Greninja (SSB4)

Greninja in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	Pokémon
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Secret Ninja Attack

“	Greninja Makes a Splash!	”
—Introduction Tagline

Greninja (ゲッコウガ, Gekkouga) appears as a newcomer in Super Smash Bros. 4, revealed during the April 8th, 2014 Super Smash Bros. Direct alongside Charizard.

For its appearance in SSB4, Greninja is voiced by Yuji Ueda (Japanese) and Billy Bob Thompson (English).

Attributes

Greninja has a wide variety of abilities, many of which go towards fitting it into the "quick and weak" character archetype. Nonetheless, its smash attacks are decently powerful, and have moderate range. Its speed is remarkable, and it is the 6th fastest dasher in the game, with its walking speed being the 4th fastest. Although somewhat predictable and telegraphed, its projectile, Water Shuriken, hits multiple times and is a good zoning tool, also doing quite a bit of damage. Shadow Sneak is an excellent way to keep enemies off balance and guessing, and Greninja even has a counter in Substitute. Recovering is no problem, as Hydro Pump is a long-distanced and unpredictable move to reach the ledge. However, Greninja is not without its flaws. In most of its attacks, both damage and knockback power are somewhat limited, sometimes leaving it with limited options to kill outside of reads and edge guarding. Although it may be fast, Greninja's comboing ability is not the best; its moves can sometimes have trouble linking into each other, and it tends to be overly reliant on throws to set up combos. Also, in some of its moves, range can be an issue, leaving it at a disadvantage to characters such as Rosalina & Luma.

Moveset

• Greninja is able to crawl and wall cling.
• Greninja's down taunt can do damage with a slight wind effect just above the water.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			2%	A three-hit jab combo ending in either a double forward palm strike or a rapid-fast flurry of water waves ending with a stronger palm strike with a burst of water.
			1.6%
			3.5%
			1% (loop), 2% (last)
Forward tilt			6.5%	A spinning horizontal kick. Can be angled.
Up tilt			4.5%	Swings it's tongue like a cape smack.
Down tilt			7%	A quick low kick.
Dash attack			7%	A dashing sweep kick.
Forward smash			14%	Attacks with a water sword, doing an inward slash.
Up smash			5% (hit 1), 14% (hit 2 clean center), 11% (hit 2 clean sides), 10% (hit 2 late)	Stabs upwards with two water swords before slashing them downwards in an arc on either side of it.
Down smash			13% (swords), 11% (arms)	Strikes both sides simultaneously with water swords.
Neutral aerial			11% (clean), 6% (late)	Enters a ninja pose while a blast of water emits around itself.
Forward aerial			14%	Similar to the forward smash. Is a bit slow for an aerial, though strong.
Back aerial			3% (hit 1), 2.5% (hit 2), 4% (hit 3)	Performs three spinning back kicks.
Up aerial			1.3% (hits 1-5), 3% (hit 6)	An upwards drill kick, similar to Sheik or Samus.
Down aerial			8%	A very fast stall-then-fall attack. Greninja spirals downward foot-first. Once the enemy hits the floor, he jumps back into the air.
Grab			—	Grabs the opponent with a whirlpool by making ninja hand signs.
Pummel			2%	Makes the whirlpool squeeze the opponent.
Forward throw			5%	Throws the opponent forward with a palm move.
Back throw			8%	Leans back and flings the opponent backwards.
Up throw			5%	Throws opponent upwards with a single arm gesture on a erect stance.
Down throw			6%	Throws opponents into the floor in front of itself.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%	Sweep kicks around itself while getting up.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%
Edge attack Edge getups			7%	Kicks the opponent's legs and gets back up.
Neutral special	Default	Water Shuriken	3%-11% (not fully charged), 0.7% (fully charged loop), 9% (fully charged last)	Throws a shuriken at the enemy. Hits multiple times if fully charged.
	Custom 1	Stagnant Shuriken	1.0%-1.2% (not fully charged loop), 1.5% (fully charged loop 1), 2% (fully charged loop 2), 3% (fully charged last)	The thrown shuriken stays in place.
	Custom 2	Shifting Shuriken	3%	Uncharged shurikens have strong upwards knockback; charged ones go through opponents.
Side special	Default	Shadow Sneak	10% (normal), 12% (reverse)	Silently prepares a teleportation using a moving shadow. If it connects with an enemy, Greninja does a flip kick.
	Custom 1	Shadow Strike	15% (normal), 17% (reverse)	Shadow moves slower and farther; attack is stronger. Additionally, Greninja takes longer to reappear.
	Custom 2	Shadow Dash	6% (normal), 7% (reverse)	Teleports a fixed distance instantly. Weaker than normal.
Up special	Default	Hydro Pump	2% (per shot)	Greninja creates two boosts of water to propel it in two different directions; similar to Pikachu's Quick Attack.
	Custom 1	High-Capacity Pump	0%	More controllable, but does no damage.
	Custom 2	Single-Shot Pump	5%	Only one water shot is fired, which is more powerful.
Down special	Default	Substitute	14%, 13%, 11%, 13%, 14% (based on timing)	Greninja enters a defensive stance. If attacked, it retaliates with a jump kick.
	Custom 1	Exploding Attack	10% (close), 8% (far)	Instead of countering, Greninja vanishes and reappears with an explosion.
	Custom 2	Substitute Ambush	18%, 17%, 15%, 17%, 18% (based on timing)	Greninja disappears for longer and hits harder.
Final Smash		Secret Ninja Attack	2% (snag), 5% (flip), 2% (hits 1-15), 15% (hit 16)	Greninja creates a mat, then flips it upwards knocking enemy/ies into the air. There, it rapidly slashes the enemy multiple times before ending with a final blow, sending enemies downward to the ground.

