Steve (SSBU)

Steve in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
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Universe	Minecraft
Availability	Downloadable
Final Smash	House of Boom

“	Steve Rocks the Block!	”
—Introduction tagline (Steve)

Steve (スティーブ, Steve) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the second third-party fighter from Microsoft after Banjo & Kazooie, and the eighth DLC character for Ultimate. He was confirmed as a playable character on October 1st, 2020 as the second downloadable character from Fighters Pass Vol. 2. Alex (アレックス, Alex), a Zombie (ゾンビ, Zombie), and an Enderman (エンダーマン, Enderman) also appear as alternate costumes. He was released on October 13th, 2020, and is classified as fighter #77.

Attributes

Steve is a fighter who possesses slightly below-average weight and very unremarkable mobility. He has the shortest jump out of the entire roster, in addition to a peculiar crouch and crawl based on Minecraft's "sneaking" mechanic where he simply hunches over, neither of which are very useful in battle. In addition to this, his walk speed, initial dash, running speed and air speed are all among the bottom 10 of the respective stats.

Taking many attributes from his home game, Steve is perhaps one of the most unique fighters on the roster. His battle strategy almost completely revolves around mining materials from the stage itself for several of his attacks, alongside crafting stronger weapons and the ability to place blocks almost everywhere within the fighting boundaries. These three attributes appear as his neutral special, Mine / Craft / Create Block. Mine can take a lot of time to get the desired materials, but Steve starts each stock with a set amount of materials for him to use, so he's not completely defenseless at the start of a fight. Craft is also fast, and in conjunction with the ability to teleport his crafting table to his current position, makes camping Steve's crafting table an ineffective strategy. Create Block is the most potent out of Steve's options and has a myriad of uses; this includes building temporary walls to interrupt opponents, stalling his recovery or his opponent's followups by standing on a floating block, blocking projectiles, mindgames, and extremely deep edgeguarding and gimping opportunities. Steve can even use the short longevity of Create Block to immediately cancel some of the lag in his grounded moves while in the air such as up smash and down smash, leading to some of the most dangerous and diverse aerial combos in the game should he be able to set it up. Create Block is thus one of Steve's essential techniques, though due to the difficulty of building and managing his resources in combat, it can take much experience to truly master.

Minecart is a powerful side special: by itself, it is a capable KO option, and can be used as a horizontal recovery tool. Uniquely, Steve can jump out of a moving minecart, turning it into a grabbing projectile that can scoop up a foe, forcing them to struggle out of it. This lets Steve follow up with attacks or edgeguard/gimp recovering opponents. By using up gold and redstone, Steve can use powered rails to accelerate his minecart and catch foes off-guard with the sudden burst of speed. Additionally, he can recover the iron used up from creating the minecart if he is the one to break it afterwards. TNT is Steve's explosive down special, and can be set off from afar by the minecart or by a redstone trail to a wooden pressure plate of Steve's creation, which is extremely useful for ledge trapping. However, it acts as a double-edged sword, as the explosion affects everyone including Steve, and the person who triggers the pressure plate takes reduced knockback from the explosion, which can be used in Steve's advantage for mind games, or against him by a crafty opponent. Additionally, Steve can safely detonate TNT if he uses down smash and properly times a buffered air dodge. Elytra requires no materials on Steve's part to use, has a hitbox upon startup, and its Brawl-like gliding mechanic allows Steve to mix up his recovery path, thwarting attempts at opposing edgeguards. While its horizontal recovery potential is almost unrivaled if used near the upper sides of the stage, it is rather poor at vertical recovery and renders him vulnerable after the initial startup. He is also unable to switch directions after using it and will enter free fall if it is angled too high or hits a solid object, making a misinputted or misangled Elytra fatal.

Apart from his specials, Steve has noticeable strengths in his other attacks. His neutral attack, forward tilt and neutral aerial all involve a rapid sword swing, but unlike Mega Man's similar attacks, Steve's does not stop until the sword in question breaks, allowing him to continue a chain of sword hits for longer in comparison and set up for combos. This rapid-hit property is also seen in his up tilt and up aerial, which can juggle into various moves. His down-tilt flint and steel is a highly useful edgeguarding tool, as its flames are affected by gravity and can repeatedly block off the ledge for a two-frame punish, in addition to absorbing projectiles. In the same vein, down smash has lingering hitboxes on both sides and can be used as a semi-spike, especially in combination with Create Block. Steve's forward and back aerials also possess useful perks, the former possessing meteor smash potential if the opponent is hit near the end of the swing and the latter possessing powerful knockback. While his down aerial costs iron to use, Steve's anvil deals exceptional damage and knockback and can be canceled to avoid falling along with the anvil, making edgeguarding with the move far less risky. The anvil also has high priority due to its damage, making it very powerful for contesting against attacks. It should also be noted that these attacks are further improved with high-tier tools, as gold swings faster and can combo more effectively, while diamond has excellent damage and knockback, especially when using his forward smash, forward air and back air.

Steve's grab game is also respectable. While his tether grab cannot be used to grab the ledge, it can still grab shielded opponents from afar, granting Steve another ranged option to make up for his short-ranged normal attacks. His back throw angle leaves much to be desired, but his forward throw launches foes in a semi-spike manner and, along with his up throw, have very high base knockback, but average growth, making their KO potential lackluster. His down throw uses iron to slam an anvil on an opponent, dealing very high damage for a throw and sending at a useful angle for followups; however, it becomes incredibly weak without iron, as Steve will simply fling the opponent on the ground.

