Jigglypuff (SSBM)

Jigglypuff in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Universe	Pokémon
Other playable appearances	in SSB in Brawl in SSB4 in Ultimate
Availability	Unlockable
Tier	A (5) (North America) A (4) (Europe)

“	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 in the A tier at 5th place on the Melee tier list, a significant improvement from its 6/12 position on the previous game's tier list, and its best rank in the series. 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 developed metagame. Its floatiness also makes it the only character in the top tier who cannot be easily comboed or chaingrabbed, which is also aided by its small size, which allows Jigglypuff to avoid most KO setups that most other characters would fall vulnerable to. Regardless, Jigglypuff still has problems. It is light and floaty, making it easier to KO with stray moves or certain low percentage setups 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. Compounded with a poor dash dance, Jigglypuff's neutral game, which is largely committal, is not as good as that of other top-tiered characters; instead, it relies on its lethal punishes, edgeguards, and aerial mobility to succeed. Recent developments in the Melee metagame have also worsened Jigglypuff's matchups against other top-tier characters, such as Fox, Marth, and Falco. Despite this, Jigglypuff still has an amazing number of winning matchups, with Fox being the only character in the game it loses to, plus it has even matchups with only three other characters.

How to Unlock

To unlock Jigglypuff, the player must complete Classic Mode or Adventure Mode on any difficulty.

Jigglypuff can also be unlocked by playing 50 Versus mode matches (at the same time as Brinstar Depths).

Jigglypuff is fought on Pokémon Stadium, with the titular track 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, approaches in the game.

Owing to its unusual properties, Jigglypuff is among the hardest characters to combo in the cast. Jigglypuff's light weight and floatiness make it insusceptible to the majority of extended combos, such as zero-to-death combos and chaingrabs; after only a few hits, Jigglypuff will already be sent too far to chase down before the hitstun wears off, without the gravity needed to pull it back down to continue the combo. Despite Jigglypuff's weight and floatiness theoretically making it easier to KO than most of the cast, especially off the top of the stage, the great difficulty most characters have with comboing Jigglypuff allows it to survive disproportionately longer than other members of its weight class. Players who have good DI and SDI skills, and the awareness to apply them to stray hits, can stretch out its stocks to extremely high percentages. This forces opponents to find KOs at very specific percentage ranges as soon as the opportunity arises to actually be able to take advantage of Jigglypuff's weight.

However, such KO setups can be very difficult to find, as Jigglypuff's small frame and short crouch allow it to duck under many hitboxes that would usually be reliable combo starters on other characters, such as several characters' standing grabs. Its fast air speed and floatiness allow it to weave away from improperly spaced attacks, and its powerful aerials, particularly its disjointed back aerial, can stuff out most characters' approaches. These properties make it difficult for characters such as Sheik, Marth, and Captain Falcon to get the KO setups that allow them to succeed in other matchups. Top-level analytics show that Jigglypuff tends to sustain twice as much damage against other characters over the course of a set despite its light weight and floatiness, and rarely gets gimped at very low percentages, unlike most other top-tiered characters.

On the other hand, however, Jigglypuff possesses outstanding combo ability itself; with high hitstun, low knockback aerials, good tilts, and strong throws, Jigglypuff has plenty of ways to start and continue combos against almost any other character in the game, regardless of the opponent's characteristics. Jigglypuff also possesses KO setups of its own, including the space animal slayer, which almost guarantees a KO against some fast fallers in the game. Jigglypuff also has incredible power in some of its attacks; its smash attacks, particularly forward smash, can KO at realistic percentages. 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 percentages as low as 25%. All of these powerful moves can be comboed into or used in tech chasing, giving them significant utility.

