Judge

Judge
Mr. Game & Watch demonstrates all nine Judge attacks on Snake in Brawl.
User	Mr. Game & Watch
Universe	Game & Watch universe

Judge in Melee.

“	The random strength of [Mr. Game and Watch's] Judgement is determined by the number displayed; food appears on lucky 7.	”
—Mr. Game and Watch's trophy description in Melee

Judge (ジャッジ Jajji) (Judgment in Melee) is Mr. Game & Watch's side special move. Mr. Game & Watch will attack with his hammer and hold up a digital display with a random number on it when used.

The effects are as follows:

• 1 - A very weak attack that does 2%, has zero knockback and does not make the opponent flinch, and does 12% recoil damage to the user whether it hits or not.
• 2 - A weak attack that does 4% with minimal knockback. In Brawl, has a 20% chance of tripping the opponent.
• 3 - An attack that does 6% with a paper sound upon contact. Similar to a Fan's forward tilt, this attack launches the enemy backwards and deals significant shield damage.
• 4 - A slashing attack that does 8% and launches opponents diagonally, similar to the Beam Sword's forward tilt.
• 5 - An attack that produces four electrical charges that zap the opponent, making them rise slightly. Each hit does 3%, for a total of 12%.
• 6 - A flame attack that does 12% with surprisingly strong horizontal knockback. This attack is also a semi-spike, making it deadly to recovering opponents. This is the second strongest Judge in terms of knockback.
• 7 - An attack that does 14% with moderate horizontal knockback. A food item will also appear in honor of the lucky #7. In Brawl, this item is invariably an apple. The apple only appears if the attack is used on the ground, and if the hammer connects with Mr. Game & Watch's opponent.
• 8 - An attack that does 4% (in Melee) or 9% (in Brawl) with weak vertical knockback while freezing the opponent.
• 9 - An extremely powerful attack that does 32% with massive horizontal knockback, capable of KOing at single-digit percentages in some situations. It produces a bell sound upon swinging and a ping sound upon contact, similar to the Home-Run Bat's smash attack. The hitbox for this attack is noticably smaller than the other numbers.

Mr. Game & Watch cannot get a number that was used in either of the two previous uses of the move; for example, getting a 5 will mean that the next two uses of the move cannot result in a 5. At the start of a match, the previous two uses are set to 2 and 1, meaning that the first use of Judge in a match cannot be a 2, and the first two uses cannot be a 1. This means that, ignoring the two invalid numbers, each possibility has a 1 in 7 chance of occuring.

Origin

Judge was a Game & Watch game that could be played with two players. Two Game & Watch characters had signboards and hammers. When a round starts, each player's sign would display a random number from 1 to 9. The point of the game was for the player with the higher number to hit his opponent on the head with their hammer, while the player with the lower number tried to dodge said attack. If the numbers were equal, the player can either hit or dodge. This was translated in the Smash world in which the higher the number, the stronger or better the attack.

Trivia

• The move was known as "Judgement" on Mr. Game & Watch's Super Smash Bros. Melee trophy data. It was changed to "Judge" for his update on the DOJO!! to match the name of the source game.

Mr. Game & Watch's special moves

Neutral special	Chef
Side special	Judgment	Judge
Up special	Fire
Down special	Oil Panic
Final Smash	—	Octopus