Project M/Characters/Melee Veterans

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Information on the Brawl newcomers could be found here.

Bowser
""Roaaaaaaar!!!!!!!!""

Bowser is built to be the ultimate tank fighter. His fighting style is true to his Melee incarnation, but he has new features that make him a tougher opponent. His moves have armor properties that provide consistent resistance to knockback. He can also rip through shields with his massive claws.


 * Bigger Is Better: While most characters were shrunken to be smaller in proportion to the stages (as it was in Melee, as opposed to Brawl), Bowser was kept at his Brawl size, making him a lot bigger than he was in Melee.
 * Breath Weapon: His neutral-B flame-canceling technique from Melee is back.
 * Driven to Suicide: Bowser's demonstration video sees him haunted by his past failures at beating Mario and jumping to his doom...
 * Interrupted Suicide: ...until Project M promises to buff him, restoring his resolve and the color.
 * Easter Egg: His side-taunt.
 * Everything's Better with Spinning: His Down Smash and his Spinning Fortress moves. Fortress Hogging is another returning Melee technique.
 * Ground Pound: It's now jump cancelable before the apex of the leap.
 * Implacable Man: His new armor properties provide resistance knockback, though they don't work at high damage percentages.
 * Mighty Glacier: He's faster with his jump cancelable down-b for aerial combat. Other than that, he's still close to Melee-slow, but he's helped by his super armor.
 * Mighty Roar: His new taunt.
 * Won't Work On Me: His super armor protects him from being punished for his slow speed and tremendous size when approaching and attacking most of the time.
 * Turtle Power: And what a tough turtle he is.
 * Shout-Out: Although all Smash games have some form of super armor, Project M is the first to use the mechanic in a way similar to that of traditional fighters such as Street Fighter IV.

Captain Falcon
""Show me your moves!""

Captain Falcon is back with a few new recovery options. Falcon Kick restores the midair jump like it did in Melee, and Raptor Boost can be used to grab ledges, a feature implemented in Brawl.


 * Awesome but Impractical: Falcon Punch is as awesome and as impractical as usual. The Knee has an easter egg that is more awesome than useful.
 * Easter Egg: When the up-taunt button is held during a sweet-spotted Knee,.
 * Badass
 * Hitbox Dissonance: Averted; the ledgegrab box for up-B was improved to be more in line with his fist.
 * Lightning Bruiser: He's very fast when wavedashing, dash dancing, moonwalking, and just running. He also has strong moves and a great combo game.
 * Meteor Move: Down-air. Depending on the hitbox used, it could be either a meteor smash or a spike. Side-special is a meteor smash.
 * Signature Move: Falcon Punch and The Knee.
 * Super Speed: He is the second fastest runner (Sonic is first).
 * Wall Jump

Donkey Kong
""Groo! Groo!""

The king of swing re-enters the ring. He has new grabs from his cargo hold.


 * Bare-Fisted Monk
 * Call Back: The new dash attack is the roll from Donkey Kong Country.
 * Everything's Better with Monkeys: Well, technically he's an ape (since he has no tail).
 * Everything's Better with Spinning: Spinning Kong (up-special) and the new dash attack.
 * Lightning Glacier: Though he's not extremely fast, he was buffed well enough to be quite fast for a heavy and strong character.
 * Meteor Move: Forward-aerial and down-aerial are improved meteor smashes. Head Smash (side-special) is now a spike.

Falco
""Hands off my prey!""

The very well respected and equally feared bird of prey of Melee.


 * Attack Reflector: Known by the competitive community as the shine (down-B), it's used more for attacking than reflecting.
 * Beam Spam: Blaster (Neural-B) is one of his most useful tools. Lasers can be used to control the stage, disrupt the opponent, aid in combos, and deal a little damage. Simply put, the most effective way to use lasers is to use them a lot.
 * Divergent Character Evolution: Inverted; the animations for most of his moves were taken from Melee, which means they make him more like Fox.
 * However, for the sake of variety, he still has his Brawl jab combo.
 * Everything's Better with Spinning: His jab combo.
 * Fan Nickname: "Shine" for the reflector, though it might as well be considered the official name since this a fan mod. The name is used by Melee fans since the word "reflector" doesn't emphasize how it's used, and because of Rule of Cool.
 * Flash Step: Side-B: Falco Phantasm. It can meteor-smash.
 * Lightning Bruiser
 * Meteor Move: Down-air is a spike, and side-B is a meteor smash.
 * Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Jab combo.
 * Ryu and Ken: With Fox, though their fighting styles are very different; Falco has an extremely useful blaster, and specializes in vertical combat. Fox has a mildly useful blaster, and specializes in horizontal combat. Their shines in particular reflect on their playstyles; Falco's has vertical knockback, and Fox's has horizontal knockback.
 * Wall Jump

Fox
""Come on!""