Despite his strengths, Steve's attributes present flaws. His mobility is very underwhelming, having among the worst ground mobility in the game due to the combination of poor run speed and one of the worst initial dashes in the game (as opposed to most characters of this speed class usually having relatively high initial dash in contrast to their run speed). His aerial mobility is also unremarkable, having poor air speed and very low jump height, to the point where he's unable to reach the lower platforms of Battlefield without burning his double jump. Finally, Steve's crouch and crawl barely reduce his height and his hitstun animations leave him in an upright position, preventing him from ducking under attacks and leaving him vulnerable to being attacked.

His moveset has its own downsides. His down tilt and up smash leave Steve stuck until the animation is finished, making him open to a punish from the sides. While many of his core moves (such as his sword and axe moves) are very spammable, they only cover a very short distance and do not cover below or behind him, leaving Steve without a useful "get-off-me" option against combo-centric opponents, excluding using iron to summon an anvil or building a block to stall his fall, which are only effective with enough iron and within the stage's build limit, respectively. Additionally, the spammability of his moves are held back by Steve's low mobility, making it unwieldy for him to attempt rushdown tactics. His grab's range is offset by its very high ending lag, making his grab game less effective against mobile fighters, and his down throw is significantly less damaging and effective without iron.

Steve's Minecraft-revolving playstyle can also leave him in troublesome situations. If he mines more materials than his inventory can fit, he will end up discarding resources that might have otherwise been valuable. This negatively affects Create Block, as it always prioritizes the weakest block first; weak blocks can be broken very easily by hitting them with attacks or hitting the bottom side of the block, making them less effective for edgeguarding or creating a blockade. Additionally, walling off a recovering opponent may not be an effective option, as damaging hitboxes can easily plow through weaker blocks without much trouble, and hitting Steve (or placing them near the build limit) will cause his blocks to break significantly faster. His tools can break if used up enough, forcing him to mine to collect materials and craft to re-upgrade them. Furthermore, getting KO'd results in Steve's tools reverting to wood (though he keeps resources already in his inventory), and mining for materials/crafting new tools can be difficult against faster opponents, who can constantly pressure Steve and deter him from gaining resources. His reliance on materials for the majority of his strongest techniques prevents him from repeatedly using them to a greater extent, due to the glaring downsides of running out of a specific material (ex. his down air and down throw accomplishing nothing with a lack of iron). Careless use of his resources will essentially leave him with almost no useful abilities: the time needed to mine can become very detrimental when fully depleted of resources, or when barehanded/using wooden or stone tools, as it takes a significant amount of time to fully replenish resources or dig for gold/diamond.

His lack of a conventional projectile and short attacking range demands he gets in close to dish out damage, upon which fighters more suited for close combat than Steve can leave him constantly juggled. Steve's recovery, while having amazing horizontal reach, is also limited due to his low jump height, low air speed and recovery moves: Elytra takes some experience to get used to, as its mechanics can make it difficult to angle, and it can also be cut short if he bumps into an object. It is also rather mediocre vertically, with the firework's boost essentially being Steve's only means of recovering below the stage, and it doesn't reach as far as one might expect. Minecart can be used for horizontal distance, though it does not grant good distance without redstone and gold, and cannot be used without iron. His blocks cannot be placed too far out from the edges of the stage and the block Steve is standing on deteriorates faster than normal, which can limit his ability to stall offstage due to him requiring materials to do so.

Overall, Steve excels in a strange combination of close-up fighting, stage control, and fearsome edgeguarding, resulting in a large learning curve for players eager to pick him up. His toolkit gives him powerful overall abilities when mastered, some of which are not possessed by any other fighter in the roster; however, poor use of his resources can render him almost helpless and remove some of his best options, and his terrible mobility, compounded by a reliance on fairly linear options for approaching, means he faces an uphill battle against characters that outrange him, or are fast enough to weave around his defenses. Early impressions of Steve have been mixed to positive. Some players, like ESAM and Hungrybox, are optimistic due to Steve's unique strengths, especially in the hands of a player who has good resource management and a strong understanding of his abilities. Other players, like Dabuz and IzAw, believe that Steve's flaws will prevent him from being a strong character. However, players such as Salem and Aaron have cemented Steve's viability in the online meta.

Update history

Shortly after Steve was released, he received several bug fixes that fixed major game breaking glitches, as well as receiving an aesthetic change.

9.0.1

• Fixed an issue in which certain characters could fall though the stage when breaking Blocks.
• Fixed an issue in which the anvil from Steve's down aerial could fall through the stage when pinching an opponent with the anvil and a Block.
• Minecart:
  • Fixed an issue in which fighters could be frozen if hit with Minecart.
  • Fixed an issue in which Minecart does not hit opponents when reflected off a wall.
  • Fixed an issue in which a fighter caught by Minecart teleports to the position in which they were caught.
• Steve's up victory pose was changed to remove the Steak after he eats it.

9.0.2

• Tap jump will now function correctly for jumping off a falling Anvil after using down air.

