Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For the character in other contexts, see This article is about Wolf's appearance in. For the character in other contexts, see Wolf O'Donnell

Wolf (ウルフ, Wolf) is an unlockable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He was confirmed on the Smash Dojo website on March 31st, 2008.

Wolf is voiced by Jay Ward in the English version and by Mahito Ōba in the Japanese version, the latter reprising his role from Star Fox: Assault.

Wolf is ranked 14th on the current tier list at the middle of the high-mid tier. Wolf possesses tremendous mobility, with among the best air speed, and high, fast jumps. Wolf additionally possesses great air to ground transitioning, as he possesses fast falling speed, and aerials that either have low landing lag or can be auto-cancelled in a short hop. Wolf in general has fast attacks with disproportionally far reach (his back aerial being especially notorious in this regard), which when combined with the aforementioned mobility and an effective DACUS, results in effective approaching capabilities. Wolf also has an effective transcendent projectile in his Blaster, a very quick Reflector with both intangibility and hitboxes, an all-purpose throw in his down throw, well rounded power throughout his moveset, and rather strong comboing capabilities.

Wolf has two major weaknesses, however: his extreme vulnerability to chain throws and a very poor recovery. Because of Wolf's combination of heavy weight, fast falling speed and acceleration, four characters can chain throw him to his doom, and others can perform chain throws that result in significant damage. Wolf additionally possesses a recovery that is hard to rely on. Wolf is heavily susceptible to gimps, and has a particular vulnerability to meteor smashes, as Wolf suffers a 60 frame delay when meteor cancelling, over twice as much as most other characters (even low knockback meteor smashes can send Wolf down too far to recover). His two recovery moves both have poor edge sweet spots and do not move Wolf a very far way, which forces Wolf to rely moreso on his jumps to get back to the stage. Another problem for Wolf is his atrocious vertical momentum cancelling, which causes Wolf to have a vertical endurance potential that is significantly worse than what is typical of characters with fast falling speeds (thus losing one of their primary strengths while still possessing their general weaknesses). Overall, Wolf has above average matchups with only a few counters, and his tournament results have periodically fluctuated between being unusually good for a non-high tier character (where he has outperformed some high tier characters), and being just merely above average.

How to unlock [ edit ]

Complete one of the following:

Play 450 VS. matches.

Complete Boss Battles with Fox or Falco.

After completing the Subspace Emissary, enter a secret room fairly deep in The Ruins. (Note that this method does not show the challenger approaching screen, but a cutscene of Wolf challenging the player instead.)

The player must then fight and defeat Wolf on Lylat Cruise.

Attributes [ edit ]

Wolf's standing height in comparison to Fox's

Of the three playable Star Fox characters present in Brawl, Wolf's characteristics as a fighter are the most individual. Wolf is by far the heaviest space animal, but ranks only three places above Mario in terms of weight. Despite possessing a larger body frame than Fox and Falco, Wolf leans down while standing and moving along the ground, and has the shortest stance of the three. His dash speed is slow, barely outpacing his walk, but he has the third fastest fall speed, and fourth fastest horizontal air speed. While these attributes provide him with good aerial mobility, Wolf is vulnerable to chain grabbing, juggling, and certain locks due to his heavy weight and rapid falling speed. It should also be noted that fast falling does not accelerate Wolf's fall by a considerable amount, which hinders his ability to vertical momentum cancel in comparison to characters with quicker fast falls, such as Captain Falcon. However, his ability to momentum cancel horizontally, aided by his fast back aerial and his horizontally based midair jump, is one of the best in the game when compared to other characters' abilities to momentum cancel horizontally without DI.

Most of Wolf's standard attacks start quickly and have good reach, and he has a DACUS that propels him a considerable distance along the ground. Many of his attacks have the potential to KO, such as back aerial, up tilt, and his smashes. The speed and reach of his attacks allow him to punish effectively on the ground as well as in the air, and their solid damage dealing properties can build opponents' damage quickly. However, since many of his standard attacks are effective for racking up damage, they may suffer from stale move negation if not used carefully, and cause problems when Wolf tries to KO. Many of Wolf's attacks also have poor shield stun effects, which allow opponents to shield grab him easily if they block his hits.

Wolf also has a proficient air game. His neutral aerial is fast, has a long duration, and deals decent horizontal knockback. His forward aerial has low startup, sets up well into itself, and has surprising vertical KO power. His back aerial is quick, powerful, and range, making it among his best finishers. His up aerial is a relatively good juggler at low percentages and doesn't have a particularly high amount of lag. Lastly, his down aerial has two very large and overlapping hitboxes and is a meteor smash with high knockback scaling, making it very good at edgeguarding.

