Fox (SSBB)

Fox in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Universe	Star Fox
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Melee in SSB4 in Ultimate
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Landmaster
Tier	C (15)

Fox (フォックス, Fox) was confirmed for Super Smash Bros. Brawl at Nintendo World 2006. He was the first fighter to appear on the DOJO!! that did not appear on the E3 2006 video.

Fox is now voiced by Jim Walker in English and Kenji Nojima in Japanese, both reprising their role from Star Fox Assault, replacing Shinobu Satouchi from Smash 64 and Melee.

Fox is currently ranked at 15th place on the tier list, placing him in the middle of the C tier, a noticeable drop from his position at the top of the Melee tier list, and also his worst placement in the series. Fox maintains his incredible movement, fast frame data, high damage output, effective setup moves (especially his down aerial), and a very fast up smash with enough strength and reach to KO the majority of characters reliably under 100%. Additionally, Fox possesses the fastest projectile in Brawl in his Blaster (which is also transcendent), a decent recovery with respectable mixup options, and an effective semi-spike and defensive stalling tactic in his Reflector. Fox is notoriously frail, however, sustaining the fourth most knockback in Brawl, with rather poor vertical endurance (despite strong vertical momentum cancelling abilities), and among the worst horizontal endurance. His endurance problems are exacerbated by his extreme falling speed and acceleration, which leave him heavily vulnerable to combos and juggles, locks, and chain throws, some of which (including Pikachu's and Sheik's) can bring Fox to KO percentage from zero damage, if not zero deathing him outright. Additionally, Fox's attacks are very poor on shield, with high ending lag, low shield stun, and insufficient reach to hit opposing shields safely. Fox also has poor horizontal aerial movement and mobility, a tendency to over-rely on his up smash to KO, and a projectile without any flinch. Nonetheless, Fox's offensive prowess tends to outweigh his significant flaws, with his matchups being above average overall (despite a few hard counters), along with above average tournament results (which are significantly better in Japan, where he ranks 7th on the tier list).

Attributes

Fox is a lightweight who boasts impressive mobility, having the 3rd fastest dashing speed and the second fastest walking speed in the game (with Marth having the fastest walking speed). Almost all of his attacks come out quickly and combo with each other. Fox's excellent speed is counter-balanced by the small and short reaching hitboxes in most of his attacks. This can complicate approaches, and his Blaster doesn't make up for that because it doesn't make opponents flinch. However, it is able to force approaches, unless the opponent has a lasting reflector, an absorbing move such as PSI Magnet, or their crouch is low enough to avoid it.

One of Fox's primary advantages is his impressive KO power. His up smash is a powerful vertical finisher, and is also his only move that can KO reliably under 100%. It's a good move due to its high knockback scaling, impressive speed for a smash attack, and respectable reach. It can also be combo'd into, most notably from a down aerial. Up aerial is also a great finisher; it can KO quickly when used near the upper blast line and is useful in juggling situations to close stocks early. Fox's impressive vertical KO options can be dangerous to characters with poor vertical endurance or momentum cancelling.

Fox his a variety of other useful moves besides his finishers. His forward aerial can add extra height to Fox's jump, due to producing a hovering effect if used shortly after jumping (known as Foxcoptering) - this can extend his recovery and allow him to quickly recover vertically, which isn't possible with his primary vertical recovery move (Fire Fox). His back air has high horizontal knockback and a generous auto-cancel window. As far as specials go, Fox's Blaster can easily build damage from a distance, refresh stale moves if it hits, and steal KOs in a Time match. Fox's Reflector not only reflects projectiles, but can semi-spike opponents when used in the air, making it a useful tool for gimping poor and/or slow recoveries, and also slows Fox's aerial movement. The jump cancel has been replaced with a dash cancel, allowing a continuous shine volley across the stage (it works best at 70% and above depending on the character). As far as recovery goes, Fox Illusion can be used to gain a horizontal boost, and can also be canceled before completion to trick opponents, as opposed to Fire Fox, which comes off much slower but can move vertically. However, Fire Fox is easily edgeguarded, due to leaving Fox vulnerable during the charge required to use the move (though it can damage opponents if they get too close). Fox is also able to wall jump, boost grab, and DACUS (though his sliding up smash doesn't gain much less distance than his DACUS).

Fox's most notable attribute, as well as the most notorious, is his short jump in relation to the rest of the Brawl cast (much like Jigglypuff having the slowest falling speed in the game). His falling speed acceleration is the fastest, and his falling speed is the third fastest in the game (which is unusual for a character as light as he is). It has advantages and some hindrances, all of which must be known to make the best use of Fox. Some advantages of such speed are that it makes him difficult to juggle and KO vertically. However, his extreme falling speed acceleration is what makes him very susceptible to certain chaingrabs (particularly Pikachu's buffered d-throw chaingrab that has a 0-death on Fox) and locks (like Sheik's f-tilt lock). His fast falling speed also shortens his recovery.

