit launches at a more vertical angle (115° → 75°). In combination with the move's reduced ending lag, consistent two-hit nature, and Mr. Game & Watch's faster jumpsquat, this considerably improves its combo potential.
  • The second hit has more base knockback (30 → 50), but less knockback scaling (127/125 → 117), improving its KO potential overall.
  • Both hits' flags have smaller hitboxes (5.5u → 4.5u).
  • The flags appear on each side of Mr. Game & Watch instead of above. This increases the move's horizontal range, but reduces its vertical range.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt deals more damage (6% → 9%) with knockback not fully compensated (40 base/125 scaling → 45/112), drastically improving its KO potential to the point it is the strongest down tilt at the edge (KOing at around 90%), and one of the strongest down tilts from center stage (KOing at around 130%).
  • The hitbox is placed higher, and it has gained an additional hitbox that extends much farther vertically (Y offset: 1.5u → 2.1u-9.3u), improving its coverage in front of Mr. Game & Watch.
  • The move has more ending lag (FAF 40 → 43).
  • It has a shorter hitbox duration (frames 6-11 → 6-8).
  • The windbox has been removed. This deprives the move of its juggling capabilities and potential recovery interruptions and it can no longer hit aerial opponents as a result.
  • The hitboxes are much smaller (2.5u → 1.2u/1.2u), and extend farther horizontally, but are placed closer to Mr. Game & Watch (Z offset: 12u-18u → 6.7u-16.8u). This reduces their horizontal range overall, and gives them a much less favorable disjoint due to Mr. Game and Watch leaning in further during the attack.
• Dash attack:
  • The hitbox has been moved closer to Mr. Game & Watch (Z offset: 6u → 5u), reducing its horizontal range.
• Forward smash:
  • The sweetspot deals more knockback overall (48 base/91 scaling → 46/97), and launches at a lower angle (52° → 48°), improving its KO potential.
  • The move has gained an additional sweetspot hitbox inbetween the sourspot and existing sweetspot (5.3u → 2.9u/5.3u), while the sourspot has been slightly reduced to compensate (3u → 2.6u). This makes the sweetspot easier to land.
  • The sourspot has less base knockback (44 → 42).
  • All hitboxes have been moved closer to Mr. Game and Watch (Z offset: 11u → 7.8u (sourspot), 17u → 12u/16u (sweetspot)) and upwards (Y offset: 3.5u → 5.3u (sourspot), 7.2u → 6.8u/7.8u (sweetspot)). Additionally, he doesn't lean forward as much. This reduces the move's horizontal range, but increases its vertical range and gives it a more favorable disjoint.
  • The sourspot no longer has a sound effect on hit.
• Up smash:
  • Up smash has less startup with a longer hitbox duration (frames 24-25 → 21-25), matching its Brawl counterpart.
  • It grants full invincibility to Mr. Game & Watch, rather than only to his head and frontal limbs.
  • It has more knockback scaling (93 → 98), improving its KO potential.
  • It has a significantly shorter invincibility period, matching the duration of the hitboxes (frames 4-25 → 21-25). This prevents it from negating opposing attacks much earlier than the hitbox comes out, as well as during the whole period it is charged.
  • The hitbox has been moved lower (Y offset: 12u-10u → 9.5u-8u), but also extends farther horizontally (Z offset: −3u-6u → −6u-5.5u). This noticeably reduces its vertical range, but increases its horizontal range, especially behind Mr. Game and Watch.
  • Mr. Game & Watch faces away from the camera when using his up smash to the left. He also slightly flashes white during the move's invincibility frames.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash has less startup (frame 15 → 12) and ending lag (FAF 42 → 38).
  • The sweetspots bury grounded opponents, allowing them to followup into several other moves, including stronger finishers at high percents.
  • The sourspot has significantly more knockback scaling (65 → 80), allowing it to KO under 150% from the center of Final Destination.
  • All hitboxes extend farther to both sides (Z offset: -4.8u-4.8u → -5u-5u (sourspot), -12u/12u → -14.2u-−12.2u/14.2u-12.2u (sweetspots)), increasing the move's horizontal range and making the sweetspots easier to land.
  • The sweetspots are smaller (5u → 4.5u), slightly reducing their vertical range.