Wolf's special moves are variants of Fox and Falco's, with different animations and properties. His neutral special, Blaster, is a gun that fires projectile lasers, and its firing rate is slower than that of its counterparts. However, its lasers deal significant hitstun, the most damage, and have the most vertical reach - no character is capable of ducking under these lasers on level ground. It also serves as a melee weapon, delivering extra damage to foes if the blaster itself contacts them. Wolf's down special, Reflector, is a versatile move that deflects projectiles and grants him invincibility frames, which may be used to avoid attacks, and escape chain throws if his opponent makes an error. The reflector has very short reach, and delivers very weak set knockback and the least damage, but it can be used to gimp fast falling opponents with poor and/or slow vertical recoveries such as Falco.

While Wolf's air speed and recovery moves allow him to travel a considerable distance in order to recover, these moves are easily predicted, and his ledge sweet spot is one of the smallest in the game. As such, he is easily gimped, and his recovery is susceptible to edge-hogging. Wolf also suffers from the highest meteor cancel delay in the game (a window of 60 frames, compared to the average of 25, with no other character having more than 32), making it very difficult for him to survive meteors even at low percentages. This, in combination with his vulnerability to chain throwing, poses a problem, since some chain throws, such as King Dedede's down throw chain throw, can force him offstage. His side special, Wolf Flash, sends Wolf diagonally across and upward in a fast 'flash', and is used to recover horizontally. It has the potential to meteor smash if sweet spotted. Wolf Flash also has unusual characteristics that may be utilised to help Wolf recover. His up special, Fire Wolf, is a move that propels Wolf in a direction of the players' choosing. It has the least start up lag in comparison to Fox and Falco's counterpart moves, drags opponents along with it, and delivers knockback at the end, but has a very small ledge sweet spot.

Overall, Wolf is a balanced character who may face problems when matched against opponents that can exploit his weaknesses, but has strengths that earn him the position of a viable tournament contender.

Moveset [ edit ]

Ejects from a Wolfen.

Up taunt : Leans his head back and howls.

: Leans his head back and howls. Side taunt : Does three kicks whilst spinning on one foot, and says "What's the matter, scared?" ( どうした、どうした? , What's wrong, what's wrong? )

: Does three kicks whilst spinning on one foot, and says "What's the matter, scared?" ( , ) Down taunt : Kneels down, slaps one hand on the ground and snarls.

: Kneels down, slaps one hand on the ground and snarls. Smash taunt: On Lylat Cruise, Wolf can summon various Star Fox Conversations by quickly tapping down on the Control Pad (for one frame). This taunt can only be used once per match.

Up taunt Side taunt Down taunt Smash taunt

Slashes at the air.

Pretends to howl.

English Japanese Cheer Description Wooolf! - *howl* - Wooolf! - *howling continues* Wooolf! - *howl* - Wooolf! - *howling continues* Pitch Group chant Group chant

Wolf says "Playtime's over!" ( 遊びは終わりだ! ). A reference to one of his quotes from Star Fox 64.

Wolf's selection sound

Star Fox 64. This victory theme comes from the main theme of

Up: Claws the air twice, pauses and kicks while saying "I will be the one to take you down." ( 貴様を倒すのはこの俺様だ! , You will be defeated by the very me! )

Claws the air twice, pauses and kicks while saying "I will be the one to take you down." ( , ) Left: Leans forward and snarls, then stands up straight, crosses his arms, and laughs.

If Fox is present after a match, he will instead say "Playtime's over, Star Fox!" In Japanese: 遊びは終わりだ、スターフォックス!

Right: Faces away from the screen, raises an arm, then turns to face the screen while saying "Weaklings, the bunch of you!" ( ふんっ、弱者どもめ , Hmph, such weak ones.)

Up Left Right

Matchups [ edit ]

Wolf has slightly favorable matchups. He is hard countered by one character, King Dedede. Wolf is countered by two characters and soft countered by five. He has eleven even matchups, soft counters six characters, counters ten, and hard counters one, Zelda. Notably, Wolf has a surprisingly manageable matchup against Meta Knight, which a lot of other mid tiers are significantly hindered by (most notably R.O.B. and Pit). He also has an even matchup with Ice Climbers, Olimar, and Marth. However, he lacks options against characters with strong chaingrabs and characters who are good at gimping. Wolf's matchup against Pikachu is particularly bad because Pikachu has a 0-to-death chain grab against Wolf: 2 forward throws, followed by a few down throws to a thunderspike. King Dedede hard counters Wolf because of his deadly set knockback down throw chaingrab on him. Wario counters him because he also possesses a deadly near zero-death chain throw, being able to chain throw him from 20% to over 200%. Wolf has fair matchups that excel for his tier.

