Ganondorf (SSBM)/Neutral aerial

Hitbox visualization showing Ganondorf's neutral aerial.

Hitbox angles of the first hit of Ganondorf's neutral aerial.

Overview

Ganondorf performs two aerial kicks in rapid succession. At a cursory glance, the move appears to be a copy of Falcon's neutral air, with minor tweaks to better fit Ganon's character. As compared to Falcon's neutral air, it has the same startup and animation length, more end lag, landing lag, knockback, and damage (on both hits), and autocancels 9 frames sooner. Given this, one would think it would fulfill the same role as Falcon's neutral air, i.e. a combo-starter and neutral tool.

However, there are lots of flaws with this move that make themselves apparent after competitive use that completely neuter its viability. There are 4 total active frames split between the two hits, compared to Falcon, who has 16. In addition, the move has much worse range than Falcon's, barely covering his ankles instead of sticking out a good distance past them. These facts, combined with the increased landing lag (5 frames to be precise), make it a horrible approach option. It doesn't fare much better against shields, either; the best possible frame advantage on shield Ganon can get with it is -2, which is unlikely, and the move doesn't push opponents away enough or have enough range to avoid being hit by an out of shield option, unlike his forward air or back air. Should Ganon actually hit the opponent with this move, he's unlikely to get a combo out of it. At anything beyond low percents, the 1st hit is unlikely to combo into the 2nd hit, since it lacks fixed knockback, unlike Falcon; if the 2nd hit does connect, Ganon will likely be unable to follow up, since it launches the opponent too far away.

However, there is one saving grace for the move. While the previous paragraph presented the 2nd hit not connecting from the 1st as a negative, it's actually desirable in one specific situation: extending combos. At mid-percents, most of Ganon's moves are too strong to keep combos going but not strong enough to secure the kill. The 1st hit of neutral air, however, has low enough knockback and favorable angles (55° - 65°) to keep opponents close to Ganon and in the air. The hitbox with the best angle (65°) is on his hip. After launching an opponent with a move such as down air, down tilt, or down smash, he can juggle opponents 1 - 4 times with this move, before finishing the combo with forward air or back air, outright killing them or leading to an edgeguard.

Update history

1.0.1

The second hit has more startup lag (frame 16 → 20), now matching its animation.
- This decreases its ending lag as its total duration was unchanged.
- However, this also makes it auto-cancel 4 frames later (frame 22 → 26).

Hitboxes

ID	Part	Damage	SD	BK	KS	FKV	Radius	Bone	Offset			Sound
Hit 1
0	0	12%	0	30	100	0	3.5154	13	5.859	0.0	0.0	Kick
1	0	12%	0	30	100	0	4.6872	12	3.1248	0.0	0.0	Kick
2	0	12%	0	30	100	0	5.0778	4	0.0	0.0	0.0	Kick
Hit 2
0	0	12%	0	50	100	0	3.5154	7	5.859	0.0	0.0	Kick
1	0	12%	0	50	100	0	4.6872	6	3.1248	0.0	0.0	Kick
2	0	12%	0	50	100	0	5.0778	4	0.0	0.0	0.0	Kick