Steve (SSBU)

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Steve in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
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Universe	Minecraft
Availability	Downloadable
Final Smash	House of Boom

“	Steve Rocks the Block!	”
—Introduction tagline (Steve).

“	Alex Swaps In!	”
—Introduction tagline (Alex).

“	Zombie Spawns In!	”
—Introduction tagline (Zombie).

“	Enderman Steps from the Shadows!	”
—Introduction tagline (Enderman).

“	Steve & Alex from the Minecraft™ game are coming to the Super Smash Bros.™ Ultimate game as a new playable fighter! This iconic fighter is the second fighter in the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Fighters Pass Vol 2 DLC. Use Steve and Alex’s various tools to mine and craft your way to victory!	”
—DLC Page, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

Steve (スティーブ, Steve) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the second third-party representative from Microsoft after Banjo & Kazooie, and the eighth DLC character for Ultimate. He was confirmed as a playable character on October 1st, 2020 as the second downloadable character from Fighters Pass Vol. 2. Alex, a Zombie, and an Enderman also appear as alternate costumes. He was released on October 13th, 2020, and is classified as fighter #77.

Attributes

Steve is a fighter who possesses slightly below-average weight and very unremarkable mobility. He has one of the shortest jumps in the entire roster, in addition to a peculiar crouch and a very strange crawl. In addition to this, his walk speed, initial dash, running speed and air speed are all among the top 10 worst of the each respective stat, with his initial dash in particular being the absolute worst in the game.

Taking many attributes from his home game, Steve is perhaps one of the most unique fighters on the roster. His battle strategy almost completely revolves around mining materials from the stage itself for several of his attacks, alongside crafting stronger weapons and the ability to place blocks almost everywhere within the fighting boundaries. These three attributes appear as his neutral special, Mine / Craft / Create Block. Mine can take a lot of time to get the desired materials, but Steve starts with a set amount of materials for him to use, so he's not completely defenseless at the start of a fight. Craft is also fast, and in conjunction with the ability to teleport his crafting table to his current position, makes camping Steve's crafting table an ineffective strategy. Create Block is the most potent out of Steve's options and has a myriad of uses; this includes building temporary walls to interrupt opponents, stalling his recovery or his opponent's followups by standing on a floating block, blocking projectiles, mindgames, and extremely deep edgeguarding and gimping opportunities. Steve can even use the short longevity of Create Block to immediately cancel some of the lag in his grounded moves while in the air such as Up Smash and Down Smash, leading to some of the most dangerous and diverse aerial combos in the game should he be able to set it up. Create Block is thus one of Steve's essential techniques, though due to the difficulty of building and managing his resources in combat, it can take much experience to truly master.

Minecart is a powerful side special, and can be used as a horizontal recovery tool or a grabbing "projectile", with an empty minecart scooping up a foe and forcing them to struggle out of it. This lets Steve follow up with attacks or edgeguard/gimp recovering opponents. By using up gold and redstone, Steve can use powered rails to accelerate his minecart and catch foes off-guard with the sudden burst of speed. Additionally, he can recover the iron used up from creating the minecart if he is the one to break it afterwards. TNT is Steve's explosive down special, and can be set off from afar by the minecart or by a redstone trail to a wooden pressure plate of Steve's creation, which is extremely useful for ledge trapping. However, it acts as a double-edged sword, as the explosion affects everyone including Steve, and the person who triggers the pressure plate takes reduced knockback from the explosion, which can be used in Steve's advantage for mind games, or against him by a crafty opponent. Elytra requires no materials on Steve's part to use, has a hitbox upon startup, and its Brawl-like gliding mechanic allows Steve to mix up his recovery path, thwarting attempts at opposing edgeguards. While its horizontal recovery potential is almost unrivaled if used near the upper sides of the stage, it is rather poor at vertical recovery and renders him vulnerable after the initial startup. He is also unable to switch directions after using it and will enter free fall if it is angled too high or hits a solid object, making a misinputted or misangled Elytra fatal.

Apart from his specials, Steve has noticeable strengths in his other attacks. His neutral attack, forward tilt and neutral aerial all involve a rapid sword swing, but unlike Mega Man's similar attacks, Steve's does not stop until the sword in question breaks, allowing him to continue a chain of sword hits for longer in comparison and set up for combos. This rapid-hit property is also seen in his up tilt and up aerial, which can juggle into various moves. His down-tilt flint and steel is a highly useful edgeguarding tool, as its flames are affected by gravity and can repeatedly block off the ledge for a two-frame punish, in addition to absorbing projectiles. In the same vein, down smash has lingering hitboxes on both sides and can be used as a semi-spike, especially in combination with Create Block. Steve's forward and back aerials also possess useful perks, the former possessing meteor smash potential if the opponent is hit near the end of the swing and the latter possessing powerful knockback. While his down aerial costs iron to use, Steve's anvil deals exceptional damage and knockback and can be canceled to avoid falling along with the anvil, making edgeguarding with the move far less risky. The anvil also has high priority due to its damage, making it very powerful for contesting against attacks. It should also be noted that these attacks are further improved with high-tier tools, as gold swings faster and can combo more effectively, while diamond has excellent damage and knockback, especially when using his forward smash, forward air and back air.

