Aesthetics
Due to the aesthetic used in Ultimate, Olimar's model features a more vibrant color scheme. His proportions have been adjusted; he has a slightly smaller nose and eyes, and his skin tone is paler. His space suit and life support systems have more subtle detailing, and his helmet has a more glossy sheen. The new detailing is also expressed by Alph.
Olimar's antenna has less independent physics, allowing it to move more naturally.
Olimar's helmet cracks after taking a certain amount of damage, but will quickly be repaired. It also appears cracked when he is Screen KO'd.
Olimar now only jumps twice during his up taunt, shortening its duration.
Sidestep and ledge-hanging's animations have changed.
Pikmin now always face the screen regardless of which direction they turn.
Pikmin now have trails that match their colors when attacking, like in the Pikmin games.
Attributes
Like all characters, Olimar's jumpsquat animation takes three frames to complete (down from 5).
Olimar walks slightly faster (0.9 → 0.945).
Olimar dashes faster (1.47 → 1.617).
Olimar's initial dash speed is very slightly higher (1.6 → 1.606). Despite this, it is now much slower relative to the roster.
Olimar's air speed is slightly higher (0.82 → 0.861).
All Pikmin types have less HP.
Red, Yellow: 8 → 6.
Blue: 11 → 8.
White: 7 → 5.
Purple: 13 → 11.
Pikmin can be swallowed.
Pikmin can get stuck on platforms if they were plucked beneath them, making it impossible to use them for attacks for a while.
Pikmin in Olimar's squad are no longer intangible directly after Olimar gets hit with a high knockback move, making it possible to kill the Pikmin and send Olimar offstage without any Pikmin.
Pikmin can die from hitboxes that Olimar already shielded or perfect shielded, making it very hard to punish the attack.
When a Pikmin dies, it becomes the active Pikmin in Olimar's squad, making it impossible to use Pikmin for attacks for a short while.
Olimar's hurtbox is modeled around his body instead of being a giant orb around him. This effectively gives him a smaller hurtbox around some parts of his body, making him harder to hit.
However, Olimar has a larger hurtbox vertically.
Ground attacks
- Neutral attack:
Neutral attack 1 has less ending lag (FAF 30 → 20).
Its angles have been altered (361°/80° → 361°/180°) making it a more consistent jab locking tool but hindering its jab canceling potential.
Jab 2's hitboxes have been moved inwards (Z offset: 7/13 → 6/10) reducing its range. Oddly, the animation has not been properly altered, and so suggests the move has more range than it actually does.
Jab 2's sweetspot is closer to the sourspot now, and the sourspot is bigger (2.5u → 2.8u). Due to it taking priority over the sweetspot this makes the sweetspot much harder to land.
- Dash attack:
Dash attack has a bigger hitbox (3.5u (clean)/3.5u (late) → 5u/4.5u).
- Up tilt:
Up tilt has less ending lag (FAF 45 → 39).
- All smash attacks:
The damage multipliers when using smash attacks with red or purple Pikmin have been increased (Red: 1.2× → 1.4×, Purple: 1.4× → 1.6×).
- Forward smash:
Forward smash deals more damage when using red or purple Pikmin.
Red: 17.4% (clean)/12% (mid)/7.2% (late) → 20.3%/14%/8.4%
Purple: 20.3% (clean)/14% (mid)/8.4% (late) → 23.2%/16%/9.6%
Forward smash has more ending lag (FAF 40 → 43).
Forward smash's clean hit has a shorter duration, with the mid and late hits having a longer duration instead (frames 11-14 (clean)/15-20 (mid)/21-29 (late) → 11-12/13-19/20-29).
- Up smash:
Up smash deals more damage when using red or purple Pikmin with knockback scaling compensated.
Red: 15.6% (clean)/12% (weak)/13.2% (late) → 18.2%/14%/15.4%, knockback scaling: 83/74/78 → 72/64/68
Purple: 18.2% (clean)/14% (weak)/15.4% (late) → 20.8%/16%/17.6%, knockback scaling: 81/72/78 → 72/64/68
Up smash has significantly less ending lag (FAF 56 → 40), increasing its safety and giving it combo potential.
- Down smash:
Down smash deals more damage when using red or purple Pikmin.
Red: 13.2% (clean)/10.8% (late) → 15.4%/12.6%
Purple: 15.4% (clean)/12.6% (late) → 17.6%/14.4%
Aerial attacks
All aerials have less landing lag (15 frames → 13 (neutral), 15 → 9 (forward/back), 30 → 18 (up/down)).
All aerials involving Pikmin have Transcendent priority.
All aerials that use Pikmin have more range.
The damage multipliers when using aerials with red or purple Pikmin have been increased (Red: 1.2× → 1.4×, Purple: 1.4× → 1.6×).