Another of Fox's weaknesses regards his transition from Melee to Brawl; Brawl's general gameplay changes hinder Fox more than they help him. The encouragement of defensive gameplay hinders Fox due to his playstyle revolving little around the neutral game. The introduction of hitstun cancelling as well as the cast's universally decreased falling speeds greatly reduce the potency of Fox's combo game like most characters. This means Fox can struggle to rack up damage and approach as effectively as he could in Melee.

Lastly, Fox has a poor grab game. The blaster shots fired from his up and back throws are very easily avoided with successful DI, while up throw now struggles to combo because of the cast's slower falling speeds. Back throw lacks KO potential and it has a poor launch angle for setting up edgeguards. While forward throw is Fox's strongest throw, it cannot KO before 150% at the edge. Because of it's glaring problems, Fox's grab game is very inconsistent and unreliable.

The end result is that Fox is a glass cannon. He has difficulty approaching characters with strong defensive games or the ability to space effectively, forcing him to rely on his Blaster to approach if needed, which some characters can avoid rather effortlessly. His combination of a very low weight (seventh lightest character), very high knockback sustained (fourth highest), very fast overall falling speed (third fastest normal falling speed and fastest accelerated falling speed), mediocre air speed, and mediocre recovery for his weight create a tendency to KO at low percentages. However, he has many quick moves, a very strong offensive game, and once the opponent is knocked back he has flexible follow up options, but his speed can make him tough to control.

Changes from Melee to Brawl

Fox was notorious for being considered by many to be the best character in Melee with some players even seeing him as broken due to his infamous dominance. As a result of this, Fox has been significantly nerfed overall despite technically receiving more buffs. All the traits that made Fox excel in the previous game are still intact: his excellent mobility, great frame data, the ability to force approaches with to his Blaster, and his impressive and effective KO and damage racking ability (though the damage output on some of his attacks were toned down slightly). Some of his moves have seen improvements to their speed and some of his moves have seen various adjustments to either make them more reliable or to increase their utility such as his forward and down aerials. His aerials in general have lower landing lag and more lenient auto-cancel windows making the removal of L-canceling a fairly small loss for him compared to other veterans. His recovery has also been improved as his air speed is faster, his falling speed/gravity are lower, Fox Illusion travels more distance, his double jump is higher and he can use his forward aerial to increase the height of his jumps making him harder to edgeguard overall.

However, the changes to Brawl's mechanics have severely harmed him. He is much more frail than in Melee due to the changes in the knockback formula making his vertical endurance in particular significantly worse, despite being heavier. The introduction of hitstun canceling hinders him overall as while it makes him less susceptible to combos, it also significantly hinders his followup potential. The removal of DI against moves which don't put opponents into tumble also significantly hinders him as it makes him far more susceptible to inescapable chain grabs and locks most notably from Pikachu and Sheik. The removal of wavedashing also severely harms him more than almost any other veteran as he was one of the characters who could abuse it the most due to his fast jumpsquat as well as his Reflector which could be jump cancelled.

As for his direct nerfs, the reduced range on Blaster has weakened his ability to zone and force approaches. His new back aerial is slower, has a shorter duration and has less range hindering its spacing potential. His general combo game is far worse: down throw can no longer tech-chase, up throw is ineffective for combos and chain-grabs due to the slower fall speeds as well as its greatly increased ending lag. His KO'ing ability is weaker: up smash and up aerial, his two best finishers in Melee, have had their damage and knockback reduced as well as being slower, and they are also more difficult to combo into in the new physics and with the loss of Fox's Shine combos although his up smash is still a very strong vertical finisher and Fox still has ways to combo into it mainly with his down aerial although he can also potentially combo into it for a kill with his late neutral aerial or even his reflector at specific percents.

The most severe nerf was to his Reflector. While it has seen some improvements such as having lower ending lag, stronger stalling capabilities, increased intangibility and has altered knockback preventing it from knocking down lighter characters at lower percents, it has slower start-up and can no longer be jump-cancelled hindering its safety. The removal of wavedashing drastically harms Reflector's utility as wavedashing was what gave Shine its incredible followup potential making the main reason why the move was so oppressive in Melee.

Overall, while Fox's buffs do not compensate from the nerfs he received from Brawl's new mechanics as well as the nerfs some of his key moves received, he's still considered a viable character who only has a few extremely bad matchups and he is still overall stronger compared to most other Melee veterans.

Aesthetics

• Fox's design is now a mix between his design in Star Fox Assault and Star Fox Command. Fox also looks more detailed due to the boost in graphics.
• Fox has a new idle stance. He now takes on a fighting stance and hops in place rapidly. In addition, Fox has two new idle animations; one where he takes a Tae-Kwon-Do-esque fighting stance, and the other where he does a beckoning gesture with his hand.
• Some of Fox's attacks received a slight tweak in animation; Fox's feet enlarge during the rapid hitting of his jab and during the kicks of his forward aerial as two examples.
• Fox's /previous taunt has been moved to his down taunt.
• Fox has received two new Alternate Costumes, Dark Fox & White jumpsuit.

