Mach Rider

## General

Mach Rider (マッハライダー) is the protagonist of the NES game Mach Rider, along with it's arcade sequel Vs. Mach Rider. He has made appearances in the Super Smash Bros. series prior as both a sticker and a trophy, and is a fully playable character in Super Smash Bros. Crusade. He is a mysterious hero seeking refuge in the midst of an alien invasion, utilizing his signature Mach Bike and it's mounted machine guns to defeat the invaders.

## Attributes

Mach Rider is a heavyweight rushdown character with a strong neutral and frighteningly powerful advantage state who capitalizes on his two most powerful specials and reach in order to open up opponents for quick stocks. Fishing for openings, he can quickly convert off of a grab or good prop up hit in order to string his aerials for KOs as early as 70%.

Key to his neutral is his great down special, as Mach Rapid Kick's mix of range, hitstun, and speed with how it can be auto-cancelled in the air giving Mach Rider an excellent option most characters can't challenge or approach in order to close in and go for a free smash attack or grab. His side special, the Mach Bike, is another similarly powerful tool that can cause trouble for slower or unsuspecting opponents, as it's quick to come out, has a very generous hitbox, and is about as safe as can be with how quickly Mach Rider can cancel it, giving him a quick approach option to make up for his lacking grounded normals. On top of them, his other attacks, while slow, often possess workable range and power, and his smash attacks are potent tools for taking stocks or advantage off of a read.

While his neutral can be strong, Mach Rider's strongest trait is his advantage. With an almost redundant surplus of kill options among a set of versatile combo tools and the speed to follow up on all of them, Mach Rider can quickly turn a stray grab or neutral aerial into a stock. His strongest combo tool is his up aerial - The hitbox and speed work well with great angles on the front or back hit of it to allow long chains, as even after hitstun is over most characters don't have any immediate options that can challenge the range of it. Down special makes a fine extender as well if he finds the opportunity to use it, as the hitstun leads into a free up tilt or grab to only further his state. Despite being on the slower end, many of his other aerials are also perfectly usable, especially at low percentages or with late hits, as many have generous trajectories if they're not launching the opponent very far. In terms of grounded moves, his jab and up tilt both work fine as landing ways to keep the percentage and knockback going.

Besides just his ability to quickly rack up percentage, his set of aerials gives him an innumerable amount of finishers and general tools to close out stocks at high percentage. His forward aerial and back aerial function similar to eachother, with both being slightly delayed but incredibly powerful single hits that can KO at very low levels, even more so if the opponent is dragged towards the blast zones by the rest of his tools. Even without them, his smash attacks are all serviceable and many are true if chained into by his down special, amongst a series of other, slightly less practical but still usable finishers like his Bike Spike or down aerial. Skilled players may even be able to up aerial opponents all the way to the blast zone due to the versatility of it.

However, Mach Rider's weaknesses come polar opposite to his strengths. His disadvantage is dismal, with few of his aerials fast enough to respond to immediate pressure or act out of a hit, and the options he does have are highly predictable and often something opponents will be able to adapt to. This is compounded by his higher than average weight and larger hitbox, giving him a similar problem to Captain Falcon in being juggled. A lot of his hitboxes are also somewhat stubby or specific, causing him to struggle against more disjointed foes despite reach normally being a positive. He lacks versatility, as well, often relying on up aerial and down special an incredible amount for his game plan, as few of his other moves are as consistently usable as them. Finally, his recovery is poor. He lacks any options besides side special and up special, and both have issues. The former is easy to challenge offstage, as bike is poor against opponents who approach from a similar or higher vertical level, and the latter's mediocre and and incredibly binary usage with 0 control or extension means Mach Rider's recovery is beyond predictable and shut down by either being knocked too far or quick edgeguards.

While his defenses may be lacking, a skilled player will use the overwhelming pressure and decisive offense of Mach Rider to shut down opponents before they can take the advantage.

## Moveset

*For a gallery of Mach Rider's hitboxes, see here.*

## In competitive play

### Patch History

* Sprite of Side Special (Mach Bike) updated.

## Alternate costumes

This character currently does not have real alternate costumes, and instead uses costumes based on hues instead.