Duck Hunt (SSBU)

Duck Hunt in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	Duck Hunt
Other playable appearance	in SSB4
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	NES Zapper Posse
Tier	C- (65)

Duck Hunt (ダックハント, Duckhunt), known in PAL versions as Duck Hunt Duo, are playable fighters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. They were officially revealed on June 12th, 2018 alongside Dr. Mario, R.O.B., and the rest of the returning roster. Although they are a team, Duck Hunt are collectively classified as Fighter #59.

Duck Hunt retain their realistic dog barks and duck quacks, using a combination of recycled voice clips from Super Smash Bros. 4 along with additional new ones.

Duck Hunt are ranked 65th out of 82 on the current tier list, placing them at the end of the C- tier. This is a considerable drop from their 30th out of 54 placement in SSB4.

How to unlock[edit]

Complete one of the following:

• Play VS. matches, with Duck Hunt being the 56th characters to be unlocked.
• Clear Classic Mode with Donkey Kong or any character in his unlock tree, being the last characters unlocked after Diddy Kong.
• Have Duck Hunt join the player's party in World of Light.

Duck Hunt must then be defeated on Duck Hunt (the Ω form is used in World of Light).

Attributes[edit]

Duck Hunt are a duo that fight collectively as if they were a single character, much like Banjo & Kazooie. They are lightweights, and specifically weigh as much as Sonic, which places them among the bottom 20 in that category. Duck Hunt also have below-average height, above-average walking/dashing speeds (being the 25th and 36th fastest, respectively), a slow initial dash (tied for the 12th slowest with Incineroar, Snake, Bowser Jr., and Ryu), low traction (the 15th lowest), above-average air speed (tied for the 20th fastest with Bowser, Sheik, Lucas, and Mega Man), average air acceleration and falling speed, and low gravity (the 14th lowest). Duck Hunt can also crawl and wall jump. These traits make Duck Hunt a character who, while lacking strong burst movement on the ground due to their slow dash, does a good job at maintaining aerial presence with their air speed and fairly high jumps. Collectively speaking, their overall mobility is average.

Due to having three unique projectiles for special moves, Duck Hunt excel in zoning and stage control with an emphasis on setups. Trick Shot generates a tin can that explodes on contact, and the fact that it can be maneuvered by the player with a press of the special button makes it a key component of Duck Hunt's pressure, setups, and stage control. Additionally, the fact that the can is generated on frame 1 gives it utility as a combo breaker. Clay Shooting involves throwing a clay pigeon that can be detonated with a press of the special button. It not only has use as a zoning tool, but it also functions as Duck Hunt's most potent combo starter, as the fact that they can act out of the move before it detonates allows them to chain the move into itself, aerials, or a combination of the two. Wild Gunman summons a gunman that shoots from their respective gun after a delay. This further supplements their zoning and setup-centered playstyle, since they can act out of the move before the gunshot. In addition, the gunmen possess their own hurtboxes, giving it occasional use for blocking attacks.

Duck Hunt's air game also has decent utility courtesy of their good air speed. Back aerial is a fast and powerful finisher that comes out at frame 7 and KOs middleweights as early as 120% from the edge of Final Destination, making it even deadlier in the context of edgeguarding. Neutral aerial also compliments their edgeguarding abilities, as it comes out fast at frame 6 and has lingering hitboxes that make it useful for gimps while the strong hit also functions as a passable KO move, KOing middleweights at 135% from the edge of Final Destination. Finally, up air is a good vertical finisher that starts KOing middleweights at around 135% near the blast zone, plus it comes out fast at frame 6 and has a decent amount of active frames.

Unfortunately, Duck Hunt's main weakness is that, outside of some of their aerials, the aspects of their kit that don't revolve around their versatile projectiles are rather lackluster. For example, while their aerials are undeniably the best parts of their kit outside of their special moveset, some aren't without their flaws. Although forward aerial is fairly fast at frame 7 and has decent range, it has atrocious KO power; even with the sweetspot, the move doesn't start KOing middleweights until around 180% from the edge of Final Destination, and the fact that the move has sourspots adds a layer of inconsistency to its already poor KO power. In addition, down aerial has some inconsistencies of its own, as while it is a decent spike on paper, the two hits don't always connect into each other. Duck Hunt's endurance also leaves more to be desired due to their low weight and exploitable recovery; while Duck Jump covers good horizontal and vertical distance, its unremarkable speed and lack of protection make it prone to edge guards. While their recovery fares better than in SSB4 due to it being able to be canceled into attacks and air dodges, the fact that Duck Hunt can only cancel their recovery 50 frames later still makes it fairly exploitable.

