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 lag. The second general nerf is throws have been significantly weakened, with only a few throws being reliable KO moves in Melee. Below is a list of nerfs for the cast of Melee.
Captain Falcon
- Up aerial doesn't semi-spike as reliably and has reduced vertical reach.
- Falcon Punch has more start-up lag and can no longer be used for recovering.
- The Falcon Dive has been weakened.
- Down aerial has a much shorter duration.
- Most of his attacks are much slower.
Donkey Kong
- The beginning of his forward throw (carry) no longer deals damage.
- Giant Punch has less reach and knockback, and puts him in a helpless state when done in midair.
- Forward air is much slower and is much more difficult to meteor smash with.
- Hand Slap has more ending lag.
Fox
- His air speed has been significantly decreased, from being among one of the fastest in SSB, to being tied with Falco for the slowest in Melee.
- Down smash doesn't semi-spike as effectively.
- Up aerial is more difficult to sweetspot.
- Blaster no longer produces hitstun.
Jigglypuff
- Sing doesn't put opponents to sleep as long, reducing its effectiveness.
- Rest has a smaller hitbox.
- Dair spike is now very difficult to land, no longer usable for gimping.
Kirby
- Large decrease in the overall power, speed, and reach of his attacks. For example, his forward smash was the most powerful f-smash in SSB 64, but in Melee, it is one of the weakest f-smashes.
- Final Cutter's horizontal and vertical distances have been reduced, nerfing his recovery.
- Opponents can now escape out of Kirby's back throw, making Kirbycide a riskier option.
- Horizontal air speed is drastically slower.
Link
- Up smash has less vertical reach, and a smaller hitbox, lowering its effectiveness.
- Spin Attack can no longer reliably KO when used in the air.
- Grab range has been lowered, and Link can no longer grab opponents in the air.
- Boomerangs have slightly less range.
Luigi
- Air speed has been reduced.
- Fireball's hitbox size has been decreased.
- Super Jump Punch no longer gains horizontal distance and doesn't travel as far vertically.
- The height gained from Luigi Cyclone has been reduced and requires considerably faster button taps to go upward, nerfing his vertical recovery.
Mario
- Up smash has been weakened in knockback.
- Fireball's size has been decreased.
- The distance Super Jump Punch gained was reduced.
- New forward smash has an added sourspot.
- The meteor smash hitboxes of Mario Tornado have been removed.
Ness
- A general decrease in the speed and reach of his attacks.
- PK Thunder travels a shorter distance.
- Forward smash is slightly slower.
- Forward throw can no longer KO reliably, due to little knockback scaling.
- Up smash and down smash are much weaker.
Pikachu
- Significantly decreased air speed.
- A general decrease in the reach of its attacks.
- Pikachu is generally more vulnerable to combos, especially chain throws.
- Thunder no longer has infinite vertical reach.
- Quick Attack has less invincibility frames when used and doesn't travel as far.
Samus
- Dashing speed is slower.
- Back aerial has less reach and power.
- Screw Attack no longer traps enemies as easily.
- Charge Shot no longer travels an infinite distance.
- Down aerial has slower start-up lag.
Yoshi
- Special Moves are generally less effective
- Yoshi's combo ability against floaty characters was generally hindered.
- Slower DJC combos.
- Forward aerial has 4/3× the start-up lag it did in SSB.
- Down aerial's damage potential was slightly reduced from 56% to 53%.
Characters who had attributes nerfed from Melee to Super Smash Bros. Brawl
A general nerf to all characters in Brawl is notably less comboing ability, due to the reduced hitstun and loss of L-Cancelling in Brawl. However, this affected characters to varying degrees.
Bowser
- Many attacks, such as his forward smash and up aerial, are slightly weaker in terms of knockback.
Captain Falcon
- A general decrease in the power and speed of his attacks.
- Dashing speed was reduced and is no longer the fastest, being surpassed by Sonic.
- Traction was reduced.
- Forward smash was weakened significantly (went from being the 3rd most powerful forward smash to 19th).
- Down aerial needs to be sweetspotted to meteor smash. It is also weaker, has a smaller hitbox size, and the nipple spike hitbox was removed.
- Forward aerial (Knee Smash) is much more difficult to sweetspot (as no longer is just landing the initial hitbox required to sweetspot), and the sweetspot hitbox's knockback was slightly reduced.
- Falcon Kick no longer regains Falcon's midair jump when used in the air.
- Falcon Punch is slightly weaker.
- Captain Falcon is noted for being one of the characters most adversely affected by the physics changes in Brawl, where he lost his valuable moonwalk and dash dance. His comboing ability was also more severely hindered than other characters were by the loss of L-Cancelling and decreased hitstun.
Donkey Kong
- Giant Punch has less reach and knockback when fully charged.
- Spinning Kong does less knockback. Additionally, it now has landing lag.
Falco
- Dashing speed was reduced.
