Brawler Arsenal

Grounded Attacks

Neutral Attacks

Neutral Attacks

There are two ways to perform Duck Hunt’s neutral attack combo. The first is to hold down the Attack button. This speeds through Duck Hunt’s basic three-hit combo: a quick paw swipe, a puppy headbutt, then a two-hind-legged kick with front paws planted. This is an easy punish out-of-shield when you block an opponent’s attack.

Alternately, manually tap the button repeatedly for a different ender than the usually kick. Instead, the dog ducks while the duck thrusts forward repeatedly in a beak flurry. At the end, the dog launches at the target. At low percentages, you can pressure for a mix-up on their tech attempt; at higher damage, you can try for an air combo. During the duck ender, continue holding the button after the duck starts stabbing to add extra hits, but this eventually lets them fall out of the combo. Release to trigger the launcher before long. Without any extra hits, you get 9.2% damage, while holding out for 23 total hits scores 13.9%.

Dash Attack

From a forward four-legged run, the dog leans out of the way so the duck can thrust far forward, issuing a high-damage hit that launches away. Early beak hits knock foes up and far forward, but late beak hits (just before the attack’s active period ends) launch them up and over Duck Hunt, offering immediate juggle chances behind.

Defensive Attacks

Tilts

Side Tilt

The dog flattens and allows the duck to stretch ahead, striking far forward. Holding slightly up or down during execution aims the bird a little bit. The downward-angled side tilt can snipe recovering foes the instant they grab a ledge, dislodging them. Side tilt is slower to hit than down tilt or neutral attack, but has more reach.

Duck Hunt is technically at a very punishable disadvantage when side tilt is shielded, but if you aim to hit with the duck’s beak, the enemy will be too far away for guaranteed reprisal.

Up Tilt

Here, the duo aims a bird swing upward. This move is mostly intended for use against foes above. It can hit enemies pressed flush against Duck Hunt, but it might miss small or thin fighters even up close. Focus on using it for low-altitude juggles and knocking short hoppers away. When it hits, it pops the opponent into a vulnerable arc right above.

Down Tilt

While the dog crouches low, the duck stretches around to poke with its beak. This has a low profile and hits with decent reach, pushing enemies away. It’s the fastest move Duck Hunt has for neutral game dancing on the ground, besides a plain neutral attack or grab.

When shielded, down tilt is much safer from retaliation than most other Duck Hunt pokes, as long as you aim from max range. The pooch and bird are at a minor disadvantage, so immediate out-of-shield grabs will get you up close, but not farther away.

Smashes

Side Smash

For Duck Hunt’s smash attacks, it’s time to break out the trusty old NES Zapper! For each smash, a series of light gun reticles appears and explodes, automatically juggling anyone in the way before launching them. The last shot is always the strongest, so it’s sometimes wise with smashes to aim to hit with just that shot, which requires you to “lead” targets. For side smash there are three light gun shots in front of Duck Hunt, starting right next to the duo and proceeding outward, each comboing to the next on a clean hit.

The speed is nothing to write home about, hitting at slightly below average for a side smash. The hit area is a little variable, too: although the shots always appear at the same horizontal distance from Duck Hunt, they don’t always appear at the same height. The first shot isn’t absurdly high or anything, but the shots can vary from toe to head level, perhaps affecting how foes hit at the very edges of range.

Shielded up close, side smash leaves Duck Hunt vulnerable, since the third shot will probably strike behind their shield, not even forcing them to block. In this case, anyone can hit Duck Hunt back right away. If you space side smash so that it doesn’t hit at point-blank range, and so the third shot forces enemies to guard, it’s generally safe from punishment.

Up Smash

Three quick shots above the uneasy alliance of dog and duck. The first shot zaps a bit above and in front of Duck Hunt, with the same speed as down smash, decent for a smash attack. The second shot is slightly above and behind, and the final shot is centered directly above the pair, hitting much harder than the preceding shots and launching quarry straight up into juggle position. Any of the hits connecting carry prey forward into the rest.