However, the flaws of other aspects of Duck Hunt's kit are most apparent in their ground game, as their grounded normals are mediocre at best and well below average at worst. While their rapid jab is a good damage racking option, neither it nor the standard jab start KOing middleweights until 190%. Forward tilt, while being disjointed and having passable startup at frame 8, lacks range in comparison to other disjoints and doesn't start KOing middleweights until 150%. Up tilt, while in theory being a frame 7 combo starter into neutral and up aerial at low and mid percentages, isn't that consistent in practice due to the fact that its narrow hitbox struggles to hit grounded opponents even at point blank range. Even down tilt, which is among their best grounded moves due to being their fastest grounded poke (at frame 6) and being capable of starting tech chases, suffers from being an even worse disjoint than forward tilt in terms of both range and KO power.

While the aforementioned moves are simply mediocre, the same cannot be said for their dash attack, a move that is genuinely below average; it has slow startup at frame 10 while also having abysmal KO power, as it is unable to KO middleweights past 200%. On top of having slow startup, Duck Hunt's poor initial dash further hinders its use as a burst option, a role that dash attacks are generally meant to fulfill. Duck Hunt's smash attacks don't do their ground game many favors either, as while they have good KO power and are disjointed for utilizing the NES Zapper, their startup is rather subpar and they have awkward hitboxes that prevent all the hits from connecting at times. Their grab game is also a contributor to their less than stellar strength on the ground; their standing and pivot grabs have deceptively good range, but the reward they get from a grab leaves more to be desired due to none of their throws leading to consistent combos or KOing at reasonable percentages.

Overall, Duck Hunt excel at controlling the neutral by simultaneously controlling both the duo and their assortment of projectiles in order to generate setups, frame traps, and pressure whether the opponent is onstage, at ledge, or offstage while their good air mobility and fair share of fast aerials also give them a slight emphasis on offstage edgeguards. In exchange for these strengths, they have a notable lack of flexibility in other aspects of their kit due to their overall average recovery and ground game, meaning they have to be more reliant on crafty use of their projectiles in order to get things going compared to other zoners.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4[edit]

Duck Hunt have received a mix of buffs and nerfs in the transition to Ultimate. While objectively buffed significantly, many of the nerfs the duo have received, though of lower quantity than their buffs, are further pronounced by the significant changes to gameplay mechanics. Overall, despite their plethora of buffs, Duck Hunt have been nerfed overall in the transition to Ultimate.

Duck Hunt's notoriously inconsistent KO potential has been improved in many ways; their infamously unreliable smash attacks now connect much more reliably (though there are rare instances where their final hits may still fail to connect), while their forward tilt is now a situational KO option thanks to its much higher base knockback. Trick Shot, whose cans were already a powerful, versatile projectile, also KOs much earlier, and all Wild Gunmen deal more damage with no knockback compensation and now possess some degree of KO potential, especially the leader and the sombrero gunman. Aside from their buffs to power, the duo's special moves have all seen miscellaneous improvements; Trick Shot's cans travel further, the move has less endlag, and cans can now be hit in midair, all of which improve its utility. Clay Shooting has less ending lag and the pigeons now explode into shrapnel that deals damage in many directions, increasing its effective range and forcing opponents to stay in place if they get hit, which make it an excellent combo tool. Duck Jump now allows the duo to act out of it after at least 50 frames with any action; when coupled with the reintroduction of directional air dodges, these changes somewhat improve the safety of their vulnerable recovery. Finally, Wild Gunman has less ending lag, all gunmen fire faster, and the defeated gunmen each maintain a hurtbox that allow Duck Hunt to use them to block incoming attacks.

While receiving predominantly more buffs, Duck Hunt is not without a few noticeable nerfs. Most prominently, the duo is lighter, which further worsens their already poor endurance. Some of their aerials have also been worsened; clean neutral aerial's deals less knockback, which while improving its combo potential, noticeably reduces its KO power. Forward aerial has a slightly shorter duration, and down aerial no longer auto-cancels with a short hop. The shrapnel left by Clay Shooting's pigeons can now damage Duck Hunt if it's destroyed by the opponent, and its tweaked properties make it harder to destroy, causing it to lose some of its setups into Trick Shot; as well, Trick Shot's higher power, while making it a more reliable projectile, make it a far riskier option to escape pressure. The dog's grabs also have less range, making it harder for them to grab opponents despite their standing and dash grabs' faster startup.

However, Duck Hunt's biggest hindrances come from the gameplay mechanic changes, which have hurt them more than most other characters. On one hand, the nerfs to rage don't affect the duo as much as other characters due to their move's higher consistency at connecting; the universally faster mobility has improved the duo's own, and the universally reduced landing lag on aerials combines well with this change, further improving their combo game. On the other hand, this same increase in mobility means many other veterans now sport much faster mobilities, which combined with the lower landing lag allows them to overcome Duck Hunt and take advantage of the duo's poor disadvantage state, despite Trick Shot's frame 1 generation making it a usable, yet risky escape option. The universal reduction to projectiles' damage further exacerbates the ease for opponents to endure the duo's options. The changes to air dodge mechanics are also mostly detrimental to Duck Hunt, as while the duo can use one to extend their recovery after Duck Jump, the limit to one air dodge per air time (unless hit) makes the duo much easier to read offstage and edgeguard accordingly, forcing them to mix their recovery up more often, which can be risky; they also don't noticeably benefit their own edgeguarding game due to their worsened neutral and forward aerials. Lastly, the universal weakening of grabs further worsens Duck Hunt's grab game, with the increased ending lag on grabs making them even riskier to throw out and the slower startup on shield grabs out of shieldstun directly worsening their out of shield game, forcing Duck Hunt to rely on their aerials more.

