Mr. Game & Watch (PM)

Mr. Game & Watch; in Project M and Project+
	;
Universe	Game & Watch
Base game appearance	Brawl
Moveset inspiration	Mr. Game & Watch (SSBM), Mr. Game & Watch (SSBB)

Mr. Game & Watch is a playable character in the Brawl mod Project M. Because of his rather low standing on the Melee tier list, he has been significantly buffed for his appearance in Project M. He ranks 6th out of 41 on the official tier list, placing him in the A tier and significantly above his placements in Melee and Brawl, where he ranks 19th out of 26 and 16th out of 38, respectively.

Attributes

Mr. Game & Watch falls under the general lightweight archetype, being nimble and weak, while having few powerful moves (such as his up smash) that possess high KO potential. He has received a lot of buffs from Brawl, and got a slight re-working of his Side-Special, Judge; adding a few small tweaks to the mechanics of the move to make it easier to predict.

Compared to some other characters, Game & Watch is not as easy to combo as them as a result of being light, small, and floaty.

His inability to be combo'd efficiently, however, is exchanged for being heavily susceptible to juggles and KOs as a result of his light weight (tied with Fox as the third lightest) and relatively low falling speed, making him extremely easy to KO both horizontally and vertically.

Changes from Melee to PM

Mr. Game & Watch was significantly buffed from Melee to PM. Various issues he had in Melee such as his inability to L-cancel all of his aerials and his extremely small shield were fixed. Some (but not all) of the improvements he had in Brawl were retained while various moves in his moveset had various adjustments to make them more effective such as an increase in power or speed. His specials also received various improvements. Chef is much faster, Fire no longer leaves Mr. Game & Watch helpless and Judgement received various changes to make it more effective. Dots now appear above Judgement to show whether the next judge will be an odd or even number and judges 2-8 are significantly more effective. Judge also retains the advanced techniques it gained from Brawl.

Mr. Game & Watch only received a small number of minor nerfs from his Melee counterpart. He also lacks some of the improvements he had in Brawl such as the lower landing lag on his aerials and his parachute after using Fire. As well as this, he also maintains the grab release glitch he received in Brawl.

Overall, Mr. Game & Watch is more effective than he was in both games and his tournament results are stronger than they have ever been in other Smash games.

Attributes

He is significantly heavier weighing the same as he did in Brawl (60 → 75), no longer being as light as Jigglypuff and is now tied with Fox in weight.
His Shield is larger now covering his whole body.
Grab release glitch from Brawl has not been removed.

Ground attacks

Forward tilt has less startup lag with a longer duration (frames 13-30 → 10-34), can be interrupted as quickly as the hitbox diminishes (frame 42 → 35), and its sweetspot deals more damage (10% → 13%) improving its KO potential.
Forward tilt now has a weaker late hit (10% → 8%).
Up tilt deals more damage (9% → 12%) imrpoving its KO potential.
Down tilt has its range from Brawl and its knockback from Melee, and its aerial hitbox deals more knockback and damage (9% → 10%).
Dash attack deals more knockback (70 (base), 30 (scaling) → 60/50), has less startup lag with a longer duration (frames 6-29 → 3-28) and its clean hit deals more damage (10% → 9%).
Dash attack is now cancelable, allowing Mr. Game & Watch to DACUS. Unlike in Brawl where his DACUS covered no distance, his DACUS covers a decently long distance being the third longest DACUS in Project M.
Mr. Game and Watch uses a previously unused smash attack charge sound from Brawl whenever a smash attack is charged.
Forward smash has increased base knockback (44 → 50) and less ending lag (frame 42 → 41).
Forward smash has a slightly shorter duration (frames 13-33 → 13-32).
Up smash deals more damage (18% → 21%) and has increased knockback growth (96 → 100) making it the second strongest up smash in Project M.
Up smash has more ending lag (frame 40 → 44).
Down smash's sourspot retains its power from Brawl (10% → 13%) (10 (base), 50 (scaling) → 50/66) and the sweetspot deals more damage (16% → 17%) and knockback growth (90 → 132 (grounded), 100 (aerial).

