Ganondorf (SSBM)

Ganondorf in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	The Legend of Zelda
Other playable appearances	in Brawl in SSB4 in Ultimate
Availability	Unlockable
Tier	C+ (14) (North America) E (14) (Europe)

Ganondorf (ガノンドロフ, Ganondorf) appears as an unlockable playable character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. His model is directly taken from his appearance in the SpaceWorld 2000 GameCube Tech Demo, which is itself based on his appearance in his original Gerudo form from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (being the only playable character in Melee to have his model taken from elsewhere). Ganondorf is a clone of Captain Falcon, and as such, he fights in a brawler style similar to Captain Falcon, but in a slower, more powerful manner.

Ganondorf is voiced by Takashi Nagasako, with most voice clips being reused from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Ganondorf currently ranks 14th in the C+ tier on the Melee tier list, which is his best placement in the series. Ganondorf boasts extreme power, good reach, decent chaingrabbing ability, and very useful aerials, including the strongest meteor smash in the game in his down aerial. He also has several effective edgeguarding options including the aforementioned down aerial, both the strong and weak hitboxes of his up aerial, and his back aerial. Nonetheless, Ganondorf has extreme flaws to counteract these great strengths as well. He has a bad neutral game due to his poor dash dance and lack of non-committal approaching moves, forcing Ganondorf players to rely more on reads and baits, and the punishes that come with them. However, Ganondorf is also very susceptible to punishes himself, as he is easily comboed and chaingrabbed due to his size and weight, and is very easily edgeguarded due to his very predictable (albeit long) recovery; however, the latter would be among the worst should the aerial Wizard's Foot be absent during the process. He is also vulnerable to projectiles and has few ways to deal with characters that outrange him or have very fast attacks. Because of this, while Ganondorf has good matchups against characters ranked lower than him, and a few high tiers reliant on wavedashing for movement, he struggles to maintain ground against top-tier characters, such as Fox and Sheik.

How to unlock

Ganondorf must be defeated in battle before he can be unlocked. There are two ways the player can encounter Ganondorf:

• One way is to complete Event 29: Triforce Gathering. If the player fails to defeat Ganondorf, they can re-fight him by completing the event again.
• Another way is to play 600 VS. matches. If the player fails to defeat Ganondorf, they can re-fight him by playing another VS. match to completion. If this method is used, fighters with lower VS. match quotas must be unlocked before Ganondorf can be fought.

Upon meeting either requirement, Ganondorf is fought on Final Destination, with the track "Great Bay" playing.

Attributes

As a slower, larger clone of Captain Falcon, Ganondorf sacrifices speed for power and range. He is often considered to be the most powerful character in the game, boasting as many as sixteen KO options. This is counteracted by his poor mobility, as he has the 6th slowest dashing speed, the 3rd slowest air speed, and a rather short and slow wavedash. However, he possesses techniques that can partially circumvent his low speed, such as the Moonwalk, a great platform-dashing game, and one of the fastest and longest rolls.

One of Ganondorf's most notable strengths is his extreme power and damage output. His up smash, though laggy, is the strongest in the game if fully charged and both hits connect. His neutral special, Warlock Punch, and his notorious up tilt are two of the slowest moves in the game (the latter is the slowest), but can KO as low as 30%. His down aerial is both the strongest aerial attack and meteor smash in the game; it is notoriously difficult to meteor cancel regardless of damage percentage and is nearly impossible to recover from, even at low percentages, and can reliably star KO some grounded characters under 100%. Ganondorf's powerful attacks are counterbalanced by their slowness, but although most of his aerial attacks have long periods of landing lag, Ganondorf is perhaps the character that benefits the most from L-canceling, as it allows him to effectively combo other characters.

Despite Ganondorf's extreme power, he does not suffer from poor combo ability due to the knockback in his attacks, as he manages to retain some of the excellent combo ability from his clone. His aerials flow very well into each other, and when L-canceled, he can chase his opponents and land a follow-up despite his poor air speed. Due to his benefit from L-canceling, a low short hop, and decent falling speed, Ganondorf has a good SHFFL. The core of Ganondorf's combos lie in his grab game; despite a rather poor grab range, his throws have immense versatility, and his up and down throws are excellent launchers, as well as effective chain-grabs. His forward and back throws can also set up edgeguards.

Ganondorf's greatest strength, however, is his superb edge-guarding game. Despite his poor air speed, he is one of the best edge-guarders, with more aerial guarding options than any other character in the game; all of his aerials deal high damage and knockback and are guaranteed to knock foes offstage; his down air is an extremely powerful meteor smash, and Wizard's Foot is a non-recoverable spike. In particular, his sourspotted reversed up aerial (performed while facing away from the edge) is one of the best gimping moves in the game because of its long duration, range, semi-spiking knockback (hard to tech out of) at a 20° (rear hitbox) or 0° (rear bottom hitbox) trajectory with gravity following suit, extremely high hitstun, and cannot be DI'd due to its low knockback.

Ganondorf's major weakness is his poor approach and neutral game. Although his weight and quick falling speed enables him to live longer, they also make him highly susceptible to combos and chaingrabs. His mobility and approach are ultimately crippled by his short, relatively slow wavedash and poor dashing and air speeds. A lack of a projectile also makes it difficult for him to break opposing camping. He also has a very poor dash-dance, as it is among the shortest in the game and leaves him vulnerable to being camped or rushed down. Additionally, he lacks safe moves that allow him to approach noncommittally. As a result, Ganondorf is dependent on punishing opponents through reads and baits.