All in all, Duck Hunt's playstyle has been improved to possess many more varied options, and their moveset's power makes closing out stocks less of a hassle as before. However, their tools can be more easily taken advantage of and their weaknesses are further defined, with their already unremarkable endurance and disadvantage state being harder to endure, and their out of shield game becoming less reliable due to their worsened nautral aerial and grabs. Of note is that the duo also still retain some of their other weaknesses from SSB4, such as a reliance on setups to KO despite their improved KO potential, and a deficient close-quarters game. Ultimate's faster engine further weakens the efficacy of their zoning- and setup-centric playstyle, whose core is mostly intact from SSB4, as the game favors quicker, more aggressive playstyles, making them easier to pressure; the benefits Duck Hunt have received from these gameplay changes also fail to compensate. This forces the duo to shift to a more aggressive playstyle, which while less polarized, is also less effective. Duck Hunt's unimpactful changes from game updates also fail to make up for the universal nerfs to projectiles brought by these updates. Because of these changes, Duck Hunt fares worse in Ultimate than in SSB4.

Aesthetics[edit]

• Duck Hunt's model is of a significantly higher visual quality. The dog's overall color scheme is more vibrant, better matching his sprite in Duck Hunt, and he now features detailing on his fur, collar, paws, and nose. The duck's color scheme is more subdue and features greater feather detailing.
• Duck Hunt is significantly more vocal. They have more voice clips during gameplay beyond their taunts and Star KO, consisting of bitcrushed realistic dog noises and duck quacks. These voice clips are also now available in the Sound Test.
• Similar to other cartoonish fighters, the duo are more expressive.
• The duck no longer blinks during the duo's idle and crouching animation and on the results screen.
• Duck Hunt's shielding animation is slightly altered. The duck now covers the dog with its feathers.

Attributes[edit]

• Like all characters, Duck Hunt's jumpsquat animation takes three frames to complete (down from 4).
• Duck Hunt dashes faster (1.63 → 1.793).
  • Duck Hunt's initial dash is faster (1.55 → 1.76), although it is now one of the slower initial dashes relative to the cast.
• Duck Hunt walks faster (1.155 → 1.213).
• Duck Hunt's air speed is slightly faster (1.1 → 1.155).
• Duck Hunt is lighter (91 → 86), now only slightly heavier than Zelda, which reduces their survivability.
• Spot dodge has slightly more ending lag (FAF 24 → 25), no longer being the best in the game.
• Forward roll has more ending lag (FAF 27 → 30).
• Back roll has more startup (frames 4-15 → 5-16) and ending lag (FAF 27 → 35).
• Neutral air dodge has more startup (frame 2 → 3) and significantly more ending lag (FAF 31 → 50).
• Neutral air dodge has less landing lag (22 frames → 10).
• Neutral air dodge has a slightly longer duration (frames 2-25 → 3-27).

Ground attacks[edit]

• Neutral attack:
  • Neutral attack's animation is faster and the rapid jab and rapid finisher have less startup lag, making them connect more reliably.
  • Neutral attack 2's largest hitbox is bigger (4.2u → 5u).
  • Neutral attack 3 has a smaller hitbox (5.8u → 5u).
  • Neutral attack 1 and 2 and neutral infinite deal less damage (2% (first)/3% (second) → 1.5% each, 0.8% → 0.4% (infinite)).
  • Neutral attack 1 has its two larger hitboxes replaced with four smaller ones (3u/3u → 1.8u/1.8u/2u/2u).
  • The infinite has gained a shieldstun multiplier of 5×. This allows it to lock opponents into their shields between each hit, and thus pressure them more effectively, but also allows them to cancel shieldstun and punish Duck Hunt more easily if they shield 10 hits or more.
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt deals more base knockback (15 → 35).
  • Its angle is different when angled (361° (both) → 48° (up)/30° (down)).
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt has less startup (frame 7 → 6) and ending lag (FAF 34 → 28).
  • Up tilt is harder to connect on grounded opponents, since characters can no longer run through each other.
  • Up tilt's hitbox is smaller (7u → 5u), while its Y2 offset was compensating (13 → 15), the hitbox is narrower and has less range against grounded opponents.
  • Up tilt deals significantly more base knockback (35 → 95), but has much less knockback scaling (130 → 40), removing its KO potential, but increasing its combo potential.
• Down tilt
  • Down tilt has less ending lag (FAF 35 → 28).
  • Down tilt sends at a slightly more horizontal angle that is more desirable for edgeguarding (30° → 25°).
• Forward smash:
  • If the first hit of forward smash connects, subsequent hits will be positioned to continue the chain into the final hit, rather than having their positions somewhat randomized.
  • Forward smash's first and second hits launch at a higher angle (5° → 45°) and deal more set knockback (60 → 66 (hit 1), 60 → 69 (hit 2)), making them connect more reliably.
  • It has larger hitboxes (3.8u → 4.7u (hit 1), 5.2u → 6.9u (hit 2), 7u → 7.8u (hit 3)).
• Up smash:
  • The first two hits no longer have set knockback (72/60 → 0), and use an autolink angle (140°/150° → 368° (hit 1), 115° → 368° (hit 2)), allowing them to connect more reliably.
  • Up smash's first and second hit deal slightly more damage (2%/2.4% → 2.5% each).
  • Up smash's final hit deals more knockback (40 base/112 scaling → 45/120).
• Down smash:
  • The first two hits no longer have set knockback (115 → 0), and use an autolink angle (165° → 368°), allowing them to connect more reliably.
  • Down smash's final hit deals more base knockback (32 → 37).

