Snake (PM)

Snake in Project M and Project+
Universe	Metal Gear
Base game appearance	Brawl
Moveset inspiration	Snake (SSBB)
Alternate costume	Big Boss Snake

Snake is a playable character in the Brawl mod Project M. He has been given new moves and several buffs as well as nerfs for his Project M showing.

Snake ranks 12th out of 41, at the midst of the A- tier, on the official tier list, a small drop from his 6th-place position out of 38 on the Brawl tier list.

Attributes

Snake is a fairly tall, heavy character with a wide array of projectiles and explosives. Many of his normal attacks are quick to start up and have well-placed, powerful hitboxes that lead into each other. However, his movement on the ground is only average, and in the air it is slightly worse, though using B-reverses can help alleviate this. Snake excels at dealing high-damage combos, setting traps, juggling airborne opponents, surviving and recovering from incredibly long distances, and KOing foes off the top blast zone. He also possesses strong defensive tools such as a long grab range, quick moves out of shield, a strong crouch cancel (due to his high weight) and a crouching animation that ducks under many commonly used moves. His primary weakness is that he lacks reliable tools to approach opponents - this means he can struggle against characters that are faster than he is, have longer-ranged attacks, can out-camp his projectiles, or have some combination of those things. He is also easily combo'd himself if the opponent manages to land a clean hit. Furthermore, while his recovery tools can allow Snake to travel very long distances, he is sometimes forced to blow himself up or take a very predictable route back to the stage.

Because the Project M metagame rewards defensive play much less than Brawl does, Snake's campy special moveset has received several new tools to keep it on par. His Grenades can now be rolled and explode twice as quickly, and despite now being limited to one at a time, this allows Snake to spam them more quickly and frequently without having to "cook" them to prevent foes from throwing them back at him. Cypher now deals damage and knockback even while Snake is still hanging onto it, and although it is slightly less useful and safe for recovery, the move is now Snake's best out of shield option due to its fast startup, weak knockback, and advantageous positioning. His Remote Missile was replaced with Tranquilizer Gun, which launches a very small sleep-inducing projectile that combines well with the changes to C4's reliability and power. With its new buffs, C4 no longer transfers between players or disappears (unless it is detonated or Snake is KOed), and Snake can now fake pressing the detonator, so if Snake is struggling against a campy player, he can simply use the Tranquilizer Gun to get close enough to place C4 to serve as a way to break future stalemates – or to feint a detonation to force the foe to shield or dodge, at which point he can punish with an attack or grab.

Snake's ground attacks received some adjustments oriented both toward combo potential and KO potential. His jab and all of his tilts keep enemies closer; in particular, the first stage of his forward tilt now weakly bounces targets straight up, allowing the move to rack up damage in succession and keep opponents close much more efficiently than his jab does. Meanwhile, his smash attacks were reworked for KO potential, with his down-smash mines receiving a substantial boost in knockback and his up-smash mortar no longer having a random, uncontrollable angle. Snake's new knife forward-smash, while seemingly more oriented toward speed than launching power, consists of two stages that both end in powerful strikes, allowing for punishment opportunities on shielding foes based on whether Snake strikes with the first stage or both. While Snake's up- and down-throws received only minor tweaks, his forward- and back-throws, which still bounce the foe horizontally across the ground, now consist of mostly set knockback and are now designed to be more effective at leading into a mine. Additionally, Snake's new ability to drag foes left or right during a grab can more advantageously position him to reliably throw a foe onto a mine.

Listed below are numerical values for many of Snake's attributes. The raw number comes first (often in terms of in-game units of distance or speed), followed by how it ranks among the 41 characters in Project M. Note that the grab range rankings do not include characters with tether grabs.

