Unveiled at E3 2006, Snake (スネーク,Sunēku?) is a character who appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Instead of using a gun, like he usually does in his games, he was designed instead to use explosive-type weapons and CQC (close quarters combat) from his own games.
At E3 2006 it was announced in one of the first teaser videos for Super Smash Bros. Brawl that Snake would be included in the game, making him the first official "guest" character in a Super Smash Bros. game.
Snake currently ranks 6th on the tier list. He had been second in previous tier lists, but as of the sixth iteration was surpassed by Diddy Kong. His high ranking is a result of his quick and powerful neutral and tilt attacks, great range and the large hitboxes on many of his attacks, and being surprisingly the third heaviest character, therefore being extremely hard to KO if Directional Influence is employed effectively. He is also one of the fastest heavyweights movement-wise due to his DACUS. Almost all of his moves have high KO power, and he can set up amazing tech-chases with his down throw. All of this, along with his large variety of projectiles, excellent matchups, and great stage control with his projectiles, places Snake high in tournaments.
Doing any of these things except for #3 will require to defeat Snake in a Brawl on Shadow Moses Island.
Attributes
Snake is a super heavyweight character, despite not being as large as the other super heavyweights. His disproportional weight along with his great momentum cancelling abilities make him one of the most difficult characters to KO, especially vertically. He is well known for his strong, relatively quick tilt attacks and his neutral attack combo. His best killing move is his up tilt due to its power, speed, and large disjointed hitbox, rather than one of his smash attacks (while his forward smash can KO at very low percentages, it is one of the laggiest smashes in the game). Snake's forward tilt is also a good KO move because it has the knockback, reach, and damage of a smash attack with the speed of a tilt attack. A Snake with good directional influence will usually not get KOed until around 150% or even as high as the mid-200% against most characters (except powerful characters like Donkey Kong) outside of meteor smashing him out of his Cypher. Snake is also known to have the lowest crawl in the game and is able to dodge spammable projectiles. He also has the most projectiles in the game (five), and a variety of edge-guarding techniques, including C4, the Remote Missile, landmines, his F-air meteor smash, and his B-air. His Hand Grenade can be used for camping, the effectiveness of which can be increased by shield-dropping the grenades then picking them up to throw them with more strength, though unlike other explosives, they do not detonate on contact. They can be used defensively by holding one until it's about to detonate, then shielding just before it goes off. The explosion will damage anyone nearby but not Snake, so it's useful for stopping approaching opponents and then launching a counter-attack. His Up smash, the mortar, has the greatest vertical reach of any attack in the game. In addition, the up smash is also known to have a great DACUS that makes Snake cover a lot of distance very quickly, compensating for his slow dash speed while at the same time releasing a projectile. His C4 has a variety of applications, aside from placing it on the stage itself as a defensive move, as it can be used in team battle to create a "suicide-bomber" (where the C4 is placed on a teammate like a Gooey Bomb), as well as being used on Snake himself to regain his recovery move, the Cypher.
On the down side, Snake has a fast falling speed, making him juggled by ground attacks fairly easily. He is also fairly vulnerable to the major chain grabs because of his heavyweight and quick falling speed. Other problem areas are aerial attacks and recovery. Although all of his aerials deal both high damage and knockback, they have long ending and landing lag, in particular his neutral, forward, and down air attacks, as these take a large amount of time to complete and can easily lead Snake to his death if there is no ground beneath him. The Neutral and Down Aerial can also be escaped by players with good Smash Directional Influence and/or Quarter-Circle Directional Influence, which prevents him from getting the last hits on the attacks with strong knockback while also leaving him open for punishment. Snake also has the slowest ground jump in the game (10 frames slow). With the disadvantages of having a fast falling speed, very slow ground jump and long start-up, ending, and landing lag on his aerial attacks, Snake has one of the worst aerial games (although his aerials themselves are stronger than his tilts) which makes him vulnerable to counter-picking on stages like Rainbow Cruise and Norfair where he is forced to attack in the air. In recovery, while he can plant C4 to make his recovery nearly infinite, its slow and predictable nature leaves him vulnerable to meteor smashes when recovering from below. It is common for professional Snake players to have good Directional Influence, as this increases Snake's longevity exponentially. Also, grab releasing him (even with special grabs such as Wario's Chomp) after he's used his Cypher but before he's landed on the stage does not make him regain his Cypher recovery, as these moves do not cause flinching and his Cypher doesn't put him in a helpless state. Forced air releases against Snake after using Up b can be survived by using a C4 but if the opponent grabs the Cypher, they'll take 2-6% damage but will make Snake fall without his Cypher, with too little time to pull out a C4 recovery in almost all non-banned stages.