Aerial attacks[edit]

• All aerials have less landing lag (17 frames → 10 (neutral), 15 → 9 (forward), 24 → 14 (back), 18 → 11 (up), 34 → 15 (down)).
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial's clean hit has less knockback scaling (100 → 86). This reduces its KO potential, but combined with the landing lag reduction grants it combo potential when landing.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial has marginally less ending lag (FAF 46 → 45).
  • Its sweetspot comes out slightly earlier (frame 9 → 8).
  • It has a slightly shorter duration overall (frames 7-12 → 7-11).
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial's sweetspot deals slightly more damage (12% → 12.5%) with no compensation on knockback, causing it to KO slightly earlier.
• Up aerial:
  • The first hit sends the opponent at a lower angle (145° → 95°), the second hit launches at an autolink angle (145° → 363°), both hits deal more set knockback (40 → 50) and have a reduced hitlag multiplier (1× → 0.5×), allowing them to connect more reliably overall.
  • All hits have larger hitboxes (5.5u → 6u (hits 1-2), 8u → 8.5u (hit 3)) and the second hit and third hit's hitboxes have been moved upward (Y offset: 20u → 21.5u (hits 2), 21u → 22.5u (hit 3)), improving its range overall.
  • The first hit's hitbox has been moved lower (Y offset: 20u → 18.5u), slightly reducing its range overall.
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial has considerably less ending lag (FAF 60 → 50).
  • Both hits have a slightly longer duration (frames 14/20 → 14-15/20-21).
  • Down aerial auto-cancels later (frame 33 → 45), preventing it from doing so in a short hop.

Throws and other attacks[edit]

• Standing grab and dash grab have less startup lag (stand/dash: frame 8/10 → 6/9).
• All grabs have more ending lag (stand/dash/pivot: FAF 29/36/34 → 36/43/38).
• All grabs have less range (Z2 offset: 11.7u → 11.2u (standing), 13.9u → 12.9u (dash), -19.2u → -18.5u (pivot)).
• Back throw has less ending lag (FAF 44 → 40).

Special moves[edit]

• Trick Shot:
  • Trick Shot's can is slower and more floaty, but starts further forward.
  • Trick Shot's can travels more distance every time it is shot. This increases its effective range, but also means it will fly over grounded opponents more often.
  • Trick Shot's explosion sends the opponent flying in the direction of the side of the can that hit them, instead of sending them the direction Duck Hunt is facing.
  • Trick Shot's can has bullet holes appear every time the special button is pressed.
  • Trick Shot's can auto explodes more quickly after the eighth shot (76 frames → 60).
  • Trick Shot's can is able to be hit with an attack midair, allowing Duck Hunt to cover more options.
  • Trick Shot's can and its explosion deal more damage (1.8%-2% → 1.6%-4.4% (contact), 8% → 10% (explosion)), without full compensation for knockback on the explosion (110 scaling → 100), improving its KO potential.
  • Trick Shot's can can be shot even when it is about to explode, increasing the amount of time it can be maneuvered.
  • Trick Shot has less ending lag (FAF 46 → 42).
  • Trick Shot has lost some setups in combination with Clay Shooting.
• Clay Shooting:
  • Shooting Clay Shooting's pigeon with Special Move works differently. Instead of always getting destroyed immediately, it will only be shot once per input made. If it is moving too fast, it will not be destroyed, but it will always be destroyed in one shot if it is moving slowly enough.
  • Clay Shooting has slightly less ending lag (FAF 66 → 64).
  • Clay Shooting forces the opponent to stay in place if they get hit, making it a significantly better combo starter.
  • When Clay Shooting's pigeon is destroyed, debris that deals damage flies in multiple directions. ^[1]
    • However, these particles will damage Duck Hunt if the pigeon is destroyed by the opponent.
    • This means a pigeon that missed and was thrown with the smash input takes longer to destroy, reducing its safety.
  • Clay Shooting faces the screen more.
• Duck Jump:
  • After 50 frames, Duck Jump can be cancelled with an attack or air dodge, though Duck Hunt will still be helpless afterwards.
  • If Duck Hunt gets hit by a windbox or an attack that deals no knockback (like Fox's laser) after cancelling Duck Jump but before entering helpless state, Duck Jump can be used again. This can be repeated indefinitely. ^[2]
• Wild Gunman:
  • The Wild Gunmen's eyes flash before they are about to shoot, instead of flashing immediately after spawning.
  • Wild Gunman has less ending lag (FAF 45 → 42).
  • Each Gunman fires three frames earlier.
  • Each Gunman deals 4% more damage (4%-7% → 8%-11%) with no compensation on knockback, granting them KO potential at high percents, especially the Sombrero Gunman.
  • When a Gunman is defeated, it will take longer for him to disappear and for another Gunman to be spawned.
    • However, the Gunman's defeated body has a tangible hurtbox, which allows Duck Hunt to use it as a shield from projectile attacks.
  • The Wild Gunmen have visual bullet tracers when shooting their guns, allowing players to see how far each gunman will shoot.
  • The Gunmen have a soft, CRT-like glow.
• NES Zapper Posse:
  • NES Zapper Posse has a larger hitbox.
  • It has altered knockback (60 base/180 scaling → 70/160), dealing less knockback overall and KOing later even at the ledge.

