Nerf

Nerfed is a term to describe the weakening of certain attributes of characters when making a sequel. It is often done as an attempt to balance the roster. The best example of this is Kirby's transition from the original Super Smash Bros. to Melee. Kirby went from being one of the best (tier-wise) characters to being one of the worst.

"Nerf" as a verb has been in common use when talking about character or attack changes in all kinds of games, from RPGs to FPSs. The opposite of nerfed is buffed, which describes an improvement in quality.

For example, from Melee to Brawl, Peach's forward throw and down smash have been nerfed, and she cannot double-jump cancel anymore.

The term "nerf" is derived from the brand of toy known for its soft foam-like substance. This substance allows for safer play, as little chance of injury comes from impact with such items. In effect, a projectile is less damaging because it has been "nerfed."

Characters who had attributes nerfed from SSB to Melee

• Kirby: arguably the worst ever nerf in a Smash Bros. game. He lost lots of power, speed, priority, and range in his attacks. His horizontal aerial movement is drastically slower, and he is easier to combo, making a character with terrible stats in Melee.
• Luigi: Lateral Air speed, Super Jump Punch's jumping distance, and Luigi Cyclone's recovery distance have all been lowered. This makes it harder to incorporate these abilities into a horizontal recovery. Green Fireball size has also decreased.
• Mario: Super Jump Punch's jumping distance has been reduced. Also, Fireball size has decreased.
• Ness: speed, range. Up smash and Down Smash are weaker, no longer a KO move. Forward smash is much slower.
• Pikachu: range, being candidate for chain grabs.
• Yoshi: Specials, combo ability on floaty characters.

Characters who had attributes nerfed from Melee to Brawl

• Bowser: Longer landing lag.
• Captain Falcon: Slower attacks, D-Air needs to sweetspot to meteor smash (has also lost his nipple spike), F-Air (The Knee) is much harder to sweetspot and has less knockback, lower traction, Falcon Kick no longer regains his double jump after it has already been used, and an extereme decrease in priority, making it nearly impossible to approach safely. It is considered the most serious nerf in Brawl.
• Falco: Nerfed in many of his KO moves: Down air Meteor Smash is harder to sweetspot, Forward smash is slower and needs to sweetspot to be a good KO move, Neutral air is no longer a KO move, Down tilt does not KO until extremely high damages and Falco Phantasm's Meteor Smash is weaker. Another major nerf is that Fire Bird travels less far. Minor nerfs are his slower dash speed, and his reflector can no longer be held and can only reflect projectiles in front of him. However, these nerfs did not have much of an effect, as Falco has the exact same tier ranking as in Melee (4th).
• Fox: Shine combos no longer exist, his finishing moves are slightly weaker (with the exception of his Back aerial), and his Blaster travels roughly half the distance it did in Melee.
• Ganondorf: Reduced speed and priority (though his priority wasn't decreased as much as it was for Captain Falcon), and Wizard's Foot no longer enables a midair jump if one was used already.
• Jigglypuff: Reduced combo ability, Rest is a lot weaker in term of knockback, three aerial attacks weakened, now sole slowest dash speed, and no longer has the fastest horizontal aerial movement (still very fast in comparison to other characters in Brawl.), though only Yoshi's is faster. Smash moves are slower and have a longer end lag.
• Kirby: Kirbycide ability weakened. Forward throw and Back throw no longer Kirbycide; Up throw can only Kirbycide on certain stages. Swallowcide now KOs Kirby and his victim at the same time.
• Link: Much slower air speed, shorter grappling device, infinite sword stab in neutral combo removed, and Spin Attack no longer semi-spikes and is worse for recovery. Link's Boomerang, replaced with Gale Boomerang has lost range, speed and doesn't do damage on the way back.
• Luigi: Aerial attacks are weaker (though faster). Fireball range has reduced.
• Mario: The power and range of many of his moves have been slightly decreased, his F-Air now needs to sweetspot to meteor smash and is weaker. Fireball's range has reduced. Replacing Mario Tornado with F.L.U.D.D. reduced the recovering ability.
• Marth: Shorter grabs, shorter sword (therefore shorter range), sweetspotting his attacks is harder, standard attack combo is slower, and his dash speed is slightly slower. Shield Breaker is no longer useful for edgeguarding and it's lost overhead range.
• Mr. Game & Watch (SSBB): Down tilt is weaker, neutral a is now a trapping move instead of a KO move. Oil Panic maximum damage reduced from 200 to 60.
• Peach: Shorter midair jump, decreased power in forward throw, decreased range and power in down smash, horizontal aerial movement has gone from being one of the fastest to being slightly below average, and can no longer Double Jump Cancel. Slower falling speed.
• Samus: Finishing moves and her projectiles game were drastically weakened (espescially her killing power), and Bomb Jump technique is now less effective as a recovery. Bomb no longer explodes (even if it crosses enemies) until the bomb time is done.
• Sheik: Finishing moves (except Up Smash and Vanish) have lost a lot of their power.
• Yoshi: Egg Roll can no longer can be used for recovery, smashes are weaker (especially Down Smash), F-Air now needs to sweetspot to Meteor Smash, Yoshi Bomb and Egg Throw are weaker in terms of knockback, and he can no longer Double Jump Cancel. Egg Lay ability for KO has weakened because of the slow falling speed of the egg and higher start height.

See Also

• Buffed