The definitive fighter of Melee is back with a vengeance.


 * Attack Reflector: Down-B.
 * Fan Nickname: "Shine" for the reflector, though it might as well be considered the official name since this a fan mod. The name is used by Melee fans since the word "reflector" doesn't emphasize how it's used, and because of Rule of Cool.
 * Flash Step: Fox Illusion, his side-B.
 * Lightning Bruiser
 * Meteor Move: Down-B is a semi-spike, often used for shine spiking.
 * Down-air is a very weak spike.
 * Down-throw is a grounded variation of a meteor smash.
 * Wall Jump

Ganondorf
""Hm...""

The legendary immortal and awesome King Of Evil.


 * Badass: It's Ganondorf. What did you expect?
 * Badass Beard
 * Badass Cape
 * Badass Grandpa: Available as a Palette Swap.
 * Beard of Evil
 * Divergent Character Evolution: Although most of his Melee self, which is a clone of Captain Falcon, was replicated in this mod, Brawl side-special was retained because it works well in the Project M environment.
 * Evil Laugh: His taunt.
 * Evil Sorcerer
 * Hitbox Dissonance: Averted; like Captain Falcon's, Ganondorf's ledgegrab box on his up-B was improved to be more in line with his fist.
 * Playing with Fire: Flame Choke.
 * Lightning Bruiser: Although he could qualify as a Mighty Glacier, the secret to his success is how deceptively quick he can be with the help of advanced techniques and game mechanics (eg. L-canceling). His attacks also combo very well, allowing him to output massive damage in short intervals.
 * Mighty Glacier: Keeping the above in mind, he still has some of the slowest tech speed in the game.
 * Meteor Move: Down-air is a meteor smash, and aerial Down-B is a spike.
 * Aerial Side-B is a suicidal plummet of death.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something
 * Ryu and Ken: He's a semi-clone of Captain Falcon.
 * Supernatural Martial Arts: He fights with magic-boosted punches and kicks.
 * When All You Have Is a Flame Choke: Flame Choke (side-B) was one of the few attributes kept from Brawl Ganondorf because of how useful it is in a Melee environment. It can be used to quickly approach opponents and it can be followed up with several moves, including down-air, neutral jab, side-tilt, down-tilt, Wizard's Foot (down-B), and another Flame Choke. When short-hopped, it's useful for tech chases and the last resort "Ganoncide", the act of leaping off the stage while holding the opponent to an inescapable death for the both of them. It can also be used for horizontal recovery, much like Captain Falcon's Raptor Boost.

Jigglypuff
""Jigglypuff!""

One of the top-tier characters in Melee, Jigglypuff returns with a devastating aerial game.


 * Continuity Cameo: That hat it wears is that of Leaf, Red's (aka "Pokémon Trainer"'s) female counterpart from FireRed and LeafGreen.
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Jigglypuff's most powerful move is her falling asleep, but the move is super effective!
 * Killer Rabbit: Well, she is top-tier.
 * Magic Music: Sing.
 * Meteor Move: Down-aerial has meteor smash properties, but strangely, it only has the effect on grounded opponents; it sends airborne opponents sideways.
 * Mon
 * Nice Hat: Her alternate costumes. Leaf's hat is one of them.
 * Pint-Sized Powerhouse
 * Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: The only confirmation that it's a female: the bow on the back of her palette swaps in all games, the flower by her ear starting from Melee, and Leaf's hat in Brawl.

Link
""Scraaaaaaaaah!!!!!""

The star of The Legend of Zelda as his Twilight Princess incarnation.


 * Annoying Arrows: The Hero's Bow charges 33% quicker and has more knockback. It can be used for both central stage control and edge-guarding.
 * Badass
 * Battle Boomerang: Similar to his Smash 64 counterpart's.
 * Call Back: His new enter animation is based on the one from Smash 64.
 * Forward-tilt was given Young Link's forward-tilt's speed, making it quite dangerous.
 * Composite Character: His appearance is of the Twilight Princess Link, but he has a boomerang similar to Smash 64 Link's, a forward-tilt as fast as Melee Young Link's, and Melee Link's overall playstyle.
 * Cool Sword: The Master Sword.
 * Everything's Better with Spinning: His up-B. Is was improved as a recovery move by having more horizontal momentum in midair. Like in Melee, the grounded version has a strong initial hit and a semi-spike weak hit.
 * Fingerless Gloves
 * Jack of All Stats: He's quite a challenge to approach due to his improved ranged game and mobility. He's more about endurance and staying solid on the battlefield than all-offense.
 * Meteor Move: Down-tilt, though if it isn't timed properly, it would hit the opponent upwards, giving the opposite effect.
 * Grounded up-B's weak hit is a semi-spike.
 * Stab the Sky: His up-aerial.
 * Sword Plant: His down-aerial, which now has much less lag.
 * Wall of Weapons: Instead of relying on brute strength, Link uses his projectiles to create a maze of hitboxes for stage domination.