Update history[edit]

Aside from glitch fixes, Duck Hunt have received a mix of buffs and nerfs from game updates. Version 2.0.0 made Trick Shot more safe to use, but also made Clay Shooting less safe, forcing players to prioritize Trick Shot in zoning. Version 3.0.0 impacted Duck Hunt more than a majority of the roster with its universal shield damage nerf to projectiles, though it also made it safer for Duck Hunt to shield its own Trick Shot can. Wild Gunman was also buffed to hit targets more effectively. Version 3.1.0 made up aerial more consistent, allowing easier kills off the top blast zone. Version 7.0.0 gave Duck Hunt the near-universal shield size increase and made neutral attack more consistent. Version 8.0.0 made teching slightly worse as a homogenization effort. Version 10.1.0 made forward smash connect more consistently, significantly increasing its KO potential.

Overall, Duck Hunt fares slightly worse than at launch. While its buffs were good quality-of-life adjustments, its nerfs were more impactful due to its playstyle relying on projectiles and traps. This caused the already small competitive base of Duck Hunt to struggle even more.

1.2.0

• Duck Hunt have been affected, although the changes are currently unknown.

2.0.0

• Fixed a game crash along with Mii Swordfighter where Wild Gunman and the Mii Swordfighter’s special moves were used at the same time.
• Corrupt save data occurs along with Mii Swordfighter if they play Century Smash.
• Trick Shot has less endlag (FAF 46 → 42).
• Clay Shooting has more endlag (FAF 61 → 64).
• Clay Shooting causes less hitlag (1× → 0.5×/0.2× (hit 1/2-3)).

3.0.0

• Trick Shot deals less shield damage (0 → -0.9/-1/-5 (reticle/impact/explosion).
  • However, this also makes it safer for Duck Hunt to shield the can himself (after the opponent hits it back for example).
• Clay Shooting deals less shield damage (0 → -1 (clay impact), -0.9 (reticle), -1.3/-1.5 (clay break, hits 1-2/3)).
• The shots from Wild Gunman will no longer sometimes go through opponents.

3.1.0

• Up aerial's first hit connects more reliably into the second (angle: 80° → 95°; knockback: 25 fixed/80 scaling → 50/100).

7.0.0

• Overall shield size has been increased.
• Neutral infinite's hits inflict 2 additional frames of hitstun, preventing opponents from shielding before the finisher comes out.

8.0.0

• Standing and rolling techs have one frame more ending lag (FAF 26 → 27 (standing), 40 → 41 (rolling)), matching the rest of the cast.

9.0.2

• Fixed an issue where Duck Hunt's momentum after using Wild Gunman in the air was different from what was intended.

10.1.0

• Forward smash's first two hits have received various adjustments that allow the move to connect more reliably:
  • Both hits have lower hitlag (1.0x (both) → 0.75x (hit 1)/0.5x (hit 2)).
  • The second hit sends at a lower angle (45° → 30°) and has lower set knockback (70 → 60).

11.0.0

• A bug that allowed the reticles on Duck Hunt's smash attacks to activate twice was removed.^[3]

Moveset[edit]

• Duck Hunt can crawl and wall jump.

For a gallery of Duck Hunt's hitboxes, see here.

Note: All numbers are listed as base damage, without the 1v1 multiplier.

