Snake (PM)

Snake in Project M and Project+
Universe	Metal Gear
Base game appearance	Brawl
Moveset inspiration	Snake (SSBB)
Alternate costume	Big Boss Snake

Snake is a playable character in the Brawl mod Project M. He has been given new moves and several buffs as well as nerfs for his Project M showing.

Attributes

Snake is a campy glass cannon in terms of his stats and moveset. His projectiles give him superb zoning capabilities and aid his combo game. He additionally has a notable SHFFL. His combo game is very powerful, with fast and weak moves such as his up tilt and powerful finishers such as his forward tilt and smash attacks. His grab game is also versatile, with all of his throws being combo throwd that lead into many of Snake's moves. He also has remarkable gimping capabilities.

However, Snake has a number of weaknesses. Arguably his most notable weakness is his poor endurance. He has a fast falling speed, however his weight is only slightly above average, which when combined with his poor recovery and ease in being comboed, makes it very easy to KO Snake. Additionally, he has very poor movement speed, making it hard for him to combo at high percents and making him unable to chase quick opponents. He also has lackluster frame data, which may make it difficult to string attacks together.

As such, Snake must use all of his offensive and long-distanced tools to his advantage due to his inability to safely play defensively.

Changes from Brawl to PM

Snake received buffs, nerfs, and general changes from Brawl to PM. The range of his tilts have been scaled down to their physical appearance and have had their monstrous disjoints removed in exchange for more powerful explosives and an overall more solid offense and combo game.

Snake's Big Boss palette swap.

Aesthetics

• Up taunt has been changed to a taunt where Snake briefly smokes, taking 1% damage when he does so. He then drops the cigarette in front of him, causing 4% flame damage to nearby opponents. It is the longest taunt in the game.
• Down taunt is still his Cardboard Box, but has the speed of the former up taunt.
• Side taunt now has Snake speak into his codec, saying "Colonel, mission accomplished", similar to in one of his victory poses.
• Snake now uses regular punching and kicking SFX for his attacks, rather than unique ones.

Attributes

• Snake's grounded jump height has been increased, which along with the faster falling speeds and addition of L-canceling, allow better and less risky usage of his aerial attacks and also equip him with a powerful SHFFL.
• The general new physics of Project M, which include enhanced air movements and the re-introduction of techniques such as wavedashing, increase the pace of many characters' playstyles, allowing most of the cast to overcome Snake's metagame, which was one of the most powerful in Brawl. Like Meta Knight, Snake does not benefit as much from these techniques other than L-canceling, compared to other characters.
• Significantly lighter, going from a super heavyweight to a normal heavyweight; Snake now is only slightly heavier than Captain Falcon and Link and weighs the same as Ike.
• Grab release glitch from Brawl has not been removed.

Ground Attacks

• Third hit of neutral attack deals 1% more damage.
  • Jab combo has less KO potential.
• First hit of forward tilt now causes grounded opponents to bounce upwards, allowing the second hit to connect more reliably and is faster on hit due to less hitlag.
  • Second hit of forward tilt no longer has a sweetspot.
• Snake has a new up tilt: an uppercut. It has much better combo potential than his previous up tilt.
  • New up tilt no longer has its large disjointed hitbox in front of him. It also has significantly less range, less KO potential, and deals 1% less damage on the clean hitbox and 2% less on the late hitbox.
• Down tilt now has a clean hitbox that deals 1% more damage, and has better combo set ups than Brawl at lower percents, allowing it to set up for a grab.
  • Down tilt is weaker.
• Dash attack sourspot deals 1% more damage.
• Snake has gained a crawl attack: a knife stab. This deals low damage and knockback, allowing it to set up for combos at high percents.
• Snake has a new forward smash: a three hit knife combo, where Snake slashes twice in front of him, then performs a third stronger slash with a second press of the attack button. It is much faster than his previous forward smash and deals 4% more damage if all hits connect.
  • New forward smash has less KO potential, and the third hit is easy to DI out of at high percents.
• Up smash's mortars deal more damage, and their horizontal angle is no longer random; instead, the player can control it similar to Ivysaur's Seed Bomb.
• Down smash has less ending lag, and mines can now KO at lower percentages along with having a larger detection radius.
  • Down smash mine is now purple instead of yellow.
• Can no longer Gatling Combo.