Aerial Attacks

• Neutral, back, and down aerial have less landing lag (12 → 7 frames (neutral), 19 → 18 (back), 28 → 22 (down)).
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial auto-cancels earlier (frame 44 → 42).
  • All hits have significantly longer durations (frames 7/12/17/22 → 7-10/12-15/17-20/22-23), much like the move's Brawl iteration.
  • All of the move's hitboxes except the first hit's fish hitboxes are stretched horizontally (Z offset: 1.8u → −1u-6u/−1u-6u (hit 1), −9.5u/9.8u/1.8u → 9.6u-10.8u/−7.5u-−8.8u/−1u-6u/−1u-6u (hit 2), −11u/13u/1.8u → 13.3u-13.6u/−9.9u-−9.7u/−1-6u/−1-6u (hit 3), −11u/12.7u → −10.2u-10u/1.8u-3.4u (hit 4)) and vertically (Y offset: 17.9u/21u → 20.7u-21u/17.9u-18.3u (hit 2), 11u/12.5u → 12.4u-13.6u/11u-12u (hit 3), 1u/1.5u → 1.5u-2.9u/2.4u-1u (hit 4)), increasing the range of each hitbox.
  • Due to its reduced landing lag, it has greatly improved combo potential, even allowing the multi-hits to set up into moves such as down tilt and forward tilt at KO percents.
  • The first three hits have a lower hitlag multiplier (1× → 0.8×), making them harder to SDI out of.
  • The first three hits launch at different angles, with the first two using autolink angles (160°/160°/90° → 165°/165°/367°/105° (hit 1), 160°/150°/367°/105° (hit 2), 145°/140°/120°/120° (hit 3)), and all of their hitboxes deal weight-independent set knockback (30/30/0 → 30/30/30/45 (hit 1), 30/30/20/20 (hit 2), 30/30/15/15 (hit 3)), improving their linking ability and preventing opponents from falling out at higher percents.
  • The move deals less damage (5% (hit 1), 4% (hits 2-3) → 3%; 17% total → 13%).
  • The last hit has a higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 2×), making it easier to DI.
  • The first three hit have had their large hitbox replaced by two small ones (5u → 2.5u/2.5u (hit 1), 5u → 3u/3u (hits 2-3)).
• Forward aerial:
  • Mr. Game & Watch has a new forward aerial: he holds a bomb in front of him and drops it straight down, resembling Mario's Bombs Away, Safebuster, or Bomb Sweeper. Uniquely, the bomb functions as a projectile, exploding half a second (30 frames) after it is dropped or when it hits the stage. The move consists of both hits; one in front of Mr. Game & Watch when he drops the bomb, which deals 3% damage, and the other on the bomb's explosion, which deals 12%. The bomb does not explode upon hitting an opponent, and any attack that hits it will cause it to disappear.
  • It deals more damage if both hits connect (11.5% → 15%).
  • The explosion has significantly more knockback scaling (86 → 101), which alongside its higher damage output than the previous forward aerial improves its KO potential.
  • Due to its new properties, it has increased vertical range below Mr. Game and Watch.
  • The delayed explosion significantly improves the move's safety as a landing option against shielding opponents, to the point it is nearly impossible to punish after shielding it, despite its increased landing lag. It also grants the move combo potential, and allows it to hit offstage opponents below the ledge.
  • The explosion has a much larger hitbox (5.5u → 10u).
  • The move has more ending lag (FAF 45 → 48) and landing lag (15 frames → 17).
  • Its initial auto-cancel window has been removed.
  • The hit in front of Mr. Game & Watch has a much smaller hitbox (5.5u → 2u), noticeably smaller than the bomb. This drastically reduces its range, despite being placed slightly farther horizontally (Z offset: 9u → 9.3u).
  • Both the initial hit and explosion have a much shorter duration (frames 10-25 → 10-13 (bomb), 44-45 (explosion)), and the bomb's ability to be canceled out by opposing attacks leaves Mr. Game and Watch completely vulnerable if it trades with an opposing attack. This makes the move significantly less effective for attacking and approaching directly.
  • Both hits have a lower hitlag multiplier (1× → 0.5×).
  • The initial hit uses set knockback (30/10 base/86/80 scaling → 30 set/50 scaling) and a hitstun modifier of 5, in order to link consistently into the explosion when close to the ground.
  • The explosion launches at a higher angle (361° → 45°). This further improves its combo potential, but makes it less effective for edgeguarding.
• Back aerial:
  • The looping hits consistently use an autolink angle (366°/25° → 367°/367°), allowing them to connect reliably, despite the outermost hitbox dealing more knockback overall and the innermost hitbox no longer using set knockback (30/0 base/0/40 set/40/100 scaling → 0 base/100 scaling).
  • The looping hits have a lower hitlag multiplier (1.5× → 0.9×), allowing them to transition faster.
  • The last hit has more knockback scaling (170 → 185), improving its KO potential.
  • The move can no longer be frame canceled. Its reduced landing lag does not compensate, hindering its combo potential and safety on shield.
  • The landing hit launches at a lower angle (68° → 58°) and deals much less knockback overall (90 base/120 scaling → 95/60). In combination with the removal of frame canceling, this removes both its combo potential and its ability to KO at realistic percents.
  • The move has a slightly altered animation where Mr. Game and Watch has his legs positioned to the side of his body rather than below it.
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial has been reworked: it shoots a single puff of air that functions as a projectile, flying straight up and hitting multiple times, much like Mega Man's up aerial.
  • Due to its new properties, it has much more vertical range, making it a more reliable followup option.
  • It has a much longer duration (frames 6-12/20-22 → 9-14/15-20/21-26/27-32/33-36/37-42), significantly improving its juggling potential.
  • The looping hits launch opponents more inward (94° → 97°) and use set knockback (20 base/60 scaling → 63/55/40 set/100 scaling), and the move no longer causes hitlag (1× → 0×). This allows for all hits to connect more reliably and makes them nearly impossible to escape.
  • The move has more startup (frame 6 → 9), with its total duration increased as well (FAF 40 → 43), being interruptibile just after the hitboxes cease.
  • It auto-cancels later (frame 41 → 44) and no longer has an initial auto-cancel window.
  • It deals less damage (7% (hit 1), 9% (hit 2) → 1.8% (hits 1-5), 3% (hit 6); 16% total → 12%).
  • The hitbox is much smaller overall (6.5u/4.3u → 3.8u (hits 1-5), 4.3u (hit 6)), reducing its horizontal range.
  • It no longer possesses windboxes, allowing it to hit consistently without pushing opponents out of range, but removing the ability to juggle opponents during vulnerable states (such as helplessness).
  • The last hit deals significantly less knockback (55 base/98 scaling → 65/35). This removes its KO potential, but in combination with its longer duration and multi-hit nature, this allows it to combo far more effectively into other moves, including another up aerial to carry the opponent closer to the top blast line.
• Down aerial:
  • The removal of teching for grounded meteor smashes improves down aerial's combo potential onstage, compounded further by its reduced landing lag.
  • It auto-cancels earlier (frame 51 → 49), matching its interruptibility, and allowing it to auto-cancel after a full hop and Fire.
  • The late hit deals much more knockback (20 base/106 scaling → 22/117), improving its KO potential.
  • The move can no longer be frame canceled; however, this is compensated by its reduced landing lag.
  • The key is larger, matching the vertical range of the sourspot more closely.

