Luffy (Super Smash Flash 2)

Luffy is playable newcomer starter character for Super Smash Flash 2. He was revealed during the Day 4 stream at Super Smash Con 2016. His sprites are edited from the GBA One Piece game and the One Piece: Gigant Battle series. Certain animations are custom made, using his appearance based on the second part of One Piece. He has been confirmed as both the final manga and anime character and the final starter character on Beta's roster. Luffy was the number-one most-requested character for a number of years and was added to the game due to the massive popular demand despite the developers' initial refusal to add any more manga/anime characters.

Luffy ranks 29th on the current official Beta tier list, on top of the C+ tier. Luffy has strong finishers in his forward, back and down aerial, side and up smash, dash attack and forward throw. Luffy can attack/grab from afar using most of his moves, most notably his neutral, side and up special. Luffy can also gimp recovers with his down special as it pushes opponents.

Luffy isn't flawless however, and a major flaw of his is how he can extend his hurtbox by using certain moves that allow him to stretch his body to various lengths, notably his side special, as it is very laggy, both for start-up and ending. This, coupled with his weight, makes him very easy to K.O. Alongside that, Gum-Gum Balloon loses its leaping distance after every usage in the air and Gum-Gum Snap only can grab ledges above its hitbox.

Luffy's flaws overshadow his pros, trapping him in the low tiers.

Attributes
Luffy is a character that is known for stretching his body to out-space opponents. A lot of his moves such as up smash, forward smash, standard special, side special, down air, neutral air, back air, and forward tilt make use of this type of spacing, granting him medium to long range. Despite his average dashing speed, Luffy can space opponents in matches. Luffy is also equipped with a lot of edgeguarding options. His down aerial and forward aerial can meteor smash opponents down the abyss, (although the latter is laggy). His back aerial can kick opponents away from the stage and he can grab the opponent far away from the stage with Gum-Gum Pistol or Gum-Gum Rocket and either throw the opponent back out of stage or continue comboing. His forward smash, having some range, can help knock opponents offstage while Luffy is on stage.

Luffy does have his weaknesses. Whenever he stretches his body, his hurtbox gets extended. For example, Luffy's extended grabs with the standard and side special will cause his hurtbox to extend forward. Since these grabs are laggy and they both lack a hitbox, opponents can easily disrupt the grab by hitting his arm/hands with a simple jab or a projectile. In contrast, other long-ranged non-projectile characters like Marth can extend their range (in Marth's case, with his sword) without extending their hurtbox. The extension of Luffy's hurtbox, along with Luffy's tall frame, makes it difficult for him to deal with combos and projectiles. His recovery is subpar and predictable. Gum-Gum Balloon can grant him some vertical distance and super armor. However, if he needs to use it again, using this move before landing on the ground will grant him less vertical distance than the first time he used it. At this point, he may become reliant on tether recovery if he already used his midair jump. Furthermore, he does not have a lot of good KO options on stage, with only standard attack 2, down smash, and dash attack being his only reliable on-stage KO moves. This makes him either reliant on edgeguarding and/or keeping his KO options fresh.

While Luffy is a character of potential, his extended hurtboxes, lackluster recovery, and a lack of KO options hold him back as a character.

Trivia

 * Before his reveal, Luffy was one of the most requested characters in SSF2. This led to many hoaxes pertaining to his reveal.
 * Luffy was technically revealed years before his official introduction in a "faked" April Fools' Day image that actually showed off an earlier version of him before he was reworked.
 * When electrocuted, instead of showing Luffy's skeleton, Luffy's body will show meat in his stomach.
 * He is the only manga and anime character to not use his sprites from Jump Ultimate Stars.