Jigglypuff (SSBM)

Jigglypuff in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	Pokémon
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Unlockable
Tier	S (5)

“	Jigglypuff's normal attacks are weak, and because of its light weight it's easily sent flying. However, with its incredible midair agility, it seems to dance when airborne.	”
—Description from Jigglypuff's trophy.

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

Jigglypuff is 5th place on the Melee tier list, in the S tier, a significant improvement from its 8/12 position on the previous game's tier list. Jigglypuff's jump on the tier list is due to its incredible recovery, an extremely dangerous edgeguarding technique in the wall of pain, a powerful KO move that can easily be comboed into, and an overall great aerial game and metagame. Its floatiness also makes it the only character in the top tier who cannot be easily chaingrabbed, which is also aided by its small size. Regardless, Jigglypuff still has problems; its combination of being light and floaty makes it easier to KO than other characters. Jigglypuff's options on the ground are also limited, because of its poor range and a lack of a projectile. It also has a slow walking speed and dashing speed. Regardless, Jigglypuff still has an excellent amount of favourable matchups, with its only disadvantageous matchup being Fox, and two of its matchups are nearly unloseable (against Ness and Pichu).

How to unlock

To unlock Jigglypuff, the player has to clear Classic or Adventure Mode on any difficulty and with any stock; if they complete the mode with no continues, then they will fight against Jigglypuff. Alternatively, players can complete 50 VS. matches.

When one of these methods is done, Jigglypuff is fought on Pokémon Stadium, with its ordinary music playing.

Attributes

Jigglypuff is, in general, a character of extremes. It has the slowest dash speed (tied with Zelda), the fastest air speed, the second lightest weight (along with Mr. Game & Watch), and the slowest falling speed. All of these properties gives Jigglypuff among the most unusual, but versatile, approach in the game.

Jigglypuff's greatest strength is its almost unparalleled combo ability; with a low falling speed, fast, high hitstun, low knockback aerials, good tilts, and average power throws, Jigglypuff has plenty of ways to start and continue combos against almost any other character in the game. Additionally, Jigglypuff's combo ability, unlike most other characters, is not dependent on the opponent's characteristics; Jigglypuff can combo every type of character in the game quickly and efficiently. Jigglypuff's combo ability is particularly easy to see with the Space animal slayer, which almost guarantees a KO against some fast fallers in the game. Jigglypuff's approach in the air is also very good; with a very short, yet long ranged short hop, and multiple fast, low-lag aerials, Jigglypuff's SHFFL is very powerful, even considering its low falling speed. On the flip side, Jigglypuff, due to its unusual properties and small size, is immune to most chaingrabs in the game, making it among the few characters in the top tier invulnerable to such approaches.

Jigglypuff also has incredible power in some of its attacks; its forward throw and forward smash act as potential KO moves at higher percentages, and its down smash and back throw can set up edgeguards. Jigglypuff's special moves also have high KO potential; Rollout requires charging, but at high charges, it moves quickly, is difficult to block and/or break, and packs incredible horizontal power. Jigglypuff's most powerful attack, however, is Rest. Among the most feared attacks in the game, Rest is an attack of extremes, with no starting lag (hitting on the very first frame), extreme ending lag, and incredible power, easily KOing characters at low percentages.

Due to its characteristics and recovery prowess, Jigglypuff is also among the most dangerous edgeguarders in the game, with quick and powerful aerials easily able to disrupt most recoveries. Additionally, Jigglypuff's Wall of Pain is an incredibly powerful method of edgeguarding that can be started either offstage or on the stage, and when used correctly, it almost guarantees a KO on opponents, particularly those with poor recoveries, such as Falco or Roy.

Jigglypuff's recovery is also considered to be the best in the game; with five midair jumps, the lowest falling speed, and the highest air speed, Jigglypuff can recover from nearly any situation, as Pound, with its Rising Pound capabilities, gives Jigglypuff almost infinite vertical and horizontal distance.

Jigglypuff, however, is among the easiest characters to KO; due to having the second lowest weight in the game (along with Mr. Game & Watch, and second to Pichu), as well as its general floatiness, Jigglypuff is very vulnerable to all blastlines, particularly the upper lines.

