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A nerf is a term used to describe the weakening of a character (or aspect of a character), either through updating a game or by releasing a sequel. It is often done as an attempt to balance the roster. The opposite term is "buff". The best example of this is Kirby's transition from the original Super Smash Bros. to Super Smash Bros. Melee. Kirby went from being one of the best characters according to the tier lists to being one of the worst.
The term "nerf" is derived from the brand of toy known for its soft foam-like substance. This substance allows for safer play, as little chance of injury comes from impact with such items. In effect, a projectile is less damaging because it was "nerfed".
Characters who had attributes nerfed from SSB to Melee
There were two general nerfs for all characters. One is that most aerial attacks and tilts no longer have almost instantaneous start-up. The second general nerf is that throws have been significantly weakened, with only a few throws being reliable KO moves in Melee.
- Captain Falcon: His up aerial doesn't semi-spike as reliably, and the Falcon Punch was slowed. The Falcon Dive combo isn't as effective as it was in Super Smash Bros.
- Donkey Kong: His Giant Punch has less reach and less knockback, and puts him in a helpless state when done in midair.
- Fox: His down smash doesn't semi-spike as well, his up aerial is more difficult to sweetspot, and his blaster no longer produces hitstun.
- Jigglypuff: Sing doesn't put opponents to sleep as long, making it less useful, Rest has a smaller hitbox.
- Kirby: Arguably the most drastic nerf in a Smash Bros. game. He has much less power, speed, and reach in his attacks; his horizontal air speed is drastically slower; and he is easier to combo; thus making a character with terrible stats in Melee. A notable example of this is his down aerial; in SSB it was one of the best spikes in the game, whereas in Melee it is one of the worst.
- Link: Link's up smash doesn't reach as far upward and has a smaller hitbox, lowering its effectiveness. Spin Attack can no longer kill in the air.
- Luigi: Luigi's air speed is slower; the Super Jump Punch lost its horizontal distance, the height gained from Luigi Cyclone was lowered (this results in it being more difficult to incorporate these abilities into a horizontal recovery) and the size of his Fireball was decreased.
- Mario: Super Jump Punch's jumping distance was reduced; his up smash was slightly weakened; Fireball size has also been decreased.
- Ness: He has less speed and reach in his attacks; his up smash and down smash are much weaker; his forward smash is also much slower.
- Pikachu: It has less reach in its attacks; up tilt has lost a lot of it's priority; it is now vulnerable to chain throws and Thunder is no longer infinite.
- Samus: Her dashing speed is slower; her back aerial has less range and power; her Screw Attack no longer traps enemies, and her charge shot is no longer infinite.
- Yoshi: His specials are generally less effective; his combo ability against floaty characters was hindered.
Characters who had attributes nerfed from Melee to Brawl
- Bowser: Many attacks, such as his forward smash and up aerial, are slightly weaker in terms of knockback.
- Captain Falcon: Slower attacks; down aerial needs to sweetspot to meteor smash and has a smaller hitbox size, is weaker, and the nipple spike was removed; forward aerial (Knee Smash) is much harder to sweetspot and even the sweetspot has slightly less knockback; lower traction; Falcon Kick no longer regains his midair jump after it has already been used; forward smash weakened significantly (went from being the 3rd most powerful forward smash to 19th). He is overall a slower and much weaker character. He is considered the most dramatically nerfed character in Brawl along Ganondorf both for the Brawl physics (no L-canceling, Moonwalking and much worse combos) and the major nerfs he received.
- Falco: Nerfed in many of his KO moves; forward smash is slower, weaker, and needs to sweetspot to be a good KO move; neutral aerial is no longer a KO move; down tilt does not KO until the opponent's damage pecentage his extremely high; Falco Phantasm's Meteor Smash is weaker. Fire Bird travels a shorter distance, is now a multi-hit attack, and is much weaker (is now incapable of KOing); slower dash speed; his reflector can no longer be held, thus, his Shine combos don't exist. His survivability was also nerfed in Brawl due to the addition of fallweight, which prevents him from taking vertical hits as well as he did in Melee (he will not last anywhere close to how long Bowser can last in Brawl vertically, like he could in Melee). However, these nerfs did not have much of an effect in competitive play, as Falco is still in the top tier as in Melee. This is mostly due to him picking up a new style that adapts to Brawl well (ex. he is now capable of major chain-throwing).
- Fox: Shine combos no longer exist; up smash is slightly weaker (it is however, often considered the best up smash in Brawl); up aerial is much weaker (no longer KOs under 150% reliably); Fire Fox is weaker and can no longer KO; his Fox Illusion is much weaker; and his Blaster travels roughly half the distance it did in Melee. Due to the addition of fallweight, he can no longer survive vertical hits to high percentages and he dies even sooner horizontally, therefore nerfing his survivability in Brawl. Reflector no longer comes out on frame 1.
