Fox (SSB)

Fox in Super Smash Bros.
Fox McCloud
Universe	Star Fox
Other playable appearances	in Melee in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Starter
Tier	A (3)

Fox McCloud (フォックス・マクラウド, Fokkusu Makuraudo) is the main character from the Star Fox series and a starting character in all three Super Smash Bros. games.

He ranks 3rd due to his very fast speed, with the second fastest running speed and the third fastest air speed. His attacks tend to have less knockback than other characters'; however, this gives him excellent comboing abilities. His Blaster is also one of the greatest projectiles due to its hitstun and reasonable damage, which allows him to outcamp characters effectively on Hyrule Castle.

Attributes

File:Foxending.jpg

Fox McCloud's ending picture in Super Smash Bros.

Fox is a character who is all about speed. He has the 2nd fastest dash speed (second only to Captain Falcon), fairly fast air speed, the third fastest falling speed, a fast roll, and very fast attacks. Fox also has a good short hop, the Reflector (which can be used to edge-guard), and a versatile jab. Fox can have trouble KOing because most his attacks have low knockback, excluding his up smash and up aerial, which he sometimes relies on for KO'ing. However, this also means Fox has amazing combo potential, having the ability to zero-death many other characters.

Fox's Blaster is an extremely useful projectile that covers a very large distance and causes opponents to flinch. Due to its hitstun, it can prevent enemy approaches, and it can also be used while approaching to give the opponent a hard time. Fox can use the Blaster to easily and effectively outcamp characters on Hyrule Castle, though this isn't as effective on smaller stages like Dream Land. He also has a reliable way to deal with opponents' projectiles - his Reflector.

On the downside, Fox has problems with his recovery like many characters in the game. His fast falling speed makes his recovery easy to edgeguard, although his air speed is high. His up special, Fire Fox, needs chargeup time before it can be used, and since it can't damage opponents while doing so, it leaves Fox vulnerable, meaning that he can easily get hit by meteor smashes. Fox is also vulnerable to combos that work on fast-falling characters, but due to his average weight is conversely resistant to combos effective on lightweights.

Fox overall has excellent matchups, and heavily counters four characters. Fox overall has the best setup of matchups on Hyrule Castle, but doesn't do as well on Dream Land as there isn't nearly as much room to camp and space, allowing the opponent to approach easier, and get him offstage easier, putting him in a bad position.

In Doubles

Fox is considered to be slightly worse in doubles than singles as it is more difficult to laser camp. Fox's recovery is an issue and the fact that he has problem gimping is also a bad thing. Fox is one of the better characters at starting combos, though. He is considered a good combo with Ness, as Fox can laser Ness's PSI Magnet to help him recover damage. Fox is an overwhelm based character in teams, helping his partner combo, and using an up smash or up aerial to KO. Fox is also a great team partner for Pikachu and Captain Falcon due to his aerials and up smash being able to mix very well with Pikachu's recovery and Falcon's up aerial.

Moveset

Fox's aerial attacks

Fox in the SSB instruction booklet.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		{{{neutralname}}}	4%	{{{neutraldesc}}}
			4%
			1% per kick
Forward tilt		Roundhouse Kick	9%	A fast but somewhat short-ranged move, and is good for spacing or leading into a wall combo.
Up tilt		Vertical Kick	9%	Kicks directly upwards, making his extended foot the only hitbox. This makes it a close up move, however, it is extremely useful. It can chain into itself, it is very fast, knocks the foe into the air leading into many air combos, and is the center of most of Fox's combos.
Down tilt		Tail Trip	12%	Tail sweep. Leads into a side smash or neutral attack at low damage percentages. If followed with a smash attack, shine edgeguards are possible.
Dash attack		Leap Kick	10%	Leaps and kicks. Easily leads into up tilt, followed by whatever combo.
Forward smash		Feet-first Dive	17%	Puts his feet together and jumps forward, feet first. Decent KO power.
Up smash		Flip	16%	Does a fast quick flip, with much vertical KO power.
Down smash		Split	14%	Does a fast split, which hits on both sides on the same time, and is a great horizontal killer, or set-up for edge-related KOs.
Neutral aerial		Fox Kick	14%	Sex kick. Great for KO-ing and edgeguards, comes out quickly and has good range.
Forward aerial		Spin Kick	12%	The animation is identical to his f-smash. Fantastic aerial killer.
Back aerial		Back Split Kick	12%	Back kick. Great for edgeguarding.
Up aerial		Flip Kick	15% if both hits connect	Upward aerial flip, great vertical KOer and juggler. Does 2% first hit, 13% second hit.
Down aerial		Drill Kick	Up to 14%	Not a good meteor smash, but if used on a grounded foe, easily chains into up tilt.
Grab			—
Forward throw		Power Throw	12%	Throws opponent forward with good KO power.
Back throw		Roll Kick	15%	Rolls backward and kicks the opponent off him.
Forward roll Back roll		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			6%	Kicks on both sides and returns to his stance.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			6%	Kicks on both sides and returns to his stance.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			4%	Gets up and thrusts his feet forward, like his f-smash.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			4%	Slowly rises and flip kicks.
Neutral special		Blaster	5-6% per laser	The Blaster shoots a pink laser beam that travels slower than a standard Ray Gun shot and has good knockback for how quick it is. The Blaster has increased fire rate while Fox is airborne allowing Fox to short hop double laser. Fox overall is considered among competitive players to have one of the best projectiles in SSB due to its hitstun, speed, and damage. This is one of the main points for why Fox is such a high tier in SSB.
Up special		Fire Fox	16%	Fox charges up (and is pulled down by gravity at a reduced rate), and then propels himself in a direction with a fiery blast, that is controllable with the Control Stick. Used for recovery.
Down special		Reflector	5%	Informally known as a shine, it reflects any projectiles that hit it back. As an attack, it sends opponents on a semi-spike trajectory, and is fast, making it useful for edgeguarding.