Additionally, despite having almost unparalleled approach in the air, Jigglypuff's ground approach is among the worst in the game; due to a short wavedash, having the slowest dash in the game (alongside Zelda), having short-ranged, high-lag smashes, and an average grab range, Jigglypuff is almost entirely dependent on staying in the air to attack and combo well. Jigglypuff also lacks a projectile of any type; unlike other characters, such as Marth, Jigglypuff also cannot negate projectiles easily, though its short crouch can mitigate this slightly.

Jigglypuff's defense game is also decidedly average; despite decent rolling and sidestep dodges and a large shield in proportion to its body, Jigglypuff's shield has an odd property: whenever broken, it delivers 300 points of vertical knockback to Jigglypuff (by comparison, the typical smash attack at roughly 100% percentage deals about 165 to 195 points of knockback), and instantaneously KOs it. As such, players must take heed when shielding for long periods of time.

Changes from Smash 64 to Melee

When transitioning from Smash 64 to Melee, Jigglypuff received multiple buffs, primarily in regards to its power, speed, range, combo ability, and recovery. Tournament results demonstrate this, and Jigglypuff went from 8th out of 12 on the Smash 64 tier list to 5th out of 26 on the Melee tier list. As a result of these improvements in both tournament and tier placings, Jigglypuff is widely considered one of the most buffed characters in the game, alongside Samus.

• The power, speed, and range of its attacks were generally increased.
• Much faster air speed, from the fourth fastest in Smash 64 to the fastest in Melee, largely improving Jigglypuff's approaching, combo ability, and recovery potential.
• All of its midair jumps give height, also greatly improving its recovery.
• Up tilt has higher base knockback, improving its combo ability at low percentages.
• Down tilt has more range, improving its spacing ability, plus it has slightly faster startup.
• Forward smash is significantly more powerful, from the second weakest in Smash 64 to the sixth most powerful in Melee.
• Up and down smashes have slightly faster startup.
• All of Jigglypuff's aerials have stronger combo ability, with the wall of pain being much easier to perform.
• Forward and back aerials have more range, especially back aerial, making both of them better for approaching.
• Pound sends opponents on a different trajectory that gives it more favourable combo ability. Rising Pound is also much easier to perform, another improvement of Jigglypuff's recovery.
• Rest has significantly more knockback, deals 8% more damage, and there is a slightly larger variety of ways to combo into it.
• Dashing speed reduced to being the slowest in Melee, along with Zelda.
• Up smash is weaker and has more ending lag.
• Aerials are weaker, especially neutral aerial, which has significantly lower knockback scaling.
• Down aerial no longer meteor smashes aerial opponents and is less effective for gimping.
• Rest has a slightly smaller hitbox.
• Forward throw from Smash 64 moved to up throw in Melee.
• Pound is now a side special move, with the new Rollout move becoming its neutral special move.
• Sing now puts opponents to sleep for longer at higher percentages, instead of putting opponents to sleep for longer at lower percentages like in Smash 64.

In terms of cosmetic changes, Jigglypuff's red and green costumes were changed; they no longer give it bows, but instead, the former gives it a red flower, while the latter gives it a green headband. Jigglypuff also received a new taunt, where it now spins in place while winking at the player, and its "applause" pose on the Results Screen now properly loops, instead of merely moving its head twice and then stopping.

