[Melee] Fox Data

[Flint]

Stardog does a lot of Yu-Gi-Oh related posts so I wanted to do Super Smash Bros. related posts. I will be focusing mainly on Melee since it is the most technical out of all the Super Smash Bros. series but I will be doing more data on the other Super Smash Bros. games as well. And we will be kicking it off with my favorite Super Smash Bros Melee character and video-game character.

Fox, true to being on the top of the tier list, is an extremely efficient fighter, with fast attacks, unparalleled comboing and damaging ability, and numerous options to approach the opponent. His aerial game is almost unsurpassed when SHFFL'd, and his shine combos are extremely effective. He can KO effectively on all four sides of the screen, and his high falling speed makes him resilient to vertical KOs. Despite being top tier, Fox is not flawless. He has an extremely high learning curve, requiring fast reflexes to properly use his shine and SHFFL combos. Additionally, his high falling speed makes him very easy to chain grab, he suffers from a poor recovery due to his low air speed and high falling speed, and his light weight makes him vulnerable to KOs. Regardless, his pros outshine his cons, and Fox is notable for being one of only four characters in the series (the other three being Pikachu in Smash 64, Falco in Melee, and Meta Knight in Brawl) to have no disadvantageous matchups, with only three (Falco, Marth and Samus) being considered even.

Moveset:


Total: 17
Hit: 2-3
IASA: 16
Window of the second punch: 3-31
Second punch starts: 6 (or later)

Total: 20
Hit: 3-4
IASA: 19
Window of the kickjabs: 1-20
Kickjabs start: 6

Intermediary Animation: 6 frames
Hits: 3-4, 10-11, 17-18, 24-25, 31-32
1 full cycle: 36 frames
Neutral Attack: Jab, Straight, Rapid Kick. 2-4%
A quick jab, followed by a versatile jab that can combo into several other attacks, including up smash. Very useful against shields, to jab reset, and into shine cancels. The second Jab makes Fox move forward a bit and is followed by a flurry of rapid kicks.



Total: 26
Hit: 5-8

Total: 26
Hit: 5-8

Total: 26
Hit: 5-8
Forward Tilt: Fox Kick. 4-9% depending on angling
Sticks foot out to the side. This is best used for a quick close-ranged spacing move.



Total: 24
Hit: 5-11
IASA: 23
Up Tilt: Back Kick. 9-12%
Performs a quick and surprisingly strong vertical back kick. It covers Fox's whole body; thus, it makes Fox and his vertically-aimed foot a hitbox. Its speed, power, and hitbox make it great for close-up spacing. It can easily combo into itself, up air, and up smash. Used as part as a chain-grab against fast-fallers with it being connected to his up throw. Begins to KO at around 120% on mostly the floaty lightweights.



Total: 29
Hit: 7-9
IASA: 28
Down Tilt: Fox Tail. 10%.
Performs a sweeping tail lash. Moderately fast. Can combo at mid-percentages into aerials. It can also become a somewhat solid finisher at higher percentages.



Total: 39
Hit: 4-17
IASA: 36
Dash Attack: Jumping Side Kick. 5-7%
Runs forward and sticks a foot out. Good combo ability, especially into up smash. Very vulnerable to crouch canceling.



Total: 39
Hit: 12-22
Charge frame: 7
Forward Smash: Roundhouse Kick. 12-15% uncharged, 16-20% fully charged.
Performs a flying hook kick. Has moderately low knockback (extremely low base knockback - 10) for a smash, though it is fast, and is actually quite reliable at higher percentages (very high knockback scaling - 105), KOing usually at around 120%.



Total: 41
Hit: 7-17
Head invincible (but not snout): 1-9
Charge frame: 2
Up Smash: Flip Kick. 18% uncharged, 24% fully charged, 13-17% behind.
Performs a back flip kick. This move is very fast, and when used on the ground while facing the foe, it has very high vertical knockback. It is very reliable at mid-high damages. Shine into up smash is very useful for KOs. Often considered the best u-smash in the game due to its extreme speed, extreme power, and decent range. However, it is actually the second most powerful u-smash in the game, behind Pikachu's.



Total: 49
Hit: 6-10
Legs invincible: 6
IASA: 46
Charge frame: 2
Down Smash: Fox Split. 15% uncharged, 20% fully charged.
Does a split, hitting on both of his sides. It is fast and has moderate knockback, sending opponents on a semi-spike trajectory. Useful for edgeguarding and spacing.



