Snake (PM)

Snake is a playable character in the Brawl mod Project M and its successor, Project+. He has been given new moves as well as a mix of buffs and nerfs for his Project M incarnation.
Snake ranks 12th out of 41, at the midst of the A- tier, on the official tier list, a small drop from his 6th-place position out of 38 on the Brawl tier list. However, in the official Project+ tier list, he drops drastically, placing 34th out of 42, landing him at the top of C tier.
==Attributes==
Snake is a fairly tall, heavy character with a wide array of projectiles and explosives. Many of his normal attacks are quick to start up and have well-placed, powerful hitboxes that lead into each other. However, his movement on the ground is only average, and in the air it is slightly worse (though his neutral special, if B-reversed, can help alleviate this). Snake excels at dealing high-damage combos, setting traps, juggling airborne opponents, surviving and recovering from incredibly long distances, and KOing foes off the top blast zone. He also possesses strong defensive tools, such as a long grab range, quick moves out of shield, a strong crouch cancel (due to his high weight) and a crouch that ducks under many commonly used moves. His primary weakness is his lack of reliable tools to approach opponents with - this means he can struggle against characters that are faster than he is, have longer-ranged attacks, can out-camp his projectiles, or have some combination of those things. He is also easily combo'd himself if the opponent manages to land a clean hit. Furthermore, while his recovery can travel very long distances, it is faily predictable, and he often has to inflict damage to himself through C4 or grenades.
Because the Project M metagame rewards defensive play much less than Brawl does, Snake's campy special moveset has received several new tools to keep it on par. His Grenades can now be rolled, and explode twice as quickly. Despite now being limited to one at a time, this allows Snake to use them more quickly and frequently without having to "cook" them first to prevent foes from throwing them back at him. Cypher now deals damage and knockback even while Snake hangs onto it, and although it is slightly less useful and safe for recovery, the move is now a very strong out of shield option due to its fast startup, weak knockback, and the positioning Snake gets after using it. His Remote Missile was replaced with Tranquilizer Gun, which launches a very small sleep-inducing projectile that, when hit, allows Snake to easily place C4 on an opponent. With its new buffs, C4 no longer transfers between players or disappears (unless it is detonated or Snake is KOed), and Snake can now fake pressing the detonator. The feint forces an opponent to dodge or shield in anticipation of the explosion, limiting their options and granting Snake an advantage. Overall, its buffs make it especially useful against evasive players: once the C4 is attached to Snake's opponent, he can use the feint or simply detonate it to break a stalemate at any range.
Snake's ground attacks received some adjustments oriented both toward combo potential and KO potential. His jab and all of his tilts keep enemies closer; in particular, the first stage of his forward tilt now weakly bounces targets straight up, allowing the move to rack up damage in succession and keep opponents close much more efficiently than his jab does. Meanwhile, his smash attacks were reworked for KO potential, with his down-smash mines receiving a substantial boost in knockback and his up-smash mortar no longer having a random, uncontrollable angle. Snake's new knife forward-smash, while seemingly more oriented toward speed than launching power, consists of two stages that both end in powerful strikes, allowing Snake to mix up shielding opponents by delaying or not using the second stage. While Snake's up- and down-throws received only minor tweaks, his forward- and back-throws, which still bounce the foe horizontally across the ground, now consist of mostly set knockback and are more effective at leading into a mine. Additionally, Snake's new ability to drag foes left or right during a grab can more advantageously position him to reliably throw a foe onto a mine. 
Listed below are numerical values for many of Snake's attributes. The raw number comes first (often in terms of in-game units of distance or speed), followed by how it ranks among the 41 characters in Project M. Note that the grab range rankings do not include characters with tether grabs.
*Weight - 105 (9th)
*Max Fall Speed - 2.12 (15th)
*Fast Fall Speed - 2.89 (14th)
*Gravity (Falling Acceleration) - 0.098 (23rd)
*Jumpsquat Frames - 5
*Max Run Speed - 1.55 (22nd)
*Max Walk Speed - 0.875 (30th)
*Max Air Speed - 0.94 (25th)
*Aerial Mobility - 0.55 (24th)
*Standing Grab Range - 17.2482 (6th)
*Dash Grab Range - 16.7382 (4th)
*Pivot Grab Range - 18.0387 (10th)
*Wavedash Distance - 24.68 (30th)
==Changes from Brawl to PM==
Snake received a mix of buffs and nerfs, with his buffs making him more suitable for the mod's offensive metagame. Snake's mobility for the most part has been considerably improved and he has various new tools he can use. His side special is now a tranquilliser gun which puts grounded opponents to sleep giving him many potential followups. His grab game is also even stronger. Snake can now walk around while grabbing his opponents allowing him to get closer to the ledge or his down smash mines. His down throw is also faster and deals more damage making it an even better tech chasing option.