Moveset
Ground Attacks
Normal
Neutral A - Punch, Punch, Spinkick. A natural combo. The final kick has high knockback, and KOs at high percentages, but the last kick can be powershielded depending on the character, even if the combo is done as fast as possible. This is the combo from Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes games for CQC (Close Quarters Combat). 1st jab can also be canceled into a f-tilt or grab, and hits on frame 3. The farther hitbox of the 1st jab can also jab lock, easiest to set-up after knocking an opponent shielding an u-tilt or full hop N-air off a platform above Snake in stages like Battlefield. Does 14% if all three hit connect and is by far the strongest neutral attack in the game, being the only neutral attack capable of reliably KOing under 150%.
Dash Attack - Snake does a somersault forward, and ends up half-crouching at the end. Easily transitions to crouching/crawling. The somersault and subsequent transition to crouching are visually identical to those moves used by Snake in the Metal Gear Solid series. Can be cancelled to his up smash to make him slide a long distance, and it's much easier to cancel it if the attack connects and tap jump is off. Hits on frame five. Does 6-11% depending on how it hits.
Down Tilt - Snake is fully prone while crouching, and he sweeps his legs around. While it is fast and has powerful vertical knockback, it is not as good as his forward and up tilt, due to having less reach and damage output than the f-tilt, and much less knockback than the u-tilt. Also unlike his other two tilts, the down tilt doesn't have a disjointed htibox. Hits on frame 6. Does 10%.
Up Tilt - Snake kicks one leg up vertically. This is a quick attack with great vertical reach and surprisingly good horizontal reach, as well as great vertical knockback. Snake's u-tilt is notorious for its invisible disjointed hitbox that extends very long horizontally and slightly vertically (when spaced properly it can beat Link's D-air from above), giving it more horizontal reach than it looks like it has. Capable of KOing lightweights around 100%, middleweights around 115% while KOing heavyweights around 130% with proper DI when sweetspotted. Higher knockback when the hit connects earlier on in the attack, though the sourspot will still reliably KO under 150%. Is often considered on par with King Dedede's u-tilt for being the best u-tilt. Hit on frames 6-13. Does 13-14% and does 12% when sourspotted.
Forward Tilt - Does a knee-thrust forward and if A is pressed again, he will follow-up with an overhead swing of both arms. A natural combo. This move is seen during a cutscene in Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes when Snake fights Grey Fox. The first hitbox has extremely fast start-up (4 frames) and good horizontal reach. On grounded opponents, it is a very weak meteor smash with set knockback, causing hitstun but no knockback, which allows Snake to link the opponent into the second hitbox. On airborne opponents, the knee hitbox deals strong horizontal knockback, but it can be linked into the second hitbox at low percentages. Since the knee hitbox is a meteor smash on grounded opponents, it can cause tripping, which can set up an u-tilt. The second hitbox has fast start-up as well as having great horizontal reach due its very large disjoint and strong horizontal knockback, with very little non-projectiles that outranges it. The f-tilt can be used for general damage racking, as a punishing move, for KOing, and it is also a useful out of shield option, as it takes only 11 frames for the hitbox to come out. Is considered to be the best f-tilt in the game due to its heavy damage output (highest damage output among f-tilts), extremely fast start-up and relatively little ending lag, great reach and high knockback. The knee hitbox does 8% and the overhead swing hitbox does 13% for a total of 21%.