Taunt

If facing left, Fox crosses his arms, looks toward the player and makes a "hmph" sound. If facing right, the posture is reversed so that Fox looks away from the player. (This posture returns in a slightly altered form as one of Fox's victory poses in Melee and Brawl Vs. battles.)

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. (N64) Character Matchups

Avg.

Combos, Tactics, and Tricks

Down tilt/Up tilt/Jab

The down tilt, up tilt, and jab are great ways to start combos. It is very effective (and common) to either perform a Z-canceled drill kick (down aerial) into a down tilt/up tilt/jab or perform a down tilt/up tilt/jab into a drill kick and repeat the combo. If using the down tilt, the SHZed ADA (Short Hopped Z-canceled Aerial Down A) will still be able to combo the opponent until the opponent's percentage is ~40%; adept Fox players can still chain the down tilt into a full hopped ADA from there until the percentage is ~100%. Also, a up tilt is typically used to chain itself again and again until ~70% in which the opponent can escape (light characters can escape earlier). A jab is typically used at ~90% to send the opponent in the air a short distance and then finish them off with a down smash (at ~90%), up smash (at ~100%), and forward smash (at ~120%).

Off-the-Wall Chaingrabs

Conventional chaingrabbing doesn't exist in SSB due to high knockback of the grabs; however, certain characters can use the wall to repeatedly grab the opponent. Fox can do this very easily to several characters on Hyrule Castle. This tactic involves grabbing when one is slightly left of the structure on the far right side of the stage, bouncing the character off the side of the elevated area, using a short hop Z-canceled down aerial, grabbing, etc.

Short Hop Double Laser

If one's reflexes allow it, one can use Fox's laser twice in a short hop. This is useful for one's approach and counter-approach. Also, unlike in Melee, Fox's lasers stun and do 6% damage, falling down to 5% after repeated use (compared to Melee's 3% down to 1% after repeated use).

Shine Canceling

In SSB, unlike in SSBM, Fox's Shine cannot be jump canceled. Instead, one can cancel the Shine by landing during it (sometimes referred to as land-canceling). This is done by jumping and then using the Shine, but enough altitude must be gained so that the Shine's attack frames come out before landing.

Teleport

See Teleport (SSB)

Description

From the Game

Following his dead father's footsteps as the young leader of the Star Fox Team, Fox McCloud's piloting of the super-high-performance combat ship ARWING for the Lylatian System is still fresh in our memories. His one weakness may be his difficulty earning the trust of his teammates.

Works:

• Star Fox (SNES) (Starwing in the PAL version)
• Star Fox 64 (N64) (Lylatwars in the PAL version)

From the Instruction Booklet

Following in his father's footsteps, Fox McCloud is the young leader of the Star Fox Team. With his trusty blaster, he plunges head-first into battle.

Costumes

File:Alt-fox.jpg

Fox's changeable clothing in SSB

Trivia

• Fox is the only character to have two different Sex kicks, being his back and neutral aerials.
• A slightly different sound effect is heard when Fox obtains an item unlike other characters. He also makes a noise when he shield rolls, also unlike other characters. These two unique aesthetic attributes are shown only in Super Smash Bros.