Ichigo (Super Smash Flash 2)

Ichigo is a playable newcomer 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 20th on the tier list; a large drop from his 3rd place position last demo. Ichigo does have some notable strengths, such as his tremendous disjointed hitbox granted by his Zanpakutō- Ichigo can outrange most characters with his sword, who can't fight back unless they get up close. This, along with his small short hop and fast falling speed, allows him to perform SHFF to approach enemies. His long range is also coupled with useful specials (including a very powerful projectile in Getsuga Tenshō), a slew of reliable finishers, great edgeguarding ability, and decent comboing ability.

However, Ichigo has large flaws which anchor him down to the lower tiers in this demo. Ichigo has a linear and predictable recovery which does not go very far, and as mentioned above, his fast falling speed does indeed help with his SHFF aerials but makes him a target for low to mid percent chain grabs and deadly zero-to-near-death combos, especially by characters such as and ; it also exacerbates his already poor recovery, narrowing the time window in which he has to mix up his recovery options. Ichigo's largest flaw, however, is his attack speed. This makes Ichigo over-reliant on hard reads and mindgames to start combos which many quicker characters do not have a problem with doing, and extremely weak to characters who can space away Ichigo with long range or stage control. With the introduction of many of these types of characters in the latest demo such as and, as well as another buff for , Ichigo's matchups become overly skewed towards the negative, resulting in his low tier placement in v0.9 of SSF2.

Attributes
Ichigo has good reach in the majority of his attacks. His neutral air, forward tilt and down tilt are excellent tools for spacing. Ichigo has good mobility with having the fourth fastest dashing speed in the current demo and having good air speed. Ichigo has a projectile in Getsuga Tenshō which has a lot of priority in it which can help him in canceling out other projectiles. Ichigo has KO moves in his forward smash, up smash, neutral air, back air, up air, forward tilt and a fully charged Getsuga Tenshō. Ichigo has a good grab game, possessing the fourteenth longest grab in the current demo. He can chain grab big characters and fast fallers with his up throw, he can chain grab certain characters at low percentages with his forward throw and can chain grab certain characters with his down throw. He has meteor smashes in his down air, down smash and Gazan when combined with his chain grabs gives him different options to chain spike opponents. His fast fall and fast low short hop contributes to a quick SHFFL. Ichigo has good approach options with his good mobility, good reach in his attacks and SHFFL aerials.

However, Ichigo's weight, falling speed and size makes him susceptible to combos, chain grabs and zero-to-death combos. His falling speed hinders his already poor recovery. Engetsuzan is his main horizontal recovery option, but it needs to be charged up to cover a good distance, his falling speed is unaltered when he is charging the move and when the opponent gets in front of him he proceeds to attack them and loses all momentum while becoming helpless. 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 one of the worst vertical recovery moves in the game. Most of his attacks are slow and easy to avoid which can be problem when he is trying to KO his opponents.

Ground attacks

 * Standard attack 1: Slashes vertically in front of him. 4%
 * Standard attack 2: Slashes horizontally across in front of him. 4%
 * Standard attack 3: Slashes up over his head. 4%
 * Down tilt: Rises from his crouch, moving forward a bit and slashes horizontally out in front of him. 9%
 * Down smash: Kongenzan (根限斬, "Slashing with all your might"). Ichigo lifts his sword into the air then thrusts it into the ground, releasing a wide blast of reiatsu to his left and right. This move is a Meteor Smash. 13% uncharged, 19% fully charged. If used near the edge and the opponent is hit while trying to recover, he or she will be powerfully meteor smashed.
 * Side tilt: Slashes horizontally. 12%
 * Forward smash: Slashes forward powerfully with his sword. 14% uncharged, 20% fully charged.
 * Up tilt: Slashes above his head in an arc. 9%
 * Up smash: Slashes in an arc over his head. 14% uncharged, 20% fully charged.
 * Dash attack: Stops dashing to stab. 8%

Aerial attacks

 * Neutral aerial: Slashes underneath him at an angle horizontally. 9%
 * Forward aerial: Slashes horizontally in a similar yet tighter motion than his neutral aerial, while moving forward somewhat. It's his fastest aerial attack and can lead into another forward aerial, neutral aerial or a down aerial. 8%
 * Back aerial: Turns around and slashes horizontally behind himself. Great for catching recovering enemies off-guard due to its high knockback. 14%
 * Up aerial: Same as his up smash, but in mid-air. 13%
 * Down aerial: Slashes below himself while flipping forwards, forming an arc below him. If he hits a foe, Ichigo bounces up slightly. The entire hitbox of this move meteor smashes, making it a reliable combo finisher. 10%

Grabs and throws

 * Grab: Simply reaches a hand out to grab.
 * Pummel: Slashes with his Zanpakuto. All hits do 1%.
 * Forward throw: Swing him/her around once and throws the victim forward. This move chain grabbing grabs at low percentages on a few characters and is a chain throw to other characters at high percentages. 8%
 * Back throw: Same as forward aerial, except places opponent behind him and slashes him/her. 15%
 * Up throw: Same as up smash. It can chain grab. 7%
 * Down throw: Same as down smash, except the opponent is hit multiple times and does not meteor smash. Four hits for 16%. Can chain grab. The third most damaging throw in the demo.

Other

 * Ledge attack: Rolls and gives a quick slash. 8%
 * 100% ledge attack: Rolls and slams the blade into the ground. 11%
 * Floor attack: Slashes behind himself, then in front of himself. 6%

Misc.

 * Entrance: Rukia slaps Ichigo in human form, making Ichigo (in his shinigami form) come out of his human form, in which, promptly after, Rukia and human Ichigo disappear.
 * Taunts:
 * Standard: Points with his Zanpakutō in front of him and says 「お前を斬るぜ」 (Omae o kiru ze, lit. "I'll cut you").
 * Side: Swings his Zanpakutō to his side as it shines and says 「後悔すんなよ」 (Kōkai sun'na yo, lit. "Don't regret").
 * Down: Ichigo attempts to put on his headband, fails and drops it, and falls to his knees in embarrassment, and then comes back up.
 * Fanfare: Excerpt from "Number One", Ichigo's theme from Bleach.
 * Wins: Holds his Zanpakutō over his shoulder with Zangetsu standing behind him.
 * Loses: Claps for the winner.
 * Wins (in Bankai form): Floats in midair with his back turned to the camera, while staring rather meancingly over his shoulder.
 * Loses (in Bankai form): Falls to his knees and appears to be gasping or panting, apparently trying to fight off his Hollow trying to take him over.

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).

Trivia

 * Ichigo was the very first character programmed for Super Smash Flash 2.