Snake (SSBU)

Snake (, Snake) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was officially confirmed on June 12th, 2018, with his appearance exclaiming "Everyone is Here!" with the rest of the returning roster. Snake is classified as Fighter #31.
 and 's respective English-language and Japanese-language portrayals of Snake from Super Smash Bros. Brawl were repurposed for Ultimate. The former actor confirmed he was willing to record new lines for the character, but it was decided to only use the voices from Brawl instead.https://twitter.com/DavidBHayter/status/1006580149540700160 In the Chinese and Korean versions, Snake uses his English voice clips.
Snake currently ranks 3rd out of 82 on the Ultimate tier list, placing him at the end of the S+ tier. This is a marginal improvement from his placement in Brawl, where he was ranked 6th out of 38. He is gifted with an exceptionally versatile moveset, having a wide variety of powerful tools at his disposal, including fast startup on the majority of his attacks, large, disjointed hitboxes on many of his moves, high damage and knockback output, one of the game's best burst options with his dash attack, an excellent projectile and camping game with his many explosives, a great tech-chasing and setup move with his down throw, a fast and highly damaging out of shield option with his down aerial, and fantastic stage control, ledge trapping and edgeguarding capabilities. His grenades are one of the best projectiles in the game due to their frame 1 startup, making them excellent combo breakers and setup tools, and their ability to be shield dropped and subsequently picked up gives them vast utility for both offense and defense in battle. They can also be B-reversed to help Snake mix up his landing, and his heavyweight status gives him strong endurance, while also allowing him to make use of rage. His up tilt remains an extremely lethal KO move due to its decently sized hitbox, as well as its sheer speed and power.
Snake inherits several flaws that were endemic to him in Brawl. His main issue is his recovery; despite the high distance Cypher provides, it remains predictable and easy to intercept, which is now made worse by it being able to be destroyed, and his slow-acting air speed makes him susceptible to gimping, despite the benefits of the game's air dodge mechanics. While he has several tools like C4 to refresh his recovery and grenades to break out of combos, he's often forced to self-inflict damage just to recover or reset into neutral, which combined with his susceptibility to combos, trouble landing, and the inability to tech at very high percentages, gives him a very poor disadvantage state. Although several of his attacks having fast startup, many of his moves have notable end lag, which can leave him vulnerable on block. The removal of DACUS, which he was previously one of the most proficient users of, has also limited his mobility options to an extent. Additionally, due to his explosives being able to be absorbed, this can give him trouble against characters with absorption based moves. Finally, Snake's KO options are all fairly predictable. Since many of his kill moves like smash attacks are slow acting, he's often times limited to attacks like up tilt that are easy to anticipate, since many of his KO setups are a lot more circumstantial.
Nonetheless, his pros greatly outweigh his cons. Since the release of the game, Snake has consistently been one of the most popular characters in competitive play, with many players representing him throughout the years, most notably , , and .
==How to unlock==
Complete one of the following:
*Play VS. matches, with Snake being the 39th character to be unlocked.
*Clear with or any character in his unlock tree, being the 5th character unlocked after .
*Have Snake join the player's party in World of Light.
With the exception of the third method, Snake must then be defeated on Shadow Moses Island. In World of Light, he is fought on .
==Attributes==
Snake is a tall heavyweight character, being tied with and as the 18th heaviest character. Much like several other heavyweight zoners, Snake has poor overall mobility; while he has above-average traction, falling speed, and fast falling speed, his dashing speed, initial dash, walk speed, air speed, and gravity are all below-average, his jumps are among the lowest in the game, and he is also tied with and for the lowest air acceleration in the game. As a result of his mobility, Snake is highly reliant on zoning and trapping with his projectiles in the neutral.
One of Snake's biggest strengths is his moveset: similarly to a few other characters, such as , the overall utility provided by Snake's moveset is so considerable that he lacks a single "bad" or "useless" move. An example of this would be his ground game. His neutral attack comes out quickly and is a good anti-pressure tool with good mixup potential. His forward tilt is a 2-hit attack with fast start-up (frame 4) and a decently sized hitbox. It also has high knockback, allowing it to KO at high percents. His up tilt is often considered one of the best in the game due to its deceptively fast start-up (frame 6), very strong KO power, and disjointed hitbox. It is also infamous for being able to be confirmed into by his down throw, which is a true combo at high percents (around 160%). His down tilt is one of his best poking tools, having fast speed (frame 6) and a great disjoint that goes beyond Snake's feet. It also puts Snake into his crouch position on the first frame of the move, making it a great way to evade certain attacks. Lastly, his dash attack comes out very quickly (frame 5) and is a useful approaching option due to its good knockback which even allows it KO at the ledge at very high percents, while it also crosses shields, grants Snake arm intangibility, and has a reasonable amount of ending lag, giving him one of the game's best burst options and making it arguably the best dash attack in the game.
