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This article is about Peach's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee. For the character in other contexts, see Princess Peach.
A princess with royal recovery abilities.
—Description from Melee's manual.

Announced at E3 2001, Peach (ピーチ, Peach) makes her debut in the Smash Bros. series as a starter character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. She is based on her early appearance from the Nintendo 64 era.

Currently, Peach is ranked 7th in the tier list, located in the A Tier. This is due to her moderately powerful attacks, formidable recovery, amazing aerial game, good ground game, and overall good moves. She does possess some flaws (e.g., lacks an aerial meteor smash, slow dash speed, being a tall floaty character, etc.) that prevent her from being top-tier.

Attributes[]

Peach SSBM

One of the most well known features of Peach is likely the fact that she has incredible horizontal recovery. With fast air speed, a long second jump, the ability to float, the ability to use Peach Bomber to cover horizontal distance, and the ability to use Peach Parasol to cover vertical distance, Peach can recover from just about anywhere off-stage. Peach also has a great air game, because she has little lag for aerials with float cancels, and she is capable of double jump canceling, allowing for very quick ground aerials. Her down special move, Vegetable, is excellent for camping, lead-ins, and edge-guarding. She can defend herself from opponents' projectiles using Toad as a pop-up, similar to Marth and Roy's Counter. Peach is also able to chain grab fast-fallers with her up throw from around 40% damage to 100% damage.

However, Peach has very slow dash speed. She can also get knocked out vertically at relatively low percents due to her being floaty, somewhat light, and having a bad vertical recovery. Her wavedash is among the shortest in the game. When it comes to KOing, her forward throw is powerful. Her down smash is also powerful, and has great priority, speed, range, and anti-shield properties with a strong likelihood of shield-poking, but Peach still lacks a move that KOs at low percentages, which forces her to rack up damage and edge-guards.

Moveset[]