Moveset

• Steve can crawl.
• Steve can tilt his head up and down by tilting the Control Stick in said direction when he is walking, jumping and creating blocks. This mechanic is purely aesthetic and reflects how the player's head moves in Minecraft.
• Steve possesses a unique "resource" mechanic, which allows him to carry resources to build blocks, use certain moves, or upgrade his tools. The resources that Steve can possess are dirt, wood, stone, iron, gold, diamond and redstone, all of which can be obtained through mining (detailed further below). Depending on the stage, dirt may be substituted with sand (such as on Tortimer Island and Coliseum), ice (such as on Summit), or wool (such as on Magicant and Living Room). All resources (except for redstone) are displayed above his in-game portrait, with a limit of 100 for block-building materials.
  • Steve starts the game with 36 units of dirt, 18 units of wood, 3 units of iron and 2/3 redstone, the latter two of which are replenished should Steve lose a life without sufficient said material in stock.
  • Gold and diamond are only shown when available by the right of the gauge, while iron, which occupies the right of the gauge, displays its exact quantity up to 8. Cheaper materials are displayed proportionally and make up the left of the gauge.
  • Five tool materials exist: wood, stone, iron, gold and diamond. Except for gold, each material mentioned is incrementally more powerful and durable than the last. Gold weapons are weak and fragile, but attacks with them are faster than those with weapons made from other materials, making them ideal for combos. The typical damages of each tool type are:
    • No weapon: 0.8x damage
    • Wood or gold: 1.0x damage
    • Stone: 1.1x damage
    • Iron: 1.2x damage
    • Diamond: 1.35x damage
• With continuous use, Steve's sword, axe, pickaxe and shovel will use up durability points. Once all durability points for a set tool have been used up, it breaks apart and Steve can no longer use that tool. If Steve tries to use an attack that requires a weapon he does not have, he will perform a weak punch with minimal range instead. This prevents him from constantly brawling out at close range with his weapons and constantly forces him to mine the ground for resources and craft new tools at a crafting table. The durability varies between tools made of different materials, with wood and gold being the least durable while diamond is the most durable.
  • As each tool has its own durability, Steve can have different levels of each tool during a stock (eg. crafting a diamond set, using up a diamond pickaxe, then crafting a gold pickaxe while retaining his other diamond tools).
• Steve's tools reset to wood when he is KO'd, though he keeps any resources throughout stocks. If he is KO'd with less than three units of iron, he will respawn with three.

For a gallery of Steve's hitboxes, see here.

Note: All numbers are listed as base damage, without the 1v1 multiplier.