- Ganondorf: Slower attacks (most notably jab) and dash speed, leading to very poor approach options; shorter grab (now the shortest standing grab in the game, which combined with all his ground moves being slow makes his Out of Shield options terrible) lower jumping height; poorer mobility; Wizard's Foot no longer enables a midair jump if one was used already which significantly nerfs his recovery (went from a long recovery to one of the shortest horizontal recoveries in the game). A large amount of his killers were weakened significantly in Brawl, such as his down smash, backward & neutral aerials, Dark Dive (which is no longer a KO move outside stage spiking), and the grounded Wizard's Foot. His up tilt was also weakened significantly (but it is still the strongest tilt attack and it is much easier to land) and the up smash was weakened as well (it is still very powerful). Overall, he significantly slower, especially due to the loss of L-canceling and he has a harder time landing KOs due to having less rounded power (more attacks were weakened than strengthen, often on a higher scale) and harder to land attacks.
- Jigglypuff: Reduced combo ability; Rest is a lot weaker in terms of knockback; three aerial attacks weakened (most notably its back aerial); forward smash is weaker; smashes are slower and have longer ending lag. Now ranks the slowest dash speed in the game, and was superseded by Yoshi for highest air speed. down aerial no longer can meteor smash, and less hitstun has made WoP harder to pull off.
- Kirby: His forward & back throws no longer Kirbycide; up throw can only Kirbycide on certain stages. Swallowcide now KOs Kirby and his victim at the same time. Even though the Kirbycide was nerfed, Kirby received major buffs in other, more important areas.
- Link: Much slower air speed; shorter grappling device; infinite sword stab in neutral combo removed; Spin Attack no longer semi-spikes and is worse for recovery. His Boomerang, replaced with Gale Boomerang, has lost range and speed, and doesn't deal damage when returning (instead pulls foes with it). He is overall slower and is much worse in recovering (could be the only character along Ganondorf who has a harder time recovering in Brawl).
- Luigi: Forward and down aerials are much weaker (forward aerial is faster and the down aerial is easier to meteor smash with however); Super Jump Punch has more ending lag; Fireball's range is shorter. Loss of wavedashing has made approach mush harder.
- Mario: The power and range of many of his moves have been slightly decreased; his forward aerial now needs to sweetspot to meteor smash; Fireball's range reduced. Replaced Mario Tornado with F.L.U.D.D., reducing his overall recovery. Because of Brawl's new autosnap feature, cape is less useful.
- Marth: Shorter grab range; shorter sword (therefore shorter range overall); tipping his attacks is more difficult, such as down aerial; neutral attack combo is slower; dash speed slightly reduced. Shield Breaker is no longer as useful for edge-guarding and it's lost overhead range and power as it is now a stab instead of an overhead swing. Spike was removed, and lack of wavedashing has resulted in a worse approach.
- Mr. Game & Watch: Down tilt is weaker; neutral attack is now a trapping move instead of a KO move; Oil Panic maximum damage reduced from 200% to 60%.
- Peach: Shorter midair jump; decreased power in forward throw; down smash completely nerfed in every aspect, especially in KO power and damage output (can no longer KO and it went from being the best down smash to arguably the worst), could be considered the single most nerfed attack in the series; substantially reduced air speed; can no longer double jump cancel.
- Samus: Projectile game and finishers drastically weakened. Smash Missiles are slower and drastically weaker (could KO under 150% in Melee but can't even KO at 300% in Brawl); Charge Shot is significantly weaker (could KO under 80% in Melee but can't KO under 125% reliably in Brawl); neutral aerial was significantly weakened (went from being the second strongest sex kick to one of the weakest). Her bombs are less effective for recovery, and now no longer explode when in contact with opponents (only after their internal timer is finished).
- Sheik: Down throw is now completely incapable of chain throwing; all of her aerials were weakened; forward aerial can still semi-spike but was weakened significantly; up smash is much weaker and sourspot can no longer KO reliably; the addition of fallweight has also hurt her survivability, she only slightly outlasts Zelda vertically and she is outlasted by Zelda when knocked back horizontally.
- Yoshi: Egg Roll can no longer can be used for recovery; smashes are weaker (particularly down smash); forward aerial now needs to sweetspot to meteor smash and is much weaker (is now only a average meteor smash while it was the second strongest meteor in Melee); Yoshi Bomb and Egg Throw have lower knockback; he can no longer double jump cancel. Egg Lay's KO potential is lower because of the slow falling speed of the egg and higher starting height.