- 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 6th 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 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 does not fall into any specific archetype of fighting game character; her attributes are quite varied, with below average weight, a low falling speed, and among the slowest dashes in the game, alongside a high air speed. These attributes form the crux of Peach's combat: a focus on aerial combat, while forgoing most of her ground-based options.
Arguably Peach's primary strength is her dominant air game. Despite a poor SHFFL due to a low falling speed and high jumping speed, Peach's unique ability to float gives her an enormous advantage in the air over other characters; in addition to allowing her to easily and effectively pursue characters she has knocked into the air, her midair jump's unusual properties allow her to utilize the Double Jump Cancel, a technique that allows for her to quickly perform aerials in rapid succession. Outside of this, Peach's fast neutral and back aerials make them potent out-of-shield options. As a further benefit from her excellent aerial game, Peach's vegetables can become a powerful approaching technique compounded with her DJC.
As a result of her powerful aerial game, Peach owns among the most powerful, albeit specialized, approaches in the game. Against primarily ground-based opponents with poor aerial games, such as the Ice Climbers or Luigi, Peach can quickly overwhelm such opponents. Her vegetables can also allow her to easily camp against other characters, and due to their propensity to "bounce" upon striking other characters, they can be compounded with her DJC to combo either by themselves or with her aerials.
Regardless of her average grab range, Peach also owns a powerful throwing game. Her up throw can potentially chain throw characters with high falling speed, as well as lead into her other throws. Peach's down throw can also lead to a variety of options for herself, including another throw, a tilt, or a DJCed aerial. In addition, her forward throw and back throw can both be used as KO moves, with the former having the highest knockback for a forward throw in the game and the latter allowing her to easily segue into her powerful edge-guard game.
As a final, powerful benefit for Peach, she also boasts arguably one of the best recoveries in the game. With a high air speed, low falling speed, the ability to float, a long midair jump, the ability to recover with her side special and a long recovery special, Peach is extremely difficult to KO off the edges, even with her below-average weight. Her fast neutral, up, and back aerials can also act as deterrents to edge-guarders, while her vegetables, if they are in hand during her recovery, can further aggravate such pursuers. Despite this powerful recovery, however, Peach's low falling speed and below average weight can also allow her to be easily KOed via the upper blast line, and vertical finishers can more easily KO Peach than other top tiered characters. Additionally, excessive overuse of Peach Bomber to recover can be seen as stalling, which be considered a grounds for disqualification in tournaments.
Barring her grab and throw game, however, Peach suffers on the ground. Peach's side and down tilt attacks are slow, though good reads by players can potentially allow for her to use them as combo starters. Peach's smashes also suffer from similar problems, though her down smash can inflict significant damage to opponents and shields, while her up smash can potentially act as a potent KO move. A slow dashing speed (tied for the second lowest in the game) also prevents her from easily pursuing opponents on foot, and her various attributes give her the shortest wavedash in the game, preventing her from taking advantage of wavesmashing. Arguably Peach's best attack on the ground takes form of her dash attack; the attack can act as a useful combo starter, but barring this, the use of Peach's ground game for approaching should be avoided by players, and instead, they should be used to either continue combos or to finish them.
