Ganondorf (SSBB)

Ganondorf in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Universe	The Legend of Zelda
Other playable appearances	in Melee in SSB4 in Ultimate
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Beast Ganon
Tier	F (38)

Ganondorf (ガノンドロフ, Ganondorf) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The Legend of Zelda series director Eiji Aonuma first hinted that Ganondorf would return from Melee when he stated that he sent (Ganondorf), Link, and Sheik's Twilight Princess designs to Masahiro Sakurai. He was ultimately confirmed on March 18, 2008. Ganondorf is now voiced by Hironori Miyata, his voice actor from Twilight Princess, albeit via reused voice clips from the game, replacing Takashi Nagasako, from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Melee.

Ganondorf is ranked dead last on the Brawl tier list, in 38th place out of the 38 characters in the game. This is a significant drop from his position on the Melee tier list, where he ranked 14th out of 26, and is tied with his later iteration from Ultimate as his worst placement in the Smash series to date. Ganondorf's few strengths include high power throughout his moveset, respectable endurance, strong momentum cancelling capabilities, fearsome edgeguarding abilities, access to the most powerful meteor smash in the game in his down aerial, and a great semi-spike in his up aerial. Ganondorf has also gained a new combo starter in Flame Choke and a superjump glitch in the Flight of Ganon.

However, these strengths are eclipsed by a slew of significant flaws. Ganondorf's overall mobility and frame data are among the slowest, if not the slowest in the game, with King Dedede just barely beating him. His recovery is possibly his biggest flaw, being one of the worst recoveries in Brawl; he has the third-lowest double jump in the game, Flame Choke covers minimal horizontal distance and is easily edge-guarded due to its slow speed and lack of protection, and aerial Wizard's Foot no longer restores his double jump. In particular, Dark Dive is likewise slow, and its newly added hitbox at the move's climax is not sufficient enough to defend from edge-guarding, while it has also lost all of its KO power and now KOs past the Sudden Death range (300%), allowing opponents to hit Ganondorf out of it as soon as the move completes. His useful chain-grab options, the changes to hitstun, and his overall moveset were all heavily nerfed from Melee, severely weakening his KO and combo ability. Additionally, many of his moves either have large sourspots (his forward aerial, for example) or cannot KO at realistic percentages (like his aforementioned Dark Dive). Also, the loss of L-cancelling has harmed him far more than any other character in Brawl, as he is no longer able to safely use his powerful, yet laggy aerials for general usage. Most of Ganondorf's attacks either have poor reach for a character of his size or possess inconveniently placed hitboxes, putting him at a serious disadvantage against characters with long reach or disjointed hitboxes (like Marth, Snake, or Ike). In addition, his grab is not only slow, but also the shortest-reaching grab in the series, which combines with his slow attacks to give him poor out of shield options. While his great weight gives him strong endurance potential, it also makes him susceptible to chain grabs and combos (with a few being capable of zero-deathing him outright). Plus, his shield is unusually small, making it vulnerable to shield stabbing, similar to Donkey Kong. Finally, his lack of any projectile makes him easily camped and leaves him with little approach options or the ability to force approaches.

As a result, Ganondorf has had the third-highest tier drop from Melee to Brawl (behind Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff for the second-highest and highest, respectively), with terrible tournament results and no advantageous or even match-ups. He has the highest number of hard counters out of any character in the series at 17, in addition to 5 nearly unwinnable match-ups. He is also the only character in the whole series to have ever been placed in his own tier at the bottom of the tier list. This incarnation of Ganondorf is often considered the worst character in the history of Smash. However, he is ranked 31st, rather than dead last, on the Japanese tier list.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play 200 VS. matches.
• Clear Classic Mode on hard with Link or Zelda.
• Have Ganondorf join the player's party in the Subspace Emissary by collecting the Link and Zelda trophies in Subspace (Part II).

With the exception of the third method, Ganondorf must then be defeated on Final Destination.

Attributes

Ganondorf is a heavy, fast falling, very slow character (the slowest to be exact) with sub-par range and strong attacks. Though only in the sweetspot, his attacks deal above average knockback; however, this can also serve as a problem since it prevents him from comboing at medium damage percentages or higher. His side special grants him armor (only helpful in team battles or Free-for-alls) while he is holding the opponent, and it leaves opponents vulnerable for a bit of time if used on the ground, leaving them open for another quick attack being a true set up like down tilt (on most characters), his jab, or several characters getting hit by dash attack and side tilt for KOs, and even his up aerial on platforms. In the air, Ganondorf's side special can cause a Ganoncide, although it is situational because even when it is impossible to escape from it or control the trajectory, landing it is very hard work, and the results in a last-stock situation are unpredictable. Ganondorf's moves are arguably the least affected by Smash DI because he has the lowest number of multi-hitting moves (his down smash and his neutral aerial are his only moves considered to be a multi-hitting move; however, his neutral aerial's second hit will almost never connect at higher percentages), effectively rendering escape and punishment of his attacks ineffective, although his attacks are a lot easier to shield or dodge. Ganondorf's dash attack provides him with a quick speed boost, and the move is a hard hitter as well and can also KO, but it is easily punished if shielded. Ganondorf's aerials are also very strong; all have high knockback and strong edgeguarding potential; his up aerial is a very useful semi-spike that can gimp opponents due to its high hitstun and his down aerial is an extremely strong, reliable meteor smash that is the strongest in the game (sometimes can KO even at 0%, depending from how far the opponent is from the lower blast line). Ganondorf`s advanced superjump glitch, the Flight of Ganon, is very situational, but, if done right, he travels far higher in the air than any of his aerial options, allowing him to escape pressure, and allows him to set up an aerial reverse Warlock Punch, his strongest move.

However, Ganondorf's high power and heavy weight are counter-balanced with a slew of flaws. Ganondorf is the tallest fighter in the game, a problem shared with other heavyweights. His horizontal standing grab range is the shortest in the game (though his pivot grab has good range, but slower start-up). Because of his poor grab range, slow moves, and short distanced rolls, his out of shield options are some of the least effective in the game (though his grab is the shortest in the game, it can sometimes still shield grab depending on the range of the opponent's attack and the shieldstun of it), forcing him to rely on powershielding, and because of how much he relies on his shield that hasn't the size of characters like Snake without being able to punish the opponent, it makes him easy to shield-stab with multi-hit moves. Ganondorf also has difficulty jumping out of shield due to the significant jump lag (7 frames). Ganondorf has poor air speed, and a very small second jump (though it auto-sweetspots ledges, allowing him to plank). He lacks a projectile and he is easy to outcamp for those who have a projectile. Ganondorf's mobility is also very poor with his poor air speed and ground speed; because of this, characters with a good projectile can easily break his approach and force him to jump and still get very little distance. Ganondorf's overall ground attack speed is among the slowest in the game along with Ike (but three of Ganondorf's aerial attacks are only laggy if he lands while attacking; Ganondorf's fastest ground attack is his short-ranged grab which has 7 frames start-up).