Grabs and Throws

• Grabs:
  • All grabs have more ending lag (FAF 30 → 35 (standing), 37 → 43 (dash), 35 → 37 (pivot)).
  • Dash grab and pivot grab have increased range, especially dash grab (Z2 offset: 11.1u → 13.5u (dash), -14.8u → −15.6u (pivot)).
  • Dash and pivot grab have more startup (frame 8 → 9 (dash), 9 → 10 (pivot)).
  • When a playable character is thrown by Mr. Game & Watch, they turn into their respective stock icon for the duration of the juggle; combined with the new, more flatter look of stock icons, it greatly resembles a ball in the original game.
• Pummel:
  • Pummel deals more hitlag (5 frames → 14), but has significantly less startup (frame 13 → 1), and ending lag (FAF 30 → 7), greatly shortening its duration and making it more reliable for racking up damage.
  • It deals much less damage (3% → 1.3%).
• Forward throw:
  • Forward throw launches at a lower angle (58° → 52°), making it more effective for getting opponents offstage.
• Back throw:
  • Back throw launches at a lower angle (58° → 52°), making it more effective for getting opponents offstage.
• Up throw:
  • Up throw deals much more damage (8% → 12%), with its knockback scaling compensated (40 → 29).
  • It has increased combo ability due to Mr. Game and Watch's faster jumpsquat and jump speed; in addition to Fire, it can combo into neutral aerial and up aerial at low percents.
• Down throw:
  • Down throw releases the opponent later (frame 26 → 35), with its total duration increased as well (FAF 41 → 50), giving the opponent more time to DI.
  • It has significantly more base knockback (35 → 70). This worsens its combo potential at mid to high percents, and when combined with the changes to up aerial, effectively removes the "Toot-Toot" KO confirm he could pull off in Smash 4. However, this also increases its combo potential at low to mid percents in combination with Mr. Game & Watch faster jumpsquat, and grants it KO potential at around 200%.
  • Mr. Game & Watch "drops" the character's icon during the animation.
• Edge attack:
  • Edge attack deals more damage (7% → 9%).

