Jigglypuff (SSBM)

Jigglypuff in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	Pokémon
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Brawl in SSB4 in Ultimate
Availability	Unlockable
Tier	A (5) (North America) A (4) (Europe)

Jigglypuff, (プリン, Purin), is an unlockable character in Super Smash Bros. Melee from the Pokémon series, making a return from the first Super Smash Bros game. Jigglypuff retains most of its moves from Smash 64, though with some modifications.

Rachael Lillis and Mika Kanai reprise their roles in the English and Japanese versions of the game, albeit via recycled voice clips from Super Smash Bros. 64. Guilaine Gilbert and Mara Winzer also reprise their roles in the French and German versions of the game, with new voice clips.

Jigglypuff is in the A tier at 5th place on the Melee tier list, a significant improvement from its 6/12 position on the previous game's tier list, and its best rank in the series. Jigglypuff's jump on the tier list is due to its incredible recovery, an extremely dangerous edgeguarding technique in the wall of pain, a powerful KO move that can easily be comboed into thanks to Rest, and an overall great aerial game and developed metagame. Its floatiness also makes it the only character in the top tier who cannot be easily comboed or chaingrabbed, which is also aided by its small size, which allows Jigglypuff to avoid most KO setups that most other characters would fall vulnerable to. Regardless, Jigglypuff still has problems. It is light and floaty, making it easier to KO with stray moves or certain low percentage setups than other characters. Jigglypuff's options on the ground are also limited, because of its poor range and a lack of a projectile. It also has a slow walking speed and dashing speed. Compounded with a poor dash dance, Jigglypuff's neutral game, which is largely committal, is not as good as that of other top-tiered characters; instead, it relies on its lethal punishes, edgeguards, and aerial mobility to succeed. Recent developments in the Melee metagame have also worsened Jigglypuff's matchups against other top-tier characters, such as Fox, Marth, and Falco. Despite this, Jigglypuff still has an amazing number of winning matchups, with Fox being the only character in the game it loses to, plus it has even matchups with only three other characters.

How to Unlock

To unlock Jigglypuff, the player must complete Classic Mode or Adventure Mode on any difficulty.

Jigglypuff can also be unlocked by playing 50 Versus mode matches (at the same time as Brinstar Depths).

Jigglypuff is fought on Pokémon Stadium, with the titular track playing.

Attributes

Jigglypuff is, in general, a character of extremes. It has the slowest run speed (tied with Zelda), the second lightest weight (along with Mr. Game & Watch) and the slowest fall speed, but has the fastest air speed and the highest air acceleration, granting it the best air mobility in the game which in combination with its five midair jumps, gives it a tremendous offstage presence. All of these properties gives Jigglypuff among the most unusual, but versatile, approaches in the game.

Owing to its unusual properties, Jigglypuff is among the hardest characters to combo in the cast. Jigglypuff's light weight and floatiness make it insusceptible to the majority of extended combos, such as zero-to-death combos and chaingrabs; after only a few hits, Jigglypuff will already be sent too far to chase down before the hitstun wears off, without the gravity needed to pull it back down to continue the combo. Despite Jigglypuff's weight and floatiness theoretically making it easier to KO than most of the cast, especially off the top of the stage, the great difficulty most characters have with comboing Jigglypuff allows it to survive disproportionately longer than other members of its weight class. Players who have good DI and SDI skills, and the awareness to apply them to stray hits, can stretch out its stocks to extremely high percentages. This forces opponents to find KOs at very specific percentage ranges as soon as the opportunity arises to actually be able to take advantage of Jigglypuff's weight.

However, such KO setups can be very difficult to find, as Jigglypuff's small frame and short crouch allow it to duck under many hitboxes that would usually be reliable combo starters on other characters, such as several characters' standing grabs. Its fast air speed and floatiness allow it to weave away from improperly spaced attacks, and its powerful aerials, particularly its disjointed back aerial, can stuff out most characters' approaches. These properties make it difficult for characters such as Sheik, Marth, and Captain Falcon to get the KO setups that allow them to succeed in other matchups. Top-level analytics show that Jigglypuff tends to sustain twice as much damage against other characters over the course of a set despite its light weight and floatiness, and rarely gets gimped at very low percentages, unlike most other top-tiered characters.

On the other hand, however, Jigglypuff possesses outstanding combo ability itself; with high hitstun, low knockback aerials, good tilts, and strong throws, Jigglypuff has plenty of ways to start and continue combos against almost any other character in the game, regardless of the opponent's characteristics. Jigglypuff also possesses KO setups of its own, including the space animal slayer, which almost guarantees a KO against some fast fallers in the game. Jigglypuff also has incredible power in some of its attacks; its smash attacks, particularly forward smash, can KO at realistic percentages. Jigglypuff's most powerful attack, however, is Rest. Among the most feared attacks in the game, Rest is an attack of extremes, with no starting lag (hitting on the very first frame), extreme ending lag, and incredible power, easily KOing characters at percentages as low as 25%. All of these powerful moves can be comboed into or used in tech chasing, giving them significant utility.

Due to its characteristics and recovery prowess, Jigglypuff is also among the most dangerous edgeguarders in the game. It possesses several ways to set up an edgeguard, including its down smash and back throw; once offstage, Jigglypuff can finish the opponent with its quick and powerful aerials that are easily able to disrupt most recoveries off-stage, and the aforementioned high-power moves such as Rest that heavily punish improper recoveries done onto the stage. Jigglypuff's Wall of Pain is a particularly lethal method of edgeguarding, as it is an off-stage combo that can guarantee KOs on characters with poor recoveries, such as Falco and Roy, if done properly. Jigglypuff's edgeguarding is also much more flexible compared to other characters', due to its superior aerial drift, as it can easily cover both on- and off-stage options while other strong edgeguarding characters cannot. These strengths make Jigglypuff arguably the strongest edgeguarder in the game. On the flip side, Jigglypuff's own recovery is also considered to be the best in the game; with five midair jumps, the lowest falling speed, and the highest air speed, Jigglypuff can recover from nearly any situation, as Pound, with its Rising Pound capabilities, gives Jigglypuff almost infinite vertical and horizontal distance. Its ability to weave in and out of enemy aerials, as well as its nearly unmatched number of jumps, make Jigglypuff extremely difficult to edgeguard.