Stats[edit]

Announcer call[edit]

This article could use additional or higher-quality audio files. The editor who added this tag suggests: Needs announcer calls from other languages. If you have a good audio file for this article, upload it here.

In European versions, the announcer refers to Duck Hunt as a duo.

• North American/Japanese/Chinese

• European

• French

• French (PAL)

• Russian

On-screen appearance[edit]

• The dog leaps into an 8-bit sprite of grass with the duck on his back before they both rise from the grass while the dog performs his signature laugh. The grass then disappears in a puff of smoke.

• 

  Duck Hunt's on-screen appearance

Taunts[edit]

• Up taunt: The dog performs a frontal handstand, while the duck balances on one of the hind legs and quacks negatively in response.
• Side taunt: The dog lays on his side and does his infamous laugh, while the duck flies next to him, quacking.
• Down taunt: The dog stands on his back legs and does a dance.

• 

  Duck Hunt's up taunt.

• 

  Duck Hunt's side taunt.

• 

  Duck Hunt's down taunt.

Idle poses[edit]

• The dog and the duck sniff the ground.
• The dog scratches his ear.

• 

  Duck Hunt's first idle pose.

• 

  Duck Hunt's second idle pose.

Crowd cheer[edit]

	Cheer (English)	Cheer (Japanese/Chinese)	Cheer (Italian)	Cheer (Dutch)	Cheer (French)
Cheer
Description	Duck - Hunt! Duck - Hunt Duo!	Duck Hun - to!	Duo - Duck - Hunt!	Duck! *clap* Hunt! *clap*	Duck - Hunt! Duo - Duck - Hunt!

	Cheer (German)	Cheer (Spanish)	Cheer (Russian)	Cheer (Korean)
Cheer
Description	Duck - Hunt - Duo!	Duck - Hunt! Rah - Rah - Rah! Duo - Duck - Hunt! Duo - Duck - Hunt!	Duet - Duck - Hunt!

Victory poses[edit]

• Left: The dog jumps into a patch of 8-bit grass. He then, along with the duck, pops up from the grass and proceeds to do his signature laugh.
• Up: Runs on screen and turns around to kick away a can from Hogan's Alley. He then makes a cartoon running pose.
• Right: Summons a Wild Gunman to shoot to the left, then another one to shoot to the right. He then continuously holds the pose used to summon them. The Wild Gunmen don't appear in Team Battles.

In competitive play[edit]

Most historically significant players[edit]

See also:Category:Duck Hunt players (SSBU)

•  embo_z - First coming to prominence in 2022, he placed 2nd at GrandSlam 7 while taking a set over Big D. Since then embo_z has quickly become the best Duck Hunt player in the United States, notably placing 13th at Major Upset and 33rd at Port Priority 8 while taking a set over BassMage.
•  Jagabata - Jagabata began competing offline in 2021. Since then Jagabata has built a reputation for upsetting top players, including defeating Yoshidora at Sumabato SP 24, Kaninabe at Sumabato SP 40 and MuteAce at Maesuma TOP 12. As a result of their strong performances and wins, Jagabata became first Duck Hunt player since Raito to be on a full year global ranking, being ranked 146th on LumiRank 2023.
•  Raito - The best Duck Hunt player of all time, Raito has achieved far greater success at the national level then any other Duck Hunt player. His greatest success came in 2019 and 2020 when he regularly placed in the top 8 of some of the most notable events at the time, including 3rd at Umebura Japan Major 2019 and 5th at EVO 2019. While they have been less successful in the post-pandemic metagame, he continues to achieve the occasional strong result, such as placing 9th at Kagaribi 5 or 13th at KOWLOON 5. To date Raito is the highest ranking Duck Hunt player on a global ranking, being 17th on the Fall 2019 PGRU.
•  SkWiirrel - The best Duck Hunt player in Europe for the entirety of Ultimate, SkWiirrel has had consistently put up reasonably strong regional and national performances. He placed 9th at superregional Tech Republic VII with a set over Neeroz, and 25th at major Temple: Hermès Edition with a set over RyuKai.
•  Wisdom - One of the best Duck Hunt players in the United States in the early metagame. Placed 5th at Paradigm Shift 2019 with a win over Dark Wizzy and 7th at Standoff 2019 while defeating Fatality. While Wisdom has not seen the same level of success since the early metagame, he continue to place well regionally.

Tier placement and history[edit]

Initially, most players believed Duck Hunt were worse than they were in SSB4 due to Ultimate's game mechanics encouraging more aggressive gameplay, which contrasted Duck Hunt's more campy playstyle. However, Duck Hunt's overall perception remained somewhat positive thanks to Raito, who achieved a great deal of success throughout the early metgame, including winning the superregional Weds Night Fights x Orange County Spring 2019 2.6 and placing top 8 at several majors, including 5th at both EVO 2019 and EVO Japan 2020, two of the largest Ultimate events of all-time.