		Name	Damage						Description
			None/Other	Wood	Stone	Iron	Gold	Diamond
Neutral attack			2.72%	3.4%	3.74%	4.08%	3.4%	4.59%	Steve quickly swings his sword in front of himself with short reach. He can repeat this attack by holding down the attack button, and can walk forward and backward, as well as jump, while doing this, making it functionally similar to Mega Man's Mega Buster and Min Min's Punch, as well as Pikachu and Isabelle's neutral attacks. It is one of the few neutral attacks in the game that cannot lock, and the hitbox is unable to hit floored opponents unless their hitboxes are large.
Forward tilt			2.72%	3.4%	3.74%	4.08%	3.4%	4.59%	Same as neutral attack and neutral aerial. Steve can also use this attack while walking forward and backwards.
Up tilt		Axe	5.2%	6.5%	7.15%	7.8%	6.5%	8.775%	Steve quickly swings his axe above himself. Similarly to his neutral attack/forward tilt/neutral aerial, Steve is able to repeat the attack by holding down the attack button, and can jump or walk forward or backward while he is doing this. Both moves have low upward knockback, making them useful as combo starters/extenders. The hitbox reaches slightly to the left and right of Steve, allowing it to hit standing characters of average height.
Down tilt		Flint and Steel	0.8% (loop hit), 6.4% (last hit)						Steve uses flint and steel to create a flame with a lingering hitbox in front of himself. The flame is a looping multi-hit attack, with the final hit launching opponents forward, and if Steve uses this move at the end of a platform or near a ledge, the flame travels downward, allowing him to edgeguard and 2-frame opponents. It has follow-up potential at lower percents. It is also able to absorb projectiles. This move does not use up durability points, but it has very high ending lag (as long as the flame's duration), making it punishable if used incorrectly. Can be reflected and absorbed.
Dash attack			8.32% (clean), 6.72% (late)	10.4% (clean), 8.4% (late)	11.44% (clean), 9.24% (late)	12.48% (clean), 10.08% (late)	10.4% (clean), 8.4% (late)	14.04% (clean), 11.34% (late)	A quick running strike with his pickaxe with high knockback.
Forward smash			12%	15%	16.5%	18%	15%	20.25%	Rears back before performing a slower but stronger inward swing with his sword, based on the sweep attack that swords possess from Minecraft: Java Edition. As the hitbox goes as far as the pixelated slash effect, and as Steve takes a step forward to attack, it has deceptively good range (having a longer range than most of his other moves). The charging animation can also dodge attacks with good timing, as Steve steps back slightly. With the diamond sword, it is extremely powerful, especially at the ledge.
Up smash		Magma Block	1% (first hit), 0.4% (loop hit), 14% (last hit)	7.4% (pickaxe)	8.14% (pickaxe)	8.88% (pickaxe)	7.4% (pickaxe)	9.99% (pickaxe)	Steve places a magma block above himself before breaking it with his pickaxe. The move has a flame effect, possesses great vertical range, and hits multiple times, similarly to Roy's up smash. It has a ground-level hitbox in front of Steve that scoops opponents into the block, making it effective out-of-shield or against landing opponents. However, with the exception of the initial grounded launcher hitbox, it only hits directly above Steve, and despite its animation, Steve cannot move until the move is complete as he automatically breaks the block afterwards. This move does not use up durability points. The pickaxe itself can also deal damage. Despite its unorthodox animation, it is incredibly powerful for a multi-hitting up smash, KOing Mario at ground level of Final Destination at 102%.
Down smash		Lava Bucket	0.6% (loop hit), 14% (last hit)						Steve pulls out a lava-filled bucket and pours lava on both sides of himself. Both hits have long lingering hitboxes (with each lasting 10 frames) and are powerful semi-spikes, which can be used efficiently for edge guarding. This move does not use up durability points. The lava can be reflected and absorbed.
Neutral aerial		rowspan="1"	2.72%	3.4%	3.74%	4.08%	3.4%	4.59%	A sword swing identical to neutral attack and forward tilt.
Forward aerial			8.4% (early), 9.6% (clean)	10.5% (early/clean), 12% (late)	11.55% (early/clean), 13.2% (late)	12.6% (early/clean), 14.4% (late)	10.5% (early/clean), 12% (late)	14.175% (early/clean), 16.2% (late)	A pickaxe swing in front of himself. It is surprisingly fast and powerful, and can meteor smash if the opponent is hit near the end of the swing, though it has short range. It is able to combo from Steve's sword swinging moves, alongside up tilt and up air. If buffered out of a short hop, Steve will instead perform a sword swing that behaves like a neutral aerial but uses the forward aerial's animation and staleness.
Back aerial			9.2% (early), 10.4% (clean)	11.5% (early), 13% (clean)	12.65% (early), 14.3% (clean)	13.8% (early), 15.6% (clean)	11.5% (early), 13% (clean)	15.525% (early), 17.55% (clean)	A pickaxe swing behind himself with powerful horizontal knockback but low range. The move is stronger during the later part of the swing. The diamond variant is extremely powerful to the point of being among the strongest back aerials in the game. If buffered out of a short hop, Steve will instead perform a sword swing that behaves like a neutral aerial but uses the back aerial's animation and staleness.
Up aerial		Axe	5.2%	6.5%	7.15%	7.8%	6.5%	8.775%	An axe swing identical to up tilt, but with less ending lag. Very weak, but very spammable and can easily combo into itself and other aerials.
Down aerial		Anvil	18% (normal), 10% (cancelled), 8% (re-fall)						A powerful stall-then-fall in which Steve drops an anvil directly below himself while standing on it. The move can be canceled, a first for a stall-then-fall; if it is canceled, then Steve will jump off of the anvil, but it will continue falling. The jump does not use up Steve's double jump. After landing, the anvil remains on the stage for a brief amount of time before disappearing, which can block opponents or be stood on. The anvil has incredible knockback and high damage, being capable of KOing grounded opponents as early as 88%, making it the strongest down aerial in the game. It is also notoriously powerful for contesting against juggles or upward attacks, due to its damage giving it very high priority, and its knockback being capable of KOing even earlier near the top blast lines. This move uses up one piece of iron and does nothing at all if Steve does not have any iron. If an anvil has been dropped recently, Steve cannot drop another until it disappears on its own, or after a short time if it is dropped offstage. The anvil counts as a projectile until it lands, even while Steve is riding it. Steve can mine a stationary anvil for resources as if it was part of the stage.
Grab		Fishing Rod							A tether-like grab using a fishing rod with a wide range. Unlike Isabelle's similar-looking Fishing Rod, it functions as an actual tether grab despite the lack of a grab aerial and tether recovery. Grabbed opponents are trapped within a fence while Steve holds them. The grab itself starts up relatively fast, but has very high ending lag; additionally, despite the hook being able to visibly drop past ledges like Isabelle's, it will not grab opponents if it does so. This move does not use up durability points.
Pummel			1.5%						Punches the opponent while they are trapped in the fence.
Forward throw			3% (hit 1), 6% (throw)						Steve stands on a piston and uses it to launch the opponent forward. It is a semi-spike with very high base knockback, but rather low growth, as it can only KO middleweights past 140% at the ledge. With rage, it is capable of being a KO throw. This move does not use up durability points.
Back throw			10%						Steve throws the opponent backward with the fishing rod. Rather weak and easy to DI due to its diagonal angle, and sends the opponent diagonally, making it average for setting up edgeguards. This move does not use up durability points.
Up throw			3% (hit 1), 8% (throw)						Steve places the opponent on a piston launching them upwards. Like forward throw, it has very high base knockback, but average growth, making its KO ability rather average. With rage, it is capable of being Steve's strongest KO throw. This move does not use up durability points.
Down throw			7% (anvil), 8% (throw)						Steve throws the opponent on the ground before an anvil drops on them, launching them forward and consuming a piece of iron. Without sufficient iron, no anvil will appear, and Steve will simply throw the opponent onto the ground, making it weaker overall. Both versions are good for use in combos at low percents, with the anvil version dealing 15% total and being the second most damaging throw in the game (surpassed by King K. Rool's up throw which deals 16%). The anvil can be reflected.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%						Attacks in front and behind himself with his sword/fist. Deals the same damage regardless of the sword's material.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%						Same as his front floor attack, but reversed.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%						Attacks in front and behind himself with his sword/fist. Deals same damage regardless of the sword's material.