Aerial Attacks

• Neutral aerial's number of kicks has been reduced from four to three, allowing all kicks to connect in a short hop and rack up damage to launch the opponent afterwards.
• Neutral aerial deals significantly less total damage due to the removal of the fourth kick, dealing 15% in total rather than 28%. The last kick also deals less knockback.
• Tip of forward aerial now spikes, making it a deadlier edge-guarding move when spaced correctly, and also deals 1% more damage. The sweetspot makes it a stronger KO move, especially on the ground.
• All hitboxes of back aerial deal consistent damage of its highest damaging hitbox, and deals 2% more damage.
  • Back air has less KO potential.
• Down aerial is faster and its last stomp is now a meteor smash, also acting better as an edge-guarding move.
  • Down aerial deals 12% less damage, and can no longer KO onstage opponents properly.

Grabs and Throws

• Snake can now drag grabbed enemies sideways by using the left and right taunt buttons.
• Up throw is a stronger finisher, and can chain grab at lower percents.
• Down throw deals 2% more damage and ends faster, forcing the opponent to act faster and racking up more damage as a tech-chasing move.
• Forward and back throws are significantly weaker, but can now used to throw opponents into mines and C4s.

Special Moves

• Grenades explode much faster after thrown and do slightly more damage when thrown at the opponent. Snake can also now roll his grenades forward by tilting down as he is about to throw them, resulting the Grenade traveling less distance if needed.
  • Grenades no longer come out on frame 1, and only one Grenade can be active at a time.
• Snake has a new side special: Tranquilizer Gun; Snake shoots a small tranquilizing projectile that puts a grounded opponent to sleep for one instant and causes airborne opponents to flinch, all while causing 1% damage. It can be fired three times, but the fourth time will be a reload to be able to fire three shots again. Snake can alternatively reload at any point by pressing a Shield button during the first few frames of the animation. It has more utility than the Remote Missile, being much faster and allowing Snake to easily punish foes affected by the attack.
• Cypher now emits electricity when used, and causes opponents to take 6% damage flinch when in close radius. It additionally has a slightly better horizontal movement.
  • Cypher gains less vertical distance, and it no longer gives launch resistance to Snake.
• C4s produce more vertical knockback to compensate for the faster falling speeds. In addition, they no longer disappear unless Snake dies or sets them off, and the detonation animation can be canceled by holding the special button for a feint.
  • C4 no longer transfers between players, and Snake says "There!" upon sticking it to a character, making the move predictable.

Revisions

v2.5b

• Forward tilt 2 is stronger.
• Neutral air last hit is stronger.
• Back air sweetspot lasts slightly longer.
• Up tilt animation touched up.
• Up smash knockback and angle adjusted.
• Back air angles switched.
• Cypher hitboxes are closer in to him.
• Cypher adjusted in knockback and angle.
• C4 explosion hitbox shifted upwards to match the graphic and hits slightly longer.

v2.6b

• Crawl Stab's base knockback has been slightly increased.
• Cypher can sweetspot the edge more easily.
• Crawl stab's knockback growth has been slightly decreased.
• Up throw has slightly more endlag.
• Jab 1's outermost hitbox shifted inward slightly.
• Dash attack ends slightly earlier.
• Up smash comes out slightly faster.
• Up smash is angleable; hold the direction left or right to control the direction of where the mortar goes.
• Turn Grab has a bit more startup to match other turn grabs.
• Hand Grenade has a new throw option, a low throw which Snake "rolls" the grenade on the ground.
• Hand Grenade Back throw of the grenade has been changed to an "Up" input instead of a "Back" input.
• Cypher is now wavebounceable.