Snake's smash attacks offer a unique set of options. His up smash shoots a missile upwards and the height at which it travels can be increased by charging the move. This makes it great for edgeguarding, ledgetrapping, and as an anti-air. The launcher also has a hitbox that comes out on frame 11. His forward smash, while extremely slow, is incredibly strong and is decently safe on shield due to its relatively low endlag and large hitbox, making it great for hard reads or if the opponent rolls in Snake's direction. Its large hitbox also reaches beyond the ledge and allows it to 2 frame punish opponents. His down smash is fast, has good KO power (especially with the back hit), possesses a disjointed hitbox on both hits that goes beyond Snake's feet and makes it a good tool for 2-framing and edgeguarding, and is relatively safe on shield if its back hit connects.
While Snake's air attributes are poor, his aerials by themselves have lots of utility. Neutral aerial is strong and deals very high damage, making it great for edgeguarding and as a follow up move out of Snake's explosives. Its first three hits can also setup into other moves if Snake lands as quickly as possible after connecting one of the hits. Forward aerial is a very powerful meteor smash with great horizontal and vertical range. Down aerial is often considered Snake's best aerial, as it comes out very quickly (frame 3), has decent range and knockback, and deals high damage, with all the hits combined dealing 20% in a short hop. The move also gives Snake a small vertical boost in the air and autocancels in a short hop. Due to its aforementioned speed, it is useful for racking up damage and is a very effective out of shield option. Up aerial is relatively quick, has strong vertical power, and a large disjointed hitbox that extends far beyond Snake's legs. Finally, back aerial is fast, deals high damage with powerful knockback, and has long disjointed range along with a high amount of active frames, making it a reliable landing option and a way to escape juggles as well as a potential KO move. 
Snake's grab game is also fairly versatile. His dash grab goes a surprisingly long distance thanks to him sliding forward during it. His throws, however, are where his grab game shines. Down throw is unique in that it has the down effect: while this makes it unsafe at low percents, as the opponent can react before he can, it gains enough hitstun at high percents to allow Snake to follow up reliably, with up tilt being renowned as a guaranteed KO confirm at 160%. It is also useful for tech chasing, as Snake can predict his opponent's tech option and potentially rack up more damage or possibly even KO the opponent if the player makes the correct read. His up throw can combo into his up tilt at low percents as a solid damage racker, and his back throw can combo into his dash attack at low percents as well as C4 at mid to high percents. Lastly, his forward and back throws have decent knockback scaling, making them great for setting up edgeguards or, to a lesser degree, KOing at very high percents.
Finally, Snake's special moves allow for many fantastic options. His neutral special, Hand Grenade, is arguably one of the best projectiles in the game for many reasons. It is infamous for starting on frame 1, which lets Snake instantly escape combos once he is out of hitstun and also makes it to where opponents must be cautious when trying to combo or juggle him in an effort to not get hit by his grenades. Grenades are also very useful for zoning and as defensive options, as Snake can shield while holding one to make pressuring his shield dangerous. They are also very useful for stage control, ledge trapping, setups, and as camping tools. His side special, Remote Missile, is one of the greatest edgeguarding tools in the game, thanks to its controllable movement, strong knockback, and low commitment, as Snake can edgeguard opponents with ease without leaving the stage. His down special, C4, is a remote activated bomb with strong power. It can also be difficult to see at times due to its small size and is among the best and most versatile trapping and stage-controlling tools in the game thanks to how it essentially puts certain parts of the stage "off-limits" and forces opponents to move in a different part of the stage where Snake can continually pressure them. Additionally, Snake can attach it to the opponent if he is close enough, which gives him an opportunity to deal high damage or potentially KO at high percents, especially if used as confirm out of his back throw. It can also be used to extend his recovery by placing one down in midair and detonating it immediately. Lastly, his up special, Cypher, is his main recovery move and goes a considerable distance and doesn't leave him helpless. It also provides Snake with some damaged based armor, and a useful lingering hitbox that can cover his air dodge to the ledge.
In spite of his strengths, Snake still has noticeable weaknesses, one of which being his frame data. While he does have several moves with remarkably quick start-up (jab, down aerial, back aerial, Hand Grenade, down smash, and all of his tilts), the majority of his moveset has very high endlag, making them easy to punish if missed. While his aforementioned forward aerial and forward smash are quite strong, they have the highest startup lag of their types in the game. His reliance on explosive projectiles in the neutral can be a downside in matchups against characters with energy-absorbing moves, such as , , or , or against characters that can use his explosives against him such as or .
His recovery can also be very vulnerable at times. Though the Cypher does have positive attributes, it can be rather slow and easy to catch. Many moves can hit right though the armor, and if it gets destroyed without Snake taking damage, he will become helpless. This situation can easily lead to a lost stock when recovering low. There is also a period of time after the Cypher is deployed in which it can not be acted out of. These issues lead to Snake favoring a very high recovery in most situations. Unfortunately, getting back to stage from so far up offers the opponent a large window of time to chase down his landing. To evade a good opponent, the Snake player must consistently mix-up his landing with different movement options and attacks. Mastery of Snake's explosives, falling aerials, air dodges and reverse specials is required for a safe and consistent return to the stage.