Steve's grab game is also respectable. While his tether grab cannot be used to grab the ledge, it can still grab shielded opponents from afar, granting Steve another ranged option to make up for his short-ranged normal attacks. His back throw angle leaves much to be desired, but his forward throw launches foes in a semi-spike manner and, along with his up throw, has great knockback. His down throw uses iron to slam an anvil on an opponent, dealing very high damage for a throw and sending at a useful angle for followups; however, it becomes incredibly weak without iron, as Steve will simply fling the opponent on the ground.

While effective, Steve's attacks also present flaws. His mobility is very underwhelming, having among the worst ground mobility in the game due to the combination of poor run speed and the worst initial dash in the game (as opposed to most characters of this speed class usually having relatively high initial dash in contrast to their run speed). His aerial mobility is also unremarkable, having poor air speed and very low jump height, to the point where he's unable to reach the lower platforms of Battlefield without burning his double jump.

He's moveset has its own downsides. His down tilt and up smash leaves Steve stuck until the animation is finished, making him open to a punish from the sides. While his quick attacks involving his swords are very spammable, they only cover a very short distance and do not cover below or behind him, leaving Steve without a useful "get-off-me" option against combo-centric opponents (excluding using iron to summon an anvil). His grab's range is offset by its very high ending lag, making his grab game less effective against mobile fighters.

Steve's Minecraft-revolving playstyle can also leave him in troublesome situations. If he mines more materials than his inventory can fit, he will end up discarding resources that might have otherwise been valuable. This negatively affects Create Block, as it always prioritizes the weakest block first; weak blocks can be broken very easily by hitting them with attacks or hitting the bottom side of the block, making them less effective for edgeguarding or creating a blockade. Additionally, walling off a recovering opponent may not be an effective option, as damaging hitboxes can easily plow through weaker blocks without much trouble, and hitting Steve (or placing them near the build limit) will cause his blocks to break significantly faster. His tools can break if used up enough, forcing him to mine to collect materials and craft to re-upgrade them. Furthermore, getting KO'd results in Steve's tools reverting to wood (though he keeps resources already in his inventory), and mining for materials/crafting new tools can be difficult against faster opponents, who can constantly pressure Steve and deter him from gaining resources. His reliance on materials for the majority of his strongest techniques prevents him from repeatedly using them to a greater extent, due to the glaring downsides of running out of a specific material (ex. his down air and down throw accomplishing nothing with a lack of iron). Careless use of his resources will essentially leave him with almost no useful abilities: the time needed to mine can become very detrimental when fully depleted of resources, or when barehanded/using wooden orstone tools, as it takes a significant amount of time to fully replenish resources or dig for gold/diamond.

His lack of a projectile (with the semi-exception of TNT, anvil and Minecart) and short attacking range demands he gets in close to dish out damage, upon which fighters more suited for close combat than Steve can leave him constantly juggled. Steve's recovery, while having amazing horizontal reach, is also limited due to his low jump height, low air speed and recovery moves: Elytra takes some experience to get used to, as its mechanics can make it difficult to angle, and it can also be cut short if he bumps into an object. It also can be rather mediocre vertically, with the red stone boost essentially being Steve's only means of recovering below the stage, and it doesn't reach as far as one might expect. Minecart can be used for horizontal distance, though it does not grant good distance without redstone and gold, and cannot be used without iron. His blocks cannot be placed too far out from the edges of the stage and the block Steve is standing on deteriorates faster than normal, which can limit his ability to stall offstage due to him requiring materials to do so.

At the end of the day, Steve excels in a strange combination of close-up fighting, stage control, and fearsome edgeguarding, resulting in a large learning curve for players eager to pick him up. His toolkit gives him powerful overall abilities when mastered, some of which are not possessed by any other fighter in the roster; however, poor use of his resources can render him almost helpless and remove some of his best options. Early impressions of Steve have been very positive due to his unique strengths, especially in the hands of a player who has good resource management and a strong understanding of his abilities.