- Down tilt was greatly weakened, no longer being able to reliably KO under 150%. Its sweetspot hitbox is also smaller, making it more difficult to land.
- New forward smash is slower, weaker, and has a larger sourspot hitbox.
- New neutral aerial is significantly weaker in terms of knockback, and is not a KO option.
- Fire Bird travels a shorter distance, is now a multi-hit attack, and is significantly weaker, no longer being able to KO.
- Falco Phantasm's meteor smash is weaker.
- New Reflector removes Falco's Shine combos, and it does not have a start-up lag of 1 frame. Additionally, it can no longer be held indefinitely.
- Brawl's physic changes greatly reduced Falco's vertical endurance, as falling speed has a smaller impact on a character's vertical endurance.
Fox
- Up and down tilts are weaker.
- Up smash is slightly weaker (it is however, often considered the best up smash in Brawl).
- Up aerial is significantly weaker, only becoming a reliable KO move until 150%. Its sweetspot is also smaller.
- Fire Fox is weaker and can no longer KO.
- Fox Illusion is much weaker.
- Blaster travels roughly half the distance it did in Melee.
- Reflector no longer has a start-up lag of 1 frame.
- New back aerial has slower startup, more ending lag, shorter hitbox duration, and less reach.
- Despite being heavier, Fox sustains more knockback in Brawl. Falling speed having a smaller impact on a character's vertical endurance also significantly reduced Fox's vertical endurance.
- Removal of wave dashing causes Fox's Shine combos to be no longer possible.
Ganondorf
- A general decrease in the speed of his attacks.
- Reduced walking and dashing speed.
- Reduced jumping height.
- Neutral attack is significantly slower, and can no longer be landed multiple times in succession.
- New forward tilt has less reach, and more ending lag.
- Up tilt was significantly weakened, and given sourspot hitboxes (though it is still the strongest tilt attack in Brawl).
- New up smash is weaker and slower.
- Down smash was significantly weakened, which while it could KO under 100% in Melee, it cannot reliably KO under 150% in Brawl. It also has significantly more ending lag.
- Grabbing reach was reduced to being the shortest grab Brawl.
- Up throw and down throw can no longer chain throw.
- Second kick of the neutral aerial was significantly weakened, no longer being able to KO.
- Forward aerial is significantly slower, having a significant increase in start-up, ending, and landing lag. It was also given a sourspot hitbox on Ganondorf's arm, making it significantly less effective at close ranges.
- Back aerial's knockback was significantly weakened (though it can still reliably KO under 150%).
- Down aerial now has a sourspot hitbox on Ganondorf's upper body, and the attack's hitbox overall is slightly smaller.
- Dark Dive is significantly weaker, no longer being able to KO at realistic percentages outside stage spiking. It is also now possible to hit Ganondorf out of Dark Dive once he releases his opponent.
- Wizard's Foot no longer enables a midair jump if one was used already, which significantly nerfs his recovery. The grounded Wizard's Foot was also significantly weakened, no longer being a reliable KO mover under 150%.
- Considered to be the character most adversely affected by the loss of L-cancelling, which greatly reduced the utility of his powerful but laggy aerials that he relied upon in Melee.
Ice Climbers
- Smashes are weaker in knockback.
- Popo's hammer no longer has a meteor smash hitbox when the forward aerial is used, requiring Nana to be present for the forward aerial to meteor smash.
- Wobbling is no longer possible.
- The removal of wave dashing has significantly hindered the Ice Climbers' mobility and approach.
Jigglypuff
- Forward smash is weaker.
- Smashes are slower and have longer ending lag.
- Forward throw can no longer KO reliably.
- Neutral aerial, up aerial, and most notably, its back aerial, were weakened.
- Rest was significantly weakened (though it can still KO under 100%).
- The reduced hitstun in Brawl greatly hindered Jigglypuff's combo ability, more so than other characters. Jigglpuff's Wall of Pain is also notably less effective.
Kirby
- Forward and back throws can no longer Kirbycide. His up throw can only Kirbycide on certain stages in very specific situations.
- Swallowcide now KOs Kirby and his victim at the same time, no longer allowing Kirby to escape after the opponent is KO'd.
Link
- Air speed was significantly reduced.
- Infinite sword stab in neutral attack removed.
- Grabbing reach was reduced.
- Aerial approach is significantly poorer, due to the loss of L-cancelling and a reduced air speed.
- Grounded Spin Attack can no longer semi-spike. Additionally, it can no longer act as a reliable KO move on the ground unless charged.
- Significant nerf in recovery, due to lower airspeed, reduced horizontal and vertical movement with Spin Attack, and the lack of the ability to wall-grapple.
- His Boomerang, replaced with Gale Boomerang, has reduced range and speed, and doesn't have a damaging hitbox when returning (instead it pulls opponent with it).
Luigi
- Forward and down aerials are significantly weaker, both no longer being reliable KO moves under 150%.
- Fireballs travel a shorter distance.