Snake also has a notoriously poor disadvantage state. As a heavy character he is still vulnerable to combo strings and juggling. Grenade somewhat mitigates this issue as it can be used as a frame one combo breaking tool. However, this tactic does have downsides. If the grenade activates, Snake will receive damage and knockback. At higher percents, he may end up at a greater disadvantage or possibly lose a stock. Some characters can also hit Snake without ever triggering the grenade. Carelessly thrown grenades can also be used by opponents, who will often have better follow-ups at their disposal than Snake. Despite the various uses of his C4, it automatically detonates after a certain period of time, which can damage Snake or even KO him if the player carelessly activates it or loses track of its detonation time frame. Finally, some of Snake's aerial moves can be punished due to their noticeable landing lag if they fail to hit an opponent.
Snake can also struggle to kill. His two most reliable killing options (up tilt and down throw) can be rather predictable at times. This is especially true for down throw. High level players know that reaching 159% means a 100% guaranteed death to Snake's next grab. Though Nikita missiles are strong for edgeguarding, many characters have a variety of options to deal with Nikita. This issue can be partially mitigated by shield canceling it after the missile gets hit to activate a secondary hitbox. However, this tactic significantly reduces the damage and knockback of the Missile.
Overall, Snake is a zoning and stage-trapping oriented character with versatile specials and projectiles for forcing the opponent to move into a disadvantageous position. However, this doesn't necessarily mean he is required to stay at a distance to be most effective. He possesses several fast and strong melee attacks, which can easily rack up damage, and keep the opponent off of him.
==Changes from Super Smash Bros. Brawl==
In Brawl, Snake was considered among the best characters in the game (placed 6th out of 38 characters) thanks to his extreme damage output and knockback, huge disjointed hitboxes, excellent endurance due to a combination of very high weight and great momentum canceling, an excellent projectile and zoning game with his explosives, and a chain grab with his down throw which he could tech-chase. Possibly owing to his extreme success, Snake received a large mix of buffs and nerfs in the transition to Ultimate; when it comes to direct changes, Snake has seen some significant nerfs to his power and disproportionately large hitboxes, but he greatly benefits from the universal changes, along with having received buffs to his projectiles. All in all, it's difficult to determine whether Snake was buffed or nerfed overall.
Directly, Snake has suffered from several critical nerfs to his moveset. His damage output and KO power from Brawl have been largely toned down, as his neutral attack, forward and down tilts, dash attack, forward smash, and all of his aerial attacks deal less damage, knockback, or both; this substantially weakens his damage racking ability and KO potential, putting them more in-line with the rest of the cast despite remaining above average. While he still possesses large disjoints in his attacks, Snake's range has been significantly neutered, as the infamously large hitboxes on his attacks are now much smaller or have been completely removed; his infamous up tilt, in particular, has had its range drastically reduced. All of his moves' explosions can now be absorbed, worsening his matchups against characters with absorption based moves such as , , and . Most notably, Snake's down smash no longer involves him placing a landmine, removing one of his main tools for stage control (although it remains deceptively strong) in lieu of a more traditional punish tool. Snake's weight is also noticeably lighter, now being a heavyweight character instead of a super heavyweight, which is exasperated by the fact that most super heavyweight fighters have had their weight significantly increased from Brawl, while his Cypher can now be destroyed by opponents if their attack is powerful enough.
Some of the indirect changes have also been very detrimental for Snake. The removal of chain grabbing and DACUS have altered Snake's playstyle: the former hinders his down throw's damage racking and tech chase potential (further compounded by its reduced damage), while the latter eliminates one of his best approaching options. The removal of hitstun canceling now makes Snake much more susceptible to combos, which is especially gruesome considering most of the cast has access to them in one way or another. Lastly, the neutering of momentum canceling, as well as Snake's reduced weight and Cypher's vulnerability to being destroyed, has dramatically watered down his survivability, which is further exacerbated by the changes to teching, as this hinders his bomb recovery by making techs impossible to perform at high enough percents. Altogether, the two latter changes make Snake's disadvantage widely inferior to his appearance in Brawl.
However, Snake has also received some direct improvements to his toolkit. Most notably, his previously poor air game was drastically improved: his neutral and down aerials' multihits have reduced startup and better linking angles, significantly improving their consistency and potential as follow ups, while down and back aerial can now autocancel in a short hop and full hop respectively. Due to the direct improvements it has received along with Snake's significantly faster jumpsquat, down aerial is much more effective and reliable as a fast and highly damaging out of shield option. For his grounded moves, down tilt has lower ending lag and increased damage, making it safer as a poking and shield pressuring tool; up tilt has slightly increased KO potential on both the clean and late hit and the clean hit has a longer duration, making it an even more fearsome KO option; dash attack has both increased knockback at low percentages and a lower angle and extended duration on the clean hit, allowing it to setup edgeguard opportunities and making it far more effective as a burst option, especially at lower percents. Furthermore, while down throw is less useful for tech chasing and deals less damage, it immobilizes opponents on the ground for a specific amount of time depending on their percent before the throw, giving Snake guaranteed KO setups at high percents including a KO confirm into up tilt once the opponent is at ~160%.
