Ivysaur (SSBB)

This article is about Ivysaur's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For other uses, see Ivysaur. Also, for information about Ivysaur in regards to Pokémon Trainer, see Pokémon Trainer (SSBB), Squirtle (SSBB), and Charizard (SSBB).

Ivysaur in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Universe	Pokémon
Shares character slot with	Pokémon Trainer Charizard Squirtle
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Triple Finish

“	A seed Pokémon that excels at attacks that cover it from above.	”
—Brawl manual description

Ivysaur (フシギソウ, Fushigisou) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl in a sense; it is one of three Pokémon that are played through Pokémon Trainer, the other two being Squirtle and Charizard. Ivysaur originated from the original Pokémon game for Game Boy as the first evolved form of Bulbasaur, one of the initial Pokémon the player can start out with at the beginning of the adventure. When Ivysaur moves, it sheds very small leaves, similar to Pit's feathers shedding when he jumps.

Attributes

Ivysaur is perhaps the most difficult Pokémon to play out of the three. It cannot overpower its foes with deadly force like Charizard can, nor can it overwhelm foes with a high rate of attack like the nimble Squirtle. Furthermore, Ivysaur's major flaws prevent it from applying the same amount of pressure in a matchup as Pokémon Trainer's other Pokémon.

KOing is one of Ivysaur's big problems. Ivysaur's two most KO-capable smashes are powerful but slow. Its forward smash deals high knockback, but has rather high startup and ending lag, while its up smash, despite being the strongest up smash in the game, suffers from high startup lag and a difficult-to-land hitbox that doesn't cover much horizontal distance. Ivysaur's forward aerial, its other vertical finisher, only begins to KO at around 130%. A sweetspotted Vine Whip can make for a superb surprise KO, but its diagonal trajectory makes it difficult to land, and leaves it helpless and vulnerable to punishment in midair. Ivysaur can pop off a dash attack for a quick and rather powerful headbutt KO, but the dashing animation makes the attack highly predictable and is easily blocked by shielding. Getting KOs is worsened by the Pokémon Trainer stamina trait, should Ivysaur get tired, decreasing the knockback on all of its attacks.

Ivysaur's special moves are generally mediocre. Bullet Seed has the potential to deal upwards of 30% to an enemy, but to be knocked into the seeds, the opponent must be hit by a tiny hitbox on Ivysaur's sides at the start of the move, making it difficult to set up. The seeds are also easily SDI'ed out of, and the high ending lag leaves Ivysaur vulnerable to punishment if the move misses. Razor Leaf is Ivysaur's only ranged projectile, but its unpredictable flight path, low knockback, high startup and ending lag, and slow speed render it ineffective for purposes such as camping and harassing.

Ivysaur is burdened with its weakness to fire-based knockback. While Squirtle is the only character in the game to do water-based knockback (discounting Mario with his F.L.U.D.D.), there are many more characters than just Charizard who utilize fire-based knockback in their more powerful moves (R.O.B., Ike, Luigi, Snake, Mario, Captain Falcon, Mr. Game & Watch, etc.), and have an easier time KO'ing Ivysaur as a result (one of the most notorious examples of this is Luigi with his Fire Jump Punch, who can KO Ivysaur at as low as 40%.) It also has quite a long rolling dodge animation, making it vulnerable to punishment by an opponent.

Ivysaur's worst weaknesses, though, are its atrocious air game and recovery. Ivysaur has a tough time using aerials against opponents offensively, and is frequently at risk to being pushed to the edge while airborne. Its back aerial deals extremely low damage and poor knockback, and its neutral aerial has very short range and can easily be SDI'ed out of. His up and down aerial have small vertical hitboxes; combined with the fact that using these moves midair causes a change in Ivysaur's momentum, these moves are very difficult to land. While his up aerial delivers powerful vertical knockback, his down aerial is an extremely weak meteor smash that doesn't deal meaningful knockback until very high percents, making it generally ineffective as an edgeguarding tool. Ivysaur's best aerial, his forward aerial, only covers the area directly in front of it, leaving it with few meaningful options while in the air. Its poor aerials, combined with its very slow air speed, severely cripple its aerial game. Furthermore, Ivysaur's recovery is considered among the worst in Brawl. While its midair jump is decent, Ivysaur relies on its tether recovery, Vine Whip to return to the stage and this move can easily be edgehogged by opponents simply grabbing the ledge. This leaves Ivysaur with perhaps the shortest recovery in the game, and completely devastates its ability to recover safely from offstage, often dying to quick gimps; A launch offstage is usually enough to nearly guarantee a successful edgeguard on the Pokémon.