Attributes

• Fox is heavier (75 → 80). However, due to Brawl's changes to the knockback formula (knockback is now also based on a character's gravity), his vertical endurance is still drastically worse, to the point he has the 5th worst vertical endurance out of 39 characters without momentum canceling, and the 11th worst with momentum canceling, whereas in Melee, he had the 6th best vertical endurance out of 26 characters.
• Fox walks slower (1.6 → 1.45), going from being tied with Marth for the fastest to behind Marth for the second fastest.
• Fox dashes slower (2.2 → 2.08).
  • His initial dash is slightly faster (2.02 → 2.1) now being the fastest in the game.
• Fox's air speed is faster (0.83 → 0.89) improving his recovery and ability to escape aerial pressure.
  • However, due to dashes no longer transferring momentum to air speeds, his aerial approach is significantly slower, going from the 2nd fastest out of 26 characters in Melee with dash momentum (only behind Captain Falcon), to tied for the 27th fastest out of 39 characters in Brawl.
• Fox's additional air acceleration is higher (0.06 → 0.08), increasing the total amount (0.08 → 0.09) despite his base air acceleration being lower (0.02 → 0.01). Relative to the cast however, his air acceleration has gone from the 2nd highest out of 26 characters to the 13th highest out of 39 characters.
• Fox's traction is slightly lower (0.08 → 0.06), especially when comparing with the returning veterans, now going from the 7th highest in Melee to the 11th highest. This makes it harder for him to punish out of shield. Given the lack of wavedashing in the game, it does not provide any benefits whatsoever.
• As with the returning veterans, Fox's falling speed was reduced (2.8 → 1.831). Compared to the returning veterans, however, Fox falls slower (although he still has the 3rd highest falling speed). While worsening his endurance, it improves his recovery and makes him harder to combo.
• Fox's gravity is lower (0.23 → 0.175) though it is still the highest in the game.
• Fox's midair jump height has been increased, now having the fourth highest midair jump in the game. This significantly improves his recovery.
• Jumpsquat is one frame slower (3 → 4 frames).
• Spot dodge has a longer duration (frames 2-15 → 2-20).
• Spot dodge has more ending lag (frame 23 → 26).

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • Neutral attack's second hit has less startup lag (frame 3 → 2) and ending lag (frame 19 → 18). The neutral infinite's hits also have shorter gaps between them (7 → 4 frames), a different angle (78° → 361°) and less knockback (10 (base)/80 (scaling) → 5/3 (base)/20 (scaling)), allowing them to connect more reliably, in addition to a new sweetspot at close range that deals more damage (1% → 2%).
  • Neutral attack's first two hits deal less damage (4% → 2%) and knockback (0 (base)/100 (scaling) → 10/20 (hit 1), 25/30 (hit 2)), and have altered angles (70° → 35°/80°/20° (hit 1), 80°/80°/20° (hit 2)). While this allows them to connect into the neutral infinite more effectively, it also drastically reduces their jab canceling potential, hindering the move's utility at high percents.
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt has less ending lag (frame 27 → 24).
  • Forward tilt has more startup with a shorter duration (frames 5-8 → 6-8), and deals less damage (9% → 8% (up)/6% (non-angled)/7% (down)), although its knockback has been compensated (0 (base)/100 (scaling) → 10/110).
• Up tilt:
  • Fox has a new up tilt: a fast scorpion kick via him bending all the way down with both hands on the ground. It has more reach in front of Fox, and less startup with a longer duration (frames 5-11 → 3-10).
  • Up tilt deals less damage (12%/9% → 10%/8%) with less knockback (18 (base)/140 (scaling) → 22/18 (base)/110 (scaling)), no longer being among the strongest up tilts in the game (it was the third strongest up tilt in Melee). It also has more ending lag (frame 23 → 28), making it less effective for juggling overall despite having faster startup. Furthermore, the introduction of hitstun canceling removes its combo potential beyond low percents.
• Down tilt deals less damage (10% → 9%/8%/7%), has lower knockback scaling (125 → 100), and its inner hitboxes send opponents at lower angles (70° → 45°/65°), significantly hindering its combo and KO potential.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack's late hit has a shorter duration (frames 8-17 → 8-15).
  • Dash attack's angle has been altered (72° → 70°).
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash has a new animation, where Fox tumble-vaults over via swinging his legs more vertically in an overhead arc upon turning, turns his upper body more forward sooner and kicks more with the side of his foot instead of with his heel (making it more akin to a pseudo-butterfly kick). This gives it much more vertical range.
  • Forward smash has more startup with a shorter duration (frames 12-22 → 14-19), and more ending lag (frame 40 → 42). Its clean hit also has less knockback scaling (105 → 96), hindering its KO potential.
• Up smash:
  • Up smash has slightly more range. The introduction of DACUS also improves its utility for approaching.
  • Up smash has more startup with a shorter duration (frames 7-17 → 8-15), and more ending lag (frame 42 → 47). Its clean hit also deals less damage (18% → 17%) with considerably reduced knockback scaling (112 → 96), significantly hindering its KO potential and no longer being one of the strongest up smashes in the game although it still has above average power.
  • Up smash's clean hit now has a slash effect instead of a normal effect. It has also gained an additional hitbox that deals less damage than the rest (17% → 15%); however, due to it being very small, located below Fox's feet, lasting only one frame and having the lowest ID out of them, it is extremely difficult to land and provides no significant coverage, making its addition largely negligible.
  • Up smash has a new charging animation where Fox kneels down with his right hand planted on the ground.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash has significantly increased base knockback (20 → 50), restoring some of its power from Smash 64 and making it much better at edgeguarding and KOing. Fox also kneels down a bit more when charging it; this somewhat shrinks his hurtbox.
  • Down smash's sweetspots deal less damage (15% → 14%).