Smash Attacks
Up Smash - Snake slams a mortar (MGS4) in front of himself and fires a shell into the air. The movement of the shell is almost entirely vertical, but there is a varying small amount of random horizontal movement. The Shell has high base knockback but very low knockback scaling, making it unreliable as a KO move, though the angles it hits at can sometimes make the opponent not sure where to DI for relatively early kills. Charging the u-smash does not increase its power, but it increases the speed at which the shell is fired, making it go higher. When fully charged it travels great distances, almost the entire height of the 'large' stage builder area, making it have by far the greatest vertical reach of any attack. The shell explodes if it makes contact with a ceiling, an opponent, a wall or the ground no matter what direction it's moving in. The action of slamming down the mortar has a hitbox that produces very weak vertical knockback that knocks opponents into the mortar's line of fire. The shell cannot damage Snake unless it hits a Reflector. Snake's up smash is notable for its highly effective DACUS. Oddly enough, the shell does not break blocks in the SSE, but yanking the mortar out does. The shell hitbox does 10% while the mortar hitbox does 4%.
Down Smash - Snake crouches and starts digging a hole in the ground as he charges, and sets a landmine. This is taken from Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. This d-smash has very slow start-up (slowest d-smash in the game, start-up lag wise) and does not actually deal any damage right away. A short while after planting the mine, it becomes active, and will detonate if anyone (including Snake) steps on it. If the platform the mine is set on disappears (such as on Rainbow Cruise or Delfino Plaza) the mine falls down and if it makes contact with anything, even the ground, it explodes. Only one mine can be planted at a time, but it can be moved by using the attack again, which removes it from its previous position and plants it at Snake's current position. Does 14-19%.
Forward Smash - This attack is from Metal Gear Solid 3. Snake takes an RPG-7 rocket launcher and aims it at the ground directly in front of him, causing an explosion when released. It has very slow start-up and ending lag with a relatively large hitbox that has good horizontal and vertical reach. It has extremely high base knockback (the highest for any smash attack) but has only moderate knockback scaling. As a result, it can KO at very low percentages when on the edge (even below 25%), but its KO power is significantly lower when hitting an opponent that is far from a blast line. Overall, it is generally the third most powerful forward smash. Best used for punishing an opponent's laggy attack as it deals high shield stun if the opponent put up their shield in time. Can also be used to edge guard against predictable recoveries and be used after jab locking an opponent. Hits on frames 41-43, ends on frame 79. Does 23-32%.
Other attacks
Ledge attack- Picks himself up and swirls his leg forward. Does 8%.
100% ledge attack- Slowly gets up and kicks forward. Low range and easily shielded. Does 10%
Floor attack- Rotates his body around with both his feet sticking out and gets up. Does 6%.
Aerial Attacks
Neutral Aerial - Snake performs four kicks in the air. The first kick has fairly good start-up, but the N-air has a very long duration along with high ending lag and landing lag, making it unwieldy and it is difficult to land all four kicks on a grounded opponent, but the fourth kick has very high horizontal knockback should it be landed. Best performed soon after a double jump, but all four kicks can come out in a full single jump. One of his moves that can prevent juggling if predicted well. Better against airborne and large characters, although it can be Smash directional influenced out of. Does 28% if all kicks connect.
Down Aerial - Stomps multiple times beneath him. Similar to nair, but each stomp comes out slightly faster than the kicks of the N-air do, allowing all four stomps to come out in a short hop (however it cannot be autocancelled and has as much landing lag as his other aerials sans U-air). Like N-air, the last stomp has powerful horizontal knockback, but is actually slightly stronger than N-air. Despite this, it is often seen as his least reliable aerial, along with N-air, due to its low reach and hitstun (especially relative to his other attacks), making it extremely easy to Directional Influence out of (much moreso than N-air), often after just the first hit. Does 28% if all stomps connect, with the last stomp doing 13%.
Back Aerial - Snake kicks his legs out behind him, making him lie flat in the air. Has fairly fast start-up along with good reach and very powerful horizontal knockback when sweetspotted. Its hitbox also has a long duration, but the B-air has high ending and landing lag like his other aerials, making it punishable. Has Sex Kick properties, but it also has a sweetspot on Snake's body. This attack is his most useful aerial for edgeguarding as well as countering juggles and KOing the opponent. This is also Snake's aerial with the least total frames (42 frames). It is generally Snake's best and most reliable aerial, often seeing more use than the others. Hits on frames 6-26. Normally does 14%, does 16% when sweetspotted, does 10% if the later hitbox is landed.