It does have a good grab game, however; Ivysaur's vines give it one of the best pivot grabs along with Yoshi, and its running grab sports decent range as well (the standing grab, however, has surprisingly low range and a laggy "miss" animation). Once having grabbed, Ivysaur can use either a down or forward throw to maintain stage control.

In summary, Ivysaur's difficulties KO'ing opponents, poor air game, laggy attacks, short reach, and atrocious recovery leave it as the clear runt of the litter among the three Generation I starter Pokémon. Competitive players argue that if Ivysaur was included a standalone fighter, due to its lack of prominent strengths and debilitating flaws, it would be a contender for the worst character in the game, competing with bottom-tier characters such as Jigglypuff, Zelda, and Ganondorf.

Moveset

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			3%	Ivysaur whips a vine, then another, then extends the range for repeated vine slaps.
			2%
			2% (hit 1), 1% (hit 2)
Forward tilt			1-2% (hits 1-6), 2% (hit 7)	Ivysaur leans forward and spins the leaves around the main bulb like a helicopter blade, hitting multiple times.
Up tilt			7%	Ivysaur plants its vines on the ground and launches itself into the air.
Down tilt			2% (hit 1), 5% (hit 2)	Ivysaur whips two vines quickly along the ground, hitting twice with good range.
Dash attack			12% (clean), 10% (late)	Ivysaur slides along the ground, headbutting foes.
Forward smash			16%	Ivysaur plants its vines on the ground and launches its body forward. Can be angled.
Up smash			17%	Ivysaur launches a burst of spores from its bulb. It is the strongest up smash in terms of knockback and has decent range.
Down smash			8%	Ivysaur quickly whips out vines across the ground simultaneously on both sides. Deals horribly low damage and knockback for a smash attack. Can cause opponents to sometimes trip.
Neutral aerial			2% (hits 1-7)	Ivysaur spins while facing diagonally downwards. Hits multiple times with the last hit dealing minor knockback. The first 6 hits deal set knockback, which helps connect into the final hit. Has mild spike properties underneath its hind legs.
Forward aerial			12% (vine), 10% (tip)	Ivysaur slaps forward with a vine. Deals vertical knockback.
Back aerial			2% (hit 1), 3% (hit 2 tip), 2% (hit 2 base)	Ivysaur spins around vertically and hits behind itself with two vines. Low damage with very low knockback, but has excellent range.
Up aerial			16%	Ivysaur shoots a burst of gas out of the bulb with high knockback. The move causes Ivysaur to fast fall, which is often used for momentum cancelling.
Down aerial			10% (sourspot), 8% (sweetspot)	Turns upside-down and shoots a burst of gas out of its bulb that's similar to its up aerial but deals slightly less knockback. There is a sweetspot at the bulb that meteor smashes opponents. Using the move halts Ivysaur's momentum in the air.
Grab			—	Stretches its vines and binds the opponent.
Pummel			3%	Squeezes opponent.
Forward throw			8%	Grabs opponent with vines and tosses them forward.
Back throw			10%	Grabs opponents with vines, does a full spin, and tosses them back.
Up throw			10%	Grabs opponent with vines and bounces them into the air with the bud on its back. Good for Bullet Seed combos.
Down throw			10%	Grabs opponent with vines, does a flip, and smashes them to the ground. Good for follow-ups.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			6%	Get up with an horizontal spin, swinging its vines.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			6%	Gets up and hits both sides with its vines.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Stands up and hits both sides with its vines.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			8% (vine), 6% (body)	Climbs onto the edge and swings a vine.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			10%	Slowly gets up and headbutts onto the stage.
Neutral special		Bullet Seed	4% (startup), 1-2% (seeds)	Ivysaur sends a barrage of seeds ascending from its bulb. Can be used to rack up damage to opponents who are above Ivysaur.
Side special		Razor Leaf	8% (clean), 6% (mid), 4% (late)	Ivysaur shoots a large single leaf, which can hit multiple foes. The leaf can travel faster if the control stick is tapped.
Up special		Vine Whip	Ground: 7% (nearest), 8% (near), 9% (mid), 10% (far), 13% (tip) Air: 11% (sourspot), 13% (sweetspot)	Ivysaur shoots a vine diagonally upwards, which works as a tether recovery. Ivysaur will gain a slight boost upwards when the move is used in the air.
Down special		Pokémon Change	0%	The Pokémon Trainer calls Ivysaur back by throwing a Poké Ball and then sends out Charizard.
Final Smash		Triple Finish	1% (Solarbeam)	The Pokémon Trainer sends out both Charizard and Squirtle and all three Pokémon perform a combination attack.