As well as these buffs, Snake has also seen some nerfs. His weight has been reduced and he is much more vulnerable to combos due to the removal of hitstun canceling greatly hindering his endurance. All of his tilts are weaker and their notoriously large disjointed hitboxes have been considerably decreased. His aerials are also considerably weaker especially his neutral and down aerials. His Hand Grenades also take longer to spawn and he can only have one out at a time making them less effective as a defensive tool. 
Overall, Snake buffs alleviate his nerfs and he overall remains a strong character.
===Aesthetics===
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===Attributes===
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==Revisions==
===v2.5b===
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===v2.6b===
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===v3.0===
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==Moveset==
Up to date as of version 3.6.
 	Name 	Damage 	Description
Neutral attack 	 	4% 	Snake punches twice, then performs a spinkick. The final kick has high knockback but can be powershielded depending on the character, even if the combo is done as fast as possible. Based off the attack combo from and . The first jab can also be canceled into a f-tilt or a grab.
Neutral attack 	 	3% 	Snake punches twice, then performs a spinkick. The final kick has high knockback but can be powershielded depending on the character, even if the combo is done as fast as possible. Based off the attack combo from and . The first jab can also be canceled into a f-tilt or a grab.
Neutral attack 	 	8% 	Snake punches twice, then performs a spinkick. The final kick has high knockback but can be powershielded depending on the character, even if the combo is done as fast as possible. Based off the attack combo from and . The first jab can also be canceled into a f-tilt or a grab.
Forward tilt 	 	8% 	Snake does a knee-thrust forward and if the attack button is pressed again, he will follow up with an overhead swing with both arms. This move is seen during a cutscene in Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes when Snake fights Grey Fox. The first hitbox has extremely fast start-up and good horizontal reach. On grounded opponents, it bounces them upward with set knockback, causing hitstun but no knockback, which allows Snake to link the opponent into the second hitbox. Since the knee hitbox bounces grounded enemies upward, it can set up an up tilt. The second hitbox has fast start-up as well. This move can be used for general damage racking, as a punishing move, for KOing, and it is also a useful out-of-shield option, as it takes hardly any frames for the hitbox to come out. However, enemies can powershielded out of the knee hitbox to avoid the second hitbox. During the first hitbox, Snake's right leg is intangible.
Forward tilt 	 	10% 	Snake does a knee-thrust forward and if the attack button is pressed again, he will follow up with an overhead swing with both arms. This move is seen during a cutscene in Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes when Snake fights Grey Fox. The first hitbox has extremely fast start-up and good horizontal reach. On grounded opponents, it bounces them upward with set knockback, causing hitstun but no knockback, which allows Snake to link the opponent into the second hitbox. Since the knee hitbox bounces grounded enemies upward, it can set up an up tilt. The second hitbox has fast start-up as well. This move can be used for general damage racking, as a punishing move, for KOing, and it is also a useful out-of-shield option, as it takes hardly any frames for the hitbox to come out. However, enemies can powershielded out of the knee hitbox to avoid the second hitbox. During the first hitbox, Snake's right leg is intangible.
Up tilt 	 	12% (clean), 10% (late) 	Snake performs a quick uppercut with his right hand. This move has low start-up, great vertical reach, and surprisingly good horizontal reach, as well as great vertical knockback, capable of KOing lightweights around 120% while KOing heavyweights around 160%. Higher knockback when the hit connects earlier on in the attack, though the sourspot will still reliably KO under 150%.
Down tilt 	 	11% (clean), 10% (late) 	Snake does a low spin kick while prone. While this move is fast and has good vertical knockback, it is not as good as his forward and up tilt, due to having less reach than the forward tilt, and much less knockback than the up tilt. This move can still be used as a surprise KO move since it's usually fresh when used.
Crawl attack 	 	5% 	Snake thrusts a small dagger out on the ground in front of him. Deals weak vertical knockback, but can set up for combos at high percents.
Dash attack 	 	11% (clean), 8% (late) 	Snake does a somersault forward. Deals moderate knockback and moves Snake forward a fair amount. The somersault and subsequent transition to crouching are visually identical to those moves used by Snake in the Metal Gear Solid series.
