Greninja

Greninja
Official artwork of Greninja from Pokémon X and Y.
Universe	Pokémon
Debut	Pokémon X and Y (2013)
Smash Bros. appearances	SSB4 Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance	Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon (2017)
Console/platform of origin	Nintendo 3DS
Species	Greninja
Gender	Varies
Place of origin	Kalos
Designed by	Yūsuke Ōmura
English voice actor	Billy Bob Thompson
Japanese voice actor	Yūji Ueda
French voice actor	Frederic Clau
German voice actor	Benedikt Gutjan
Article on Bulbapedia	Greninja (Pokémon)

For fighter info, see Greninja (SSB4).

Greninja (ゲッコウガ, Gekkouga) is a fictional creature from the Pokémon series. It debuted in the series' sixth generation, and represents that generation as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4.

Creature description

Greninja is a bipedal, frog Pokémon that debuted in Pokémon X and Y, the first games within the Pokémon series' sixth generation. Greninja is a dual Water/Dark-type Pokémon and the final evolved form of the starter Pokémon Froakie, who in turn evolves into its middle stage Frogadier at level 16 before evolving into Greninja at level 36.

According to the Pokédex and based on its statistics in the Pokémon games, Greninja is extremely fast, to the point that it has the highest raw speed statistic of any Water-type Pokémon or fully evolved starter Pokémon. Fittingly, it relies on this speed in battle to confound its prey with swift, ninja-like grace before striking with its Water Shuriken move, which is said to be able to shear metal. In exchange, however, it is rather frail because of its low defenses.

In the Pokémon games, Greninja has access to numerous unique abilities. In addition to Water Shuriken, which it uses in Super Smash Bros., it was the only Pokémon able to learn Mat Block, where it flips a tatami mat in front of itself to shield itself and its allies from incoming attacks. In addition to these two unique moves, it has access to a diverse range of offensive and status moves; it can even uniquely take advantage of them with its rare Hidden Ability Protean, which changes its type to match each move it uses and ensures it gets the maximum possible power out of every attack.

Its prowess in Pokémon battles courtesy of Protean has led to Greninja to being considered an extremely powerful and useful Pokémon by the competitive Pokémon scene, to the point that is even viewed as an "Uber-tier" Pokémon in the same vein as Mewtwo. In Pokémon Sun and Moon, Greninja appears as a gift Pokémon obtainable via the games' demo version. This Greninja has the unique Battle Bond ability, which allows it to transform into its more powerful "Ash-Greninja" form, which initially debuted in the Pokémon anime.

Greninja has made multiple appearances in the Pokémon anime, but is most notable for being Ash Ketchum's ace Pokémon during the XY series. Having been part of Ash's party ever since Ash received it from Professor Sycamore, the Pokémon developed a close bond with Ash throughout the series as it trained and evolved, eventually gaining access to its strengthened "Ash-Greninja" form because of the connection between Pokémon and Trainer.

With the help of Greninja and the rest of his Pokémon team, Ash was able to achieve his greatest success in a Pokémon League tournament up to that point, only losing in the finals due to Greninja being overwhelmed and defeated by Alain's Charizard. At the end of the series, Greninja bade farewell to Ash, parting ways in order to help protect Kalos alongside two Zygarde, Squishy and Z2.

In Super Smash Bros. 4

Greninja as it appears in Super Smash Bros. 4.

Main article: Greninja (SSB4)

Greninja debuts as a newcomer in Super Smash Bros. 4. It was first revealed in the Super Smash Bros. Direct on April 8, 2014, alongside fellow Pokémon representative Charizard. Much like in its home series, Greninja is very quick and mobile, similarly to Sheik and Sonic. However, it possesses more consistent KO power overall in comparison to them. It also possesses special moves that can catch opponents off-guard, such as Shadow Sneak and Substitute.

Greninja is currently ranked 26th out of 55 on the tier list, placing it in the C tier. Greninja's strengths include very fast overall mobility and great combo potential, most notably with its neutral attack's jab cancel, and its up and down tilts. Water Shuriken also grants it a decent projectile, which not only has fairly good travel distance, but is also capable of being thrown out for a fast attack, or charged up for greater power. Despite these positives, Greninja has a few noticeable negatives. It has unusually high ending lag in its moveset, especially its smash attacks. Substitute is a weak and avoidable counterattack. Lastly, its grab game is burdened with an abysmal pummel, an overall low damage output, and only two throws whose utility is decent at best. Regardless of these issues, as well as being noticeably nerfed in update 1.0.4, Greninja is still viewed as a viable choice for competitive play, thanks to it achieving decent results.

Trophies

Greninja

This Water/Dark-type Pokémon is the fully evolved form of Froakie. It's just as fast and dangerous as any other ninja, and the throwing stars it can make out of water can shear metal. In Smash Bros., as well as being a graceful, speedy fighter, it can also use moves like Hydro Pump that let it travel through the air and avoid falling.

This Water- and Dark-type Pokémon is the fully evolved form of Froakie. It is just as fast and dangerous as its name suggests, and the throwing stars it can make out of water can shear metal. In this game, as well as being a graceful, speedy fighter, it can also use moves like Hydro Pump to let it move through the air and avoid falling.

Appears In

: Pokémon X and Pokémon Y (10/2013)

Greninja (Alt.)

Greninja's Substitute down special lets you teleport to dodge attacks and then strike back, making it an effective and hard-to-predict way to counterattack. You can also control where you reappear by inputting directions. When you vanish, sometimes you'll be replaced by a log, other times by a cuddly toy.

Greninja's Substitute down special lets you teleport to dodge attacks and then strike back, making it an effective and hard-to-predict way to counter-attack. You can also control where you reappear. When you vanish, sometimes you'll be replaced by a log, and other times by a Substitute doll.

Appears In

: Pokémon X and Pokémon Y (10/2013)

• 

  Classic (3DS)

• 

  Classic (Wii U)

• 

  Alt. (3DS)

• 

  Alt. (Wii U)

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Greninja as it appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Greninja returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Trivia

• Masahiro Sakurai decided to add Greninja to Super Smash Bros. 4 long before the release of Pokémon X and Y, having initially reserved a space on the roster for a brand new Pokémon. Sakurai's only source material for designing the character was concept art of Greninja.
  • Because of this, Greninja's depiction in SSB4 is not directly based on a particular member of its species in the anime, unlike all other playable Pokémon in the game. However, it shares its voice actors in various languages with Ash's Greninja (which was unevolved at the time) and Riot's Greninja.
• Prior to Corrin's appearance as downloadable content, Greninja was the most recently debuted character to become playable in the Super Smash Bros. series.