However, for all of its significant strengths, Jigglypuff's ground approach is among the worst of the top-tiered characters'. It has a short wavedash, the slowest dash in the game (alongside Zelda), and an average grab range, forcing Jigglypuff to stay in the air to attack and combo well. Additionally, Jigglypuff's shield delivers 300 points of vertical knockback to Jigglypuff when broken (by comparison, the typical smash attack at roughly 100% percentage deals about 165 to 195 points of knockback) and instantaneously KOs it on all tournament-legal stages, giving it another defensive disadvantage when grounded. Despite having almost unparalleled approach in the air, being in the air can be an inherent defensive disadvantage, as Jigglypuff lacks access to grounded defensive options such as shielding and dodging, forcing Jigglypuff to play patiently and wait for opponents to overextend most of the time.

Because of this, Jigglypuff's neutral game is considered to be lackluster among the top tiers. Not only is it forced to play an aerial spacing game, but it also lacks effective lingering hitboxes. Jigglypuff's neutral and forward aerials lose power quickly, and can be crouch canceled up to medium percentages. The weak hitboxes are thus only useful for interrupting recoveries, and can be easily punished if improperly spaced. To mitigate this weakness, Jigglypuff must make use of its unmatched aerial drift to create openings and space perfectly around its opponents, which, while not impossible to do at high-level play, nonetheless requires developing a very unique skillset not shared by other characters, including a strong mental game. Jigglypuff also lacks a projectile of any type; unlike other characters, such as Marth, Jigglypuff also cannot negate projectiles easily, though its short crouch can mitigate this slightly. This makes Jigglypuff susceptible to being locked down or zoned out by projectile users, such as Falco and Young Link.

Overall, Jigglypuff has polarizing strengths and weaknesses. Jigglypuff has one of the most potent punish games out of all characters, yet is immune to most other characters' punishes; additionally, it cannot easily be edgeguarded, but is an extremely strong edgeguarder itself. On the other hand, Jigglypuff is KOed easily from stray hits unlike other characters, and struggles to approach enemies due to its decidedly below-average neutral game, making it difficult to get openings in competitive play. Skilled players should take into account these weaknesses, using clever baits and capitalizing on opponents' mistakes to attain superior positions where Jigglypuff can disrupt the opponent's plan and secure KOs that cannot easily be escaped from.

Changes from Super Smash Bros.

When transitioning from Smash 64 to Melee, Jigglypuff received multiple buffs, primarily in regards to its power, speed, range, combo ability, and recovery. Jigglypuff's aerial mobility is far superior with faster air speed and higher mid-air jumps which heavily improve Jigglypuff's recovery, edgeguarding and aerial approach. This is further complimented by its aerials (most notoriously back aerial) receiving larger hitboxes making them more effective at walling out opponents. Rest has also seen a huge buff to its already impressive KO power making it an incredibly deadly attack if it lands. The changes to Melee's mechanics greatly aid Jigglypuff. The faster falling speeds allow Jigglypuff to maintain its powerful combo game despite the reduction of hitstun and the nerfs to some of its moves and air dodging further aids Jigglypuff's recovery and movement options. The changes to Melee's ledge mechanics also greatly benefit Jigglypuff as ledge invincibility no longer cancels if Jigglypuff lets go of the ledge and Sing can now be ledge-cancelled making stalling at the ledge an extremely strong option for Jigglypuff.

Despite these significant buffs, Jigglypuff has also received some nerfs. Jigglypuff's already poor grounded mobility was made even worse and some of its previous KO moves such as up smash, down smash and back throw have been weakened while some of its other moves have had their damage output reduced (with down aerial being the most prominent example). Jigglypuff's grab game much like the rest of the cast was also toned down. As with all returning veterans without a tether grab, Jigglypuff's grabs are much slower and as mentioned before, its back throw was drastically weakened dealing less damage and no longer being a viable kill option. Up throw deals less damage than its old forward throw and has much higher base knockback hindering its combo potential although it is still a potent combo throw especially when combined with the increase in Rest's power.

Overall, Jigglypuff fares significantly better in Melee than in Smash 64 with Tournament results to back this up. Jigglypuff went from the 6th best out of 12 on the Smash 64 tier list to 5th best out of 26 on the Melee tier list. As a result of these improvements in both tournament and tier placings, Jigglypuff is widely considered one of the most buffed characters in the game, alongside Samus.

Aesthetics

• The graphical upgrades of the Nintendo GameCube allow Jigglypuff to have a rounder body and a more detailed mouth. Additionally, its ears and hair curl are slightly larger and its irises are now turquoise.
• Jigglypuff received a new taunt, where it now spins in place while winking at the player.
• Its "applause" pose on the Results Screen now properly loops, instead of merely moving its head twice and then stopping.
• When Jigglypuff gets hit, it tumbles while facing the opposite direction it faced in Super Smash Bros. (Example: When it gets hit left, it faces the screen

rather than the background.)