Ganondorf is also regarded as one of the most easily edge-guarded and edge-hogged characters in the game. On paper, he has a long, extendable horizontal recovery, thanks to his down special, Wizard's Foot, which is one of the only two specials that allow the character to regain their midair jump (the other being Falcon Kick, but is considered inferior to Wizard's Foot because of how much farther downward it travels and Captain Falcon's higher falling speed). Ganondorf's aforementioned abysmal air speed prevents him from efficiently moving off-stage, and his mid-air jumps fail to give enough height to reliably recover offstage. This makes edgehogging very threatening if Ganondorf is positioned poorly offstage.

Overall, Ganondorf is a powerhouse; with some of the strongest moves in the game, he can easily KO the entire Melee cast at very lower percents with his powerful moves. All that's holding him back are his unimpressive mobility and prediction-reliant neutral game, requiring players to play a bait-and punish style to try and land his powerful moves while being careful not to get attacked himself.

Differences from Captain Falcon

Ganondorf struggles more often than Captain Falcon due to his slower mobility and a weaker combo game, causing Ganondorf to be more prediction-reliant when approaching and having more difficulty in competing with faster characters like Fox or Sheik. However, Ganondorf boasts noticeably stronger attacks, a more dangerous edgeguarding game, and greater reach. He also has no sourspots on his attacks barring his forward tilt, and still retains a few of Captain Falcon's good combo starters, enabling him to still have an good combo game. Despite being designed as a "slower" Captain Falcon, almost all of Ganondorf's moves have the exact same frame data in terms of start-up and ending lag, although all his aerials do have much higher landing lag. A few of Ganondorf's moves also have different knockback angles, usually toward vertically rather than horizontally. Finally, Ganondorf has more electric effects in addition to darkness on his attacks, with only one move (up tilt) using flame.

Attributes

• Ganondorf is physically larger and taller than Captain Falcon, giving his attacks more reach. However, this increased size also increases his hurtbox, thus making him easier to hit.
• Ganondorf is heavier than Captain Falcon (104 → 109), granting him better endurance, but also making him easier to combo.
• Ganondorf's ledge jump is higher than Captain Falcon's, being the highest in the game.
• Ganondorf's rolls cover more distance than Captain Falcon's.
• Ganondorf's wavedash is longer than Captain Falcon's.
• Ganondorf's spot dodge has 1 less frame of startup (3-20 → 2-20).
  • Spot dodge has a altered animation.
• Ganondorf's walk speed (0.85 → 0.73), dash speed (2.3 → 1.35), air speed (1.12 → 0.78), and jump and midair jump height are all lower than Captain Falcon's.
• Ganondorf's jumpsquat is slower (4 → 6) than Captain Falcon's, slowing his ability to be airborne and perform aerials and wavedashes.
• Ganondorf cannot wall jump.
• Ganondorf's falling speed is much slower than Falcon's (2.9 → 2), making his vertical endurance worse despite being heavier. Given the fact that Ganondorf would still be as easy to combo as Falcon due to other factors in spite of this, including his weight and stature, as well as his recovery still being worse due to a lower double jump and significantly lower air speed, it does not provide any benefit whatsoever.
• Captain Falcon's attacks that deal flame damage, such as forward smash, Falcon Punch, Raptor Boost, and Falcon Kick, are replaced by darkness for Ganondorf's counterparts.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • Neutral attack is changed to be only a single palm strike.
    • The single hit deals only 7% (palm)/8% (body), it makes it deal more than the first two hits (2% (hit 1)/3% (hit 2)) and the roughly the same damage as the Gentleman (8% (clean)/6% (late) individually, but does less damage than Captain Falcon's if all hits of his jab were to connect.
    • It has a larger hitbox on the palm than Falcon's Jab 1 (3.5154u → 3.906u).
    • It has higher base knockback than the Gentleman (20 → 30).
    • It has more ending lag than Falcon's Jab 1 (IASA 16 → 19).
    • It does not have a rapid jab.
  • It has an electric effect.
• Forward tilt:
  • It deals more damage overall (11% (unangled)/12%/11% (angled up)/10%/11% (angled down) → 13%/12%/11% (unangled)/14%/13%/12% (angled up)/12%/11%/10% (angled down))
  • It has more base knockback (10 → 20), being the third strongest forward tilt in the game.
  • It has a larger hitbox at the foot (4.2966u → 5.0778u).
  • Its sweetspot hitboxes are positioned at the foot rather than up close when angled down, making it better for spacing.
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt deals significantly more damage (13% → 27%) with drastically higher base knockback (50 → 110), able to KO from center under 25% and at 0% near ledges and is thus the strongest tilt in the game.
  • Up tilt has drastically more startup (17 frames → 81) and catastrophically higher ending lag (38 frames → 115), making it impossible to land in almost any circumstance outside of rest or shield break punishes, edgeguarding, or deceptive mindgames. It also lacks a hitbox as Ganondorf brings his foot down, giving the move less vertical range.
  • Up tilt has a wind effect while the leg is lifted up and an explosive effect that deals flame damage when the leg strikes the ground.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt has significantly higher knockback (25 base/75 growth → 30 base/100 growth), being the fourth most powerful down tilt in Melee, while still being a useful combo starter at lower percentages.
  • Down tilt has a shorter duration (10-15 → 10-12).
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack deals more damage (10%/7% → 14%/10%) and knockback (22 base/90 growth → 40 base/80 growth), improving its KO potential, while still being a useful combo starter.
  • Dash attack's hitboxes are placed a little further out, increasing the move's range. They are also positioned higher.
  • Dash attack has a different launch angle (361° → 115° (clean)/110° (late)).
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash has much higher knockback (24 base/100 growth → 40 base/80, 83, and 85 growth), damage (20% (forward)/21% (up)/19% (down) → 22%/24%/20%), and range.
  • Forward smash has more startup lag (18 frames → 20).
  • Forward smash launches opponents at a higher angle (361° (all) → 80° (up)/70° (forward)/60° (down)).
• Up smash:
  • Up smash deals consistent and increased more damage (8%/14% (hit 1)/13%/12% (hit 2) → 22%/19%) and knockback (base 30/growth 128 → 50 base/40 (hit 1), 80 (hit 2) growth), being the most damaging up smash in the game if both hits connect.
  • Both hits have more active frames (21-22 → 21-23 (hit 1), 27-28 → 26-29 (hit 2)), which also shrinks the frame gap between the 2 hits.
  • Both hits have a bigger hitbox on the foot, increasing the move's vertical range. However, the first hit of Ganondorf's version lacks the hitbox on the ground in front of him, reducing the move's horizontal range and worsening its ability to hit grounded opponents.
  • Up smash is less useful as a combo move and the hits do not link as reliably above very low percentages.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash's hits naturally combo into each other as opposed strong hitting once.
    • This allows it to deal more damage than Captain Falcon's if both hits connect (18%/16% → 22%/20%).
    • Due to being a multi-hit, it naturally makes it less reliable due to risk of the opponent falling out and being more vulnerable to SDI.
  • The seconds launches vertically in front of Ganondorf has opposed to horizontally (361° → 120°)
  • The second kick has higher knockback despite it's lower damage (30 and 20 base/100 growth → 60 base/110 growth).
  • Both hits deal less damage on their own with the second kick having a sourspot (18% (hit 1)/16% (hit 2) → 8%/14%/12%).
  • The first hit's hitboxes are slightly smaller (3.906u/3.906u → 3.5154u/3.5154u), though it's Z-offset was compensated (5.0778u → 5.859u).
    • The second hit's hitboxes are bigger with it having an extra hitbox inside of Ganondorf (3.5154u/3.5154u → 4.2966u/4.2966u/4.2966u).
  • It also has slightly more ending lag (IASA 45 → 47).