Forward Aerial - Snake lifts a leg to head height and axe-drops it down. When Snake drops his foot, it accelerates his momentum slightly, making it ill advised for Momentum Cancelling. Has slow start-up and high ending lag, but it is a very powerful meteor smash with great vertical and horizontal reach. Connection with the foot results in a very powerful meteor smash while connection with the leg results in very powerful vertical knockback that can star KO opponents over 100%. When the spacing for meteor smashing with the fair is mastered, this is a surprisingly easy meteor smash to land, though given its slow speed, Snake's poor ground jump, and short hitbox duration it is very easily predicted and avoided by competent opponents. Knockback wise, this is Snake's strongest aerial and it is the strongest fair meteor smash in Brawl. Hits on frame 23. Does 15%.
Up Aerial - Thrusts his legs straight upwards, similar to his B-air except upwards and also akin to his u-tilt, but in mid-air. A bit slower on start-up than his bair with good vertical reach and powerful vertical knockback, but it has considerable ending lag. The uair is useful for star KOing airborne opponents that are above 110%. This is also Snake's aerial with the least landing lag (22 frames of landing lag instead of 30 like his other aerials). Hits on frame 10 ends on frame 47. Does 14% if the initial hitbox is landed, does 10% if sourspotted.
Grabs and Throws
Grab - Holds his opponent in a restraining chokehold which is a grabbing position unique to Snake. The pivot grab has great range, but his standing one grabs on frame eight instead of the average frame six. He can also both boost grab to increase his dash grab range and reverse boost grab to do a sliding pivot grab. Along with Yoshi, he is the only character in the game able to force jump breaks against all characters (when in a straight platform or a platform downwards angled).
Pummel - Tightens his chokehold. Does 2%. Tied for being the fastest 2% pummel, but it's not very good at forcing ground breaks.
Back Throw - Throws opponent over his knee; The same type of throw is also seen in the MGS games. Can kill at high percents if the opponent doesn't Directional Influence. Has stronger base knockback than his forward throw, but has similar knockback scaling. Does 9%.
Up Throw - Snake flips over onto his back and launches the enemy upward. Similar to Jigglypuff's back throw. Due to its higher vertical knockback compared to his other throws, this is Snake's most reliable KOing grab from the center of the stage. (From the edges, the back or forward throw is more reliable due to higher horizontal knockback) Does 10%.
Down Throw - Lays opponent on the floor, putting the opponent into the downed status. It is great for combining with other attacks and it can chain throw by predicting what the opponent will do, being arguably the best tech-chase move in the game. Does 12%.
Forward Throw - Flips them over and drops them (scoop slam). A strong throw, although slightly weaker than his back throw but like his Back Throw, it can KO at higher percents if the opponent doesn't DI. Does 9%.
All: Puts a cardboard box over himself, which is removable. Depending on the button pressed, Snake will get in the box in a different position. When he removes it, the enemy receives some damage (if they are in close range). The box can also be picked up and thrown by opponents. This deals 1-3% damage, making it the second damaging taunt in the Smash series after Luigi's down taunt. If an opponent is in the air and is hit by the box, it will act like a meteor smash and the opponent will go straight downwards.
Smash Taunt: Kneels down and contacts his support team - Colonel Campbell, Otacon, and Mei Ling, and also Slippy Toad (only when in a Brawl with Falco) - via his codec. Snake then receives information on one of his opponents; this goes for every fighter in the game, including himself, and with separate conversations for Sheik and Zero Suit Samus. This is possible only on Snake's home stage Shadow Moses Island, and is performed by down taunting extremely quickly. Snake will hold a pose for a few seconds, then a conversation between Snake and his support team will begin. This can only be done once each round and if you are hit while Snake is holding his pose before the conversation starts, it is cancelled. However, Snake can be hit while the conversation is going, though the conversation ends if Snake is KO'd, which, in a nod to the Metal Gear Solid game over screens, causes the character Snake was talking with to shout "SNAAAAAAAAKE!!". It can be done with any number of other players on the screen, but if there is more than one opponent, the game will randomly choose one character to talk about.
Wii Remote selection sound: Snake says "It's show time!"