Due to its characteristics and recovery prowess, Jigglypuff is also among the most dangerous edgeguarders in the game. It possesses several ways to set up an edgeguard, including its down smash and back throw; once offstage, Jigglypuff can finish the opponent with its quick and powerful aerials that are easily able to disrupt most recoveries off-stage, and the aforementioned high-power moves such as Rest that heavily punish improper recoveries done onto the stage. Jigglypuff's Wall of Pain is a particularly lethal method of edgeguarding, as it is an off-stage combo that can guarantee KOs on characters with poor recoveries, such as Falco and Roy, if done properly. Jigglypuff's edgeguarding is also much more flexible compared to other characters', due to its superior aerial drift, as it can easily cover both on- and off-stage options while other strong edgeguarding characters cannot. These strengths make Jigglypuff arguably the strongest edgeguarder in the game. On the flip side, Jigglypuff's own 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. Its ability to weave in and out of enemy aerials, as well as its nearly unmatched number of jumps, make Jigglypuff extremely difficult to edgeguard.

However, for all of its significant strengths, Jigglypuff's ground approach is among the worst of the top-tiered characters'. It has a short wavedash, the slowest dash in the game (alongside Zelda), and an average grab range, forcing Jigglypuff to stay in the air to attack and combo well. Additionally, Jigglypuff's shield delivers 300 points of vertical knockback to Jigglypuff when broken (by comparison, the typical smash attack at roughly 100% percentage deals about 165 to 195 points of knockback) and instantaneously KOs it on all tournament-legal stages, giving it another defensive disadvantage when grounded. Despite having almost unparalleled approach in the air, being in the air can be an inherent defensive disadvantage, as Jigglypuff lacks access to grounded defensive options such as shielding and dodging, forcing Jigglypuff to play patiently and wait for opponents to overextend most of the time.

Because of this, Jigglypuff's neutral game is considered to be lackluster among the top tiers. Not only is it forced to play an aerial spacing game, but it also lacks effective lingering hitboxes. Jigglypuff's neutral and forward aerials lose power quickly, and can be crouch canceled up to medium percentages. The weak hitboxes are thus only useful for interrupting recoveries, and can be easily punished if improperly spaced. To mitigate this weakness, Jigglypuff must make use of its unmatched aerial drift to create openings and space perfectly around its opponents, which, while not impossible to do at high-level play, nonetheless requires developing a very unique skillset not shared by other characters, including a strong mental game. 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. This makes Jigglypuff susceptible to being locked down or zoned out by projectile users, such as Falco and Young Link.

Overall, Jigglypuff has polarizing strengths and weaknesses. Jigglypuff has one of the most potent punish games out of all characters, yet is immune to most other characters' punishes; additionally, it cannot easily be edgeguarded, but is an extremely strong edgeguarder itself. On the other hand, Jigglypuff is KOed easily from stray hits unlike other characters, and struggles to approach enemies due to its decidedly below-average neutral game, making it difficult to get openings in competitive play. Skilled players should take into account these weaknesses, using clever baits and capitalizing on opponents' mistakes to attain superior positions where Jigglypuff can disrupt the opponent's plan and secure KOs that cannot easily be escaped from.

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. Jigglypuff's aerial mobility is far superior with faster air speed and higher mid-air jumps which heavily improve Jigglypuff's recovery, edgeguarding and aerial approach. This is further complimented by its aerials (most notoriously back aerial) receiving larger hitboxes making them more effective at walling out opponents. Rest has also seen a huge buff to its already impressive KO power making it an incredibly deadly attack if it lands. The changes to Melee's mechanics greatly aid Jigglypuff. The faster falling speeds allow Jigglypuff to maintain its powerful combo game despite the reduction of hitstun and the nerfs to some of its moves and air dodging further aids Jigglypuff's recovery and movement options.

Despite these significant buffs, Jigglypuff has also received some nerfs. Jigglypuff's already poor grounded mobility was made even worse and some of its previous KO moves such as Up smash and back throw have been weakened while some of its other moves have had their damage output reduced (with down aerial being the most prominent example). Jigglypuff's grab game much like the rest of the cast was also toned down. As with all returning veterans without a tether grab, Jigglypuff's grabs are much slower and as mentioned before, its back throw was drastically weakened dealing less damage and no longer being a viable kill option. Up throw deals less damage than its old forward throw and has much higher base knockback hindering its combo potential although it is still a potent combo throw especially when combined with the increase in Rest's power.

