FOX

Introduction

This analysis is about (you guessed it) Fox McCloud, the famous Star Fox commander. His trophy description is as follows:

“The leader of the commando unit for hire known as Star Fox. He uses both the team’s mother ship, the Great Fox, and his personal Arwing fighter to challenge the evil scientist Andross. He made his name as an ace pilot but has lately shown himself also to be an adventurer with a knack for hand-to-hand combat.”

This Smash Bros. veteran has been the center of attention ever since the original came out because of his amazing speed and great combo ability. In the original and Melee, he was ranked at the top of the tier lists (4th in SSB, and 1st in SSBM). However, when Brawl was introduced, old Fox players were disappointed with how nerfed he was in all aspects of his game. With the coming of Brawl, the developers decided to adapt more realistic properties, creating a lack of advanced techniques (like wavedashing), which Fox had greatly depended on. The characters that were found to have more techs rapidly rose on the tier list.

Despite being nerfed though, Fox continues to rely on combos and speed to land attacks. This gives his playstyle an extremely smooth feel to it. That’s why I like him. One combo can give the opponent about 50% easy. When these combos are strung together, you can easily KO with an Usmash, Dsmash, or shine-spike.

Pros & Cons

Pros

— Fast attacks, little lag

— Good, damaging combos

— Extremely mobile, good sprinting speed

— Good KO moves (Usmash, Dsmash)

— Gimp way to kill (Shine)

— Fast projectile

Cons

— Predictable recoveries

— Falls quickly

— Projectile does no flinch

— Medium-weight, easy to knock off-stage

Attack Descriptions

Ground Moves

Neutral A Combo (A + A + A + A…)

2% + 2% + 2%…

This is a pretty fast infinite combo, but should only be used when the opponent is on lower percents to accumulate damage. You can hold the A button after the first two hits to keep on kicking, but they’ll eventually fall out of reach. You can jab cancel (push A once) to give them a bit of damage, and to set them up for a grab.

Forward Tilt (Tilt Forward or Backwards + A)

Straight 6%, Up 8%, Down 7%.

Pretty simple attack with surprising range for a kick. It’s extremely fast, and you can use it to clear the path in front of you. You can tilt it up or down for more damage, if you want to experiment.

Up Tilt (Tilt Upwards + A)

10%.

I probably abuse this attack, since it’s such a great one. Fox kicks behind him, and the opponent flies up. You can juggle with this attack, so it’s a great choice. I’ll be going into some combos later where Utilt will be a large part.

Down Tilt (Tilt Downwards + A)

9%.

It’s a tail whip. If you hit with different parts of the tail, and at different percentages, then the knockback goes in.. DIFFERENT directions! If you hit with the tip of the tail, then the opponent goes straight up, while if you hit with the base of the tail, they go forward. I normally use this for edgeguarding. In fact, I’ve killed several times with the base of the tail when they’re coming back onto the stage.

Dash Attack (Run + A)

7%-5%. [sex kick]

Yes, I said “sex kick”. A sex kick is an attack that does damage for the entire duration of its frames. To get the most out of it, try to hit with the beginning frames, instead of relying on its sex. Fox’s dash attack is, in my opinion, one of the best. It might not have the best power or speed, but you can combo with it really well. Again, I’ll go into that later.

Special Moves

Blaster (B)

1-3%.

This is probably his most spammable attack. It’s really fast, and the lag time when he puts his blaster away is minimal. The only things wrong with it are that the bullets don’t flinch, and they suddenly disappear after a while. These are good for shooting if your opponent is charging a smash. If you’re not careful though, the bullets could be reflected back at you, and you might not even know!

Fox Illusion (Tilt Forward + B)

4%.

This is one of Fox’s recoveries. It pushes Fox horizontally forward in a burst of speed. You can stop it in the middle by pressing B before the animation ends. It’s a good way to approach. Note that it moves you in the direction that you are facing, not necessarily the direction that you tilt the stick to.

Firefox (Tilt Up + B)

28% If all hits connect.

