Rayquaza (SSBB)

Rayquaza in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Universe	Pokémon
A boss in	Brawl
Availability	Hacking
Tier	Banned

Rayquaza (レックウザ, Rayquaza), stylized as RAYQUAZA in European versions, is an unplayable character in Brawl and only playable in Boss Battles via hacking. It has no voice actor, instead being voiced with metallic screeches.

When playable, Rayquaza's power level scales with the difficulty setting chosen for Boss Battles. Depending on this, it can KO players with just a few hits using a mix of large sweeping hitboxes, projectiles, and charging moves. Being among the most durable bosses on top of this, thanks to having numerous elemental resistances and having only negligible weak points, Rayquaza can take a long time to bring down. All things considered, Rayquaza is among the better and more well-rounded boss characters in Brawl.

Attributes

Rayquaza is one of the most durable Brawl bosses, giving it some ability to outlast opponents; factoring in resistances and Intense difficulty, it effectively has around 300 HP. This, coupled with its constant passive armor, makes it capable of responding to any attack fiercely. Furthermore, it has a decently fast, easy-to-use side switching move in Dash, something that other bosses have some difficulty doing, while also being a decently strong and fast attack in its own right. Air Dash can serve a similar purpose, attacking players who stay too lose to the blast zone, though this is far easier to avoid. Rayquaza is also one of few bosses to possess projectiles in Electric Ball and Blast, though their slow nature can make them easy to avoid and the former can be reflected. Regardless, they can prevent characters from camping on the other side of the stage. Finally, its Lightning Strike and Iron Tail give it decent "get off me" tools, the latter of which can break shields up close, making up for its occasional blindspots. Its bevy of resistances also makes Rayquaza uniquely capable of surviving repeated onslaughts from Peach's Vegetable z-drops, and Lightning Strike is a more than apt response to such.

However, Rayquaza has multiple moves that are arguably useless, including Dig and Ground Burst, which do not track the opponent when used through hacking. With Dig being one move that is meant to help Rayquaza side switch, this does reduce its flexibility by a bit. Lightning Strike also fails to deal significant knockback, only tacking on damage without launching the opponent, which gives it less utility than it would imply; in fact, it can sometimes be unsafe on hit. It also has a notable blindspot on the ground, with no "launcher" hitbox, so it's strictly an anti-air attack. Electric Ball is vulnerable to reflection, which can deal gigantic damage if attempted against a character that has them, such as Falco. Iron Tail, while it does deal with characters behind Rayquaza well, doesn't hit completely into the magnifying glass, allowing characters like Fox to get in a massive amount of chip damage with projectiles; in these cases, Rayquaza can't do much other than Air Dash, which isn't difficult to avoid or crouch underneath. Rayquaza also suffers from the regular drawbacks of bosses, with its attacks all having high startup and endlag that make them punishable. For example, Meta Knight's Mach Tornado and Charizard's Rock Smash can deal extremely high damage to it, being usable repeatedly during its attacks. Thus, playing as Rayquaza often means watching attacks while one is being used, and buffering the next response afterwards.

Health values

HP Values
Round	1-3	4-6	7-9	1-3	4-6	7-9	1-3	4-6	7-9	1-3	4-6	7-9	1-3	4-6	7-9
Boss Battles	115.4	121	133.2	128	135	148.6	141.5	150	164	155	165	182.7	191	205	224.5
Multiplied by 0.6× when a second player is present.

Damage taken	×0.7	×0.7	×0.5	×1.0	×0.7	×0.5	×0.5	×0.7	×0.7	×0.7	×0.3
Unknown weak point	×1.0	×1.0	×0.7	×1.5	×1.0	×0.7	×0.7	×1.0	×1.0	×1.0	×0.8

Moveset

Like all bosses, Rayquaza's moves are inputted using a set of commands with a GameCube controller, chiefly with the D-Pad. Move names are taken from the Japanese strategy guide for Brawl. Damage varies by difficulty, the following being taken from the game's files. Samus's Grapple Beam restores AI control. Unlike its boss appearance, Rayquaza cannot use its Roar attack.