- Neutral aerial:
Neutral aerial's hitboxes are smaller (loop: 3.5u/2.5u/2.5u/3.5u → 3u/2u/2u/3u, last: 5u/4u/4u/5u → 4u/3u/3u/4u).
- Forward aerial:
Forward aerial deals more damage when using red or purple Pikmin.
Red: 10.2% → 11.9%
Purple: 11.9% → 13.6%
- Back aerial:
Back aerial deals more damage when using red or purple Pikmin.
Red: 12.9% → 15.1%
Purple: 15.1% → 17.2%
- Up aerial and down aerial:
They deal more damage when using red or purple Pikmin.
Red: 10.8% → 12.6%
Purple: 12.6% → 14.4%
They auto-cancel one frame later (frame 30 → 31).
Throws and other attacks
- Grabs:
All Pikmin in Olimar's squad will be used at once for his grab, significantly improving its potential range. The more Pikmin he has, the greater the range.
All grabs have slightly more startup lag (frame 10 → 12).
Attempting to grab near a ledge using Pikmin that were plucked just before that will cause the grab to have no hitbox.
All grabs' ending lag is changed and depends on the amount of Pikmin in Olimar's squad.
Standing: FAF 50 → 42/48/57 (1/2/3 Pikmin).
Dash: FAF 53 → 50/58/69 (1/2/3 Pikmin).
Pivot: FAF 36 → 45/52/61 (1/2/3 Pikmin).
- Pummel:
Pummel is a quick upward punch from Olimar himself. It is much faster than his previous pummel, but deals less damage.
Olimar can no longer benefit from the high-damaging pummel of White Pikmin.
- Forward throw:
Forward throw deals more damage when using blue Pikmin and when Olimar has multiple Pikmin in his squad.
Red: 5.6% → 5.6%/6.1%/6.7% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
Yellow, White, Purple: 7% → 7%/7.7%/8.4% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
Blue: 11.2% → 11.8%/13%/14.2% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
- Back throw:
Back throw deals more damage when using blue Pikmin and when Olimar has multiple Pikmin in his squad.
Red: 7.2% → 7.2%/7.9%/8.6% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
Yellow, White, Purple: 9% → 9%/9.9%/10.8% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
Blue: 14.4% → 15.3%/16.8%/18.3% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
Back throw deals significantly more knockback when using blue Pikmin.
- Up throw:
Up throw deals more damage when using blue Pikmin and when Olimar has multiple Pikmin in his squad.
Red: 6.4% → 6.4%/7%/7.6% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
Yellow, White, Purple: 8% → 8%/8.8%/9.6% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
Blue: 12.8% → 13.5%/14.8%/16.2% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
Up throw deals significantly more knockback when using blue Pikmin, being the strongest up throw in the game.
Up throw has a more exaggerated animation.
- Down throw:
Down throw deals more damage when using blue Pikmin and when Olimar has multiple Pikmin in his squad.
Red: 6.6% → 6.6%/7.2%/7.9% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
Yellow: 8% → 8%/8.8%/9.6% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
White: 7.8% → 8%/8.8%/9.6% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
Purple: 8.4% → 8%/8.8%/9.6% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
Blue: 12.2% → 12.8%/14.1%/15.4% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
Down throw sends opponents at a more horizontal angle, reducing its combo potential.
Special moves
- Pikmin Throw:
Pikmin that latch onto opponents deal more damage (1.1% → 2% (Red, Yellow, Blue), 3.7% → 4.7% (White)).
Purple Pikmin thrown deal less damage (6.5% → 6%).
Pikmin take fall damage when thrown and landing on the ground.
The removal of multiple player slot glitch and changes to jostle mechanics no longer crashes the game with Pikmin Throw.
Opponents make a discomforted facial expression (the same expression used by poisoned fighters) when a Pikmin is latched onto them.
- Winged Pikmin:
Winged Pikmin travels a significantly shorter distance with consecutive uses.
If Pikmin are in certain animations while using Winged Pikmin, attempting to use them for aerials will cause the attack to have no hitbox.
- Pikmin Order:
Olimar orders his Pikmin much sooner (frame 12 → 2).
Pikmin Order has less ending lag (FAF 21 → 18).
Olimar gains super armor sooner (frame 6 → 2), much like in Brawl. This improves its use as a defensive tool and as a combo breaker.
However, it also has a shorter duration (frames 6-12 → 2-7). This effectively increases the move's ending lag despite its reduced total duration.
Pikmin Order's whistling animation is less exaggerated. This new animation is shorter (39 frames → 33), decreasing the amount of time Olimar cannot grab the ledge after performing the move in the air.
- End of Day
End of Day has been significantly sped up, with the Hocotate Ship crashing onto the stage almost immediately after the move's cutscene.
The explosion has less knockback scaling (140 (sweetspot)/125 (sourspot) → 120/105).