Overall, Jigglypuff fares significantly better in Melee than in Smash 64 with Tournament results to back this up. Jigglypuff went from the 6th best out of 12 on the Smash 64 tier list to 5th best 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.

Aesthetics

• Jigglypuff received a new taunt, where it now spins in place while winking at the player.
• Its "applause" pose on the Results Screen now properly loops, instead of merely moving its head twice and then stopping.

Attributes

• Jigglypuff's air speed is much faster (35 → 1.35), from the fourth fastest in Smash 64 to the fastest in Melee, largely improving Jigglypuff's approaching, combo ability, and recovery potential.
• Jigglypuff's midair jumps now all give height, greatly improving its recovery and ability to chase aerial opponents.
• Dashing speed reduced to being the slowest in Melee, along with Zelda (42 → 1.1).
• Jigglypuff's walking speed is much slower (0.28 → 0.7), hindering its already poor approach.
• Jigglypuff is significantly heavier (53 → 60), improving its endurance but making it easier to combo.
• Jigglypuff is floatier (38 → 1.3), which hinders its endurance, but making it harder to combo.
• Jigglypuff's short hop is much lower. This makes its approach with aerials much more effective but prevents it from auto-canceling all of its aerials and performing two aerials in a short hop.
• The introduction of air dodging greatly helps Jigglypuff as air dodging not only gives Jigglypuff an additional recovery option if it runs out of jumps but they also give Jigglypuff superior landing options on platforms.

Ground attacks

• Both hits of neutral attack now have IASA frames giving them less ending lag (frame 18 → 16 (hit 1), frame 20 → 17 (hit 2)).
• Neutral attack's second hit has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 5-7 → 6-7) and deals slightly less damage (4% → 3%).
• Forward tilt has less startup lag (frame 7 → 6) and deals more damage (8% → 10%).
• Up tilt has higher base knockback, improving its combo ability at low percentages.
• Up tilt deals less damage (10% → 9%/8%) and has less range, which combined with the previous point hinders its juggling potential. It also has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 7-14 → 8-14).
• Down tilt has more range and less startup (frame 11 → 10) and ending lag (frame 40 → 30), improving its spacing potential.
• Down tilt has a shorter duration (frames 11-15 → 10-12).
• Dash attack deals more damage (10% (clean)/6% (late) → 12%/8%) and has less startup (frame 5 → 4) and ending lag (frame 41 → 39).
• Dash attack has a shorter duration (frames 5-18 → 4-14).
• Forward smash deals significantly stronger damage (16% (clean)/10% (late) → 17%/13%) and knockback, going from the second weakest in Smash 64 to the sixth most powerful in Melee. It also has a slightly longer duration (frames 12-19 → 12-20).
• Forward smash has more ending lag (frame 40 → 45).
• Up smash has less startup (frame 8 → 7) and ending lag (frame 55 → 45).
• Up smash deals much less knockback (130 (scaling) → 110 (clean)) and has a shorter duration (frames 8-14 → 7-10).
• Up and down smashes now deal consistent damage (18% (clean)/10% (late) → 14% (up), 16% (clean)/10% (late) → 12% (down)).
• Down smash has less ending lag (frame 55 → 48) and sends opponents at a less favourable angle (40° → 0°) improving its edgeguarding potential.
• Down smash has more startup lag and a much shorter duration (frames 7-26 → 9-10). This also means that it has much less intangibility. Its new angle also makes it much less consistent at KOing opponents.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials deal weaker damage and knockback, increasing their combo ability, but reducing their KOing and edgeguarding potential.
• Forward, up and down aerials auto-cancel later (frame 23 → 34 (forward), frame 16 → 37 (up), frame 32 → 39 (down)). They can no longer auto-cancel in a short hop which is further hindered by the weakening of L-canceling.
• Neutral and back aerials auto-cancel earlier (frame 33 → 29 (neutral), frame 27 → 25 (back)).
• Neutral aerial has less ending lag (frame 55 → 50) and deals more damage (11% (clean), 8% (late) → 12%/9%).
• Neutral aerial has a shorter duration (frames 6-33 → 6-28) and its hitbox is less disjointed hindering its range and safety.
• Forward and back aerials have more range, especially back aerial, making them better for approaching.
• Forward aerial has less startup (frame 8 → 7) and ending lag (frame 40 → 35).
• Forward aerial deals less damage (13% (clean), 8% (late) → 12%/7%).
• Back aerial has less ending lag (frame 40 → 31) and is overall a much stronger spacing tool. It also no longer has a weaker late hit.
• Back aerial has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 8-21 → 9-12) and it deals less damage (13% → 12%).
• Up aerial has less ending lag (frame 40 → 38).
• Up aerial has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 8-16 → 9-12) and deals less damage (16% → 12%).
• Down aerial no longer meteor smashes aerial opponents, significantly hindering its edgeguarding potential. It also has more startup lag (frame 4 → 5), deals much less damage (30% → 14.74%) has much more landing lag even when L-canceled and now lacks a landing hitbox, hindering its safety.