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have more landing lag (15 frames → 25 (neutral), 19 frames → 25 (forward), 18 frames → 25 (back), 15 frames → 25 (up), 24 frames → 35 (down)).
• Neutral aerial:
  • The first hit does not have fixed knockback (0 (base)/100 (growth)/40 (fixed) → 30/100/0). This allows the first hit to KO on it's own, but significantly hinders it's ability to connect into the second hit.
  • The first hit has an altered launch angle (82°/78°/74° → 55°/60°/65°).
  • It deals more damage on both kicks (5%/6% (hit 1)/7% (hit 2) → 12% (both)).
  • The second hit has higher base knockback (40 → 50).
  • It autocancels earlier (frame 34 → 26).
  • Both hits have shorter durations (7-12 → 7-8 (hit 1), 20-29 → 20-21 (hit 2)).
  • Both hits have smaller hitboxes overall (4.2966u/5.4684u/4.2966u → 3.5154u/4.6872u/5.0778u (hit 1), 4.2966u/4.2966u/4.2966u → 3.5154u/4.6872u/5.0778u (hit 2)
  • Both hits have shorter durations (7-12 → 7-8 (hit 1), 20-29 → 20-21 (hit 2)).
  • Both hits are much harder to combo into due to their increased power and shorter durations.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial has a different animation: an arcing downward punch.
  • It does not have a sourspot, this makes it more reliable for KO'ing, but removes the sourspot combos from Captain Falcon's Knee Smash.
  • It does not have an electric effect.
  • It has altered knockback (24 base/100 growth → 60/80).
  • It has greater range due to it's different animation.
  • It autocancels slightly earlier (frame 34 → 33).
  • It is able to be interrupted earlier (IASA 36 → 35).
    • However, it has more ending lag overall due to move's fewer active frames.
  • It has much less active frames (frames 14-30 → 14-19).
  • It deals slightly less damage than the sweetspot of Captain Falcon's (18% → 17%).
  • It does not semi-spike (32° → 361°).
• Back aerial
  • It deals more damage (14% → 16%).
  • It has increased base knockback (20/0 → 30/10).
  • It has a larger hitbox on the fist (4.6872u → 5.4684u).
  • It does not have a weaker late hit.
  • It autocancels slightly earlier (frame 20 → 18).
  • It has fewer total active frames (10-17 → 10-15).
• Up aerial
  • It has higher base knockback (10 (clean)/8 (late) → 35 (clean)/30 (middle)/20 (late)).
  • It has a late hit that is active from frames 14-16 that deals 8% (body)/6% (foot) and sends at an angle of 0°.
    • This makes the move significantly better for Edgeguarding due to it's low angle.
    • The late hit gives the move a longer duration (6-13 → 6-16) and allows it to hit below Ganondorf.
• Back and up aerials are less effective combo tools thanks to their increased power and Ganondorf's slower mobility.
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial deals 6% more damage (16% → 22%) with higher base knockback (40 → 50), being the strongest meteor smash in Melee, able to KO grounded opponents under 100% while being notoriously difficult to meteor cancel. It also has larger hitboxes.
  • Down aerial's top hitbox lacks the ability to nipple spike, meaning it is always meteor cancellable regardless of which hitbox is landed. It also has transcendent priority, preventing it from cancelling out projectiles.
  • Down aerial has an electric effect.

