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Hey kids and kiddos, it’s Smash time, and that means it’s Dr. Mel time, and that means I’m gonna write some stuff for this website. I used to do this more frequently, but I’m a busy boy!
Anyway, we got to see five new additions to the roster and have yet to get any play time with the characters outside of the footage shown in the Direct and from the official website’s mini trailers for each character. However, we can still deduce the character’s movesets based on the general language of the game.
So without further ado, I’ll outline the observable moves, surmise their properties and abilities, and maybe do some other speculation along the way. This could all quickly become outdated info, so that’s why I decided to put it out post-haste!
Simon Belmont
Simon Belmont looks like he’ll be a slow power character with some keep-away options, very much like Link. His long whip could function a lot like Link’s Hookshot (Z-air usage) for holding opponents at bay, and his many projectiles also mirror Link’s arsenal, but he’s also not a big character like Bowser or DK. Expect a slow defensive playstyle to grow out of this character.
His objective will likely be to whittle opponents down with well placed defensive projectiles, then finish them off with strong whip attacks.
Neutral A: Quick horizontal whip swipe, similar reach, less damage/knock back, and quicker than his Forward Smash, but a very similar move to it. After the swipe, it’s likely this transitions into the whip dangle move we see him doing several times that works similarly to Sheik’s old Side B electric whip in Melee but with much shorter reach (and without taking up a B move slot).
Dash Attack: A multi-hit shoulder charge that sends opponents upward and in front of Simon.
Forward Tilt: ???
Down Tilt: A ground slide that optionally transitions into a leaping kick, this move can carry Simon off of solid ground and still allow him to perform the ending kick.
Up Tilt: A fast, short-ranged swipe upwards with the whip.
Forward Smash: A medium-slow speed straight whip attack that does significantly more damage at the tip of the whip. Exact nature of knockback and damage when hitting with the center of hilt of the whip isn’t quite known yet.
Down Smash: ???
Up Smash: Straight whip upwards, slower and without an apparent curve to the swipe as seen in the Up Tilt.
Aerial Neutral A (nair): Spins the whip around himself in a tight circle that does not appear to cover his whole body, however, his body may become a giant hitbox the same way Ryu’s nair operates.
Forward Air (fair): This one’s potentially very unique to Smash Ultimate. From what I can make out, it’s either a homing melee attack that will angle itself slightly toward your nearest opponent or a tiltable fair which would be the first of its kind in Smash. It appears to be angled slightly up and then down at different points in the videos, but it’s not clear how this is being done.
Back Air (bair): Apparently the same speed, reach and other properties of his forward air but with a different animation.
Up Air (uair): Again, a simple whip animation but upwards. Not certain if this is also a homing or tiltable attack since he only does it once throughout all of the footage we have so far. And to reiterate, all of these attacks and most of Simon’s attacks with the whip, it would seem, have a sweet spot at the tip of the whip.
Down Air (dair): A “stall-then-fall” attack where Simon stalls in the air slightly then falls downward with his attack animation, which makes this lethal for him if done off stage. If he connects with an enemy, he’ll bounce upward slowly as the enemy flies forward in a helpless tumble animation, leaving them open for a follow up attack. It does not appear to spike.
Neutral B/Down B/Side B: Axe toss, holy water, cross throw. I can’t quite be sure which B command produces which action, but we can see what each action does.
- The Axe is a slow arcing multihit, that hits at least two times for moderate damage and knockback. A good spacing move, not a kill move.
- The holy water creates a small explosion in front of Simon that causes a multi-hit hitbox to spawn, trapping opponents (proper DI may allow them to escape) and leaving them open to a follow-up attack much like Robin’s Arc Fire move in Smash 4. Unlike Robin’s move, however, this one does not launch opponents after it finishes the animation. In this way, it’s more similar to Ness’s PK Fire attack.
- The cross is a slow boomerang that sends opponents upward and away from Simon, likely not a strong move either but another solid spacing tool.