Edge attack Edge getups			9%						Climbs up and does a low swipe with his sword/fist. Deals same damage regardless of the sword's material.
Neutral special		Mine / Craft / Create Block							Mine (ground): Steve mines the ground or wall in front of himself to gather resources using an axe, pickaxe, or shovel. As with using a sword, axe, or pickaxe during standard attacks, mining uses up the durability of the weapon used. The weapon used and the speed of mining are determined by the type of terrain being mined, and the longer it is mined, the higher the quality of materials collected, such as diamond. If Steve has no tools available, he will use his bare hands instead; however, this causes him to mine more slowly. Steve can mine miscellaneous cheap materials (dirt/sand/ice/wool, depending on the stage and changing along with Stage Morph), wood, stone, iron, gold, diamonds and redstone. Similarly to Olimar's Pikmin Pluck in Brawl, the resources that Steve obtains most often with this move are dependent on the type of terrain being mined, though there is a set order to the materials mined from each terrain. However, on Battlefield form and Ω form stages, materials will appear at a pre-determined rate regardless of the type of terrain, though the tool used will still reflect the material of the surface resources are gathered on. This was done in order to prioritize match quality for more serious players due to the popularity of both forms for competitive battles, and to reduce the factors of randomness. If Steve is standing on a block he placed using Create Block, he will instead break the block underneath him without gaining any resources. Craft (crafting table): Steve uses his resources to craft a full set of tools (sword, axe, pickaxe and shovel), restoring their durability. Steve starts the battle with wooden tools, with a crafting table appearing at his starting point. The most valuable resources are prioritized when performing this move; for example, if Steve has both iron and stone, then his tools will be upgraded to iron. When upgrading to a new tier of tools, a Minecraft-styled progression bar appears above Steve, and Steve will flourish a new weapon after crafting completes. He is vulnerable to attacks throughout the upgrading animation but can cancel it during the early frames. The crafting table itself is considered a background object and will not interrupt player movement. It also has 30 HP, can be damaged (and thus cause hitlag) and can destroyed by Steve or his opponents. If destroyed, the crafting table will respawn at Steve's location following a few seconds, and Steve can also summon the crafting table to his location by pressing the special move button while shielding, which uses a small amount of resources; if he does not have sufficient resources, he will not be able to spawn or move his crafting table. When summoned, it will have its HP restored. If multiple Steves are present, then they can use each other's crafting tables as well as their own. Create Block (midair): Steve places a block directly beneath himself, which functions as a platform. If the special move button is held down while Steve is walking on a block or jumping, he can continue placing blocks directly beneath himself as he moves. He can only place blocks a certain distance around the stage, signified by a pink barrier that appears while placing blocks adjacent to the limit. Up to 8 blocks can be on-screen at the same time for each Steve in play, and placing excessive blocks cause the oldest blocks to disappear instantly. The blocks break slowly over time, but touching them or hitting them (including hitting the block on the underside while jumping) speeds this process up. Blocks placed either near the build limit or after Steve was knocked into the air and yet to recover flash like a helpless character and break faster than they would otherwise. Placed blocks can absorb incoming attacks, including projectiles, and can also be used to aid Steve's recovery or to edgeguard opponents. Blocks can be made using dirt, sand, wool, ice, wood, stone, or iron, and will break more slowly the more valuable the material they are made of is. Unlike Craft, the least valuable resources are prioritized when performing this move.
Side special		Minecart	19% (powered rail acceleration), 15.6%-7.5%						Steve hops into a minecart and rides around the stage, placing rails as he does so. If Steve has redstone and gold, he can use it to lay down powered rails (powered via a redstone torch), making the minecart faster and more powerful. He can push the special move again while in the Minecart to lay down powered rails again (if he has redstone and gold) to make the cart burst forward again. Steve can jump out of the minecart at any time, but it still moves forward a short distance afterwards, trapping other fighters within it should they make contact; a trapped fighter will be stuck in the minecart for longer the more damage they have, but can escape by button mashing. Both a ridden and empty minecart are considered projectiles. Steve needs sufficient iron to place the minecart, and sufficient materials to place rails. Each rail placed uses 1 unit of dirt/stone/wood/iron. If Steve has little/no wood or stone, he will still bring out the minecart but will stop moving almost immediately. Steve can jump back into an empty minecart, and can move so long as he has tracks; as a result, he can move indefinitely in an enclosed space (such as between two walls). Steve can hop in and out of his minecart a maximum of two times per spawn, and can mine a stationary minecart to regain the iron used to craft it.
Up special		Elytra	5% (clean), 3% (late)						Steve dons an elytra and propels himself forward, upward, or downward with a firework rocket. During his initial burst, Steve has a damaging hitbox. The mechanics of this move appear similar to Brawl's gliding mechanic, with Steve being able to control his trajectory while gliding. Its maximum horizontal distance is extremely high, but its vertical distance is poor in comparison, especially when below the stage. He is also able to turn around during the startup of the move, but he cannot change directions or cancel the move once he starts flying. The elytra falls off after a short while or if Steve hits a solid object in mid-glide, leaving Steve helpless. This move does not use up durability points.
Down special		TNT	28%/14% (redstone detonation), 20%/10% (non-redstone detonation)						Steve lays a TNT block on the ground; this uses up 50 "points" of resources, with each resource giving incrementally bigger points (dirt = 2, wood/stone = 5, iron = 10). The TNT acts similarly to a Blast Box; it will fall downwards if placed in midair, can be detonated if hit by a sufficiently strong attack, and is more likely to detonate from flame attacks (though not immediately like the Blast Box), but also detonates after enough time passes. Its explosion is extremely powerful and causes Special Zoom on hit. If Steve holds down the special button after placing the TNT, he can place a trail of redstone, then a pressure plate upon letting go of the special button, which will manually detonate the TNT if stepped on and increases the power of the explosion. The redstone trail can be placed so long as Steve has redstone and is on the ground near a TNT block, but hitting the TNT block will move the block, and cause the redstone trail and pressure plate to disappear. The TNT affects both Steve and his opponents; however, if the TNT is triggered via a pressure plate, then the fighter who triggered the TNT takes reduced knockback from the explosion, allowing for creative traps. The TNT block can be mined to regain iron, redstone and rarer materials.
Final Smash		House of Boom	15% (trapping hit), 45% (cutscene)						Steve places a giant piston in front of himself, which extends to catch his opponents in the attack. A cinematic plays where the affected fighter is launched into a dark building in a forest, resembling a Jungle Temple, filled with TNT, where they are attacked by Creepers and Zombies, resulting in the entire building exploding as Steve comically eats a so-called "victory steak". When the cinematic ends, the victim is sent flying while Steve repeatedly crouches. The piston can hit multiple fighters, but only the first one hit will appear in the cinematic, though the piston causes enough knockback to KO bystanders as well. This attack does not use up durability points.