Notable players [ edit ]

Tier placement and history [ edit ]

Wolf was ranked 16th on the first tier list (September 2008), in the high tier. He then saw a large drop, falling to 20th place on the second tier list (January 2009), and again dropping to 22nd on the third (June 2009). He hovered around the 22nd spot for a few more revisions of the list. Wolf's drop was largely due to his extreme vulnerability to chaingrabs (some of which are infinites and 0-deaths), as well as having a poor recovery. Around late 2010, several Wolf players started doing very well in tournaments (Kain was noted for being of the most dominant forces in the American Midwest). Wolf's strong mobility, aerial game, and general all-around fighting abilities were recognized in the sixth tier list (July 2011), when Wolf jumped up six places to the 16th position. Wolf was also recognized to have one of the best matchups against the overly dominant Meta Knight, as well as many even or close to even matchups against the other top tier characters; Wolf generally had strong matchups outside of the characters who are able to chaingrab him effectively. Wolf is currently ranked at 14th place in the upper-mid tier, in the eighth tier list, as of April 2013.

Wolf, like Jigglypuff and Toon Link, does not play a major role, or influence the story of the Subspace Emissary, and is not even seen interacting with any other characters, but may join the player's party after Tabuu has been defeated. To encounter Wolf, the player must enter a particular Red Door in The Ruins stage, which will take them to Lylat Cruise after a brief cut-scene. In the cut-scene, Wolf is seen flying his Wolfen, jumping out, and landing on the cruise ship. Wolf strikes a pose, then rushes forward to attack. Although he is the only character present in the cut-scene, he appears to stare at his challenger. The player must then defeat him in a one-life stock battle, and if they win the match, Wolf joins the party. This will also unlock him if he has not yet been unlocked.

Solo Events [ edit ]

Co-op Events [ edit ]

Trophies [ edit ]

Wolf's main and Final Smash trophies can be obtained by clearing Classic Mode and All-Star mode respectively with Wolf.

Wolf A pilot whose real name is Wolf O'Donnell. He leads a group of mercenaries called Star Wolf. He's crossed paths with Fox many times, and each acknowledges the other as a competent rival. Wolf's constant interference with Fox is a result of Wolf's history with Fox's dad, James. Wolf's long history of criminal enterprise as resulted in a large bounty on his head.

Landmaster (Wolf) Wolf's Final Smash. Wolf analyzed Fox's Landmaster and built his own improved version, which he now calls out and boards. He's increased the output of the onboard generators and upped the vehicles firepower. However, this has substantially decreased the time the Landmaster can appear on the screen. It sports the same colors as Wolf's Wolfen.

: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Classic Mode trophy

Landmaster trophy

Trivia [ edit ]

There is an animation error in Wolf's tumbling animation where his left arm will detach from his elbow.

Strangely, in some of Wolf's animations, his right shoulder pad will mysteriously flip upside down and return to its original position when the animation ends. This is noticeable when he performs an up smash, turns around while braking from a dash, and lands after doing his forward aerial.

Wolf has a few air animations directly carried over from Fox, which include his air dodge animation and his forward, upward, and downward item throwing animations, he also has a few borrowed animations from Sonic, such as his up-air (which is used as Wolf's up-smash) and his neutral-air.

Masahiro Sakurai stated that Wolf, along with Jigglypuff and Toon Link, were almost cut from Brawl due to time constraints and their late consideration for inclusion in the game, hence why they are excluded from and cannot be unlocked while playing through the main Subspace Emissary story. His popularity and similarities to Fox and Falco were key to his inclusion in Brawl [1] . This explains why he uses so many animations from other characters and why some of said animations are bugged. It also explains why he looks less polished than other newcomers.

due to time constraints and their late consideration for inclusion in the game, hence why they are excluded from and cannot be unlocked while playing through the main Subspace Emissary story. His popularity and similarities to Fox and Falco were key to his inclusion in . This explains why he uses so many animations from other characters and why some of said animations are bugged. It also explains why he looks less polished than other newcomers. Oddly, in The Subspace Emissary, Wolf's fast falling speed (1.9) is lower than his regular falling speed (2.142). This means that he can actually slow down by his descent in midair by fast falling. This also occurs with Metal Mario in the original Super Smash Bros.

Wolf was the last character to be confirmed for Super Smash Bros. Brawl due to being confirmed on the Smash Dojo website on March 31st, 2008, two months after the game's initial release.

due to being confirmed on the website on March 31st, 2008, two months after the game's initial release. In international versions, Wolf uses his Japanese voice clip when performing either a stationary tech or wall tech despite having an English voice actor.

When clipping through Wolf's cybernetic eyepatch via a hacked camera, it's revealed that he has a functional left eye. A similar effect happens when looking through his cybernetic eyepatch in Star Fox Assault .

Wolf's supine floor attack is the only arm-based attack that involves him throwing a punch rather than using his claws.

Wolf's victory pose where he crosses his arms is a reference to Star Fox Assault; the only pose Wolf makes in Story Mode is him crossing his arms in his Wolfen.

References [ edit ]



