Oil Panic
Oil Panic is Mr. Game & Watch's Down Special Move. It is a unique move in that it can be held for as long as the player decides. Any energy-based attack and projectiles (such as PK Flash or a Ray Gun shot) will be absorbed. In SSBB, at the moment the projectile is absorbed, there is a brief moment of invincibility. Three attacks can be absorbed, and then Mr. Game & Watch will put the bucket away. The oil gathered can be used later as an attack with the potential for very high damage (2.8 times the combined power of the absorbed attacks). The damage is determined by adding up how much damage each of the attacks absorbed would have done had they connected. It's all more powerful on the ground than in the air. Hence, this move could be very powerful if it absorbed 3 fully-charged PK Flashes, but it would be very weak if it simply absorbed three shots from Fox's Blaster. Unlike most other chargeable attacks, Oil Panic's "charges" last across lives; If Mr. Game & Watch is KO'd with two units of Oil, he will still have those two units when he respawns. Oil Panic will not absorb non-energy based attacks (with the exception of his own Chef move, where it will absorb the food). In Brawl, Game & Watch can absorb Master Hand's Bullets, and other bosses' bullets in Boss Battles.
There is a glitch in Melee using this attack.
In Brawl, the attack has a bit of lag afterward when Mr. Game & Watch puts away the bucket.
One interesting tactic to note in Brawl is that G&W is able to use the Bucket to save himself from killing knockback from other attacks, a technique known as Bucket Braking. If G&W is hit by knockback that is barely able to KO him, it is possible for him do a N-air (his fastest aerial attack) to escape hitstun, and then use the Bucket (as long as it is not completely filled) will cancel G&W's momentum completely. A video guide to this technique can be seen here at about 1:15 of the video.
Ness and Lucas have a similar special move that absorbs energy-based attacks, but it is used to heal themselves instead of temporarily use them as a powerful attack.
Origins
Oil Panic was a Game & Watch game, taking place at a gasoline station, where one would attempt to catch drops of oil from a leaking pipe in a bucket. The bucked needed only three drops to be full. Once the bucket was full, one would have to pour the oil out the window to be caught by an awaiting assistant (making sure he's actually there, first). If he wasn't, the player would miss, causing the oil to splash over a customer waiting below.) Oil Panic (specifically, its bottom screen) is one of the games that appear in the Flat Zone 2.
Oil Panic absorption list
Here's a list of all projectile, attack and hazard that Oil Panic can absorb.
SSBM
All attacks and hazards from SSBM that could be absorbed still apply.
- Fire Breath
- Blaster (Fox's and Falco's)
- PK Flash
- PK Fire
- PK Thunder
- Final Cutter (Only the shockwave)
- Ice Shot1
- Blizzard
- Thunder Jolt
- Thunder (don't be intersecting Pikachu or Pichu)
- Din's Fire (explosion)
- Shadow Ball
- Megavitamins
- Great Fox Blaster
- Wolfen Blaster
- Staryu
- Charizard
- Starmie
- Cyndaquil
- Super Scope
- Fire Flower
- Master Hand's bullets
SSBB
All attacks and hazards from SSBM that could be absorbed still apply unless noted otherwise.
- Fireball (Mario and Luigi's)
- Flamethrower
- PK Freeze
- PK Flash
- PK Fire
- PK Thunder
- Fire Breath
- Thunder Jolt
- Thunder
- Blizzard
- Blaster (Fox, Falco, and Wolf)
- Charge Shot
- Paralyzer
- Aura Sphere
- Robo Beam
- Palutena's Arrow
- Final Cutter (Only the shockwave)
- Din's Fire (explosion)
- Force Palm (projectile, not grab)
- Waddle Doo's beam
- Duon's pink energy blasts (but not the blue lasers)
- Great Fox's laser.
- Arwing's lasers.
- Master Hand's bullets
- A Gamyga's lasers
- A Scope Primid's shots
- Curry Breath
- Super Scope
- Ray Gun
- Fire Flower
- Lip's Stick (have some distance between attacking with Lip's Stick and Oil Panic)
- Toad (What comes out of Toad after a successful hit on him)