• Weight - 105 (9th)
• Max Fall Speed - 2.12 (15th)
• Fast Fall Speed - 2.89 (14th)
• Gravity (Falling Acceleration) - 0.098 (23rd)
• Jumpsquat Frames - 5
• Max Run Speed - 1.55 (22nd)
• Max Walk Speed - 0.875 (30th)
• Max Air Speed - 0.94 (25th)
• Aerial Mobility - 0.55 (24th)
• Standing Grab Range - 17.2482 (6th)
• Dash Grab Range - 16.7382 (4th)
• Pivot Grab Range - 18.0387 (10th)
• Wavedash Distance - 24.68 (30th)

Changes from Brawl to PM

Snake received buffs, nerfs, and general changes from Brawl to Project M designed to make him more suitable for the mod's offensive metagame while balancing him and giving his signature defensive options some buffs.

Snake's Big Boss palette swap.

Aesthetics

• Up taunt has been changed to a taunt where Snake briefly smokes, taking 1% damage when he does so. He then drops the cigarette in front of him, causing 4% flame damage to nearby opponents. However, after lighting the cigarette, Snake can jump to cancel the taunt and keep it in his mouth. It can then be thrown by using up taunt again.
• Down taunt is still his Cardboard Box, but has the speed of the former up taunt.
• Side taunt now has Snake speak into his codec, saying "Colonel, mission accomplished", similar to in one of his victory poses.
• Snake now uses regular punching and kicking SFX for his attacks, rather than unique ones.

Attributes

• Jump squat is 5 frames long, down from 10 in Brawl. This allows Snake to jump much more quickly.
• Snake's grounded jump height has been increased, which along with the faster falling speeds and addition of L-canceling, allow better and less risky usage of his aerial attacks and also equip him with a powerful SHFFL.
• Grab release glitch from Brawl has been removed. (with one edge-case of Kirby Inhale Grab-release still causing the glitch)
• Snake dashes faster (1.35 → 1.55)
• Snake walks slightly faster (0.84 → 0.875)
• The general new physics of Project M, which include enhanced air movements and the re-introduction of techniques such as wavedashing, increase the pace of many characters' playstyles, allowing most of the cast to overcome Snake's metagame, which was one of the most powerful in Brawl. Overall, Snake does not benefit as much from these techniques other than L-canceling, compared to other characters.
• Significantly lighter (113 → 105), going from a super heavyweight to a normal heavyweight; Snake now is only slightly heavier than Captain Falcon and Link and weighs the same as Ike.

Ground Attacks

• Third hit of neutral attack deals 1% more damage.
  • Jab combo has less KO potential.
• First hit of forward tilt now causes grounded opponents to bounce upwards, allowing the second hit to connect more reliably and is faster on hit due to less hitlag.
• Both hits of forward tilt no longer have large disjointed hitboxes.
• Second Hit of forward tilt now deals consistent damage (9%/10%/12% → 10%).
• Snake has a new up tilt: an uppercut. It has much better combo potential than his previous up tilt.
• New up tilt no longer has its large disjointed hitbox in front of him. It also has significantly less range, less KO potential, and deals less damage (13% (clean)/12% (late) → 12%/10%.
• Down tilt now has a clean hitbox that deals 1% more damage, and has better combo set ups than Brawl at lower percents, allowing it to set up for a grab.
• Down tilt has weaker knockback (50 (base)/110/100 (scaling) → 35/80.
• Dash attack sourspot deals 1% more damage.
• Snake has gained a crawl attack: a knife stab. This deals low damage and knockback, allowing it to set up for combos at high percents.
• Snake has a new forward smash: a three hit knife combo, where Snake slashes twice in front of him, then performs a third stronger slash with a second press of the attack button. It is much faster than his previous forward smash and deals 4% more damage if all hits connect.
• New forward smash has less KO potential, and the third hit is easy to DI out of at high percents.
• Up smash's mortars deal more damage, and their horizontal angle is no longer random; instead, the player can control it similar to Ivysaur's Seed Bomb.
• Down smash has less ending lag, and mines can now KO at lower percentages along with having a larger detection radius.
• Down smash mine is now purple instead of yellow.
• Can no longer Gatling Combo.