Up B: Either a quick, lengthy tether grab or the fast multi-hit uppercut we see him doing a few times. If it’s not the tether grab, then this may in fact be a property of his aerial moves, which would be the first such example of normal aerial attacks working like a tether recovery for ledges.
Throw: ???
Pummel: It’s not easy to tell, but Simon’s pummel is likely slow (compared to Samus’ super fast pummel), and consists of a knee-to-the chest animation.
Up Throw: ???
Down Throw: The only throw shown off so far, but it demonstrates that Simon does NOT have a tether grab. He tosses opponents downward, and they bounce up in front of him for follow-ups.
Back Throw: ???
Richter Belmont
Richter is part of a new wave of clones in Smash that began silently in Smash 4 with characters like Lucina and Dark Pit and have now been named “Echo Fighters”. These characters are similar to what players had been calling “clones” since Melee introduced clones, but also kinda not the same. Echoes are deliberately similar characters that share practically all of the same moves and animations but with different properties, timings, and visual effects on their moves. At high-end play, this can make a difference, but for most players, it’s essentially one step up from being an alternate costume.
Echoes are also different from clones, generally, because clones aren’t necessarily related to one another in-game. Ganondorf and Captain Falcon are clones, for instance. Some Echoes are very similar to their base character, and Richter is one of those. Like Lucina, it does not appear that any of Richter’s moves differ greatly in a visual way that’s easily seen from trailer footage, so I won’t be filling out his section. In fact, about half of the moves I filled in for Simon were taken from video of Richter.
Chrom
Chrom is another Echo but also a unique one. His moveset is not copied directly from any one character, instead it appears to be copied partially between Ike’s and Roy. (Roy himself being a clone of Marth) but most of the moves are borrowed from Roy as seen in Smash 4.
One of the primary differences between most of the Fire Emblem characters is how you’re meant to use their swords. Marth’s sword is strongest at its tip, Roy’s is stronger at the hilt, and Lucina’s is evenly powerful across the whole blade. Given Chrom and Lucina’s close ties in-game, and in place of any firm evidence seen in the footage, I’m betting Chrom is similar to Lucina in that his sword will not have a sweet spot. In which case, he’ll combine the abilities of Roy and Ike’s power and speed into a character that’s very well rounded but leans toward the heavier hitting side of things. Favors up close combat and neither particularly technical nor overly slow — right in the middle.
Neutral A: Like Roy’s in Smash 4, it’s a close-range backhanded upward slice of his sword.
Dash Attack: ???
Forward Tilt: Like Roy’s, a backhanded downward slice of the sword, and a slightly longer range coverage than his Neutral A.
Down Tilt: ???
Up Tilt: ???
Forward Smash: ???
Down Smash: ???
Up Smash: A stab upward with a multi-hit hitbox, like Roy’s but without the fire effect. Sends opponents directly upward.
Aerial Neutral A (nair): Like most other Fire Emblem characters, this is a double slice first in front then in back of him in two semi circles. Very quick move.
Forward Air (fair): Like Roy’s, a downward sword swipe in front of Chrom.
Back Air (bair): ???
Up Air (uair): ???
Down Air (dair): ???
Neutral B: Like Roy’s Neutral B, a standing charge-up move that unleashes a stronger blow the longer you hold the charge. It’s not clear yet if you can hold it indefinitely like Roy (taking damage at a certain point), but you can change the direction you face while charging (Roy can do this as well, I believe).
Side B: The new Dancing Blade move that most Fire Emblem characters have gotten is also given to Chrom, which appears to be a much faster and possibly easier to execute version of Dancing Blade that they’ve had since Melee: a five-hit combo that can be altered at any point in the chain between a neutral, upward or a downward hit with differing animations for each.
Down B: A counter, like the other Fire Emblem characters. It’s shown only very briefly, so I can’t tell if it has any unique properties… it probably doesn’t…
Up B: Similar to Ike’s Aether attack but executed more quickly than seen in Smash 4 or Brawl (Ike’s own version of the move may have also been sped up). Importantly, Chrom does not throw his sword upward at the start of the move, which could have important implications during edge guard scenarios both for and against Chrom.