Attributes

• Jigglypuff walks much slower (0.28 → 0.7), hindering its already poor approach.
• Jigglypuff dashes slower (42 → 1.1), now being the slowest in Melee, along with Zelda.
• Jigglypuff's air speed is much faster (35 → 1.35), going from the fourth fastest in Smash 64 to the fastest in Melee, largely improving Jigglypuff's approach, combo, and recovery potential.
• Jigglypuff's air acceleration is much higher despite already being the highest (0.07 → 0.28).
• Jigglypuff's midair jumps now all give height, greatly improving its recovery and ability to chase aerial opponents.
  • However, Jigglypuff's first two mid-air jumps (especially the second one) grant less height.
• Jigglypuff is significantly heavier (53 → 60), no longer being the lightest in the game.
• Jigglypuff's falling speed is higher (38 → 1.3) although it is still the lowest in the game.
• Jigglypuff's gravity is higher (2 → 0.064) although it has gone from the second lowest to the absolute lowest.
• Jigglypuff's traction is much higher (1.1 → 0.09), going from the second lowest to the fifth highest. This makes it easier for Jigglypuff to punish out of shield but makes it more vulnerable to shield pressure and makes its new wavedash extremely short.
• Jigglypuff's short hop is much lower. This makes its approach with aerials much more effective but prevents it from auto-canceling all of its aerials and performing two aerials in a short hop.
  • Jigglypuff's full hop is much lower (now only being as high as its previous short hop) which along with its first two mid-air jumps being lower, hinders its already poor ability to chase opponents vertically.
• Jigglypuff's jumpsquat is shorter (6 frames → 5).
• Forward roll has less startup lag with a longer duration (frames 4-19 → 2-18).
• Both rolls have more ending lag (FAF 32 → 35).
• Jigglypuff's hair and ears now have hurtboxes.
• The removal of teleporting hinders Jigglypuff's grounded approach moreso than any other veteran.
• The introduction of air dodging greatly helps Jigglypuff as air dodging not only gives Jigglypuff an additional recovery option if it runs out of jumps but they also give Jigglypuff superior landing options on platforms.
• Jigglypuff's shield is much smaller; going from being twice the size of Jigglypuff (being the largest shield in Smash 64) to now failing to cover Jigglypuff's whole body.
• The changes to shields benefit Jigglypuff more than most other veterans as it makes Jigglypuff much less vulnerable to shield breaks (despite its higher traction), making its unique shield break less of a detriment. It also doesn't hurt Jigglypuff's own shield pressure as much as other returning veterans.
• The changes to ledge intangibility benefits Jigglypuff moreso than any other veteran as it can now easily stall by the ledge with minimal risk which can be extremely difficult to deal with.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • Both hits of neutral attack have less ending lag (FAF 18 → 16 (hit 1), FAF 20 → 17 (hit 2)).
  • Neutral attack's second hit has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 5-7 → 6-7) and deals slightly less damage (4% → 3%).
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt has less startup lag (frame 7 → 6), deals more damage (8% → 10%) and has increased base knockback (5 → 8).
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt has increased knockback (10 (base), 100 (scaling) → 40/120), improving its combo ability/safety at low percentages as well as its KO potential.
  • Up tilt now launches opponents towards Jigglypuff (85° → 96°).
  • Up tilt deals less damage (10% → 9% (clean)/8%) which combined with its higher knockback, hinders its juggling potential.
  • Up tilt has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 7-14 → 8-14).
  • Up tilt has less range.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt has less startup (frame 11 → 10) and ending lag (FAF 40 → 30).
  • Down tilt has more range.
  • Down tilt is now a semi-spike (70° → 20°) granting it edgeguarding potential but hindering its combo potential.
  • Down tilt has increased base knockback (0 → 40) making it much safer on hit when combined with its lower ending lag.
    • However, its knockback scaling is much lower (120 → 30) greatly hindering its KO potential.
  • Down tilt has a shorter duration (frames 11-15 → 10-12).
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack deals more damage (10% (clean)/6% (late) → 12%/8%) with its clean hit also having increased base knockback (10 → 16).
  • Dash attack has less startup lag and its clean hit has a longer duration (frames 5-8 → 4-8).
  • Dash attack has a shorter total duration (FAF 41 → 39).
  • Dash attack's late hit has a shorter duration (frames 8-18 → 9-14) giving the move more ending lag.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash deals more damage (16% (clean)/10% (late) → 17%/13%) improving its KO potential despite its decreased knockback (10 (base), 120 (scaling) → 10/118 (clean) 6/105 (late)) being the sixth most powerful in Melee.
  • Forward has a longer duration (frames 12-14 (clean)/15-19 (late) → 12-15/16-20).
  • Forward smash has more ending lag (FAF 40 → 45).
• Up smash:
  • Up smash has less startup (frame 8 → 7) and ending lag (FAF 55 → 45).
  • Up smash sends opponents at a more vertical angle (80° → 90°).
  • Up smash no longer has a late hit which shortens the move's duration (frames 8-14 → 7-10).
  • Compared to the previous clean hit, up smash deals less damage (18% → 14%) and knockback (22 (base), 130 (scaling) → 20/110) greatly hindering its KO potential; no longer being one of the strongest up smashes.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash has less ending lag (FAF 55 → 48).
  • Down smash's angle has been altered (40° → 0°).
    • This significantly improves its edgeguarding potential.
    • However, this also launches opponents low enough to the ground so they can tech making the move less consistent against grounded opponents.
  • Down smash has more startup lag with a much shorter duration as it no longer has a late hit (frames 7-10 (clean)/11-26 (late) → 9-10). This also means that it has much less intangibility on Jigglypuff's feet.
  • Compared to the previous clean hit, down smash deals less damage (16% → 12%) and much less knockback (20 (base), 100 (scaling) → 34/66) significantly hindering its KO potential.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials deal weaker damage and knockback, increasing their combo ability, but reducing their KOing and edgeguarding potential.
• Forward, up and down aerials auto-cancel later (frame 24 → 34 (forward), frame 17 → 37 (up), frame 33 → 39 (down)). They can no longer auto-cancel in a short hop with the weakening of L-canceling further exacerbating this change.
• Neutral and back aerials auto-cancel earlier (frame 34 → 29 (neutral), frame 28 → 25 (back)).
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial has a shorter duration (frames 6-9 (clean)/10-33 (late) → 6-7/8-28).
  • Neutral aerial has more landing lag (16 frames → 20).
  • Neutral aerial's hitboxes are less disjointed.
  • Neutral aerial's clean hit deals less damage (14% → 12%) and both hits deal less knockback (30 (base), 100 (scaling) → 10/70 (clean), 100 (scaling) → 80 (late)), significantly hindering its KO potential.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial has less startup lag (frame 8 → 7), ending lag (FAF 40 → 35) and landing lag (30 frames → 20).
  • Forward aerial has more range.
  • Forward aerial deals less damage (13% (clean)/8% (late) → (12%/10%)/7%) and its late hit deals less knockback (0 (base), 100 (scaling) → 10/80).
  • Forward aerial's clean hit has a shorter duration (frames 8-11 → 7-8) with the late hit's duration being compensated (frames 12-23 → 9-22).
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial has less ending lag (FAF 40 → 31) and landing lag (30 frames → 20).
  • Back aerial has much more range which along with its lower ending lag and Jiggplypuff's superior aerial mobility, makes it a much stronger spacing tool.
  • Back aerial has more startup lag (frame 8 → 9).
  • Back aerial no longer has a late hit, shortening its duration (frames 8-16 → 9-12).
  • Back aerial deals less damage compared to the previous clean hit (13% → 12%).
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial has a shorter total duration (FAF 40 → 38).
  • Up aerial has less landing lag (21 frames → 20).
  • Up aerial now sends opponents straight upwards (70° → 90°).
  • Up aerial has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 8-16 → 9-12) increasing its ending lag.
  • Up aerial deals less damage (16% → 12%) and knockback (0 (base), 120 (scaling) → 30/100) hindering its KO potential despite its new angle.
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial no longer has set knockback (30 (set) → 20/10 (base)).
    • This makes the move safer and more effective at higher percents.
    • However, this makes the move less safe at lower percents and makes it connect much less reliably at higher percents especially against aerial oppoents.
  • Down aerial no longer meteor smashes aerial opponents (-90° → 30°), significantly hindering its edgeguarding potential.
  • Down aerial has more startup lag (frame 4 → 5).
  • Down aerial's hits deal less damage (3% → 2%) and it only has 8 hits instead of 10 greatly reducing its maximum damage potential (30% → 14.74%).
  • Down aerial has much more landing lag even when L-cancelled (8 frames → 30) and now lacks a landing hitbox; making the move much riskier to land with.