Special Attacks

• Chef:
  • Chef deals more damage (5% → 8% (pan), 4% → 5% (food)) without compensation for knockback, although the food deals negative shield damage to compensate (0 → -1).
  • The food's trajectory can be controlled by tilting the control stick horizontally, rather than being randomized, improving its consistency as a ledge-trapping and zoning option.
  • The move has more ending lag (FAF 50 → 55).
  • It shoots food at a slower rate when not tapping the special move button repeatedly (23 frames → 32).
  • The pan hitbox has been replaced with two smaller ones (6.76u → 3.5u/4.2u).
• Judge:
  • Judge 5's first three hits have less knockback (40 base/80 scaling → 15/25 base/60/70 scaling), making it easier to hit opponents multiple times at higher percents.
  • Judge 7 spawns three apples on hit instead of one, allowing Mr. Game & Watch to heal significantly more health after using the move.
  • Judge 7 deals more base knockback (30 → 45), making it safer on hit at low percents.
  • Judge 8 does more damage (9% → 13%), which also causes the freeze effect to last longer.
  • Judge 8 deals less set knockback (70 → 60), slightly improving its gimping potential.
  • Judge 9 has a larger hitbox (3u/4u → 3u/6u), matching the rest of the numbers.
  • Judge 2 no longer has a bonus trip chance of 20%, removing its situational followups.
  • Judge 7 launches at a higher angle (361° → 45°), removing its ability to lock opponents at low percents.
  • Judge 9 has a much higher SDI multiplier (0× → 2×), allowing the opponent to manipulate their launch position to improve their chances of surviving, and shift their position when shielding the move to make it easier to punish, due to its high hitlag.
  • Judge can no longer roll the same number twice in a row.
  • During startup, the numbers appear in a jumble before settling on the decided number.
  • Judge 9 triggers a Special Zoom on hit.
• Fire:
  • Fire's windbox has been removed, instead possessing a new hit on frames 3-4 when the firemen appear, which links into Mr. Game & Watch's own hitbox. This hit deals 3% damage, launches opponents vertically (83° (grounded), 75° (aerial)) and has very high base knockback (132 base/36 scaling (grounded), 100/70 (aerial)), with a hitstun modifier of 10 on the grounded version. This new hit effectively reduces the move's startup (frame 9 → 3) and increases its horizontal range, giving it immense utility as an out of shield and disadvantage option, and due to the grounded version's high hitstun, it has also gained combo potential, leading into a neutral aerial at low percents and an up aerial until high percents.
  • It transitions into the parachute faster (FAF 41 → 37).
• Oil Panic:
  • Oil Panic reflects projectiles that aren't absorbable, increasing its utility.
  • It begins absorbing projectiles earlier (frame 7 → 6).
  • The absorbing portion does not need to be held for as long (30 frames → 25), reducing its ending lag if not held (FAF 50 → 44).
  • The absorbing portion's loop has been standardized, allowing Mr. Game & Watch to immediately go into the ending animation if the button is released after frame 30.
  • Mr. Game & Watch is no longer forced into another loop after absorbing a projectile if the button is not being held. He also isn't put into the ending animation, allowing him to act the moment intangibility ends.
  • The move's damage multiplier has been significantly reduced (2.8× → 2×).
  • The attack portion no longer has intangibility on frames 1-6.
  • The attack's minimum and maximum damage are lower, especially the latter (18%-60% → 16%-48%), and it deals less knockback (30 base/80 scaling → 25/80 (clean), 25/78 (mid), 25/76 (late)). This makes it significantly weaker, removing its one-hit KO ability, and further reduces its safety on hit at low percents when absorbing weak projectiles.
  • The attack has slightly smaller hitboxes overall (3.36u/4.8u/8.16u → 3.4u/4.5u/8u).
  • Oil Panic triggers Special Zoom on hit, and briefly leaves the opponent covered in oil.
• Octopus:
  • Octopus's functionality has been altered. Instead of being controllable, the octopus automatically rears back and charges forward, grabs opponents who touch its tentacles, and drags them offscreen, akin to Ganondorf's . The main body deals damage instead of the tentacles. This allows the move to KO earlier, but makes it more polarized overall, as escaping the grab frees the opponent of any punishment.
  • A greenish-beige backdrop similar to that of a Game & Watch game temporarily appears during the Final Smash.