Moveset

• Steve can crawl.
• Steve possesses an ability to tilt his head up and down by tilting the Control Stick in said direction when he is walking, jumping and creating blocks. This mechanic is purely aesthetic and reflects how the player's head moves in Minecraft.
• Steve possesses a unique "resource" mechanic, which allows him to carry resources to build blocks, use certain moves, or upgrade his tools. The resources that Steve can possess are dirt, wood, stone, iron, gold, diamond and redstone, all of which can be obtained through mining (detailed further below). Depending on the stage, dirt may be substituted with sand (such as on Tortimer Island and Coliseum), ice (such as on Summit), or wool (such as on Magicant and Living Room). All resources (except for redstone) are displayed above his in-game portrait, with a limit of 100 for block-building materials.
  • Gold and diamond are only shown when available by the right of the gauge, while iron, which occupies the right of the gauge, displays its exact quantity up to 8. Cheaper materials are displayed proportionally and make up the left of the gauge.
  • Five tool materials exist: wood, stone, iron, gold and diamond. Except for gold, each material mentioned is incrementally more powerful and durable than the last. Gold weapons are weak and fragile, but attacks with them are faster than those with weapons made from other materials, making them ideal for combos.
    • No weapon: 0.8x damage
    • Wood or gold: 1.0x damage
    • Stone: 1.1x damage
    • Iron: 1.2x damage
    • Diamond: 1.35x damage
• With continuous use, Steve's sword, axe, pickaxe and shovel will use up durability points. Once all durability points for a set tool have been used up, it breaks apart and Steve can no longer use that tool. If Steve tries to use an attack that requires a weapon he does not have, he will perform a weak punch with minimal range instead. This prevents him from constantly brawling out at close range with his weapons and constantly forces him to mine the ground for resources and craft new tools at a crafting table. The durability varies between tools made of different materials, with wood and gold being the least durable while diamond is the most durable.
  • As each tool has its own durability, Steve can have different levels of each tool during a stock (eg. crafting a diamond set, using up a diamond pickaxe, then crafting a gold pickaxe while retaining his other diamond tools).
• Steve's tools reset to wood when he is KO'd, though he keeps any resources throughout stocks. If he is KO'd with less than three units of iron, he will respawn with three.

Note: All numbers are listed as base damage, without the 1v1 multiplier.