His smash attacks have also received notable buffs: forward smash has decreased ending lag, making it harder to punish and safer on shield when combined with the shield changes, and up smash has increased KO and ledgetrapping potential since its trejectory is much less randomized. Even his new down smash, despite its removed stage control potential, is much faster, making it more conventional for KOing, punishing rolls, and 2-framing. His special moves have also been given improvements: Hand Grenades have less lag when they are generated and explode faster (the latter can be both benefical and detrimental depending on the circumstance), while C4 detonates faster and has less ending lag in all aspects. The most crucial upgrade however, was to Remote Missile — it is easier to control and much more maneuverable, reaches its top speed at a faster rate, and has less ending lag both when canceled and upon hitting the opponent, vastly improving its utility. 
In spite of the nerfs to his damage racking, neutral game and survivability, Snake immensely benefits from some of the universal changes to Ultimates game engine. Similar to the returning veterans, Snake has faster mobility (although it is still below average) and decreased landing lag in all of his aerial attacks, giving him landing options. Most importantly however, Snake benefits the most from the universal 3-frame jumpsquat as his jumpsquat is no longer the slowest in the series, massively improving his ground to air transitioning as well as his out of shield game. Additionally, while the removal of chain grabbing hurts his down throw's tech chasing potential, it more importantly improves his endurance as he is no longer vulnerable to highly damaging chain grabs from certain characters, most notably and . The changes to air dodges benefit Snake as well, as the reintroduction of directional air dodges improves his recovery by allowing him to get additional distance to the ledge after using Cypher, and Cypher's lingering hitbox can cover his air dodge, while the limit to one air dodge per air time (until the character lands or is hit) combine well with Remote Missile's buffs and grant Snake one of (if not) the best edgeguarding tools in the game. While the changes to hitstun canceling impair Snake's disadvantage, they also allow him to utilize his projectiles as setup tools into his attacks much more effectively. Finally, the shield changes and increased shieldstun (especially for tilts) makes his moves safer on shield and harder to punish despite his lower damage. 
In the end, the changes Snake received has toned down almost all of his strongest traits that are deemed as overpowered, such as his impressive endurance, huge damage output, and disproportionately large hitboxes. However, while the direct nerfs Snake has received are of greater quantity than his buffs, the direct changes have also improved his strengths in specific areas, most notably his edgeguarding, while the changes to universal mechanics has nevertheless improved his most severe flaws in Brawl, such as his aerial game and mobility (both of which were considered to be amongst the worst in Brawl). Snake also retained most of his key traits from his Brawl incarnation; while most of them are much weaker in Ultimate, none of the nerfs have outright removed said traits, remaining very respectable comparing to the majority of the cast, and optimizations to his playstyle in the metagame further cement his position. As a result, Snake performs similarly effective in Ultimate as in Brawl, and he remains an incredibly successful character (if very difficult to play) in competitive play.
==Update history==
Snake received a mix of buffs, nerfs, and glitch fixes via game updates, but nerfed slightly overall. Update 2.0.0 buffed his already powerful up tilt by increasing the clean hit's hitbox length and reducing the late hit's hitbox. Update 3.0.0, however, was a mixed bag for Snake. His back aerial's knockback was increased, but his up smash gained slightly more ending lag. Hand Grenade and Remote Missile were also nerfed, with the former dealing less shield damage (though this change also buffs Snake, as it is much safer for him to block his own Hand Grenade) and the latter received a smaller hitbox during its descent. Update 3.1.0 improved his neutral attack's consistency, while update 4.0.0 made up throw's collateral hitbox blockable. Lastly, update 7.0.0 enlarged Snake's shield as part of a near-universal buff, and granted brief intangibility to his head when he activates his shield.
Overall, Snake fares mildly worse than he did at the launch of Ultimate, although he remains a very dominating character in the metagame.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
==Moveset==
*Snake can crawl. Notably, Snake's crawl is one of the lowest in the entire game, alongside that of .
For a gallery of Snake's hitboxes, see here.
===Stats===
===Announcer call===
Snake English Announcer SSBU.wav|English/Japanese/Chinese
===On-screen appearance===
*Snake's stealth camouflage disengages to reveal himself to his opponent(s). Snake then says "Kept you waiting, huh?" upon appearing. Taken from the beginning of the Tanker chapter in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.
SnakeOnScreenAppearanceSSBU.gif|Snake's on-screen appearance
===Taunts===
*All taunts: Puts a cardboard box over himself, which is removable. All three of his taunts are variations of this, though with slight differences in and cancelability. When he removes it, any nearby enemies will receive damage. 
**Smash Taunt: Snake uses the codec to contact his support team - Colonel Campbell, Otacon and Mei Ling (or Slippy when in a match against ) - for information on his opponent; if there are multiple fighters, the game will randomly choose one. This is only possible on Snake's home stage, Shadow Moses Island, and only applicable to characters playable in Brawl, as it reuses the same voice lines, and thus also excludes when in his older Radiant Dawn costume. Snake will take a knee for a few seconds, then the codec will briefly dial and the call will begin. Snake can be hit during the call without interruption, but it will end if he is KO'd, which, in a nod to the Metal Gear Solid game over sequence, causes the character he was talking with to shout his name in dismay.
SSBUSnakeTaunt1.gif|Snake's up taunt.
SSBUSnakeTaunt2.gif|Snake's side taunt.