Aerial Attacks

• Neutral aerial's number of kicks has been reduced from four to three, allowing all kicks to connect in a short hop and rack up damage to launch the opponent afterwards.
• Neutral aerial deals significantly less total damage due to the removal of the fourth kick, dealing 15% in total rather than 28%. The last kick also deals less knockback.
• Tip of forward aerial now spikes, making it a deadlier edge-guarding move when spaced correctly, and also deals 1% more damage. The sweetspot makes it a stronger KO move, especially on the ground.
• Forward aerial no longer boosts Snake vertically, this removes it's ability to help Snake's recovery, but makes it somewhat easier to land.
• Forward aerial now has a motion trail.
• All hitboxes of back aerial deal consistent damage of its highest damaging hitbox, and deals 2% more damage.
• Back air has more startup (frame 7 → 8), the clean hit also deals less damage (16%/14% → 14%/13%/12%) and has less knockback overall (40 (base)/90 (scaling) → 20/100). Back air also has a shorter duration (7-26 → 8-22).
• Up air now has two sourspots on the clean hit, both of which deal less damage (14% → 13%/12%).
• Up air has altered knockback (40 (base)/95 (scaling) → 35/100)
• Down aerial is faster and its last stomp is now a meteor smash, also acting better as an edge-guarding move.
• Down aerial deals 12% less damage, and can no longer KO onstage opponents properly.

Grabs and Throws

• Snake can now drag grabbed enemies sideways by using the left and right taunt buttons.
• Forward and back throws are significantly weaker, but can now used to throw opponents into mines and C4s.
• Up throw is a stronger finisher, and can chain grab at lower percents.
• Down throw deals 2% more damage (12% → 14%) and is faster, forcing the opponent to act faster and racking up more damage as a tech-chasing move.

Special Moves

• Hand Grenades explode much faster after thrown and do slightly more damage when thrown at the opponent. Snake can also now roll his grenades forward by tilting down as he is about to throw them, resulting the Grenade traveling less distance if needed.
  • Grenades now spawn on frame 8 instead of frame 1, and only one Grenade can be active at a time.
• Snake has a new side special: Tranquilizer Gun; Snake shoots a small tranquilizing dart that puts a grounded opponent to sleep and causes airborne opponents to flinch, causing 1% damage either way. It can be fired three times before the clip becomes empty and Snake must reload. Trying to shoot while the clip is empty will force Snake to reload, but he can also reload at any point by pressing Side-B and then Shield during the first few frames of the animation. It has more utility than the Remote Missile, being much faster and allowing Snake to easily punish foes affected by the attack.
• Cypher now emits electricity when used, and causes opponents to take 6% damage flinch when in close radius. It additionally has a slightly better horizontal movement.
  • Cypher gains less vertical distance, and it no longer grants Snake armor.
• C4s produce more vertical knockback to compensate for the faster falling speeds. In addition, they no longer disappear unless Snake is KO'd or sets them off, and the detonation animation can be canceled by holding the special button for a feint.
  • C4 no longer transfers between players, and Snake says "There!" upon sticking it to a character, making the move more noticeable.

Revisions

v2.5b

• The second hit of forward tilt is stronger.
• Neutral air's last hit is stronger.
• Back air sweetspot lasts slightly longer.
• Back air angles switched.
• Up tilt's animation is touched up.
• Up smash knockback and angle adjusted.
• Cypher hitboxes are closer in to Snake.
• Cypher adjusted in knockback and angle.
• C4 explosion hitbox shifted upwards to match the graphic and hits slightly longer.

v2.6b

• Jab 1's outermost hitbox shifted inward slightly.
• Dash attack ends slightly earlier.
• Crawl Stab's base knockback has been slightly increased.
• Crawl stab's knockback growth has been slightly decreased.
• Up smash comes out slightly faster and can now be angled by holding left or right.
• Pivot grab has a bit more startup to match other pivot grabs.
• Up throw has slightly more ending lag.
• Hand Grenade has a new throw option, a low throw which Snake "rolls" the grenade on the ground.
• The player must now press up to toss the grenade back instead of back.
• Cypher can sweetspot the edge more easily.
• Cypher is now wavebounceable.

