Pokémon Trainer (SSBU)

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Pokémon Trainer in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	Pokémon
Shares character slot with	Charizard Ivysaur Squirtle
Other playable appearance	in Brawl
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Triple Finish

Pokémon Trainer (ポケモントレーナー, Pokémon Trainer) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was confirmed on June 12th, 2018. Pokémon Trainer can use three interchangeable Pokémon in battle: Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Aesthetics

• The Pokémon Trainer's model is significantly more detailed than it was in Brawl. His design overall is more proportional to the trainers in the more recent Pokémon titles.
• Leaf, the female Pokémon Trainer from FireRed and LeafGreen, appears as an alternate costume.
• The Pokémon Trainer now turns in battle to face the direction of the fight.
• The designs and proportions of Squirtle and Ivysaur now match their appearances in the more recent Pokémon titles. They are much more expressive than they were in Brawl.
• Squirtle has a new dash animation that involves surfing on a water wave.
• Squirtle has a more upright stance.
• Triple Finish has a different text box and animations, making it identical to how they appear in the Generation VII games.
• The trainer now claps on the results screen.
• On the results screen, the Pokémon Trainer himself is shown and announced as the winner of the fight rather than the Pokémon that was in battle. His face is also used as the stock icon for all three Pokémon.

Attributes

• The Stamina mechanic has been removed, eliminating the necessity of switching out Pokémon to restore their power.
• Squirtle has a much faster running speed.

Normal Moves

• Squirtle's full jab combo does slightly more damage, and has a different animation: 9% → 9.4%.
• Squirtle's forward tilt does slightly more damage: 6% → 6.2%.
• Squirtle has a new down tilt. While it only hits once, it has further reach and is much stronger: 5% → 10.1%.
• Squirtle no longer leaps up during its up smash.
• Squirtle's up smash activates faster and reaches much higher, along with being slightly stronger.
• Squirtle's forward smash is much stronger, even when uncharged: 14% → 19.3%).
• Ivysaur's forward tilt reaches further and does far more damage.
• Ivysaur's down smash has greatly increased reach.
• Ivysaur's dash has a new animation, appearing to be a shoulder charge/headbutt rather than a leap attack.

Aerial Moves

• Squirtle's forward aerial now has additional water effects alongside the kick.
• Ivysaur's neutral aerial has a new animation where it points its bulb towards the screen and spins its leaves, hitting 6 times.
• Ivysaur's up aerial causes less downward momentum and no longer causes it to fast fall. This makes it easier to use as a conventional attack, but less safe since Ivysaur no longer pops downwards.

Special Moves

• Bullet Seed now has a finishing blow.
• Water Gun charges much faster and covers significantly more distance, able to reach the entirety of Battlefield when fully charged and having enough pushing force to KO off-stage opponents by pushing them into the blast zone.
• Withdraw is much faster and stronger: 8% → 11%
  • Withdraw now stops on impact, preventing it from racking up further damage.
• Pokémon Change can now be used in the air and is much quicker. Like in Brawl, it also offers brief invincibility upon switching out, though the quicker switch time allows it to potentially combo into another Pokémon's moves, or function somewhat as an alternative "air dodge". It also allows the user to essentially choose the recovery that suits a situation best.
  • Spamming Pokémon Change will grant no invincibility frames for a period of time.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4

These changes only affect Charizard, who was a single fighter in the previous game.

Aesthetics

• As with all veterans returning from SSB4, Charizard's model features a more subdued color scheme. It more closely resembles its appearance in recent mainline Pokémon titles as a consequence. Its model and textures otherwise appear unchanged.

Attributes

• Charizard's mid air jumps carry it higher than before.

Ground attacks

• Charizard's jab combo now requires specific timing of each input to deal maximum damage.
• Charizard's up tilt has lower vertical range.
• Charizard's forward smash is slightly stronger: 17% → 19%.

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial causes Charizard's tail flame to grow, making it easier to sweetspot. Its overall speed and power has also been increased (sweetspot/sourspot: 12% → 15% / 9% → 12%).
• Charizard's back aerial has greatly decreased start up.
• Charizard's down aerial has increased ending lag.

Special Moves

• Flamethrower has a significantly larger hitbox. Additionally, its size does not decrease as fast, and it is still usable at its smallest.
• Flare Blitz is significantly stronger (19% → 26%) and deals even more knockback.
• Flare Blitz causes Charizard to enter a tumble animation for a longer period of time after impact.
• Fly's distance has greatly increased, allowing Charizard to recover to the ledge of Battlefield from the stage's lowest point.
• Now that it is once again part of the Pokémon Trainer rotation, Charizard's down special, Rock Smash, has been replaced with Pokémon Change, effectively eliminating Rock Smash from its moveset.
• Charizard's Final Smash has been reverted from Mega Charizard X to Triple Finish.

Alternate costumes

Only the starting Pokémon is shown on the character selection screen; it can be changed by hovering the cursor over it and selecting it. All of Pokémon Trainer's alternate costumes reference a protagonist from each generation of the Pokémon games and anime.

1.Red (Pokemon Fire Red & Leaf Green) 2.Leaf (Pokemon Fire Red & Leaf Green) 3.Ethan (Pokemon Gold & Silver) 4.May (Pokemon Emerald) 5.Lucas (Pokemon Diamond & Pearl) 6.Hilda (Pokemon Black & White) 7.Callem (Pokemon The Series X & Y) 8.Moon (Pokemon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon)

Gallery

Character Showcase Video

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Trivia

• Now that Charizard has lost Rock Smash, all of the trainer's Pokémon's moves consist of only STAB moves.
• As previous "dual character" pairings have been removed (such as Zelda and Sheik in Melee and Brawl, and Samus and Zero Suit Samus in Brawl), Pokémon Trainer’s ability to switch characters has now become a unique character attribute. Oddly, while both of those pairings consisted of a single individual who would change between alter-egos, the Pokémon Trainer character consists of four separate entities in battle.
• With the addition of Leaf as a palette swap, the Pokémon Trainer's character slot encompasses five entities, the most of any character in the series.
• Pokémon Trainer is the first composite character to have been separated in a sequel and later reformed back into a composite character.