Moveset

Jigglypuff's aerial attacks

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

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		Left Jab, Right Jab	2-3%	Two quick jabs with rather poor range. Good for jab resetting and can lead into tilts.
			3-5%
Forward tilt		Rolling Kick	10%	Does a quick roundhouse spin, feet extended.
Up tilt		Back Kick	9%	Extends its foot upwards quickly. Relatively good for combos, being able to chain into itself at lower percentages, and is a great setup for an aerial attack at higher percentages.
Down tilt		Trip	10%	Quickly extends its foot downwards.
Dash attack		Jiggly Ram	12%	A generic dash attack; trips and falls head-first. Somewhat fast and powerful, but is predictable, and has moderate ending lag.
Forward smash		Lunge Kick	17% uncharged, 23% fully charged	Does a small hop forward with foot extended. Has minor startup and ending lag, but is a decent finisher at higher percentages.
Up smash		Headbutt	14% uncharged, 19% fully charged	Headbutts upwards. It can be good for leading into aerial combos or finishing, and it can combo into Rest at mid percentages, but due to the ending lag, it isn't too reliable.
Down smash		Jiggly Split	12% uncharged, 16% fully charged	Enlarges both feet below it. Has a bit of ending lag, but with semi-spike properties, it can be a good edgeguarder. However, Jigglypuff's aerials are usually safer and more reliable.
Neutral aerial		Jigglypuff Kick	12% maximum	Squishes itself and extends its feet. Decent spacing move, and has sex kick properties. Can be good for edgeguarding.
Forward aerial		Drop Kick	12%	Quickly extends both feet in front of itself. It is useful for edgeguarding and is the backbone of many of Jigglypuff's aerial combos, but is not as powerful or reliable as its back aerial.
Back aerial		Spinning Back Kick	12%	Similar to its forward aerial, this is Jigglypuff's key tool for edgeguarding. It is extremely useful for wall of pain techniques, which can be potentially deadly, and if done correctly, guarantees a KO. It has a particularly large hitbox behind Jigglypuff when it comes out.
Up aerial		Mow Down	11%	Waves its hand up in an arch. Decent vertical KO power, and excellent for juggling, compounded with Jigglypuff's multiple midair jumps. Can combo into Rest on its own or after an u-throw (usually done at mid-high percentages to ensure that the Rest is landed), especially against fastfallers.
Down aerial		Spinning Kick	11% if all hits connect	A drill kick. Not much hitstun. If the player used short hopped down aerial with L-cancel, it can lead to a Rest.
Grab			—
Pummel		Slap	2-3% per pummel	Slaps opponent in the stomach. Somewhat slow.
Forward throw		Bumper	12%	Puffs itself up and launches foe in front. Surprisingly high knockback compared to most throws in Melee, can lead into an edgeguard KO near the ledge, though not as reliable as its back throw. Second strongest forward throw in Melee. The throw can KO opponents above 130% when used very close to the ledge.
Back throw		Back Buster	10%	Similar to Kirby's, takes foe and throws them behind while going on its back. A very good and reliable option for forcing opponents offstage, setting up an edgeguard.
Up throw		Puff Launch	11%	Tosses opponent above itself. Can lead into aerial combos against fast fallers and lightweight or floaty characters at low percentages. At low percentages against fastfallers, it can combo into Rest; at mid percentages, an uair can be added to ensure that the Rest is landed, as stated above.
Down throw		Grinder	8%	Grinds opponent with itself on the floor. Can combo into Rest against floaty characters.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			8%	Gets up and spins its body in a similar fashion to its d-smash.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			8%	Gets up and spins its body in a similar fashion to its d-smash.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			6%	Gets up onto the stage, foot extended.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			6%	Slowly gets up and spins its body in a similar fashion to its d-smash.
Neutral special		Rollout	6-18%	Charges up and rolls very fast in one direction. Can turn around by tapping the Control Stick in the opposite direction. If the move is uncharged, it doesn't do any damage, but it gets more powerful and faster the more it is charged, with KO potential when fully charged. However, due to being predictable and easy to dodge (it can be jumped over, spot dodged, and even shield grabbed), it is rarely used in competitive play. It can be used for recovery as long as Jigglypuff grabs onto the ledge, but otherwise it makes it helpless, and there are almost always better options available.
Side special		Pound	13%	Extends a fist in front of it, knocking opponents up and behind Jigglypuff. Does high knockback, especially at low percentages, and has a long lasting hitbox. It also deals 20 shield damage, which is fairly high for an attack. Pound is mainly used as a recovery move - it can be angled up and down, the former referred to as Rising Pound, which, combined with Jigglypuff's five midair jumps, extremely fast air speed, and extremely low falling speed, give it a gigantic recovery.
Up special		Sing	0%	Sings, sending opponents nearby to sleep. However, it has extremely low range and the opponent can often wake up before Jigglypuff finishes singing. The sing time can be cancelled if Jigglypuff grabs onto the ledge, with the opponent falling asleep (leaving them vulnerable), but that isn't effective due to the move's such low range. Overall, the move is near useless.
Down special		Rest	28%	Rests. Normally, this leaves Jigglypuff very vulnerable, but there is a very small hitbox located near its eyes, which deals extremely high damage and knockback, being able to KO reliably at as low as 25%. Can easily be combo'd into with a variety of moves, notably its u-throw, uair, u-tilt, and d-throw. It is among the most feared attacks in the game due to its extreme power and almost nonexistant startup lag (1 frame), but if it misses, it leaves Jigglypuff extremely vulnerable. Deals flame damage.

Taunt

Jigglypuff spins around on one foot, and then says "Jigglypuff!"

In Competitive play

Matchups

Super Smash Bros. Melee Character Matchups

Avg.