  Image Name Damage Description
Neutral attack Peach Neutral attack SSBM   3% Performs a quick two-slap combo.
2%
Forward tilt Peach Forward tilt SSBM   13%/11%/10% (clean), 6% (late) Leans back and performs a 180° high forward kick. Capable of seriously juggling heavyweights at low percentages if they lose their second jump.
Up tilt Peach Up tilt SSBM   12% Strikes overhead enemies with a headbutt. While attacking, Peach's head is invulnerable.
Down tilt Peach Down tilt SSBM   12% Peach sweeps the ground with her arm, popping the opponent into the air. This attack can meteor smash airborne opponents who hit her forearm and not her hand; but this is difficult to land because of its small hitbox.
Dash attack Peach Dash attack SSBM   12%/9% (clean), 8%/7% (late) Peach lunges forward with both arms outstretched, launching enemies up into the air.
Forward smash Peach Forward smash SSBM   Golf club: 17%/13%
Frying Pan: 17%/15%
Tennis Racket: 12%
Peach swings one of the following weapons randomly, each having their own range and attack power: the golf club having the most range, the tennis racket launching the farthest, and the frying pan dealing the most damage.
Up smash Peach Up smash SSBM   8% (sides), 15% (hand), 19% (arm) Peach twirls around with one arm raised upwards. If sweetspotted is located at her arm, which sends enemies upward with high vertical knockback. Both of Peach's arms and hand are intangible while the hitboxes are active.
Down smash Peach Down smash SSBM   12%/14% (5 hits) Peach crouches and spin around, attack opponents with her dress. This attack seals more damage, if the opponent attempts to crouch cancel or are under the effects of a Metal Box, which can deal up to 64.96% damage (the most damaging smash attack in the game). However, this won't work on enemies who's damage exceeds above 100%.
Neutral aerial Peach Neutral aerial SSBM   14% (clean), 9% (late body), 10% (late arms) Peach twirls in the air to perform a single slap.
Forward aerial Peach Forward aerial SSBM   15% Peach takes her crown off her head and swings it forward for huge knockback.
Back aerial Peach Back aerial SSBM   14% (clean), 10% (late) Peach bumps her butt backwards for good knockback.
Up aerial Peach Up aerial SSBM   11% (body), 12% (leg), 14% (foot) Peach delivers a quick kick at an upwards angle.
Down aerial Peach Down aerial SSBM   3% (hits 1-4) Peach rapidly kicks downward four times. A good combo starter with each hit pulling the opponent towards Peach.
Grab Peach Grab SSBM    
Pummel Peach Pummel SSBM   3% Peach attacks her victim with her left foot.
Forward throw Peach Forward throw SSBM   2% (hit 1), 8% (throw) Peach slaps the foe away with very good knockback. Strongest forward throw in the game.
Back throw Peach Back throw SSBM   2% (hit 1), 9% (throw) Peach places the opponent behind her and hits them with her butt.
Up throw Peach Up throw SSBM   2% (hit 1), 6% (throw) Peach puts the opponent above her, and volleys them upward.
Down throw Peach Down throw SSBM   0% (hit 1), 7% (throw) Peach places the enemy to the ground before sitting on them.
Floor attack (front) Peach Floor attack (front) SSBM   6% (front hit), 8%/6% (back hit legs/body) Peach performs a sweep kick while getting up.
Floor attack (back) Peach Floor attack (back) SSBM   6% Peach performs a sweep kick while getting up.
Edge attack (fast) Peach Edge attack (fast) SSBM   6% Peach launches herself onto the stage, buttfirst.
Edge attack (slow) Peach Edge attack (slow) SSBM   10% (feet), 8% (body) Peach slowly climbs up and does a low sweep kick attack.
Neutral special Toad (SSBM) Toad 3% (hits 1-7) Peach holds out Toad in front of her, which acts as a counterattack. If Toad gets hit, he will strike back at the enemy by firing spores. Unlike most counterattacks, the strength of the opponent's attack does not affect the power of the spores.
Side special Peach Bomber (SSBM) Peach Bomber 16% (normal), 18% (smash attack) Peach lunges herself forward rearfirst. If Peach hits an opponent, it will produce an explosion and knock them away. When inputted as a smash attack, this attack covers more distance and deals more damage and knockback.
Up special Peach Parasol (SSBM) Peach Parasol 5% (hit 1), 1% (hits 2-11), 3% (parasol) Peach jumps upward while holding her parasol, which allows her to float slowly downward until she touches the ground. The parasol has a hitbox for the entirety of the float. The parasol can be closed by tapping down on the control stick and opened again by tapping up.
Down special Vegetable (SSBM) Vegetable Varies Peach reaches into the ground and pulls out a Vegetable. The face on the vegetable varies, with some of them dealing additional damage and knockback. In rare cases, Peach can pull out a Bob-omb, a Beam Sword, or a Mr. Saturn.
Vegetable Damage Data
Face Damage Pull Rate
Grin 1-9% 60.34%
Stare 1-9% 10.34%
Closed Eyes 1-9% 8.62%
Surprised 1-9% 5.17%
Happy 1-9% 5.17%
Wink 5-13% 6.90%
Dot-Eyes 11-19% 1.72%
Stitch-Face 29-37% 1.72%
Mr. Saturn 0.33%
Bob-omb 0.33%
Beam Sword 0.33%

Taunt[]

  • Performs a spin, then poses and winks, saying "Sweet!"

Idle pose[]

  • Looks over both her shoulders and rubs something off her dress.
  • Raises her arms up and stretches
  • Looks at her hands.
  • Brushes her hair.

Matchups[]

Super Smash Bros. Melee Character Matchups
  Fox Head 01 (SSBM) Falco Head 01 (SSBM) Marth Head 01 (SSBM) Sheik Head 01 (SSBM) Jigglypuff Head 01 (SSBM) Peach Head 01 (SSBM) Ice Climbers Head 01 (SSBM) Captain Falcon Head 01 (SSBM) Pikachu Head 01 (SSBM) Samus Head 01 (SSBM) Dr. Mario Head 01 (SSBM) Yoshi Head 01 (SSBM) Luigi Head 01 (SSBM) Ganondorf Head 01 (SSBM) Mario Head 01 (SSBM) Young Link Head 01 (SSBM) Donkey Kong Head 01 (SSBM) Link Head 01 (SSBM) Mr. Game & Watch Head 01 (SSBM) Roy Head 01 (SSBM) Mewtwo Head 01 (SSBM) Zelda Head 01 (SSBM) Ness Head 01 (SSBM) Pichu Head 01 (SSBM) Bowser Head 01 (SSBM) Kirby Head 01 (SSBM) Avg.
Peach -1 ±0 -1 -1 -1 Mirror match +2 -1 +1 ±0 +1 +3 +1 ±0 +1 +1 +1 +1 +2 +3 +2 +1 +2 +3 +2 +1 +1