Throws/other attacks

• Up throw launches opponents at a different angle (85° → 90°).
• Down throw
  • Down throw launches opponents at a different angle (65° → 100°), making it more reliable for combos and chain-grabs.
  • Down throw has marginally more knockback scaling (34 → 36).

Special moves

• Warlock Punch:
  • Warlock Punch deals much more damage (23%/25%/27% → 30%/32%/34%) than Falcon Punch, with its knockback not being fully compensated (scaling 102 → 100).
  • It has smaller hitboxes (3.906u/3.5154u/4.8825u (ground)/5.2731u/4.6872u/4.8825u (air)) → 2.3436u/3.906u/3.5154u (both)).
  • Warlock Punch has much more startup lag and a shorter duration than the Falcon Punch (52-56 frames → 70-72), and Ganondorf is unable to perform an equivalent to Captain Falcon's Sacred Combo due to his lower air speed, slower run speed, slower jumpsquat and Warlock Punch's higher startup.
  • Warlock Punch has significantly different aesthetics from the Falcon Punch; even discounting the darkness effect, it lacks the falcon-shaped fiery aura and falcon screech during the punch.
• Gerudo Dragon:
  • Gerudo Dragon deals much more damage (7% → 17% (ground)/16% (aerial)) and some extra shield damage (0 → 10 (grounded)) compared to Raptor Boost.
  • Gerudo Dragon has a different angle on the ground (90° → 105°).
  • Gerudo Dragon has lower knockback values (78 base/80 growth (grounded) → 60/69, 60 base/70 growth (aerial) → 50/65), dealing less knockback at lower percents, though it still deals more knockback at higher percents due to the increased damage.
  • Gerudo Dragon covers less distance than Raptor Boost and the aerial version cannot meteor smash (270° → 70°).
  • Gerudo Dragon's detection hitboxes during the dash are positioned further back, giving the move a large negative disjoint.
  • When Ganondorf falls after whiffing Gerudo Dragon, the screen shakes more than when Captain Falcon whiffs Raptor Boost.
• Dark Dive:
  • Dark Dive travels slightly more vertical distance than Falcon Dive due to Ganondorf's taller stature.
  • Dark Dive's grab deals four weak electric hits, which can hit opponents who attempt to intercept Ganondorf.
  • Dark Dive's throw deals 3% more damage than Falcon Dive (12% → 15%), giving it more knockback which can KO reliably under 150%.
  • It covers slightly less horizontal momentum (1.1 → 0.85).
• Wizard's Foot:
  • Grounded Wizard's Foot has higher and consistent knockback than Falcon Kick (50 base/70, 60, and 50 growth → 60/85) that does not get weaker over time.
  • Grounded Wizard's Foot has consistent damage output that does not get weaker over time (15% clean/12% mid/9% late → 15%).
  • Grounded Wizard's Foot always launches horizontally (361° clean/80° mid/90° late → 361°), whereas the mid and late hits of grounded Falcon Kick have vertical knockback.
  • Grounded Wizard's Foot has a longer duration (14-32 → 14-34).
  • Aerial Wizard's Foot is also a powerful spike instead of dealing horizontal knockback like Falcon Kick (361° → 290°).
  • Aerial Wizard's Foot's landing hitbox deals more damage (9% → 12%).
  • Aerial Wizard's Foot is safer to use to restore Ganondorf's midair jump thanks to his lower falling speed compared to Captain Falcon.
  • Both grounded and aerial Wizard's Foot have slightly more ending lag.
  • Aerial Wizard's Foot deals 1% less damage (15% → 14%).

Version history

NTSC 1.01 addressed some oversights and bugs with Ganondorf, fixing glitches where he performs a second jab with a Bunnyhood equipped and no longer being considered grounded when using Dark Dive on the ground. The startup lag on the second hit of his neutral aerial was also increased to match the move's animation which had the side-effects of reducing it's ending lag and making it autocancel later.

The PAL version of Melee nerfed two of Ganondorf's aerials, with his forward aerial no longer being a reliable KO move (although it can combo into itself better), and his down aerial dealing less knockback and damage (while still remaining the strongest meteor smash in the game.)

NTSC 1.01

• Ganondorf can no longer perform the Bunnyhood double jab glitch.
• Ganondorf is no longer considered grounded when using grounded Dark Dive.
• The second hit of neutral aerial has more startup lag (frame 16 → 20), now matching its animation.
  • This decreases its ending lag as its total duration was unchanged.
  • However, this also makes it auto-cancel 4 frames later (frame 22 → 26).

PAL

• Forward aerial has decreased base knockback (60 → 40).
• Forward aerial has smaller hitboxes (3.125u/3.91u/5.08u → 2.734u/3.52u/4.3u).
• Down aerial deals 1% less damage (22% → 21%) with decreased base knockback (50 → 40).

Moveset

For a gallery of Ganondorf's hitboxes, see here.

