Ivysaur (PM)

Ivysaur in Project M and Project+
Universe	Pokémon
Base game appearance	Brawl
Moveset inspiration	Ivysaur (SSBB)

Ivysaur is a playable character in the Brawl mod Project M. Like Charizard and Squirtle, it has been separated from the Pokémon Trainer and so fights alone. Its down special, Pokémon change, has been replaced with Seed Bomb. It has also been given significant buffs.

Attributes

In Brawl, Ivysaur was considered the middle ground between the speed-focused Squirtle and the powerhouse Charizard, and was considered by many to be the worst Pokemon due to his lack of kill power and mediocre special moves. In Project M, Ivysaur has been buffed considerably, and is now a powerful zoning character who is incredibly good at dealing with its opponents at mid-range, with several of its attacks having long range, such as D-Tilt, F-Air and B-Air. Ivysaur is also much faster in the air, going from among the worst in Brawl to among the best in Project M. Ivysaur also has a few tricks up its sleeves; her Up-Smash, Up-Air and Down-Air Sweetspots, Pummel, Up-Throw and Neutral Special are all capable of healing Ivysaur for various percents, granting it more staying power. Ivysaur is also capable of planting a flower on opponents with its Up-Air and Down-Air sweetspots, and Ivysaur can stun grounded opponents with its Down-Special, Seed Bomb. Ivysaur has also been buffed by the change of the mechanics between Brawl and Project M. Because Pokemon Trainer's Stamina mechanic was removed, Ivysaur no longer receives the stamina-related knockback or damage decreases, and with the removal of Type Effectiveness, Ivysaur no longer receives more knockback from fire attribute moves.

However, Ivysaur is not without weaknesses. It has very few Out-of-Shield options and deals poorly with pressure and close-range combat. As such, a lot of its poor matchups are against those characters who are widely used in competitive play, such as Fox or Falco. Ivysaur is also considerably lighter which, combined with its tether recovery, make it harder to recover, making it more susceptible to dying early.

Changes from Brawl to PM

Ivysaur was buffed greatly from Brawl to PM.

Aesthetics

• New on-screen appearance: Ivysaur unplants itself from the ground.
• Pokémon Trainer victory pose has been removed.

Attributes

• Has a drastic increase in air speed. Having the 4th best air speed in Project M, from the 3rd worst in Brawl.
• It is significantly lighter, drastically worsening its survivability.
  • This also makes it invulnerable to Fox's waveshine combos.
• The removal of type effectiveness means that Ivysaur no longer takes additional knockback from fire attacks.

Ground Attacks

• Jab combo has more range (which now hits just twice) does more damage and is faster, and does more knockback.
• Up tilt has been sped up and does more damage.
• Forward tilt links much better and hits faster.
• Down tilt has more range and does slightly more damage at the tip.
• Down Smash does much more damage and knockback, and has a semi-spike angle.
• Up smash has dramatically faster start-up, and has a sweetspot which flowers foes and heals Ivysaur.
• Forward smash can now be angled.
• Forward tilt has slightly less damage potential.
• Forward Smash does slightly less damage and is less of a KO move.
• Up smash does slightly less damage and knockback, but the damage is compensated by the flower.

Aerial Attacks

• Down air gives a momentum boost aiding recovery, and its sourspot does more damage while the sweetspot flowers foes and heals Ivysaur.
• Up air shoots Ivysaur to the ground faster, and has a sweetspot which flowers foes and heals Ivysaur and has a hitbox coming down which can lightly meteor, makes getting to the ground very easy.
• Forward air has a sweetspot which does slightly more damage and the move in general allows for better follow-ups and combos.
• Back air does significantly more damage and has much more knockback with major gimping potential.
• Neutral air has a bigger hitbox that connects much better and does more damage and has higher knockback.
• Back air has less range.
• Up air has a sourspot and the sweet spot does less damage and knockback, damage is compensated with the flowering.
• Forward air does less knockback and now has a sourspot.

Grabs and Throws

• Forward throw does more damage.
• Grab range has been reduced, now just being of a slightly-above-standard range rather than acting as an extended grab, forcing Ivysaur to get closer to opponents in order to start combos.