		Name	Damage						Description
			None/Other	Wood	Stone	Iron	Gold	Diamond
Neutral attack			2.7%	3.4%	3.7%	4%	3.4%	4.5%	Steve quickly swings his sword in front of himself with short reach. He can repeat this attack by holding down the attack button, and can walk forward and backward, as well as jump, while doing this, making it functionally similar to Mega Man's Mega Buster and Min Min's Punch, as well as Pikachu and Isabelle's neutral attacks. It is one of the few neutral attacks in the game that is unable to lock.
Forward tilt			2.7%	3.4%	3.7%	4%	3.4%	4.5%	Same as neutral attack and neutral aerial. Steve can also use this attack while walking forward.
Up tilt		Axe	5.2%	6.5%	7.15%	7.8%	6.5%	8.775%	Steve quickly swings his axe above himself. Similarly to his neutral attack/forward tilt/neutral aerial, Steve is able to repeat the attack by holding down the attack button, and can jump or walk forward or backward while he is doing this. Both moves have low upward knockback, making them useful as combo starters/extenders.
Down tilt		Flint and Steel	0.8% (hits 1-4), 6.4% (hit 5)						Steve uses flint and steel to create a flame with a lingering hitbox in front of himself. The flame is a looping multi-hit attack, with the final hit launching opponents forward, and if Steve uses this move at the end of a platform or near a ledge, the flame travels downward, allowing him to edgeguard and 2-frame opponents. It has follow-up potential at lower percents. It is also able to absorb projectiles. This move does not use up durability points, but it has very high ending lag (as long as the flame's duration), making it punishable if used incorrectly. Can be reflected and absorbed.
Dash attack			8.32% (clean), 6.72% (late)	10.4% (clean), 8.4% (late)	11.44% (clean), 9.24% (late)	12.48% (clean), 10.08% (late)	10.4% (clean), 8.4% (late)	14.04% (clean), 11.34% (late)	A quick running strike with his pickaxe with high knockback.
Forward smash			12%	15%	16.5%	18%	15%	20.25%	A slower but stronger inward swing with his sword, originating from Minecraft Java Edition. It can be jump-canceled into a neutral aerial. As Steve takes a step back while charging then steps forward to attack, it has deceptive range and can dodge attacks while charging with good timing. With the diamond sword, it is extremely powerful, especially at the ledge.
Up smash		Magma Block	1% (hit 1), 0.4% (hit 2-7), 14% (hit 8)	7.4% (pickaxe) (hit 9)	8.14% (pickaxe) (hit 9)	8.88% (pickaxe) (hit 9)	7.4% (pickaxe) (hit 9)	9.99% (pickaxe) (hit 9)	Steve places a magma block above himself before breaking it with his pickaxe. The move has a flame effect, possesses great vertical range, and hits multiple times, similarly to Roy's up smash. It is incredibly powerful and has a hitbox in front of Steve that scoops opponents into the block, making it effective out-of-shield or against landing opponents. However, it only hits directly above Steve, and despite its animation, Steve cannot move until the move is complete as he automatically breaks the block afterwards. This move does not use up durability points. The pickaxe itself can also deal damage.
Down smash		Lava Bucket	0.6% (hit 1-2), 14% (hit 3)						Steve pulls out a lava-filled bucket and pours lava on both sides of himself. Both hits have lingering hitboxes and are powerful semi-spikes, which can be used efficiently for edge guarding. This move does not use up durability points. The lava can be reflected and absorbed.
Neutral aerial		rowspan="1"	2.7%	3.4%	3.7%	4%	3.4%	4.5%	Same as neutral attack and forward tilt.
Forward aerial			8.4% (early), 9.6% (clean)	10.5% (early/clean), 12% (late)	11.55%	12.6%	10.5%	14.175%	A pickaxe swing in front of himself. It is very powerful, and can meteor smash if the opponent is hit near the end of the swing. If performed very quickly by buffering it out of a short hop, it becomes a neutral aerial instead.
Back aerial			9.2% (early), 10.4% (clean)	11.5% (early), 13% (clean)	12.65% (early), 14.3% (clean)	13.8%	11.5%	15.525%	A pickaxe swing behind himself with powerful horizontal knockback. The move is stronger during the later part of the swing. If performed very quickly by buffering it out of a short hop, it becomes a neutral aerial instead.
Up aerial		Axe	5.2%	6.5%	7.15%	7.8%	6.5%	8.775%	Same as up tilt, but with less ending lag. Very weak, but can easily combo into itself and other aerials.
Down aerial		Anvil	18% (normal), 10% (cancelled), 8% (re-fall)						A powerful stall-then-fall in which Steve drops an anvil directly below himself while standing on it. The move can be canceled, a first for a stall-then-fall; if it is canceled, then Steve will jump off of the anvil, but it will continue falling. The jump does not use up Steve's double jump. After landing, the anvil remains on the stage for a brief amount of time before disappearing, which can block opponents or be stood on. The anvil has incredible knockback and high damage, being capable of KOing grounded opponents as early as 90%. It is also notoriously powerful for contesting against juggles or upward attacks, due to its damage giving it very high priority, its startup being minimal, and its knockback being capable of KOing even earlier near the top blast lines. This move uses up one piece of iron and does nothing at all if Steve does not have any iron. If an anvil has been dropped recently, Steve cannot drop another until it disappears on its own, or after a short time if it is dropped offstage. The Anvil counts as a projectile until it lands, even while Steve is riding it.
Grab		Fishing Rod							A tether grab using a fishing rod with a wide range. Unlike Isabelle's similar-looking Fishing Rod, it functions as an actual extended grab, as it can grab shielding opponents, though it is not a tether grab since it does not have a grab aerial which can grab ledges. Grabbed opponents are trapped within a fence while Steve holds them. The grab itself starts up relatively fast, but has very high ending lag; additionally. despite the hook being able to visibly drop past ledges like Isabelle's, it will not grab opponents if it does so. This move does not use up durability points.
Pummel			1.5%						Punches the opponent while they are trapped in the fence.
Forward throw			3% (hit 1), 6% (throw)						Steve stands on a piston and uses it to launch the opponent forward. It is a semi-spike with very high base knockback, but rather low growth, as it can only KO past 160%. This move does not use up durability points.
Back throw			10%						Steve throws the opponent backward with the fishing rod. Rather weak, but sends at an effective angle for edgeguarding. This move does not use up durability points.
Up throw			3% (hit 1), 8% (throw)						Steve places the opponent on a piston launching them upwards. Like forward throw, it has very high base knockback, but average growth, making its KO ability rather average. This move does not use up durability points.
Down throw			7% (anvil), 8% (throw)						Steve drops an anvil on the opponent, launching them forward. Without sufficient iron, no anvil will appear, and Steve will simply throw the opponent onto the ground, making it weaker overall. Both versions of the throw are good for use in combos, with the anvil version dealing 15% and being one of the most damaging in the game. The anvil can be reflected.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%						Attacks in front and behind himself with his sword/fist. Deals the same damage regardless of the sword's material.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%						Same as his front floor attack, but reversed.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%						Attacks in front and behind himself with his sword/fist. Deals same damage regardless of the sword's material.
