Snake (SSBU)/Forward tilt/Hit 1

Hitbox visualization showing Snake's forward tilt 1.

Overview

Snake performs a knee strike that leads into the second hit of his forward tilt. The first hit has very fast startup at frame 4, his second fastest ground move and one of his most commonly used attacks as well as his fastest tilt attack. It sends the opponent up at a vertical angle and has a hitstun modifier of 2, allowing it to connect into the second hit more consistently, and due to its speed, it has a guaranteed setup confirm from Snake's down throw at high percentages.

It also has some mixup potential. Once hitting the opponent with the first hit, the second hit can be delayed and can potentially condition them into making a mistake (such as dropping their shield early) where they will become vulnerable to the second hit of forward tilt. Due to both hits of forward tilt having 3 extra points of shield damage, it can be used to whittle down shields rather quickly if the opponent becomes predictable when shielding or if their shield is already damaged.

The attack does have some issues, however. Due to sending the opponent vertically, it has trouble consistently landing the second hit at higher percents as the opponent can either jump or air dodge out of the second hit. Additionally, it cannot connect into the grounded sweetspot of the second hit (which does more damage and has more KO potential), and does not reliably connect into the aerial sweetspot of the second hit until high percents due to the first hit's aerial hitbox having low knockback, with its hitstun modifier failing to fully compensate.

Despite having some mixup potential, said potential is somewhat limited and unreliable as a result of the hit's high ending lag, which makes it rather unsafe on shield and easy to punish.