Special Moves

• New neutral special: Synthesis and Solar Beam. Holding the special button slowly heals Ivysaur and builds up charge. Charge is shown as a glowing light in Ivysaur’s bulb that grows bigger and fills the bulb when fully charged. Once the charge is full, using the move fires a powerful energy beam diagonally upwards. It can also be charged by connecting with Ivysaur's bulb attack sweetspots and pummel. This gives Ivysaur a greater KO/edge-guarding potential and percent advantage that its previous Bullet Seed didn't have, as Ivysaur can now rack up damage efficiently with its improved standard attacks.
• Razor Leaf has slightly faster startup, and it can now hit multiple targets and deal damage consecutively. It additionally flies in the same straight path instead of randomly angling, making the move more consistently usable.
• Vine Whip's sweetspot is stronger, dealing higher damage and knockback and playing the ping SFX. The move is also better for recovering thanks to Project M's improved tether recovery managements.
• Down special is now Seed Bomb, which sends a powerful projectile vertically similar to Snake's up smash. It releases Stun Spores upon hitting the ground, which stun opponents in range. The move can also be angled left or right slightly. It's great for both punishing aerial approaching foes and catching grounded enemies off-guard.
• Razor Leaves vanish upon making contact with a surface, worsening their overall durability, and only one can be out at a time.

Revisions

v2.6

• Forward tilt links more reliably and has slightly less range behind it.
• Up smash sweetspot's shield damage is increased.
• Down smash start-up is faster.
• Neutral air hitbox size increased, landing hitbox better for comboing.
• Standing grab and pivot grab have slightly increased vertical range.
• Up tilt horizontal range increased; animation is faster; knockback growth decreased,which is great for comboing into itself
• Down tilt second hit sends at an upward angle,which can lead to many follow-ups.
• Fastfall speed slightly increased.
• Grab pummel deals slightly less damage.
• Razor Leaf (projectile) does less damage per hit.
• Down tilt range reduced.
• Jab range is better overall while Jab 1 IASA is worse.
• Dash Attack animation is faster, strong hit duration is shorter.
• Forward air downward range decreased; animation slightly faster overall; all hits send opponents vertically.
• Back air damage/knockback decreased on ranged hits; angles generally higher; animation faster overall.
• Up air falling hitbox is a spike for the first four frames while shield damage is added to bulb sweetspot and can no longer fastfall during up air to slow decent.
• Down air has a faster start-up but greater endlag, shield damage added to sweetspot and can skip to a 3rd+ "float" effect by holding down during start-up.
• Dash grab has significantly reduced horizontal range, significantly less endlag (like the average jump cancel grab), and has noticeably increased vertical range.
• Synthesis/Solar Beam when uncharged now has a landing cancel, healing starts later in the animation, and holding B to full charge allows you to continue healing until you let go of B.
• Solarbeam now takes 22% to fully charge.
• Charged Synthesis/Solar Beam transition to Special Fall can now grab ledges backward.
• Razor Leaf animation is faster all around, Razor Leaf stays out longer, no longer decelerates over time, but is limited to one leaf on-screen at a time and can now be fastfalled.
• Vine Whips sweetspot hitbox size decreased, grounded Vine Whip now matches aerial Vine Whip (has an extra active frame).
• Fixed a glitch where the Vine Whips "hop" wouldn't happen immediately after hitstun.
• Seed Bomb can be angled to the left or right (less so while in the air), aerial Seed Bomb no longer pushes Ivysaur downward.