Durability system

True to Minecraft, Steve's tools can break after a certain amount of use. While similar to the durability system of Robin, there are a few differences, including the lack of a hitbox upon a tool breaking, no visible durability indication, and the need to craft replacement tools.

Tool durability

Weapon	Wood	Stone	Iron	Gold	Diamond
Sword	25	40	50	25	50
Axe/Pickaxe/Shovel	70	85	95	70	95

Durability cost

Move	Wood	Stone	Iron	Gold	Diamond
Neutral Attack/Forward Tilt/Neutral Aerial	2
Forward Smash	9	14	14	18	14
Ledge Attack/Floor Attacks	2
Up Tilt/Up Aerial	5.5
Up Smash	0
Dash Attack	4.5
Forward Aerial/Back Aerial	6.5
Mine	2.5 (per resource)

On-screen appearance

• Breaks stone blocks in front of him with his pickaxe while walking forward, with his crafting table appearing after the animation completes. Similar to Steve's initial reveal during his trailer.

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Taunts

• Up taunt: Jumps twice, and while in midair, punches three times. Due to Steve jumping the same height that his short hop covers, he can dodge some attacks with lower-reaching hitboxes.
• Side taunt: Pulls out and eats a Steak.
• Down taunt: Sneaks (crouches) three times while looking toward the screen.

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  Steve's up taunt.

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  Steve's side taunt.

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  Steve's down taunt.

Idle poses

• Steve does not possess any idle poses.

Victory poses

• Left: A Creeper is shown onscreen, which promptly explodes as Steve humorously lands directly in front of the camera without an animation.
• Up: Eats a Steak while the camera angle changes, and then burps while the steak vanishes.
• Right: Quickly builds a house similar to ones found in villages and stands outside of it, then closes the door.

The sound that plays when completing a challenge advancement in Minecraft: Java Edition.

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Steve's Up victory pose was changed in update 9.0.1; previously, Steve held the Steak even after he finished eating it.

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In competitive play

Leading up to release, there was a lot of speculation for how Steve would work in Smash due to his very unique move-set compared to the rest of the roster. Many players saw a lot of potential in him, with several players going as far as to call him top tier or outright broken due to his block-creating and crafting mechanics, his glide recovery that works similarly to the infamous glide mechanic in Brawl, and his high power. After his release, players had mixed reactions to his viability. Some stated Steve is more of a high-top tier, with advantages including incredible edge guarding and a great combo game, with players like Hungrybox and ESAM putting him in high-tier. Other players like Dabuz and Izaw, though, believe his weaknesses, especially his poor mobility and terrible neutral and disadvantage, make him more of a low-mid tier character or possibly one of the worst characters in the game. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, during which Steve was developed and released, and the general complexity of Steve as a Smash character, it may take a long time for his full potential to be realized.

In the online metagame, players who utilize Steve such as BestNess generally only play him as a secondary. However, Aaron has proven that Steve can work as a solo main online, with placements such as 5th at The Box: L4st's Box and claiming victory at The Box: Juice Box 17. In addition, at Frame Perfect Series 3: ONLINE, Salem placed 1st with mostly Steve, taking online sets off players such as MkLeo and Epic_Gabriel, further cementing his viability online.

Classic Mode: Journey to the Far Lands

Steve's congratulations screen.

Steve faces off against fighters who represent enemy mobs in Minecraft. With the exceptions of Rounds 2 and 6, all rounds are stamina battles. The title is a reference to the Far Lands, a glitch in Minecraft Java Edition before Beta 1.8 (and still existing) in the Bedrock Edition where land an extreme distance away from the starting point of a world formed large, fold-like cliffs due to overflow errors in the generation system. The final battle is against a giant Ridley and two Endermen.

Round	Opponent	Stage	Music	Notes
1	(×6 (×2 Tiny)) Zombie	Minecraft World (Birch Forest, Night)	Glide	Represent a Zombie Horde. The two tiny Zombies represent the Baby Zombie variant.
2	Wario (×4)	Minecraft World (Plains, Day)	The Arch-Illager	Represent Pillagers. Villager and Giant R.O.B. appear as CPU allies, representing a Villager and an Iron Golem.
3	Link (×3)	Minecraft World (Battlefield form, Night)	Clockwork Crafter	Represent Skeletons.
4	Tiny Pit (×3) and Robin	Luigi's Mansion	Dragon Battle	Represent an Evoker and Vexes. Luigi's Mansion represents a Woodland Mansion.
5	Giant Kirby (×2) and Tiny King K. Rool (×2)	Norfair	The Keeper of the Lake	Represent Ghasts and Piglins. Norfair represents the Nether.
6	Giant Enderman (×4)	Find Mii	Clockwork Crafter	Represent regular Endermen.
Bonus Stage
Final	Giant Ridley and Enderman (×2)	Final Destination	The Arch-Illager	Represents the Ender Dragon. Final Destination represents the End.