Grab and throws

• Grabs have more startup lag (frame 6 → 7 (standing), 11 (dash)) and ending lag (frame 16 → 31 (standing), 41 (dash)).
• Jigglypuff has been given a up throw, a down throw, and a pummel, improving its grab options.
• Forward throw from Smash 64 moved to up throw in Melee.
  • In the process, it deals less damage (14% → 11%) with altered knockback (90 (base), 50 (scaling) → 130/25). When combined with lower hitstun and the introduction of DI, this hinders its combo potential at lower percents and hinders its already poor KO potential. Despite this, it is still a potent combo throw against fast fallers which when combined with higher fall speeds and the drastic buffs to Rest provides Jigglypuff with a powerful technique known as the space animal slayer on Fox and Falco.
• Back throw has drastically reduced damage (16% → 10%) and knockback.

Special attacks

• Jigglypuff has a new neutral special: Rollout. It's a chargeable move that deals good damage, can KO early regardless of where the opponent is on the stage, and moves at fast speeds when fully charged.
• Pound is now a side special due to Rollout now becoming its neutral special.
• Pound has less ending lag (frame 55 → 46) and sends opponents on a different trajectory (120° → 75°) that gives it more favourable combo ability. Rising Pound is also much easier to perform, another improvement of Jigglypuff's recovery.
• 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.
• Sing can be ledge-cancelled, which makes it less of a detriment if used off stage and can occasionally set up a Rest for careless edgeguarders, which is further complemented by the move now putting opponents to sleep for longer st high percentages. Additionally, it gives a slight vertical boost in midair if jumped and can now grab ledges, granting it recovery potential.
  • Due to Sing putting opponents to sleep for longer at higher percentages, the move is a less reliable setup option at low percents.
• Rest deals significantly more knockback (60 (base) → 78) and damage (14% (JPN), 20% (US/PAL) → 28%) greatly improving its already impressive KO potential.
• Jigglypuff has a different voice clip when Jigglypuff wakes up from Rest. The old voice clip is used for Rollout.
• Rest has a slightly smaller hitbox and has less intangibility (frames 1-29 → 1-26).

PAL differences

Compared to the other top tiers, Jigglypuff remained unscathed when transitioning to the PAL version of Melee although it did receive one practically negligible nerf which does not effect its matchups against the other top tiers. Because of this, Jigglypuff is even more effective in the PAL version currently being ranked 4th on the latest PAL tier list.