v3.0

• Forward tilt back hitbox and the innermost front hitbox have increased SDI multipliers.
• Forward air damage increased by 1%.
• Back air send off hits have increased base knockback, and the inner trajectory has been lowered.
• Back air outer hitbox damage increased to 5%.
• Down air damage increased and homogenized against grounded and aerial targets to 7%.
• Back throw knockback growth increased.
• Down throw knockback growth increased.
• Vine Whips sweetspot hitbox size slightly increased.
• Vine Whips sweetspot damage increased to 18%.
• Up throw knockback growth decreased,so it makes it easier to go for a back aerial at higher percents.
• Up throw angle increased to send slightly behind Ivysaur,which perfectly sets up a back aerial gimp.
• Neutral air final hit knockback growth decreased,which makes it more reliable for repeated hits,or follow-ups.
• Fall speed slightly increased, and fastfall speed increased.
• Forward tilt endlag increased.
• Forward tilt's back final hitbox damage decreased to match earlier weak hits.
• Down air ending lag increased.
• Down air sweetspot size decreased, with the sweetspot deeper inside Ivysaur.
• Forward throw knockback lowered to match v2.6 back throw.
• Seed Bomb seeds rise slower, do not go as high, and fall more slowly as well.
• Forward air startup increased.
• Increased aerial drift strength and decreased aerial friction.
• Slightly decreased grounded friction.
• Down tilt's 2nd hit now only pops up at the outer 2 hitboxes instead of outer 3 hitboxes.
• Forward air hitbox angles have been noticeably lowered to send further horizontally.
• Forward air base knockback increased, knockback growth decreased.
• Back air closer endlag mostly reverted to v2.5. Still allows a small window to short-hop Back Air autocancel.
• Up air sweetspot knockback growth and damage increased. Hitbox size decreased, with the sweetspot deeper inside Ivysaur. Sourspot angle decreased.
• Up air no longer halts horizontal momentum on fall.
• Up air meteor hitboxes redone - now two side-by-side hitboxes that maintain horizontal coverage with negative disjoint on the bottom.
• Grabs - outer 2 of 5 boxes on standing and pivot grab + outer 1 box of 3 on dash grab are ground-only to alleviate chain grab issues.
• Synthesis/Solar Beam startup hit is now a relatively weak wind box.
• Synthesis/Solar Beam max charge lowered from 22% to 18%.
• Aerial Synthesis/Solar Beam land-cancels only if the Special Button is not held.
• Razor Leaf checks if existing leaf is out on frame 1 instead of 15.
• Razor Leaf hit refresh rate slower , damage increased per hit by 1, hit angle increased to send further vertical.
• Razor Leafs leaves slowed down to v2.5 timings while physics/floats ported from v2.5, but lasts 5 frames longer.

3.01

• Up air non-L-canceled landing lag value decreased slightly.
• Jab 1 and jab 2 had a chance to cause a trip, this has been removed.

v3.5

• Ivysaur has a new final smash.
• Second hit of back aerial deals more damage at the center rather than at the tip.
• Back throw does more damage.
  • However, it deals less base knockback.
• Up throw now heals 3%.
  • It now causes less damage.
• Forward throw does less damage.
  • However, its knockback has increased.
• Vine Whip deals less damage.
• Solar Beam takes longer to fully charge.
• Ivysaur receives a new black palette swap.

v3.6

Beta

• Forward tilt now angle-able, better multihit linking and damage, better IASA
  • However, it has 4 hits instead of 7
• Forward Smash has a better knockback
• Neutral Air tweaked to have hitboxes open longer
  • Removed uppermost hitbox on landing hit
  • Removed the useless, fully overlapped hitbox in the middle of the last air hit
• Grab Pummel Heals/Charges 2 points instead of 1
• Up Throw has better knockback growth (120 to 135), Charges 5 points instead of 3
  • Does less damage (6 points reduced to 5)
  • Graphic for charge updates during move rather than after
• Invincibility starts 3 frames earlier when using Synthesis/Solar Beam
  • Moved the Graphic forward 1 frame so the hitboxes appear on the frame the beam has fully expanded
• Vine Whips base knockback from bast to tip changed from 40/40/40/60/80 to 40/40/40/40/80
  • As well the damage from base to tip changed from 11/11/11/13/14 to 11/11/11/11/15
  • Fixed a bug that caused Vine Whip tether to fail if used near the end of her tether range
  • Fixed a visual bug that made two vines appear on Vine Whip if Ivy had tethered to a ledge at least once.
• Back air angles reduced by 15% on the first swing and 5% on the second
• Amount charged/healed now accounts for stale moves
• Dash Attack has been given a new animation to differentiate it from running and dashing, in which Ivysaur does a full-bodied lunge. Hitbox and distance properties function the same.
• Added vine motion trails to jab, d-tilt, d-smash, f-air, and b-air.
• Fixed a bug where attempting to heal an amount greater than Ivysaur's current percent wouldn't heal her at all
• Fixed a bug allowing gaining or losing an unrelated amount of charge/health when hitting projectiles

Full

• Forward tilt now has 5 hits instead of 4 and pulls inward.
  • Removed final hitbox behind Ivysaur.
• Up throw now Charges/heals 6 points instead of 3.