Grab and throws

• Grabs:
  • As with all other veterans, Jigglypuff has been given a up throw, a down throw, and a pummel, improving its grab options.
  • As with most other returning veterans, Grabs have more startup lag (frame 6 → 7 (standing), 11 (dash)) and ending lag (FAF 16 → 31 (standing), 41 (dash)).
• Forward throw:
  • Jigglypuff has a new forward throw: It hits its opponent on its side dealing horizontal knockback. Unlike most throws, the move's hitbox occurs after the throw with the hit being fairly powerful.
• Back throw:
  • Jigglypuff releases its opponent one frame later from back throw (frame 24 → 25).
  • Back throw is now weight dependent.
  • Back throw has drastically reduced damage (16% → 10%) and knockback (80 (base), 70 (scaling) → 90/25).
• Up throw:
  • Jigglypuff's previous forward throw is now its up throw.
    • In the process, it deals less damage (14% → 11%) with altered knockback (90 (base), 50 (scaling) → 130/25). When combined with the universal reduction to hitstun and the introduction of DI, this hinders its combo potential at lower percents and hinders its already poor KO potential.
  • Up throw has more ending lag (FAF 40 → 42).
  • Up throw is now weight dependent.
    • This further worsens its combo potential against heavier characters.
    • However, this reduces the throw's ending lag against lighter characters. When combined with the universally increased falling speeds and the drastic buffs to Rest, this provides Jigglypuff with a powerful technique known as the space animal slayer on Fox and Falco.

Special moves

• Rollout:
  • Jigglypuff has a new neutral special move: Rollout. It's a chargeable move that deals good damage, can KO early regardless of where the opponent is on the stage, and moves at fast speeds when fully charged.
• Pound:
  • Pound is now Jigglypuff's side special move due to Rollout becoming its neutral special move.
  • Pound has less ending lag (FAF 55 → 46) improving its recovery potential.
  • Pound stalls Jigglypuff's vertical momentum for a much longer period of time which along with the previous change, significantly improves its stalling potential.
  • Pound sends opponents at a higher angle (120° → 75°) improving its combo potential.
  • Rising Pound is much easier to perform.
  • Pound has increased base knockback (20 → 52). This improves its safety and combo potential at lower percents but hinders its combo potential at higher percents.
  • The 0.7x damage decrease to shields hinders Pound's ability to break shields.
• Sing:
  • Sing now puts opponents to sleep for longer at higher percentages, instead of putting opponents to sleep for longer at lower percentages.
  • Sing can now auto-snap the ledge, which makes it less of a detriment if used off stage and can occasionally set up a Rest.
  • Sing gives a slight vertical boost in midair if used after a jump.
  • The removal of teleporting removes Sing's use as an approach option.
• Rest:
  • Rest deals significantly more damage (20% → 28%) and has higher base knockback (60 → 78) greatly improving its already impressive KO potential.
  • Rest has a slightly smaller hitbox.
  • Rest has less intangibility (frames 1-29 → 1-26).
  • Jigglypuff has a different voice clip when waking up from Rest. The old voice clip is used for Rollout.