Even with this success, Raito's performances remained noticeably more inconsistent when compared to his performances in Smash 4, and following the early metagame his results gradually became worse. As such, as time went on Duck Hunt's relevance in the metagame also declined despite efforts from dedicated mains at a regional level such as embo_z, Sekai Doggo, and SkWiirrel. A few Duck Hunt players were able to put up impressive performances from time to time, including Sekai Doggo winning Ultra Hard, Jagabata defeating MuteAce at Maesuma TOP 12, and mzk placing 7th Maesuma'GRAND WARS, the latter performance making mzk the only other Duck Hunt player to place top 8 at a major. However, their overall performances still pale in comparison to Raito's peak, and as Duck Hunt's worst flaws -- their mediocre KO potential and below-average ground game -- remained mostly unaddressed, most players agree that the duo were outclassed by other characters of a similar archetype who have more flexibility in parts of their kits that don't revolve around their projectiles. This is reflected in their tier list placements, where the duo were ranked 67th in the C- tier as a low-mid tier character on the first list, then rose slightly to 65th on the second list, albeit remaining in the C- tier.

Classic Mode: Dog, Duck, Zapper[edit]

Duck Hunt's congratulations screen.

Duck Hunt's opponents are animals, or in the case of the Mii Fighters, humans wearing animal costumes. All the stages are grass and nature-themed stages, except for round 6, which instead references Duck Hunt being a dog like the Nintendogs. Due to being an animal, Rathalos also fits this theme and is fought as the final boss of their route.

Round	Opponent	Stage	Music	Notes
1	Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong	Kongo Jungle	Swinger Flinger
2	Sonic	Windy Hill Zone	Wonder World
3	Fox, Falco, and Wolf	Garden of Hope	Garden of Hope (Remix)
4	Giant King K. Rool	Kongo Falls	Snakey Chantey
5	Mii Brawler (x2), Mii Gunner (x2), and Mii Swordfighter	Green Greens	Floral Fields	Horde Battle. Mii Brawler costume combinations: Cat Hat and Cat Suit (x2) Mii Gunner costumes: Bear Hat and Bear Suit (x2) Mii Swordfighter costumes: Monkey Hat and Monkey Suit
6	Duck Hunt (x6)	Living Room	Duck Hunt Medley (for 3DS / Wii U)	Horde Battle. If any of these costumes are being used by the player, the default Duck Hunt takes their place.
Bonus Stage
Final	Rathalos	Forest Hill	Roar/Rathalos

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Duck Hunt has Duck Hunt Medley (for 3DS / Wii U) accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light[edit]

Finding Duck Hunt in World of Light

Duck Hunt were among the fighters that were summoned to fight the army of Master Hands.

During the opening cutscene, Duck Hunt were present on the cliffside when Galeem unleashed his beams of light. The duo was seen panicking alongside Villager and a composed Wii Fit Trainer, with the dog covering his eyes and the duck attempting to lift the dog off the ground with Duck Jump. The duo was then placed under Galeem's imprisonment alongside the rest of the fighters, excluding Kirby.

In the mode proper, Duck Hunt can be found inside a forest covered in fog to be challenged and recruited.

Fighter Battle[edit]

No.	Image	Name	Type	Power	Stage	Music
59		Duck Hunt	Grab	3,300	Duck Hunt (Ω form)	Duck Hunt Medley

Spirit[edit]

Duck Hunt's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Duck Hunt has been unlocked. Unlocking Duck Hunt in World of Light allows the player to preview the spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. Their fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with their artwork in Ultimate.

In Spirit Battles[edit]

As the main opponents[edit]