Luigi
Voiced by: Charles Martinet ""L-l-let's-a-go...""

The wavedashing warrior from Melee is back with several improvments.


 * Bare-Fisted Monk
 * Confusion Fu: He has slippery and fast mobility supplied by his low traction and long wavedash.
 * Divergent Character Evolution: The differences between his and Mario's movesets are very apparent in P:M.
 * He used to be the Trope Namer.
 * Fireballs: His neutral-B has increased range.
 * Glacier Waif
 * Practical Taunt: his down taunt is now a spike.
 * Russian Roulette: Green Missile's new properties are compared to this; There is a 1 in 6 chance that the next Green Missile he does is a misfire. When it's a misfire, Luigi flashes green during the charge. If Luigi is still holding the charge after the green flashes go away, the missile is normal, and the next missile is a misfire.
 * Use Your Head: His Up Smash, grab pummel, and his Side Special Green Missile.

Mario
""Let's-a-go!""

Mario has the best of Melee Mario and Doctor Mario in a single moveset.


 * Call Back: Mario Tornado has star graphics that reference the spin attack from Super Mario Galaxy.
 * As of Demo v2.1, his Down Taunt is now Doctor Mario's taunt from Melee, only with a fireball instead of a megavitamin.
 * Composite Character: He has a combination of the best of his Melee set and Doctor Mario. For example, his forward-aerial is like Doc's strong hit (at the beginning) and Mario's meteor-punch. (towards the end).
 * Fireballs: His neutral-B has a range in-between Melee Mario's fireballs and Doctor Mario's pills.
 * Jack of All Stats: He has a versatile combo game, a multi-use cape, average weight, average wavedash length, and is overall able to handle most opponents. His only real cons are his average tech speed and his lack of niche gameplay (traded for versatility).
 * Meteor Move: Forward-air has a Doctor Mario hitbox and a Melee Mario hitbox. The Melee Mario's is a Type A meteor smash.
 * Shotoclone: He's got a fireball Hadoken, and a coin gathering Shoryuken. Actually, it's like he's Ryu and Ken because he's a mix of Melee Mario and Doctor Mario.
 * Wall Jump: Now, it's essential for his recovery. Like in Melee, he can wall-jump out of an up-B, and then use up-B again.

Marth
""There's no way I can lose." (translated from Japanese)"

The sword master of Melee with the devastating Ken Combo.


 * Counter Attack: Down-B
 * Fingerless Gloves
 * Incorruptible Pure Pureness
 * Lightning Bruiser
 * Long-Range Fighter: He's great at spacing with his long range. It helps that the sweet-spots of his hitboxes are consistently near the tip of his sword. Also, his grab range is very long.
 * Meteor Move: Down-air, the finisher of the infamous Ken Combo, is a spike.
 * The downward third hit of Dancing Blade (side-B) produces a meteor smash hitbox, but it's on the middle of the sword instead of the tip.

Mr. Game & Watch
"(Beep)"

The fragile yet strong 2-D fighter.


 * Double Jump: His recovery was improved by allowing him to use midair jump, then up-B, (or vice-versa), then air-dodge to get the total height provided by those three moves in a single recovery.
 * Energy Absorption: He can absorb "energy" attacks with his Oil Panic special. The cooldown time after catching a projectile has been sped up.
 * Glass Cannon: He is very susceptible to knockback, and he has high priority and strength.
 * Hammerspace: Where he gets his "weapons" from.
 * Improbable Weapon User: He can kill with you a fish bowl, a racing flag, and a turtle.
 * Lag Cancel: Now, all of his aerials can be l-canceled.
 * Lethal Chef: Chef (neutral-B) cancels upon landing, meaning it can be used similarly to Falco's lasers.
 * Meteor Move: The first few frames of down-air have a meteor smash.
 * Wall of Weapons Random Objects

Ness
Voiced by: Makiko Ohmoto ""Okay.""

