Super Smash Bros Ultimate Little Mac Guide

Little Mac is easily the worst character in Smash Bros Ultimate.

Yup, you read that right! Little Mac has been known to put off several players. However, though he may be the worst character in the game, he packs quite a punch and he can become quite competitive when played correctly. That is why we made this guide for you and those who have been enlightened by the stars created by his punches!

In this guide, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Little Mac, as well as his move-set, and other various tips.

Smashing Advantages

1. He is Really Fast

Speed is key in Smash Ultimate, and for you speed nerds out there, Little Mac has the 3rd highest speed out of the entire roster! His incredible speed and agility are what Little Mac is known for, and although he isn’t as fast as Sonic, he is still fast enough to be a threat to heavy characters such as Donkey Kong, or Ganondorf.

2. K.O. Punching

Along with being one of the fastest characters in the game, he has a signature move known as K.O. Punch. This beast of a move can be a game-changer for Little mac. In the heat of battle when he takes significant damage he builds up power, and this allows him to charge his K.O. punch. This attack can immediately knock out opponents from 15%! (Although the percent may vary depending on the character)

K.O. Punch can easily decimate, demolish, and catch your opponent off guard when used correctly.

It is worth noting however that you shouldn’t rely solely on K.O Punch since there is always the possibility that your K.O will miss. Plus, you’ll need to take heavy damage first in order to charge it up, and that in itself is already a great risk.

3. He has Excellent Tilts

All of his tilts are great!!

Little Mac easily has some of the best tilts in the game. They come out super quickly, have good range, and are great for comboing. When playing as Little Mac, tilts are going to be your main attacking tool, although you can switch it up if necessary.

Demoralizing Disadvantages

1. He has Terrible Recovery

Little Mac has one of the worst recoveries in the game. This is why many high-level Mac players prefer to play on-stage since going off stages poses a risk due to the nature of his attack moves.

His recovery options are mediocre. His best option would be Side B, but this is only effective on the upper-half of the stage. On the lower half of the stage, your only option is Up B which only works in a specific angle and can easily be edge-guarded or even spiked!

The rest of his recovery options come from weird techniques. You can use B to attempt to recover, as well as counter (if it is successful), however, you are mainly going to be using Side B and Up B for recovering since the rest of his recovery options are more situational.

You can also use a directional air dodge as a recovery option.

2. Aerials Attacks are Mediocre

Little Mac’s air game is mediocre at best. His aerials have poor range, poor reliability, and little to no usefulness. His best aerial would be neutral Air since it comes out really fast and is useful for jab-locking.

Up Air is also pretty decent since it also comes out fast, and can be used to assist or help combos. The rest of his aerials are either punitive or have little to no benefit whatsoever. (I will cover the rest of his aerials in full detail in the move-set section).

3. Grab Attacks Need to be Grabbier

Along with poor recovery and poor aerials, Little Mac’s grabs are also disappointing overall. Luckily, there are still some decent grabs in his moveset.

His forward and back grab are quite mediocre, but they can be used for tech chasing and stage control. His Up Grab, however, is completely useless. His Down Grab is actually pretty good for comboing, and is best one he has to offer.

Moveset of a Butterfly/Bee

Jabs

Little Mac has two different types of jabs — a normal jab, and a multi-hit jab, each with their own benefits.

Normal Jabs

A normal jab is done by holding the attack button on your controller. It consists of 3 separate jabs — jab 1, jab 2, and jab 3. You can use all of them for a 3-hit combo, or you can use a single jab to jab-lock your opponent.

Multi-Jab

Multi-jabbing is done by spamming the attack button. It basically throws out a flurry of punches. Imagine a Tyson going machine-gun style!

Dash Attack

The dash attack is pretty good for aggressive-play and is great for punishing lands, among many other things. It is worth mentioning however that this attack can be counterattacked, so try not to use it too often!

Smashing Smashes

Smash attacks are going to be Little Mac’s killing tool. He has some of the fastest smash attacks in the game, and with his speed, you can dash dance and catch your opponent off guard to surprise them with a smash attack.

Forward Smash

Little Mac’s forward smash is basic and straight to the point. It’s a good kill move, it’s good for punishing, and it’s a solid move on ground! Little Mac Can aim his forward smash front, upward, and downward.

Forward Smash [Up Angle]

The upward version of Little Mac’s forward smash is really good for punishing landing, as well as a solid smash attack for building up damage.

Forward Smash [Down Angle]

The downward version of his forward smash attack is one of his best smash attacks. It eats up damage quickly and can punish rolls, and is really great at breaking shields. This is the smash attack you will most likely be using when playing as Little Mac.

Up Smash

Up Smash is a really good out-of-shield option as well as a really solid smash attack. When it is used right next to an opponent, it will send out a fiery punch. Up Smash is also great for comboing for example, Up Tilt, followed by Up Smash.

Down Smash

Down Smash is great for punishing players who use excessive rolling, and can be great for ledge-guarding.

