Luigi (Super Smash Flash 2)

Luigi is a veteran starter character in Super Smash Flash 2. As 's twin brother, they more or less have a similar moveset, but with different attributes, enough to tell them apart. His reveal took place at the end of the McLeodGaming stream at Super Smash Con 2015 as a "surprise". His sprites are custom made and based on his appearance in , and his moveset also directly comes from said game, while his voice clips come from Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Luigi is ranked 16th out of 40 on the current tier list, placing him in the top of the B tier and giving him a giant leap from his second-to-last placement of the last tier list. Luigi sports amazing frame data, one of the strongest combo games in the current demo, and strong priority. He also has a variety of KO options in his arsenal, including his forward smash, up smash, forward aerial,, back aerial, Green Missile, Luigi Cyclone when KOing off the top blast line, and a sweet spotted. Luigi also possesses one of the strongest aerial games in the current demo, with fast, strong aerials that have great priority.

However, Luigi's main weakness is his abysmal approach game. He has one of the worst overall mobility in the game, possessing the worst air speed while also having below average dashing speed. He also suffers from the worst traction in the game, which makes him hard to control when dashing, and forces him to repeatedly dash-cancel before attacking. His low traction also makes a lot of unsafe moves safe on his shield due to him being pushed too far away. He also lacks range, which gives him trouble approaching characters with disjointed range (,, etc.). His only projectile,, is slow and can be clanked with easily. Luigi also has a predictable recovery, in that Green Missile has to be charged to cover a considerable distance if a misfire doesn't happen, and can be easily intercepted. Also, though Super Jump Punch covers good vertical distance, it has poor horizontal movement due to the move going straight up, and has a very slow drift after the rise. Luigi is also a below average faller, which allows him to be KO'd vertically early.

Attributes
Luigi has a similar moveset to his brother, but with differences in not just his moveset, but in attributes as well. Luigi falls slower, his overall mobility is slower, has less traction, but has a little bit more reach in his attacks.

Luigi has reliable KO options in his Forward smash, Up smash, Forward aerial, Down aerial, Back aerial, a clean sweet spotted Neutral aerial, Fire jump punch, Misfire Green Missile, and Luigi Cyclone off the top.

Luigi has one of the strongest combo games in the current demo, due to having various combo starters and combo extenders. These include his Up tilt, Down smash, sour spotted Neutral aerial, his Up and Down throws. He can even combo into his KO moves at certain percents.

Luigi has a strong grab & throw game, despite having a short grab range. His Down throw is his best throw and one of the best throws in the current demo. He can combo everyone at low percentages. He can chain grab fast fallers, high fallers and a few above average fallers, at low to mid percentages. Up throw is not as good as his down throw, but he can get a handful of follow-ups.

Luigi has one of the best air games in the current demo despite having the worst air speed. He has strong, fast, high priority, low aerials that can be used to start and extend combos, spacing and to break combos. Neutral aerial is a good move to break combos and start combos. Forward aerial, Back aerial and Down aerial are good at KO'ing, while the former two are also great at spacing. Up aerial is good at extending combos while also leading into his other aerials.

Despite Luigi having some strong advantages, he is very polarizing in that he has one of the worst disadvantage states in the current demo.

Despite Luigi having fast and good priority in his frame data, he has a short range, which gives him trouble against characters with long range and disjointed range ( and ). His only projectile, Fireball, is not strong, fast and can be easily dealt with.

Luigi has overall, one of the worst mobility in the current demo with having slow dashing speed, walking speed and the worst airspeed. These combined with his poor projectile and poor range gives him trouble approaching.

Luigi main flaw, which is the worst, in that he a lot moves, including ones that would not be safe on shield, would knock him too far away to counter-attack out of shield. His traction is also a problem when he is trying to dash, with his stopping dash and turn around animation being long enough to be punished. This forces Luigi players to always dash cancel in order to prevent punishment.

Another problem Luigi has is his vertical endurance: despite being a medium weight character, he is a below average faller which makes him easy to KO vertically. Also, due to having a slow falling speed, he has a hard time getting back to the ground and can be easily juggled.

Another problem of Luigi is his recovery: despite covering a long distance, it is easy to telegraph. Green Missile can be knocked out of, has lag in between Luigi getting out of the animation, he can be stuck in walls to be easily punished and if a misfire happens, there is a chance he can SD due to either being turned around or being sent too far from the stage.

Though Fire Jump Punch is a good KO option, it only goes vertically, which gives it poor horizontal coverage along with being easy to ledge hog and having a poor ledge sweet spot when he is turned around. Luigi Cyclone can gain some distance, but he can be hit out of it and has a decent amount of lag when the move finishes, making it easy to punish.

All in all, Luigi is a character who runs hot and cold.

Trivia

 * Luigi is the last of the original twelve – characters who were playable in the original Super Smash Bros. – to be confirmed for SSF2.
 * Interestingly enough, Luigi's position as a starter character in SSF2 is similar to him becoming a starter in Smash 3DS and Wii U.
 * Luigi, along with and, are the only characters so far to keep their default costumes in team battle when they are on the green team.
 * Luigi has a slight purple accent on his overalls. This is a reference to his design in Super Smash Bros., which itself is a reference to Luigi's color palette in Super Mario World.