Brawler Arsenal

Grounded Attacks

Neutral Attacks

Neutral Attacks

The Junior Clown Car swings with a flurry of boxing jabs under the direction of the current Koopaling occupant. The first punch is one of the car’s fastest attacks, hitting at the same speed as down tilt (an extremely fast tilt attack). It’s slightly slow for a neutral attack in general, though, certainly slower than for characters like Sonic and Zero Suit Samus and Mario, but not as sluggish as daddy Bowser and other heavyweights. The punches have good range, and since they’re a part of the car and not the pilot, there’s no vulnerable hurtbox on them. Use the decent range and invincibility of the punching robot arms to overcome the speed shortfall.

Holding the Attack button away from enemies just whiffs the first punch over and over. Tapping the button speeds through the sequence on whiff. On hit, hold or tap the input for the full combo. During the third stage, hold the button down for a continuous flurry of punches. This can extend the combo beyond normal, scoring up to around 25+ total hits for 18%+ damage, but the longer you hold someone with rapid punches, the more likely they’ll shuffle out or be pushed back before you release and the finishing punch knocks them away.

Dash Attack

While speeding forward, the Junior Clown Car opens its maw and extends a scary-looking circular sawblade forward. The spinning blade swipes once with a multi-hit attack, then again with a knockback blow. The initial sawblade hits extend reasonably fast for a dash attack, with good range extending ahead of the car.

Defensive Attacks

Tilts

Side Tilt

The car stabs forward with a novelty-sized fork (well, perhaps it’s not novelty-sized if it’s Giga Bowser’s). The extended tines give this attack good range in front, about like a dash attack sawblade but without the forward momentum. Angle the side tilt input slightly off-center up or down to tilt the fork a bit diagonally. The downward version can be good for impaling a recovering foe’s fingers just as they grab a ledge for safety, while the up-forward version can nail short hoppers falling a bit short instead of jumping right on top of the Koopaling-operated clown car.

Up Tilt

The clown car stabs with the fork ruthlessly upward, hitting directly in front first. Along the way, the fork lifts anyone it hits into a potential juggle position. Fully extended, it hits straight up above the Koopaling, popping up tumbling enemies and jumpers.

Unlike many up tilts, this one doesn’t provide a hitbox to the back. If a crowd approaches from behind, use up smash to cover upward angles while hitting to both sides too (if upward angles aren’t a concern, what you’re after is down smash).

Down Tilt

For this strange attack, the pilot Koopaling crouches low inside the Junior Clown Car while the car forgoes using a weapon in favor of a multi-hit tongue-lashing—literally. The car’s flicking tongue has slightly less range than side tilt, while keeping the Koopa kid much more protected. Down tilt can be thought of as a lower-commitment version of the neutral attack combo, especially since the first tongue tap has the same speed as the first neutral attack jab. It’s also not as laggy after the final swing as many of the car’s attacks.

Smashes

Side Smash

After a considerable windup period (over twice as long as side tilt), the Junior Clown Car brings two spinning drill bits together directly in front. Anyone caught in between takes multiple hits before they’re knocked away. The spinning drill bits give this move a lengthy active period, but also mean the clown car’s pilot is at high risk if the attack flat-out whiffs.

With the slightly sluggish start-up and long-lasting attack, side smash has solid use as a retreating bait tool; dash away from enemies chasing you, then immediately perform side smash back in their direction. If they’re following overzealously, they’ll run right into it! It can also snuff out defenders who try to sidestep, and evasive foes who dodge-roll right into it.

Up Smash

The clown car flips upside down, balancing on the pilot’s head for an attack aimed straight up. While the Koopa kid does a handstand, thrusting the car upward, the propeller underside spins for rapid hits. Up smash hits very quickly for a smash attack, the same speed as up tilt. The difference between up tilt and up smash when aiming for juggles or jumpers is that up tilt hits higher more quickly, but up smash hits to both sides and for more damage, but takes a tiny bit longer to extend upward into short hop airspace. There are low-altitude juggles (and low platforms hanging just above) where up tilt works better than up smash because of this, with the initial hitbox of up smash being fairly low to the ground.