Edge attack Edge getups			9%						Climbs up and does a low swipe with his sword/fist. Deals same damage regardless of the sword's material.
Neutral special		Mine / Craft / Create Block							Mine (ground): Steve mines the ground or wall in front of himself to gather resources using an axe, pickaxe, or shovel. As with using a sword, axe, or pickaxe during standard attacks, mining uses up the durability of the weapon used. The weapon used and the speed of mining are determined by the type of terrain being mined, and the longer it is mined, the higher the quality of materials collected, such as diamond. If Steve has no tools available, he will use his bare hands instead; however, this causes him to mine more slowly. Steve can mine wood, sand, dirt, stone, iron, gold, diamonds and redstone. Similarly to Olimar's Pikmin Pluck in Brawl, the resources that Steve obtains most often with this move are dependent on the type of terrain being mined, though there is a set order to the materials mined from each terrain. However, on Battlefield form and Ω form stages, materials will appear at a pre-determined rate regardless of the type of terrain. This was done in order to prioritize match quality for more serious players due to the popularity of both forms for competitive battles, and to reduce the factors of randomness. If Steve is standing on a block he placed using Create Block, he will instead break the block underneath him without gaining any resources. Craft (crafting table): Steve uses his resources to craft a full set of tools (sword, axe, pickaxe and shovel), restoring their durability. Steve starts the battle with wooden tools, with a crafting table appearing at his starting point. The most valuable resources are prioritized when performing this move; for example, if Steve has both iron and stone, then his tools will be upgraded to iron. When upgrading to a new tier of tools, a Minecraft-styled progression bar appears above Steve, and Steve will flourish a new weapon after crafting completes. He is vulnerable to attacks throughout the upgrading animation but can cancel it during the early frames. The crafting table itself can be damaged (and thus cause hitlag) and destroyed by Steve or his opponents after taking a total of 31% damage, but it will respawn at Steve's location following a few seconds. Steve can also summon the crafting table to his location by pressing the special move button while shielding. If multiple Steves are present, then they can use each other's crafting tables as well as their own. Create Block (midair): Steve places a block directly beneath himself, which functions as a platform. If the special move button is held down while Steve is walking on a block or jumping, he can continue placing blocks directly beneath himself as he moves. He can only place blocks a certain distance around the stage, signified by a pink barrier that appears while placing blocks adjacent to the limit. The blocks break slowly over time, but touching them or hitting them (including hitting the block on the underside while jumping) speeds this process up. Blocks placed either near the build limit or after Steve was knocked into the air and yet to recover flash like a helpless character and break faster than they would otherwise. Placed blocks can absorb incoming attacks, including projectiles, and can also be used to aid Steve's recovery or to edgeguard opponents. Blocks can be made using dirt, wood, stone, or iron, and will break more slowly the more valuable the material they are made of is. Unlike Craft, the least valuable resources are prioritized when performing this move.
Side special		Minecart	19% (powered rail acceleration), 15.6%-7.5%						Steve hops into a minecart and rides around the stage, placing rails as he does so. If Steve has redstone and gold, he can use it to lay down powered rails (powered via a redstone torch), making the minecart faster more powerful. Steve can jump out of the minecart at any time, but it still moves forward a short distance afterwards, trapping other fighters within it should they make contact; a trapped fighter will be stuck in the minecart for longer the more damage they have, but can escape by button mashing. Steve needs sufficient iron to place the minecart, and sufficient materials to place rails. Each rail placed uses 1 unit of dirt/stone/wood/iron. If Steve has little/no wood or stone, he will still bring out the minecart but will stop moving almost immediately. Steve can jump back into an empty minecart, and can move so long as he has tracks; as a result, he can move indefinitely in an enclosed space (such as between two walls).
Up special		Elytra	5% (clean), 3% (late)						Steve dons elytra and propels himself forward, upward, or downward with a firework rocket. During his initial burst, Steve has a damaging hitbox. The mechanics of this move appear similar to Brawl's gliding mechanic, with Steve being able to control his trajectory while gliding. Its maximum horizontal distance is extremely high, but its vertical distance is poor in comparison, especially when below the stage. He is also able to turn around during the startup of the move, but he cannot change directions or cancel the move once he starts flying. The elytra fall off after a short while or if Steve hits a solid object in mid-glide, leaving Steve helpless. This move does not use up durability points.
Down special		TNT	28%/14% (redstone detonation), 20%/10% (non-redstone detonation)						Steve lays a TNT block on the ground; this uses up less valuable resources such as sand, dirt, and stone. The TNT acts similarly to a Blast Box; it will fall downwards if placed in midair, can be detonated if hit by a sufficiently strong attack, and is more likely to detonate from flame attacks (though not immediately like the Blast Box), but also detonates after enough time passes. Its explosion is extremely powerful and can KO very early. If Steve holds down the special button after placing the TNT, he can place a trial of redstone, then a pressure plate upon letting go of the special button, which will manually detonate the TNT if stepped on. The redstone trail can be placed so long as Steve has redstone and is on the ground near a TNT block, but hitting the TNT block will move the block, and cause the redstone trail and pressure plate to disappear. The TNT affects both Steve and his opponents; however, if the TNT is triggered via a pressure plate, then the fighter who triggered the TNT takes reduced knockback from the explosion, allowing for creative traps. If the TNT hits someone after it is triggered by the pressure plate, Special Zoom occurs, and Steve will look at the screen if he is standing and facing left.
Final Smash		House of Boom	15% (trapping hit), 45% (cutscene)						Steve places a giant piston in front of himself, which extends to catch his opponents in the attack. A cinematic plays where the affected fighter is launched into a dark building in a forest, resembling a Jungle Temple, filled with TNT, where they are attacked by Creepers and Zombies, resulting in the entire building exploding as Steve comically eats a steak. When the cinematic ends, the victim is sent flying while Steve repeatedly crouches. The piston can hit multiple fighters, but only the first one hit will appear in the cinematic, though the piston causes enough knockback to KO bystanders as well. This attack does not use up durability points.

