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Justin Howell
Professor Voltz
UWRT
7 October, 2015
FOX ISNT GOD, GOD DAMMIT
For the longest time in the competitive Super Smash Brothers Melee
scene, Fox McCloud has been ranked the number one character in the game.
Half or more of competitive Super Smash Brothers players main Fox. A great
example as to why Fox is considered the best character, is its relation to
greatest players in the world. Fox is played and mained by four of the five
Smash Gods; (the five best players in the world) which is more than any
other character in the game. Also note that the current best player in the
world is Leffen, who is a Swedish Fox main. Fox is widely considered the
hardest character in Super Smash Brothers to play, due to his speed, fast
falling attribute, and overall utilization of his creative move set. Many players
relish the challenge of playing Fox, and reap the rewards of playing him at a
high level. Fox has proven time and time again to the worlds best Super
Smash Brothers players that he is the number one option to use when
playing Super Smash Brothers at its highest level.
Many players and fans of the competitive scene question exactly why
many new players cease to use different characters than fox in competitive
play. A large contribution to this is Foxs skill cap. Players have been using
Fox for years under the assumption that he is the greatest character in the

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game, and that not many other characters can match up well with Fox. I
personally believe that players havent experienced learning from a player
that mains other (low tier) characters. Part of the reason Fox has become so
great throughout the competitive scene is that the best players in the game
have taught lesser players exactly how to play fox. This makes Foxs skill cap
very high, because players of higher experience are innovating new ideas
and methods at utilizing Foxs assets.
Lets talk about Foxs technical skills that set him apart from all other
characters, and what makes him so great. First off Foxs worst match-ups in
the game are fifty/fifty; which means no character has an advantage over
Fox. He is a glass cannon and possess the most efficient offensive
punishment in Super Smash Brothers. The reason Fox is so great with
punishing is the framerate lag in between inputs. Foxs grab punishes have a
mediocre reach and possess minimal framerate lag (the smallest framerate
lag in the game). Combine that with his speed and versatility, and Fox
withholds the fastest ability to punish as well as the most versatile ways to
complete the tasks. He also possess the strongest neutral game coverage in
the game. He uses projectiles to dominate the neutral game, and camp when
he needs help positioning. His speed mixed with high-level techniques such
as: wave dashing & wave landing, helps a player weave and pick at another
players attempt to position themselves to compensate for Foxs aggressive
combos. A players success with Fox is highly reliant on his consistency and
precision with inputs.

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Players in the competitive scene have proven that Fox isnt the best
character in the game per say. The original best player in smash, (although
it predates the unbelievably high caliber smash gameplay of todays best
Smashers) Ken had mained Marth, and dominated the competitive scene for
years until new and far more innovative players like Mew2King took the reins
alongside the likes of Mango. Mew2King was another Marth and Sheik main
that dominated the competitive scene after Ken, until Mango shared the
dominance in the competitive scene with Mew2King. Mangos main was
Jigglypuff at the time until he switched mains, and shortly after shared the
domination of the scene with Armada and Mew2King. Armada is a Peach
main and a Young Link main. So throughout the era of Super Smash Brothers
dominance by certain players, Fox has never been the main of the best
players in the world; although every great player has won numerous
tournaments with their Foxes, no one has solely mained Fox and dominated
the world circuit as a fox main. The closest player to achieving the perk of
being the number one player in the world solely maining fox is Leffen.
Personally, I think that Fox is only considered the best character
because of how much players actually know about his move set, and his
numerous assets. Although the argument is fair that Fox is the best character
in the game, I disagree after witnessing certain players play certain
characters at a level that can best even the best foxes. Great examples of
this are when Amsa beat Mew2Kings Fox with Yoshi, when Plup beat Leffen
with Samus, and when Axe four stocked Silent Wolf with Pikachu. These feats

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alone were unheard of when they happened, and they all happened at the
hands of players that main low tier characters that just so happened to
dominate some of the worlds best players Foxes. These wins are all widely
considered as gimp wins. Gimps are defined as stocks that are achieved by
using gimmicky, and what some would consider unfair tactics to win a
stock. The reason for this is that most players do not understand the full
capabilities of these low tier characters, and dont necessarily know how to
counter their play with Foxs abilities, or any other high tier for that matter. In
my opinion this justifies the capabilities of all other characters in the game. I
believe that with a large amount of concentration and study on the frame
data & potential combo game of some characters in Super Smash Brothers,
any character in the game can dominate the competitive scene. Too many
players are caught up in the shenanigans that are perfecting Starfox.
The concluding point is that many players no matter who they main
are so concentrated on the numbers game, and seeing Fox as theoretically
better than any other character in the game. While this is true, I believe it
takes away from players creativity, for example: Hax is one of the best
Captain Falcon mains in the world. The reason Hax used Captain Falcon is
because he liked the characters moveset, and genuinely enjoyed the pace
and heavy hitting that comes with playing Falcon. Shortly after becoming
regarded as one of the top 10 Smashers in the world with his Captain Falcon,
Hax began realizing that his creative Captain Falcon play just wasnt enough
to win major tournaments, and Hax (one of the games most creative non-fox

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mains) picked up Fox. His reasoning behind dropping Falcon and picking up
Fox, is that Fox is theoretically better than Captain Falcon in regards to
speed, comboing, recovery, punish game, etc... Hax has been training to
better his Fox gameplay for about two years now, and has yet to win a major
tournament with said Fox. I think that the moral of the story is that the best
players in the world need to live up to their titles and show the world the true
capabilities of low tier characters. All the smash gods proved that Fox mains
do not win every tournament no matter how flawlessly they play. Not only
would this help spark life into the competitive scene, but it would end an era
of textbook players, and introduce an era of more players that perform like
the smash gods (in a creative and innovative manner).

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Citations
"Why Does Everybody Play Fox?" Why Does Everybody Play
Fox? Web. 9 Dec. 2015.
"Is Fox REALLY The Best? - Super Smash Bros Melee." YouTube.
YouTube. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.