The hero of EarthBound now has a optional double-jump cancel and powerful attacks. He is primarily based on his Smash 64 incarnation.


 * Batter Up: His side-smash involves him swinging forward with his bat.
 * Double Jump: Double-jump cancel has returned, and its effect is now optional, so the player can choose to use either DJC aerials or rising aerials, thus allowing Ness to chase opponents in ways he couldn't have before.
 * Energy Absorption: His down special, PSI Magnet, causes energy attacks to heal him by the amount they should have damaged him.
 * Killer Yoyo
 * Pint-Sized Powerhouse
 * Psychic Powers
 * Squishy Wizard: Though he's not entirely fragile for one, he can be hard to use.

Peach
Voiced by Jen Taylor (Melee), Samantha Kelly (Brawl) ""Oh, did I win?""

The high-tier Melee veteran is back with upgrades.


 * Ass Kicks You: Peach Bomber (side-B) has a lot more knockback now.
 * Badass Princess
 * Counter Attack: The Toad move retains its Brawl benefits, so it has more knockback and range.
 * Double Jump: Double-jump canceling was restored, though it's virtually useless since it doesn't allow Peach to do rising aerials like Ness and Lucas, and float-canceling, a superior technique, was also restored.
 * Frying Pan of Doom
 * Heart Is an Awesome Power: Brawl up-tilt was kept because it has a large range.
 * I Know Madden Kombat: The frying pan, golf club, and tennis racket orderly cycle on side-smash, so the player is able to choose which one to use.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something

Pikachu
Voiced by: Ikue Ohtani ""Pika!""

The best of every Smash Bros. Pikachu incarnation was combined to make one ultimate Pikachu.


 * Composite Character: He contains elements of all his Smash Bros. movesets.
 * Flash Step: Quick Attack, his up-B. Quick Attack canceling from Brawl was retained.
 * Killer Electric Mouse: And how!
 * Lightning Bruiser
 * Mon
 * Pint-Sized Powerhouse
 * Ride the Lightning
 * Shock and Awe
 * Use Your Head: As his jab attack, as his down-air and as his Side-B, Skull Bash.
 * Wall Jump
 * Word of God: Pikachu is male.
 * Confirmed when gender differences came into play in his origin series; the tail of a female Pikachu has an indented tip.

Sheik
""Hmmm!""

One of Melee's top-tier threats returns for another round. Her moveset was balanced so that she doesn't automatically have unfair advantageous matchups due to her infamous Melee NTSC down-throw, yet she has a few buffs on other moves to fairly compensate. Her new down-throw is a similar yet buffed version of her Melee PAL down-throw; while it no longer guarantees chain throws, it's executed faster, and thus harder for the opponent to DI out of. Her back-throw is faster and knocks the opponent at a higher angle, so it gives new options for combos. Side-smash was improved as a combo option as well.


 * Action Girl
 * Flechette Storm: Her Neutral-B.
 * Lightning Bruiser: She is an offensive powerhouse that quickly combos with solid attacks. She can also use her speed and needles to play defensively.
 * Nerf: Her down-throw was given more knockback so that it wouldn't chain-grab as long. This doesn't hurt her metagame one bit because all that means is that she's slightly more reliant on using more moves than her down-throw.
 * Wall Jump: Her wall-cling from Brawl was kept, giving her new and dynamic edge-guarding options.
 * When All You Have Is A Needle: Her needle storm is one of the best projectiles in Melee because it can be used to disrupt opponents very quickly.

Zelda
""Hah!""

The princess of Hyrule.


 * Glass Glacier Wall: A very distinct balance: She has low weight and gravity, which protects her from combos, but that means she's also very susceptible to knockback. She has the second slowest running speed in the game and very powerful attacks. Lastly, despite her strength, she plays best defensively.
 * Lag Cancel: Air-dodge cancel on Up-B.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something
 * Teleporters and Transporters: Farore's Wind (Up-B), which can be canceled with an air-dodge if started on the ground. Therefore, she can waveland or pseudo-wavedash at any time during the duration of the move, giving her the great mobility that she would otherwise lack, and compensating for her sub-par wavedash. The air-dodge is also useful for canceling the cooldown time at her reappearance, allowing her to attack right out of it.
 * Teleport Spam: Farore's Wind is an important part of her mobility game.
 * Time Bomb: After being placed, Din's Fire is suspended in midair, timed with roughly three seconds before detonation. Zelda can put out two more fireballs, each additional resetting the timer on the previous fireballs.