Aerial attacks

All of Mr. Game & Watch's aerials can now be L-cancelled.
Neutral aerial deals more damage (16% → 17%).
Neutral aerial has more landing lag (15 frames → 17).
Forward aerial has less staartup lag (frame 10 → 9) and its sweetspot deals more knockback and the sourspot deals more damage (6% → 7%).
Back aerial's hitboxes link better into each into other. It also has a longer duration (frames 10-21 → 10-22) and deals more damage due to changes to stale move negation (18% → 20%).
Back aerial has more landing lag (18 frames → 20).
Up aerial now only consists of one hit. Because of this, it has drastically less ending lag (frame 40 → 18), and it can be used rapidly for juggling. It also has less startup lag (frame 7 → 3) and it now has a landing hit. It can now auto-cancel in a short hop and be performed twice in a short hop.
Up aerial uses its sound effects from Brawl.
Up aerial is significantly weaker dealing less damage (7% (hit 1), 9% (hit 2), 15% (total) → 9%).
Down aerial has less ending lag (frame 50 → 42) and its meteor hitbox deals 1% more damage (14% → 15%).
Down aerial's landing hitbox now spike-bounces.

Throws

Down throw deals more damage (8% → 10%) and meteor smashes opponents akin to its Brawl counterpart allowing Mr. Game & Watch to tech-chase his opponents with it.

Special moves

Mr. Game & Watch maintains his ability to B-reverse Chef and Judgement. He also retains his edge momentum shift technique (although he can no longer perform it with Chef).
Chef has less startup (frame 16 → 8) and ending lag (frame 50 → 39) and it cancels on landing, similar to Falco's lasers.
Judgement numbers 2 through 8 are significantly more powerful. Numbers now also show one or two lights above them, indicating whether the next number will be even or odd - one dot means it will be odd, two dots means it will be even.
- #2 stuns foes and causes flowering.
- #3 deals significant shield damage.
- #4 now semi-spikes with high fixed knockback.
- #5 hits more fluidly and deals higher damage.
- #6 is a stronger semi-spike.
- #7 is a significantly stronger KO move with more knockback scaling than his uncharged up smash and has the potential to heal 20% (10% for the move itself, and another 10% for the apple).
- #8 does more than double the damage and freezes for longer.
Fire no longer causes helplessness and allows Mr. Game & Watch to act with any action afterwards (except an air dodge), like in Brawl but without the parachute and ability to air dodge.
Fire no longer deals consistent damage (6% → 8%/6%/4%).
Fire has a shorter duration (frames 1-37 → 1-29).
Oil Panic has less ending lag (frame 50 → 44) after catching a projectile, and will usually OHKO when it is full. It can also now be used as an attack despite the amount of oil in the bucket. A full bucket attack now has intangibility during its first 6 frames.
Oil Panic has more startup lag (frame 5 → 6) and a full bucket attack has a shorter duration (frames 2-37 → 2-26).

Revisions

v2.5b

Weight increased from Melee and is now the same as NTSC Melee Kirby's.
Rapid Jab IASA is earlier to match the IASA on Jab 1.
Up smash damage and knockback increased.
Neutral aerial parachute positioning better matched to Melee to have much better coverage on the sides and underneath.
Forward aerial knockback growth increased.
Forward and back throws have less endlag.
Judgment hammers 2-8 adjusted in various ways to reward Mr. Game & Watch a lot more.
Fire is able to IASA into all moves at the peak that he can normally do while falling after using Fire rather than aerials only, can do so slightly earlier, and can use air mobility during that time.
Oil Panic attack IASA is earlier.
Oil Panic minimum damage is decreased slightly.
Oil Panic absorb collision is decreased in size.
Rapid Jab modified to not loop twice (4 hits) easily when trying to only loop once (2 hits).
Dash Attack hit duration is slightly increased, base knockback reduced a bit, and growth increased.
Forward tilt timing of when the chair is out and when it hits corrected to match.
Forward tilt and up tilt sound effects timing fixed.
Forward aerial had a misplaced hitbox during the back hit that was fixed, now allowing it to hit much further above and behind him.
Up aerial has an added landing hitbox identical to the aerial one except slightly less damage.
Down aerial upper and lower hitboxes both meteor on the initial hit instead of only the top.
Up throw has much less base knockback and more growth.
Quick edge jump works properly on sloped edges.
Chef getting stuck in autofire bug has been fixed.
Aerial Neutral B pan hitbox is lower and matches its position on the ground.
Chef pan hitbox does more damage, less base knockback, and much more growth.
Judgment maintains more horizontal momentum when used.
Judgment hit windows increased to match Melee, and added stronger sound effects to some of them.
Judgment adjusted so that the 1st hammer of the match cannot be a 1 or a 2, and the 2nd hammer cannot be a 1.
Fire falls more naturally and doesn't tug backwards at the peak when angled.
Fire is stronger early in the attack, weaker near the end, and the knockback is reversible.
Oil Panic minimum hold time slightly reduced and is much more consistent, always releasing immediately if it has been held for that amount of time already.
Oil Panic initial horizontal momentum slightly increased.
Oil Panic attack can be activated by pressing B at any time the bucket is being held out with a charge in it, with more charges resulting in a larger attack area.

