Little Mac (SSB20)

Little Mac is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 20, He was joined alongside the Mario Bros. and on February 14th, 2016.
==Attributes==
As a boxer, Little Mac possesses an emphasis of being a "strong ground fighter yet weak air fighter"; he sports extremely polarized attributes to reinforce this concept, as he has an impressive amount of perks on the ground yet almost no strengths in the air. These traits essentially sacrifices Little Mac's aerial traits for sheer grounded dominance, as shown through his fast and chainable, yet unusually powerful ground attacks.
Little Mac's greatest asset is his tremendously powerful ground game. With a combination of the third fastest dashing speed, very quick rolls and sidesteps (the former of which is also long distanced), and the best overall frame data when grounded, he possesses some of the fastest ground movement and attack speeds in the game. This gives him one of the more effective approach]] options in the neutral game despite his average reach. His grounded frame data allows him to combo and pressure opponents with lightning quick attacks, while being able to secure KOs with the same moves, all without leaving the ground: an example of this is his neutral attack, which is one of the two fastest neutral attacks in the game that can effectively start damage racking or shield break combos, while being able to chain into a finisher even at high percents. His dash and dodge speed compliments this well, as he can easily catch up with opponents and attack before retreating safely, all while being able to react quickly enough to punish mistakes due to the high speeds of his dodges.
Thanks to the raw power throughout his moveset, Little Mac's punishing game is also very effective even when he is cornered, as none of his smash attacks can be cancelled by opponent's attacks during start-up. To further reinforce his offensive prowess on the ground, his moves are fast and possess knockback powerful enough to KO near the ledge as early as 65%. His special attacks have similarly high knockback and all have punishing utilities: Straight Lunge can tank weak hits, Jolt Haymaker is an effective tech chase and punishing move against laggy attacks, Rising Uppercut can be a useful out of shield option or combo finisher, and Slip Counter allows him to retaliate against punishment. All of these abilities allow Little Mac to reap great rewards from even the smallest mistake his opponents make.
Little Mac's Power Meter is also a powerful perk. It can charge up from giving and receiving damage, and when it is full, Little Mac can perform the KO Uppercut, an unblockable attack that can take a stock early should his opponent be careless. As its charge increases from damage gained and taken, Little Mac can potentially turn the tides even if he has been knocked around, giving him one of the most potent comeback options of any character. All in all, Little Mac can be a very slippery target, yet immensely powerful for how fast he is, and can easily end the stock of a careless opponent in seconds.
However, Little Mac has very glaring weaknesses in order to compensate for his dominating presence on the ground, the biggest being his deliberately underpowered aerial abilities. Any sort of aerial fighting is very ineffective for him due to very weak aerials that carry little benefits if landed, which essentially prevents him from doing any air fighting outside of his special moves (which can only lead to a sacrificial KO if off-stage). While they can actually combo, jab reset and gimp fighters with bad recoveries due to their speed and auto-canceling capabilities, they require frame-perfect accuracy and carry extreme risk due to their very small hitboxes.
His aerial attributes, which include being a light fast-faller with low air speed and jumps also make it very easy for him to be sent into the air, while causing him to fall surprisingly fast and gain very little distance while offstage, making it very difficult to return to stage should he be sent off. His recovery does not help either, as it is notably substandard: both his recovery moves give extremely low distance and have small auto-sweetspots with no invincibility, making him extremely prone to gimping and can cost him his stock even at 0%. Even with situational extendable elements that can improve his recovery (such as his surprisingly high wall jump which is the second highest in the game, or boosts from Slip Counter and KO Uppercut), his off-stage survivability is active for being the most ineffective in the game. A simple grab or semi-spike is often enough to end him, making opponents with great reach or tether grabs a strong counter against him. Overall, this makes Little Mac's aerial ineffectiveness heavily exploitable by competent opponents, and requires him to stay grounded as much as possible to rely on his unmatched grounded frame data to overpower opponents.