Down Smash

Starting with a small hop to put torque into the hit, the Junior Clown Car swings a wrecking ball to either side, covering front and back at the same time. This delivers a powerful single hit that clears out anyone rushing in. Down smash’s speed is exactly middle of the road for a smash attack, taking about twice as long to hit (uncharged) as side/up tilt or up smash.

Grabs

Grabs

While the Koopa kid menaces from the pilot’s seat with a mallet (just for show), the car extends forward a pincer arm to tow in defenders. The car’s grabbing arm’s reach is decent, but it’s very slow to grab enemies, even slower than most heavyweight characters’ grabs. It’s in the territory of tether/gimmick grabs, without quite having the full reach of most of those. You have to put to good use the unconventional movement, arsenal, and defense of the Koopa kid and Junior Clown Car combo in order to make enemies susceptible to an abnormally slow grab animation.

Once a challenger is safely in the car’s clutches, a front throw hurls them forward, also damaging anyone in the way of the throw. A back throw hurls them backward with the most pushback and KO potential. Up throw tosses them quickly upward, above the car and Koopaling and slightly to the back, ready for a juggle. Down throw follows a multi-hit drill combo on the floor with a low, forward-launching hit.

Aerial Attacks

Aerials

Neutral Air Attack

An extended boxing glove springs from each side of the car in flight as it begins to spin horizontally. This neutral attack isn’t super-fast in midair, but it’s not sluggish either, hitting as fast as a typical tilt move. It’s active for a decent amount of time as the car spins, giving it good use as an air “meaty” attack, extending the glove first and then dragging it into foes with lateral or fast-falling movement. Damage is highest right at the beginning with the fully extended fists and diminishes with duration (or proximity to the car). Knockback on landing isn’t significant, so a jump-in neutral air can lead to guaranteed combos on the ground against targets with low- or medium-percentage damage built up.

Forward Air Attack

Moving forward in midair, the car extends a heavy wrecking ball forward, waggling it back and forth once before retraction. For an air attack it’s slightly slow to start up, but stays out a long time once it’s going. There’s time to jump or short-hop near someone, extend front air, then fast-fall to bring the ball down on them. The damage is highest at the wrecking ball at the beginning of the attack, and lowers closer in and later in the swing.

At low percentages, the knockback against standing enemies is low enough to combo them right away on the ground after landing from a front air hit.

Back Air Attack

The backward-hitting wrecking ball counterpart to front air. To account for pivot time, back air is slightly slower to nail foes than front air, but deals more damage in a more powerful hit. The attack is active for a shorter duration than other air attacks, so it requires more finesse when swinging at foes.

Up Air Attack

One of the few attacks where Bowser Jr. (or the Koopa kid taking his place) attacks instead of relying on the gadgets of the Junior Clown Car. The Koopaling swings directly overhead back and forth, swiping from up-back to up-forward and back again with a scepter. Anyone above takes a small amount of damage and gets launched up slightly. This is the best option for swinging at airborne opponents above.

Down Air Attack

The clown car directs a spinning drill bit straight down during the longest-lasting attack in its arsenal. The attack is slow to start hitting, like a jumping smash attack. But it deals great damage with many hits and has good launching potential off the last hit, particulary when hitting the middle of the opponent’s hit box. Since it stays out for a long time and the strong, launching hit is actually the last one, it’s easy to stick out early, high above choice targets, before plunging down toward them with fast fall.

Special Moves

Specials

Neutral Special: Clown Cannon

The Junior Clown Car sprouts a cannon similar to those of Bowser’s airships, eventually launching a spiraling cannonball far horizontally. Cannonballs can be charged before firing, greatly increasing damage, speed, and distance traveled. When fully charged, cannonballs automatically fire.