Ganondorf's aerial attacks

Ganondorf performing his forward aerial after tech checking Captain Falcon's Falcon Dive. The move's base knockback is high enough to gimp characters with subpar recovery at any percentage.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		Thunder Punch (雷打, Thunder Hit)	7% (hand), 8% (body)	A quick palm strike that shocks enemies on contact. Has KO potential at higher damages, but since he jabs directly in front of him, some smaller characters can easily duck under it. It hits on frame 3, making it Ganondorf's fastest attack. It is often used in combos with his other attacks, especially his down aerial.
Forward tilt	↗	Armor Crusher (甲冑割, Armor Splitter)	12-14%	Kicks his foot out forward. Has great speed and range for a powerful tilt (3rd most powerful forward tilt in the game), but is short in duration (3 frames). This attack is often used to space away opponents due to its speed, range, and power. The upward angled-variant is excellent at stuffing out jump-ins and is Ganon's most consistent anti-air option and fastest grounded kill move. The downward variant is helpful for sniping ledges, particularly against Fox Illusion and Falco Phantasm. Overall a very versatile and powerful spacing tool and one of the better forward tilts in the game.
	→		11-13%
	↘		10-12%
Up tilt		Volcano Kick (爆裂蹴, Exploding Kick)	27%	Lifts up and charges his leg, then brings it down in a violent explosion. It has extremely long start-up, taking over a second to come out and nearly two seconds to finish. Though it is very powerful; it can OHKO from its extremely high base knockback if landed by an edge. It is by far the most powerful tilt in the game, and can KO even earlier than the Warlock Punch, but its abhorrent start-up combined with its deceptively poor reach limit it to only a niche ledge-trap or shield-break punish.
Down tilt		Sweeping Snake (掃脚, Sweep Leg)	12%	Does a quick low sweep kick. Long reach, and is rewarding on hit; it can combo into most aerials for a KO. Rather slow when compared to other down tilts and extremely vulnerable to crouch cancelling. Can KO at very high percentages. Fourth most powerful down tilt in the game.
Dash attack		Iron Shoulder (剛肩, Strong Shoulder)	14% (clean), 10% (late)	A quick shoulder tackle. Poor combo potential, but a great burst option with decent damage output. Much more rewarding if reversed, setting up for comboes if timed right. This is the second most powerful dash attack in the game, beaten only by Samus.
Forward smash	↗	Nightmare Lunge (紫炎肘, Violet Flame Elbow)	24%	Lunges forward, thrusting out his elbow. Great reach thanks to how far forward Ganon steps during the thrust; it can outrange other pokes and occasionally even Marth's forward smash, but its poor start-up and cooldown render it catastrophically unsafe on block and very easy to punish. Despite being hard to Dl, forward smash can struggle to kill, especially on fastfallers, and is generally outclassed by his two other smash attacks.
	→		22%
	↘		20%
Up smash		Tornado Kick (二連脚, Double Kick)	22% (hit 1), 19% (hit 2)	A 540 kick. It has three unique hitboxes; the first on his pelvis sends sideways with strong knockback, great for calling out high recoveries; the second is located on his thigh and is fairly rare to land, but links into the second hit to deal nearly 40%. The final hit covering his foot sends up with great knockback, consistently killing even fast-fallers below 100%. Up smash has great priority, making it a great anti-air and callout for shorthops and aerials from ledge, and is surprisingly safe on shield (-7). This move isn't without its flaws however; it loses to most ground attacks, has slow, reactable start-up and is extremely susceptible to low profiling. Knockback wise, this is the 5th most powerful up smash in the game, if only the first kick connects (only beaten by Pikachu, Fox, Sheik, and Peach).
Down smash		Leg Whip (連繋蹴, Chain Kick)	8% (hit 1), 14% (hit 2 leg), 12% (hit 2 foot)	Kicks on either side of him. One of Ganon's best launchers and his fastest smash attack in terms of startup. The first hit chains into the second, and the second hit sends upward, making down smash into an aerial a viable kill confirm on fastfallers. The first hit can rarely fail to link properly and send the opponent at a deep semi-spike angle, setting them up for an edgeguard. The move's biggest flaw is its noticeable blindspot below Ganon's leg, allowing characters that pancake their hurtboxes (e.g Marth to dodge under the move and punish him. If only the second hit connects, this is the second most powerful down smash in the game, only beaten by Marth.
Neutral aerial		Swooping Keese (旋風陣, Whirlwind Formation)	12% (hits 1-2)	Two quick mid-air kicks. Both kicks have high knockback (especially the second kick, capable of KOing under 130%), and can deal very high damage when landed in succession. The first hit can be used as a niche poke and has limited killpower and combo ability on poor DI, but rarely links into the second kick even at low percents; it's completely impossible to do so past ~25%. It's possible to land the second kick without the first one, which is occasionally useful to deter reckless approaches, but requires correct timing. With both kicks, it is the second strongest neutral aerial in the game (exceeded by Mr. Game & Watch's).
Forward aerial		Skull Crusher (頭蓋割, Skull Splitter)	17%	Ganondorf brings his fist down in an arc rather quickly, with impressive knockback and damage, though slightly weaker than Captain Falcon's Knee Smash. Unlike the Knee Smash, however, it always strikes with the same force, and is also just as fast as the Knee with much more reach, though it has more landing lag. KO's at 109% from the center of Final Destination. This is the fifth most powerful f-aerial in the game (Zelda, Dr. Mario, Captain Falcon, and Yoshi respectively surpass him in this regard).