v3.0

• Forward air has reduced knockback growth.
• Standing grab has much less reverse range.
• Up Tilt reanimated for polish.
• Forward Smash reanimated for polish.
• Forward Smash start up very slightly decreased.
• Neutral air's last hit sends at a slightly lower angle.
• C4 aerial stick hitbox moved up and slightly in.
• Tranquilizer gun has a 3 dart clip that can be reloaded prematurely by holding shield within six frames starting side B.
• Up taunt replaced with a cigarette smoking taunt.

v3.01

• Forward smash no longer displays all of Snake's facial expressions at once.
• Fixed graphical issues during forward smash 2.
• Up tilt animation reverted to demo 2.6's Utilt animation.
• Snake can now reload tranq gun even when he hasn't taken any shots.

v3.5

• Back air now deals 14%/13%/12% based on hitbox, instead of having sex kick properties.
• Dash grab has lower hitboxes that can grab short crouching characters.
• Up tilt is no longer intangible around Snake's arm.
• Crawl tilt has increased hitlag and SDI multiplier.
• Forward aerial can only spike with the heel hitbox; the rest of the hitbox is now a meteor smash. All hitboxes also have less knockback growth and deal 1% less damage.
• Down aerial's first three hitboxes have a higher SDI multiplier.
• Standing grab can no longer grab short crouching characters.
• Cypher decreases in height for each aerial use until Snake lands on the ground, and the attack's damage is reduced to 5% damage from 8% damage.
  • No longer gains invincibility when used on ground.
  • Ability to air dodge after using any aerial attacks has been removed.
• C4 has slightly less knockback and 1% less damage, but trajectory is slightly better. Detonating C4 has slower interruptibility.
• Interruptibility for setting C4 normalized to be the same for both grounded and aerial versions.
  • Jump cancel for setting C4 in the air removed.
• Down smash mine placed higher up for easier detection.

Moveset

Up to date as of version 3.6.

	Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		4%	Snake punches twice, then performs a spinkick. The final kick has high knockback but can be powershielded depending on the character, even if the combo is done as fast as possible. Based off the attack combo from Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. The first jab can also be canceled into a f-tilt or a grab.
		3%
		8%
Forward tilt		8%	Snake does a knee-thrust forward and if the attack button is pressed again, he will follow up with an overhead swing with both arms. This move is seen during a cutscene in Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes when Snake fights Grey Fox. The first hitbox has extremely fast start-up and good horizontal reach. On grounded opponents, it bounces them upward with set knockback, causing hitstun but no knockback, which allows Snake to link the opponent into the second hitbox. Since the knee hitbox bounces grounded enemies upward, it can set up an up tilt. The second hitbox has fast start-up as well. This move can be used for general damage racking, as a punishing move, for KOing, and it is also a useful out-of-shield option, as it takes hardly any frames for the hitbox to come out. However, enemies can powershielded out of the knee hitbox to avoid the second hitbox. During the first hitbox, Snake's right leg is intangible.
		10%
Up tilt		12% (clean), 10% (late)	Snake performs a quick uppercut with his right hand. This move has low start-up, great vertical reach, and surprisingly good horizontal reach, as well as great vertical knockback, capable of KOing lightweights around 120% while KOing heavyweights around 160%. Higher knockback when the hit connects earlier on in the attack, though the sourspot will still reliably KO under 150%. Snake's right arm is intangible while the hitboxes are active.
Down tilt		11% (clean), 10% (late)	Snake does a low spin kick while prone. While this move is fast and has good vertical knockback, it is not as good as his forward and up tilt, due to having less reach than the forward tilt, and much less knockback than the up tilt. This move can still be used as a surprise KO move since it's usually fresh when used.
Crawl attack		5%	Snake thrusts a small dagger out on the ground in front of him. Deals weak vertical knockback, but can set up for combos at high percents.
Dash attack		11% (clean), 8% (late)	Snake does a somersault forward. Deals moderate knockback and moves Snake forward a fair amount. The somersault and subsequent transition to crouching are visually identical to those moves used by Snake in the Metal Gear Solid series.
Forward smash		6% (hit 1), 8% (hit 2)	Snake pulls out a small dagger in reverse-grip and holds it back before quickly slashing forward twice. By pressing the attack button again, he will perform a third slash that deals more damage and knockback. Due to knockback of the first two hits, it's often hard, if not almost impossible, for the third slash to hit the opponent, preventing all three hits from being a three-hit combo.
		12%
Up smash		4% (startup), 14% (mortar)	Snake slams a mortar in front of himself and fires a shell into the air. The movement of the shell is entirely vertical, with its horizontal movement being angled by holding the left or right on the control stick. Charging this move does not increase the shell's power, but it increases the speed at which it is fired, making it go higher. When fully charged, the shell travels great distances, reaching the top section of the watchtowers in Shadow Moses Island (if used at the bottom section of the stage), making it have the greatest vertical reach of any smash attack. The shell explodes if it makes contact with a ceiling, an opponent, a wall or the ground, no matter what direction it's moving in. Slamming down the mortar has a hitbox that produces very weak vertical knockback that knocks opponents into the mortar's line of fire. The shell cannot damage Snake unless it is reflected by moves like Reflector.
Down smash		14%	Snake starts digging a hole in the ground and places a landmine inside. A short while after planting the mine, it becomes active, and will detonate if anyone (including Snake) steps on it. If the platform the mine is set on disappears (such as on Rainbow Cruise or Delfino Plaza) the mine falls down and if it makes contact with anything, even the ground, it explodes. Snake can't plant more than one mine at a time, but it can be moved by using this attack again, which detonates it from its previous position and gets planted at Snake's current position. After a short time has passed or if Snake gets KO'd, the mine will self-detonate. The move itself is taken from Metal Gear and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.
Neutral aerial		3% (hit 1), 5% (hit 2), 7% (hit 3)	Snake performs three kicks in quick succession. The first kick has very fast start-up, but the whole move itself has slightly long duration with slight ending lag, making it punishable. All three kicks combo well into each other and is best performed high in the air, but can still come out in a short hop. Best used against airborne and large characters.
Forward aerial		15% (foot), 14% (leg)	Snake lifts his left leg over his head and axe-drops it down. This move has slow start-up and some ending lag, but it is a powerful move with great vertical and horizontal reach. Connecting this move on airborne opponents at Snake's foot is a spike while connecting at his leg result in a meteor smash. When used on grounded opponents, it deals powerful diagonal knockback.