Aerial attacks

• All aerials except up aerial have decreased landing lag (15/7 frames → 9 (neutral), 22/11 frames → 18 (forward), 20/10 frames → 15 (back), 18/9 frames → 12 (down)). Due to the removal of L-canceling, however, their landing lag is not fully compensated.
• All aerials except down aerial auto-cancel earlier (frame 37 → 32 (neutral), frame 49 → 45 (forward), frame 23 → 15 (back), frame 26 → 25 (up)). Neutral, forward, back and up aerials can now auto-cancel in a short hop.
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial deals less damage (12% (clean)/9% (late) → 9%/6%), reducing its knockback to the point it is no longer a viable KO move at high percents. It also has a shorter duration (frames 4-7 (clean)/8-31 (late) → 4-6/7-25).
  • Neutral aerial's lower damage however improves the late hit's follow up potential at higher percents.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial has been drastically improved. Its hits launch at a higher angle (361° → 75°), all after the first come out faster (frames 16-18, 24-26, 33-35, 43-45 → 13-14, 19-20, 26-27, 32-33), and the move now produces a "hover" effect, which can be used to increase the height of Fox's jumps (especially his midair jump). This allows it to connect all hits more reliably and extend Fox's recovery. Lastly, it has less ending lag (frame 53 → 50), and drastically increased knockback on its last hit (50 (base)/100 (scaling) → 60/140).
  • Forward aerial's first and third hits deal less damage (7%/6% → 6%/5%), decreasing the move's total amount (23.38% → 23%) despite the changes to stale-move negation. The first hit also has more startup (frame 6 → 7), and all hits have a shorter duration (3 → 2 frames).
• Back aerial:
  • Fox has a new back aerial: a face-away-backwards-hooking-kick slanted upward at the same angle as his prior back aerial (which recovers into the back turning motion much quicker). It has increased base knockback (0 → 20) and now semi-spikes when sweetspotted (361° → 30°), significantly improving its edgeguarding potential, as well as its KO potential despite its knockback scaling being lowered (100 → 85).
  • Back aerial has more startup with a much shorter duration (frames 4-19 → 9-11), increased ending lag (frame 38 → 49), and less reach, reducing its effectiveness for approaching.
• Up aerial has more startup (frame 8 → 9), its second hit has a shorter duration (frames 11-14 → 12-14), and deals less damage (13% → 11%) with significantly less knockback (40 (base)/116 (scaling) → 30/100), now requiring opponents to be around 140% or near the upper blast line to KO, instead of reliably KOing under 100% regardless of their proximity to the upper blast line. It also has increased landing lag (18 → 22 frames).
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial deals more total damage (19.38% → 21%) due to the changes to stale-move negation. It additionally no longer has set knockback (30 (set)/100 (scaling) → 33 (base)/40 (scaling)) improving its followup potential at higher percents despite the removal of L-canceling, and Fox can use it offstage more safely due to his much slower falling speed, improving its edgeguarding ability.
  • Down aerial can now be meteor canceled, hindering its gimping potential.
  • Down aerial's angle has been altered (290° → 285°).