v3.0

• Neutral air's last hit sends at a slightly lower angle.
• Forward air has reduced knockback growth.
• Standing grab has much less reverse range.
• Up tilt has a more polished animation.
• Forward smash has a more polished animation.
• Forward smash start up very slightly decreased.
• C4 aerial stick hitbox moved up and slightly in.
• Tranquilizer Gun has a 3 dart clip that can be reloaded prematurely by holding shield within six frames starting side B.
• Up taunt replaced with a cigarette smoking taunt.

v3.01

• Forward smash no longer displays all of Snake's facial expressions at once.
• Fixed graphical issues during the second hit of forward smash.
• Up tilt animation reverted to demo 2.6's Utilt animation.
• Snake can now reload Tranquilizer Gun even when he hasn't taken any shots.

v3.5

• Back air now deals 14%/13%/12% based on hitbox, instead of acting like a sex kick.
• Dash grab has lower hitboxes that can grab short crouching characters.
• Up tilt is no longer intangible around Snake's arm.
• Crawl tilt has increased hitlag and SDI multiplier.
• Forward aerial can only spike with the heel hitbox; the rest of the hitbox is now a meteor smash. All hitboxes also have less knockback growth and deal 1% less damage.
• Down aerial's first three hitboxes have a higher SDI multiplier.
• Standing grab can no longer grab short crouching characters.
• Cypher decreases in height for each aerial use until Snake lands on the ground, and the attack's damage is reduced to 5% damage from 8% damage.
  • No longer gains invincibility when used on ground.
  • Ability to air dodge after using any aerial attacks has been removed.
• C4 has slightly less knockback and 1% less damage, but trajectory is slightly better. Detonating C4 has slower interruptibility.
• Interruptibility for setting C4 normalized to be the same for both grounded and aerial versions.
  • Jump cancel for setting C4 in the air removed.
• Down smash mine placed higher up for easier detection.

Moveset

Up to date as of version 3.6.

	Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		4%	Snake punches twice, then performs a spinkick. The final kick has high knockback but can be powershielded depending on the character, even if the combo is done as fast as possible. Based off the attack combo from Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. The first jab can also be canceled into a f-tilt or a grab.
		3%
		8%
Forward tilt		8%	Snake does a knee-thrust forward and if the attack button is pressed again, he will follow up with an overhead swing with both arms. This move is seen during a cutscene in Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes when Snake fights Grey Fox. The first hitbox has extremely fast start-up and good horizontal reach. On grounded opponents, it bounces them upward with set knockback, causing hitstun but no knockback, which allows Snake to link the opponent into the second hitbox. Since the knee hitbox bounces grounded enemies upward, it can set up an up tilt. The second hitbox has fast start-up as well. This move can be used for general damage racking, as a punishing move, for KOing, and it is also a useful out-of-shield option, as it takes hardly any frames for the hitbox to come out. However, enemies can powershielded out of the knee hitbox to avoid the second hitbox. During the first hitbox, Snake's right leg is intangible.
		10%
Up tilt		12% (clean), 10% (late)	Snake performs a quick uppercut with his right hand. This move has low start-up, great vertical reach, and surprisingly good horizontal reach, as well as great vertical knockback, capable of KOing lightweights around 120% while KOing heavyweights around 160%. Higher knockback when the hit connects earlier on in the attack, though the sourspot will still reliably KO under 150%.
Down tilt		11% (clean), 10% (late)	Snake does a low spin kick while prone. While this move is fast and has good vertical knockback, it is not as good as his forward and up tilt, due to having less reach than the forward tilt, and much less knockback than the up tilt. This move can still be used as a surprise KO move since it's usually fresh when used.
Crawl attack		5%	Snake thrusts a small dagger out on the ground in front of him. Deals weak vertical knockback, but can set up for combos at high percents.
Dash attack		11% (clean), 8% (late)	Snake does a somersault forward. Deals moderate knockback and moves Snake forward a fair amount. The somersault and subsequent transition to crouching are visually identical to those moves used by Snake in the Metal Gear Solid series.
Forward smash		6% (hit 1), 8% (hit 2)	Snake pulls out a small dagger in reverse-grip and holds it back before quickly slashing forward twice. By pressing the attack button again, he will perform a third slash that deals more damage and knockback. Due to knockback of the first two hits, it's often hard, if not almost impossible, for the third slash to hit the opponent, preventing all three hits from being a three-hit combo.
		12%
Up smash		4% (startup), 14% (mortar)	Snake slams a mortar in front of himself and fires a shell into the air. The movement of the shell is entirely vertical, with its horizontal movement being angled by holding the left or right on the control stick. Charging this move does not increase the shell's power, but it increases the speed at which it is fired, making it go higher. When fully charged, the shell travels great distances, reaching the top section of the watchtowers in Shadow Moses Island (if used at the bottom section of the stage), making it have the greatest vertical reach of any smash attack. The shell explodes if it makes contact with a ceiling, an opponent, a wall or the ground, no matter what direction it's moving in. Slamming down the mortar has a hitbox that produces very weak vertical knockback that knocks opponents into the mortar's line of fire. The shell cannot damage Snake unless it is reflected by moves like Reflector.
Down smash		14%	Snake starts digging a hole in the ground and places a landmine inside. A short while after planting the mine, it becomes active, and will detonate if anyone (including Snake) steps on it. If the platform the mine is set on disappears (such as on Rainbow Cruise or Delfino Plaza) the mine falls down and if it makes contact with anything, even the ground, it explodes. Snake can't plant more than one mine at a time, but it can be moved by using this attack again, which detonates it from its previous position and gets planted at Snake's current position. After a short time has passed or if Snake gets KO'd, the mine will self-detonate. The move itself is taken from Metal Gear and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.
Neutral aerial		3% (hit 1), 5% (hit 2), 7% (hit 3)	Snake performs three kicks in quick succession. The first kick has very fast start-up, but the whole move itself has slightly long duration with slight ending lag, making it punishable. All three kicks combo well into each other and is best performed high in the air, but can still come out in a short hop. Best used against airborne and large characters.
Forward aerial		15% (foot), 14% (leg)	Snake lifts his left leg over his head and axe-drops it down. This move has slow start-up and some ending lag, but it is a powerful move with great vertical and horizontal reach. Connecting this move on airborne opponents at Snake's foot is a spike while connecting at his leg result in a meteor smash. When used on grounded opponents, it deals powerful diagonal knockback.
Back aerial		12% (clean body), 13% (clean leg), 14% (clean foot), 10% (late)	Snake extends both his legs out behind him, planking in the air. This move has fairly fast start-up along with good reach and deals good horizontal knockback when sweetspotted, making it a effective move for edgeguarding. It has some ending lag, however.
Up aerial		12% (clean body), 13% (clean leg), 14% (clean foot), 10% (late)	Snake thrusts legs straight upwards, similar to his back aerial. This move fairly fast start-up with good vertical reach and powerful vertical knockback, but it has considerable ending lag. The move is useful for star KOing airborne opponents that are above 100%.
Down aerial		4% (hits 1-4)	Snake launches four subsequent kicks below himself. With a quick start-up, all four stomps can be performed in a short hop. The last stomp meteor smashes opponents. While somewhat laggy and punishable, this attack is good against shields, and is a great punishing move if Snake can predict where an opponent may end up after they performed a roll dodge. Unlike the neutral aerial, this move is generally better against grounded opponents.
Grab		—	Grabs and holds his opponent in a restraining chokehold, which is a grabbing position unique to Snake. In Project M Snake can move horizontally using the left and right taunt buttons during a grab.
Pummel		3%	Tightens his chokehold.
Forward throw		9%	Flips them over and drops them (scoop slam).
Back throw		9%	Turns around and slams opponent on the ground.
Up throw		10%	Performs a back suplex, slamming the opponent onto the ground. This throw can setup for an up tilt at low percentages.
Down throw		14%	Lays opponent on the floor, putting the opponent into the downed status. One of the best tech-chasing moves in the game and lets Snake get an addition grab or hit if he can predict how the enemy will recover.
Floor attack (front)		6%	Gets up while kicking his foot out on one side and punches on the other side.
Floor attack (back)		6%	Rotates his body around with both his feet sticking out and gets up.
Floor attack (trip)		5%	Does a swirling kick while getting up.
Edge attack (fast)		6% (body), 8% (leg)	Climbs on to the stage and performs a low sweep kick.
Edge attack (slow)		8% (body), 9% (hip), 10% (leg)	Slowly gets up and thrusts his left leg forward.
Neutral special	Hand Grenade	1-4% (throw), 11-12% (explosion)	Snake pulls out a grenade and unpins it. The grenade can be held for up to 1.5 second before it detonates, which can be "cooked" by holding the special button as soon a grenade is taken out. The distance Snake throws the grenade can be controlled by pressing either up, forward, down, or pressing no direction at all. Only one grenade can be out at a time and another one can't be produced until one explodes.
Side special	Tranquilizer	1%	Snake shoots a small tranquilizing projectile out of a gun that puts a grounded opponent to sleep, allowing for easy follow-ups and starting combos. If the opponent is in the air, they are slightly launched backward with set knockback. Reloads after three shots are fired. The projectile can also be reflected, which will make Snake fall asleep instead.
Up special	Cypher	6% (2 hits), 5% (camera)	Snake grabs onto a flying reconnaissance camera to slowly hover upwards. This move does not make Snake become helpless, but will take away his mid-air jump and he won't be able to air dodge. One can cancel the ride early by performing any attack (excluding the up special), or by pressing down, upon which the Cypher will become an upward projectile. Despite the large amount of vertical distance this move covers, Snake is very vulnerable to edgeguarding due to being defenseless while hanging on to the camera.
Down special	C4	16%	Snake bends down a plants a C4 on the ground where he is standing, drops one when used in the air, or sticks one towards a wall if he is standing near one. By using the move a second time, he takes out a remote and presses the button, detonating the explosive. If Snake is standing near an opponent, he can attach the C4 directly onto them, which functions like a Gooey Bomb. The detonation can be cancelled if Snake is attacked before he presses the button.
Final Smash	Grenade Launcher	18%	Snake leaps off the stage and grabs onto a rope ladder of a helicopter, shooting up to twelve rounds of grenades from the foreground. After firing six shots, Snake will reload another round of six shots. If no shots are fired within a few seconds, Snake will automatically shoot a grenade towards the crosshair.