On-screen appearance

• The Pokémon Trainer releases Ivysaur from a Poké Ball and yells "Go Ivysaur!"

Taunts

• Up taunt: Spins its bud, and shakes off some leaves.
• Side taunt: Stands on its front legs and walks around while saying "Saur, Ivysaur".
• Down taunt: Spins around and extends its vines doing a dance, it throws around some leaves while saying "Ivy, Ivy".

Up taunt	Side taunt	Down taunt

Idle poses

• Stomps from side to side.
• Looks around then shakes its body.

Crowd cheer

	English	Japanese
Cheer
Description	Po-ké-mon!	Po-ké-mon!
Pitch	Group chant	Group chant

Wii Remote selection sound

• The Trainer releases a Poké Ball and says "Go for it!".

Pokémon Trainer's selection sound

Victory poses

Note: The Pokémon Trainer says "Way to go, Ivysaur!" in all three victory poses.

An excerpt from the main theme of the Pokémon series. It is shared with Pikachu, Jigglypuff, and Lucario.

• Stands in a battle-ready pose.
• The Pokémon Trainer pets it, and Ivysaur jumps on him, but the Pokémon Trainer puts it down and continues to pet him.
• Jumps and lands on its belly saying "Saur! Saur! Saur, Saur, Saur!".

Up	Left	Right

In competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Character Matchups

Avg.

Role in The Subspace Emissary

While in the ruins, Lucas and Pokémon Trainer discover Ivysaur in trophy form at the end of a torch-lit hallway. Pokémon Trainer then easily captures it, adding it to his team. Since Ivysaur is not seen again in a cutscene, it is the only character that is not seen outside of its trophy form during cutscenes in The Subspace Emissary (not counting the credits).

In Event Matches

Note: Ivysaur is only featured in one event that does not include the Pokémon Trainer.

Solo Events

• Event 8: Go! Triple Finish!: The player controls Pikachu, who must defeat Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard on Pokémon Stadium.

Trophy

Ivysaur's trophy is obtained by clearing Classic Mode with the Pokémon Trainer and must deliver the final hit to Master Hand with Ivysaur.

Description

A Seed Pokémon that is the evolved form of Bulbasaur. It has a flower bulb on its back, the weight of which has made it develop strong legs and hips. If the blossom gets too big, the Pokémon can't stand on two legs alone. At a certain level, it evolves into Venusaur. When this happens, the bulb absorbs nutrients and blossoms into a large-petaled flower.

: Pokémon Red/Blue

: Pokémon FireRed/LeafGreen

• 

  Classic

Alternate costumes

Trivia

• Unlike other characters, when Ivysaur crouches repetitively, the animation doesn't completely finish; the bud on its back will stand up straight.
• If characters try to grab Ivysaur, they will be grabbing its bud even when grabbing in front of it.
• Ivysaur is one of the only characters who never uses any of its frontal limbs (or any of its limbs) for any attack (including grabs), the other being Yoshi (though Yoshi still uses items with his hands).
• It is never explained why Ivysaur is a trophy in the SSE, nor why it is in the Ruins in the first place.
• According to the Pokédex, Ivysaur is supposed to weigh a mere 28.7 pounds. Despite this, Ivysaur is one of the heavier characters in Brawl with a weight value of 100, which is as heavy as Lucario, a Pokémon that is supposed to weigh more than four times as much as Ivysaur.
• Unlike Charizard and Squirtle, none of Ivysaur's special moves are HMs from the original Pokémon games.

External links

• Pokémon Trainer's page at Smash Bros DOJO!!