Although his weight and good momentum canceling allows Ganondorf to potentially live up to very high percents, his slow, predictable and easily gimped recovery compromises this, being among the worst in the game. His main recovery move, Dark Dive, not only gains little distance, but it can be hit out of from above by certain characters where he lacks hitboxes (e.g. Falco, at around 90% damage, can spike Ganondorf out of his up special with his down aerial). It can poorly stage spike edgehoggers, but Dark Dive is easily teched, and in fact the uppercut at the end is stronger than the primary attack (which can reliably KO starting at 300%). Because of these reasons, Ganondorf's up special is one of the worst in the game and is practical only when used offensively if the opponent is at a low percent or is one of the few who cannot punish it. Although his overall damage input and KO power allows to compensate his terrible recovery somewhat, it still lacks sufficient utility, as opponents can act as soon as they are let go, while Ganondorf must wait for a while before attacking, giving enemies the chance to attack Ganon as soon as he lets go. He, like Captain Falcon and Wolf, has a fast falling speed and a heavy weight that can backfire by making him vulnerable to chain grabs from the Ice Climbers and King Dedede. Also, certain characters can avoid much of his moveset by crouching (jab, f-tilt, non-down angled forward smash, down smash, auto-canceled short hop down aerial, Warlock Punch, grounded Wizard's Foot and even standing grab and dash grab).

Additionally, despite him having some useful combo starters at low percentages, Ganondorf is otherwise virtually unable to combo past low-mid percents. Ganondorf cannot pursue his opponents with most of his other moves both in the air and on the ground due to his low air speed, his abysmal overall mobility, the high knockback of most of his attacks, and the ability to act out of hitstun, which makes him nearly incapable of consistently and efficiently racking up damage above mid percents. As mentioned earlier, he does have some decent combo starters in his short hop auto-canceled down aerial and his Flame Choke. However, both moves are flawed in the same way: they have long start-up lag and are as such extremely predictable and avoidable. Furthermore, his Flame Choke has high ending lag if missed and requires proper reads in order to effectively tech-chase and combo his opponent repeatedly, while his down aerial no longer set ups into any of his other moves above mid percentages.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Melee

Ganondorf's overall moveset has received an overhaul from Melee. While he still shares some moves from Captain Falcon, he has received different animations and moves that now make him a semi-clone rather than a full clone.

Despite being a low-mid tier in Melee while also receiving some good buffs, Ganondorf was immensely nerfed from Melee, being one of the most nerfed characters in the transition alongside Jigglypuff and one of the most severely nerfed characters in the entire series. His already slow mobility has been weakened, and some of his moves have less reach (despite his tall stature), leaving him very easily out-maneuvered and vulnerable from all sides. His comboing and KOing ability also have been severely crippled: his grabs can no longer chain throw nor set up effectively as before; and his great power has been toned down to being only slightly above-average, due to his moves either being drastically weakened to the point where they cannot K.O. even at 200% or have received extremely large sourspots that cannot KO reliably, most notably his forward aerial, the crux of his metagame in Melee. Finally, his already poor recovery was significantly weakened to be among the worst, with his main recovery move (Dark Dive) being completely unsafe on hit.

On the other hand, he did receive a few notable buffs. His air speed is much faster (although still among the slowest), his forward tilt now semi-spikes and is effective against enemies with weak recoveries, his up and down tilts have significantly improved range, and he now has the highest damaging forward throw in the game. Warlock Punch and aerial Wizard's Foot are much stronger, and Dark Dive now has a hitbox at the move's climax that provides decent protection against edgeguarders, along with being able to grab ledge-hangers. Arguably the biggest buff he received is a new side special, Flame Choke, which gives Ganondorf a combo starter and tech-chasing move. However, none of these are significant enough to counterbalance the nerfs he had received, while most of these moves were also nerfed as well.

Aesthetics

• Ganondorf's design is now based on his appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess rather than The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and his sword is now the Sword of the Six Sages. The overall boost in graphics also give his outfit more detail.
  • As a result, Ganondorf is significantly larger and taller, making him even more vulnerable to combos, projectiles, and hits in general. While very few of his attacks have more reach, this size increase fails to properly compensate his moves that had their range reduced.
• Ganondorf's ledge hanging animation is altered, he now hangs onto a ledge with both hands.
• Ganondorf has a new dashing animation where he jogs instead of sprints, and his backward rolls are now sidesteps rather than backflips.
• Ganondorf's up taunt now has him leaning more backward after uncurling. He also now laughs after he spins rather than at the beginning of the taunt.
• Ganondorf's sword-waving victory pose has been replaced by a laugh with crossed arms.
• Ganondorf has a new sleeping animation, now being different from Captain Falcon.
• As on-screen appearances were not present in Melee, Ganondorf now receives one.
• Ganondorf no longer uses his stun voice clip when waking out of sleep status.