Back aerial		12% (clean body), 13% (clean leg), 14% (clean foot), 10% (late)	Snake extends both his legs out behind him, planking in the air. This move has fairly fast start-up along with good reach and deals good horizontal knockback when sweetspotted, making it a effective move for edgeguarding. This move also sex kick properties, meaning its hitbox has a long duration and is stronger at the beginning of the attack. It has some ending lag, however.
Up aerial		12% (clean body), 13% (clean leg), 14% (clean foot), 10% (late)	Snake thrusts legs straight upwards, similar to his back aerial. This move fairly fast start-up with good vertical reach and powerful vertical knockback, but it has considerable ending lag. The move is useful for star KOing airborne opponents that are above 100%.
Down aerial		4% (hits 1-4)	Snake launches four subsequent kicks below himself. With a quick start-up, all four stomps can be performed in a short hop. The last stomp meteor smashes opponents. While somewhat laggy and punishable, this attack is good against shields, and is a great punishing move if Snake can predict where an opponent may end up after they performed a roll dodge. Unlike the neutral aerial, this move is generally better against grounded opponents.
Grab		—	Grabs and holds his opponent in a restraining chokehold, which is a grabbing position unique to Snake. In Project M Snake can move horizontally using the left and right taunt buttons during a grab.
Pummel		3%	Tightens his chokehold.
Forward throw		9%	Flips them over and drops them (scoop slam).
Back throw		9%	Turns around and slams opponent on the ground.
Up throw		10%	Performs a back suplex, slamming the opponent onto the ground. This throw can setup for an up tilt at low percentages.
Down throw		14%	Lays opponent on the floor, putting the opponent into the downed status. One of the best tech-chasing moves in the game and lets Snake get an addition grab or hit if he can predict how the enemy will recover.
Floor attack (front)		6%	Gets up while kicking his foot out on one side and punches on the other side.
Floor attack (back)		6%	Rotates his body around with both his feet sticking out and gets up.
Floor attack (trip)		5%	Does a swirling kick while getting up.
Edge attack (fast)		6% (body), 8% (leg)	Climbs on to the stage and performs a low sweep kick.
Edge attack (slow)		8% (body), 9% (hip), 10% (leg)	Slowly gets up and thrusts his left leg forward.
Neutral special	Hand Grenade	1-4% (throw), 11-12% (explosion)	Snake pulls out a grenade and unpins it. The grenade can be held for up to 1.5 second before it detonates, which can be "cooked" by holding the special button as soon a grenade is taken out. The distance Snake throws the grenade can be controlled by pressing either up, forward, down, or pressing no direction at all. Only one grenade can be out at a time and another one can't be produced until one explodes.
Side special	Tranquilizer	1%	Snake shoots a small tranquilizing projectile out of a gun that puts a grounded opponent to sleep, allowing for easy follow-ups and starting combos. If the opponent is in the air, they are slightly launched backward with set knockback. Reloads after three shots are fired. The projectile can also be reflected, which will make Snake fall asleep instead.
Up special	Cypher	6% (2 hits), 5% (camera)	Snake grabs onto a flying reconnaissance camera to slowly hover upwards. This move does not make Snake become helpless, but will take away his mid-air jump and he won't be able to air dodge. One can cancel the ride early by performing any attack (excluding the up special), or by pressing down, upon which the Cypher will become an upward projectile. Despite the large amount of vertical distance this move covers, Snake is very vulnerable to edgeguarding due to being defenseless while hanging on to the camera.
Down special	C4	16%	Snake bends down a plants a C4 on the ground where he is standing, drops one when used in the air, or sticks one towards a wall if he is standing near one. By using the move a second time, he takes out a remote and presses the button, detonating the explosive. If Snake is standing near an opponent, he can attach the C4 directly onto them, which functions like a Gooey Bomb. The detonation can be cancelled if Snake is attacked before he presses the button.
Final Smash	Grenade Launcher	18%	Snake leaps off the stage and grabs onto a rope ladder of a helicopter, shooting up to twelve rounds of grenades from the foreground. After firing six shots, Snake will reload another round of six shots. If no shots are fired within a few seconds, Snake will automatically shoot a grenade towards the crosshair.

In competitive play

Notable players

•  Azer
•  Arrow
•  FlashingFire
•  Jonny Westside
•  Leon
•  Messi
•  Morks
•  MVD
•  Professor Pro
•  Rolex
•  Sago

Alternate costumes

Snake's blue costume from Brawl has been replaced with a more distinctive one, making it more noticeable on Team Battles. In addition, he now has a costume based off of his father, Big Boss, aka Naked Snake.

Snake's alternate costumes in PM

Trivia

• In build prior to 3.0, Snake's up taunt would involve him touching his beard, saying either "Not even close!" or "Tasty!", which was much shorter than his current up taunt.
  • Also prior to 3.0, Snake still had his Nikita, functioning just like in Brawl, though it would always do 18% damage regardless of its speed.
• If Snake's up taunt is cancelled at the right time, he will hold the cigarette in his mouth for the remainder of the stock, or until he uses his up taunt again.
• As of version 3.5, despite the fact that Snake's grenade now has a timer of roughly 1.5 seconds, its graphics have not yet been updated and still reads "GRENADE,DELAY 3.0".

External links

• Project M character page
• Big Boss alternate costume reveal thread