Simon (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate)

This article is about Simon's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For other uses, see Simon Belmont.

“	The protagonist of Castlevania. He uses his holy whip, Vampire Killer, to perform a smash attack with long reach. He also uses projectiles like an Axe, Holy Water, and Cross.	”
—Description from the Super Smash Blog.

Simon
Universe	Castlevania
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Grand Cross
Tier	D- (74)
Character Statistics
Number of Jumps	2
Can Crawl	Yes
Has a Tether	Yes
Character Stats
Weight	Heavyweight
Voice Actors
Voiced by (English)	Keith Silverstein
Voiced by (Japanese)	Hideo Ishikawa

Simon is a newcomer fighter from the Castlevania universe in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was confirmed during the August 8th, 2018 Smash Direct.

Simon's main gimmick is his whip, which has a sweetspot in the form of a tipper and lets him damage and kill from a safe zone. As such, he plays best when at medium-long range and suffers from fighting in close combat. He also doesn't have many viable escape options for close combat, which makes him easy to pressure.

When unlocked, he is fought at Dracula's Castle.

Attributes

To be added.

Strengths

• Simon's whip gives him tremendous reach for many of his moves, allowing him to attack opponents from a greater distance. It can also be used for tether recovery.
• Possesses a sweet spot at the tip of the chain where the spiked ball is.
• Axe is good for hitting opponents who are above him.
• Holy Water creates a flame that burns for a few seconds, similar to Ness' PK Fire.
• Cross returns to Simon after he throws it, like a boomerang.
• Capable of crawling.

Weaknesses

• Simon's long-ranged attacks have noticeable startup lag and can leave him open to attack.
• Alongside Snake and Richter, he has the worst air acceleration in the game.
• Horrible recovery that is easy to Gimp.
• Terrible mobility overall.
• Poor frame data.
• Holy Water can be picked up by enemies and be thrown back at Simon, which will damage him.
• Down Aerial thrusts diagonally down, which can SD easily due to Simon's lack of recovery.
• Heavy Weight makes him extremely easy to combo.

Summary

To be added.

Moveset

• Some of Simon's attacks have unique sound effects taken from his original series. His whip uses the lashing and striking sounds from some of the old Castlevania games, while his uppercut attack uses the sound effect from Symphony of the Night.

Ground Attacks

Normal

• Neutral Attack: Two strikes with the whip coiled followed by a flurry of whip strikes and an upward finisher. Simon holds the whip lengthwise with both hands. Deals 2% in two first strikes, 1.5% (spiked ball) and 1% (chain) in a whip strike flurry, 0.5% (loop) and 2.5% (end) damage in a finisher.
  • If the button is held, Simon will perform the whip twirl from Super Castlevania IV. It is freely controllable and is able to destroy weak projectiles, such as Metal Blade and Missile. Functions similarly to Sheik's old Chain. Deals 1% damage when hit.
• Forward Tilt: A swing with very long range but notable startup lag. Based on the iconic whip strike introduced in the first Castlevania. Deals 12% on spiked ball, 10% on chain.
• Up Tilt: A quick swing that covers his head. Deals 10% on whip, 2% when close.
• Down Tilt: A combination of Slide and Jumping Slide (if the button is pressed again). Taken from Richter in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Deals 5% damage, 7% or 3.5% (late) on jumping slide.
• Dash Attack: Simon charges forward, spinning his whip around him. This is a move borrowed from Richter in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Deals 1.7 in hits 1-5 and 3.5% in end, dealing over 12% damage when all hits connect.

Smash Attacks

• Forward Smash: A whip crack. Outranges Corrin's forward smash, making it the longest uncharged forward smash in the entire game. Deals 18% on spiked ball, 16% on chain, 14% on chain when close.
• Up Smash: A vertical whip attack, boasting impressive vertical range but poor horizontal hitboxes. Deals 16% on spiked ball, 14% on chain.
• Down Smash: Simon spins his whip around his body, with great range on both sides. Deals 16% on spiked ball, 14% on chain, 12% on chain when close.

Other attacks

• Floor Attack (Front): Simon kicks behind, then in front of himself. Deals 7% damage.
• Floor Attack (Back): Same as his floor attack (front). Deals 7% damage.
• Floor Attack (Trip): Same as his floor attacks (front/back). Deals 5% damage.
• Ledge Attack: Simon kicks forward while getting up. Deals 9% damage.

Aerial Attacks

• Neutral aerial: A whip twirl around Simon's body, dealing multiple hits. Deals 1% in hits 1-6, 4% on end.
• Forward aerial: Forward whip swing. This can be angled slightly upward and downward at roughly a 20 degree angle. It also acts as a tether recovery. Based on the directional whip mechanics from Super Castlevania IV. Deals 12% on spiked ball, 10% on chain, 2% on body.
• Back aerial: Backward whip swing similar to his forward aerial. Can also be angled slightly upward and downward at roughly a 20 degree angle. Deals 12% on spiked ball, 10% on chain, 2% on body.
• Up aerial: Upward whip swing. It has impressive vertical range but poor horizontal hitboxes. It can be used as a tether recovery. Deals 12% on spiked ball, 10% on chain, 2% on body.
• Down aerial: A divekick, similar to the ones performed by most protagonists upon obtaining the ability to double jump. Simon and Richter both obtained this ability in Harmony of Despair. It appears to Meteor Smash in its earlier frames. Deals 12% when hit, 7% if late.