v2.6b

Teching while rolling and standing are slightly delayed at the start to be harder to read, while keeping its invincibility, distance, and total durations as before.
Forward smash is capable of hitting multiple times.
Down smash sweetspot on the hammers is now a meteor against grounded opponents with compensated knockback, allowing for combos at low damage.
Down throw does slightly more damage.
Chef foods do slightly less damage at normal size.
Dash attack has a hitbox at the very start of the move that sends enemies forward.
Forward tilt's late hit is weaker, sends more vertically, and is slightly smaller in size.
Down aerial is interruptible sooner in the air.
All throws appear identical in animation until the opponent is released.
All Chef foods are fire element and able to melt ice, instead of only Shrimp.
Chef depending on frequency of use has a chance of launching large foods that spin slower, are more damaging, and stun longer than normal. Damage scales a little bit on each with Sausage<Shrimp<Fish<Steak.
Chef foods random trajectories can be limited to the upper or lower three by holding up or down.
Chef pan hit window is a bit shorter.
Judgment has new graphical effects to indicate whether the next judgment hammer will be an odd or even number.

v3.0

Weight slightly increased.
Chef has 4 frames of landing lag instead of instantly switching to wait upon landing.
Judgement #3's shield damage reduced.
Dash lengthened.
Forward smash loop hitboxes removed, now possesses a weaker late flub hitbox.
Super food is removed.

v3.5

Rapid jab has increased range.
Up tilt's hitbox comes out earlier.
Up smash causes less damage, does less knockback, and has more endlag.
Forward aerial's flub hit damage increased and has increased knockback growth.
Up aerial's knockback value has been altered.
All throw speeds have increased.
Meat from Chef causes more damage.
- However, continuous use causes the pieces of meat to be smaller and weaker.
Judgement #2 now stuns opponents along with giving them a flower effect.
Judgement #3 is more powerful and deals more knockback.
- It now deals darkness damage.
Judgement #4 deals more damage.
Judgement #9 deals less Knockback.
Using Oil Panic now stalls Mr. Game and Watch only once per time he's is in the air.
Energy projectiles absorbed by Oil Panic now cause a flat 12% damage, instead of it being based on the projectile absorbed.

v3.6b

Up smash endlag increased.
Fire's hitbox comes out on frame 3 rather than frame 1.
Oil Panic's damage is back to being based on the projectile(s) absorbed.

Moveset

Up to date as of version 3.6.

	Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		3%	Pulls out an insecticide pump and presses on it, shooting a puff of insecticide out. If the attack button is pressed rapidly, Mr. Game & Watch will fire the insecticide repeatedly, at which point the attack button may be held down to continue firing. This move can be hard to DI out of.
		3%
		3% (loop)
Forward tilt	Lion	13% (clean), 8% (late)	Holds out a chair forward. This move has long range, but significant starting lag. Deals light horizontal knockback.
Up tilt	Flagman	12%	Waves a number one flag overhead. A good move for juggling.
Down tilt	Manhole	12% (grounded), 10% (aerial)	Flips a manhole cover in front of him. Has great range and good vertical knockback.
Dash attack	Helmet	10% (clean), 9% (late)	Slides his head along the ground while wearing a helmet. This move is slow and easy to punish.
Forward smash	Fire Attack	Clean: 18% (torch), 14% (handle) Late: 10% (flame), 8% (handle)	Pulls out a torch and swings it forwards. Great base knockback and even greater knockback scaling with a hitbox that lasts longer than expected, making it hard to punish, being capable of KOing lightweights at 65% and heavyweights at 75%. Delivers flame element damage when sweetspotted.
Up smash	Octopus	21%	With a diving helmet on, Mr. Game & Watch leans back and then swings his head forwards. This move has some start-up lag, but deals high damage and knockback. This move can KO as early as 60%. Mr. Game & Watch's head is intangible while the hitboxes are active.
Down smash	Vermin	17% (hammers), 13% (handles)	Takes out two hammers and slams them down simultaneously on both sides. Hitting at the sourspot deals less damage, but is a powerful semi-spike and can KO early when used on the edge against recovering opponents. Hitting at the sweetspot deals very powerful vertical knockback, being capable of KOing as early as 90%.
Neutral aerial	Parachute	17%	Mr. Game & Watch opens up a parachute. This move has good horizontal knockback and can KO as early as 100% on lightweights.
Forward aerial	Mario Bros.	16% (clean), 7% (late)	Mr. Game & Watch swings a box forwards. If hit when it first comes out, it deals high damage and can KO as early as 125%, but if late, the deals minor damage with extremely low knockback. The box can also hit slightly above and behind Mr. Game & Watch during its windup due to its hitbox's interpolation.
Back aerial	Turtle Bridge	4% (hits 1-5 & landing)	Mr. Game & Watch thrusts a turtle backwards, which bites multiple times.
Up aerial	Spitball Sparky	9%, 6% (landing)	Mr. Game & Watch blows upwards once. This move can be acted out of extremely quickly.
Down aerial	Donkey Kong Jr.	15% (clean), 14% (late), 6% (landing)	Mr. Game & Watch pulls out a key and plunges downwards. If the opponent is under Mr. Game & Watch and gets hit right when the move comes out, it is a meteor smash. When it meteors an opponent into the ground at low percents, the landing hitbox can hit them again for additional damage.
Grab		—
Pummel	Alarm	3%	Bashes the enemy with an alarm bell. Somewhat slow for a pummel.
Forward throw	Ball	8%	Juggles the enemy as a ball, then launches them forward. Looks exactly the same as his other throws, making it difficult to DI correctly.
Back throw	Ball	8%	Juggles the enemy as a ball, then launches them backwards. Looks exactly the same as his other throws, making it difficult to DI correctly.
Up throw	Ball	8%	Juggles the enemy as a ball, then launches them upwards. Looks exactly the same as his other throws, making it difficult to DI correctly.
Down throw	Ball	10%	Juggles the enemy as a ball, then launches them onto the ground. Looks exactly the same as his other throws, making it difficult to DI correctly. Can be followed up with a smash, tilt, jab, Judge, or Fire, but only if the opponent fails to tech.
Floor attack (front)		6%	Gets out a hammer and quickly slams it in front of him, then behind him.
Floor attack (back)		6%	Identical to frontal floor attack, except the back hit comes out slightly faster.
Floor attack (trip)		5%	Identical to frontal floor attack, but is slightly faster.
Edge attack (fast)		6% (body), 8% (bell)	Climbs onto the ledge, and hits forwards with a bell.
Edge attack (slow)		8% (body), 9% (bell)	Identical to his fast edge attack, but is slower.
Neutral special	Chef	9% (pan), 5% (large pieces), 3% (small pieces)	Flips a pan upward while a piece of meat flies out in a random direction out of 5 possible trajectories, dealing fire element damage on contact. The first two meats to appear on the stage are large and possess a very small amount of knockback. If one Mr. Game & Watch already has 2 of his own meats present on stage when using the move again he will only fling small pieces of meat that carry no hitstun, and will continue to fling "Mini-Meat™" until he has less than two meats of any size present. The pan has a hitbox at start up that does fire based damage and is a semi-spike. The threshold of random flight paths can be limited to the either the first 3 or last 3 of the 5 possible trajectories by holding the control stick up or down (respectively) during the brief period before the meat actually exits the pan.
Side special	Judge	1-32% (Varies)	Swings a hammer in front of him and holds up a digital display, with a random number from 1-9. The number displayed reflects the unique effect that the hammer strike will have. Above the digital display will be either 1 or 2 dots: 1 dot means that the next use of Judge will produce only odd numbers (1, 3, 5, 7, 9), and 2 dots means that the next Judge will be an even number (2, 4, 6, 8). Additionally, Judge cannot produce a number that was already displayed within the past two uses of the move, and a match begins with Judge acting as if the two past uses were a 2, then a 1 (meaning the first use will be neither a 2 nor a 1, and the second hit will be neither a 1 nor the number produced on the first use). This lets players know what to expect from the next Judge with up to 33% certainty and plan accordingly for it. Notably, every even number produces a devastating gimping effect, and every odd number produces a wide variety of mix-up options.
Up special	Fire	8% (clean), 6% (mid), 4% (late)	Jumps upwards off a trampoline held by two firemen. He will damage whatever he hits on the way up, but not on the way down. This move can be followed up with aerial attacks, but he will no longer be able to air dodge.
Down special	Oil Panic	10-60% (Based on absorbed attacks)	Mr. Game & Watch holds out a bucket that absorbs any incoming energy-based projectiles. The bucket can absorb up to three projectiles, after which the move turns into a powerful attack that can one-hit KO opponents depending on the strength of the projectiles absorbed. Taking out the bucket immediately halts all of Mr. Game & Watch's momentum once per air state, so the move can also be used to air-stall and recover, a technique known as Bucket Braking. However, the move will not cancel any momentum if the bucket is full.
Final Smash	Octopus	16%	Transforms into the large octopus that appears in its eponymous game, Octopus. Damage is dealt on contact and range can be increased by pressing the attack buttons. The move lasts about 17 seconds and grants Mr. Game & Watch infinite swimming time if he happens to enter a body of water.