In competitive play

Notable Players

Active

•  Arrow
•  Byrdman-Ranked 3rd in Idaho. Placed 3rd at GameTyrant Expo 2017 after defeating n0ne and Hungrybox.
•  FlashingFire - PM Snake Discord admin; PM Snake Guide co-author
•  Flipp - 10th on PMRank 2016; Best North American Snake player
•  Leon
•  Professor Pro - 12th on PMRank 2016; famous for his $100 money match against Rolex
•  Yata! - Data and mechanics expert; PM Snake Guide co-author
•  Yink

Switched to other Characters

•  MorKs
•  Sago

Inactive

•  Azer
•  Jonny Westside
•  Messi
•  MVD
•  Rolex

Alternate costumes

Snake's blue costume from Brawl has been replaced with a more distinctive one, making it more noticeable on Team Battles. In addition, he now has a costume based off of his father, Big Boss, aka Naked Snake.

Snake's alternate costumes in PM

Trivia

• In build prior to 3.0, Snake's up taunt would involve him touching his beard, saying either "Not even close!" or "Tasty!", which was much shorter than his current up taunt.
  • Also prior to 3.0, Snake still had his Nikita, functioning just like in Brawl, though it would always do 18% damage regardless of its speed.
• If Snake's up taunt is cancelled at the right time, he will hold the cigarette in his mouth for the remainder of the stock, or until he uses his up taunt again.
• As of version 3.5, despite the fact that Snake's grenade now has a timer of roughly 1.5 seconds, its graphics have not yet been updated and still reads "GRENADE,DELAY 3.0".
• If Snake uses his Cypher while standing underneath a ceiling of a certain height, he will land and be able to act again almost immediately. The move can be used in rapid succession in this scenario. The only known places where this occurs are the Hyrule Castle "tent" and the level 3 Break The Targets stage.

External links

• Big Boss alternate costume reveal thread
• Collaborative Project M Snake Guide