Judge
| Judge | |
|---|---|
 All nine of Judge's effects shown in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. | |
| User | Mr. Game & Watch |
| Universe | Game & Watch |
| “ | The random strength of [Mr. Game and Watch's] Judgement is determined by the number displayed; food appears on lucky 7. | ” |
| —Mr. Game and Watch's trophy description in Melee | ||
Judge (ジャッジ Jajji) (Judgment in Melee) is Mr. Game & Watch's side special move. Mr. Game & Watch will attack with his hammer and hold up a digital display with a random number on it when used.
Numbers and their effects
The number that can display as the move is used is a random number from 1 to 9, like in the original game. To add variance, Mr. Game & Watch cannot get a number that was used in either of the two previous uses of the move. For example, getting a 5 will mean that the next two uses of the move cannot result in a 5. At the start of a match, the previous two uses are set to 2 and 1, meaning that the first use of Judge in a match cannot be a 2, and the first two uses cannot be a 1. This means that each valid number has a 1 in 7 chance of appearing.
The effects associated with these numbers are as follows:
| # | Description | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Does not inflict flinching or knockback, and inflicts 12% recoil damage regardless of whether or not it hits. | 2% |
| 2 | Has minimal knockback. In Brawl, has a 20% chance of tripping an opponent. | 4% |
| 3 | Similar to a Fan's attack, it makes a paper sound, launches the opponent towards Mr. Game & Watch's rear, and deals a significant amount of shield damage. | 6% |
| 4 | Inflicts a slashing attack that launches opponents diagonally. | 8% |
| 5 | Produces four electrical charges that inflict 3% damage each that zap the opponent, making them rise slightly. | 12% total |
| 6 | Inflicts a flame attack with strong horizontal knockback. It is also a semi-spike, threatening recovering opponents. The second strongest knockback compared to the other Judge numbers. | 12% |
| 7 | Has moderate horizontal knockback. If the attack connects and Mr. Game & Watch is on the ground, a food item will appear in reference to the number 7 being universally associated with luck. The food item will always be an apple in Brawl, as apples are symbols of good health. | 14% |
| 8 | Freezes the opponent and has weak vertical knockback. | 4% (Melee) 9% (Brawl) |
| 9 | Has massive horizontal knockback and plays a bell along with a sound resembling that of the Home-Run Bat's smash attack. Can KO at single-damage percentages in some cases. In Brawl, it KOs the heaviest characters at 13%. Has a smaller hitbox compared to the other numbers. | 32% |
Customization
In Super Smash Bros. 4, the move has the following customizations:
- Hyperbolic Judge - The only numbers picked are 1 and 9. 1 only does 5% damage to Mr. Game & Watch, while 9 only deals 23% damage and less (though still significant) knockback.
- Multi Judge - None of the numbers have different effects on the opponent. Instead, the move hit several times, corresponding with the chosen number.
| # | Description | Total damage |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | One hit. | 1% |
| 2 | Two hits: the first deals 3% damage, and the second does 2%. | 5% |
| 3 | Three hits, each of which does 3%. | 9% |
| 4 | Four hits: the first three deal 3% damage, and the last does 2%. | 11% |
| 5 | Five hits, each doing 3%. | 15% |
| 6 | Six hits: the first five deal 3% damage, and the last does 2%. | 17% |
| 7 | Seven hits: the first six deal 3% damage, and the last does 4%. | 22% |
| 8 | Eight hits: the first seven deal 3% damage, and the last does 5%. | 26% |
| 9 | Nine hits: the first eight deal 3% damage, and the last does 10%. Also has very high knockback, though less than the regular Judge. | 34% |
Gallery
All nine of Judge's effects in Brawl.
Judge 6 in Melee.
Origin
Judge was a Game & Watch game that could be played with two players. Two Game & Watch characters had signboards and hammers. When a round starts, each player's sign would display a random number from 1 to 9. The point of the game was for the player with the higher number to hit his opponent on the head with their hammer, while the player with the lower number tried to dodge said attack. If the numbers were equal, the player can either hit or dodge. This was translated in the Smash world in which the higher the number, the stronger or better the attack.
Trivia
- The move was known as "Judgement" on Mr. Game & Watch's Super Smash Bros. Melee trophy data. It was changed to "Judge" for his update on the DOJO!! to match the name of the source game, like his other attacks.