• Jigglypuff now takes damage from Bowser's down throw.

Moveset

Jigglypuff's aerial attacks

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

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			3%	Two quick jabs with rather poor range. Good for jab resetting and can lead into tilts.
			3%
Forward tilt			10%	Does a quick roundhouse spin, feet extended. Has short range. Can be angled up or down.
Up tilt			9% (clean), 8% (late)	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			10%	Quickly extends its foot downwards.
Dash attack			12% (clean), 8% (late)	A generic dash attack; trips and falls head-first forwards. Somewhat fast and powerful, but is predictable, and has moderate ending lag.
Forward smash			17% (clean), 13% (late)	Does a small hop forward with foot extended. Has minor startup and ending lag, but is a decent finisher at higher percentages due to its extremely high knockback scaling; it has the second highest knockback scaling in the game out of the forward smashes, losing only to Luigi's.
Up smash			14%	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. There is a smaller hitbox in Jigglypuff's head that deals 15% damage but never connects due to overlapping the bigger hitbox.
Down smash			12%	Enlarges both its feet sideways. 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. Both of Jigglypuff's feet are intangible the moment the hitboxes come out.
Neutral aerial			12% (clean), 9% (late)	Squishes itself and extends its feet. Decent spacing move, and has sex kick properties. Can be good for edgeguarding.
Forward aerial			12%/10% (clean feet/body), 7% (late)	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			12%	Spins backward and kicks behind itself. 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's infamous for having a large disjointed hitbox that extends beyond Jigglypuff's leg, which makes it very hard to punish from a far range.
Up aerial			12%	Waves its arm 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 up throw (usually done at mid-high percentages to ensure that the Rest is landed), especially against fastfallers.
Down aerial			2% (hits 1-8)	A downwards drill kick. Not much hitstun. If the player used short hopped down aerial with L-cancel, it can lead to a Rest. Deals 16% damage total if all hits connect.
Grab			—
Pummel			3%	Slaps opponent with its tuft of hair. Somewhat slow.
Forward throw			5% (throw), 7% (hit 2)	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. It is possible to SDI this throw in most cases, because the 7% hit is a normal hitbox rather than a throw.
Back throw			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			11%	Spins once and tosses opponent upwards. Can lead into aerial combos against fast fallers and lightweights or floaty characters at low percentages. At low percentages against fastfallers, it can combo into Rest; at mid percentages, an up aerial can be added to ensure that the Rest is landed, as stated above.
Down throw			1% (hits 1-4), 3% (hit 5), 2% (throw)	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% (foot), 6% (body)	Spins one leg around while getting up, kicking behind then in front of itself.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			8% (foot), 6% (body)	Spins one leg around while getting up, kicking behind then in front of itself.
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	10-18%	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 (unless the opponent is close to Jigglypuff the moment it starts rolling), 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 forward, 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 up throw, up aerial, up tilt, and down throw. It is among the most feared attacks in the game due to its extreme power and instantaneous startup, but if it misses, it leaves Jigglypuff extremely vulnerable. Most useful in teams matches where a teammate can cover Jigglypuff's extreme ending lag upon using Rest with a jab. Deals flame damage.

Taunt

• Spins around on one foot, then looks at the camera inflated, winking and saying "Jigglypuff!" The eye Jigglypuff winks depends on which side it's facing.

Idle pose

• Looks at its side while jumping.

Crowd cheer

	English	Japanese
Cheer	File:Jigglypuff Cheer NTSC Melee.ogg	File:Purin Cheer JP Melee.ogg
Description	Jig-gly-puff!	Puh-riiin!
Pitch	Male	Male

Victory poses

An excerpt from the main theme of Pokémon.

• Hestitates for a while, then jumps up and lands on its back.
• Jumps twice, then does a backflip.
• Sleeps, then suddenly wakes up.

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.