Down Smash

The duo ducks together while NES Zapper shots go off on both sides. The first shot hits in front with decent smash speed, the second shot is behind (getting kind of slow, if someone’s standing behind Duck Hunt), and the final shot occurs in front, almost a half-second after input. Any of these shots, if they connect, pull the victim over Duck Hunt, ready to eat the next shot. Someone standing in front and not shielding during the first hit is launched behind Duck Hunt, then relaunched forward.

When defenders block down smash, Duck Hunt is technically at a punishable disadvantage. But the dog and duck stay hunched low to the ground during end lag, terrified of the loud gunshot noises, which means that many opposing neutral attacks and grabs will whiff right over them even up close!

Grabs

Grabs

Duck Hunt’s grab speed is very good, just shy of the fastest grabs. The dog also leans forward, adding decent reach. It works well with neutral attack paw pokes and down tilts, not to mention short-hopping air moves. Putting Clay Shooting and Trick Shot projectiles on-screen near enemies can also create doubt in opponents about when you’ll cut loose with Zapper shots to detonate the target, giving you a chance to dash in and sneak a grab.

Front and back throws offer the usual options, letting you pick a side to toss foes. Up throw has the dog launching them upward with a hind-leg kick, allowing for follow-ups straight above, like with hopping up air attack. Down throw smacks them off the ground, meanwhile, for follow-up chances lower to the ground and in front.

Aerial Attacks

Aerials

Neutral Air Attack

The dog spins in midair, all limbs active. The whole dog is basically a hitbox, and the attack is active with good speed. It lasts just short of half a second, making it an extremely useful jumping move. It’s a sure thing ramming into other fighters air-to-air at any angle (of course, whether they have their own air moves that’ll win cleanly is up to the matchup), and it’s easy to deploy and then pull down into foes from above via fast fall.

Against opponents standing on the ground, it doesn’t start knocking them back very far until high damage is built up, which means you can go right into ground combos or grab tries.

Forward Air Attack

The first active part of this attack is the dog checking with a shoulder, but the duck then jabs ahead with the strongest part of the attack. The attack is stronger when aimed with the beak. It’s active starting just a tiny bit slower than neutral air attack but with more forward reach. The lag on landing is slightly less too, allowing even tighter combos and grab pressure.

Back Air Attack

The dog leans aside so the duck can spear sharply behind the duo. The damage is good, and the knockback is great starting at mid percentages and higher. The only downside is the long landing lag is used near the ground.

Up Air Attack

The duck snaps upward quickly three times, with the final hit being the strongest. With three snapping attacks, this has a decent active period, but only the final hit launches enemies back up, so it can be hard to get all three hits. If foes get bitten by the first or second beak hit but then glance off, they fall alongside Duck Hunt.

With the duck perched on its canine friend and jabbing upward, this doesn’t have good hitboxes or landing lag for using low to the ground, as air-to-ground offense. Forward air attack and neutral air attack are best for hitting standing opponents.

Down Air Attack

Unlikely animal friends work together, with the dog and duck flipping one after the other with downward-aimed headbutts. The speed is like an average smash attack. Like up air attack, the separate hits can make it hard to aim and get both hits. The second hit, from the duck, is a powerful meteor smash on a clean hit.

Landing lag used near the ground is bad, with the poor dog flopping hard.

Special Moves

Specials

Wild Gunmen

Neutral Special: Trick Shot

The duo tosses out a Hogan’s Alley can, ripe for target practice. This is an explosive, and detonates for solid damage on contact with enemies (higher downward velocity on the can leads to slightly more damage). This means the simplest way to use it is as a grenade, chucking it on a shallow arc. If a can hits the ground without detonating, it comes to rest. If nothing happens to it, the can disappears after 11 seconds. Both Duck Hunt and foes can swat at the can, knocking it around. It’s possible to physically assault it enough to detonate it, but it makes a lot more sense to use the rest of the special to do it with light gun zaps.

While a Trick Shot can is on-screen, further inputs of neutral special result in NES Zapper shots aimed at the can. This works no matter what Duck Hunt is doing. Up to eight shots can be pumped into a can before it finally can’t withstand any more and explodes. Shots on target spin the can up and forward, extending its downward arc if it’s falling, and popping it off the ground if it’s still. From one side of a stage, you can jump, toss a Trick Shot can, then rhythmically tap out shots slowly to keep the can bouncing in midair across most of the stage, eventually dropping it before the eighth shot quite far from where you threw it. If enemies are near a can when the light gun shot nails it, they take a little damage. If they’re near the explosion at the end, they take a lot.