Moveset

Ground Attacks

Normal

• Neutral Attack: Mr. Game and Watch sprays insecticide repeatedly and links to a finisher.
• Forward Tilt: Mr. Game and Watch jabs forth with a chair.
• Up Tilt: Mr. Game and Watch waves a flag overhead.
• Down Tilt: Mr. Game and Watch flips a manhole cover in front of him, throwing the opponent horizontally.
• Dash Attack: Mr. Game and Watch dives forwards on the ground headfirst wearing a helmet.

Smash Attacks

• Forward Smash: Mr. Game and Watch attacks with a lit torch that deals fire damage.
• Up Smash: Mr. Game and Watch puts on a diving helmet and bashes upwards with his head.
• Down Smash: Mr. Game and Watch takes two hammers and slams them down on both sides of him.

Other attacks

• Floor Attack (Front): He gets out a hammer and slams it in front of him, then behind him.
• Floor Attack (Back):
• Floor Attack (Trip): He gets out a hammer and slams it in front of him, then behind him.
• Ledge Attack: He climbs up the edge, then hits the opponent with his alarm bell.

Aerial Attacks

• Neutral aerial: Mr. Game and Watch takes out a fish bowl from which water and two fish are thrown.
• Forward aerial: Mr. Game and Watch holds a bomb in front of him and drops it downwards; the bomb explodes upon hitting an enemy or after falling for a brief time.
• Back aerial: Mr. Game and Watch takes out a turtle to hit opponents, dealing up to four hits.
• Up aerial (Spitball Sparky): Mr. Game and Watch releases a puff of air that moves upwards.
• Down aerial: Mr. Game and Watch takes out a key and attacks downwards while descending.

Grabs and Throws

• Pummel: Mr. Game and Watch takes out a bell and smacks the opponent with it.
• Forward Throw: Mr. Game and Watch juggles the opponent and throws them forward.
• Back Throw: Mr. Game and Watch juggles the opponent and throws them backward.
• Up Throw: Mr. Game and Watch juggles the opponent and throws them upward.
• Down Throw: Mr. Game and Watch juggles the opponent and throws them downward.

Special Moves

Mr. Game & Watch's Special Moves
	Melee	Brawl	3DS/Wii U	Ultimate
Standard Special	Chef
Side Special	Judge
Up Special	Fire
Down Special	Oil Panic
Final Smash	—	Octopus

Taunts

• Up Taunt: Rings his bell upwards.
• Down Taunt: Sits on the ground and exhales.
• Side Taunt: Rings his bell sideways.

On-Screen Appearance

• Four transparent Mr. Game & Watches appear, and each one will become solid until he gets to the ground.

Idle Poses

• Looks behind him for a small time.
• Hops in place.

Victory Poses

• Ring his bell left and right.
• Juggles several balls left and right while in his Ball form.
• Jumps around the screen, trips, gains his balance, and then proceeds to bounce on his feet and head left and right.

In competitive play

Shortly after Ultimate's release, the perception of Mr. Game & Watch was very negative; several players believed the nerfs he received - mainly the lack of priority in his new forward aerial, the reduction of invincibility frames on his up smash, and the loss of his "Toot-Toot KO confirm - were far too detrimental for him to have any chance of competitive success even in spite of his buffs. Combined with the prevalence of swordfighters in the game who were known for giving Mr. Game & Watch trouble in previous games, he was widely considered to be an unviable character that was even worse than his Smash 4 iteration with ZeRo going as far to rank him as the 2nd worst character in the game.

However, the Smash community eventually discovered that the buffs he was given far outweighed his nerfs and that the character had in fact become significantly stronger. Not only have his moves undergone aesthetic appearences as they now appear exactly as they do in the original Game & Watch games, but they have received major changes to their damage, knockback, range, lag, or have been completely reworked. Altogether, while his most potent tools were toned down from Smash 4, the majority of the least useful moves in his toolkit have been significantly improved.

Similar to the vast majority of the cast, Mr. Game & Watch's mobility has been made faster as he has slightly increased run speed and air speed along with a much faster inital dash. Like the rest of the cast, he now has a 3 frame jumpsquat which improves his air game.

