Template:Simon and Richter in competitive play (SSBU)
Use this template to store information relevant to the metagame of Simon and Richter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
When the game released in December 2018, Simon and Richter attracted interest due to their unique attributes, including extremely long reach, an array of powerful projectiles, and ledge trapping potential; many players initially viewed the Belmonts as a high tier, or potentially a top tier character because of their spacing and zoning ability allowing them to play an effective defensive game. Simon and Richter were also notable counterpicks against certain characters, such as Olimar, that struggled with their range and keep away game. During the early stages of the metagame, the Belmonts were relatively popular characters, with Riddles being their highest level representative. However, their weaknesses were soon discovered to be perhaps too significant to overcome, most notably a notoriously poor recovery due to short-distance recovery moves with mediocre protection that left them severely vulnerable to gimping, but they also suffered from significant KOing inconsistency, mediocre frame data, vast difficulty in hitting agile small characters with their attacks predominantly having thin hitboxes, and very poor all-around mobility. Thus, most of their playerbase, including Riddles, eventually dropped them for other characters and their results fell off as a result. Because of this, the consensus about the Belmonts shifted, with most players viewing them as mid tier or low tier characters.
During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, the Belmont playerbase experienced a small resurgence, with players such as T3 DOM, Noxumbra and TRIGGER rising to prominence with decent results both online and offline. The Belmonts have also received buffs in update 9.0.0. However, these buffs made little to no impact in fixing the main weaknesses of the character, ultimately leaving the Belmonts' definitive tier placement questionable at this time.
Most historically significant players
See also: Category:Simon professionals (SSBU); Category:Richter professionals (SSBU)
Asotil 
- Placed 3rd at Ascension IX, Ascension VII and Ascension 2020: Back to Basics, 5th at Ascension VIII, and 9th at Ascension II with wins over players such as Prodigy, BassMage, and Widget. Ranked as high as 2nd on the Arizona Power Rankings.- Frosty - Placed 5th at Retro Arena 64, 9th at Frosty Faustings XII 2020, and 13th at Midwest Arena with wins over players such as Maister, MuteAce, and Ravenking. Ranked as high on 3rd on the Chicago Ultimate Power Rankings.
Noxumbra - The best Belmont player in Europe. Placed 4th at Ultimate WANTED 3, 17th at Smash Contest: DoKomi 2021, and 25th at WANTED SAISON 4 - Chapter 2 with wins over players such as Mr. E, Leon, and Homika. Online, placed 5th at FCW x GlobalClan: Special Edition 2, 13th at SWT: Europe Ultimate Online Qualifier, and 25th at FCW : Special Edition - European Scale.
Riddles - The best Belmont player in the world during the early metagame, but has since dropped the character. Placed 9th at Saints Gaming Live 2019 and 13th at both Get On My Level 2019 and Super Smash Con 2019 with wins over players such as Dabuz, Jw, and Scend. Ranked 47th with the character on the Fall 2019 PGRU.- T3 DOM - The best active Belmont player in the world. Placed 7th at both 2GG: SoCal Chronicles 2020 and 2GG: All In, 13th at Glitch - Infinite and 33rd at both 2GG: SwitchFest 2019 and 2GG: Kongo Saga wins over players such as Dabuz, Chag, and Ned. Ranked as high as 3rd on the SoCal Ultimate Power Rankings.
TRIGGER 
- The best Belmont player in Japan. Placed 5th at Karisuma SP 8, 9th at TSC 11, and 33rd at both Umebura SP 5 and EVO Japan 2020 with wins over players such as T, Kie, and Masashi.- YoseFu - Placed 5th at Kumite in Tennessee 2020 and 49th at DreamHack Atlanta 2019 with wins over Dietsoda and Makibaz. Ranked 1st on the Mississippi Power Rankings. Online placed 7th at Rev It Up: 2020 Series, 13th at Super Smash Galaxy, and 17th at SWT: NA Southeast Ultimate Online Qualifier. Formerly ranked in the Area 51 position on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v6.