- Jump height was slightly reduced (though it is still the 2nd highest).
- Super Jump Punch has increased landing lag, making it more punishable when whiffed.
- The removal of wavedashing has significantly reduced Luigi's mobility, and made approaching significantly more difficult.
- Misfire travels a shorter distance, making it less useful as a recovery move. Additionally, it now has ending lag if Luigi runs into a wall.
Mario
- The power and reach of many of his attacks have been slightly decreased.
- Forward smash has a larger sourspot hitbox.
- Back throw was weakened significantly.
- Cape is less useful for recovery.
- Neutral aerial is weaker.
- Forward aerial now needs to be sweetspotted to meteor smash and its meteor smash is weaker.
- Fireballs travel a shorter distance.
- Opponents being able to grab the ledge from behind in Brawl has reduced Cape's effectiveness as an edgeguard tool.
- Mario Tornado being replaced with F.L.U.D.D. has greatly reduced Mario's recovery potential.
- Super Jump Punch now has landing lag.
Marth
- Dashing speed has been reduced.
- A shorter sword has resulted in a general decrease in the reach of Marth's attacks.
- Sweetspot of sword was significantly reduced in size, particularly in his down air.
- Neutral attack is slower.
- Grabbing reach was reduced. Additionally, different trajectories of Marth's throws have removed most of his combo ability with them.
- Down aerial now being a meteor smash instead of a spike, along with having a significantly smaller sweetspot hitbox, has greatly reduced its effectiveness at edge guarding.
- Tipped down smash and up tilt are weaker.
- Shield Breaker being a stab instead of an overhead swing has removed its vertical reach, and greatly reduced its effectiveness at edge guarding. Additionally, it's shield damage is slightly weaker.
- Dancing Blade can no longer be used to extend Marth's recovery.
- The removal of wavedashing has resulted in approaching being more difficult for Marth.
Mr. Game & Watch
- Down tilt is significantly weaker, no longer being a reliable KO move under 150%.
- New neutral aerial is significantly weaker knockback wise, and is not a KO option.
- Significant reduction of Oil Panic's maximum damage, being reduced from 200% to 60%.
- Up aerial now has a push effect making it harder to land a second hit after landing a first hit.
Ness
- Forward smash is slightly slower.
- Up aerial has less reach with a smaller hitbox.
- PK Flash is less controllable in horizontal direction, and it doesn't activate automatically once it hits the ground (instead the move cancels out). PK Flash also has a significantly smaller hitbox.
- Ness can no longer double jump cancel, reducing his approach and combo options.
Peach
- Substantially reduced air speed.
- Midair jumping height was significantly decreased.
- Down smash is drastically weaker, now dealing only two hits of low knockback and damage. The removal of crouch cancelling has also greatly reduced its effectiveness. It is considered to have went from being the best down smash to one of the worst, and to be the most severely nerfed attack in the series.
- Forward throw is significantly weaker, no longer being a KO option.
- Peach can no longer double jump cancel, impairing her approach and combo options.
Pikachu
- Forward smash is weaker, especially its sourspot hitbox.
- Up smash was significantly weakened (went from being the strongest up smash to the 25th strongest).
- Up aerial's semi-spike hitbox was weakened and is more difficult to land.
Samus
- Projectile game and finishers were weakened in general.
- Neutral aerial was significantly weakened (went from being the second strongest sex kick to one of the weakest).
- Charge Shot was significantly weakened (could KO under 80% in Melee, but can't KO under 125% reliably in Brawl).
- Smash Missiles are slower, do not home in as reliably and drastically weaker (they could KO under 150% in Melee, but are unable to even KO at 300% in Brawl).
- Bombs are less effective for recovery, and no longer explode when in contact with opponents (only after their internal timer is finished).
- Removal of Wall grapple has made Samus's recovery much shorter.
Sheik
- Up smash is much weaker, and its sourspot can no longer KO reliably.
- Down throw is incapable of chain throwing.
- All of her aerials were weakened (back, up, and neutral aerials can not reliably KO under 150% if not stale and forward aerial can not KO above 150%).
- Down aerial is a stall-then-fall aerial, and has increased landing lag.
- Sheik sustains more knockback in Brawl. She only slightly outlasts Zelda vertically, and she is outlasted by Zelda when knocked back horizontally.
Yoshi
- Forward and up smashes were slightly weakened while down smash was weakened significantly, and has increased start-up and ending lag.
- Forward aerial now needs to be sweetspotted to meteor smash, and it is much weaker (it is an average meteor smash in terms of power in Brawl, while it was the second strongest meteor smash in Melee). Additionally, 4 extra frames was added to the start-up lag.
- Down aerial's damage potential was significantly reduced (however, it still deals the most damage of all aerial attacks).
- His eggs are weaker and can no longer be tossed backwards.
- Egg Roll can no longer can be used for recovery as it gains almost no distance at all.
- Yoshi Bomb was weakened.
- Yoshi can no longer double jump cancel.