Total: 49
Hit: 4-31
IASA: 42
Auto Cancel: <3-37>
Landlag: 15
L-Canceled: 7
Neutral Aerial: Flying Kick. 12% maximum.
Sticks foot out, simple sex kick. A very quick aerial. Very good against shields and great power when it first comes out.



Total: 59
Hit: 6-8, 16-18, 24-26, 33-35, 43-45
IASA: 53
Auto Cancel: <5-49>
Landlag: 22
L-Canceled: 11
Forward Aerial: Tornado Kick. 17% if all hits connect.
Kicks forward five times. Good knockback when all hits connect. Regrettably, this move is very awkward due to the short amount of forward distance, short range of the move, and bad physics of the kicks being chained together. All hits are extremely hard to connect without a good set-up, especially on lighter characters.



Total: 39
Hit: 4-19
IASA: 38
Auto Cancel: <3-24>
Landlag: 20
L-Canceled: 10
Back Aerial: Reverse Spin Kick. 9-15%.
Does a quick no-look kick backwards, with sex kick properties. Great knockback when it first comes out, and one of Fox's best edgeguarding moves.



Total: 39
Hit: 8-9, 11-14
IASA: 36
Auto Cancel: <7-26>
Landlag: 18
L-Canceled: 9
Up Aerial: McCloud Flip. 17% if both hits connect.
Whips his tail up and kicks immediately after. A very high knockback move, good vertical finisher, can combo out of up throw on virtually everyone. It and the u-smash give Fox an advantage against light, floaty characters, notably Jigglypuff and Kirby. Can be Smash DI'd out of however.



Total: 49
Hit: 5-6, 8-9, 11-12, 14-15, 17-18,
20-21, 23-24
Auto Cancel: <4-31>
Landlag: 18
L-Canceled: 9
Down Aerial: Air Drill. 19% if all hits connect.
Spins around, drilling downwards with his feet. It can combo into up smash and out of up tilt. Useful into shines as well. It is the weakest spike in the game, giving almost no knockback when it is used on an opponent, and the knockback being set. However, when it is used on a wire frame or a handicapped opponent, it sends them strongly diagonally downwards, like a spike. Using this move will not win any of the meteor smash bonuses with it, and it sends the opponent diagonally downwards and not straight down, giving proof that it is a spike.

Special Moveset:



Total (single shot): 36
Shot comes out: 10
Repeated shots, every 10 frames
Laser lasts 34 frames
Auto Cancels upon landing
Neutral Special: Blaster. 3% per laser.
Fox fires a laser from his Blaster. The fastest projectile used by any character in the game, but it does not make opponents flinch, unlike in the previous game. It is mainly used from long range as short hop lasers or short hop double lasers to camp and bring up damage for an u-throw into u-air combo or a u-smash. If used on the ground, there is ending lag.




Total: 63
Fox starts moving away: 21
Hit: 22-25
Time to press B and stop Fox: 20-24
Can grab edge as early as 29
Landlag: 20
Landfallspeciallag: 3
Side Special: Fox Illusion. 7%.
Fox dashes forward, leaving an afterimage behind him. Fox's quickest and safest horizontal recovery move. If B is quickly pressed again just after starting the move, it will be canceled and Fox will not dash forward. However, if this is done in midair, he keeps his momentum.



Total: 92
Hit: 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32,
43-72
When to aim: 42
Can grab edge during first part as
early as 16
Can grab edge during moving part as
early as 73 (if firing straight into
wall, if you go downward at the edge,
Fox will stop firing to grab it)
Grabs edges from both sides
Landlag: 6
Landfallspeciallag: 3
Up Special: Fire Fox. 1-23%.
Fox charges up in flames and blasts off in a direction, this can be controlled with the Control Stick. Unreliable as an attack due to the charge time. Can damage opponents during the charging. This move should only be used for vertical recovery, or to safely get onto the stage while going over an attacking opponent.



