Bomberman (Super Smash Flash 2)

Bomberman is a newcomer starter character in Super Smash Flash 2 hailing from Konami's (formerly by the defunct Hudson Soft) series of the same name. The White Bomber's design is based around his appearance in the game Bomberman Generation, where he is depicted wearing a red scarf and golden bracelets.

Bomberman is ranked 23rd on the current tier list, a noticeable drop from his 21st place rank on the last tier list. Bomberman has very good stage control due to his ability to plant and move around up to five bombs on the stage which, when detonated, produce very large, high-damaging explosions that have to potential to cover the entire stage. He also has very good maneuverability due to his good aerial mobility and a ludicrously fast initial dash that gives him a long dash-dance and can be repeatedly crouch-canceled to zip around the stage. This is further compounded by his solid air game due to his fast, powerful, disjointed aerials that enable him to combo opponents offstage, as well as his wealth of good kill moves, including his smash attacks, power bombs, back aerial, and forward aerial, up special move, and forward throw.

However, Bomberman suffers from high accelerated falling speed, the third highest, and a large hurtbox, his head, that makes him susceptible to combos and chain grabs. His recovery, while covering a great vertical distance, is very linear and covers very little horizontal distance, making him easy to gimp. Outside of the moves that use his head, Bomberman's attack range is lackluster, giving him a disadvantage against characters with disjointed hitboxes, such as and. In addition to this, Bomberman becomes considerably weaker onstage if his opponent overwhelms him before he has a chance to set up his bombs.

Bomberman appears to have a small player base and poor representation in online tournaments. However, the players that do participate in tournaments take high spots.

Attributes
Bomberman is a character that mainly focuses on stage control, using his bombs to pressure the opponent.

As mentioned before, Bomberman's most significant attribute is his ability to place up to five bombs onstage via his standard special move, Bomb. This grants him incredible stage control, which is further supplemented by the ability to charge these bombs for a bigger explosion with more power, and Bomb Kick, which allows Bomberman to move the bombs around the stage. His down special, Bomb Detonate, detonates the bomb(s) he has laid all at once, allowing his to play mindgames with his opponent, or set up ledge traps.

His ground game is also very potent. His high dash speed allows him to catch up to other characters relatively quickly, granting him the ability to rush down other characters to start or extend combos, or KO. His standard attack comes out relatively quickly, and the first two hits can lock, allowing Bomberman to set up for his forward smash via this method. His up and down tilt are both rather quick, and their low knockback allow them to start or extend combos. Additionally, all his smash attacks boast respectable power, with his forward smash KOing Mario at 65% at Battlefield's edge when fully charged. His aerial game is also very useful, with fast and damaging aerials, with forward aerial notable for being Bomberman's most reliable KO option.

Bomberman also sports a solid grab and throw game; despite his grab possessing short range, it is one of the fastest grabs. His up and down throw are both chain grabs, which can help him set up Bomb kills or rack up damage. His forward and back throws are good at sending opponents far offstage, where they may not be able to recover if not killing them outright.

However, Bomberman's main weakness is his large head: while it gives him good range in attacks that use it, it also acts as a large hurtbox, making him easier to hit because of this. His high falling speed also compounds this, as he is very susceptible to juggles and combos. Additionally, any attacks that do not use Bomberman's head have lackluster range, leaving him at a disadvantage to characters who possess disjointed hitboxes (i.e. Marth, Lloyd). His recovery is also very linear, as Jetpack covers very little horizontal distance in spite of its impressive vertical distance, and it does not decrease his falling speed during startup, letting other characters easily gimp him.

Overall, Bomberman's playstyle relies on his stage control abilities to overwhelm his opponent, though he must be careful when recovering or attacking without caution.

Changes and revisions
Bomberman got no changes in version 1.1, making him overall worse in the meta, as most other characters got buffed.

Notable players

 * Akabonba

Trivia

 * Bomberman is the only character so far to have a specific palette swap for Team Battles; he uses a different one from his other costumes for all three teams.

External link

 * Bomberman's page at Smash Flash DOJO!!!