Mr. Game & Watch has much better KO potential as his forward tilt and down tilt have much higher knockback, allowing them to KO earlier (although down tilt's ending lag has been slightly increased) and the former has consistent 2-frame potential due to its faster startup and long hitbox duration. Additionally, the ability to dash cancel into these moves increases their utility. His smash attacks have all received major buffs. His forward smash has more knockback which makes it able to KO earlier and the increased size of the sweetspot makes it easier to land. His up smash has been given more active frames now being active from frames 21-25 instead of 24-25 and has slightly increased knockback scaling which allows it to KO earlier. While it has less invincibility frames throughout the total animation, it has invincibility frames during the hitbox frames (21-25) that cover Mr. Game & Watch's entire body which makes the move more dangerous to intercept unlike Smash 4 where the invincibility frames only covered parts of his body and left others completely vulnerable. His down smash has less startup along with a shorter total duration, making it faster without increasing its ending lag. Additionally, its sweetspots now bury the opponent which allows Mr. Game & Watch to follow up with one of his powerful finishers including a forward smash, forward tilt, or Judge to name a few and its semi spike sourspot has more knockback scaling. Lastly, its hitboxes extend further out making it easier to land. Mr. Game & Watch has arguably the best set of smash attacks out of the whole cast due to their increased power and utility while retaining their infamously low ending lag.

Mr. Game & Watch's aerial game and edgeguarding have also been improved. He has a new forward aerial where he drops a bomb in front of him. Compared to to previous forward aerial, this move has higher damage output and knockback which makes it better as a KO move while also having incredible utility for shield pressuring, ledgetrapping, combo starting, and landing. His back and down aerials are more powerful, making them great offstage punish options and his neutral aerial has excellent combo potential, increased range, and improved juggling ability as the new autolink angles prevent the opponent from falling out at high percents. His up aerial has lost its KO potential and has increased startup, but has gained outstanding juggling and damage racking ability as a tradeoff as it can keep the opponent in the air for a long time with little chance to escape. Finally, his neutral, back, and down aerials all have less landing lag.

His special moveset have also received major buffs. Chef deals increased damage and the trajectory that the food travels can be controlled; tilting the control stick forward makes the food fly faster and travel a further distance while holding the special button instead of repeatedly pressing it makes the food fly slower. Judge has received improvements to many of its numbers; Judge 5 has less knockback which makes it easier to hit opponents multiple times at high percents, Judge 7 now spawns three apples instead of 1 is safe to hit at low percents due to its increased knockback, Judge 8 does more damage and the freezing effect lasts longer, and Judge 9 has a larger hitbox. Oil Panic has gained additional utility as a defensive tool against projectiles; not only does it absorb projectiles one frame faster and has less ending lag but it also acts a reflector that reflects any projectile it can't absorb. Lastly, the biggest buff to his special moves and arguably his most valuable buff overall was to Fire. The move's frame 3 windbox has been replaced with a hitbox on both sides of Mr. Game & Watch that has strong knockback and a hitstun modifier of 10. Combined with the move's intangibility frames, it has outstanding utility as an out of shield option, disadvantage breaking option, and combo starter while also being a potential KO move offstage due to the late hit's high knockback and retaining its incredible recovery potential. Not only is this move arguably the single best out of shield option in the entire game, but it is also one of the best moves in the game overall.

In the end, Mr. Game & Watch is now considered to be a high tier or top tier by most players thanks to his newly gained strengths which is a sharp contrast to his perception in the early meta. Despite his nerfs as well as continuous issues with his extremely light weight, he possesses high power, great out of shield options, an oppressive offstage presence, a devastating combo game, and an incredible recovery while also having fairly good frame data and has achieved fantastic tournament results thanks to Regi, Frido, Take, and especially Maister. His iteration in Ultimate is almost unarguably his best in the series.

Trivia

• Mr. Game & Watch's Classic Mode artwork is a reference to how many years since the first Game & Watch release in 2019 (39 years).
• This is the first game of the series where Mr. Game & Watch’s official artwork shows him holding an object other than his signature bell, as he is instead holding the flag from Flagman.

Palette Swaps

Gallery

Taunting in Town and City.

Mr. Game & Watch hitting Mario with a 9.

Pac-Man with Mr. Game & Watch on Tortimer Island.

Two Mr. Game & Watch using Judge on Flat Zone X.

Mr. Game & Watch with R.O.B., Mario, and Yoshi.

Mr. Game & Watch with Sonic, Fox, and Falco in Delfino Plaza.

Mr. Game & Watch is super giant along with R.O.B. and Mario in Tortimer Island.

Mr. Game & Watch with Pikachu and Two Kirbys in Rainbow Cruise.

Mr. Game & Watch with Mario and Sonic in Gerudo Valley.

External links

26 Mr. Game & Watch – Super Smash Bros. Ultimate