Isaac is ranked 9th on the current tier list, placing him at the S tier. Thanks to his sword and his powers, Isaac possesses great disjointed range in several of his attacks, like his forward tilt or his neutral special move, which keeps the opponent in place. He also has strong KO moves in his smash attacks, forward aerial, back aerial, and up aerial, a good punish game, and several offensive and defensive mix-ups with down tilt's long-lasting hitbox or using Move or Gaia, which are useful to get out of a disadvantage state.
However, Isaac's movement speed is average and has issues in approaching fast opponents like Captain Falcon. He also has poor frame data in his moveset, as seen in his long-ranged attacks, and despite his good options to get out of a disadvantage state, he is vulnerable to combos due to him being tall and quite heavy and[falling rather quickly. His recovery move, Scoop, while long-distanced, is also quite linear without Move and has a hitbox only on the hand below him, giving him poor coverage during his recovery.
This section requires to be rewritten or expanded.
The information is not outdated nor incomplete, although it can be rewritten for a more formal explanation and better clarity. It may require an expansion going further on missing details.
Isaac is a very unique character compared to the rest of the roster. He can punish very well with his neutral special and smash attacks (with down smash being his quickest) and his down tilt has a lasting hitbox leading to various mix-up opportunities. Isaac is also very good in the neutral with his side special move and forward tilt. His aerial attackscombo very well into each other, making him very deadly at close to mid range.
Isaac also has a very solid grab, with great range and moderate ending lag. Isaac can chain-grab with his down throw, forcing his opponents to rely on DI mixups to escape. His up throw, down throw and up tilt are great combo starters (down throw being the more reliable of the two), and his forward throw and back throw are mainly there to keep people off the stage.
Isaac is also complimented by a great grab range, making it easy to get his chain-grabs and start combos. He can also box aggressive players out by throwing out his lasting hitboxes. He is also very hard to juggle due to downwards side special and Gaia being tough to avoid.
However, he does have his weaknesses. He is not hard to combo due to being a tall mid-weight. His recovery is also very easy to exploit, making him rely on side special mix-ups in order to get back on stage. Some of his moves, notably his up smash, forward smash and neutral special have considerable lag and should be used with caution. Lastly, due to his relatively slow speed he is easy to camp out, giving him poor matchups against characters like Mega Man, Link, and Samus.
Summons vines that grow out of his arms. Good range, but has some startup lag and weak knockback. Based on the Growth spell from the Golden Sun series.
Raises his hands to make punji sticks grow from the ground in front of him. Impressive vertical range, but can only cover the area in front of Isaac. Based on the Punji spell from the Golden Sun series.
Pounds the ground and one hand on the ground and summons pillars of rocks from the ground on both sides of him. Quite fast. Based on the Quake spell from the Golden Sun series.
Summons vines that grow out of his arms and constrict an opponent they connect with. Opponents are able to break out of the trap, but it becomes more difficult at higher percentages.
Summons a giant Psynergy hand that slowly moves forward, pushing opponents away. Continuing to hold the input will keep the hand moving. The type of action the hand executes depends on the directional input. If Isaac gets knocked down, the Psynergy hand will keep moving. One of Isaac's most versatile and useful attacks, being used to rack up damage, set up KO confirms, edgeguard, and pressure opponents.
Summons a rock pillar from the ground, hitting up to five times. A spell circle will appear on the ground and the player can press left or right to move where the pillar can be summoned. When used in the air, it appears on the platform below.
Isaac summons Flint while posing, then it enters inside Isaac's body, becoming a set of orbs, exiting his body and then entering again.
Side
Looks forward while putting one hand on his forearm, then stretches one of his hands out and places the other one on the hilt of his sword, flexing his legs and chuckling. It resembles his artwork from Brawl.
Down/Up
Does a little hop and summons a giant white Psynergy hand and sits on it for a bit before it dissipates and Isaac lands on back on the ground.
Strikes a pose, while Flint the Djinn appears over his shoulder and chuckles.
In competitive play
Match ups
Notable players
DjinnAdept
ThePixel
Tier placement history
Isaac placed 9th on the first tier list of beta, making him a strong top-tier. However, after his various nerfs, as well as the changes to the metagame, his playerbase has been getting smaller and smaller. As of now, he is ranked 32nd in the C tier.
Isaac's first early design used in early development; as seen from the "McLeodGaming Direct - Super Smash Flash 2 Beta (1/25/15)" video. Not available in the actual game.
Isaac's second early design used in Beta 1.0 to 1.3.
Despite Isaac being revealed in the McLeodGaming Direct video announcing demo 0.9b, according to the SSF2developers, he was not meant to be playable in the demo v0.9b release, until the next major demo update, that being SSF2 Beta. He was just shown as a teaser for this upcoming update.