SSBUSnakeTaunt3.gif|Snake's down taunt.
===Idle poses===
*Scratches his beard.
*Quickly looks behind himself.
SSBUSnakeIdle1.gif|Snake's first idle pose.
SSBUSnakeIdle2.gif|Snake's second idle pose.
===Crowd cheer===
 	Cheer (English) 	Cheer (Japanese/Chinese)	Cheer (Italian) 	Cheer (Dutch) 	Cheer (French)
Cheer 	 	 	 	 	
Description	Snake Snake Snake!	Sna - ku! 	Snake! Snake! Snaaaake!	Snake! Snake! *clap 3 times*	Snake! Snake! Snaaaake!
 	Cheer (German) 	Cheer (Spanish) 	Cheer (Russian) 	Cheer (Korean)
Cheer 	 	 	 	
Description	Snake! Snake! Snaaaake!	Esnake! Esnake! Eeeeee-snake!	Snake! Snake! Snaaaake!	Sna - ke!
===Victory poses===
*Left: Does a spin kick and sidekick, finishing in an open-hand battle stance, while saying "Not even close!" ("", Not yet.). The pose is a reference to when "Old" Snake fights Liquid Ocelot at the end of Metal Gear Solid 4 using CQC, a fighting style only explicitly used by Big Boss in prior games.
*Up: Uses the codec in a crouching position, reporting "Colonel, mission accomplished." ("", Colonel, mission accomplished.).
*Right: Crawls forward, then dive rolls into a crouch, saying into his codec "This is Snake. I'm done here." ("", This is Snake, returning from here.).
SnakeVictoryPose1SSBU.gif
SnakeVictoryPose2SSBU.gif
SnakeVictoryPose3SSBU.gif
==In competitive play==
===Most historically significant players===
See also: :Category:Snake players (SSBU)
* - The best Snake player in the early metagame, spearheading Snake's metagame by winning , the first supermajor ever won by a Snake player, and placing 3rd at and . He was banned from most events after the spring season due to his conduct, though he continued to compete in select tournament series in his region. His achievements remained unmatched until Hurt's rise in late 2023, and as such, he is considered one of the greatest Snake players of all-time in spite of his short tenure in the game and controversial legacy.
* - One of the best Snake players in North America, although he has never competed outside of Mexico. Initially known for his performances in the online metagame, AlanDiss established himself as one of Mexico's strongest hidden bosses after achieving a string of strong performances, frequently placing in the top 3 at Mexican superregionals and defeating foreign invaders, including at and both and at , ultimately placing 9th at the latter event. He also regularly trades sets with at ranked events, though their overall record remains in Sparg0's favor.
* - One of the best Snake players in North America in the post-COVID-19 pandemic metagame, and the overall best Snake player in the world in 2022, known throughout the community for his positive attitude in competition. He was first known for placing 13th at after defeating , a player proficient in the Snake matchup due to his experience with MVD. ApolloKage has since placed top 8 at several majors, including 5th at and , and has won several other large events, including and the qualifier .
* - The second-best Snake player in Japan, with several top 8 performances at majors from the early metagame to 2023, which includes finishing 4th at and 7th at . His performances in the first half of 2023 were especially noteworthy, as he placed 7th at and , in addition to a win over at . These performances placed him in contention for the best Snake player in the world during this time, although he eventually fell out of contention following Hurt's rise in the second half of the year.
* - Widely considered the greatest Snake player of all-time. Though active prior, he rose substantially throughout 2023, winning a slew of superregionals and placing 2nd at , before eventually becoming one of the best players in the world in first half of 2024 after winning , , and , becoming the only Snake player with more than one major win. In addition to his meteoric rise, he is known for being one of 's toughest opponents alongside and won over acola.
* - Although better known for being one of the greatest players of all-time, he prominently used Snake throughout the early metagame, and was considered the best Snake player from Europe. Whilst using Snake, he is best known for defeating at , where he used Snake to win the final two games. In addition, he used Snake in several noteworthy sets to place 5th at both , , and . He eventually dropped Snake in the post-pandemic metagame.
* - One of the best Snake players from North America, being an active threat at the highest level since the beginning after winning , the first large Ultimate event. He went on to place highly at several majors throughout the Spring 2019 PGRU season, including 5th at and 7th at both and . Though he saw a decline in the rest of the early metagame, he saw a resurgence in 2021 by placing 4th at and 5th at , becoming the best Snake player in the world for that year. He was eventually dethroned by other Snake players, but has nevertheless seen many noteworthy performances since then, including placing 7th at .
* - Known for playing a variety of characters in the early metagame, but by far used Snake the most, and was considered one of the best Snake players in the early metagame. He is best known for defeating to finish 5th at , and has also notably placed 7th at and with predominantly Snake. He eventually dropped Snake in the online metagame before being banned from competing online following controversy, and he has remained inactive since.
* - One of the best Snake players in North America in the early metagame, co-maining the character alongside . Though less active on a global scale compared to other Snake players during this time, he has seen several noteworthy performances, including placing 9th at and , using Snake more often in the latter event. His activity declined in the post-pandemic metagame, and he only appears in events in Georgia, though he predominantly plays Snake at these events.