On-screen appearance: Snake's appearance at the start of a Brawl comes from the intro cutscene in Metal Gear Solid 2. In MGS2, his stealth camouflage disengages after landing on the US oil tanker Discovery due to a malfunction from the landing impact, a result of Snake making said jump onto the carrier from the George Washington Bridge. In Brawl, his stealth camouflage simply disengages to reveal himself to his opponent(s).
Snake has stowed away somewhere on the Halberd, hiding inside a cardboard box. When his time comes, Snake emerges from his box and begins to investigate, but when he sees Lucario and Meta Knight, he hides again inside his box. Lucario sees through the box by looking at his aura, and pulls off Snake's disguise. Snake is surprised to see that he has been discovered (an exclamation point appears above his head along with the Metal Gear "Discovery" sound) and quickly assumes a fighting stance.
Meta Knight is glad to oblige, when Lucario senses security Primids coming from the corridor behind him, so they end up forming a partnership with Snake. After battling through the onslaught of Primid, Snake and the others meet up with Zelda and Peach. Shadow Bugs make clones of Peach and Zelda, which the trio fights. Later, Snake, Lucario and Meta Knight find the bridge of the ship and are surprised to see a group of Mr. Game & Watches are controlling the ship. Snake and Lucario throw all of the Mr. Game & Watches out of the window, and they all land on the front deck. The Mr. Game & Watches revert into Shadow Bugs and combine into a giant metallic monster called Duon. Lucario, Snake, and Falco join Fox, Zelda, and Peach to battle and defeat the monster. Snake shows up with everyone else at the Entrance to Subspace and, like everyone else, he is turned into a trophy by Tabuu's off waves. He can be revived by collecting his trophy in Subspace, making him eligible for the final battle against Tabuu.
Snake is one of the few characters in the entire SSE storyline to have dialogue. When he reveals himself, he states to the player "Kept you waiting, huh?". This is a reference to the fact that his first appearance in the Smash series was in Brawl, even though he was originally going to appear in Melee, several years earlier, but he was left out because of time constraints and also because he was seen earlier in the storyline in his box during the epilogue of The Forest.
At the same time, it's also a direct reference to both Snake and Naked Snake's lines in the beginnings of Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3. Both games were eagerly anticipated by fans. Naked Snake's line also plays on the fact that MGS fans were excited to find that the main character of MGS3 was to be a Snake, after being disappointed with Raiden's appearance in the previous game.
Snake is the only character whose official art on Smash Bros. DOJO!! portrays him in a different pose from his original art from his old profile. (pictured)
Snake is the only character who talks when he eats food or other edible items. He often makes a "Nom" sound, but will sometimes say "Tasty!", and very rarely "Good!". However, when Wario eats his own bike or any other large item, he can be heard saying something like "Yom!". This is a reference to Metal Gear Solid 3, when the player character Naked Snake eats food from their inventory to regain stamina, and comments on the taste.
Snake, Yoshi, R.O.B and the Ice Climbers are the only characters that don't flip or spin when they double jump.
Snake carries an H&K MK23 SOCOM .45 caliber pistol in a leg holster, but he never uses it in combat. Similarly, Captain Falcon carries a futuristic pistol, Sheik carries a dagger, and Ganondorf carries a broadsword, but none of them use these weapons (aside from Ganondorf, and even then only via taunting) in-game.
Snake has the most projectiles of any character in the game, with all four specials, his final smash, his up smash, and even his taunt.
Snake's forward smash has the same amount of total frames as Ike's and King Dedede's forward smash. When compared to these two, Snake's forward smash is in the middle in both start-up and ending lag.
Sometimes, when Snake plants a C4 on someone, it will be in the shape of a butterfly, a direct reference to Metal Gear Solid 3 wherein Naked Snake/Big Boss molded a piece of C3 explosive into a butterfly before placing it on the Shagohod's liquid fuel tank.
During a Codec conversation, Snake shows a strong distaste towards Sonic for unknown reasons. This is likely a joke that was lost in translation, as Solid Snake voice actor, Akio Ōtsuka, is the son of Chikao Ōtsuka, the voice actor for Sonic's arch-nemesis, Doctor. "Eggman" Robotnik. It may also be a play on Snake's name, as hedgehog's are often predators of snakes in real life.
Miscellaneous third-party universes