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Update history

1.0.4

• Up smash hit 1 radius: 6.5 → 5.0
• Up smash hit 2 clean center radius: 7.0 → 6.0
• Up smash hit 2 clean sides damage: 13% → 11%
• Up smash hit 2 clean bigger hitboxes Y-offset: -5.0 → -4.0 (less disjoint)
• Up smash hit 2 late damage: 11% → 10%
• Down smash damage: 11% (swords), 9% (arms) → 13% (swords), 11% (arms)
• Down smash knockback scaling: 93 → 90
• Forward aerial knockback scaling: 92 → 84
• Up aerial restructured from "hits 1-5, hit 6" to "hits 1-4, hit 5, hit 6", in order to make changes to the fifth hit independently. Damage and timing remain the same.
• Up aerial hit 5 angle: 366 → 85
• Up aerial hit 5 fixed knockback value: 0 → 10 (now has fixed knockback)
• Up aerial hit 5 radius: 5.5 → 6.2
• Up aerial hit 6 knockback scaling: 190 → 168
• Up aerial hit 6 radii: 6.0, 7.0 → 6.2, 7.0
• Shadow Sneak (default) knockback scaling: 100 → 102
• Shadow Sneak (default) reverse hit knockback scaling: 100 → 101
• Shadow Sneak (default) has less ending lag.
• Intense Shadow Sneak knockback scaling: 100 → 102
• Intense Shadow Sneak reverse hit knockback scaling: 100 → 101
• Shadow Sneak's shadow travels faster.
• Fixed bug where Greninja could cancel landing lag with Shadow Sneak.
• Hydro Pump (default) base knockback: 85 → 65
• Hydro Pump (default) knockback scaling: 130 → 100
• Hydro Pump (default) knockback scaling: 130 → 100
• High-Capacity Pump fixed knockback value: 100 → 90

Reveal Trailer

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Trophies

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS trophy descriptions

Greninja

This Water/Dark-type Pokémon is the fully evolved form of Froakie. It's just as fast and dangerous as any other ninja, and the throwing stars it can make out of water can shear metal. In Smash Bros., as well as being a graceful, speedy fighter, it can also use moves like Hydro Pump that let it travel through the air and avoid falling.

Greninja (Alt.)

Greninja's Substitute down special lets you teleport to dodge attacks and then strike back, making it an effective and hard-to-predict way to counterattack. You can also control where you reappear by inputting directions. When you vanish, sometimes you'll be replaced by a log, other times by a cuddly toy.

• 

  Classic (3DS)

• GreninjaAllStarTrophy3DS.png

  Alt. (3DS)

• 

  Classic (Wii U)

• 

  Alt. (Wii U)

In Event Matches

Solo Events

• Fire-Type Frenzy: As Charizard, the player must defeat Greninja, who appears alongside Pikachu and Lucario.
• New Challengers 2: Greninja is one of the seven opponents fought in this event alongside Palutena, Robin, Shulk, Dark Pit, Mega Man, and Pac-Man.
• Pokémon Battle: The player controls Greninja, and must defeat Pikachu, Charizard, and Lucario.

Co-op Events

• Pokémon Multi Battle!: Greninja is one of the player's Pokémon to use, as well as being one of the opponents.
• The Ultimate Battle: Two players select a character and must defeat the entire roster.

Alternate costumes

Gallery

• 

  Artwork of Greninja used on the website.

• 

  Greninja's introduction picture

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  In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

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  In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

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  Throwing a Water Shuriken.

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  A Water Shuriken being tossed at Charizard.

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  Using Shadow Sneak against Charizard.

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  Using a Substitute against Toon Link.

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  Firing water at Pikachu.

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  Wielding a katana made of water.

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  Striking Charizard with a low kick.

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  Hitting Mega Man with its tongue.

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  Fighting Lucario.

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  Taunting alongside Olimar and Diddy Kong.

• 

  Laying in front of a male Wii Fit Trainer.

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  Lucario, Charizard, Greninja, and Pikachu.

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  Greninja and Mario with alternate palettes.

Trivia

• Greninja's artwork used on the official site was illustrated by Ken Sugimori, an artist of GAME FREAK that has drawn Pokémon's official artwork since Pokémon's first generation.
• At E3 2014, Sakurai shared that most of the initial roster was established early in development that mandated a new Pokémon character, before Pokémon X and Y was announced. He worked very closely with Pokémon's developers to create Greninja, but most of its moveset was improvised due to Sakurai's only reference being Game Freak's conceptual artwork.
• Greninja is one of two Pokémon to not have a custom move share its name with an actual Pokémon attack, the other being Lucario.
• Greninja is the third character in the series (the first two being Luigi and Snake) to have a taunt that inflicts damage.