Throw: ???
Pummel: ???
Down Throw: Like other Fire Emblem characters’ down throws, Chrom grabs then tosses opponents downward, so they bounce back up at a shallow angle.
Up Throw: ???
Back Throw: ???
Dark Samus
Dark Samus is not one of those unique Echo fighters like Chrom, she’s much more in the vein of Lucina or Dark Pit. As such, I won’t be listing off all of her moves here.
However, there is one major observed difference: Dark Samus appears to have a traditional dodge roll instead of the morph ball roll that Samus has been stuck with throughout the Smash series. If this is accurate, this could put Dark Samus out ahead of Samus because that slow roll of Samus’ has long been a weakness of a character who already has sluggish movement options.
King K. Rool
King K. Rool will be one to watch, for sure. There are some very unique moves given to him for a heavy character, most of which involve his projectiles and could be the key to him being a real powerhouse down the line. But overall, he does seem to take a lot from the playbook of King Dedede with a little bit of Bowser mixed in for good measure (he can suck in players, has slow heavy-hitting projectiles, a generous recovery, sluggish powerful attacks, but, like Bowser, is also quite fast).
Neutral A: ???
Dash Attack: K. Rool’s dash attack is a belly flop somewhat like King Dedede’s but a bit faster and, importantly, with super armor (meaning he can’t be knocked out of the attack by another attack or projectile, however, he will still take damage).
Forward Tilt: ???
Down Tilt: ???
Up Tilt: ???
Forward Smash: K. Rool winds back and punches ahead of him with a large boxing glove on his left fist. Medium speed, likely high knockback.
Down Smash: ???
Up Smash: Possibly a single stomp in front of K Rool that is capable of grounding (burying) multiple opponents. Does not hit in back of him, so not effective as a clear-out move like many Down Smashes are.
Aerial Neutral A (nair): ???
Forward Air (fair): A medium-slow double-foot kick similar to Bowser’s bair in Smash 4 but in front of K Rool and appears to do a similarly large amount of damage and knockback.
Back Air (bair): ???
Up Air (uair): ???
Down Air (dair): ???
Neutral B: Fires a blunderbuss of sorts that shoots a single large cannonball. It’s then possible to have the gun begin sucking in air, but it’s not clear if the cannonball will always return to the gun in this manner or not. If a character gets in the way of the gun while it sucks in air, the character will be sucked in and fired out at an upward angle dealing a large amount of damage and knockback to any other players in the way. It may be possible for other items and character projectiles to be sucked in and fired back in this manner.
Down B: K. Rool strikes a wide stance and his gold-plated stomach glows green while the counter is active (possibly only in front of him). The power of the counter (whether its 1:1 or multiplicative) is not yet known.
Side B: K. Rool tosses his crown ahead of him which then slowly boomerangs back, knocking opponents up and away and then potentially up and toward K. Rool if they’re hit by the return blow.
It also appears that once the crown is thrown, it can be picked up (probably in mid air) and used as an item to be thrown by any player and that it needs to come back to K. Rool before he can use the move again in a similar way to how Diddy Kong can only have a single banana out at a time or ROB can only have one top out. The crown likely despawns and appears back on his head if left alone long enough. It’s not clear yet if K. Rool can disrupt the crown himself, allowing him to throw it as an item in any direction, but if so, that would greatly improve the utility of this move and potentially make him have the best projectile of all the heavies.
Up B: K. Rool uses a tiny helicopter backpack to slowly ascend with likely a good degree of horizontal movement. This recovery does not appear to be an attack of any sort.
Throw: ???
Pummel: ???
Down Throw: ???
Up Throw: K. Rool grabs the opponent and jumps high into the air (like Kirby’s, Meta Knight’s, and Charizard’s Up Throws), and then lands with a vicious back breaker animation that sends the opponent upward but possibly not very far. Might not be a killing throw.
Back Throw: ???
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So that’s it! Thanks for reading and happy waiting.