On-screen appearance

Breaks stone blocks in front of them with his pickaxe while walking forward. Similar to Steve's initial reveal during his trailer.

Taunts

• Up taunt: Jumps twice, and while in midair, punches twice.
• Side taunt: Pulls out and eats a Steak.
• Down taunt: Sneaks (crouches) three times while facing the screen.

Victory poses

• Left: A Creeper is shown onscreen, which promptly blows up as Steve humorously lands directly in front of the camera without an animation.
• Up: Eats a Steak while the camera angle changes, and then burps. It is similar to his side taunt.
• Right: Quickly builds a house similar to ones found in villages and stands outside of it, then closes the door.

The sound that plays when completing a challenge advancement in the Minecraft: Java Edition.

In competitive play

Pre-release of Steve had a lot of speculation for how the character will work, being very unique compared to the rest of the roster. However, many players saw a lot of potential out him and some called him top tier or outright broken, with his creating block and crafting mechanics, his glide recovery which those type of recoveries were infamous in Brawl, and high power. Since Steve has only just released, it is not known if these statements of him being a top tier is true, or how he will fare in online competitive play. Due to COVID-19, it may take a long time for Steve's full potential to be reached.

Classic Mode: Journey to the Far Lands

Steve faces off against fighters who represent enemy mobs in Minecraft. With the exceptions of Rounds 2 and 6, all rounds are stamina battles. The title is a reference to the Far Lands, a glitch in versions of Minecraft before Beta 1.8 where land an extreme distance away from the starting point of a world formed large, fold-like cliffs due to overflow errors in the generation system. The final battle is against a giant Ridley and two Enderman.

Round	Opponent	Stage	Music	Notes
1	Zombie (×8)	Minecraft World (Birch Forest, Night)	Glide	Represent a Zombie Horde.
2	Wario (×4)	Minecraft World (Plains, Day)	The Arch-Illager	Represent Pillagers. Villager and Giant R.O.B. appear as CPU allies, representing a Villager and an Iron Golem.
3	Link (×3)	Minecraft World (Plains, Night)	Clockwork Crafter	Represent Skeletons.
4	Pit (×3), Robin	Luigi's Mansion	Dragon Battle	Represent an Evoker and Vexes. Luigi's Mansion represents a Woodland Mansion.
5	Giant Kirby (×2), Tiny King K. Rool (×2)	Norfair	The Keeper of the Lake	Represent Ghasts and Piglins. Norfair represents the Nether.
6	Giant Enderman (×2)	Find Mii	Clockwork Crafter	Represent regular Endermen.
Bonus Stage
Final	Giant Ridley , Enderman (×2)	Final Destination	The Arch-Illager	Represents the Ender Dragon. Final Destination represents the End.

Note: With the exceptions of Rounds 4 and 5, a song from the Minecraft universe is played regardless of the stage.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Steve has Earth accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light

The message that shows Steve's availability in World of Light

Due to his status as downloadable content, Steve does not have a legitimate role in World of Light. Instead, he is unlocked for use in the mode after freeing 10 fighters from Galeem's control. If loading an existing save file that meets this condition before downloading Steve, he is immediately unlocked.

Spirits

Steve's Fighter Spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. It is only available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 coins, but only after Steve has been downloaded. Unlocking Steve in World of Light allows the player to preview the first spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a Fighter Spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and are purely aesthetic. Alex has a Fighter Spirit of her own, available through the shop. Each Fighter Spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with its artwork in Ultimate.