Jigglypuff generally has an advantage against characters with:

• poor or telegraphed recovery options, such as Sheik, Donkey Kong, and Mario, as it can easily carry them off-stage or punish them landing on-stage with Rest;
• a reliance on an aerial game that is not as good as Jigglypuff's, such as Peach, since it is able to beat those characters at their own game;
• and/or no reliable KO setups against it due to its low crouch, light weight, and floatiness, such as Pikachu.

On the other hand, Jigglypuff has more trouble against characters who are able to space it out and restrict its movement with projectiles, such as Falco and Young Link, or have KO setups on Jigglypuff despite its strong defensive capabilities, such as Fox, Marth, and Captain Falcon. Since the matchup chart's creation in 2010, the matchups that have developed the most out of these are arguably:

• Fox - Due to the increase of skill among Fox professionals and better understanding of Jigglypuff's weaknesses, Fox has seen much better results against Jigglypuff in the modern metagame. However, top Jigglypuff players have shown that it still has a strong chance in the matchup; proper DI and SDI can ensure that Jigglypuff does not lose stocks as early as once thought, and it still boasts superior aerial drift, powerful aerials, and arguably easier punish and edgeguard games against Fox. Thus, whether Fox soft or hard counters Jigglypuff is still debatable, with a few players even claiming that the matchup is close to even.
• Marth - Marth is also now considered to have an even, or only slightly losing (at worst) matchup against Jigglypuff; Marth professionals such as PewPewU and Zain have shown that Marth can heavily punish Jigglypuff after a grab, utilizing pivoting to land guaranteed tipper forward smashes to KO it, while pushing their space advantage in the neutral game much more than before. Many edgeguarding tricks that Jigglypuff professionals utilized against Marth in the past also no longer work as well.
• Captain Falcon - Wizzrobe has defeated top Jigglypuff professionals several times, utilizing a much more conservative playstyle that abuses Captain Falcon's speed to avoid Jigglypuff's threat zone. While the matchup is still winning for Jigglypuff, it is much closer than originally perceived.

Despite these flaws and metagame advancements against it, Jigglypuff's amazing strengths maintain its positive matchups against almost all of the cast, with the current consensus still being that it only has one losing matchup against Fox. Thus, Jigglypuff has one of the strongest matchup spreads in the game.

Notable players

See also: Category:Jigglypuff professionals (SSBM)

Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the 2017 SSBMRank.

Active

•  2Saint (#100) - Ranked 7th on the NYC Metropolitan Area Melee Power Rankings. Ever since Smash Summit 6, his results have improved dramatically, resulting in a much higher ranking on the Summer 2018 MPGR of #42, and he is seen as one of the quickest improving Jigglypuff players in the world.
•  4% (#HM) - A strong player from the Midwest; he was ranked 99th on the 2016 SSBMRank and 1st on the Northeast Ohio Melee Power Rankings.
•  Dudutsai (#HM) - The best active New England Jigglypuff player, placing 49th at EVO 2016, 33rd at Shine 2016, 37th at MLG Anaheim 2014 and 17th at Get On My Level 2014.
•  Fizzle_Boy - One of the best Jigglypuff players in Ohio. He has tournament wins over Colbol, Drephen, and A Rookie.
•  Hungrybox (#1) - One of the Five Gods. The best Jigglypuff player in the world.
•  Jerry (#83) - Although he reached his rank in 2017 with Fox, his Jigglypuff has seen significantly higher peaks in 2018, with several wins at S@X and top 32 placements at majors over extremely high profile players such as SFAT.
•  K.F - The best Jigglypuff player in Japan, ranked 5th on his country PR in 2017.
•  Legend (#97) - The current best Jigglypuff player in Canada, with several top 48 finishes at majors.
•  Michael - Placed 17th at Full Bloom 4 and is currently ranked 2nd on the Chicago Power Rankings. He is ranked #45 on the Summer 2018 MPGR.
•  Prince Abu (#38) - Considered the second best Jigglypuff in the world. Placed 9th at EVO 2017.
•  SmashBob SquarePants - Ranked 1st on the South Carolina Power Rankings.
•  Tekk - The best Jigglypuff in Europe. He is ranked 14th on the European Melee Power Rankings and was formerly ranked 43th on the 2015 SSBMRank. He has set wins over Chillindude, Android and Duck.