This is his other recovery. You can choose the direction where it goes.  I was actually surprised by how much damage it does. If you compare it to other Star Fox characters’ recoveries, it’s probably the best. Not much else to say though. Simple enough.

Reflector or “Shine” (Tilt Downwards + B)

5% on the ground, 4% in the air.

Ah… Fox’s shine. This is, personally, my favorite attack in his repertoire. This attack has many uses. It functions as both a reflector and a way to gimp characters with bad recoveries. On the stage, it does minimal knockback, but in the air, it’s knockback is impressive for an attack that does such little damage. You can fit his shine into some combos, but you’d probably mainly use it to shine-spike. Shine-spiking isn’t as complicated as it might sound. All you have to do is use Down-B in the air when you’re relatively close to the opponent. They are sent diagonally downwards, sometimes beyond return. This is my favorite way to KO with Fox, and I hope you find it suitable for your needs too. Also, note that when using this in the air, you slow down and that you can stay airborne for quiet a while if you spam it.

Aerial Moves

Neutral Air (Press A in the air)

9%-6% [sex kick]

This is Fox’s other sex kick. It’s a simple kick when he’s in the air. It can be useful because of it’s high priority, but don’t count on it for many kills.

Forward Air (Tilt Forward + A in the air)

23% (if all hits connect)

Fox kicks 5 times rapidly in the air. Don’t plan to connect with all hits most of the time, but it’s still a good damage racker. The last kick sends the opponent upwards, but not very strongly. It kills at about 150%. At lower percents however, the last kick pushes them somewhat downwards.

Backwards Air (Tilt Backwards + A in the air)

15%.

This is a pretty fast attack (save for some start-up time), but it also has great knockback and can KO at 110%. This attack can be unexpected, so it’s useful if you want to surprise your opponent.

Up Air (Tilt Up + A in the air)

16%.

This is a double-hit attack, but you’ll probably hit with both. It’s a reasonably effective KO move, and can kill at 110%, like Fox’s Bair. You can easily juggle with this attack, but it can be air-dodged. Just watch out and use it sparingly to ensure a clean kill.

Down Air (Tilt Down + A in the air)

21% (if all hits connect)

There are seven hits to this aerial, so there isn’t much of a chance of getting the full 21%, but it’s great for combos. After using your Dair, the opponent is trapped from the flinch. You’re free to do whatever you want. This can also be useful for edgeguarding. If you do this off the stage, then you can follow up with a shine-spike to ensure their death and destruction (muahaha).

Smashes

Forward Smash (Slam forward or backwards + A)

15%-21% [charge range]

This kick is extremely powerful. It can kill at about 100% if you use it well. Its hitbox is pretty large, so it’s pretty easy to use it effectively. It may not have the best priority, but what it lacks in that it makes up in speed and power. He also makes a weird grunting sound when he does it that can be distracting to the other person.

Up Smash (Slam up + A)

17%-23% [charge range], 13%-18% [charge range] if the foe is behind you.

Fox’s best KO move. It’s astonishingly fast, and crazy powerful. It kills at 90%. Try dashing and using this at the same time. It’s a good alternative for a dash attack, and can set up aerial combos.

Down Smash (Slam down + A)

14%-19% [charge range]

As you can see, it does less damage than his other smashes. Don’t let that make you belittle this attack though, as it has substantial knockback. Fox does the splits so to clear the space around him, so that’s what you should use it for. But seriously, who charges the splits?

Throws

Knee (A or Z while grabbing)

1%.

Fox knees the guy who he’s holding. As any of these, use only when the opponent is at higher damage; they can get out otherwise. I don’t really use it much, but if it floats your boat, fine.

Forward Throw (Tilt forward while grabbing)

7%.

This is a standard Fthrow. This is a good surprise throw, because most people will be expecting a Dthrow by now. It’s not really powerful, but on stages with the stage really close to the wall of death, you can throw them for a kill.

Back Throw (Tilt backwards while grabbing)

8%.

Fox twists around and throws the foe while shooting with his blaster. At higher percents, the blasters won’t hit, giving only 5%. This can be a potential combo starter, but honestly, don’t plan on using it too much.