PAL differences

Compared to the other top tiers, Jigglypuff remained unchanged when transitioning to the PAL version of Melee (outside of receiving new voice clips for the French and German language options, due to Jigglypuff's name change in said languages) although it did receive one practically negligible indirect nerf (with Jigglypuff now taking damage from Bowser's down throw). This change however does not affect its matchups against the other top tiers. Because of this, Jigglypuff is even more effective in the PAL version (due to the nerfs to the other top tiers giving it a better matchup spread), currently being ranked 4th on the latest PAL tier list. Some would even argue that Jigglypuff is the best character in the PAL version.

• Jigglypuff has all new voice clips when the game is set to French or German due to its name change from "Jigglypuff" to "Rondoudou" and "Pummeluff" respectively. Jigglypuff retains its English voice when the game is set to Spanish or Italian.
• Jigglypuff now takes damage from Bowser's down throw due to the throw no longer being weight dependent.
  • However, this also makes the throw much slower due to Jigglypuff's very low weight, giving Jigglypuff much more time to DI and giving Bowser much less time to followup after the throw.

Moveset

Jigglypuff's aerial attacks

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

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			3%	Two quick jabs with rather poor range. Good for jab resetting and can lead into tilts.
			3%
Forward tilt			10%	Does a quick roundhouse spin, feet extended. Has short range. Can be angled up or down.
Up tilt			9% (clean), 8% (late)	Extends its foot upwards quickly. Relatively good for combos, being able to chain into itself at lower percentages, and is a great setup for an aerial attack at higher percentages.
Down tilt			10%	Quickly extends its foot downwards.
Dash attack			12% (clean), 8% (late)	A generic dash attack; trips and falls head-first forwards. Somewhat fast and powerful, but is predictable, and has moderate ending lag.
Forward smash			17% (clean), 13% (late)	Does a small hop forward with foot extended. Has minor startup and ending lag, but is a decent finisher at higher percentages due to its extremely high knockback scaling; it has the second highest knockback scaling in the game out of the forward smashes, losing only to Luigi's.
Up smash			14%	Headbutts upwards. It can be good for leading into aerial combos or finishing, and it can combo into Rest at mid percentages, but due to the ending lag, it isn't too reliable. There is a smaller hitbox in Jigglypuff's head that deals 15% damage but never connects due to overlapping the bigger hitbox.
Down smash			12%	Enlarges both its feet sideways. Has a bit of ending lag, but with semi-spike properties, it can be a good edgeguarder. However, Jigglypuff's aerials are usually safer and more reliable. Both of Jigglypuff's feet are intangible the moment the hitboxes come out.
Neutral aerial			12% (clean), 9% (late)	Squishes itself and extends its feet. Decent spacing move, and has sex kick properties. Can be good for edgeguarding.
Forward aerial			12%/10% (clean feet/body), 7% (late)	Quickly extends both feet in front of itself. It is useful for edgeguarding and is the backbone of many of Jigglypuff's aerial combos, but is not as powerful or reliable as its back aerial.
Back aerial			12%	Spins backward and kicks behind itself. This is Jigglypuff's key tool for edgeguarding. It is extremely useful for wall of pain techniques, which can be potentially deadly, and if done correctly, guarantees a KO. A large and disjointed hitbox leads to it being one of Jigglypuff's only spacing tools.
Up aerial		{{{uairname}}}	12%	Waves its arm up in an arch. Decent vertical KO power, and excellent for juggling, compounded with Jigglypuff's multiple midair jumps. Can combo into Rest on its own or after an up throw (usually done at mid-high percentages to ensure that the Rest is landed), especially against fastfallers.
Down aerial			2% (hits 1-8)	A downwards drill kick. Not much hitstun. If the player used short hopped down aerial with L-cancel, it can lead to a Rest. Deals 16% damage total if all hits connect.
Grab			—
Pummel			3%	Slaps opponent with its tuft of hair. Somewhat slow.
Forward throw			5% (throw), 7% (hit 2)	Puffs itself up and launches foe in front. Surprisingly high knockback compared to most throws in Melee, can lead into an edgeguard KO near the ledge, though not as reliable as its back throw. Second strongest forward throw in Melee. The throw can KO opponents above 130% when used very close to the ledge. It is possible to SDI this throw in most cases, because the 7% hit is a normal hitbox rather than a throw.
Back throw			10%	Similar to Kirby's, takes foe and throws them behind while going on its back. A very good and reliable option for forcing opponents offstage, setting up an edgeguard.
Up throw			11%	Spins once and tosses opponent upwards. Can lead into aerial combos against fast fallers and lightweights or floaty characters at low percentages. At low percentages against fastfallers, it can combo into Rest; at mid percentages, an up aerial can be added to ensure that the Rest is landed, as stated above.
Down throw			1% (hits 1-4), 3% (hit 5), 2% (throw)	Grinds opponent with itself on the floor. Can combo into Rest against floaty characters.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			8% (foot), 6% (body)	Spins one leg around while getting up, kicking behind then in front of itself.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			8% (foot), 6% (body)	Spins one leg around while getting up, kicking behind then in front of itself.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			6%	Gets up onto the stage, foot extended.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			6%	Slowly gets up and spins its body in a similar fashion to its d-smash.
Neutral special		Rollout	10-18%	Charges up and rolls very fast in one direction. Can turn around by tapping the control stick in the opposite direction. If the move is uncharged, it doesn't do any damage (unless the opponent is close to Jigglypuff the moment it starts rolling), but it gets more powerful and faster the more it is charged, with KO potential when fully charged. However, due to being predictable and easy to dodge (it can be jumped over, spot dodged, and even shield grabbed), it is rarely used in competitive play. It can be used for recovery as long as Jigglypuff grabs onto the ledge, but otherwise it makes it helpless, and there are almost always better options available.
Side special		Pound	13%	Extends a fist forward, knocking opponents up and behind Jigglypuff. Does high knockback, especially at low percentages, and has a long lasting hitbox. It also deals 20 shield damage, which is fairly high for an attack. Pound is mainly used as a recovery move - it can be angled up and down, the former referred to as Rising Pound, which, combined with Jigglypuff's five midair jumps, extremely fast air speed, and extremely low falling speed, give it a gigantic recovery.
Up special		Sing	0%	Sings, sending opponents nearby to sleep. However, it has extremely low range and the opponent can often wake up before Jigglypuff finishes singing. The sing time can be cancelled if Jigglypuff grabs onto the ledge, with the opponent falling asleep (leaving them vulnerable), but that isn't effective due to the move's such low range.
Down special		Rest	28%	Rests. Normally, this leaves Jigglypuff very vulnerable, but there is a very small hitbox located near its eyes, which deals extremely high damage and knockback, being able to KO reliably at as low as 25%. Can easily be combo'd into with a variety of moves, notably its up throw, up aerial, up tilt, and down throw. It is among the most feared attacks in the game due to its extreme power and instantaneous startup, but if it misses, it leaves Jigglypuff extremely vulnerable. Most useful in teams matches where a teammate can cover Jigglypuff's extreme ending lag upon using Rest with a jab. Deals flame damage.