Throws/other attacks

• Standing and dash grabs have less startup (frame 7 → 6 (standing), frame 12 → 11 (dash)) and ending lag (frame 31 → 30 (standing), frame 41 → 40 (dash)).
• Pummel:
  • Pummel is much faster (24 → 9 frames).
  • Pummel deals less damage (3% → 1%).
• Forward and back throws launch at lower angles (45° → 40° (forward), 56° → 45° (back)), improving their edgeguarding ability.
• Back and up throws deal more total damage (7.46% → 8%) due to the changes to stale-move negation.
• Up throw has more ending lag (frame 39 → 50). When combined with the slower fall speeds and changes to hitstun, this has severely harmed up throw's utility, as it can no longer true combo into aerials or chain grab fast-fallers.
• Down throw:
  • Down throw's shots deal more damage (1% → 2%), which along with the changes to stale-move negation increases the move's total damage (4.73% → 9%).
  • Down throw has more ending lag (frame 44 → 55).
  • Down throw is no longer a meteor smash (270° → 60°), and has lower knockback (150 (base)/40 (scaling) → 85/100), removing its ability to tech-chase and thus making it much harder to set up follow-ups with the move, especially with its higher ending lag and the changes to hitstun. This also removes its ability to one-hit KO at the ledge if the opponent did not meteor cancel.
• Edge attack:
  • Edge attacks have new longer animations although their interruptibility was compensated.
  • Edge attacks have more set knockback (90 → 110) and intangibility (frames 1-12 → 1-23 (fast), frames 1-53 → 1-58 (slow)).
  • Slow edge attack has less startup lag (frame 57 → 56) and deals more damage (8%/6% → 10%).
  • Fast edge attack has a shorter duration (frames 25-34 → 25-32).

Special moves

• Blaster:
  • Blaster has less startup (frame 12 (ground)/10 (air) → 11/9) and ending lag on the ground (frame 41 → 39).
  • Fox can now shoot three lasers in a short hop, due to his lower falling speed and gravity.
  • Blaster shots travel roughly half the distance they previously did in Melee, greatly hindering their range, and deal less damage after traveling a long enough distance (3% → 2%).
• Fox Illusion:
  • Fox Illusion travels more distance, improving its recovery potential.
  • Fox Illusion deals less damage (7% → 4%).
• Fire Fox:
  • Fire Fox's charging hits launch opponents towards Fox (70° → 110°) and have less knockback (40 (base)/40 (scaling) → 28/30), allowing them to connect more reliably. The full move also deals more total damage (25.66% → 28%) due to the changes to stale-move negation.
  • Fire Fox's dash now has a clean and late hit instead of dealing consistent damage throughout (14% → 14% (clean)/8% (late)), with the clean hit having a shorter duration (frames 43-72 → 43-46 (clean)/47-72 (late)), making it less reliable as a combo finisher. It also travels a shorter distance, somewhat hindering Fox's recovery.
  • Fox now consistently says "Fire!" when using Fire Fox.
• Reflector:
  • Reflector can be dropped faster (frame 21 → 4) (effectively reducing ending lag), which leaves Fox less vulnerable after reflecting a projectile and makes it much easier for him to halt his aerial momentum and stall in the air while losing very little height. It also reflects projectiles earlier (frame 4 → 2), has a longer duration (frame 1 → 3-4), has increased intangibility (frame 1 → 1-4) and no longer has set knockback (80 (set)/100 (scaling) → 60 (base)/30 (scaling)), preventing it from knocking down lighter characters until higher percents and making shine spikes gradually harder to recover from on higher percents. Lastly, the move can now be canceled with a roll or sidestep when successfully reflecting a projectile.
  • Reflector can no longer be jump canceled, which combined with the removal of wavedashing removes almost all of Fox's shine combos as well as hindering its safety. Its hitbox also has more startup lag (frame 1 → 3), deals less damage against aerial opponents (5% → 4%), and launches at a higher angle (0° → 10°), which coupled with the slower falling speeds in Brawl hinders its gimping potential despite its increased knockback.
  • Reflector now uses a unique sound effect instead of the sound effect of grabbing an item.
• Landmaster:
  • Fox has a Final Smash: Landmaster. Upon using the Final Smash, Fox jumps into the air and comes back down in a Landmaster. The Landmaster is a huge land assault vehicle that can hover, fire its cannon, and perform a barrel roll. After 18 seconds, the Landmaster will disappear.