Attributes

• Ganondorf dashes considerably slower (1.35 → 1.16), going from 6th lowest out of 26 characters to the 2nd lowest out of 39 characters.
• Ganondorf's air speed is higher (0.78 → 0.846), going from being tied for the 3rd lowest out of 26 characters to tied for 9th lowest out of 39, improving his recovery and ability to chase opponents while airborne.
• Ganondorf's air acceleration is lower (0.06 (maximum) → 0.04) going from being tied for the 5th highest out of 26 characters to the 2nd lowest out of 39.
• Ganondorf's traction is lower (0.07 → 0.068).
  • However, it is higher relative to the cast going from the 14th highest out of 26 characters to the 7th highest out of 39.
• Ganondorf's jumpsquat is longer (6 frames → 7).
• Ganondorf now crouches upright instead of hunching over, increasing his crouching hurtbox.
• As with the returning veterans, Ganondorf's Falling speed is lower (2 → 1.65) although he falls faster relative to the cast, going from the 10th highest out of 26 characters to tied for 7th highest out of 39.
• Ganondorf's gravity is lower (0.13 → 0.1027), going from being tied for the 3rd highest out of 26 characters to being tied for the 6th highest out of 39.
• The changes to air dodges and the introduction of hitstun canceling both help and hinder Ganondorf. They further limit his already limited combo potential and remove his ability to wavedash but they make him much less vulnerable to followups himself, as well as improving his endurance.
• The removal of L-cancelling hurt Ganondorf far more than any other character aside from Bowser and Link, as when combined with the changes to shieldstun, it greatly hinders the safety of his aerials, which was one of his strongest features previously.
• The removal of Directional Influence for moves which do not cause tumble greatly hinder Ganondorf as when combined with his high weight/falling speed/gravity and his large size, it makes him highly susceptible to inescapable chain grabs and move chains. Ganondorf himself does not have any moves which notably benefit from the change, significantly hindering him overall.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • Neutral attack's body hitbox is now a sourspot that deals 3% less damage (8% → 5%).
  • Neutral attack's hand hitbox is now a sweetspot that deals 2% more damage (7% → 9%).
  • Neutral attack now has a hitbox on the arm that deals 7%.
  • Neutral attack has more reach and significantly more knockback (30 (base), 100 (scaling) → (40/30)/105), allowing the sweetspot to KO under 125%-150% near the ledge.
  • Neutral attack has more startup (frames 3-6 → 8-9) and ending lag (FAF 19 → 34), making it much slower, significantly weakening his close-range game and out of shield capabilities while completely removing its combo potential. It also has a shorter duration.
  • Neutral attack now uses Ganondorf's right arm instead of his left.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack has increased base knockback (40 → 60) and damage (14% → 15%), now being a reliable KO move that can KO in the 100-125% range. Despite the significant power increase, however, it is still the second most powerful dash attack (this time surpassed by King Dedede's).
  • Dash attack has more startup lag (frame 7 → 10) with its total duration compensated (FAF 38 → 41). It also has much less range and now has a sourspot with less knockback scaling.
• Forward tilt:
  • Ganondorf has a new forward tilt: a front kick. It launches enemies at a semi-spike angle (361° → 22°), making it good against characters with poor recoveries.
  • Forward tilt deals slightly less knockback (20 (base), 100 (scaling) → 30/88), hindering its KO potential. It also has more startup (frame 9 → 10) and ending lag (FAF 29 → 39), can no longer be angled, and has less reach, making it more difficult to land and a less safe and less useful spacer, as well as reducing its maximum damage output.
  • Ganondorf has a new forward tilt with battering items like the Beam Sword, which is similar to one of his attacks in Twilight Princess.
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt's startup animation produces a stronger vacuum effect and the explosion produced is significantly larger, giving the move drastically better reach and making it overall much easier to land. The hitbox also has a slightly longer duration (81-83 → 81-84).
  • Up tilt now deals rather high shield damage (0 → 20), with the move now draining close to 2/3rds of the opponent’s shield.
  • Up tilt has drastically reduced base knockback (110 → 60), now KO'ing in the 40-50% range. It also now has large, drastically weaker sourspots covering the explosion that deal much less damage (27% → 19%/17%) and KO around the 75-100% range, though it is still the most powerful tilt by far. The introduction of ledge auto-sweetspotting also makes the move less effective as an edgeguarding tool.
  • Up tilt has a slightly altered animation, where Ganondorf holds up his leg while it's charging.
• Down tilt:
  • Ganondorf has a new down tilt: a low front kick. It has slightly more reach, now being slightly disjointed.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash launches at a lower angle (80°/70°/60° → 45°/40°/35°) and all angles are now as strong as the non-angled version from Melee. It also has a much larger hitboxes (3.6u → 5u).
  • Forward smash has 1 frame more start-up but with 1 frame more duration (frame 20-24 → 21-26), making it no longer hit opponents before he completely thrusts his elbow outward but makes the attack's hitbox linger more, which may surprise Ganondorf's opponents.
• Up smash:
  • Ganondorf has a new up smash: a single upwards kick. Compared to the previous up smash, it has significantly more reach.
  • Up smash deals less knockback than the first kick in his Melee up smash (50 (base), 80 (scaling) → 40/70) and has much less damage potential due to the removal of the second kick (39% → 22%). The move additionally has more ending lag (FAF 40 → 43) and a sourspot on the leg that deals less damage (22% → 19%) and has slightly less knockback scaling (80 → 75).
• Down smash:
  • Down smash has slightly faster startup (frames 19 → 16).
  • Down smash transitions from the first kick to the second much slower (frame 29 → 36), making it more difficult to link. Along with this, the move has much more ending lag (FAF 46 → 63), making it much less safe to use. The second kick additionally hits at a lower angle (120° → 130°) with much less knockback scaling (110 → 75), now survivable past 150% under standard conditions and overall a much less reliable KO move. The first kick also deals 3% less damage (8% → 5%).

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial:
  • Both hits of neutral aerial have longer hitbox durations (hit 1: 7-8 → 7-13, hit 2: 20-21 → 20-32) with sex kick properties.
  • Neutral aerial has less landing lag (25 frames → 22).
  • Neutral aerial has a longer animation (44 frames → 59), increasing the amount of time Ganondorf cannot grab ledges after performing the move.
  • The second kick of neutral aerial is drastically weaker, dealing less damage (12% → 7%) and base knockback (50 → 25), completely removing its KO potential. The first kick also deals less damage (12% → 11%), though it can still KO under 150%. Due to the longer hitbox durations, the move auto-cancels significantly later (frame 26 → 41), no longer doing so in a short hop.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial has much more ending lag (FAF 35 → 55).
  • Forward aerial has more landing lag (25 frames → 32).
  • Forward aerial auto-cancels much later (frames 34 → 55), no longer doing so in a full hop.
  • Forward aerial has a new, longer animation (44 frames → 59) where Ganondorf doesn't lean as forward as he did previously, reducing its range and increasing the amount of time Ganondorf cannot grab ledges after performing the move.
  • The arm hitbox deals less knockback (60 (base), 80 (scaling) → 48/83), hindering its KO potential.
  • The hand hitbox deals less damage (17% → 15%) and has lower base knockback (60 → 30), greatly hindering its KO potential.
  • Forward aerial has smaller hitboxes (3.1248u/3.906u/5.0778u → 3.4u/5u) and the hitbox on Ganondorf's upper arm has been removed.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial has less landing lag (25 frames → 22).
  • Back aerial has larger hitboxes (5.4684u/4.6872u/3.906u → 6.3u/5.5u/4.8u) which are positioned slightly further away from Ganondorf (x offset: 4.6872/3.1248/-0.7812 → 4.8/3.2/-0.8).
  • Back aerial has a shorter duration (frames 10-15 → 10-12).
  • Back aerial has more ending lag (FAF 29 → 36) and a longer animation (35 frames → 45).
  • Back aerial auto-cancels later (frame 19 → 22).
  • Back aerial deals less knockback (30/10 (base), 100 (scaling) → (28/10)/85), significantly hindering its KO potential.
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial has less landing lag (25 frames → 22).
  • Up aerial has larger hitboxes (3.906u/4.6872u → 4.8u/5.76u) which are positioned slightly further away from Ganondorf (x offset: 3.1248/5.859 → y offset: -3.2/-6).
  • Up aerial has more ending lag (FAF 30 → 34) and a longer animation (33 frames → 43).
  • Up aerial auto-cancels later (frame 22 → 25).
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial auto-cancels earlier (frames 36 → 32), now doing so in a short hop.
  • Down aerial has larger hitboxes (6.6402u/5.859u/5.4684u → 7u/6u) and they are now static, giving them more consistent range below Ganondorf.
  • Down aerial now has an altered animation: Ganondorf's arms to his side instead of up next to his head, and no longer has him leaning backward. He also no longer flips after the move has ended.
  • Down aerial has more ending lag (FAF 38 → 45) and a longer animation (44 frames → 54).
  • Down aerial has lower base knockback (50 → 30), hindering its KO potential.
  • The body hitbox deals much less damage (22% → 17%), making it much weaker.
  • The hitbox on Ganondorf's head has been removed, giving it less range above him.