Total: 39 (or more)
Hits: 1
Reflects: 4-21 or release+1
Jump Cancelable whenever it reflects
Lag upon release: 19
Reflection Lag: 19
Down Special: Reflector. 7%.
Informally referred to as the Shine, it reflects any projectiles that hit it right back at the opponent who fired them. This move has low set knockback, but is an extremely useful semi-spike as it can drag opponents offstage while edgeguarding, to prevent them from recovering - it stuns them as well. Due to the set knockback, it can be done at any percentage. This knocks opponent onto the ground on the stage, and can follow up with a move such as a u-tilt, u-smash, or another shine. The move can be jump cancelled to avoid the ending lag, allowing Fox to quickly jump up offstage (after using a spike, for example), and it also gives him access to the waveshine technique, wavedashing out of the shine.

Grabs:


Total: 30
Grab: 7-8

Total: 40
Grab: 12-13

Pummel: Knee. 2-3% per pummel. Knees opponent.

Forward Throw: Elbow Bash. 7%.
Punches the opponent forward. Despite its generally poor combo ability, it can chain-grab on some heavy characters. It is best used for forcing opponents offstage, setting up an edgeguard.

Back Throw: Skeet Blaster. 7%.
Throws backwards and shoots the opponent with his Blaster. Used mainly for setting up edgeguards off-stage, though really not many other uses besides mixing up a Fox player's throw game.

Up Throw: Star Blaster. 7%.
Throws the opponent into the air and shoots them with his Blaster. It can easily combo into up tilt, up aerial, and up smash. If wavedashes are properly used between throws, it can also chain-grab fast fallers at lower percentages; however, it can be Smash DI'd out of the chain-grab.

Down Throw: Floor Blaster. 5%.
Throws the opponent into the ground and shoots them with his blaster. This throw does not make opponents bounce off the ground like other down throws (except Falco who also uses this throw) because it sends opponents straight downward, meaning that it can meteor smash over the ledge if Fox's body is partially overlapping it. Not useful due to being able to tech out of it, but players can read techs for KOs. Can lead into u-tilt or a shine.

Floor Attack (Front) 6% Gets up and kicks on both sides.
Floor Attack (Back) 6% Gets up and kicks on both sides.
Edge Attack (Fast) 8% Throws himself onto the stage with both feet sticking out.
Edge Attack (Slow) 8% Slowly gets up and kicks in front.

Dodges:

Air Dodge

Invulnerable 4-29 out of 49

Spot Dodge

Invulnerable 2-15 out of 22

Forward Roll

Invulnerable 4-19 out of 31

Backward Roll

Invulnerable 4-19 out of 31

-

Match-Ups:
Fox; Mirror Match.
Falco; ±0 (Even Match).
Sheik; +1 (Soft Counter).
Marth; ±0 (Even Match).
Jigglypuff; +1 (Soft Counter).
Peach; +1 (Soft Counter).
Captain Falcon; +2 (Counter).
Ice Climbers; +1 (Soft Counter).
Dr. Mario; +1 (Soft Counter).
Pikachu; +2 (Counter).
Samus; ±0 (Even Match).
Ganon; +2 (Counter).
Luigi; +2 (Counter).
Mario; +1 (Soft Counter).
Yoshi; +2 (Counter).
Young Link; +2 (Counter).
Link; +3 (Hard Counter).
Donkey Kong; +2 (Counter).
Roy; +2 (Counter).
Zelda; +3 (Hard Counter).
Mewtwo; +3 (Hard Counter).
Mr. Game & Watch; +3 (Hard Counter).
Ness; +3 (Hard Counter).
Bowser; +3 (Hard Counter).
Pichu; +3 (Hard Counter).
Kirby; +3 (Hard Counter).


As one of the only two characters in the game to not have any disadvantageous matchups (the other being Falco), Fox has, undisputably, the best matchup spread in Melee. He has only three matchups that are even, while he soft counters six characters, counters seven, and hard counters nine. Fox has many advantages that help him against any character, such as his quick, versatile combo ability, great aerial attacks, and his very effective shine techniques, including a potential waveshine infinite that, even if performed to a limited degree, can shut down a large portion of the cast. Fox, however, does suffer from flaws; his very high falling speed and very low air speed undermine his otherwise relatively long recovery, making him predictable off the stage and easy to gimp and edgeguard by characters such as Falco, Jigglypuff and Marth. With his said falling speed, characters such as Marth can easily chaingrab him, and his light weight attribute makes him easy for characters such as Samus to KO.
-----

Leave feedback for what you feel is appropriate.

[LightRook]

I love playing as Fox mainly because he is fun to combo with (granted I have only played Melee like 4 times) but still in Smash 4 he is fun to play. I also can't wait for you to do my man Falcon.