Moveset

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			2%	Punches twice, followed by a flurry of kicks.
			2%
			1-2%
Forward tilt	↗		8%	Kicks his leg out. Can be angled.
	→		6%
	↘		7%
Up tilt			10% (foot), 8% (leg)	A fast scorpion kick that covers Fox's back. Can juggle at low percentages.
Down tilt			9% (close), 8% (mid), 7% (far)	A quick tail whip.
Dash attack			7% (clean), 5% (late)	Jumps slightly off the ground and performs a running kick.
Forward smash			15% (clean), 12% (late)	A powerful spinning jump kick.
Up smash		Flip Kick	17% (clean sweetspot), 15% (clean sourspot), 13% (late)	A flip kick. The attack is weaker when it hits opponents behind Fox. Considered the strongest up smash out of the three Star Fox characters.
Down smash			14% (feet), 12% (legs)	A split kick that hits both sides of him. His legs are intangible for the duration of the attack.
Neutral aerial			9% (clean), 6% (late)	A sex kick that loses power the longer it's out. The move can lock opponents.
Forward aerial			6% (hit 1), 5% (hits 2-3), 4% (hit 4), 3% (hit 5)	Performs five kicks in succession. Fox "hovers" whenever he performs all five kicks, useful for gaining distance when recovering.
Back aerial			15% (sweetspot), 9% (sourspot)	A slow back kick, sending opponents at a semi-spike trajectory. Its sweetspot is on his right extended leg with the sourspot being on his left.
Up aerial			5% (hit 1), 11% (hit 2)	Flips himself upward for a tail whip and follow-up kick. Considered one of Fox's best air finishers if both hits connect.
Down aerial			3% (hits 1-7)	A spinning drill kick that hits multiple times in succession. It can meteor smash, but it's hardly noticeable at lower percentages due to its very weak power. It does a good amount of damage, and if the whole move connects right before landing on the stage (possible with a short hop down aerial), it can immediately lead into an up tilt, grab, or down or up smash. Down aerial to up tilt combos are very useful and common in Fox's metagame. Overall, considered one of Fox's most useful moves.
Grab			—
Pummel			1%	Knees the opponent.
Forward throw			4% (hit 1), 3% (throw)	Punches the opponent forward.
Back throw			2% (throw), 2% (shots)	Throws the foe backwards and then fires three shots with his Blaster. Shots can be avoided using DI.
Up throw			2% (throw), 2% (shots)	Throws the foe upwards and fires three shots with his Blaster. Shots can be avoided using SDI.
Down throw			2% (shots), 1% (throw)	Tosses the opponent downward, then jumps up fires four very quick Blaster shots downward onto them.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			6%	Kicks forward, then backward.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			6%	Punches forward, then kicks backward.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Spins around, kicking foes in range.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			6% (legs), 8% (body)	Lunges at the opponent with a kick.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			10%	Slowly gets up and hammers the ground with a kick.
Neutral special		Blaster	3% (close), 2% (far)	Fires his Blaster. The lasers lose power the farther they travel.
Side special		Fox Illusion	4%	Dashes forward, leaving an afterimage behind him. Enemies hit by the move will be launched at an upward angle.
Up special		Fire Fox	2% (charge, hits 1-7), 14% (clean dash), 8% (late dash)	Charges up and then fires himself in the direction held.
Down special		Reflector	5% (ground) 4% (air) (activation), 1.5x damage for reflected projectiles	Activates a Reflector around him. All projectiles are reflected and do more damage than they normally would. The Reflector damages nearby foes upon activation. Can be used to stall in the air if used repeatedly.
Final Smash		Landmaster	6-22% (movement), 15-16% (turn), 17% (shot), 11% (roll), 15% (fall)	Summons his Landmaster. It's overall the most balanced out of all the three, its only drawback being its air mobility.

On-screen appearance

• Ejects from an Arwing.

Taunts

• Up taunt: Fox charges fire and says "Here I come!" (いくぞ!, Let's go!). Although it is useless, it can be used for mindgames as it looks very similar to Fire Fox.
• Side taunt: Fox throws his Blaster into the air, then allows it to land back into its holster.
• Down taunt: Like in Melee, Fox backs up, bends down a bit, and says "Come on!" (かかってこい!, Come at me!), although faster than before.
• Smash taunt: On Lylat Cruise or Corneria, Fox can summon various Star Fox Conversations by quickly tapping down on the Control Pad (for one frame). This taunt can only be used once per match.

Up taunt	Side taunt	Down taunt	Smash taunt

Idle poses

• Holds his hand in front of him and takes a deep breath.
• Makes a beckoning gesture with his hand.

Crowd cheer

	English	Japanese
Cheer	File:Fox Cheer NTSC Brawl.ogg	File:Fox Cheer JP Brawl.ogg
Description	Fox Fox *clap x3*	Fox! *clap x3*
Pitch	Group chant	Group chant

Wii Remote selection sound

• Fox says "Come on!" like one of his taunts, but in a different tone.

Fox's selection sound

Victory poses

This victory theme comes from the main theme of Star Fox 64.

• Up: Goes into shooting position with his Blaster at 2 different angles, then points it at the screen saying "Mission Complete". In Japanese, he says "作戦完了！" (Operation complete!)
• Left: Flips his Blaster in the holster and says "This is Fox. Returning to base" and puts his hand on his hip. In Japanese, he will say こちらフォックス、これより帰還する。 (This is Fox, returning feedback here.)

• If Falco is present after a match, he will instead say "Better luck next time, Falco"." Or in Japanese: まだまだだな、ファルコ。 (Not just yet, Falco.)

• Right: Flips his tail up and looks to the side with a smug (prideful) expression on his face with his arms crossed, akin to his character selection animation in Smash 64.

Up	Left	Right

In competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Character Matchups

Avg.