Back aerial		Hidden Gauntlet (裏拳, Backfist)	16%	Punches behind him with high power. It is fast, very powerful, good for edgeguarding, and has great range. It has less base knockback than his forward aerial, but has more knockback scaling, making its power proportional to his forward aerial, knockback-wise. Has the exact amount of frames as Captain Falcon's back aerial, but unlike his, it hits with the same power throughout the entirety of the attack. KO's at 105% from the center of Final Destination. This is the second most powerful back aerial in the game (second to Zelda).
Up aerial		Vulture Kick (後転脚, Back Turn Kick)	13%/12% (clean), 12%/10% (mid), 8%/6% (late)	Does a flip kick, covering a large arc above him. Knockback direction depends on which angle the foe was hit in. If Ganondorf is facing away from the opponent and the attack hits with the sourspot at the tip of his foot, the opponent will be semi-spiked, with low damage but extremely high hitstun. This is the sixth most powerful up aerial in the game (Bowser, Fox, Kirby, Peach, and Zelda respectively surpasses him in this regard).
Down aerial		Thunder Drop (落雷蹴, Thunderbolt Kick)	22% (NTSC), 21% (PAL)	Stomps both his feet downwards, with an electric effect. An extremely powerful meteor smash, and an excellent SHFFL option, with a massive hitbox that covers Ganondorf's entire body and is able to hit opponents below platforms. It is the most powerful meteor smash in the game and is overall the most powerful aerial in the game. It is capable of setting up combos at low percentages when used against grounded opponents, and serves as a great finisher on grounded opponents at high percentages. This attack has transcendent priority. In the PAL version of the game, this move deals slightly less damage with a small decrease to knockback, but still remains a very powerful meteor smash.
Grab		Grab (つかみ)	—	Grabs with his left hand. Frame 7 startup, but one of the shorter ranged grabs in the game, beating Captain Falcon but losing to Peach.
Pummel		Armored Knee (つかみ膝蹴, Grab Knee Kick)	3%	Knees the opponent.
Forward throw		Gut Punch (剛突, Strong Thrust)	5% (hit 1), 4% (throw)	Punches foe in front. Its only use is setting up edgeguarding situations at high percentages.
Back throw		Blind Mule Kick (衝脚, Piercing Leg)	5% (hit 1), 4% (throw)	Brings foe behind him and kicks. Can set up edgeguards at high percentages.
Up throw		Jaw Breaker (顎砕, Jaw Smash)	4% (hit 1), 3% (throw)	Knocks his foe above him. Excellent set up for juggles and platform pressure, and can be an effective chain-grab against fast fallers until high percentages, but its high endlag makes it somewhat clunky to start setups with
Down throw		Dirt Nap (地割落, Earth Splitting Fall)	7%	Takes foe and slams them into the floor. Another throw well-suited for juggling. Can also chain-grab characters with average falling speeds until around 90%, and fast-fallers to about 130%. Can combo into jab then down aerial on Space animals around 50%. Comboes into all aerials at higher percentages and is one of Ganon's most common bread-and-butter kill confirms.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			6%	Gets up and flips while kicking. Deceptively high horizontal range.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			6%	Stands on both hands and does a spinning double kick. Short horizontal range makes this a poor getup attack, but it can occasionally snipe opponents on Fountain of Dreams's platforms at lower elevations, and its multi-hit nature makes it decently safe against crouch cancelling
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			10%	Picks himself up and kicks forward. Fantastic range and can even snipe platforms on Yoshi's Story and Fountain of Dreams, but is unsafe against crouch cancelling. Hitting an opponent standing too close to the edge sends them backward at a great angle, setting up for Ganon's deadly edgeguarding.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			8%	Slowly gets up and uppercuts. Has occasional use to catch opponents off guard due to its above average intangibility frames, but mostly death on whiff.
Neutral special		Warlock Punch	34% (close), 32% (mid), 30% (far)	Winds up darkness in his fist then releases it all in one powerful punch. Like the Falcon Punch, Ganondorf announces the move with a loud yell, lacking any surprise advantage. It has very high knockback, able to KO at low percentages and can even KO light characters under 10%. Except on utterly defenseless or paralyzed opponents, this attack is very hard to use in combat because it is very slow and predictable, making it extremely difficult to land in competitive play.
Side special		Gerudo Dragon	17% (Ground), 16% (Air)	Lunges forward, uppercutting any opponents who come in his path. One of Ganondorf's best launchers, and it can hit slightly behind him, making it particularly useful in tech situations, but is very unsafe on whiff. Unlike Raptor Boost, this move does not meteor smash opponents when used in the air. Instead, it will launch them diagonally upwards. The move causes helplessness if used in the air. The grounded version KO's at 127%
Up special		Dark Dive	1% (hits 1-4), 15% (release), 6% (breakout)	Quickly leaps upward. If he connects with an opponent, they will be trapped in a flurry of electricity. Also, if the move connects, Ganondorf will not go into a helpless state. This move can grab the ledge even if Ganondorf is facing the opposite direction. Useful for mixups, especially below platforms and can kill at higher percents, but has so little base knockback that it's negative on hit at low percentages.
Down special		Wizard's Foot	15% (ground), 14% (air), 12% (landing)	On the ground, Ganondorf rushes forward with his leg extended, dealing great knockback for the whole duration of the move, but leaving him extremely open, especially on shield. In the air, he plummets to the ground at a sharp angle. If Ganondorf comes into contact with the ground whilst this move is active, a shockwave is generated the frame after landing. Both the kick and the shockwave are spikes-giving them utility as devastating-albeit niche-edgeguarding tools, particularly against Donkey Kong and Bowser. This move has the odd property of rewarding Ganondorf's second jump back, making it an essential tool in his recovery.