Additionally, the Zombie and Enderman have an attack primary and neutral primary spirits, respectively but oddly enough they do not have fighter spirits.

• 

  1428. Steve

• Alex Spirit.png

  1429. Alex

• 

  1430. Zombie

• 

  1434. Enderman

Spirit Battles

As the main opponent

Spirit				Battle parameters
No.	Image	Name	Series	Enemy Fighter(s)	Type	Power	Stage	Rules	Conditions	Music
1,430		Zombie	Minecraft Series	•Zombie Team (20 HP) (×10)		1,700	Minecraft World (Savanna, Night)	N/A	•The enemy has super armor but moves slower •Stamina battle •Defeat an army of fighters	Clockwork Crafter
1,434		Enderman	Minecraft Series	•Enderman Team (×4)		8,800	Minecraft World (Snowy Tundra, Night)	•Move Speed ↑ •Item: POW Block	•Only certain Pokémon will emerge from Poké Balls (Abra)	Glide
1,437		Piglin	Minecraft Series	•Gold Alex Team (×5) (×2 Tiny)		4,000	Reset Bomb Forest (Forest)	N/A	•Timed battle (2:00) •Reinforcements will appear after an enemy is KO'd •The enemy starts the battle with a Killing Edge	Cavern
				•Gold Mii Brawler (Moveset: ??1?, Pig Mask, Pig Outfit) Team (×5) (×2 Tiny)

As a minion

Spirit				Battle parameters							Inspiration
No.	Image	Name	Series	Enemy Fighter(s)	Type	Power	Stage	Rules	Conditions	Music	Character
1,435		Villager & Iron Golem	Minecraft Series	•Giant R.O.B. (INT) (JP/CHI/KR) •Steve (×3) (File:SteveHeadAlex WhiteSSBU.png ×2, File:SteveHeadSteve WhiteSSBU.png)		8,700	Minecraft World (Plains, Day)	•Item: Cucco	•The enemy has super armor and is hard to launch or make flinch •The enemy favors grabs and throws •Reinforcements will appear during the battle	Earth	Villagers
1,438		Ender Dragon	Minecraft Series	•Ridley •Enderman (×2)		12,700	Find Mii	•Health Recovery	•Defeat the main fighter to win •Stamina battle •The enemy is healed significantly when the enemy's at high damage	The Arch-Illager	Endermen

Alternate costumes

Gallery

• 

  Steve's splash art.

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  Alex's splash art.

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  Zombie's splash art.

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  Enderman's splash art.

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  Steve and Alex on Minecraft World.

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  Steve striking King K. Rool with his down tilt on Gerudo Valley.

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  Alex attacking Builder Mario with her back aerial on Tomodachi Life.

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  Steve using his up special near Pit and Dark Pit on Temple.

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  Steve and Alex using Minecart with Bowser Jr. following behind on Port Town Aero Dive.

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  Scottish Steve, Swedish Alex, Zombie, and Enderman on Palutena's Temple.

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  Steve, Alex, and Mario on Minecraft World.

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  All of Steve and Alex's alternate costumes on Minecraft World.

