Ichigo (Super Smash Flash 2)

Ichigo is a playable newcomer starter character in Super Smash Flash 2. He was one of the first four playable characters, along with, , and , confirmed in a trailer and demo. He is also the only playable representative of the Bleach franchise so far.

Ichigo is currently ranked 5th on the tier list on the A+ tier. This is a vast improvement from his 19th-place position being a mid tier on the last tier list. Ichigo has a disjointed hitbox, strong air game, and powerful finishers in his forward smash, up smash, back aerial and neutral aerial. He has a good mobility option in his pseudo wavedash which gives him a good approach option. This, along with his small short hop and his fast falling speed allows him to perform SHFFL aerials to approach.

However, Ichigo's recovery is sub-par. His side special move covers a long horizontal distance, but requires a long period of charging, during which Ichigo will continue to fall, which limits its use offstage. His up special move, while difficult to edgeguard on its own, covers very little horizontal and vertical range, making it arguably one of the worst recovery moves in the game. As a result of his recovery problems and his high falling speed, he has no offstage game, and is even vulnerable to meteor smash gimps at 0%. His falling speed also makes him susceptible to chain grabs and combos. His finishers, though very powerful, are also very slow, which makes Ichigo over-reliant on hard reads and mindgames to finish characters off. He also has momentum issues, as it is very difficult for him to regain stage control once lost, especially against faster, campier characters.

Despite his placing, Ichigo has a strong player base and has solid representation in online tournaments, though his results are somewhat lackluster even in smaller events.

Attributes
Ichigo has good range in the majority of his attacks. His neutral air, forward tilt and down tilt are excellent tools for spacing. He posses a projectile in Getsuga Tenshō, which has a lot of priority in it that can help him in canceling out other projectiles. Ichigo has KO moves in his forward smash, up smash, neutral air, back air and up air.

Concerning his recovery, Ichigo has multiple options to recover. Getsuga Tenshō is able to slow down his falling speed and stall him, he can use it multiple times. He can use his forward air to push him forward, allowing another way to recover horizontally. His main means of horizontal movement is Engetsuzan, which he can charge to cover more distance and allows him to pass through any opponent. His only means of vertical recovery, is Kōtei-ki Tōshin, which protects him from above while covering a fair vertical distance.

Ichigo posses a good grab and throw, possessing the eleventh longest grab in the current demo. With down throw, he can set up tech chases, perform chain grabs, start combos, and use it as a guaranteed set up into his finishers or a strong meteor smash off the stage. In fact, the throw itself can be used at the ledge for a very strong meteor after chaingrabbing. Up throw, at low percents, can followed be up with an up air if the player is quick enough. However, it has little hitstun, allowing most opponents to escape it easily. Forward throw can be followed up with a forward air or a dash attack, depending on the opponents accelerated falling speed and directional influence, but the throw also has little hitstun. Back throw can be used to set up edge guards.

However, Ichigo's average weight, being a high faller and size makes him susceptible to combos and chain grabs.

Kōtei-ki Tōshin is his main means of vertical recovery and makes him hard to gimp from above. However, it covers little vertical distance and combined with his falling speed makes it hard for him to recover. Disjointed attacks are able to hit through the hitbox of the move.

Ichigo has a polarizing neutral game. Outside of Ichigo's aerials, he can use his dash attack, Engetsuzan, down tilt and his pseudo wave dash as his approach options. Dash attack and Engetsuzan cover good range while also being able to out-prioritize certain projectiles and attacks, which allows Ichigo to shut down other characters neutrals. However, the two options are not safe on shield, which can lead to him being punished, while also higher priority attacks can knock Ichigo out of the moves. This forces Ichigo to time his approach options accordingly to what the opponent is doing.

Changes from v0.9a
Ichigo has received an overhaul in his movement and attacks. The new Shunpo effect has buffed Ichigo in that it gives his attacks more range and helps his recovery. Ichigo has received nerfs in some of his moves losing KO power, but the buffs he received greatly outweigh the nerfs. Ichigo benefits from the lower hitstun of the demo due to him being less susceptible to chain grabs. He in turn gained speed buffs in his attacks and is able to combo a lot better than he could last demo outside of chain grabs.

Tier placement history
The tier lists for demo v0.6; Ichigo was seen as a top tier character ranking 2nd of B tier for the first list of demo v0.6 and 3rd of A tier for the second list. In demo v0.7; Ichigo was seen as a high tier character because he was stuck as 7th on both lists. In demo v0.8b; Ichigo rose to 3rd of A tier where he was seen as a top tier character. However, in demo v0.9a; Ichigo tier position dropped to 20th of what can be considered C tier where he is seen as a mid-low tier character (This is Ichigo's first time being outside of A or B tier). In demo v0.9b, Ichigo returned to B tier where he is ranked 18th. On the second list of demo v0.9b, Ichigo dropped down by one to 19th place of B tier, where he is still seen as a mid tier character.

Trivia

 * Ichigo was the very first character programmed for Super Smash Flash 2 prior the v0.6 development reboot.
 * Ichigo has the most meteor smashes in his moveset, with four meteor smashes: Gazan, down aerial, down smash and down throw. This does not include Bankai Ichigo, which has down aerial and down smash as meteor smashes.
 * Ichigo was the last manga-originated character to have his sprites updated, with 's sprites being updated in a patch for demo v0.9a and 's sprites update were shown on the DOJO!!! for v0.9b. Ichigo's was not shown until a picture was posted on the McLeodGaming Facebook page.
 * Ironically, Ichigo was put into the game before Naruto and Goku.