Jigglypuff has one of the most positive matchup spreads in the game, though it hard counters fewer low-tier characters than most of the other top-tiers. It is soft countered by one character, has even matchups with three, soft counters nine, counters ten, and hard counters two. It has an advantage against characters with poor or predictable recovery options, such as Captain Falcon, Sheik, Marth, Ganondorf, and Mario. It also has an advantage against characters who do not have reliable KO setups against it due to its light weight and floatiness, such as the aforementioned Sheik and Marth. Jigglypuff struggles against characters with strong vertical KO options, most notably Fox's up smash and up air, while also struggling against characters who can use projectiles to disrupt Jigglypuff's approach options, such as Falco and Dr. Mario. Despite these flaws, Jigglypuff's amazing edgeguard and punish game give it positive matchups against almost all of the cast.

In the modern metagame, however, professionals have adapted to Jigglypuff's toolset. Due to the general increased technical ability and patience among Fox professionals, Fox is now considered a true counter to Jigglypuff, even on Jigglypuff's best stages such as Dream Land. Marth is also now considered to have an even or advantageous matchup against it due to his superior neutral game, KO setups, and approach options, most of which currently involve previously unexplored or obscure advanced techniques. Thus, although Jigglypuff still has an advantage against most of the cast and retains a powerful punish game, its advantages over some top tiers have diminished over time.

Notable players

See also: Category:Jigglypuff professionals (SSBM)

Active

•  Darc
•  Hungrybox
•  HyugaRicdeau
•  Idea
•  K.F
•  Mango
•  s0ft
•  Tekk

Inactive

•  The King

Tier placement and history

Since the beginning of the Melee metagame, Jigglypuff has had among the biggest improvements, going from a lower-mid tier character to a viable top tier character. In the first tier list (October 2002), Jigglypuff was ranked 17-18th place (tied with Ness), but jumped to 10-11th in the second tier list (December 2002). Jigglypuff hovered around the 8th-11th spots before rising to 6th-7th place (tied with Captain Falcon) in the ninth tier list (October 2008), largely due to Mango showing how dominant Jigglypuff was in the air, and how powerful its pressure game and combo abilities were. With Mango continuously dominating more Melee tournaments using Jigglypuff, and the rise of another nationally dominant Jigglypuff player in Hungrybox, Jigglypuff jumped up to top tier in the original 10th tier list (September 2010), tied with Fox and Falco for the top position. In the actual 10th tier list (December 2010), Jigglypuff was ranked third under Fox and Falco. Jigglypuff is ranked 5th place in the eleventh (current) tier list, as of July 2013. Jigglypuff has had a much smaller playerbase than the rest of the top tier characters, with only two representatives on the 2013 SSBM Player Rankings.

In Single-Player Modes

In Classic Mode

In Classic Mode, Jigglypuff can appear as an ordinary opponent, as an ally in the team and giant battles, in a team with Kirby or Pikachu, as a giant opponent, in the multi-character fight, or as a metal opponent.

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

In Adventure Mode

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

In All-Star Mode

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

In Event Matches

Jigglypuff appears in the following Event Matches:

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

Ending images

• 

  Classic Mode

• 

  Adventure Mode

• 

  All-Star Mode

Trophy descriptions

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

Jigglypuff (Adventure)

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

• (B: Rollout, Smash B: Pound)

Jigglypuff (All-Star)

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

• (Up & B: Sing, Down & B: Rest)

• 

  Classic

• 

  Adventure

• 

  All-Star

Alternate costumes

Jigglypuff's changeable clothing in Melee

Trivia

• Jigglypuff is seen during the segment of the introduction to Melee that features many different Pokémon, making it one of the five hidden characters, along with Ganondorf, Mewtwo, Young Link, and Pichu, to have some kind of involvement in the intro.
• Changing the language on an English copy of Melee from English to Japanese will actually change Jigglypuff's voice actor. Jigglypuff is the only character whose voice changes completely.
• A CPU Jigglypuff will only use Rest on Event 39, "Jigglypuff Live"; CPU Jigglypuffs also never use Rollout, though a CPU Kirby will use the move if he inhales Jigglypuff (though they will never charge it).
• Jigglypuff's and Mr. Game & Watch's "head sprite" are the only ones to show their entire body.
• After picking up a Metal Box, Jigglypuff's eyes disappear.
• Jigglypuff and Luigi are the only veterans to be unlockable in Melee.