Forward smash 	 	(hit 1), (hit 2) 	Snake pulls out a small dagger in reverse-grip and holds it back before quickly slashing forward twice. By pressing the attack button again, he will perform a third slash that deals more damage and knockback. Due to knockback of the first two hits, it's often hard, if not almost impossible, for the third slash to hit the opponent, preventing all three hits from being a three-hit combo.
Forward smash 	 	 	Snake pulls out a small dagger in reverse-grip and holds it back before quickly slashing forward twice. By pressing the attack button again, he will perform a third slash that deals more damage and knockback. Due to knockback of the first two hits, it's often hard, if not almost impossible, for the third slash to hit the opponent, preventing all three hits from being a three-hit combo.
Up smash 	 	4% (startup), 14% (mortar) 	Snake slams a mortar in front of himself and fires a shell into the air. The movement of the shell is entirely vertical, with its horizontal movement being angled by holding the left or right on the control stick. Charging this move does not increase the shell's power, but it increases the speed at which it is fired, making it go higher. When fully charged, the shell travels great distances, reaching the top section of the watchtowers in Shadow Moses Island (if used at the bottom section of the stage), making it have the greatest vertical reach of any smash attack. The shell explodes if it makes contact with a ceiling, an opponent, a wall or the ground, no matter what direction it's moving in. Slamming down the mortar has a hitbox that produces very weak vertical knockback that knocks opponents into the mortar's line of fire. The shell cannot damage Snake unless it is reflected by moves like Reflector.
Down smash 	 	 	Snake starts digging a hole in the ground and places a landmine inside. A short while after planting the mine, it becomes active, and will detonate if anyone (including Snake) steps on it. If the platform the mine is set on disappears (such as on Rainbow Cruise or Delfino Plaza) the mine falls down and if it makes contact with anything, even the ground, it explodes. Snake can't plant more than one mine at a time, but it can be moved by using this attack again, which detonates it from its previous position and gets planted at Snake's current position. After a short time has passed or if Snake gets KO'd, the mine will self-detonate. The move itself is taken from Metal Gear and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.
Neutral aerial 	 	3% (hit 1), 5% (hit 2), 7% (hit 3) 	Snake performs three kicks in quick succession. The first kick has very fast start-up, but the whole move itself has slightly long duration with slight ending lag, making it punishable. All three kicks combo well into each other and is best performed high in the air, but can still come out in a short hop. Best used against airborne and large characters.
Forward aerial 	 	15% (foot), 14% (leg) 	Snake lifts his left leg over his head and axe-drops it down. This move has slow start-up and some ending lag, but it is a powerful move with great vertical and horizontal reach. Connecting this move on airborne opponents at Snake's foot is a spike while connecting at his leg result in a meteor smash. When used on grounded opponents, it deals powerful diagonal knockback.
Back aerial 	 	12% (clean body), 13% (clean leg), 14% (clean foot), 10% (late)	Snake extends both his legs out behind him, planking in the air. This move has fairly fast start-up along with good reach and deals good horizontal knockback when sweetspotted, making it a effective move for edgeguarding. It has some ending lag, however.
Up aerial 	 	12% (clean body), 13% (clean leg), 14% (clean foot), 10% (late)	Snake thrusts legs straight upwards, similar to his back aerial. This move fairly fast start-up with good vertical reach and powerful vertical knockback, but it has considerable ending lag. The move is useful for star KOing airborne opponents that are above 100%.
Down aerial 	 	4% (hits 1-4) 	Snake launches four subsequent kicks below himself. With a quick start-up, all four stomps can be performed in a short hop. The last stomp meteor smashes opponents. While somewhat laggy and punishable, this attack is good against shields, and is a great punishing move if Snake can predict where an opponent may end up after they performed a roll dodge. Unlike the neutral aerial, this move is generally better against grounded opponents.
Grab 	 	— 	Grabs and holds his opponent in a restraining chokehold, which is a grabbing position unique to Snake. In Project M Snake can move horizontally using the left and right taunt buttons during a grab.
Pummel 	 	3% 	Tightens his chokehold.
Forward throw 	 	9% 	Flips them over and drops them (scoop slam).
Back throw 	 	9% 	Turns around and slams opponent on the ground.
Up throw 	 	10% 	Performs a back suplex, slamming the opponent onto the ground. This throw can setup for an up tilt at low percentages.
Down throw 	Silent Takedown 	14% 	Lays opponent on the floor, putting the opponent into the downed status. One of the best tech-chasing moves in the game and lets Snake get an addition grab or hit if he can predict how the enemy will recover.
Floor attack (front)	 	6% 	Gets up while kicking his foot out on one side and punches on the other side.