* - One of the best Snake players in the second half of the early metagame, countering inconsistent results with incredible peaks such as placing 9th at both and , as well as 17th at both and , the latter two being some of the largest events of the entire early metagame, in addition to strong superregional performances such as 7th at both and . He remained a notable Snake player in Japan for the rest of his tournament career, placing 9th at and , and retired in 2023.
===Tier placement and history===
In the early metagame, Snake was an incredibly popular character. His multiple strengths, including a frame 1 option to break combos, great edgeguarding tools, and guaranteed kill setups at higher percents, enabled mains to develop a vibrant metagame. These strengths gave Snake one of the highest representations in the metagame: he placed 2nd in representation for the first half of 2019, while he was one of the most common characters used by power ranked players in 2019. The high reception to Snake was backed up by strong major results coming from players such as , , and . This overwhelmingly positive reception led many players to consider Snake as one of the best characters in the game.
This high perception, however, would not last, as players began learning how to play around Snake's strengths while using his lacking disadvantage state in their favor. Furthermore, Snake's top-level representation also began to suffer mid-2019 due to Ally's ban, MVD's decline in results, and Salem picking up other characters to use alongside Snake. Although Snake continued to have high representation going into, during, and out of the online metagame, players began wondering whether he was starting to fall out of the metagame.
Doubts on Snake, however, eventually faded as his popularity remained. Old mains such as MVD, , and continued to see strong, yet somewhat inconsistent, results on a major level, while new names, most notably , appeared on the national scene. This has allowed Snake to maintain his high representation in the metagame, and players in the current metagame still consider him to be a top tier, making him ranked 15th on the first tier list. Opinions on Snake only continued to improve as he remained one of the most popular characters in competitive play. In addition, the rise of in 2023 gave Snake yet another representative at the top level, while the metagame favoring a campier, more patient playstyle was beneficial to Snake. As such, he rose significantly on the second tier list to 4th. Though this ranking was initially met with some skepticism, Hurt's major victories throughout 2024 and rise into the top 10 cemented Snake's status as one of the best characters in the game, and he subsequently rose an additional spot on the third tier list, now ranking in the S+ tier alongside Steve and Sonic.
==: Weapons and Equipment OSP==
Snake's opponents all use projectile weapons. Additionally, all the items that spawn are either projectile weapons or explosives, to go with the theme of the route. OSP stands for On-Site Procurement, which is the condition for many of Snake's missions in the series. The boss of his route, Galleom, fits with the theme due to it using explosive projectile weapons.
Round 	Opponent 	Stage 	Music 	Notes
1 	(x2) 	Moray Towers 	 	A possible reference to Laughing Octopus from Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
2 	 	Kongo Falls 	 	Based on the Snake vs. Monkey minigame from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
3 	 	Shadow Moses Island (Battlefield form)	 	
4 	 	Jungle Japes 	 	The opponent and stage choice reference the battle against The Fear in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
5 	(x2) and (x2)	Norfair 	 	Horde Battle (2 at a time)The two Samuses are likely a reference to the powered suit soldiers from Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
6 	 	Shadow Moses Island 	 	A possible reference to Les Enfants Terribles, a government project in the Metal Gear series that creates clones of Big Boss, including Solid Snake himself. The CPU will be the default Snake if the player chooses the green alternate costume.
Bonus Stage	Bonus Stage 	Bonus Stage 	Bonus Stage	Bonus Stage
Final 	Galleom 	Base 	 	References to how Galleom resembles Metal Gear machines.
Note: All stages except for the final round will play a song from the Metal Gear series, no matter what universe the stage originates from.
Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Snake has accompany the credits.
==Role in World of Light==
Snake was among the fighters that were summoned to the cliffside to fight against the army of Master Hands.
During the opening cutscene Snake was present on the cliffside when Galeem absorbed the Master Hands and unleashed his beams of light. Unlike the other fighters who attempted to deflect or avoid the beams, Snake hid quietly in his cardboard box; this proved comically ineffective, as a beam of light vaporized him and his box, placing him under Galeem's imprisonment along with the rest of the fighters save for .
Snake can be found in the Base sub-area reminiscent of his series, where Galleom is fought. Amusingly, a cardboard box from his home series (presumably the very same one he tried to hide from Galeem in) can also be found here in a treasure chest.
===Fighter Battle===
No.	Image	Name 	Type	Power	Stage	Music
31 	 	Snake	 	9,000	 	
==Spirit==
Snake's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing as Snake. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Snake has been unlocked. Unlocking Snake in World of Light allows the player to preview the spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. His fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with his artwork in Ultimate.