Moveset
Image | Name | Damage | Description | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Neutral attack | 3% | Performs a quick two-slap combo. | |||
2% | |||||
Forward tilt | 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 | 12% | Strikes overhead enemies with a headbutt. Peach's head is intangible while the hitboxes are out. | |||
Down tilt | 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 | 12%/9% (clean), 8%/7% (late) | Peach lunges forward with both arms outstretched, launching enemies up into the air. | |||
Forward smash | 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 gold club having the most range, the tennis racket launching the farthest, and the frying pan dealing the most damage. | |||
Up smash | 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 | 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 | 14% (clean), 9% (late body), 10% (late arms) | Peach twirls in the air to perform a single slap. | |||
Forward aerial | 15% | Peach takes her crown off her head and swings it forward for huge knockback. | |||
Back aerial | 14% (clean), 10% (late) | Peach bumps her rear backwards for good knockback. | |||
Up aerial | 11% (body), 12% (leg), 14% (foot) | Peach delivers a quick kick at an upwards angle. | |||
Down aerial | 3% (hits 1-4) | Peach rapidly kicks downward four times. A good combo starter with each hit pulling the opponent towards Peach. | |||
Grab | — | ||||
Pummel | 3% | Peach attacks her victim with her left foot. | |||
Forward throw | 2% (hit 1), 8% (throw) | Peach slaps the foe away with very good knockback. Strongest forward throw in the game. | |||
Back throw | 2% (hit 1), 9% (throw) | Peach places the opponent behind her and hits them with her rear. | |||
Up throw | 2% (hit 1), 6% (throw) | Peach puts the opponent above her, and volleys them upward. | |||
Down throw | 0% (hit 1), 7% (throw) | Peach places the enemy to the ground before sitting on them. | |||
Floor attack (front) | 6% (front hit), 8%/6% (back hit legs/body) | Peach performs a sweep kick while getting up. | |||
Floor attack (back) | 6% | Peach performs a sweep kick while getting up. | |||
Edge attack (fast) | 6% | Peach launches herself onto the stage, rearfirst. | |||
Edge attack (slow) | 10% (feet), 8% (body) | Peach slowly climbs up and does a low sweep kick attack. | |||
Neutral special | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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. |
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.
Crowd cheer
English | Japanese | |
---|---|---|
Cheer | ||
Description | Go-Peach! | Pea-chy! |
Voices | Male voices | Male voices |
Victory poses
Template:Victory/SSBM
Matchups
Avg. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.
In 1P-Mode
Classic Mode
In Classic Mode, Peach can appear as an ordinary opponent, as an opponent in team battle alongside Mario, Bowser, Zelda, or Ness, as a metal opponent, or as an ally in a team and giant battle. Peach is fought on Battlefield when on a team with Bowser or in the metal battle, and on Temple when on a team with Zelda. In other cases, she is fought on either Princess Peach's Castle or Mushroom Kingdom II.
Adventure Mode
Peach appears in the second portion of Stage 1 along with Mario or Luigi on Princess Peach's Castle.
All-Star Mode
Peach and her allies are fought on Princess Peach's Castle.
Event Matches
Peach appears in the following event matches:
- Event 10: All-Star Match 1: Peach is the fourth of five opponents the player must fight in this series of staged battles. The player's character battles her on the Princess Peach's Castle stage, and their character has 2 stock while Peach has 1. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat her and the other four characters one-by-one with the overall time and life the player has: Mario, Donkey Kong, Bowser, and Yoshi.
- Event 15: Girl Power: Peach is one of the opponents fought along with Samus, and Zelda. The player's character is tiny and must KO all opponents in a two-stock battle.
- Event 19: Peach's Peril: As Mario, the player must protect Peach from being KO'd by Bowser for 1 minute. If Mario or Peach gets KO'd, the event results in a failure.
- Event 25: Gargantuans: A tiny Peach makes a cameo appearance in this event. She is not required to be KO'd to complete the event, though she can be KO'd without penalty.
- Event 35: Time for a Checkup: As Luigi, the player must KO Dr. Mario and Peach in a 1 stock battle. Peach wears her white alternate costume in this event to emulate the white garb traditionally worn by nurses.
- Event 38: Super Mario Bros. 2: The player must KO Mario, Luigi, and Peach in a 2-stock battle. Both the characters and the stage are a direct throwback to the original Super Mario Bros. 2, an NES sequel to Super Mario Bros.
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.
- B: Toad
- Smash B: Peach Bomber
- 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.
- Up & B: Peach Parasol
- Down & B: Vegetable
Alternate Costumes
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 B move, with a simple tilt up and down.
External links
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