Fox (SSBM)/Up aerial

Overview

The hitbox of Fox's uair.

Sometimes called the McCloud Flip, Fox whips his tail up then kicks immediately after. Fox's up aerial is among the most feared attacks in all the game, being a multi-hit move, with the kick hitbox having very high knockback, making it a great vertical finisher at mid-to-high percents, a combo-starter at low percents, and a great juggle move. It can also be comboed into from moves such as an up throw against the majority of the cast. This, along with up smash, gives Fox an advantage against light, floaty characters such as Jigglypuff. Additionally, the move's narrow hitboxes make it especially effective at shield pokes from a short hop, which, as mentioned previously, can start high-damage juggles or kill outright.

The move's main weakness comes in the form of its multi-hit nature. The tail hitbox is significantly weaker than the kick hitbox and also has fixed knockback, dealing somewhere between 18 and 22 frames of hitstun, depending upon the opponent's weight. Its main function is to be comboed directly into the kick hitbox whilst tacking on some percent, similarly to the first hit of Falcon's neutral aerial. However, the move can be manipulated by both the attacker and victim, such that only the tail hits the opponent. As the Fox player, hitting with only the tail via timing lets it function as a combo-extension tool, especially against fastfallers, for when landing the second hit would launch the victim too far away yet not kill, where it can be then be linked into up-tilt or one of his smash attacks. This is only useful if the Fox lands immediately and L-cancels it, though, as hitting with just the tail in the air can provide as many as 9 frames of advantage for the opponent, thanks to the move's end lag. The opponent can intentionally cause themselves to be struck with only the tail by utilizing SDI, thereby becoming frame positive and performing a reversal on the hapless Fox. The window to perform this is extremely tight, however, since the hitlag from the tail strike lasts for a measly 4 frames. Counterplay also exists for the Fox player: spacing the move to land only the kick nullifies SDI as an option. The Fox can also perform the move with horizontal aerial momentum, thereby following the victim's SDI inputs and nearly guaranteeing the 2nd hit.

Hitboxes

ID	Part	Damage	SD	Angle	BK	KS	FKV	Radius	Bone	Offset			Clang	Rebound	Effect	G	A	Sound
Hit 1
0	0	5%	0		0	120	134	4.2966	18	0.0	0.0	-3.1248						Punch
1	0	5%	0		0	120	134	4.2966	18	0.0	0.0	-5.4684						Punch
2	0	5%	0		0	120	134	4.2966	4	0.0	0.0	-5.4684						Punch
Hit 2
0	0	13%	0		40	116	0	3.659922	13	0.0	0.0	0.0						Kick
1	0	13%	0		40	116	0	4.8825	15	0.0	0.0	0.0						Kick
2	0	13%	0		40	116	0	4.8825	4	0.0	0.0	0.0						Kick

Timing

Attack

Initial autocancel	1-7
Hit 1	8-9
Hit 2	11-14
Ending autocancel	26-
Interruptible	36
Animation length	39

Landing lag

Animation length	18
L-cancelled animation length	9

Normal

L-cancelled

Legend (1 square = 1 frame)

Lag time

Hitbox

Autocancel

Interruptible

Similar moves

• Falco (SSBM)/Up aerial

Fox's moveset

Neutral attack (1 · 2 · inf) · Forward tilt · Up tilt · Down tilt · Dash attack · Forward smash · Up smash · Down smash
Neutral aerial · Forward aerial · Back aerial · Up aerial · Down aerial
Grab · Pummel · Forward throw · Back throw · Up throw · Down throw
Forward roll · Back roll · Spot dodge · Air dodge · Techs
Floor attack (front) · Floor getups (front) · Floor attack (back) · Floor getups (back)
Edge attack (fast) · Edge getups (fast) · Edge attack (slow) · Edge getups (slow)
Neutral special · Side special · Up special · Down special