Throws/other attacks

• Grabs:
  • Grabs have slightly less ending lag (FAF 31 (standing)/41 (dash) → 30/40).
  • With the exception of standing grabs near grabbox, grabs have larger grabboxes (3.906u (standing)/3.906u/3.906u/3.906u (dash) → 4.8u (standing)/4.8u/4.8u/4u (dash)), giving them more range despite dash grab's furthest grabbox being positioned closer to Ganondorf (z offset: 9.2807 → 9).
  • Standing grab's furthest grabbox is positioned further away from Ganondorf (z offset: 7.5933 → 8). When combined with its larger size, this gives it more range.
  • Ganondorf's grabs have a new animation where Ganondorf reaches his arm out further. This means that while his grabs have more lateral range, they have less range relative to Ganondorf, with his grabs no longer covering his entire hand. This hinders the safety of his grabs.
  • Standing grab's nearest grabbox is smaller (3.906u → 3u) and both standing and dash grab's nearest grabboxes are positioned further away from Ganondorf (z offset: 2.5311/-2.5311 → 2.6/-2), giving them less range behind Ganondorf.
• Pummel and all of Ganondorf's throw's hitboxes now always launch bystanders in the direction Ganondorf is facing.
• Pummel:
  • Pummel has less startup lag (frame 5 → 4) with its total duration subsequently reduced (FAF 25 → 24).
  • Pummel has a larger hitbox (5.0778u → 6.5u).
  • Pummel now has a static hitbox.
  • Pummel deals less damage (3% → 2%).
• Forward throw:
  • Forward throw has an altered animation, where Ganondorf punches his opponent in the gut, instead of punching from the side.
  • Forward throw deals more damage (4% (throw)/8% (total) → 8%/13%) without full compensation on its knockback (45 (base), 105 (scaling) → 60/65) and it launches opponents at a lower angle (45° → 43°).
  • The hitboxes are larger (3.906u/1.963u/1.953u → 5u/2.4u/2.4u).
  • The hitboxes have a shorter duration (frames 11-17 → 11).
  • The hitboxes have a higher SDI multiplier (1x → 2x).
  • Ganondorf releases opponents from forward throw earlier (frame 18 → 12). This makes it harder to DI but increases its ending lag, as its total duration was unchanged.
• Back throw:
  • Back throw deals more damage (4% (throw)/8% (total) → 5%/10%) and it launches opponents at a lower angle (135° → 43°).
  • The hitboxes are larger (3.906u/3.5154u/2.7342u → 4.8u/4.32u/3.36u).
  • The hitboxes have a shorter duration (frames 12-19 → 12).
  • The hitboxes have a higher SDI multiplier (1x → 2x).
  • Ganondorf releases opponents from back throw earlier (frame 20 → 13). This makes it harder to DI but increases its ending lag, as its total duration was unchanged.
• Up throw:
  • Up throw has a new animation where Ganondorf now throws opponents directly above him. This improves its spacing potential but hinders its ability to set up juggles.
  • The hitboxes are larger (3.5154u/3.1248u/2.7342u → 4.32u/3.84u/3.36u).
  • The hitboxes have a much shorter duration (frames 11-28 → 11).
  • The hitboxes have a higher SDI multiplier (1x → 2x).
  • Ganondorf releases opponents from up throw earlier (frame 15 → 12). This makes it harder to DI but increases its ending lag, as its total duration was unchanged.
    • When combined with its altered animation, the universally decreased falling speeds, the introduction of the gravity penalty and the introduction of hitstun canceling, this completely removes its followup and chain grabbing potential.
• Down throw:
  • Ganondorf releases opponents from down throw later (frame 20 → 23). This makes it easier to DI but reduces its ending lag, as its total duration was unchanged.
  • Down throw now sends opponents away from Ganondorf (100° → 65°) and it has higher knockback scaling (36 → 50). When combined with the aforementioned universal changes, this completely removes its chain grabbing potential, as well as and making it much less reliable at setting up followups, greatly hindering its effectiveness despite its decreasing ending lag.
    • However, this also improves its safety (especially when considering the game's universal changes), as well as allowing it to set up edgeguards.