Judge Damage Values
Number	Damage	Description
#1	1%	A weak hit with deals no hitstun. This move causes 10% recoil damage—regardless of whether the attack hits or not.
#2	8%	Another weak attack that plants a flower on the opponent's head when it connects. Connecting this move on a grounded opponent stuns them, while connecting on an airborne opponent weakly spikes them.
#3	15%	A darkness attack that delivers decent knockback and sends the enemy behind Mr. Game & Watch. Also deals significant shield damage.
#4	10%	A slashing attack that semi-spikes enemies at the same angle as Fox's shine.
#5	6% (hits 1-5)	An electric attack that hits multiple times.
#6	14%	A flame attack that delivers surprising high knockback and semi-spikes the opponent.
#7	16%	An attack that deals moderate knockback and produces an apple if it hits a foe. The apple heals 10% damage, which can be consumed by anyone. This move also heals Mr. Game & Watch 10% damage—regardless of whether the attack hits or not.
#8	20%	A freezing attack that deals low set knockback.
#9	32%	A very powerful attack that was designed to be similar to the Home-Run Bat. Deals strong knockback, but severely reduced compared to Melee.

In competitive play

Notable players

Dakpo - Formerly one of the best Game & Watch players in the world. Regularly teams with Lunchables to form one of the strongest teams in Project M, placing 1st at numerous nationals. Also has a win on Sosa.
Drugfreechu - The best player in Illinois, and ranked 26th on PMRank 2018.
Marshall - Ranked 35th on the PMRank 2016. Placed 3rd at Smash 'N' Splash 2.
JJK - The best Game & Watch player in Canada. Ranked 2nd on the Ontario Project M Power Rankings.
MrLz - Formerly the best Game & Watch player in the world. Placed 3rd at EVO 2015, 1st at Paragon Los Angeles 2015, and 1st at Smash 'N' Splash 2. Ranked 6th on the PMRank 2016.
Nezergy - The best Game & Watch player in SoCal. Ranked 1st on the SoCal Project M Power Rankings.
Mr.Watch&Learn - 25th on PM Rank 2019, Best active G&W on East Coast.
Pikmon - Ranked 19th on PMRank 2018 and considered the best player in Washington.
Sugydye - Formerly the best Game & Watch in NorCal before Pikmon moved there.