Taunt

• Spins around on one foot, then looks at the camera inflated, winking and saying "Jigglypuff!" The eye Jigglypuff winks depends on which side it's facing.

Idle pose

• Looks at its side while jumping.

Crowd cheer

	English	Japanese
Cheer
Description	Jig-gly-puff!	Pur-iin!
Pitch	Male	Male

Victory poses

An excerpt from the main theme of Pokémon.

• Hestitates for a while, then jumps up and lands on its back.
• Jumps twice, then does a backflip.
• Sleeps, then suddenly wakes up.

In competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Melee Character Matchups

Avg.

Jigglypuff has one of the most positive matchup spreads in the game, though it hard counters fewer low-tier characters than most of the other top-tiers. It is only soft countered by Fox, has even matchups with three, soft counters nine, counters ten, and hard counters two.

Jigglypuff generally has an advantage against characters with:

• poor or telegraphed recovery options, such as Sheik, Donkey Kong, and Mario, as it can easily carry them off-stage or punish them landing on-stage with Rest;
• a reliance on an aerial game that is not as good as Jigglypuff's, such as Peach, since it is able to beat those characters at their own game;
• and/or no reliable KO setups against it due to its low crouch, light weight, and floatiness, such as Pikachu.

On the other hand, Jigglypuff has more trouble against characters who are able to space it out and restrict its movement with projectiles, such as Falco and Young Link, or have KO setups on Jigglypuff despite its strong defensive capabilities, such as Fox.

Current metagame

Due to the increase of skill among Fox professionals and better understanding of Jigglypuff's weaknesses, Fox's matchup against it improved, and he was considered Jigglypuff's definitive counter for a period of time in 2013-2015. Since then, however, top Jigglypuff players have adapted back; proper DI and SDI can allow Jigglypuff to escape from Fox's main KO confirms, and Jigglypuff still boasts superior aerial drift, powerful aerials, and arguably easier punish and edgeguard games against Fox. Thus, whether Fox soft or hard counters Jigglypuff is debated to this day, with a vocal minority even claiming that the matchup is close to even.

In recent years, Marth and Captain Falcon professionals have had much stronger performances against Jigglypuff at the highest levels of play. Marth is also now considered to have an even, or only slightly losing (at worst) matchup against Jigglypuff; Marth professionals such as PewPewU and Zain have shown that Marth can heavily punish Jigglypuff after a grab, utilizing pivoting to land guaranteed tipper forward smashes to KO it, while pushing their space advantage in the neutral game much more than before. While Captain Falcon is still considered to lose to Jigglypuff, the matchup is much closer than originally perceived. Wizzrobe has shown that Captain Falcon has good chances with the matchup, utilizing a much more conservative playstyle that abuses Captain Falcon's speed to avoid Jigglypuff's threat zone. He has even turned Jigglypuff's best stage (Dream Land) against it, showing that Jigglypuff is not fast enough to chase Captain Falcon on that stage, and has difficulty contesting him if he camps the top platform.

Despite these flaws and metagame advancements against it, Jigglypuff's amazing strengths maintain its positive matchups against almost all of the cast, with the current consensus still being that it only has one losing matchup against Fox. Thus, Jigglypuff maintains one of the strongest matchup spreads in the game. In addition, Armada thinks Jigglypuff is the best in the game, with Mew2King thinking the character is top 3 alongside Fox and Marth.

Notable players

Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the 2019 MPGR, which recognizes the official top 100 players in the world in Super Smash Bros. Melee. "HM" indicates an honorable mention on the 2019 MPGR.