Image	Move	Input	Base Damage	Notes
	Iron Tail		8% (start), 18% (front, close), 20% (front, far), 16% (back)	Rayquaza sweeps its tail across the ground. Hits twice and can break shields easily at higher difficulties. It's extremely effective at catching landing opponents after their airtime is exhausted.
	Dig	+	22% (start), 16%, 15% (return)	Rayquaza flies up slowly, then crashes into the character while burrowing into the ground, then appears on the other side. If used while controlling Rayquaza, it doesn't track the opponent, only hitting the middle of the stage, making it effortless to avoid.
	Dash	+	16%	Rayquaza ducks down and rushes to the other side of the stage. Its head can damage opponents when doing so and is thus Rayquaza's most reliable attack for covering the middle of the stage.
	Air Dash	+/	12% (start), 24% (attack)	Rayquaza flies up, and then dashes back and forth near the ground; when controlled, this is only used once, regardless of damage sustained. Small characters can evade this attack by ducking if they can fit between the "waves" of Rayquaza's wavy shape and the ground, but the move also produces a wind that can push characters around into a spot where they can be hit, making crawling an asset. Breaks shields on higher difficulties. This is Rayquaza's main option against blast zone camping if Electric Ball isn't feasible.
	Diagonal Electric Ball		20% (head), 2% (loop), 12% (otherwise)	Rayquaza sends a ball of electricity in front of itself diagonally, which can be reflected by various reflecting attacks but not absorbed by PSI Magnet or Oil Panic. Breaks shields on higher difficulties and hits multiple times.
	Lightning Strike	+	2% (loop, end)	Rayquaza flies up in a tight circle and attacks with a multi-hit lightning bolt with middling knockback. Because it doesn't launch the opponent, it can be unsafe on hit. It breaks shields down quickly. During the time Rayquaza rises, touching it will deal electric damage. It's one of the few attacks that are easier to dodge on higher difficulties due to its much shorter duration. Breaks shields on higher difficulties if held all the way through. Similar to Pikachu's Thunder.
	Ground Burst	+	10% (start), 25% (emergence), 18% (emergence, late)	Rayquaza burrows underground, then bursts out of the ground where the player was standing. If used while controlling Rayquaza, it doesn't track the opponent, only hitting the middle of the stage, making it easily avoided.
	Horizontal Electric Ball	+/	20% (head), 2% (loop), 12% (otherwise)	Rayquaza lowers its head and sends the lightning orb in front of itself, which travels across the stage unless it hits the ground, when it will explode. Like its diagonal counterpart, it can be reflected by various reflecting attacks but not absorbed by PSI Magnet or Oil Panic. Breaks shields on higher difficulties and hits multiple times.
	Blast		16% (head), 14% (explosion)	Rayquaza's eyes glow, and then it creates an explosion at the location where the character was at that time. While Rayquaza's eyes glow, fighters in contact with its head will be spiked to the ground, often a perfect setup for the explosion. If used while controlling Rayquaza, only one blast will occur. Deals massive damage to shields on higher difficulties.
	Self-Destruct		N/A	KOs Rayquaza.

Codes

Like all Brawl bosses, Rayquaza can be accessed using a Gecko code that enables debug mode controls for Player 3 in Boss Battles. It is encountered randomly without additional external modifications, meaning other bosses need to be defeated or forced to self-destruct with their own codes to reach Rayquaza's stage. The following codes are for the NTSC-U version of Brawl and both codes must be on.

Enable Boss Control
4A000000	810F1F3C
D2000000	00000002
901F058C	5400843E
90020070	00000000
C277F780	00000010
7CDFF050	2C06414C
4082006C	2C1C0002
40810064	39820074
809E0038	A0EC0000
7C043800	41810050
A0EC0002	7C1C3800
41820044	3CC0804E
A0C6E4C0	A8EC0004
2C070000	41820030
A8EC0004	7C063800
4082000C	A38C0006
4800001C	2C07FFFF
4082000C	AB8C0006
4800000C	398C0004
4BFFFFD8	939E0038
60000000	00000000
4A000000	805A9320
14000078	00000000
E0000000	80008000

Rayquaza control for Player 3
4A000000	805A9320
30000070	00005C01
16000074	00000038
0008001E	1080001E
0180000B	0184000C
0182000D	0181000D
01880010	02880013
02840014	02800017
0282001A	0281001A
0480001D	FFFFFFFF
E0000000	80008000

In competitive play

Because Rayquaza is only playable through hacking, it's banned by default in all competitive Brawl tournaments. While some boss characters have arguments to be legalised, Brawl's bosses have unique challenges that make them particularly unlikely cases. They do not conform to the usual ruleset, are exclusive to Boss Battles and thus their specific stage, are subject to Boss Battles's random boss selection without further modifications, and have varying difficulty levels that would require rulings to decide on them properly. This boils down to a very clunky experience that would likely end up delaying tournaments due to the length of time it takes for them to be set up. Furthermore, Samus's Grapple Beam can curiously restore AI control, prompting further ruling issues. Ergo, Rayquaza has seen little to no competitive experimentation outside of casual matches.

In The Subspace Emissary

Rayquaza in The Subspace Emissary.

Rayquaza appears as a boss at The Lake in The Subspace Emissary, being the second boss of the game and fought by Fox and Diddy Kong. It later reappears in The Great Maze with reduced health.

Gallery

• 

  Rayquaza as seen on the Boss Battles congratulations screen when cleared on Normal difficulty.

• 

  Official artwork

• 

  Rayquaza trophy

• 

  Rayquaza sticker

• 

  Rayquaza roars.

• 

  Rayquaza charges a ball of electricity.

• 

  Rayquaza soars into the sky before using Dig.

• 

  Rayquaza flashes its eyes before creating an explosion.