Stats

NTSC

Stats	Weight	Dash speed	Walk speed	Traction	Air friction	Air speed	Air acceleration	Gravity	Falling speed	Jumpsquat	Jump height	Double jump height	Empty landing Lag
Value	109	1.3 – Initial dash 1.35 – Run	0.73	0.07	0.02	0.78	0.02 – Base 0.04 – Additional	0.13	2 – Base 2.6 – Fast-fall	6	27.3 - Base 16.4 - Short hop	22.23	5

PAL

Stats	Weight	Dash speed	Walk speed	Traction	Air friction	Air speed	Air acceleration	Gravity	Falling speed	Jumpsquat	Jump height	Double jump height	Empty landing Lag
Value	109	1.3 – Initial dash 1.35 – Run	0.73	0.07	0.02	0.78	0.02 – Base 0.04 – Additional	0.13	2 – Base 2.6 – Fast-fall	6	27.3 - Base 16.4 - Short hop	22.23	5

Taunt

• Hovers in mid-air and spins before laughing menacingly. Both of these poses are very similar to the ones he did before transforming into Ganon. The laugh he makes is also similar to the laugh he does when he hurts Link.

Idle pose

• Brings his hands together, then swings his right hand over his head.

Crowd cheer

	Cheer (International)	Cheer (Japanese)
Cheer
Description	Gaaa-non-doorff...!	Ganondorf! *claps 3 times*

Victory poses

An orchestrated portion of the main theme from The Legend of Zelda series.

• Pumps a victorious fist, then crouches and yells.
• With his back facing the camera, Ganondorf turns to face the camera, and holds up his fist, the back of the it facing the viewer. The pose is similar to when he shows off the Triforce of Power in Ocarina of Time.
• Spins his sword upward while laughing before thrusting it into the ground. The sword he uses is the same one from the Spaceworld 2000 tech demo.

In competitive play

Most historically significant players

See also: Category:Ganondorf players (SSBM)

•  Bizzarro Flame - Ganondorf main from NorCal well-known for his eccentric playstyle which focuses heavily on technical skill such as moonwalking, as well as unusual move choices like the Volcano Kick and Warlock Punch. His best supermajor placements include 25th at GENESIS 2 and 33rd at Pound 2016 and has set wins over Fiction and Duck. Additionally, he infamously beat fellow Ganondorf main Eikelmann 3-0 in a best-of-5 Salty Suite exhibition during Apex 2015.
•  Eddie - Chicago-based Ganondorf who showed impressive results with his placings at multiple Major League Gaming events from 2004 to 2006 and other tournaments such as 5th at EVO World 2007. Considered the best Ganondorf player in the world during this era, ranked 9th on the 2001-2003 RetroSSBMRank and 25th on the Smash Panel Power Rankings.
•  Eikelmann - Considered one of the best Ganondorf players in the world around the mid-2010s alongside Bizzarro Flame, placing 25th at Paragon Orlando 2015 and CEO 2015 and beating top players such as Fly Amanita. Entered an indefinite hiatus following allegations of abuse by former partners and his ban from competition in Colorado.
•  Kage - Widely regarded the best Ganondorf player of all-time. A long-time Ganondorf player who boasted the best results of the character throughout most of the competitive history of Melee, placing 3rd at Revival of Melee 2 where he double-eliminated Mang0 and 5th at Revival of Melee and into the late 2010s, continued to show the character's strengths at supermajors such as 17th at both The Big House 7 and The Big House 9. He has been one of the only Ganondorf players to be consistently present on global rankings, peaking at 34th on the 2013 SSBMRank and last seen 95th on the 2019 MPGR.
•  Mekk - The best Ganondorf player in the post-Slippi era. A Captain Falcon player who decided to play Ganondorf in order to help with his representation in the metagame, placing 9th at Super Smash Con 2023 and 13th at Tipped Off 14: Resurgence. His 44th on the SSBMRank 2023, the best Ganondorf ranking since Kage's peak in 2013. He was banned from competition after controversies relating to hate speech he posted on social media.
•  RockCrock - Along with Kage, he was one of the strongest solo Ganondorf players during the late 2000s. Placed high at early CEO events and 33rd at GENESIS. The technique known as Tech Check was formerly named after him. Became semi-active before being banned from competitive play due to sexual misconduct allegations.
•  Tipman - Florida Ganondorf main mostly active in the mid 2000's with high placings at MLG Orlando 2006. Known for popularizing the utility of Ganondorf's up aerial as a semi-spike, which led to the technique sometimes being referred to as the "Tipman spike."

Tier placement and history

Historically, Ganondorf has been considered a high or mid-high tiered character, having fluctuated between 8th and 12th for the first eleven tier lists. Although Ganondorf's great power and strong punish game enabled him to maintain a more powerful presence in the early metagame, this was due to players being less experienced with the character and defensive counter play was less developed. With a better understanding on how to check Ganondorf, his ground with the rest of the cast began to falter, and his flaws became more exacerbated due to Ganondorf players being unable to fend off fast-paced and careful approaches from characters like Falco and Sheik. Yoshi and Pikachu have developed vastly improved counterplay on his chaingrabs, with the former now considered to win against Ganon. As a result of the metagame shifts favoring against him, Ganondorf's tier placement faltered. This is reflected in the most recent tier list where he is ranked 14th, the lowest he has ever placed.

In Single-Player

In Classic Mode

Ganondorf's unused intro image.

Like Roy and Sheik, Ganondorf does not appear as an opponent in the game's Classic Mode, though he can appear as an ally in Team and Giant battles. Despite this, Ganondorf does have an introduction image for the "Now Loading..." screen between matches in the game's files.

In Adventure Mode

Upon being unlocked, Adventure Mode makes no concessions to Ganondorf whatsoever.

In All-Star Mode

In All-Star Mode, Ganondorf and his allies are fought on Brinstar Depths. Unusually, the music remains unchanged.

In Event Matches

Ganondorf is featured in the following event matches:

• Event 29: Triforce Gathering: As Link and teamed with Zelda, the player faces Ganondorf on the Temple stage. If the player has not yet unlocked Ganondorf upon completing this event, they will have the opportunity to do so after defeating him one-on-one.
• Event 49: All-Star Match Deluxe: Ganondorf is the final opponent the player must fight in this series of staged battles. The player battles him on Final Destination, and their character has two stocks, while Ganondorf has one. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat him and the other five characters one-by-one with the overall time and life the player is given: Dr. Mario, Falco, Pichu, Young Link, and Roy.
• Event 51: The Showdown: The final event match pits the player against a team of Giga Bowser, Mewtwo, and Ganondorf on the Final Destination stage, without friendly fire, and all four characters having three stocks apiece and unlimited time.