Up Throw (Tilt up while grabbing)

8%.

This is similar to his Bthrow in terms of what Fox does and damage. What you can do after this is pretty limited by your opponent DI-ing somewhere else. I rarely use this, but if you choose to, try to follow up with some sort of aerial.

Down Throw (Tilt down while grabbing)

9%.

This is Fox’s most damaging throw, and in my opinion, his best. Fox throws the opponent onto the ground and shoots three shots at them. They fly up into perfect position for all five hits of his Fair, or all seven hits of his Dair. Where they land can be pretty random though; sometimes they fly up, sometimes they rocket horizontally downwards. Just improvise.

Final Smash

The LANDMASTER! (Break Smash Ball + B)

This is probably one of the best final smashes in the game. There are plenty of ways to KO. Here are a few:

Falling on the Foe (Just land on them)

5%

Doesn’t do much damage, but it’s a reasonably good way to get a few kills in.

Ram (Run over them)

15%

Ramming into the foe is a pretty reasonable way to KO because it sends them flying.

Laser (Press A or B)

17%

The Landmaster shoots a bullet. You can only shoot when you’re on the ground though. After knocking the opponent off the stage, you can follow up with several shots to push them off the screen.

Barrel Roll (Tilt down)

11%

BARREL ROLL! Use this whenever someone is on top of you, thinking that they’re safe. Of course there’s a better way to get rid of people on top.. Hehe. The knockback for this attack isn’t that great, but it’s fun to use.

Over the Top (Hold jump button)

Instant KO.

If there are people on top of your Landmaster, just hold the jump button to get a Star KO. By the time that they realize that you’re traveling upwards, they’ll be dead. Use this on groups of people to get called “cheap”. ;D

Combos

Yes! Finally, my favorite section! I love Fox’s combos, and if you perfect them, you can trap them into 100%+. With Fox, there aren’t necessarily any “YOU HAVE TO DO THIS OR ELSE YOU FAIL” combos. You mainly string his dash attack, Utilt, Dair, throws, and shine together. I’m not going to list every single string that Fox is capable of doing, or else it’d take forever.

Dash Attack—Utilt—Utilt—Utilt—Usmash.

Pretty simple and straightforward. This gives the opponent about 50% real fast. You can also use Dair after the first two Utilts and follow up with Usmash or Dsmash.

SH—Dair—Shine—Dash Attack—Utilt—…

Uhm, similar to the first one except added a SH’d Dair and shine.

SH—Dair—Jab Cancel—Grab—Dthrow—Fair

This is a pretty cool combo string if you can pull it off.

Bthrow (Off the stage)—Dair—Shine

On characters with bad recoveries, this will be an assured kill. The Dair drags them down, and then the shine sends them down even further.

Dthrow—Fair—Fair—Fair

You will probably only hit with the last few hits on the second and last Fair. It’s still pretty cool though.

Uthrow—Uair—Uair—Uair

Another throw to three aerial combo. You can throw them up, and AS FAST AS POSSIBLE, jump after them to juggle with Uair.

SH—Dair—Shine—Dash Attack—Utilt—Dair—Utilt—Dair—Dsmash/Usmash

This is one of the 100% combos I was talking about. Dair does in total about 20%. Utilt does 10%. Dash attack does 10%. Shine does 5%. Usmash does 15%. Do the math!

Trust me, there are tons more. If I ever come up with any other cool ones that aren’t too repetitive, I’ll add them. If you have any others, comment and I’ll add them too!

Comments

Fox is probably one of my favorite characters that I’ve played with before. He may not be perfect, but he sure is fun to use. Although he lacks a spike, or an effective way to KO characters with good recoveries, he definitely deserves a higher spot than he has now in the E tier. He’s fast, agile, and has power. You can’t really ask for much else in a character. If you can trap your opponent in a good, damaging combo, all you have to do is finish them off with your choice of either an Usmash, Dsmash, or Fsmash. Just experiment, and have fun. Isn’t that what Brawl’s all about?

HAPPY BRAWLING, FOLKS!

—-—- xP

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Tagged as: Characters, Fox, SSBB Analyses