Outside of his aerial moves, Little Mac's ground-hugging playstyle is also highly predictable due to the limited options a grounded fighter has (rolls, sidesteps, shielding and attacking), giving him relatively few options to mix up his playstyle. While he has an array of very powerful finishing moves, they can often become stale due to Little Mac's reliance on them (such as using them as part of his combo strings), which can give him trouble KOing. It also gives him issues against projectiles, as he will likely get hit by them (something that can also remove his KO Uppercut if available), while platformed stages also give him considerable trouble due to his aforementioned aerial problems. His own grab is lackluster, as it has mediocre range and speed and no guaranteed throw follow-ups. Even his back throw, which is capable of KOing at high percents while near the ledge, is among the weakest in the game. In addition, all of his standard attacks barring his downward angled forward smash deal low shield damage, while his attacks are somewhat unsafe on shield even when spaced well. This makes his attacks punishable if whiffed, especially against faster characters.
==Moveset==
Attack 	Name 	Damage 	Description
Neutral Attack 	 	2%, 2%, 1% per hit 	A straight punch with the leading hand, followed by another straight punch with the other hand, ending in a flurry of rapid punches. A very fast jab, and one of the safest in the game on shield, this jab can combo into grab or Up Special on hit.
Side Tilt 	 	4%, 8% 	Two jabs, with Little Mac reaching out for each punch. Both hits have the best range of Little Mac's tilts, and have strong knockback for a tilt. Hitbox starts after 4 frames, and a dependable KO move at high percentages.
Up Tilt 	 	3% 	A quick uppercut with the leading hand. It's very fast and good for juggling. It can juggle up to three times from 0% on heavier characters.
Down Tilt 	 	8% 	A low jab. It has frame advantage and can combo straight into Jab, Grab, or Up Special, among others.
Dash Attack 	 	10% 	A swinging overhead punch. Fast and one of Mac's only approach options, but highly recommended not to be used as such due to its predictability which is easy to punish with a shield grab; done near a ledge, Little Mac is almost guaranteed to lose a stock against a competent opponent even at 0%.
Side Smash 	 	20%20%24% 	Steps forward and throws a punch of different variations depending on the angle of attack. Extremely fast startup for its strength and respectable ending lag. However, this move can miss if the opponent is touching Little Mac since he steps forward.
Up: An uppercut with vertical knockback. Has the largest hitbox out of all three attacks, which makes it the easiest to connect. Useful for KOing light opponents.
Forward: A cross with high knockback. Useful overall, but loses power quickly if used repeatedly without rest.
Down: A body hook with more damage and shield damage, but less knockback. Breaks shields more reliably than any of Little Mac's other attacks, and can almost break a full shield when fully charged.
All his smash attacks have super armor, making them good for plowing through other opponent's attacks as a unique way of punishing.
Up Smash 	 	21% 	An uppercut which only hits in front. The first frame of the attack has a sweetspot that deals stronger flame damage. Great for aerial protection or chasing down an opponent, as grounded foes are likely to be hit by the sweetspot. Has noticeable ending lag, making it punishable if shielded. Gains super armor during startup.
Down Smash 	 	13% 	A 180° spinning, downward angled hook that hits quickly in both directions. While weak compared to his other smash attacks, it is his fastest smash attack, with quick startup, low ending lag, and high range, making it difficult to punish. The move can hit opponents attempting to grab the ledge, and due to its semi-spike angle, it is one of Little Mac's only reliable edge-guarding moves and is useful for hitting off-stage opponents who exhaust their ledge invincibility. Gains super armor during startup.
Neutral Ariel 	 	4% 	Mac punches downwards in a arc, it can Spike the opponent while holding onto the edge of the stage.
Forward Ariel 	 	10% 	Mac does a quick forward punch.
Back Ariel 	 	10% 	Mac turns and punches behind himself. Somewhat slow startup and short range, but high knockback.
Up Ariel 	 	11% 	Mac punches upwards in the air, similarly to his Up Tilt. Fast and decent priority. This move is decent for juggling, but it doesn't lead to much unless used while falling to the ground at a low height. 
Down Ariel 	 	9% 	Mac delivers a downwards punch that spikes opponents. It has good range and always spikes, making it great as a finisher. It is also used to create resets in his ground combos.
Forward Throw 	 	11% 	Mac punches the opponent away with both hands. Decent knockback at high percents and becomes a kill move near the edge at 120% and so.
Back Throw 	 	10% 	Mac punches the opponent behind himself, launching at about a 50-degree angle. Juggles nicely into Back Air given the opponent DIs properly.
Up Throw 	 	11% 	Mac uppercuts the foe into the air. Low knockback at low damage and juggles into Neutral Ariel for a combo starter.