Strategies[]

Recovery[]

Peach's recovery is very versatile due to the fact that she can manipulate her movement in many ways. When normally hit off-stage, she will still have a double jump, a third jump or air dodge, and her float. The player will want to either go over the opponent (usually with a double jump and float) or sweet spot the ledge with her Up B - this method being vulnerable to edgehogs. The Peach Parasol has amazing range, and its disjointed hitbox can easily edgehog many opponents, unlike Marth, who will usually not do damage with a sweetspotted Up B. If the player does not use the Up B, they can air dodge and if so, they can use this aerial evasion to cancel your second jump. If the player does use the Up B, they are still not out of options because the player can open and close the parasol to drastically alter falling speed in order to avoid being hit.

Wall Bombing[]

To initiate the Wall Bombing, the player must start it immediately after they recover from the previous Peach Bomber. Using this tactic is very risky in tournament play and should be only used as a last resort. Though it is possible to perform on any stage with a thick base, the player will usually only see this technique employed on Final Destination. The follow-up Wall Bomb is more difficult than it may readily appear. The player can't be too close to the stage to initiate the Wall Bomb and the Peach Bomber must be Smashed each time or they will simply be unable to reach the stage.

Peach is one of the few characters that can do any sort of lengthy stalling; the player can stall with her float, her Up B, her Neutral B, or by using her Side B (Peach Bomber) to hit the wall of the stage. With the Peach Bomber, the player can actually move up a wall or stall indefinitely; this tactic (Wall Bombing to stall) is banned in tournament play.

Advanced Techniques[]

  • Chainthrowing - Peach, like most characters in the game, can chainthrow fastfallers. She can do it by Up-Throwing them between 23-30% and 80-90% and then re-grabbing them. (Note: The lower percents apply to Fox/Falco, while Chainthrowing Captain Falcon requires him to be closer to 30%) Beyond 80% for Fox and Captain Falcon, and closer to 90% for Falco. The opponent can DI, wiggle, and/or Shine out of the chain.
  • Downthrow into ... - If an opponent DI's upward, expecting a Forward Throw, the player can chain grab them with their Down Throw, they can even chain more floaty characters with it. Peach also has many more options out of her Down Throw, she can F-Tilt them, Dash Attack them regardless of DI, Neutral Air them, or even Up Smash them. Characters with little stun can DI, wiggle, and Neutral Air out of this, though, but usually, the player can just trade hits with them, with attack of their own. It is however, dangerous to Down Throw characters like Luigi, who have very strong, high priority Neutral Airs.
  • If the player Dash Attacks a fast-falling character at around 40-60%, they can follow his or her DI—if there is any—with a grab, which can be followed up into a chaingrab.
  • When an opponent is grabbed by another character, the player can make his or her victim suffer the torturous damage of an entire Down Smash by spacing it so that every single hit of the Down Smash hits the victim but not the person grabbing him or her.
  • Peach's double jump allows her to Double Jump Cancel, sacrificing her second jump but immediately moving toward the ground by first jumping (or at least being airborne), starting an aerial and immediately jumping again. This subsequently allows her to:
    • Double Jump Land - Because Peach's double jump makes her dip downward slightly before moving upward, she can DJC and DJL along with Yoshi. To DJL, hit jump and then, during the 4 or 5 start-up frames (depending upon whether it was a Short Hop or a full jump), hit jump again. Peach will do a little jerk as if jumping; the sound effect of her double jump will play and she will immediately go into her landing animation. By doing this repeatedly, Peach will do a series of funny rapid jerks, thus allowing the player to mindgame the opponent.
    • When people are recovering from a small distance away slightly below the edge, the player can, while hanging onto the ledge, hit Back to drop and perform a falling Back Air. Once it is over, double jump immediately into an Up B to grab the ledge again. Anyone hit by the Back Air will be unable to recover—unless, of course, the opponent is Samus, Jigglypuff, or Link/Young Link on a stage with a low surface into which they can Hookshot.