Grabs and Throws

• Pummel: Hits the opponent with his knee. Deals 1.2% damage.
• Forward Throw: Spins the opponent around once and throws them forward. Deals 7% damage.
• Back Throw: Flings the opponent behind him. Deals 7% damage.
• Up Throw: Knocks the opponent into the air with his whip. Deals 6% on the first hit, 4% on the second hit.
• Down Throw: Slams the opponent on the ground. Deals 10% damage. Deals 8% damage.

Special Moves

Simon's Special Moves
	Ultimate
Standard Special	Axe
Side Special	Cross
Up Special	Uppercut
Down Special	Holy Water
Final Smash	Grand Cross

Taunts

• Up Taunt: Holds the Vampire Killer in the air, coiled up.
• Down Taunt: Cracks the Vampire Killer on the ground next to him, saying "Come!"
• Side Taunt: Holds the Vampire Killer lengthwise and spins it around himself twice.

On-Screen Appearance

• Appears on-screen surrounded by light.

Idle Poses

• Stands upright with his right hand on his hip.
• Thrusts his hand downwards.

Victory Poses

• Holds his coiled Vampire Killer in the air and unleashes it as he spins once.
• Whips the ground around him twice before holding the Vampire Killer taut.
• Jumps up to grab a Magic Crystal and then whips forward. Simon will then continuously whip with his Vampire Killer and jump as the camera cuts to a side view, referencing a phenomenon when the A and B buttons are held after collecting an orb in the original Castlevania.

In competitive play

When the game released in December 2018, Simon and Richter attracted interest due to their unique attributes, including extremely long reach, an array of powerful projectiles, and ledge trapping potential; many players initially viewed the Belmonts as a high tier, or potentially a top tier character because of their spacing and zoning ability allowing them to play an effective defensive game. Simon and Richter were also notable counterpicks against certain characters, such as Olimar, that struggled with their range and keep away game. During the early stages of the metagame, the Belmonts were relatively popular characters, with Riddles being their highest level representative. However, their weaknesses were soon discovered to be perhaps too significant to play around, most notably a notoriously poor recovery due to short-distance recovery moves with mediocre protection that left them severely vulnerable to gimping, but they also suffered from significant KOing inconsistency, mediocre frame data, vast difficulty in hitting agile small characters with their attacks predominantly having thin hitboxes, and very poor all-around mobility. Thus, most of their playerbase, including Riddles, eventually dropped them for other characters and their results fell off as a result. Because of this, the consensus about the Belmonts shifted, with most players viewing them as mid tier or low tier characters.

During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, the Belmont playerbase experienced a small resurgence, with players such as T3 DOM, Noxumbra and TRIGGER rising to prominence with decent results both online and offline. The Belmonts have also received buffs in update 9.0.0, ultimately leaving the Belmonts' definitive tier placement questionable at this time.

Classic Mode: Smash-vania

Simon fights monstrous characters that reference the beasts he battles in the Castlevania series.

Role in World of Light

Simon was among the fighters that were summoned to fight against the army of Master Hands.

During the opening cutscene, Simon was present on the cliffside when Galeem unleashed his beams of light. He was vaporized offscreen and placed under Galeem's imprisonment along with the other fighters, excluding Kirby. A puppet fighter cloned from him is later seen with ones cloned from Villager, Captain Falcon and other fighters.

In the mode proper, he is a mandatory unlock found in the middle of the Temple of Light, that needs to be beaten to activate a teleporter which leads to the second portion of the sub-area.

He is later seen alongside several other fighters, as they make their final stand against Galeem and Dharkon..

Palette Swaps

Gallery

Simon's splash screen. Simon Lashes Out!

Simon in his blue alt with Richter.

Simon holding Holy Water with Young Link on Mario Circuit.

Simon along with Kirby in Dracula's Castle.

Artwork of Simon and Richter counting down to the release date of Ultimate released on the Japanese Konami Twitter

Videos

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Vampire Killer - Nintendo Switch

66 Simon – Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Trivia

• Simon's design is based on his appearance from the older Castlevania games, most noticeably on the X68000 release of Castlevania Chronicles with some elements from Super Castlevania IV, such as his shoulder pad and the spiked bracelet he wears on his upper arm.
  • His "Vampire Killer" whip's design is based on its fully upgraded form (a chain whip with a morning star on its top) in the Castlevania games, while its cross-shaped hilt pays homage to the Combat Cross weapon in the Lords of Shadow sub-series, in which that universe's version of Simon Belmont wielded said weapon.
• Simon's idle animation, walk, and jump are all inspired from the original Castlevania, though his backwards jump and roll are taken from Richter's backflip and backdash animations respectively.
• Simon's render is based off of the boxart of the original Castlevania, now turned to face the side and with the Vampire Killer in front of him.
  • It also slightly resembles Mario's render pose in Brawl, albeit mirrored horizontally.
• Simon is the first character to be introduced in the same instalment as his clone since Melee, where Marth was added to the roster along with his clone, Roy.
  • He is also the first third party character to ever have a clone.
• The screenshot of Simon holding an axe in front of Bowser is a reference to Super Mario Bros., where the axe is often the key to defeating Bowser and his imposters in castle levels.
• In the direct, the words: "Richter originated some of these moves. So, Simon also echoes Richter!" are seen on the bottom. Sakurai also mentions that because some of Simon's moves originate from Richter, it's "hard to say who's really echoing who".
• Not counting Echo Fighters and DLC Fighters, Simon is the only newcomer to be human.
• Simon's up Smash was inspired by his multi-directional whipping ability in Super Castlevania IV as well as the limited downward whipping of Castlevania Chronicles.
• In his Classic Mode itinerary, called Smash-vania, Simon faces characters that reference the bosses of Castlevania.
• When the language is set to Japanese, Simon's name is the same, but the announcer pronounces it differently. This also applies to Richter.

External links

To be added.