Special moves

• Warlock Punch:
  • Warlock Punch has slightly less ending lag (FAF 120 → 118).
  • Warlock Punch has larger hitboxes (2.3436u/3.906u/3.5154u → 5u/4.7u/4.3u) and the furthest hitbox has been moved further away from Ganondorf (x offset: 0 → 5).
  • The grounded version's far hitbox deals more damage (30% → 32%), improving its KO potential.
  • The aerial version deals more damage (30%/32%/34% → 36%) and it launches opponents at a lower angle (361° → 30°), improving its KO potential despite its lower base knockback (40 → 30).
  • Warlock Punch can now be reversed during its startup, which makes it deal more damage (30%/32%/34% → 35% (grounded)/38% (aerial) in exchange for being ten frames slower.
    • The aerial version additionally launches opponents at a lower angle (361° → 30°) while retaining its base knockback, unlike its normal counterpart.
  • Warlock Punch has an updated animation with it now being a back handed punch with Ganondorf's left hand instead of a straight punch with his right.
  • Warlock Punch has a shorter duration (frames 70-72 → 70-71).
  • The grounded version's nearest hitbox deals less damage (34% → 32%), hindering its KO potential.
• Flame Choke:
  • Ganondorf has a new side special: Flame Choke. Ganondorf charges toward his opponent, grabs them by their head, and attacks them with a dark pulse that weakly meteor smashes enemies into the ground. This allows Ganondorf to potentially follow up with an additional attack and tech-chase.
  • Flame Choke is inescapable, cannot be teched, and provides Ganondorf grab armor frames.
  • Flame choke can grab the ledge, improving Ganondorf's recovery options.
  • Aerial Flame Choke causes Ganondorf and his opponent to plummet downwards until they hit the ground, allowing it to be used as a suicide KO (although it usually KOs Ganondorf first), but does not meteor smash on landing.
  • Flame Choke deals less damage than Gerudo Dragon (17% (ground)/16% (air) → 9%/12%) and has weak set knockback, removing its KO potential. It also cannot cut through projectiles and has more startup lag (frame 15 → 16).
• Dark Dive:
  • Dark Dive now has Ganondorf spinning sideways with a sweeping uppercut with his hand at the climax of the move, and no longer spins forward while falling.
  • Ganondorf has less horizontal acceleration when using Dark Dive (0.85 → 0.5). This makes him travel less horizontal distance while rising but gives him more control.
  • Ganondorf changes direction with Dark Dive much sooner (frame 13 → 4). This makes the move harder to reverse but it also gives Ganondorf more control over using the move, as he can move back while facing forwards much more easily, without the risk of Dark Diving in the wrong direction.
  • Ganondorf descends more slowly after gaining full height, which overall gives Ganondorf more control after performing Dark Dive, improving its recovery potential and overall compensating for its lower horizontal acceleration.
  • Dark Dive can now grab opponents hanging on the ledge.
  • Ganondorf can now grab ledges with Dark Dive while rising, starting on frame 18 (if he is facing the ledge).
  • Dark Dive has larger grabboxes (3.33u/5u → 4.4u/6.5u), giving it more range, despite the initial far grabbox being positioned closer to Ganondorf (z offset: 14.4 → 13.65).
  • The main grabbox is positioned much higher (y offset: 9.36 → 16), which makes it much more effective at grabbing opponents above Ganondorf.
  • Dark Dive now has a hitbox on frames 34-36 of its duration, which can be used to catch opponents above Ganondorf, as well as hitting ungrabbable targets.
    • The move also posseses a separate hitbox during the grab's active frames against Subspace enemies and bosses.
  • A successful Dark Dive now grants Ganondorf grab armor.
  • The grabboxes have more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 13-33 → 14-28).
  • The latch has lower base knockback (60 → 50).
  • The throw deals much less damage (15% → 7%), with no compensation on its knockback values. This greatly hinders its KO potential, no longer capable of KOing at realistic percents.
    • Additionally, when the opponent is released from Dark Dive, they can now immediately air dodge or attack once they are put into tumble, ignoring the usual timing window for hitstun canceling. This greatly hinders Dark Dive's safety, as numerous characters can now hit Ganondorf out of the move, without the need to tech the stage, making it an even riskier recovery move overall despite all of its other improvements.
  • Dark Dive now suffers from RCO lag. The move grants 30 frames of hard landing lag with RCO. As Ganondorf has no low lag aerials to safely eliminate the lag and his fast faller status leaves him vulnerable to guaranteed RCO landing lag setups from attacks and grabs, this makes Ganondorf one of the absolute most vulnerable characters to RCO, exacerbated further with the fact that he gets RCO after landing a successful Dark Dive grab.
• Wizard's Foot:
  • Wizard's Foot has slightly less ending lag (FAF 78 (ground)/70 (off ledge)/59 (aerial) → 77/69/58).
  • Wizard's Foot has less landing lag (57 frames → 44).
  • Ganondorf now has access to a technique known as Flight of Ganon where if Ganondorf buffers a double jump and a Wizard's Foot and then he lands the frame after his air dodge or grounded Wizard's Foot aerial ending animation ends, he will gain a large vertical boost. While the technique is limited and difficult to perform, it does grant Wizard's Foot some additional utility.
  • Ganondorf now grunts when using Wizard's Foot.
  • Wizard's Foot has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 14-34 (grounded)/15-29 (aerial) → 16-34/16-29).
    • The aerial version is coded to have a longer duration (frames 15-33 → 16-38), although this change has no effect on actual gameplay due to the attack's initial animation still being 29 frames long.
• Grounded Wizard's Foot:
  • The grounded version's near hitboxes are larger (3.91u/2.73u → 4.5u/3.8u).
  • The grounded version can now be edge canceled during its ending animation.
  • If Ganondorf uses Wizard's Foot near an edge while facing away from it, he will go into his aerial ending animation despite still being on the ground, decreasing its ending lag.
  • Ganondorf slows down less after hitting an opponent with the grounded version (0.7x → 0.75x).
  • Ganondorf now stays airborne for one frame after the aerial ending animation if he is on stage (with Ganondorf being put into an animation transition frame) instead of falling and landing during it.
    • This allows Ganondorf instant access to his double jump and aerials, as well as allowing him to perform an instant landing Wizard's Foot.
    • This also allows Ganondorf to perform his Flight of Ganon technique after using the move.
    • However, this also prevents Ganondorf from immediately shielding or using his ground moves once the animation is over, hindering its safety.
  • The grounded version has Ganondorf sticking his leg out before thrusting forward, rather than immediately thrusting forward, and his foot is now pointed outwards instead of upward.
  • The grounded version deals less damage (15% → 12% (near)/10% (far)), launches opponents at a less favorable angle (361° → 45°) and it has lower knockback scaling (85 → 70), greatly hindering its KO potential.
  • The grounded version deals less shield damage (10 → 4).
  • The grounded version's far hitbox is smaller (4.3u → 3.5u) and it has been moved closer to Ganondorf (x offset: 7.812 → y offset: 2), greatly reducing its range to the point where it no longer covers Ganondorf's foot.
  • Ganondorf uses the grounded version higher off the ground, which allows more characters to low profile under the move.
• Aerial Wizard's Foot:
  • The aerial version deals more damage during its first three active frames (14% → 15%).
  • The aerial version has higher knockback scaling (80 → 100).
  • The aerial version has larger hitboxes (3.91u/2.73u → 5.8u/6.8u/4.8u) and the move now has a foot hitbox, significantly improving its range.
  • Due to the changes to meteor canceling, the aerial version can now be meteor canceled during its first three frames, hindering its edgeguarding potential despite its increased power.
  • After its first three active frames, the aerial version now launches opponents vertically (290° → 80°). When combined with its higher knockback scaling, this greatly improves its KO potential and safety against opponents on/above stage.
    • However, this also hinders the move's edgeguarding potential.
  • The aerial version no longer restores Ganondorf's midair jump, significantly hindering its recovery potential and safety.
• Landing Wizard's Foot:
  • The landing hit deals more knockback (60 (base), 20 (scaling) → 80/35). When combined with its lower landing lag, this significantly improves its safety.
  • The landing hit has larger hitboxes (3.91u/3.91u/3.91u → 4.5u/4.8u/4.8u) and the side hitboxes have been moved further away from Ganondorf (z offset: 9.28/9.28 → 9.5/-9.5), improving its range.
  • If Ganondorf performs Wizard's Foot immediately after jumping, he will now land instantly. This noticeably improves Wizard's Foot's utility, with it now being a viable Out of Shield option in particular.
    • Ganondorf can also perform this instant landing if he drops through a platform which can be platform canceled onto, improving its utility on moving platforms.
  • The landing hit deals less damage (12% → 8%).
• Beast Ganon:
  • Ganondorf now has a Final Smash, Beast Ganon. Upon activation, Ganondorf turns into Ganon, his monstrous alter-ego and stomps the ground, stunning anyone who gets hit by it, and performs a dash at lightning speed. The move is extremely powerful, dealing high damage and knockback, usually one-hit KOing anyone who gets hit. The move is also surprisingly fast and Ganondorf has a guaranteed universal setup into it with Flame Choke.