SSBU spirit Solid Snake.png|749. Solid Snake
==In Spirit Battles==
===As the main opponent===
Spirit	Spirit	Spirit 	Spirit 	Battle parameters	Battle parameters	Battle parameters 	Battle parameters 	Battle parameters 	Battle parameters	Battle parameters 	Reference
No. 	Image 	Name 	Series 	Enemy Fighter(s) 	Type 	Power 	Stage 	Rules 	Conditions 	Music 	Character
288 	 	Metroid Series 	• • 	 	1,600 	Shadow Moses Island 	N/A 	•Defeat the main fighter to win 	 	 	
576 	 	EarthBound Series 	•Clear • 	 	13,500 	Onett 	N/A 	•Defeat the main fighter to win•The enemy is invisible 	 	 	
581 	 	EarthBound Series 	• • 	 	4,200 	Onett (Battlefield form) 	•Hazard: Lava Floor 	•The floor is lava•The enemy starts the battle with a Franklin Badge 	 	 	
603 	 	F-Zero Series 	• 	 	3,600 	Mute City SNES 	•Item: Motion-Sensor Bomb 	•The enemy starts the battle with a Lip's Stick 	 	 	
750 	 	Metal Gear Solid Series 	• 	 	13,900 	Shadow Moses Island 	•Hazard: Poison Cloud 	•The stage is covered in a poisonous cloud•The enemy's physical attacks have increased power 	 	 	
753 	 	Metal Gear Solid Series 	• 	 	3,700 	Shadow Moses Island 	•Attack Power ↑•Defense ↑ 	•The enemy has increased defense after a little while•The enemy has increased attack power after a little while 	 	Solid Snake 	
756 	 	Metal Gear Solid Series 	• 	 	3,900 	Shadow Moses Island 	•Move Speed ↑ 	•The enemy has increased move speed when the enemy's at high damage•The enemy starts the battle with a Killing Edge 	 	 	
758 	 	Metal Gear Solid Series 	• Team ×4 	 	9,000 	Distant Planet (Rain) 	N/A 	•Defeat the main fighter to win•Reinforcements will appear during the battle 	 	Solid Snake, Liquid Snake, and Solidus Snake (reinforcements)	
891 	 	Mega Man Series 	• ×2 (120 HP) 	 	1,900 	(Ω form) 	•Item: Bombchu 	•Stamina battle•The enemy is easily distracted by items 	 	 	
898 	 	Mega Man Series 	• ×3 (50 HP) 	 	1,600 	Wily Castle (hazards off) 	N/A 	•The enemy's explosion and fire attacks have increased power•Stamina battle•The enemy favors neutral specials 	 	 	
963 	 	Xenoblade Chronicles Series	• 	 	1,800 	(Battlefield form) 	N/A 	•The enemy's shooting items have increased power•The enemy starts the battle with a Staff 	 	 	
1,167 	 	Napoleon 	• 	 	1,900 	Pirate Ship 	•Attack Power ↑ 	•The enemy has increased attack power when the enemy's at high damage 	 	 	
1,223 	 	Hotel Dusk: Room 215 	• 	 	4,100 	Fourside (hazards off) 	•Item: Timer•Hazard: Fog 	•The stage is covered in fog 	 	 	
1,348 	 	DAEMON X MACHINA 	•Tiny •Giant ×2•Giant	 	9,500 	Frigate Orpheon (hazards off)	•Attack Power ↑•Item: Shooting Types	•The enemy has increased attack power after a little while•Reinforcements will appear after an enemy is KO'd 	 	Grief 	
1,367 	 	Ikari Warriors Series 	• 	 	3,800 	Gaur Plain (hazards off) 	•Item: Exploding Types 	•The enemy's shooting items have increased power•The enemy starts the battle with a Super Scope 	 	Ralf Jones (red costume)Clark Still (blue costume) 	
1,374 	 	Resident Evil Series 	• • 	 	3,900 	Fourside (Battlefield form) 	•Item: Shooting Types 	•The enemy starts the battle with a Franklin Badge•The enemy's ranged weapons have increased power•The enemy favors special moves	 	 	
===As a minion===
Spirit	Spirit	Spirit 	Spirit 	Battle parameters	Battle parameters	Battle parameters 	Battle parameters 	Battle parameters 	Battle parameters	Battle parameters 	Reference
No. 	Image 	Name 	Series 	Enemy Fighter(s) 	Type 	Power 	Stage 	Rules 	Conditions 	Music 	Character
274 	 	Metroid Series 	• • 	 	3,400 	Frigate Orpheon 	N/A 	•The enemy falls slowly 	 	 	
755 	 	Metal Gear Solid Series	• • 	 	2,300 	Midgar (Battlefield form)	•Hazard: Fog 	•Defeat the main fighter to win•The stage is covered in fog 	 	Old Snake 	
761 	 	Metal Gear Solid Series	• • 	 	3,600 	Garden of Hope 	•Item: Food 	•Defeat the main fighter to win•The enemy becomes more powerful after eating 	 	Naked Snake 	
764 	 	Metal Gear Solid Series	• • 	 	3,500 	Shadow Moses Island 	•Move Speed ↓ 	•You have reduced move speed after a little while 	 	Naked Snake 	
766 	 	Metal Gear Solid Series	• • ×3 	 	9,600 	Midgar (hazards off) 	•Attack Power ↑ 	•Defeat the main fighter to win•Timed battle (1:30)•The enemy has increased attack power when the enemy's at high damage	 	Solid Snake, Big Boss, and Liquid Snake	
1,134 	 	Famicom Wars Series 	•Metal Iggy • ×2	 	3,900 	Gerudo Valley 	N/A 	•The enemy favors neutral specials•The enemy is metal 	 	 	
1,135 	 	Advance Wars Series 	• •Tiny ×8 	 	3,400 	Halberd (Ship deck) 	•Health Recovery•Item: Exploding Types	•The enemy is healed when the enemy's at high damage•Defeat an army of fighters 	 	 	
==Alternate costumes==
							
							
==Gallery==
Snake amiibo.png|Snake's amiibo.