Inactive

•  Darc - Formerly 4th on the New England Power Rankings, he was well-known for very solid placings in doubles such as 2nd at GENESIS, 2nd at Apex 2009. He also placed very well in singles and was at one point a top 20 player in the world, with 13th at GENESIS, 13th at Apex 2010 and 17th at Apex 2014. He is currently on a hiatus and focusing on Project M.
•  Idea - One of the best Jigglypuff players in Canada when he was active. Has not been on his regional PR, where he peaked at #7, since 2015.
•  KillaOR - One of the very first Jigglypuff mains and a member of the old-school crew Deadly Alliance. Placed top 8 at several MLG events in 2005, such as 2nd at MLG Houston 2005 and 3rd at MLG Los Angeles 2005, but has not been active in the scene for over a decade.
•  The King - Ranked 14th on the Smash Panel Power Rankings for his performances such as 5th at MLG Dallas 2006, 9th at MLG Anaheim 2006 and 9th at Zero Challenge 2.
•  Mango (#3) - One of the Five Gods. It was his first true main, after being inspired by The King.
•  Raistlin - Placed 9th at GENESIS.
•  s0ft - Formerly ranked 64th on the 2014 SSBMRank and boasting a very impressive 7th place finish at Apex 2014, his results have declined since and he has not been active in major tournaments since 2017.

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 twelfth (current) tier list, as of December 2015. Despite this, Jigglypuff has a smaller playerbase than the rest of the top tier characters, with only four representatives on the 2015 SSBM Player Rankings, although it has since seen an increase in representation.

PAL viability

Jigglypuff was relatively unchanged from the NTSC version, although it can now take damage from Bowser's down throw due to the changes in its properties, which is not a significant nerf due to Bowser's lack of usage in PAL regions. However, it benefits from the nerfs to some other top-tiered characters, who either lost KO options (Sheik), have decreased aerial drift (Marth) or recovery distance, or a combination of the three (Fox). As such, it is considered slightly better relative to the cast in PAL than in NTSC, and is ranked 4th on the PAL tier list instead of 5th. Jigglypuff's tournament representation in PAL is roughly the same as in NTSC, with a handful of top Jigglypuff mains (notably Hack and Tekk) and a small pool of lower-leveled ones.

In Single-player modes

In Classic Mode

Once Jigglypuff is unlocked, it may appear in the game's Classic Mode as a one-on-one, team (alongside Kirby or Pikachu), giant, multi, or metal opponent, as well as an ally in team and giant fights.

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

This Balloon Pokémon invites its opponents in close with its big, round eyes and then puts them to sleep with a soothing lullaby. It puffs itself up when angry, and while it may look adorable, it's not to be trifled with: it knows several powerful techniques. Jigglypuff evolves into Wigglytuff after exposure to a Moon Stone.

• Pokémon Red & Blue 09/98

Jigglypuff [Smash]

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 [Smash]

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

• 

  [Smash]

• 

  [Smash]

Alternate costumes

Trivia

• Jigglypuff is one the five hidden characters, along with Ganondorf, Mewtwo, Young Link, and Pichu, to be seen in the opening movie.
• Jigglypuff is the only character who has a different voice actor when the language is switched to Japanese.
• Jigglypuff's and Mr. Game & Watch's stock icons show their entire body; they are the only characters in Melee to have this.
• After picking up a Metal Box, Jigglypuff's eyes disappear.
• Jigglypuff and Luigi are the only unlockable veterans in Melee.

External Links

• Translation of official character page on Source Gaming
• Official character page on the Japanese Melee website
• Are You a Jigglypuff Player? by Kira