Smash 4 Character Opinions/Luigi

Luigi has generally been towards the middle of the field as far as viability in tournaments in the Smash series, and Smash 4 is no exception. Let’s take a look at Luigi’s moveset, combos, and play style and talk about what I personally think about the character.

Moveset and play style
In Smash 64, Luigi was a clone of his brother Mario. As time went on, however, Luigi has been decloned, with both characters receiving unique moves. For example, Luigi’s Luigi Cyclone is a clone of Mario’s Mario Tornado, which was each character’s respective down special in Smash 64 and Melee. In Brawl, the Mario Tornado became Mario’s down aerial instead, with F.L.U.D.D. taking its place as his down special. Luigi, on the other hand, kept the Luigi Cyclone for Brawl and Smash 4, so that’s two differences right there.

Luigi Cyclone is a very interesting move indeed. By mashing the special button enough times, Luigi will gain quite a bit of height. How high he goes depends on how many times you mash. Luigi mains will often train their tricep muscles in order to mash faster. Luigi Cyclone can be used for gimping, killing, and recovery, so mastering the move is essential to be a good Luigi main. Mr. ConCon’s ability to mash is part of the reason he is considered one of, if not the best Luigi main in the world.

Luigi’s combo game relies heavily on grabs and throws, namely his down throw. Even though Luigi’s down throw got nerfed and he lost quite a few combos for high damage or certain death, it’s still a solid combo starter. Down throw can lead into combos with moves like Luigi Cyclone, forward air, up air, Super Jump Punch, down air, and neutral air.

Luigi’s down taunt is unique as it’s one of only two taunts in the game with a hitbox (the other one belonging to Greninja), and it also is the only taunt that can meteor smash in the entire series. If your opponent runs out of invincibility frames on the ledge, down taunt is an instant kill. Neat!

Super Jump Punch, also known as the Luigi Shoryuken, is a move with a big sourspot that does 1% damage and almost no knockback, but a small sweetspot at the very start of the move that does 25% (20% if airborne) and tremendous vertical knockback. It’s a high-risk, high-reward kill move, because Luigi will suffer a ton of ending lag whether the move hits the sweetspot, sourspot, or completely misses.

Luigi’s Green Missile is a decent move. Unless it misfires, in which case it’s amazing. If the move misfires (which is a 1 in 10 chance), Luigi flies faster and farther, doing more damage and knockback. Otherwise, it’s just... alright.

Luigi’s weaknesses lie in his lack of mobility and poor recovery. Luigi has the lowest traction in the game as well as below average air speed. While Luigi can use Green Missile, Luigi Cyclone, and Super Jump Punch in conjunction with one another, Green Missile and Luigi Cyclone are slow and easily gimpable, and Super Jump Punch covers mediocre vertical distance.

My opinion on Luigi and people who main him
Luigi is silly. People who main him aren’t necessarily silly. I just think Luigi’s design stays true to how he’s portrayed in Mario games. Higher jumps, lower traction, sillier personality. Heck, if you fire Green Missile straight into the wall, his head wil get stuck in it and he’ll pull himself out. That’s got to be one of the best things in this game. It’s definitely up there with the likes of King Dedede’s crouch.

People who main Luigi:
 * like down throw combos
 * are likely good at button mashing
 * are okay with being slow in the air
 * might have chosen him because they like him in Mario games and were pleasantly surprised at how good he was or how good they were at playing him.

Experiences playing Luigi
I haven’t played Luigi nearly as much as I have other characters, but pretty much any character I can perform a long combo with is a character my friends can just sit and watch their character getting murdered leaving them to cry into their controller sit there watching their damage meter go from 0 to 30 real quick.