SSBU Snake Number.png|Snake's fighter card.
Snake unlock notice SSBU.jpg|Snake's unlock notice.
Snake Ultimate artwork.png|Image of Snake as posted on the official Japanese Metal Gear Twitter account.
SSBUWebsiteSnake1.jpg|Snake on Temple.
SSBUWebsiteSnake2.jpg|Snake using his neutral attack against on Kalos Pokémon League.
SSBUWebsiteSnake3.jpg|Snake readying his Remote Missile on Coliseum.
SSBUWebsiteSnake4.jpg|About to detonate his C4 on on Tomodachi Life.
SSBUWebsiteSnake5.jpg|Taunting with a crouching on Magicant.
SSBUWebsiteSnake6.jpg|Snake crouching next to a Ramblin' Evil Mushroom on Gaur Plain.
SSBUWebsiteIsabelle9.jpg|Snake getting hooked by on Great Bay.
SSBUWebsiteKingKRool5.jpg|Snake getting hit by 's Gut Check on Magicant.
SSBUWebsiteLuigi4.jpg|Getting hit by 's neutral attack on Coliseum.
SSBUWebsiteShulk4.jpg|With on Shadow Moses Island.
SSBUWebsiteZeroSuitSamus5.jpg|Snake and crawling on Shadow Moses Island.
SSBUWebsite12.jpg|Snake with 's Rope Snake on Pokémon Stadium 2.
SSBUAnnouncerGo!.png|Snake and King K. Rool begin their battle at Kongo Falls.
===Fighter Showcase Video===
==Trivia==
*Snake was announced to return in Ultimate on June 12th, 2018, which was also the 10-year anniversary of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
*Snake is the only veteran third-party character to have his Final Smash completely changed, and also the only one who was not playable in Super Smash Bros. 4
*The official Smash Bros. website lists Snake as being the 31st character to join the series, which is coincidentally the same amount of years from the first installment of the series was released, back in 1987, to Snake's return to Smash, in 2018.
*Snake shares his Classic Mode unlock tree with and , who are also third-party characters from a Konami franchise.
*Snake is the only character in Smash history whose series symbol has been entirely changed: the FOX logo was altered to the "!" Alert symbol from Metal Gear Solid.
**This is possibly due to the FOX logo also being the logo for the former Kojima Productions, a studio within Konami responsible for developing Metal Gear games which have since dissolved and reformed as an independent developer.
*Snake is the only fighter in Ultimate that will emit a voice line when eating a food item, with phrases along the lines of "Mmhmmm!", "Good!" and "Tasty!". This is a clear reference to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, where Naked Snake will elicit a reaction when eating.
**The only other fighter known to perform a similar action is , in which the burping sound effect from Minecraft will play after he consumes a food item.
*Ultimate is the third time Snake, Simon, and Bomberman appeared in a video game together, the first two being and .
*This is the second time where the Metal Gear franchise crosses over with the Monster Hunter franchise - the first of which was in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker featuring Rathalos, who is coincidentally a boss character and Assist Trophy in Ultimate.
*Snake is the least common opponent for Classic Mode routes, as he appears in 3 different routes.
**He appears in 's route in Round 6, 's route in Round 5, and his own route in the penultimate round.
*Oddly enough, unlike other characters, holding the special move button while shielding as Snake does not allow him to angle the shield without triggering dodges (or jumping if tap jump is turned on); he can only do this by holding multiple shield buttons. While this also applies to and , it is because of the special move input while shielding being designated for refilling their Ink Tank for the former and spawning a crafting table for the latter.
*Snake's stock icon depicts him without facial hair, similar to his appearances in Metal Gear 2 and Metal Gear Solid.
*There's a glitch regarding the use of Cypher where if Snake gets fired out of Barrel Cannon or is hit by the tornado in Hyrule Castle, any aerial action performed will leave him helpless. Additionally, if Snake performs a tech, throws an item and lands, or gets knocked down and stands back up, the helplessness will be stored, causing him to lose access to the move while grounded and will become helpless once he leaves the ground by either jumping or falling off the stage. This glitch is a carryover from Brawl.
*Despite also specializing in explosives and projectile weapons, , and do not appear in Snake's Classic Mode route.
*When fighting off the fifty puppet fighter army as Master Hand in World of Light, Snake is one of the eight fighters fought there, being affiliated with Galeem.
**He is also the only one affiliated with Galeem who is from a third-party franchise.
*When scanning in a Snake amiibo, he plays his on-screen appearance animation instead of one of his taunts.
==Notes==
:1.translates to "Propping and Drawing Ankle Throw"
==References==
 
Category:Third-party characters
Category:Konami
Category:Spirits
es:Snake (SSBU)