Active

•  2Saint (#35) - One of the best Jigglypuff players in the world. Placed 13th at GENESIS 6, 25th at Smash 'N' Splash 5, and 17th at Pound 2019. Has wins over Hax$, Slox, and PewPewU.
•  42nd (HM) - The best Jigglypuff player in New York, placing 33rd at Shine 2018 and Pound 2019 with wins over SFAT and ChuDat. Formerly ranked 68th on the 2018 MPGR.
•  Chango (HM) - The best Jigglypuff player in Washington; ranked 4th on the Washington Melee Power Rankings. Placed 17th at The Kid, the Goat, and the Mang0.
•  Dudutsai - The best active New England Jigglypuff player, placing 49th at EVO 2016, 33rd at Shine 2016, 37th at MLG Anaheim 2014 and 17th at Get On My Level 2014.
•  Fizzle_Boy - One of the best Jigglypuff players in Ohio. He has tournament wins over Colbol, Drephen, and A Rookie.
•  Hungrybox (#1) - One of the Five Gods. The best Jigglypuff player in the world.
•  Jerry (#59) - Co-mains Jigglypuff with Fox, with several wins at S@X and top 32 placements at majors over extremely high profile players such as SFAT.
•  Legend - The current best Jigglypuff player in Canada, with several top 48 finishes at majors.
•  Leighton (HM) - Ranked 5th on the New York City Power Rankings, with very strong and consistent regional results. Placed 33rd at Super Smash Con 2019.
•  maXy (HM) - One of the best European Jigglypuff players. Placed 2nd at Valhalla II, defeating and outplacing notable players such as Pricent, Amsah, and Frenzy.
•  Michael (#50) - One of the best Jigglypuff players in the world. Placed 17th at Smash 'N' Splash 5 and 7th at Full Bloom 5. Has wins over PewPewU, HugS, and Kalamazhu.
•  Prince Abu (#90) - Formerly considered the second best Jigglypuff in the world. Placed 9th at EVO 2017.
•  SmashBob SquarePants - Ranked 1st on the South Carolina Power Rankings.
•  Snowy (#100) - A strong Jigglypuff player from Texas, notable for being a practice partner for numerous top players such as Leffen and Armada. Formerly ranked 5th on the Central Texas Power Rankings.
•  Solobattle - The best Jigglypuff player in Finland, ranked 1st on the Finnish Power Rankings. Notably placed 3rd at Syndicate 2019 with wins over Trif, Overtriforce, and Amsah.
•  Tekk - The best Jigglypuff in Europe. He is ranked 14th on the European Melee Power Rankings and was formerly ranked 43rd on the 2015 SSBMRank. He has set wins over Chillindude, Android and Duck.

Inactive

•  4% - A strong player from the Midwest; he was ranked 99th on the 2016 SSBMRank and 1st on the Northeast Ohio Melee Power Rankings. He no longer competes in singles tournaments, but occasionally enters doubles.
•  Darc - Formerly 4th on the New England Power Rankings, he was well-known for very solid placings in doubles such as 2nd at GENESIS, 2nd at Apex 2009. He also placed very well in singles and was at one point a top 20 player in the world, with 13th at GENESIS, 13th at Apex 2010 and 17th at Apex 2014. He is currently on a hiatus from tournaments.
•  Idea - One of the best Jigglypuff players in Canada when he was active. Has not been on his regional PR, where he peaked at #7, since 2015.
•  K.F - The best Jigglypuff player in Japan, ranked 5th on his country PR in 2017.
•  KillaOR - One of the very first Jigglypuff mains and a member of the old-school crew Deadly Alliance. Placed top 8 at several MLG events in 2005, such as 2nd at MLG Houston 2005 and 3rd at MLG Los Angeles 2005, but has not been active in the scene for over a decade.
•  The King - Ranked 14th on the Smash Panel Power Rankings for his performances such as 5th at MLG Dallas 2006, 9th at MLG Anaheim 2006 and 9th at Zero Challenge 2.
•  Mango - One of the Five Gods. It was his first true main, after being inspired by The King.
•  Raistlin - Placed 9th at GENESIS.
•  s0ft - Formerly ranked 64th on the 2014 SSBMRank and boasting a very impressive 7th place finish at Apex 2014, his results have declined since and he has not been active in major tournaments since 2017.

Tier placement and history

Since the beginning of the Melee metagame, Jigglypuff has had among the biggest improvements, going from a lower-mid tier character to a viable top tier character. In the first tier list (October 2002), Jigglypuff was ranked 17-18th place (tied with Ness), but jumped to 10-11th in the second tier list (December 2002). Jigglypuff hovered around the 8th-11th spots before rising to 6th-7th place (tied with Captain Falcon) in the ninth tier list (October 2008), largely due to Mango showing how dominant Jigglypuff was in the air, and how powerful its pressure game and combo abilities were. With Mango continuously dominating more Melee tournaments using Jigglypuff, and the rise of another nationally dominant Jigglypuff player in Hungrybox, Jigglypuff jumped up to top tier in the original 10th tier list (September 2010), tied with Fox and Falco for the top position. In the actual 10th tier list (December 2010), Jigglypuff was ranked third under Fox and Falco. Jigglypuff is ranked 5th place in the twelfth (current) tier list, as of December 2015. Despite this, Jigglypuff has a smaller playerbase than the rest of the top tier characters, with only four representatives on the 2015 SSBM Player Rankings, although it has since seen an increase in representation.

Since 2015, Jigglypuff's presence in the Melee metagame has continued to grow, largely to Hungrybox's continued rise to dominance as the best player in the world. After winning huge events such as EVO 2016, and achieving Rank #1 on SSBMRank from 2017 to 2019, Hungrybox became the player to beat at every Melee tournament, and many players began developing a secondary Fox in an attempt to counterpick him. Following Hungrybox's dominance, most players began to recognize Jigglypuff as a top three character, with some believing that it is the best character in the game.

Brokenness controversy

Within the Melee community, there has been a small but notable voice of players who believe that "Puff is broken" and that the character should be banned from Melee tournaments. They argue that its near-inability to be comboed and its exceptional recovery take away the punishing and edgeguarding game, two of the most important aspects of Melee, giving it an unfair advantage over the rest of the cast. Players such as Leffen have argued that due to its "brokenness," other top Melee players could easily pick up Jigglypuff and do just as well as Hungrybox, as suggested by Mango's dominance from 2008 to 2010 and Jerry's immediate success in 2018 when he picked up Jigglypuff, but refuse to play Jigglypuff because they prefer to play faster, aggressive characters, which keeps the game popular with spectators.

Another camp of players, albeit one closely related to the above, instead argue that Jigglypuff is bad for the competitive scene as a whole. These players believe that fighting against Jigglypuff is physically and emotionally draining for top players, where one small mistake can lead to a stock loss due to a Rest or wall of pain. They cite the fact that numerous top players, such as Armada and Plup, have taken a break or retired from the game due to their dislike of Jigglypuff. They also argue that Jigglypuff's defensive and "boring" playstyle hurts Melee as a spectator sport, fearing that repeated victories by Jigglypuff will discourage viewers from watching streamed tournaments.