Tilt Attacks

Tilt attacks are Little Mac’s best attacks. Period. They come out super fast, have really good range, and are excellent for combos. It is recommended that you use the Tilt-C stick when playing as Little Mac. If you are unsure how to do this, you can go to the main menu > settings > controllers and configure it from there.

Forward Tilt

Forward tilt is this double punch that acts as an excellent KO attack. A good method to use is to dash-dance first, then follow up with the forward tilt to catch your opponent off-guard.

Up Tilt

Up tilt is a very good anti-air move, and can combo into many things (including itself). It has really good range so this is an attack you will be using quite frequently.

Down Tilt

Down tilt is a great tool for comboing and for ledge-guarding. It can even be used alongside K.O. punch (assuming your opponent doesn’t air-dodge).

Special Specials

Little Mac’s specials are a bit gimmicky, but are also great situational attacks, and great for many different scenarios.

Neutral Special

Little Mac’s neutral special is a chargeable punch that has 3 levels of damage. When charged fully, it releases a powerful punch that can easily knock out. You can also release it early to unleash your attack, though it’ll be weaker, of course, or activate your shield to cancel the attack. Do note that while a fully charged punch is especially useful for KO-ing opponents who are shield-stunned, other than that it isn’t all that useful in other scenarios.

K.O. Punch

Once Little Mac builds up damage and fully charges up his meter, he can finally throw out that straight lunge at his unwitting opponent! This attack is great for scoring knock outs when used correctly. It should be carefully used, however, since Little Mac can lose it if he takes too much damage, or waste the charge if the attack misses.

Up Special

Little Mac’s Up Special is his recovery option for the lower half of the screen. It has decent horizontal reach, but has horrible vertical reach, so try your best to get close to the stage as possible in order to make the recovery successful. Up Special can also be used as an out-of-shield option and other various techniques.

Side Special

Side Special is Little Mac’s best special attack! It has two different variants (slow Side B), and (fast Side B). Slow Side B is done by only pressing B once, while fast Side B is done by pressing B twice. You should use fast Side B most of the time since it’s amazing for combo-ing and has great range, and believe it or not, is solid for edge-guarding when done properly. Slow Side B is rarely helpful but can be useful for recovering since it reaches farther.

Down Special

Down Special is Little Mac’s counter, and while many people think it’s not that great, we personally think it’s a solid counter. Countermoves can be used if your opponent is predictable, or if you can suspect an upcoming attack. Counters can also be used to edge-guard recoveries, for example, Ike or Ridley, and even to recover if done correctly.

Handfuls of Grabs

Little Mac’s grabs are simply ok, but aren’t very good at combo-ing. Luckily, there are some grabs that are decent after all.

Forward Throw

Forward Throw is good for tech-chasing your opponent and is decent for building up damage.

Up Throw

Up Throw isn’t very good at all. It is really only useful for anti-air, but you’re better off using up Tilt for that.

Back Throw

Back Throw is simply ok, but can be useful for catching your opponent off guard and for aggressive play.

Down Throw

Down Throw is Little Mac’s best throw since it can combo into several things and can be good for building up damage.

Hot Air Aerials

Little Mac’s aerials are laughable. They have terrible range and measly attack power, but can still be useable in certain situations.

Down Air

Down Air is utterly useless in terms of reliability. Using it is a waste of time since it hardly does any damage, and is easily avoidable due to its poor range. The only usefulness this move has is jab-locking and spiking at high percent. Down Air can spike around 180% which is absurd since the opponent will most likely have been knocked out of the screen by then. But if you do land that spike with this move, cheers to you!

Back Air

Back Air is probably Little Mac’s most powerful aerial, although that isn’t saying much since it’s practically the same attack power as the rest of Little Mac’s aerial. You can attempt to combo offstage with this, assuming your opponent doesn’t air-dodge, or you can edge-guard with this if you are lucky.

Forward Air

Forward Air is solid in terms of reliability. It is actually good against heavy characters since it can reach their hitboxes easily, and it’s much better for combo-ing off-stage compared to Back Air. Sadly, it still suffers from poor range, but the trick to using this move is to attack the opponent from the upper part of the aerial since the lower part doesn’t really hit well.

Up Air

Up Air is actually pretty good since it comes out really fast, and can combo into other moves.

Neutral Air

Neutral Air is Little Mac’s best aerial since it’s humanly impossible to avoid considering how quickly it comes out. It’s a great get-off-me tool and is very good for jab-locking.

Should You Dig Little Mac?

If you are looking for a character that will bring you a good challenge, Little Mac is the one for you. Although his recovery and aerials are laughable, a player can command respect by showing them that weak ol’ Mac-Mac can become the strongest with dedication and patience. Playing Little Mac is no easy challenge, but it is possible and is most certainly rewarding for players who choose to embark on this challenge!

The teenage brawler tends to get overlooked simply due to his poor recovery, but we think if players give him a chance and actually try to use him to his greatest potential, then he will be able to accomplish great victories. Little Mac isn’t just a character – he’s a life lesson.

If you want to get more advanced with Little Mac, click here to see all of his frame-data. Or if you want someone a little less gut-wrenching, consider Zelda with her buff in design!