Note: With the exceptions of Rounds 4 and 5, a song from the Minecraft universe is played regardless of the stage.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Steve has Earth accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light

The message that shows Steve's availability in World of Light

Due to his status as downloadable content, Steve does not have a legitimate role in World of Light. Instead, he is unlocked for use in the mode after freeing 10 fighters from Galeem's control. If loading an existing save file that meets this condition before downloading Steve, he is immediately unlocked.

Spirits

Steve's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. It is only available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 coins, but only after Steve has been downloaded. Unlocking Steve in World of Light allows the player to preview the first spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and are purely aesthetic. Alex has a fighter spirit of her own, available exclusively through the shop. Each fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with its artwork in Ultimate.

Additionally, the Zombie and Enderman have an attack primary and neutral primary spirits respectively, but they do not have fighter spirits.

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  1428. Steve

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  1429. Alex

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  1430. Zombie

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  1434. Enderman

Spirit Battles

As the main opponent

Spirit				Battle parameters
No.	Image	Name	Series	Enemy Fighter(s)	Type	Power	Stage	Rules	Conditions	Music
1,430		Zombie	Minecraft Series	•Zombie Team (20 HP) (×10)		1,700	Minecraft World (Savanna, Night)	N/A	•The enemy has super armor but moves slower •Stamina battle •Defeat an army of fighters	Clockwork Crafter
1,434		Enderman	Minecraft Series	•Enderman Team (×4)		8,800	Minecraft World (Snowy Tundra, Night)	•Move Speed ↑ •Item: POW Block	•Only certain Pokémon will emerge from Poké Balls (Abra)	Glide
1,437		Piglin	Minecraft Series	•Gold Alex Team (×7 (×2 Tiny))		4,000	Reset Bomb Forest (Forest)	N/A	•Timed battle (2:00) •Reinforcements will appear after an enemy is KO'd •The enemy starts the battle with a Killing Edge	Cavern
				•Gold Mii Brawler (Moveset: 1111, Pig Mask, Pig Outfit) Team (×7 (×2 Tiny))

As a minion

Spirit				Battle parameters							Inspiration
No.	Image	Name	Series	Enemy Fighter(s)	Type	Power	Stage	Rules	Conditions	Music	Character
1,435		Villager & Iron Golem	Minecraft Series	•Giant R.O.B. (INT) (JP/CHI/KR) •Steve (×3) ( ×2, )		8,700	Minecraft World (Plains, Day)	•Item: Cucco	•The enemy has super armor and is hard to launch or make flinch •The enemy favors grabs and throws •Reinforcements will appear during the battle	Earth	Villagers
1,438		Ender Dragon	Minecraft Series	•Ridley •Enderman (×2)		12,700	Find Mii	•Health Recovery	•Defeat the main fighter to win •Stamina battle •The enemy is healed significantly when the enemy's at high damage	The Arch-Illager	Endermen

Alternate costumes

Gallery

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  Steve's splash art.

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  Alex's splash art.

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  Zombie's splash art.

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  Enderman's splash art.

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  Steve's unlock notice.

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  Steve and Alex on Minecraft World.

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  Steve striking King K. Rool with his down tilt on Gerudo Valley.

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  Alex attacking Builder Mario with her back aerial on Tomodachi Life.

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  Steve using his up special near Pit and Dark Pit on Temple.

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  Steve and Alex using Minecart with Bowser Jr. following behind on Port Town Aero Dive.

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  Scottish Steve, Swedish Alex, Zombie, and Enderman on Palutena's Temple.

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  Steve, Alex, and Mario on Minecraft World.

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  All of Steve and Alex's alternate costumes on Minecraft World.