Moveset

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			9% (hand), 7% (arm), 5% (body)	A slow palm strike. Ganondorf's fastest attack on the ground (outside of his grab), with decent range and knockback, but is among the slowest jabs in the game as it comes out on frame 8. It is overall a useful move for Ganondorf but this is mainly due to Ganondorf lacking any faster options on the ground, outside of his short-ranged grab, which is only a single frame faster.
Forward tilt			13% (foot), 12% (leg)	Leans back while forcefully thrusting one leg forward. Good low angle horizontal knockback with a semi-spike trajectory. Despite its semi-spike ability, it deals the lowest knockback out of all of Ganondorf's tilts. It is similar to a kick used by Ganondorf himself and other large, sword-wielding enemies in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
Up tilt		Volcano Kick	27% (leg), 19%/17% (explosion)	Ganondorf lifts his leg before smashing it down in an explosion. Has vacuum properties dealing huge damage and knockback if it connects, and it does very high damage on shields. Considered the slowest start-up tilt and the slowest move overall with a total of 81 frames of startup, but also the strongest if hit with the sweetspot. Can KO at low percentage if used very close to the edge and the opponent doesn't utilize DI and momentum canceling.
Down tilt			12%	Ganondorf kneels on one leg and thrusts the other leg forward. Great range and sets up for aerials, including a slight disjoint in the end but is not safe when shielded.
Dash attack			15% (clean), 10% (late)	Charges at the opponent and rams into them. Ganondorf gains a quick speed boost during the move. Considered the second strongest dash attack in the game.
Forward smash			24%	Thrusts his elbow forward, dealing darkness damage on contact. Relatively slow start-up and high cool down, but its extreme knockback is capable of KO'ing past 70%. Hitting closer to Ganondorf deals slightly higher knockback, but the same damage. Can be angled. While the move is based on Captain Falcon's forward smash, it is also very similar to a move Ganondorf uses in the final battle in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
Up smash			22% (leg), 19% (body)	Forcefully swings his leg up. It has high startup lag although it has low ending lag, solid KO power, great vertical range and deceptive (albeit short) horizontal range. It is overall an effective up smash, although its high startup and somewhat short horizontal range do make it difficult to land.
Down smash			5% (hit 1), 14%/12% (hit 2)	Kicks his leg in front and then behind him. The move has high startup lag (although it is Ganondorf's fastest smash attack), and there is quite a long gap between the first and second hit. It also has high ending lag, having the highest total duration out of all of Ganondorf's smash attacks. If the opponent is put into tumble from the first hit, they have enough time to air dodge to avoid the second hit and even potentially punish Ganondorf afterward. Whether the first hit puts the opponent into tumble or not depends on the opponent's weight and which hitbox connects. Only 7 characters are never put into tumble with the move, with 11 characters being put into tumble by both the close hitbox and the far hitbox, allowing them to always avoid the move. The first hit's nearest hitbox puts no characters into tumble but it does not link into the second hit at all. The first hit does have a low SDI multiplier, however, so if the opponent is not put into tumble, it is very difficult for them to SDI to avoid the second hit. The second hit in addition to being slow is also not very powerful. On its own, its sweetspot does not KO Mario on Final Destination until 153% although when paired with the first hit, it does KO around 20% earlier if the opponent does not SDI the second hit. It can KO under 100% at the ledge however, although most characters can potentially avoid the second hit if they get hit by the first hit. If Ganondorf lands the first hit from far ranges, he will get a sourspot on the second hit which deals less damage and even less knockback. It also launches opponents at a rather high angle and if they shield it, they are actually pulled towards Ganondorf. Down smash is overall Ganondorf's least effective smash attack as while it is his fastest smash attack, it is still quite laggy, in addition to being weak and unreliable.
Neutral aerial			11% (hit 1 clean), 7% (hit 1 late), 7% (hit 2 clean), 5% (hit 2 late)	Two quick mid-air kicks. The first hit deals the most damage and knockback, making it unlikely to combo into the second hit above extremely low percents.
Forward aerial			17% (fist), 15% (arm)	An overhead punch in a downwards arc. Very powerful with decent start-up, but has high cool down and landing lag. It also has a large sourspot that prevents it from KO'ing at realistic percents. Due to a programming error, the move auto-cancels much later than it is supposed to (it is supposed to auto-cancel on frame 36 but due to the wrong kind of timer being used, it does not auto-cancel until frame 55). This same error also gives the move more ending lag (it should be interruptible starting from frame 45 but since the game has to wait for the move to be auto-cancellable first, it cannot be interrupted until frame 55).
Back aerial			16%	A back-handed punch. One of Ganondorf's fastest aerials dealing good knockback. Also one of his few moves that are fairly safe on shield even when it's not auto cancelled, but unfortunately its high vertical hitbox reduces its usefulness as it can't hit grounded opponents with a buffered short hop back aerial. Can be ground canceled.
Up aerial			13%/12% (clean), 12%/10% (mid), 8%/6% (late)	A flip kick, covering a large arc above him. Fast start-up, good coverage with great power. Deals more damage and knockback when it hits closer to Ganondorf. The last few frames of this attack is a sour spot that semi-spikes with extremely low horizontal knockback, which can be a deadly edgeguarding move. Considered Ganondorf's fastest attack.
Down aerial			22% (legs), 17% (body)	Stomps his legs downward, dealing electric damage. The strongest meteor smash in the game, with all hitboxes sending opponents downward, and is capable of KOing grounded opponents under 100%. Has little cool down, but high landing lag unless used with a full hop. Can autocancel in a short hop, allowing it to combo into other moves such as another down air. All hitboxes have transcendent priority, meaning that it cannot cancel out projectiles.
Grab			—	A short ranged grab. Ganondorf's standing and dash grab both have deceptively short range relative to their animations, with both of them failing to cover Ganondorf's hand. Ganondorf's standing grab is often considered to be the shortest in the game due to its deceptively short range, although its lateral range is only the 11th shortest. Ganondorf's grabs are not too slow and pivot grab does have reasonably good range, being quite disjointed. Ganondorf's grab is considered to be poor overall however, due to his short standing grab range and his unspectacular throws.
Pummel			2%	Knees the opponent. A moderately slow pummel.
Forward throw			5% (hit 1), 8% (throw)	Punches his opponent forward. High damage for a throw and good power.
Back throw			5% (hit 1), 5% (throw)	Throws opponent backward and kicks them. Strong knockback for a throw, it easily sets up edgeguard opportunities, and can even KO at high percentages when near the edge.
Up throw			4% (hit 1), 3% (throw)	Throws opponent upward and jabs their back. A poor throw that isn't strong enough to KO under 200%, but has too high of base knockback to able to combo effectively.
Down throw			7%	Throws his opponent violently on the ground. A weak throw that works very well for setting up at low percentages, even a shutter-step Forward Smash for high damage. Can often be led into a Flame Choke, up aerial, back aerial, or even down aerial depending on the opponent's DI. No followups are guaranteed however, and Ganondorf's poor speed does limit his potential followup options.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			6%	Flips up and lands on his feet.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			6%	A spin kick that can hit twice.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Spins around to kick those who are near.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			10%	Gets up with a horizontal left back hand to the opponent.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			10%	Slowly gets up and performs a low kick.
Neutral special		Warlock Punch	32% (ground), 35% (ground reverse), 36% (air), 38% (air reverse)	Winds up a large amount of darkness and releases it all in a powerful forward backhand punch. The move can be reversed, which deals more damage.
Side special		Flame Choke	9% (ground throw), 12% (air throw)	Boosts forward with his hand extended out. Upon contact he grabs the opponent's neck and attacks them with a pulse of darkness before dropping them onto the ground (though an opponent can tech the hit to avoid guaranteed follow-ups, though the move can be tech-chased due to having no end lag). In the air, Ganondorf grabs onto and descends holding the opponent before slamming them into the ground, or to the lower blast line in a suicide KO if used off-stage.
Up special		Dark Dive	1% (hits 1-4), 7% (throw), 7% (uppercut)	Ganondorf latches onto an opponent and unleashes electricity onto them before launching them with an explosion. If the move connects, Ganondorf's free to use the same move again and avoid helplessness.
Down special		Wizard's Foot	12%/10% (ground), 15%/14% (air), 8% (landing)	Surrounded by darkness, Ganondorf launches himself while extending his leg out, dealing decent damage and knockback (but lots of cool down). In the air, Ganondorf launches diagonally downwards while extending his leg out below him. A small shockwave is formed around Ganondorf when he lands on the ground, which has small amount of knockback. Slows down significantly on impact with anything, has a lot of landing lag, and is extremely risky to use off stage.
Final Smash		Beast Ganon	10% (grounding), 10% (stomp), 45% (charge)	Ganondorf becomes his beast form and rams into the opponent. Opponents too close upon initiation are buried, while those otherwise in front will be paralyzed.

