Fire Breath
| Fire Breath | |
|---|---|
 Fire Breath in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. | |
| User | Bowser Giga Bowser |
| Universe | Mario |
| Article on Super Mario Wiki | Fire Breath |
Fire Breath (クッパブレス, Koopa Breath) is Bowser's neutral special move.
Overview
While holding the B button, Bowser continuously exhales a stream of fire in front of him, which gradually decreases in length over time. In Brawl onwards, the flames can be angled up and down and will never completely recede, unlike in Melee, where Bowser will eventually begin to exhale smoke instead.
In general, Fire Breath's long duration is useful for staving off opponents and preventing their return to the stage, while also assisting with defensive play in neutral while dealing heavy damage. Unfortunately, an opponent using DI can escape the flames fairly easily in most directions, although as time has gone on this issue has become much less prevalent. For example, in Ultimate, opponents can rarely escape without taking an upwards of 25%. If used too much, however, Bowser will have to recharge his breath, punishing players for overuse and requiring it to be used carefully. The fire will flow off of floors and walls, and can actually split in two directions if the angle is perpendicular, allowing for interesting mixups on walled stages.
This special attack is shared by Giga Bowser, both in his boss and playable appearances. There is no time limit to how long the attack can be held in his Melee or Ultimate incarnations, and the range is much longer.
In Super Smash Bros. Melee
In Melee, Fire Breath originated as a defensive maneuver for Bowser to make use of. However, its slow startup made it a very risky move to use, with it requiring 28 frames just to start coming out. However, it greatly made up for this in its formidable range and large amounts of hitboxes. It was easy to SDI, however, making it overall one of the worst projectiles in the game. This was due to characters being able to SDI towards Bowser, escape it, and punish Bowser for virtually free due to the 30 frames of endlag. Flame canceling helped the move and gave it utility, but was removed after NTSC 1.1, leaving it out of the tournament standard. Thus, as a result of it being easy to react to and its endlag, Bowser's Fire Breath was solidified as one of the worst special moves in the game.
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Brawl enhanced Fire Breath's utility dramatically, making it more centered around being a neutral tool than in Melee. It was much faster as well. The ability to angle the move has also improved its versatility as well, furthering its use as a neutral tool. This allowed Bowser to have more options against aerial approaches, rather than having to commit to stop them. It was also made into a formidable tool at the ledge, with characters like Donkey Kong having no chance of recovering if the move was used in the correct spot. However, Fire Breath's horizontal range was reduced, making it slightly more difficult to use it defensively.
In Super Smash Bros. 4
In Super Smash Bros. 4, Fire Breath gained improved speed and reach, but the outermost hitboxes could no longer flinch foes. However, the buffs greatly outweighed the nerfs, with it being combined with his formidable grab game and forward aerial to create a tough selection of attacks for an opponent to escape. Players could simply stop Fire Breath early to prevent the non-flinching area from ever coming up, and react to the opponent's response accordingly. The non-flinching hitboxes can be used to rack up damage after shield breaking an opponent or punishing a missed Rest as well, making it have additional functionality as an offensive option, unlike its previous incarnations.
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Ultimate dramatically increased the damage output of the move, which, when combined with the increased 1.2x damage in 1v1s, allows it to consistently deal around 30% at close range before running out, making it an extremely potent punish and a mainstay in his toolkit. Opponents are more inclined to panic due to this drastic increase in damage, allowing Bowser to bait out worse options and punish them harder than ever before. Acting as a strong jump-in mixup and a strong deterrent to the opponent's in addition to this, Fire Breath's identity is somewhat warped around its improved damage output, making it by far its best incarnation in the series.
Instructional quotes
 instruction booklet |
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The fire flows while you hold  , but it weakens over time.
|
 instruction booklet |
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Hold down B to belch a stream of flame. Weakens over time. |
 case foldout |
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Breathe fire. Change the direction with  .
|
 Move List |
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Breathes fire. The range decreases if used too much. The angle can be controlled a little bit. |
Customization
Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the variations:
| 1. Fire Breath | 2. Fire Shot | 3. Fire Roar |
|---|---|---|
 |
 |
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| "Breathe fire. Power decreases if used too much. You can control the angle a little bit." | "Spit out a fireball. Power won't change even if used in rapid succession." | "More powerful than Fire Breath, but it runs out quickly and takes longer to recharge." |
- Fire Breath: Default.
- Fire Shot: Releases a large fireball that travels far and passes through enemies. Does 6% early, 5% late. Unlike Fire Breath, Fire Shot will not weaken over time, and it has transcendent priority. Can be held, but there is a noticeable delay between each shot. It is possible to end the move earlier than with the default.
- Fire Roar: A much stronger variation of Fire Breath that loses range much quicker, and takes longer to recharge. It reaches to approximately halfway of Battlefield, and does 2.7% damage per hit sweetspotted, but only 1.8% sourspotted. The sourspot doesn't cause flinching. The minimum amount of time Bowser must use the move for is increased.
Origin
Bowser's ability to breathe fire has been demonstrated in many games he's appeared in, including his debut in Super Mario Bros., where he would shoot fireballs at Mario. These fireballs are also the inspiration for Fire Shot, one of his customizable moves in Super Smash Bros. 4. However, it wasn't until Super Mario 64 and many games after that he was shown to breathe continuous streams of fire.
Gallery
Fire Breath used in midair in Brawl.
Fire Breath losing power when held for too long.
Giga Bowser using Fire Breath in Brawl.
Fire Shot variation.
Fire Roar variation.
Fire Breath in one of Bowser's victory poses in Ultimate.
Fire Breath as shown by the Move List in Ultimate.
Names in other languages
| Language | Name |
|---|---|
 Japanese |
クッパブレス, Koopa Breath |
 English |
Fire Breath |
 French (NTSC) |
Soue de feu (Smash 4) Souffle de feu (Ultimate) |
 German |
Feuerodem |
 Italian |
Soffio di fuoco |
 Chinese (Simplified) |
酷霸王吐息 |
 Chinese (Traditional) |
庫巴吐息 |
 Korean |
쿠파 브레스, Koopa Breath |
 Dutch |
Vurige Adem |
 Russian |
Огненное дыхание |
Trivia
- This move shares its name with Piranha Plant's back aerial.
- This move is also similar to Charizard's Flamethrower in both appearance and function.