Offensively, as mentioned, Trick Shot is basically a grenade. It has defensive applications, too. If you toss a can, then stand near it (but not too close; Trick Shot explosions can hurt Duck Hunt too!), foes will be wary of approaching from that angle, since you can unleash a quick flurry of gunshots along the can’s ascending path. It’s good dropped near stage edges for the same reason, to deter recovering opponents.

When tossing projectiles, you can throw a Trick Shot can, then a Clay Shooting pigeon. But not the other way around, since neutral special with a clay pigeon on-screen just results in a Zapper shot at the target.

Side Special: Clay Shooting

The dog spins to hurl a clay pigeon forward like a Frisbee. It travels either a medium or long-range distance, depending on whether you use a tilt-style side special input (holding direction in advance, or gently angling control stick) or a smash-style input (flicking the stick plus the button). The smash-style input tosses the disk farther and faster. Either way, the disk itself is a projectile attack with a weak hit on its own.

While the pigeon is on-screen, inputting neutral special takes NES Zapper shots at the disk. This works whether it’s in motion or lying still but not yet vanished. These individual gunshots are weak, like when pinging shots off a Trick Shot can. But if a shot strikes the clay pigeon, it shatters, dealing extra damage to anything nearby.

For a defensive/close-range Clay Shooting detonation, use a tilt input for a slower clay pigeon toss. Not only does this keep the projectile closer to Duck Hunt, but the slower speed means Zapper shots are more likely to hit.

For a series of harassment projectiles, use jumping smash throws to fling clay pigeons just over enemy heads. As the disk travels quickly, any shots you take will probably miss the pigeon—but those missed shots become hazards for foes. Plus, the pigeon is still a minor projectile whenever the shots catch up and detonate it.

Up Special: Duck Jump

The duck briefly, nobly resists gravity, lugging the dog upward as long as it can (which is just a second). As the duck flaps, holding the control stick up-forward gains the most distance traveled in a desired direction. A flapping duck can also easily change directions, like Villager and Isabelle during Balloon Trips, but turning while flapping reduces how much distance and height the duck achieves.

There’s no innate attack portion of Duck Jump. On its own, this is a movement-only special. However, Duck Jump is a unique up special in that it can be interrupted partway up by any other air move. You can Duck Jump and ascend for a moment before swinging with air pokes, Clay Shooting, Wild Gunman, and Trick Shot. The catch is, you still enter the usual helpless drifting state that most fighters end up in after up specials. It just happens after your choice of move, done in the middle of Duck Jump.

Ultimately, physics wins, and the duck and dog drift back down to the ground, whether you interrupt Duck Jump with another attack, or use it to turn in midair, or use it for max distance in one direction.

Down Special: Wild Gunman

Duck Hunt deploys a pixelated helper, plucked straight from 1984’s NES light gun title Hogan’s Alley. If used in midair, Duck Hunt’s air momentum is briefly slowed. Whichever 8-bit gunner it is, they drift downward for a moment (or just stand there, if they’re already on the ground) before firing straight ahead. This is basically a drop-and-forget projectile, which goes off much later, giving you time to vacate the area or press ahead for a pincer attack on the Wild Gunman’s target.

Different gunmen have different armaments, so they deal slightly varying amounts of damage. The important one to remember is the fellow in the poncho and sombrero, who’s packing the most serious heat. Quite literally, since he’s using explosive flame rounds, not only dealing the most damage but launching seared victims. The heavier shells come at the expense of some range for this gunman, though.

Sombrero-wearing gunman shoots explosive rounds, which have less range but put the victim into a jugglable position.

Final Smash: NES Zapper Posse

With Final Smash stocked and viable targets relatively close in front of Duck Hunt (they don’t have to be point-blank, but they can’t be too far), cut loose to summon a sudden flock of ducks. If the ducks nail anyone in the way, those opponents find themselves in a recreation of Hogan’s Alley, at the whim of all the Wild Gunmen. (Their whim is to shoot things.)