According to the current SmashBoards matchup chart for Brawl, Fox's matchup spread has the seventeenth highest unweighted rank and has a weighted total of -58, seventeenth highest overall. Fox has good matchups as a result. He is also soft countered by seven characters and even with eight characters. He soft counters ten characters, counters seven characters, and hard counters only Ganondorf. Fox is notably hard countered by Pikachu and Sheik as they can take advantage of his extremely fast falling speed acceleration attribute. Pikachu can perform a "0-death" chain grab on him by using its down throw to rack up damage in excess of 100%, then using a Thunderspike to KO, while Sheik can rack up 50%+ damage with her forward tilt. In addition, the Ice Climbers also hard counter Fox, as he lacks safe options to approach without getting grabbed. On the positive side, Fox wins against King Dedede due to the former’s Blaster forcing Dedede to approach while also taking advantage of the latter’s slow speed. He also has a good matchup against Meta Knight, being able to counter his strong recovery using his vertical attacking prowess. Fox's amazing speed and effective KOing options allows him to counter many characters that are below him on the tier list.

Notable players

See also: Category:Fox professionals (SSBB)

•  C.R.Z. - Best Fox in Europe.
•  Karamity
•  MegaFox
•  Nakat
•  TKD - Best American Fox.
•  Trevonte - One of the best Fox players in the world during Brawl's lifespan.
•  Trump - Considered to be one of the best fox mains in the USA, with wins over MVD, Seibrik, Hungrybox, Purple Guy, ESAM, and RedHalberd.
•  Yui - Best Fox in Japan and one of the best in the world. He has wins over players such as RAIN, Kakera, Earth and Brood
•  Zeton

Role in The Subspace Emissary

Fox in SSE

An Arwing is seen engaging the battleship Halberd, but is soon struck and begins to fall toward it. This causes Kirby and Zelda/Peach to be blown overboard in its wake.

It is later shown that the Arwing crash-landed at the edge of a jungle, near a lake. Diddy Kong discovers the Arwing, but Rayquaza rises from the lake and territorially attacks the Arwing with an Energy Ball, setting it aflame. As Diddy is snatched up by the provoked Pokémon, Fox is ejected from the cockpit of the burning Arwing and proceeds to effortlessly rescue Diddy from the clutches of the serpentine Pokémon using his Fox Illusion and Reflector. After the two defeat the giant Pokémon, Fox attempts to leave, but is dragged back by Diddy and follows him deeper into the jungle. Soon, they fight a Shadow Bug clone of Bowser and defeat it. Suddenly, the real Bowser fires his Dark Cannon at them, and Fox barely dodges the shot. Although Diddy is eager to fight Bowser, Fox knows that they can't survive against his Dark Cannon, so he grabs Diddy and jumps off a cliff.

After recovering from the fall and quickly making their way through The Swamp, they are ambushed by Bowser again, who succeeds in turning Diddy into a trophy. Bowser then attempts to turn Fox into a trophy, but he manages to dodge the shot, so Bowser sends some Shadow Bugs to clone Diddy's trophy, outnumbering Fox. Falco suddenly appears out of nowhere in his Arwing and saves Fox from Bowser by destroying his Dark Cannon, forcing Bowser to escape. The Diddy clone begins to absorb more Shadow Bugs, becoming gigantic as a result. Fox uses the opportunity to revive the real Diddy, and the three fight the clone. After Falco unwillingly joined the group, they find a ship carrying Donkey Kong's trophy to a floating island. The Great Fox suddenly appears, and as Falco and Diddy attempt to free DK, Fox plans to take down the Halberd with the Great Fox.

The Great Fox duels with the Halberd, but it ends up getting carried away by it, gets crashed into a mountain, and flies away in smoke. Later on, as Peach and Zelda (disguised as Sheik) are making their escape after Snake frees them, Fox is seen attacking the Halberd again in his Arwing. During the fire-fight, some of the Arwing's Blasters hit dangerously close to Peach. Sheik does a very high range teleport on top of the Arwing and breaks open the cockpit. Both Sheik and Fox fall out of the Arwing and on the Halberd deck. They start running towards each other at high speeds and just before they break into a fight, Peach randomly offers them a cup of tea. Although Fox is shocked by this, when Sheik accepts hers, he accepts his as well. Just as they do, a group of Shadow Bug Mr. Game & Watches fall from the Halberd's cockpit and form into Duon. The three are joined by Lucario and Snake (who knocked them down there in the first place), as well as Falco who arrives on another Arwing, and defeat the monster. Duon leaves behind the real Mr. Game & Watch trophy as it disappears. Fox prepares to blast the trophy, but Peach approaches it and revives Mr. Game & Watch. With Meta Knight taking back control of the Halberd, he flies his ship into the daylight and eventually landing on The Canyon, coincidentally the same time The Falcon Flyer lands, after previously escaping the doomed Subspace Factory. Fox, Falco, Peach, Zelda, Lucario, Snake, and Mr. Game & Watch are now greeted with Mario, the rest of the Canyon heroes, and the Falcon Flyer heroes, they all unite and become one big team, now plotting against Subspace. Fox joins the rest of the heroes in the assault on the Subspace Gunship and the attack on Tabuu, although he would be one of the many heroes to be transformed into trophies by Tabuu. However, like the other heroes, his trophy could be found and be revived by King Dedede, Luigi, and Ness in Subspace. After being rescued, he join the rest of the heroes to go to The Great Maze and defeat Tabuu.