Trivia

• Steve is referred within the game files with the codename "pickel". In Japanese, the loanword ピッケル pickel is used to refer to ice axes, deriving from the German word "Eispickel".
• According to Masahiro Sakurai, Steve was largely easy to develop conceptually, but the programming work required to "bring the fighter to life" was very difficult.
  • He also revealed that every stage in the game had to be reworked to make use of Steve's block-placing ability.
  • Sakurai stated that when Nintendo approached him about adding Minecraft content, he was at first skeptical of the idea, before deciding to go through with it. This has been misinterpreted by some to mean that he did not desire to do so.
• According to former Minecraft production director Daniel Kaplan, it took at least 5 years of negotiating between Nintendo and Mojang for Steve to appear in Smash.
• Steve is the second fighter in Smash history to have a victory pose modified in an update, after Robin. In this case, his Up victory pose was modified in version 9.0.1 so the Steak disappears after he finishes eating it.
  • He is the third fighter to have their victory screens modified in some way via updates, the first being Robin as previously mentioned, and the second being Chrom's victory theme being changed to fit the rest of the characters from Fire Emblem Awakening in version 3.0.0 of Ultimate.
  • Although it is unconfirmed if this was the actual reason for the removal, many players noticed that the meat in Steve's victory pose had an unintentionally phallic appearance, to the point that journalists reported on it both before and after it was removed. Phil Spencer, the head executive of Microsoft's Xbox division, was shown the pose and stated in response, "I assume that will be fixed."
• For Zombie and Enderman, in French, Spanish, and German, the voice clip from the announcer on the victory screen is slightly different from the one used on the character select screen, instead featuring a noticeable translation of "the" ("le Zombie"/"l'Enderman", "el Zombi"/"el Enderman", and "der Zombie"/"der Enderman"). This trait is shared with Inkling, Pokémon Trainer, Villager, Hero, the Ice Climbers, Wii Fit Trainer, and the Mii Fighters.
• Steve is the third fighter to have one of their victory animations shown in their reveal trailer, the first two being Joker and Terry.
  • He is also the third fighter to have a victory theme originating from another video game, the first two being Sonic and Joker.
    • Despite this, his victory theme was actually a sound effect in the original game.
• Steve and Byleth are the only characters in Ultimate whose alternate costumes are displayed alongside their default costumes on the official Ultimate site, similarly to Robin's page on the official SSB4 site.
• Steve and Alex are the first human characters to not have a gender, as all entities in Minecraft are genderless.
  • However, Masahiro Sakurai described Steve and Alex as male and female, respectively.
• Many of Steve's animations and sounds are directly taken from existing Minecraft games and media:
  • He is the only character to date with a unique tumbling animation, where he performs his running animation midair while staying upright, reflecting the same damage animations from Minecraft. This also applies when he is star KO'd and during certain cinematic Final Smashes such as Triple Wolf and Wario Man.
  • He falls to the side when getting KO'd by a weak attack in Stamina Mode, crumpling, or drowning, resembling the death animations of said game.
  • Steve's swimming animation is simply his walk animation slowed down, resembling his underwater behavior in Minecraft prior to Java 1.13, after which he received a unique swimming animation. Said updated animation is instead used when he drowns.
  • While asleep, Steve will place a red bed on the ground and proceed to lie on it. When waking up, he collects it back in his inventory.
  • If a perfect shield is performed, Steve will use an equippable shield to block the attack.
  • Steve's crouching and crawling animations resemble Minecraft's sneaking mechanic. Additionally, he also sneaks in his teetering animation, a nod to how sneaking in the original game prevents the player from falling off blocks.
  • When falling from a sufficient distance, the "taken damage" sound from Minecraft's fall damage mechanic plays when Steve lands, making him the only character with a unique long-distance fall sound. Unlike the original game, this cue is merely aesthetic.
  • When eating, the eating sound effects from Minecraft, including the burp, play. This makes Steve the second character to make a unique sound when eating, following fellow third-party character Snake.
  • Steve's clapping animation resembles the "simple clap" emote exclusive to the "Bedrock" Edition of Minecraft, looped and with Steve's head facing the camera while his body faces away.
  • Steve and Alex's eyes can blink, which was previously only present in the "Bedrock" Edition of Minecraft and in Minecraft Dungeons. Otherwise, their facial expressions never change, even while asleep. The Zombie and Enderman do not blink.
  • When climbing a ladder, Steve idly glides up and down it while emitting sounds identical to those made when climbing ladders in Minecraft. When stationary on a ladder, he crouches, in reference to how sneaking lets the player stay in place on ladders in the game.
  • Using Steve's tools while holding an item allows him to briefly dual wield them.
  • When Steve's fishing rod enters a water surface, a water sound effect from Minecraft plays upon him retracting the grab.
• Steve's alternate costumes each consist of a single template texture ported directly from Minecraft. This notably makes modifying them through file replacement extremely simple.
• Steve is the first playable third party character in the Super Smash Bros. series to have originated from an indie game. In this case, Minecraft started development solely by Markus Persson during its inception.
  • Before this, indie characters were often relegated to being Trophies, Spirits, Assist Trophies or Mii Costumes.
• Steve, Byleth, Hero, Terry, and Ryu are the only characters who have stamina battles for their Classic Mode routes.
  • Of these characters, Steve is the only one to have both stamina battles and regular battles within the route, as rounds 1, 3, 4, 5, and the boss are stamina battles while rounds 2 and 6 are regular battles.
• Steve, Jigglypuff, Bayonetta and Terry are the only characters who do not have a designated boss in their Classic Mode routes; all characters he battles in his route are playable characters.
• Steve, Hero and Corrin are the only characters who fight the same fighter multiple times in Classic Mode route; in Steve's case, he fights his alternate costumes, Zombie in Round 1 and Enderman in Round 6 and final round.
• Steve is the only character to lack an idle pose.
• Zombie and Enderman are the only alternate characters that do not possess a fighter spirit.
• Much like Roy's sourspotted attacks, Steve's sword attacks make punching sounds when using wood or stone swords, as do all variants of his axes and pickaxes.
• Steve holds crates, party balls, barrels, and Blast Boxes in a similar position to the way Endermen carry blocks in Minecraft.
• Steve is the lightest DLC fighter introduced in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and the third lightest newcomer in general, after Daisy and Isabelle.
• Steve's blocks do not align to the Training Mode grid, appearing to be only 0.95 meters to a side instead of 1. This is because the grid lines correspond to 1.07 units instead of 1.
• In Home-Run Contest, Steve starts off with diamond tools. Additionally, the crafting table can’t be spawned, although Steve can still build blocks.
• Steve has the most individual tips of any character in Ultimate, with 60.
• Steve is the third fighter in Ultimate in which the English announcer announces the name of the alternate model being used, following Olimar and Bowser Jr.
  • Steve is the first third-party character to have this distinction.
• Steve is the second DLC character with no voice clips, following Piranha Plant.
  • He is also the third of the third-party characters to lack voice clips, following Mega Man and Pac-Man.
• Steve is the first DLC character in Ultimate whose down aerial cannot meteor smash under any conditions.
• Unlike other alternate characters like Alph, the Koopalings, and Alex, the Zombie and Enderman do not have as much recognition for their appearance in Smash, as they are not mentioned in Steve and Alex's description on the website's DLC Page unlike Bowser Jr. and Olimar's blog pages, they do not have fighter spirits, and Sakurai does not use them in Steve's Mr. Sakurai Presents (not even being mentioned in the video's title).