Down Throw 	 	10% 	Mac's most useful throw. Mac punches his opponent down, causing them to slide backwards along the ground. Can be followed up by Dash Attack or Side B. This is one of Mac's main ways to start combos.
Neutral Special	Straight Lunge 	14%/12%/9% (uncharged ground), 25%/20% (fully charged ground), 10%/7% (uncharged air), 15% (fully charged air), 35% (KO ground), 13% (KO air)	A chargeable, dashing cross which covers more distance the longer it is charged. If the Power Meter is fully charged, it turns into the KO Uppercut instead. This attack has low heavy armor while charging and high ending lag when fully charged, but it becomes one of the strongest moves in SSB4 if fully charged, making it optimal to use after a shield break. The KO Uppercut, despite its name, is not a a true one-hit KO. Rather, it KOs very early, starting at 22%, while also having super armor on frames 8-9.
Side Special 	Jolt Haymaker 	14% 	Mac dashes, invincible to all attacks while in motion. Once he reaches a target, he delivers a devastating punch. When used in combos, this move becomes more powerful.
Up Special 	Rising Uppercut	1-3% 	A right-handed, jumping corkscrew uppercut followed immediately by a left-handed uppercut. The first uppercut hits multiple times while the second uppercut hits once and deals respectable knockback. Goes higher with more maneuverability if used on the ground, while it only grants half the distance and maneuverability if used in the air. Deceptively powerful, to the point that it can reliably KO at high percentages and is Little Mac's only reliable aerial finisher. Gives some of the lowest distance and maneuverability of any recovery move, and only snaps to the edge if the move ends right next to one.
Down Special 	Slip Counter 	1.3x 	Mac pauses and takes a stance, and will counter any incoming attacks for a brief period.
Final Smash 	Giga Mac 	Varies 	Mac transforms into Giga Mac, a beastly version of himself, and delivers a beatdown, launching the foe into the air.
===Taunts===
*Up: Turns his back to the screen, bends down, then raises his fist triumphantly. Doc Louis may say "Hit 'em, baby!".
*Side: Adjusts his boxing gloves while crossing his fists and scoffing. Doc Louis may say "Let 'em have it, Mac!".
*Down: Performs a series of punches while facing the screen. Doc Louis may say "Show 'em what you've got, Mac, baby!".
===On-Screen Apperance===
*Little Mac runs in and swipes off his Pink Jacket.
===Idle Poses===
*Trusting his shoulder side by side.
*Crosses his feet left and right like a boxer would
===Victory Poses===
*Doc Louis holds up Little Mac's arm like a referee would after a boxing match.
*Does a few punches towards Doc Louis, warming up with him.
*Runs and gives his back towards the camera, then turns around, looks above and strikes a pose, while Doc Louis cheers him on.
** In all of Little Mac's victory poses, Doc Louis will say one of the following at random:
*** "(in tandem with the announcer) And the winner is... Little Mac! Hahaha!"
*** "Y'know, that belt looks good on you, son."
*** "Ya got what it takes, Mac!"
*** "Nice work, Mac. You got it all figured out."
*** "Way to go, Mac! You're the champ, baby!"
*** "Awesome win, Mac. Way to go!"
*** "You win, Mac!"
*** "Alright! I think I hear a chocolate bar callin'."
*** "Was that a little too easy for ya, son?"
*** "World Circuit's all yours Mac!"
*** "Ahh, winnin' feels good, don't it?"
*** "Nice moves, Mac. I could barely keep my eyes on ya, son."
*** "Ain't you flashy? You making my eyes water, son."
*** "You're lookin' mighty good, son. Just like old times, huh?"
== Special Mechanic==
===KO Meter===
*Neutral Special: KO Uppercut; an extremely powerful uppercut that can KO opponents at low damages, though the higher the weight, the more damage is needed to KO them (characters can be KO'd as low as 12%). The attack has drastically lower knockback and damage when used in the air, and it cannot kill unless the opponent has at least around 150% damage.
*The meter charges both by hitting enemies with Mac's attacks and getting hit by their attacks. When Little Mac is attacked, it is double to quadruple the amount he would if he would hit an opponent, his meter goes to maximum if taken damage from exactly 100% damage.
==In Competitive Play==
==Alternate Costumes==
==Trivia==
Category:Characters (SSB20)
Category:Punch Out!! Universe