Announcer call

This article could use additional or higher-quality audio files. The editor who added this tag suggests: Needs announcer calls from other languages. If you have a good audio file for this article, upload it here.

• English/Japanese

Wii Remote selection sound

• Ganondorf says "Oooh-yah!". The sound clip is taken directly from Melee. Interestingly, the sound was unused in Melee and can only be heard in the Sound Test.

Ganondorf's selection sound

On-screen appearance

• Emerges from a portal of dark magic. It also appears to be similar to the purple color of Subspace.

Taunts

• Up taunt: Floats in the air, curls into a ball, spins, opens up from his curled position and poses, all while laughing maniacally. (Same as in Melee)
• Side taunt: Punches his hands together, and dark energy appears.
• Down taunt: Takes his sword out, dark energy pulses from the tip, looks at it, then puts it away.

Up taunt	Side taunt	Down taunt

Idle poses

• Crosses his arms and looks in the other direction
• Brings his hands together, then swings his right hand over his head

Crowd cheer

	English	Japanese
Cheer
Description	Gan-on-dorf!	Gan-on-dorf!
Pitch	Deep male	Deep male

Victory poses

This flourish is a cover of the music that played whenever Link obtained a Triforce Piece in The Legend of Zelda.

• Up: With his back facing the camera, Ganondorf turns to face the camera, and holds up his fist, the back of it facing the viewer (similar to how he displays his Triforce piece).
• Left: Pumps a victorious fist and crouches.
• Right: While crossing his arms, he laughs, then looks down at the camera.

Up	Left	Right

In competitive play

Tier placement and history

Ganondorf initially was not seen as the worst character, being ranked above Link and Captain Falcon on the first tier list, and was still ranked above Captain Falcon on the second tier list. From the third tier list on however, Ganondorf was consistently ranked the worst character, and on the fifth tier list, was considered to be so much worse than everyone else he was ranked in his own tier at the absolute bottom. Despite his reputation as the worst character, he had a dedicated playerbase that achieved better tournament success than most other bottom/low tier characters (however minor it was). A player named Fonz even once won a legitimate tournament using Ganondorf (except for in one game), an accomplishment players of most other low/bottom tier characters have not been able to replicate. As such, with Ganondorf's better tournament success compared to most other low/bottom characters, there was some dispute near the end of Brawl's active life on if Ganondorf was actually the worst character in the game, with Zelda and Jigglypuff frequently being cited as even worse. Interestingly, the Japanese do not consider Ganondorf the worst character, and actually have him listed above five other characters on their tier list. Despite the arguments in favor of Ganon and his slightly superior results compared to other bottom tier characters, the BBR still considered him the worst character in their final tier list.

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Character Matchups

Avg.

Ganondorf has, inarguably, the worst matchup spread not only in Brawl, but in the entire Smash series. Being one of two characters in any game to hold this distinction (the other being Donkey Kong in the Japanese version of Smash 64), he has a losing matchup against every other character. He is soft countered by 3 characters, countered by 11 characters, hard countered by 17 characters, and has 5 nearly unwinnable matchups. Characters can overwhelm him with blinding attack speed (Meta Knight and Sheik), outcamp him at any range (Olimar and Falco), or chain grab him to death (Ice Climbers and King Dedede), all of which almost completely nullify his strong punish game. Ultimately, Ganondorf is completely outmatched by every character in the game, and is the only positive matchup for some characters (Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, and Zelda).

Most historically significant players

See also: Category:Ganondorf professionals (SSBB)

•  DLA - Widely considered best Ganondorf in argument with Vermanubis. Known for having the best overall results of a Ganondorf player, but played several top/high tier secondaries in addition to Ganon in achieving those results.
•  Fonz - Known for being one of the best Ganondorf players, achieving particular notoriety when he once won a legitimate tournament using primarily Ganondorf, which even with it banning Meta Knight and being in a weaker region, was a feat that other Ganondorf and bottom tier players could not replicate.
•  Ray Kalm - Highly regarded on Smashboards' Ganondorf boards as one of the best Ganondorf players, that was perhaps on par with Vermanubis and DLA, but Canada's then less-developed scene and his lack of travel limited his exposure to the general competitive community.
•  Vermanubis - Widely considered best Ganondorf in argument with DLA, and if not, was unanimously considered best solo-main of Ganondorf. Also known for finding practical applications of Ganondorf's difficult advanced techniques such as the Flight of Ganon, and for being a prominent and well-liked community figurehead for Brawl.

Role in The Subspace Emissary

Ganondorf's introduction in the Subspace Emissary

Ganondorf is one of the two secondary antagonists (under Tabuu) alongside Bowser in the Subspace Emissary. Ganondorf first appears in a control room on the Isle of the Ancients, where Zero Suit Samus was in to find her Power Suit, giving Bowser the coordinates to find King Dedede, who had stolen Wario's trophies.

Later, in the same control room, he receives orders from Master Hand to destroy the Isle of the Ancients. Appearing in their island base as a hologram, he consequently orders the R.O.B. Squad to activate all of the Subspace Bombs on the Isle. When the Ancient Minister objects, Ganondorf presses an override button that forces the R.O.B.s to ignore the Minister and continue. When he continues to intervene, Ganondorf goes further and forces the R.O.B.s to attack the Ancient Minister, setting him aflame; while sending a flock of Auroros to distract an approaching group of heroes. Suddenly, the burning Ancient Minister fires beams from his eyes, destroying the Auroros and shedding the remnants of his robes to show that he himself is a R.O.B., and proceeds to help the others fight the advancing Subspace troops.

After the Isle of the Ancients is engulfed in Subspace, Ganondorf appears on the Subspace Gunship as its co-commander, with Bowser, but they are forced to retreat into Subspace when the Gunship is destroyed by Kirby and his Dragoon. Ganondorf then decides it is time to betray Bowser, so he takes out the last remaining Dark Cannon and fires it at Bowser, his own co-captain and the most loyal of Master Hand's henchmen. Kicking the Bowser trophy out of the way, Ganondorf proceeds to present himself to Master Hand. However, as he prepares to betray Master Hand for complete control of the Subspace Army, he sees that Master Hand was literally a puppet of Tabuu, the supreme ruler of Subspace. Ganondorf tries to attack him, but is quickly defeated and turned into a trophy. As he falls, however, he bumps into the chains of light which puppeteer Master Hand, freeing him from Tabuu's control. Master Hand then attempts to attack Tabuu, but is also defeated with ease.

Later, after the main group of heroes had been defeated by Tabuu and rescued by Luigi, Ness and King Dedede, Kirby finds Ganondorf's trophy - leading the resurrected Bowser to appear and brutally attack the trophy as an act of revenge for shooting him with a dark cannon before tossing it aside. If both Link and Zelda were rescued, a cutscene will show Ganondorf being revived by them (with a headache from his trophification and Bowser's retaliation) and after the Hyrulian heroes walk away, he clenches his fist in anger and reluctantly decides to help the heroes travel through The Great Maze in order to defeat Tabuu.

Cameo Appearances

Ganondorf appears frequently during The Subspace Emissary.