Playable appearances

After Outside the Ancient Ruins is completed, Fox is removed from the player's team, and is not seen until Battleship Halberd Exterior is completed.

• The Lake
• The Swamp
• Battleship Halberd Bridge
• Entrance to Subspace
• The Great Maze (if rescued in Subspace (Part I))

Exclusive stickers

The following stickers can either be only used by Fox, or by a select few characters including Fox:

• Andrew: Launch Resistance +7
• Arwing: [Leg] Attack +6
• Falco (Star Fox 64): [Weapon] Attack +11
• Falco (Star Fox Command): [Energy] Attack +14
• Falco (Star Fox Adventures): [Specials: Indirect] Attack +11
• Fox (Star Fox Command): [Tail] Attack +18
• Fox (Star Fox Adventures): [Arm, Leg] Attack +15
• Fox (Star Fox 64): [Energy] Attack +18
• Fox (Star Fox: Assault): [Energy] Attack +33
• Krystal (Star Fox Adventures): [Electric] Attack +28
• Krystal (Star Fox Command): [Energy] Attack +12
• Krystal (Star Fox: Assault): [Tail] Attack +17
• Miniature Dachshund: [Tail] Attack +28
• Panther: [Tail] Attack +18
• Pigma: [Arm] Attack +7
• ROB: [Electric] Resistance +15
• Wolf: [Arm, Leg] Attack +15
• Wolfen (Star Fox 64): [Tail] Attack +16
• Wolfen (Star Fox: Assault): [Tail] Attack +30

In Event Matches

Solo Events

• Event 2: Landmaster Ignition: The player controls Fox with a Smash Ball ready and must survive against Meta Knight and Sheik. Fox must rely on his Landmaster as his opponents will take less knockback from all his regular attacks.
• Event 10: All-Star Battle Regulars: Fox is one of the opponents fought in this event. All opponents are starters from the original Super Smash Bros. game.
• Event 23: Molten Norfair: Samus must survive the lava wave on Norfair by getting inside the safety capsule while fending off against Fox and Captain Falcon.
• Event 38: The Wolf Hunts the Fox: The player controls Wolf and must defeat Fox and Falco on Lylat Cruise.

Co-op Events

• Co-Op Event 19: Shadow of Andross Both players control Fox and Falco and must defeat Wolf on Lylat Cruise while an Andross Assist Trophy is used against them.
• Co-Op Event 21: The True All-Star Battle: Both players select a character and take on the entire roster on Battlefield.

Trophies

Fox's main and Final Smash trophies can be obtained by clearing Classic Mode and All-Star mode respectively with Fox.

Fox

The leader of the commando unit for hire known as Star Fox. He uses both the team's mother ship, the Great Fox, and his personal Arwing fighter to challenge the evil scientist Andross. He made his name as an ace pilot but has lately shown himself also to be an adventurer with a knack for hand-to-hand combat.

: Star Fox (NTSC), Starwing (PAL)

: Star Fox Command

Landmaster (Fox)

Fox's Final Smash. Climb aboard the Landmaster tank, the ultrahigh-performance, antiair, rolling combat vehicle of Team Star Fox. Just like in the Star Fox series, the cannon can be used to blast foes, and the tank can roll over enemies. The jets beneath the main body can be used to hover. Between its firepower and mobility, this tank knows no equal.

: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

• 

  Classic Mode trophy

• 

  Landmaster trophy

Alternate costumes

Trivia

• Fox holds the world record for Co-Op Target Smash!! Level 3 with Pit (completed in 4.03 seconds).
• The early trailers of Super Smash Bros. Brawl featured Fox constantly holding his Blaster, instead of holstering it as usual.
• If Fox uses a forward aerial during a Mini Light Brawl, the momentum created by the attack actually causes him to float upwards.
• Fox, Diddy Kong, Samus, Pikachu, and Lucas are the only characters in the Subspace Emissary to fight more than 2 bosses (excluding boss re-creations in the Great Maze). Fox can be chosen to fight Rayquaza at The Lake and Duon at the Battleship Halberd Bridge, as well as Tabuu in the final battle at Tabuu's Residence.
• Fox's trophy is the only one for a playable Star Fox character that doesn't give the character's full name.

External links

• Fox's page at Smash Bros. DOJO!!
• Fox Character Guide on SmashBoards
• Fox's Moves - History Behind Super Smash Bros. Brawl, by CrappyCaptureDevice