Vidjo-dropping and Vidjo-canceling[]

It had been known for years that Peach could drop a turnip while floating, maintain her float, throw a turnip as soon as a floated aerial ended, and stop floating, but it was not until late 2005 that American Peach Vidjogamer discovered how this was done. For this, Australian Peach Quetzalcoatl named it the Vidjo-cancel, and relayed the information to, among others, Swedish Peach Yuna, who coined the term "Vidjo-drop" and explored the use of both.

In order to understand the Vidjo-drop and the Vidjo-cancel, one must have an understanding of Interruptable As Soon As Frames. While floating, perform an aerial and then hit either Z during the IASA frames of said aerial to do a Vidjo-drop or A (direction options) for a Vidjo-cancel.

Vidjo-dropping will allow the user to do things such as Down Airing into a Kamikaze Vidjo-drop bomb-drop or turnip-drop into another aerial. Likewise, performing a Vidjo-cancel will allow the user to do things such as Neutral-Airing into a turnip throw or Down-Airing into a turnip throw. The latter is especially useful if the vegetable in question is a grandfather/stitchface turnip. The player can also Down Air while barely hitting the opponent, perform a Vidjo-drop bomb-drop and immediately airdodge to avoid the ensuing explosion, though this technique is easily countered by airdodging by people who often airdodge after a Down Air from Peach in the hopes that she mistimes the follow-up or that they can simply shield it if they are on the ground.

The Vidjo-drop and Vidjo-cancel do have their limitations, however. Because of the nonexistent amount of stun in Peach's attacks, a Down Air into a Vidjo-cancel or even a Vidjo-drop can be shielded as long as the person hit by the Down Air is not launched off the ground by it—which, unfortunately, requires high percentages. Vidjo-dropping will also allow characters with little stun (all of the floaty characters) to Neutral Air out of stun or just airdodge.

Trophy descriptions[]

In addition to the normal trophy about Peach as a character, there are two trophies about her as a fighter, unlocked by completing the Adventure and All-Star modes respectively with Peach on any difficulty.

Peach
Princess Peach presides over the Mushroom Kingdom from her huge castle. Her loyal subject Toad does his best to protect her but always seems to fail spectacularly. Besides her royal duties, Peach is interested in both tennis and golf; since she's so magnanimous, she'll even deign to play a few matches with the evil Bowser.
  • Super Mario Bros. [10/85]
Peach (Smash Red)
Peach's ability to float is invaluable in Super Smash Bros. Melee, as she can return from incredible distances. Balancing this talent, though, is the fact that she's quite light and can be sent flying with a single powerful attack. Her attacks are fairly weak, so you'll have to hang around to win.
Peach (Smash Blue)
Peach's Smash A attack will set her swinging with either a frying pan, tennis racket, or golf club. These bludgeoning devices appear randomly and have different reaches and power levels. The princess uses Toad to absorb attacks, and he counters by sending spores out at attackers. Don't worry about the little guy, though; he takes his job seriously.

Alternate Costumes[]

PeachColorsMelee

Peach's alternate costumes in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Trivia[]

  • When Peach uses Peach Parasol at the end of the match, she will be rewarded with the Parasol Finish bonus. In addition, if she uses it with the Parasol item, her up special animation will remain the same, but with the Parasol in her hands instead.
  • Peach, Marth, and Roy are the only characters in Melee with a special move that can counter. She is also the only non-Fire Emblem character with a counter-like move.
    • Out of these three counterattack moves, Peach's is the only one that is not a down special move.
  • Peach is only character that can reuse her up special move, with a simple tilt up and down.

External links[]

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