Trivia

• Steve is referred within the game files with the codename "pickel". In Japanese, the loanword ピッケル pickel is used to refer to ice axes, deriving from the German word "Eispickel".
• According to Masahiro Sakurai, Steve was largely easy to develop conceptually, but the programming work required to "bring the fighter to life" was very difficult.
  • He also revealed that every stage in the game had to be reworked to make use of Steve's mining and block-placing abilities.
  • Sakurai stated that when Nintendo approached him about adding Minecraft content, he was at first skeptical of the idea, before deciding to go through with it. This has been misinterpreted by some to mean that he did not desire to do so.
• According to former Minecraft production director Daniel Kaplan, it took at least 5 years of negotiating between Nintendo and Mojang for Steve to appear in Smash..
• Steve is the third fighter to have one of their victory animations shown in their reveal trailer, the first two being Joker and Terry.
• Steve and Byleth are the only characters in Ultimate whose alternate costumes are displayed alongside their default costumes on the official Ultimate site, similarly to Robin's page on the official SSB4 site.
• Steve is the first character with other characters as alternate costumes where each character does not have the same amount of costumes. Each character with multiple genders has four costumes for each gender (excluding Pikachu), Bowser Jr. and each Koopaling have one costume, Olimar and Alph each have four costumes, and each Hero has two costumes. In this case, Steve and Alex have three costumes while Zombie and Enderman have only one (their default appearance).
• Several of Steve's abilities were slightly modified for gameplay purposes compared to his original game:
  • TNT blocks are crafted with low-rarity blocks (dirt/stone/ice/wool) and stone instead of sand and gunpowder, as Smash considers sand interchangeable with these materials (for gameplay purposes) and does not include gunpowder (it is normally obtained from hunting Creepers).
  • None of Steve's melee weapons are affected by the swing speed meter (introduced in Java 1.9, which penalizes spamming attacks in the original game), nor feature a "critical hit" system when the user is falling. This is presumably due to these mechanics making combat inconsistent in a fast-paced brawling game.
    • Steve's side smash makes him perform a swiping move, a nod to the same ability swords can perform with a full swing meter in versions past Java 1.9.
  • The Pistons in Steve's moveset activate automatically without the need for a switch or button.
  • While a fishing rod can be used to reel in entities towards the player, it is impossible to fling entities behind the player like in Steve's back throw.
• Many of Steve's animations are directly taken from existing Minecraft games and media:
  • In-game files reveal that Steve's textures are directly ported from Minecraft itself.
  • He the only character to date with a unique tumbling animation where he performs his running animation midair while staying upright, reflecting the same damage animations from Minecraft. This also applies when he is star KO'd and during certain cinematic Final Smashes such as Triple Wolf and Wario Man.
  • He falls to the side when his HP is depleted in Stamina Mode or when drowning, referencing the death animations of said game.
  • His swimming animation is simply his walk animation slowed down, much like how water in Minecraft slows players down to a slow walking pace, as well as the fact that Steve did not have an actual swimming animation until Java 1.13.
  • While asleep, Steve will place a red bed on the ground and proceed to lie on it. When waking up, he collects it back in his inventory.
  • If a perfect shield is performed, Steve will use an equippable shield to block the attack, like in Minecraft.
  • Steve's crouching and crawling animations resemble Minecraft's sneaking mechanic.
  • When falling from a sufficient distance, the "fall damage crack" sound from Minecraft plays when Steve lands. This makes Steve the only character who has a unique long-distance fall sound. Unlike in said game, this is simply aesthetic and does not make Steve take actual damage.
  • When eating, the eating sound effects from Minecraft, including the burp, play. This makes Steve the second character to make a unique sound when eating, following fellow third-party character Snake.
  • Steve's clapping animation resembles the "simple clap" emote only present in the "Bedrock" Edition of Minecraft, looped and with Steve's head facing to the camera while his body faces away.
  • Steve and Alex's eyes can blink, which was previously only present in the "Bedrock" Edition of Minecraft and in Minecraft Dungeons. Otherwise, their facial expressions never change, even while asleep. The Zombie and Enderman do not blink.
  • When climbing a ladder, Steve does not animate and glides up and down it while emitting sounds identical to those made when climbing ladders in Minecraft. When stationary on a ladder, he crouches, in reference to how sneaking lets the player stay in place on ladders in the game.
  • Using Steve's tools while holding an item allows him to briefly dual wield like in his original game.
• Steve is the first playable third party character in the Super Smash Bros. series to have originated from an indie game. In this case, Minecraft started as a game developed by one person during its inception.
  • Before this, indie characters were often relegated to being Trophies, Spirits, Assist Trophies or Mii Costumes.
• Steve is the fifth character whose victory theme is directly recycled from their home games, the first four being Sonic, Bayonetta, Joker, and Hero.
  • This is the second instance where the victory is directly recycled without any modifications (like speeding up or mashups), the first being Sonic in Brawl and Smash 4.
• Zombie and Enderman's stock icons are one of the few to show eyes (the others being Kirby, Meta Knight, R.O.B., and Sonic). The most likely reason is to actually tell that it is a stock icon, as it is otherwise simplistic green and black squares.
  • This is also not counting Captain Falcon or Larry, as the eyes depicted for the former are not his actual eyes, and the latter lacks his irises.
• Steve, Byleth, Hero, Terry, and Ryu are the only characters who have stamina battles for their Classic Mode routes.
• Steve, Jigglypuff, Bayonetta and Terry are the only characters who do not have a designated boss in their Classic Mode routes; all characters he battles in his route are playable characters.
• Steve, Hero and Corrin are the only characters who fight the same fighter multiple times in Classic Mode route; in Steve's case, he fights his alternate costumes, Zombie in Round 1 and Enderman in Round 6 and final round.
• Steve is the only character to lack an idle pose.
• Zombie and Enderman are the only alternate costumes that do not possess a Fighter Spirit.
• Much like Roy's sourspotted attacks, Steve's sword attacks make punching sounds when using wood or stone swords, as do all variants of his axes and pickaxes. Steve holds crates, party balls,barrels, and blast boxes in a similar position to the way Enderman carry blocks in Minecraft.