Moveset

Up to date as of version 3.6.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			3%	Ivysaur strikes with one vines twice followed by another vine that deals stronger horizontal knockback.
			4%
Forward tilt			2% (hits 1-4), 5% (hit 5)	Ivysaur leans forward and spins the leaves around the main bulb like a helicopter blade, hitting multiple times. This move can be aimed up or down.
Up tilt			9% (center), 8% (sides)	Ivysaur plants its vines on the ground and launches itself into the air. Has good range; with the central hit dealing straight vertical knockback.
Down tilt			2%-3% (hit 1) , 5% (hit 2)	Ivysaur whips two vines quickly along the ground, hitting twice with good range. The first hit has set knockback when hitting at the tip. The second hit has either horizontal knockback if it hits at the center, or drags foes towards Ivysaur if hitting at the tip.
Dash attack			12% (clean), 10% (late)	Ivusaur lunges and tackles the foe. Connecting during the early part of the animation deals powerful base knockback.
Forward smash			15%	Ivysaur plants its vines on the ground and launches its body forward. Decent knockback (30 base, 100 growth); can be used for edgeguarding on-stage. Can be angled up or down.
Up smash			9% (body), 12% (explosion)	Ivysaur launches a burst of spores from its bulb. The lateral hitboxes deals strong vertical knockback, while the explosion deals more damage, less knockback, flowers the enemy, and heals 9% to Ivysaur (which also increases along with the attack's charge, for a 12.3039% when fully charged).
Down smash			14% (center), 12% (tip)	Ivysaur quickly whips out vines across the ground simultaneously on both sides. Has a semi-spike trajectory, akin to Jigglypuff's down smash.
Neutral aerial			2% (hits 1-6), 4% (hit 7), 3% (landing)	Ivysaur spins while facing diagonally downwards. Hits multiple times with the last hit dealing minor knockback.
Forward aerial			9% (center), 13% (tip)	Ivysaur slaps forward with both vines. Has some start-up, but the tip is powerful, while the center can set-up combos at low percentages.
Back aerial			4% (hit 1), 5% (hit 2 near), 7% (hit 2 mid), 8% (hit 2 far)	Ivysaur spins vertically and hits backwards with its two respective vines. The second hit has a semi-spike angle that can easily gimp recoveries.
Up aerial			7% (bulb interior), 10% (explosion), 6% (descent)	Ivysaur shoots a burst of spores out of its bulb, then quickly falls down. The bulb interior flowers the opponent and heals 7% to Ivysaur. The descent meteor smashes enemies and can be quickly L-canceled for follow-ups. Ivysaur starts fast falling as soon as the move is executed.
Down aerial			7% (bulb interior), 10% (explosion)	Ivysaur turns upside-down and shoots a burst of spores out of its bulb. Similar to its up aerial, but deals slightly less knockback. The regular hit has a more horizontal trajectory for gimps, while the bulb interior powerfully meteor smashes the opponent in addition to flowering them, whilst healing 7%. Resets Ivysaur's falling speed when used.
Grab			—	Stretches its vines and binds the opponent. Has shorter range compared to other extended grabs, but less ending lag.
Pummel			1%	Squeezes the opponent. Heals 1% to Ivysaur every time it is used. Amount charged/healed accounts for stale moves.
Forward throw			10%	Ivysaur tosses the foe forward with its vines.
Back throw			11%	Ivysaur spins, then tosses the foe backwards with its vines. Higher base knockback and knockback growth than the forward throw, and a more horizontal angle.
Up throw			6%	Ivysaur puts the foe over its bulb, then bounces them into the air with the bud on its back. Charges/Heals 6 points to Ivysaur every time it is used. Can chaingrab fastfallers.
Down throw			10%	Ivysaur does a flip and slams the foe into the ground with its vines. Another throw for chaingrabbing fastfallers. At higher percentages, or against other characters, it can lead into an aerial or SolarBeam.