However, most members of the Melee community do not support a Jigglypuff ban. They argue that Hungrybox's success in tournaments is due to his skill as a player, rather than Jigglypuff being a broken character. They also cite the relative lack of top Jigglypuff players as evidence of Hungrybox's exceptional success with the character, and that if Jigglypuff was truly broken, competitive Melee players would still play it regardless if it was "boring," as evidenced by the numerous Ice Climbers who used wobbling in tournaments, despite vocally being against the technique from a game design standpoint. They argue that Jigglypuff does not hurt the scene or turn off spectators from watching tournaments, pointing to the fact that Melee tournaments have seen an increase in both attendance and viewership since 2015, and that Hungrybox's dominance with Jigglypuff is no worse than the historical dominance of other players' characters, such as Armada's Peach. Opponents of a ban argue that removing Jigglypuff from tournaments would unfairly target Hungrybox, and that other top players should adopt a more patient playstyle in order to beat him.

PAL viability

Jigglypuff was relatively unchanged from the NTSC version, although it can now take damage from Bowser's down throw due to the changes in its properties, which is not a significant nerf due to Bowser's lack of usage in PAL regions. However, it benefits from the nerfs to some other top-tiered characters, who either lost KO options (Sheik), have decreased aerial drift (Marth) or recovery distance, or a combination of the three (Fox). As such, it is considered slightly better relative to the cast in PAL than in NTSC, and is ranked 4th on the PAL tier list instead of 5th. Jigglypuff's tournament representation in PAL is roughly the same as in NTSC, with a handful of top Jigglypuff mains (notably Hack and Tekk) and a small pool of lower-leveled ones.

In Single-player modes

In Classic Mode

Once Jigglypuff is unlocked, it may appear in the game's Classic Mode as a one-on-one, team (alongside Kirby or Pikachu), giant, multi, or metal opponent, as well as an ally in team and giant fights.

In all of its appearances, Jigglypuff appears on Pokémon Stadium; when paired with Kirby in the team battle, it will appear on Green Greens.

In Adventure Mode

Jigglypuff can appear in Stage 7 of the Adventure Mode; in the Pokémon Battle, Jigglypuff can appear among the Pikachus the player has to fight against.

In All-Star Mode

In All-Star Mode, Jigglypuff and its allies are fought on Poké Floats.

In Event Matches

Jigglypuff appears in the following Event Matches:

• Event 32: Target Acquired: As Falco, the player must KO Jigglypuff as many times as possible in one minute on Corneria. However, Arwings also fire frequently at the stage, and Falco must KO Jigglypuff more often than the Arwings to win the event.
• Event 37: Legendary Pokémon: As any character, the player must fight against a team of four Wire Frames and Jigglypuff; everyone has two lives, and the only items that spawn are Pokéballs, all of which only produce legendary Pokémon. Jigglypuff will never directly attack the player, and will instead only pursue Pokéballs when they appear. Defeating all five opponents also gives the player the opportunity to unlock Pichu.
• Event 39: Jigglypuff Live!: As Jigglypuff, the player must fight against a team of three other Jigglypuffs, with friendly fire turned on; all fighters have three lives, and the damage ratio has been increased.
• Event 40: All-Star Match 4: Jigglypuff is the third opponent fought in this series of staged battles. The selected character battles it on the Poké Floats stage with a stock of 2 while Jigglypuff has 1. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat it and the other four characters one-by-one with the overall time and damage: Marth, Luigi, Mewtwo, and Mr. Game & Watch.

Ending images

• 

  Classic Mode

• 

  Adventure Mode

• 

  All-Star Mode

Trophies

In addition to the normal trophy about Jigglypuff as a character, there are two trophies about it as a fighter, unlocked by completing the Adventure and All-Star modes respectively with Jigglypuff on any difficulty:

Jigglypuff

This Balloon Pokémon invites its opponents in close with its big, round eyes and then puts them to sleep with a soothing lullaby. It puffs itself up when angry, and while it may look adorable, it's not to be trifled with: it knows several powerful techniques. Jigglypuff evolves into Wigglytuff after exposure to a Moon Stone.

• Pokémon Red & Blue 09/98

Jigglypuff [Smash]

Jigglypuff's normal attacks are weak, and because of its light weight it's easily sent flying. However, with its incredible midair agility, it seems to dance when airborne. Rollout is a powerful speed attack, but be careful not to fly off the edge. Pound does serious damage, and it can also help as a recovery move.

• B: Rollout
• Smash B: Pound

Jigglypuff [Smash]

Jigglypuff can put its enemies to sleep if they are in range of its Sing attack, although the attack does not work on airborne foes. Rest puts Jigglypuff into a deep sleep, but at the instant it drops off, an intense energy force radiates out of the exact center of its body. If this force comes in contact with an enemy, look out! Rest is Jigglypuff's wild card.

• Up & B: Sing
• Down & B: Rest

• 

  Classic

• 

  [Smash]

• 

  [Smash]

Alternate costumes

Trivia

• Jigglypuff is the only character to go from a clone archetype to a completely unique character.
• Jigglypuff is one of the five hidden characters, along with Ganondorf, Mewtwo, Young Link, and Pichu, to be seen in the opening movie.
• Jigglypuff is the only character who has a different voice actor when the language is switched to Japanese.
• Jigglypuff's and Mr. Game & Watch's stock icons show their entire body; they are the only characters in Melee to have this.
• After picking up a Metal Box, Jigglypuff's eyes disappear. This is due to its eyes being simple textures on its body's model instead of being modelled separately. It shares this trait with several other fighters including Pikachu, Kirby and the Ice Climbers.
• Jigglypuff and Luigi are the only unlockable veterans in Melee.

External links

• Translation of official character page on Source Gaming
• Official character page on the Japanese Melee website
• Are You a Jigglypuff Player? by Kira