Floor attack (back) 	 	6% 	Rotates his body around with both his feet sticking out and gets up.
Floor attack (trip) 	 	5% 	Does a swirling kick while getting up.
Edge attack (fast) 	 	6% (body), 8% (leg) 	Climbs on to the stage and performs a low sweep kick.
Edge attack (slow) 	 	8% (body), 9% (hip), 10% (leg) 	Slowly gets up and thrusts his left leg forward.
Neutral special 	Hand Grenade 	1-4% (throw), 11-12% (explosion) 	Snake pulls out a grenade and unpins it. The grenade can be held for up to 1.5 second before it detonates, which can be "cooked" by holding the special button as soon a grenade is taken out. The distance Snake throws the grenade can be controlled by pressing either up, forward, down, or pressing no direction at all. Only one grenade can be out at a time and another one can't be produced until one explodes.
Side special 	Tranquilizer 	1% 	Snake shoots a small tranquilizing projectile out of a gun that puts a grounded opponent to sleep, allowing for easy follow-ups and starting combos. If the opponent is in the air, they are slightly launched backward with set knockback. Reloads after three shots are fired. Can also be manually reloaded prior to firing all three shots if the shield button is pressed within a few frames of pressing side special. The projectile can also be reflected, which will make Snake fall asleep instead.
Up special 	Cypher 	6% (2 hits), 5% (camera) 	Snake grabs onto a flying reconnaissance camera to slowly hover upwards. This move does not make Snake become helpless, but will take away his mid-air jump and he won't be able to air dodge. One can cancel the ride early by performing any attack (excluding the up special), or by pressing down, upon which the Cypher will become an upward projectile. Despite the large amount of vertical distance this move covers, Snake is very vulnerable to edgeguarding due to being defenseless while hanging on to the camera.
Down special 	C4 	16% 	Snake bends down a plants a C4 on the ground where he is standing, drops one when used in the air, or sticks one towards a wall if he is standing near one. By using the move a second time, he takes out a remote and presses the button, detonating the explosive. If Snake is standing near an opponent, he can attach the C4 directly onto them, which functions like a Gooey Bomb. The detonation can be cancelled if Snake is attacked before he presses the button.
Final Smash 	Grenade Launcher	18% 	Snake leaps off the stage and grabs onto a rope ladder of a helicopter, shooting up to twelve rounds of grenades from the foreground. After firing six shots, Snake will reload another round of six shots. If no shots are fired within a few seconds, Snake will automatically shoot a grenade towards the crosshair.
==In competitive play==
===Notable Players===
* - Ranked 46th on PMRank 2019; PM Snake Discord admin and PM Snake Guide co-author. Considered the best active Snake main post-quarantine.
* - Ranked 28th on PMRank 2019; the best Snake player in the world.
* - Formerly ranked 12th on PMRank 2016; famous for his $100 money match against Rolex.
* - Formerly highly ranked in Arizona.
==Alternate costumes==
===Project M===
Snake's blue costume from Brawl has been replaced with a more distinctive one, making it more noticeable on Team Battles. In addition, he now has a costume based off of his father, Big Boss, a.k.a Naked Snake, as he appears in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
							
							
===Project+===
Snake gets a set of costumes based on his appearance in the original Metal Gear Solid, as well as a costume where he wears a tuxedo based on the ending of the aforementioned Metal Gear Solid.
Secret costumes:
Z-Secret Costume: Iroquois Pliskin
R-Secret Costume: Big Boss in Formal Military Suit
==Trivia==
*In build prior to 3.0, Snake's up taunt would involve him touching his beard, saying either "Not even close!" or "Tasty!", which was much shorter than his current up taunt.
**Also prior to 3.0, Snake still had his Nikita, functioning just like in Brawl, though it would always do 18% damage regardless of its speed.
*If Snake's up taunt is cancelled at the right time, he will hold the cigarette in his mouth for the remainder of the stock, or until he uses his up taunt again.
*As of version 3.5, despite the fact that Snake's grenade now has a timer of roughly 1.5 seconds, its graphics have not yet been updated and still reads "GRENADE,DELAY 3.0".
*If Snake uses his Cypher while standing underneath a ceiling of a certain height, he will land and be able to act again almost immediately. The move can be used in rapid succession in this scenario. The only known places where this occurs are the Hyrule Castle "tent" and the level 3 Break The Targets stage.
==External links==
*Big Boss alternate costume reveal thread
*Collaborative Project M Snake Guide
*Labbing Discord Tech Post
Category:Snake
Category:Characters (PM)
Category:Third-party characters