Floor attack (front)			6%	Ivysaur get up with an horizontal spin, swinging its vines.
Floor attack (back)			6%	Ivysaur gets up and strikes both sides with its vines.
Floor attack (trip)			5%	Ivysaur stands up and hits both sides with its vines.
Edge attack (fast)			6% (close), 8% (far)	Ivysaur climbs onto the stage and swings a vine.
Edge attack (slow)			10%	Ivysaur slowly climbs up and delivers a quick headbutt.
Neutral special		Synthesis/SolarBeam	4% (charge), 25% (SolarBeam)	Holding the special button slowly heals 1% to Ivysaur and builds up bulb charge. The charge start-up produces wind and also damages nearby foes (though with no knockback). Once the charge is full, using the move fires a powerful energy beam diagonally upwards, having great range and dealing strong knockback, serving as a powerful edge-guarding attack or combo finisher. To fully charge the beam from the start, Ivysaur must have 18% or more damage healed, either by the move itself or its bulb attacks and pummel. The SolarBeam has an electric effect and cannot be reflected, but can be absorbed by PSI Magnet and Oil Panic. Ivysaur falls helpless after firing the beam.
Side special		Razor Leaf	3% each hit	Ivysaur fires a spinning leaf forward, which hits enemies consecutively. The leaf can be reflected, but cannot be angled and vanish upon hitting a surface. Can pass through foes and shields.
Up special		Vine Whip	11% (base), 15% (tip)	Ivysaur shoots a vine diagonally upwards. The sourspot can be easily used for repelling airborne enemies or edge-guarding onstage, while the sweetspot deals high knockback that can yield KOs at low percentages. In midair, it gives Ivysaur a boost upward, and acts as a tether recovery.
Down special		Seed Bomb	10%	Ivysaur fires a flashing seed upwards, in a motion similar to its old neutral special. It can be slightly angled sideways, and keeps momentum when used in midair. The seed then falls down and releases Stun Spores upon hitting a surface. The seed itself has decent vertical knockback, while the spores stuns any opponent in range, being able to punish opponents attempting to dodge Ivysaur. The seed can be reflected, though when doing so, the trajectory will be unaltered; it will just damage Ivysaur if it comes close to the explosion.
Final Smash		Sunny Day	25% (each SolarBeam)	Ivysaur summons strong sunlight, restoring 66% of damage and charging up SolarBeam. Ivysaur then is capable of releasing three blasts without charging.

In competitive play

Notable players

•  Bobo
•  Denti
•  JZ
•  Machiavelli
•  TheReflexWonder
•  Trek
•  Sothe

Alternate costumes

Ivysaur now has more significant palette swaps to be more distinctive in Team Battles. In addition, it has received blue, purple, white, and black recolors.

Ivysaur's alternate costumes in PM

Trivia

• Ivysaur's Solar Beam has a 2D sprite (that comes from Suicune's Pokeball move); unlike other objects with this feature, it won't keep facing the screen and will instead remain flat like Mr. Game and Watch.
• Solar Beam is one of only two moves that can be absorbed but not reflected, the other being Zero Suit Samus's down smash.
• Seed Bombs use the same graphic as Deku Nuts.
• Ivysaur's Pokémon Trainer victory pose has not been replaced, compared to with Charizard and Squirtle, making it the only character in the game with just two victory poses.
• In older versions of Project M, Ivysaur's Solar Beam was shot out of its mouth.
• Ivysaur's green color scheme is based off of its shiny coloration in the Pokémon series.
• In regards to its new down special Seed Bomb, only its pre-evolution Bulbasaur can naturally learn it in the original Pokémon games (unless it is carried over upon evolution or taught through move tutor)