Congratulations Screens

• 

  Classic Mode

• 

  Adventure Mode

• 

  All-Star Mode

Trophies

In addition to the normal trophy about Ganondorf as a character unlocked by completing Classic Mode as Ganondorf on any difficulty, there are two trophies about him as a fighter, unlocked by completing Adventure Mode and All-Star Mode respectively as Ganondorf on any difficulty. Each of the trophies can also be unlocked by playing 100, 200, and 300 versus matches respectively as Ganondorf:

Classic Mode trophy

Ganondorf

Said to be the sole man born to the Gerudo tribe in a hundred years, Ganondorf aspired to conquer the world. He plundered a piece of the sacred Triforce from the Temple of Time when Link pulled the Master Sword from its pedestal. With the Triforce of Power in Ganondorf's possession, Hyrule was plunged into darkness until Link and Zelda defeated the fiend.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (11/98)

Adventure Mode SMASH trophy

Ganondorf SMASH

Since he's slow and can't jump very high, Ganondorf relies mainly on his immense physical strength to overwhelm his enemies. His great weight also makes him a difficult foe to send offscreen. Ganondorf's Warlock Punch is slow but absurdly powerful, and when he strikes with his Gerudo Dragon, enemies rise skyward enveloped in dark flames.

B: Warlock Punch

Smash B: Gerudo Dragon

All-Star Mode SMASH trophy

Ganondorf SMASH

Ganondorf's slow speed works against him in single combat, but in melees, his crazy power lets him earn his keep with innumerable KOs. Ganondorf can't strike quickly, but each blow he lands adds up. Ganondorf is at his quickest when he uses the Wizard's Foot, and his Dark Dive blasts foes in a burst of dark energy.

Up & B: Dark Dive

Down & B: Wizard's Foot

Alternate costumes

Gallery

• 

  Fighting Link and Zelda on Temple.

• 

  Using Warlock Punch on Captain Falcon on Princess Peach's Castle.

• 

  Using his neutral attack on Yoshi on Pokémon Stadium.

• 

  Using aerial Wizard's Foot on Donkey Kong on Temple.

• 

  Using Dark Dive on Luigi on Jungle Japes.

• 

  Using Gerudo Dragon on Mario.

Trivia

Ganondorf's scrapped second Jab from version 1.0 of Melee, which is visible and usable by mods.

• In the 1.0 version of Melee, if Ganondorf had a Bunny Hood equipped, he would perform a second jab during his neutral attack, an apparent leftover from Captain Falcon's moveset. This second jab had no hitboxes however, and was removed in the subsequent versions of Melee.
• Despite being a rather poor jumper, Ganondorf has the highest ledge jump in the game, jumping higher than his more agile counterpart, Captain Falcon, and even Falco (who has the highest normal jumps, and the second highest ledge jump).
• Ganondorf's AI is infamous for its extreme level of dominance when fighting other CPUs, where it’s been observed that a level 9 CPU Ganondorf will win the majority of the time against every other level 9 CPU, even against level 9 Luigi (who is normally considered the best CPU character against human players). As such, when AI tournaments are held, where players choose a CPU character to represent them, there are usually limitations on choosing Ganondorf, such as charging a higher fee to pick him.
• Ganondorf is tied with the Ice Climbers for the world record in the Home-Run Contest. Ganondorf is also the only character that can break the max distance in the Home-Run Contest without the use of a glitch or Action Replay (the Ice Climbers have to utilize the freeze glitch to break the max distance).
• When Ganondorf's trophies are viewed under the "night"/"dark" background in the Trophy Gallery, his eyes glow. He is the only character whose trophy holds this trait.
• Ganondorf's hand is briefly seen during Link's montage in the introduction to Melee, making him one of the five hidden characters, along with Jigglypuff, Mewtwo, Young Link, and Pichu, to have some kind of involvement with the intro.
• A voice clip with Ganondorf saying "Ooya!" only appears in Melee's Sound Test. This clip was reused in Brawl as his Wii Remote selection sound, despite Ganondorf's design and voice actor changing to that of Twilight Princess.
• Ganondorf's Ocarina of Time voice clips that were used in Melee do not have the filters that made them deeper and gruffer. In Ultimate, where he has all new voice clips by Takashi Nagasako, the tone of Ganondorf's voice is closer to the one Ocarina of Time had.
• Ganondorf is the only clone whose original character (Captain Falcon) is from a different series.
  • Sakurai did not plan to include Ganondorf as a playable character in Melee, only including him later in development because a model was already provided and his body had a very similar build to Captain Falcon's, allowing him to be easily added on as a last minute clone of Captain Falcon.
• Alongside fellow The Legend of Zelda fighter Sheik, Melee marks Ganondorf's first playable appearance. Both would eventually become playable characters outside of Smash in Hyrule Warriors.
• Not counting Donkey Kong and Mario, as they have been both a protagonist and antagonist, Ganondorf, along with Bowser, are the first two playable antagonists in the Smash franchise.
• Strangely, in his challenger approaching screen, Ganondorf appears to have no cape, more closely matching his design in the promo art of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
• This is the only time in the series where Ganondorf is ranked higher than a low/bottom tier.

External links

• Ganondorf's page at Smabura-Ken (Translation)