• The Lake Shore
• The Cave
• The Subspace Bomb Factory (Part II)
• Entrance to Subspace

Playable Appearances

• The Great Maze - If Link and Zelda are rescued in Subspace (Part II)

Exclusive Stickers

These stickers can only be used by Ganondorf or by a select few including him:

• Boomerang: [Weapon] Attack +4
• Bowser (Mario Power Tennis): [Darkness] Attack +21
• Colin: [Specials: Direct] Attack +4
• Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule: [Electric] Attack +31
• Darknut: [Slash] Attack +13
• Epona & Link: [Arm, Leg] Attack +9
• Fierce Deity Link: [Slash] Attack +21
• Ganondorf (Ocarina of Time): [Darkness] Attack +29
• Ganondorf (Wind Waker): [Darkness] Attack +33
• Happy Mask Salesman: [Leg] Attack +9
• Hylian Shield (Twilight Princess): Slash Resistance +10
• Lantern: [Flame] Resistance +7
• Legend of Outset: [Arm] Attack +26
• Linebeck: [Throwing] Attack +20
• Link (Link to the Past): [Electric] Resistance +31
• Link (Twilight Princess): [Slash] Resistance +27
• Link (Wind Waker): [Flame] Attack +31
• Link with Goron Mask: [Slash] Attack +17
• Link's Grandma: [Arm, Leg] Attack +2
• Lon Lon Milk: Launch Power +18
• Midna & Wolf Link: [Leg] Attack +26
• Moblin: [Slash] Attack +15
• Octorok: [Leg] Attack +4
• Petey Piranha (Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour!): [Darkness] Attack +47
• Phantom Ganon: [Darkness] Attack +40
• Piece of Heart: Heart Container Effect +50
• Revolver Ocelot: [Darkness] Attack +17
• Ridley (Metroid): [Darkness] Attack +30
• Salvatore: [Electric] Attack +9
• Shadow Beast: [Darkness] Attack +28
• Sheik: [Body, Spin] Attack +17
• Skull Kid (Ocarina of Time): [Darkness] Attack +7
• Space Pirate: [Darkness] Attack +13
• Tingle (Wind Waker): [Flame] Resistance +24
• Young Zelda (Minish Cap): [Battering] Resistance +16
• Zelda (Ocarina of Time): [Flame] Resistance +18

In Event Matches

Solo Events

• Event 31: The Ultimate Bodyguard: As Marth, the player must defend Zelda and defeat two Ganondorfs on Castle Siege. During the third background change, Zelda will transform into Sheik and assist Marth.
• Event 33: Advent of the Evil King: As Ganondorf, the player must defeat Link, Zelda and Pit on Temple.
• Event 34: All-Star Battle Melee: Ganondorf is one of the opponents fought in this event. All opponents are newcomers from Super Smash Bros. Melee.
• Event 40: The Final Battle: The player selects any character and must defeat Bowser, King Dedede, and Ganondorf on Final Destination.

Co-op Events

• Co-Op Event 13: Blades of the Quick and Mighty: Marth and Ike must defeat Link, Meta Knight, and Ganondorf on Temple.
• Co-Op Event 14: The Dark Guardians: Ganondorf and Wolf, who are tiny, must defeat a giant Donkey Kong and a giant Charizard on New Pork City.
• Co-Op Event 20: The Final Battle for Two: Both players select a character and must defeat Bowser, Wario, King Dedede, Wolf, Meta Knight and Ganondorf on Final Destination.
• Co-Op Event 21: The True All-Star Battle: Both players select a character and take on the entire roster on Battlefield.

Trophies

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

Classic Mode trophy

Ganondorf

A man who wants to use the power of the Triforce to conquer the world. In Twilight Princess, he gives strength to the Twilight King, Zant, and tries to change the land into a world of darkness. He possesses Zelda, transforms into a magical beast, and attacks Link. In the end, however, Link deals him a finishing blow and defeats him.

A man who wants to use the power of the Triforce to conquer the world. In Twilight Princess, he gives strength to the King of Shadows, Zant, and tries to change the land into a world of darkness. He possesses Zelda, transforms into a magical beast, and attacks Link. In the end, however, Link deals him a finishing blow and defeats him.

: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Beast Ganon trophy

Beast Ganon

Ganondorf's Final Smash. When he grabs a Smash Ball, he transforms into a repulsive, evil beast. He'll rampage from wherever he is to the side in a headlong rush. When he begins the move, any character before his eyes will flinch, so try to start the move near other characters.

: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Alternate costumes

Trivia

• Ganondorf is the only playable villain who is never fought in the Subspace Emissary, excluding his dark clone in The Great Maze.
• Though Ganondorf can be the first character unlocked by completing Classic Mode as Link or Zelda on Hard difficulty, he is one of the last characters to be unlocked by playing the Subspace Emissary, as the mode's antagonists are among the last characters to join the player's party.
  • He and Wario are the only characters in Brawl when going through the Subspace Emissary that is neither unlocked by simply clearing a level, nor defeated in a secret room.
• The sound clip that plays on the Wii Remote speaker when Ganondorf is selected is a sound clip from Melee that was only present in the Sound Test.
• While Ike has the most meteor smashes in Brawl, two of them are impossible to land on aerial opponents. Because of this, Ganondorf is tied with Diddy Kong for having the most meteor smashes landable on aerial opponents, with four.
• Ganondorf and R.O.B. are the only unlockable characters in Super Smash Bros. Brawl to be unlocked on a stage that is not from their respective universes. Ganondorf is unlocked on Final Destination, and R.O.B is unlocked on Mario Bros. Ganondorf is also the only unlockable character in Brawl to be fought on a Super Smash Bros. universe stage (Final Destination) when unlocking. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Ganondorf along with Falco and Mewtwo, were all fought on a Super Smash Bros. universe stage (making it three unlockable characters to be unlocked on a stage from the Super Smash Bros. universe instead of their respective universe), though Falco was fought on Battlefield when unlocking. Ganondorf and Mewtwo were both fought on Final Destination before getting unlocked.
• Ganondorf, Link, Mario, and Bowser are the only veterans in Brawl to receive a new special move. In Ganondorf's case, his side special was changed.
• Ganondorf is one of the few known characters to have an obvious error in his moveset coding - his forward aerial cannot be autocanceled, but the coding of the move shows that it was intended to do so; this was caused by using the wrong type of timing function. It was also meant to have a third, disjointed hitbox like in Melee.
• In a Japanese television show, Masahiro Sakurai played as Ganondorf in a versus match.
• Ganondorf's Brawl design has various changes from his appearance in Twilight Princess: he, for some reason, does not seem to have the glowing chest wound, and his cape is hemmed instead of tattered like the one worn in that game as well. This is ultimately corrected in SSB4.
  • Strangely enough, in the game Hyrule Warriors, Ganondorf's Twilight Princess costume is clearly based on his appearance in Brawl due to the lack of his glowing chest wound and possessing a hemmed cape instead of a tattered cape.
• Ganondorf, the Ice Climbers, Meta Knight, Mr. Game & Watch, and Samus are the only characters whose icon in the Subspace Emissary and the Sticker menu is not based on their renders.

External links

• Ganondorf's page on DOJO!!
• Ganondorf Character Guide on SmashBoards
• Ganondorf's hitbox size of each of his moves
• Eiji Aonuma reporting that he sent the Twilight Princess designs of Link, Sheik and Ganondorf.