The attack is very slow to fire, though, even uncharged. The quickest that Clown Cannon launches a projectile is just over half a second; a fully charged cannonball takes 1.5 seconds to charge and launch.

Having a projectile attack is never bad, but having such a slow one means you need a lot of clearance to put it to use. It’s great to put into sheer airspace off the side of a stage when edge-guarding, or to fire at unsuspecting groups facing off against each other at the edge of your range. You can release Clown Cannon shots that cover short hop airspace, defending against aggressive characters, by jumping to full height and starting a cannonball shot just before the apex, so it releases on the way down lower to the ground. Setting a cannonball tumbling at low altitude this way is also a great prelude to rushing in with Clown Kart Dash (or just running forward behind the shot).

Side Special: Clown Kart Dash

This is the only attack during which the Junior Clown Car acts like a car. Along with Abandon Ship, it’s also a complex special with lots of aspects. The car speeds in the direction of the Special input, whether on the ground or airborne. Driving on the ground, press the control stick in the direction of travel to increase speed. (You can’t control Clown Kart Dash’s speed in the air, though.) The car plows aside anyone it hits.

While driving, the car is capable of jumping for movement, or spinning to attack. Either action ends the drag-racing sprint and returns the Junior Clown Car to normal operations. Being able to Clown Kart Dash in midair, then jump essentially gives Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings a triple jump, since you can double-jump, then side special jump. You can only use Clown Kart Dash once per airborne period.

If you opt to kart-spin rather than kart-jump, the spinning car attack is performed either by pressing the control stick in the opposite direction of travel, or by pressing the Attack or Special buttons. If neither a jump nor spin is used to end the driving period, the car automatically spins after driving for a while…if it doesn’t just drive off a stage edge first! If you do drive off the level, quickly use the car’s jump in midair to end the attack while giving you a little extra loft, then recover back to solid ground.

Up Special: Abandon Ship

The driver ejects, rocketing upward while the car tumbles away smoking. The critical clown car acts as a downward-drifting explosive, bumping anyone in the way with a physical hit first, before violently exploding after falling as far as a jump’s height. (Meanwhile, as the car falls and goes kaboom, the Koopaling hurtles upward and then falls, unprotected by the clown car.) Tap Attack or Special on the way down for a two-sided scepter swing, which hits first behind, then in front.

There are two ways to skip the landing lag after using Abandon Ship. One is to fall and grasp a ledge, in which case the car reappears while rising from the ledge. The other way is to get hit while falling as a carless Koopa kid. After the hardened hitstun portion of the attack is over, you can spring from a midair tumble with the usual attack/dodge options, even another up special launch. The damage on this attack is potentially huge if every part connects. You can drop a car onto someone with up special, then fast-fall as soon as possible with the hurtling Koopaling; if the car bops them, then launches with the explosion, they’ll be hurtled along a trajectory that lets you catch them with a falling scepter swing, adding up to 33% damage!

Down Special: Mechakoopa

Junior Clown Car deploys a mechanical Koopa explosive, which walks quickly back and forth on whichever platform it sets foot upon. Only one Mechakoopa can be on-screen at a time. It traverses back and forth for about five seconds before detonating automatically. If it’s deployed in midair, the timer doesn’t start until Mechakoopa hits a valid walking surface. If it gets close enough to a valid target, it latches on to them before exploding, launching the victim a good distance.

Final Smash: Shadow Mario Paint

With a Final Smash ready to go, a neutral special input slathers a gigantic shimmering X on-screen, courtesy of Shadow Mario. As this happens, the Koopaling and Junior Clown Car are ejected out the top of the screen, falling back down as Shadow Mario departs, having painted a huge part of the playing field. Enemies overlapped by the painted X take continuous damage. Since you’re free to act on the way down, you can return to the fray and tack on extra hits while the Final Smash is still in progress.