Spirit				Battle parameters							Inspiration
No.	Image	Name	Series	Enemy Fighter(s)	Type	Power	Stage	Rules	Conditions	Music	Character
122		Polterpup	Luigi's Mansion Series	•Clear Duck Hunt		3,600	Luigi's Mansion	N/A	•The enemy is invisible	On the Hunt - Gloomy Manor Ver.- (Instrumental)
152		Squawks	Donkey Kong Series	•Duck Hunt		4,400	The Great Cave Offensive	•Hazard: Fog	•The stage is covered in fog •Timed battle (1:30)	Ice Cave Chant
322		Yarn Poochy	Yoshi Series	•Duck Hunt Team		4,600	Yoshi's Island	•Hazard: Lava Floor	•The floor is lava •The enemy can deal damage by dashing into you	Main Theme - Yoshi's Woolly World (Remix)	Yarn Poochy and Poochy Pups
435		Arcanine	Pokémon Series	•Giant Duck Hunt		4,600	Gaur Plain (Battlefield form)	•Hazard: Lava Floor	•The floor is lava •The enemy is giant •The enemy has increased move speed	Pokémon Red / Pokémon Blue Medley
583		Boney	EarthBound Series	•Duck Hunt •Lucas		1,500	Onett	N/A	•Take your strongest team into this no-frills battle	Mother 3 Love Theme
712		Twinbellows	Kid Icarus Series	•Giant Duck Hunt		4,100	Find Mii (Ω form)	•Curry-Filled	•The enemy breathes fire •The enemy is giant	Boss Fight 1 - Kid Icarus: Uprising
831		DJ K.K.	Animal Crossing Series	•Duck Hunt •Villager		3,900	Fourside	•Assist Trophy Enemies (Squid Sisters) •Temporary Invincibility	•Defeat the main fighter to win •The enemy will occasionally be invincible after a little while •Hostile assist trophies will appear after a little while	2:00 a.m. - Animal Crossing: Wild World
841		Copper & Booker	Animal Crossing Series	•Duck Hunt •Duck Hunt		2,600	Bridge of Eldin	N/A	•The enemy shields often •The enemy's shield has extra durability •The enemy has increased defense when badly damaged	Tour - Animal Crossing: New Leaf	Copper (tan costume) Booker (black costume)
975		Wild Gunman	Wild Gunman	•Duck Hunt Team		3,400	Gerudo Valley (Ω form)	•Temporary Invincibility •Item: Shooting Types	•Start with 300% damage •All fighters will occasionally be invincible •Reinforcements will appear after an enemy is KO'd	Dillon's Rolling Western: The Last Ranger
1,199		Baxter & Forthington	Rhythm Heaven Series Rhythm Paradise Series	•Duck Hunt •Tiny Incineroar		1,500	Pilotwings	•Item: Throwing Types	•The enemy is easily distracted by items	Monkey Watch	Baxter
1,255		French Bulldog	Nintendogs Series	•Duck Hunt		3,400	Living Room	•Assist Trophy Enemies (Nintendog)	•Hostile assist trophies will appear	Bathtime Theme
1,275		Inuji Darumeshi	Darumeshi Sports Store	•Duck Hunt		1,900	Saffron City (Battlefield form)	•Item: Beastball	•The enemy is easily distracted by items	Title Theme - Nintendo Badge Arcade
1,276		Rusty Slugger	Rusty's Real Deal Baseball	•Duck Hunt		1,900	Fourside (Battlefield form)	•Item: Home-Run Bat	•The enemy is easily distracted by items	Title Theme - Nintendo Badge Arcade
1,443		Red XIII	FINAL FANTASY Series	•Duck Hunt		3,400	Gerudo Valley	•Uncontrollable Speed	•The enemy is very fast and can't stop quickly when the enemy's at high damage •The enemy can deal damage by dashing into you •The enemy has increased move speed and reduced weight	Cosmo Canyon
1,469		Palamute	MONSTER HUNTER Series	•Duck Hunt •Mii Swordfighter (Moveset 3133, Ninja Headband, Black Ninja Suit)		3,400	Gaur Plain (hazards off)	•Move Speed ↑	•The enemy has increased move speed when the enemy's at high damage •The enemy favors dash attacks •The enemy starts the battle with a Killing Edge	Proof of a Hero ~ 4Version
				•Duck Hunt •Mii Swordfighter (Moveset 3133, Hunter's Helm, Hunter's Mail)[SB 1]

As minions[edit]

Spirit				Battle parameters							Inspiration
No.	Image	Name	Series	Enemy Fighter(s)	Type	Power	Stage	Rules	Conditions	Music	Character
525		Cobalion, Terrakion, & Virizion	Pokémon Series	•Lucario •Duck Hunt •Yoshi		9,000	Kalos Pokémon League	N/A	•The enemy's melee weapons have increased power •The enemy can unleash powerful critical hits at random •The enemy starts the battle with a Beam Sword	N's Castle	Terrakion
866		Bass	Mega Man Series	•Mega Man (120 HP) •Metal Duck Hunt (60 HP)		9,100	Wily Castle (Battlefield form)	N/A	•Stamina battle •The enemy's shooting items have increased power •The enemy is metal	We're Robots (Dr. Wily Stage 2)	Treble
1,130		Donbe & Hikari	Famicom Mukashibanashi Series	•Young Link •Villager •Falco •Diddy Kong •Duck Hunt		3,500	Duck Hunt (hazards off)	N/A	•Defeat an army of fighters	Shin Onigashima Medley	Ringo
1,417		Byte & Barq	ARMS	•Mega Man •Metal Duck Hunt		1,600	Spring Stadium	N/A	•Defeat the main fighter to win •The enemy is metal	Buster Beach	Barq

As allies[edit]

Spirit				Battle parameters							Inspiration
No.	Image	Name	Series	Enemy Fighter(s)	Type	Power	Stage	Rules	Conditions	Music	Character
1,254		Toy Poodle	Nintendogs Series	•Wolf ×3 •Ally: Duck Hunt		3,900	Living Room	•Assist Trophy Enemies (Nintendog)	•Join forces with a CPU ally •Hostile assist trophies will appear •The enemy has increased move speed	Bathtime Theme	Toy Poodle

Alternate costumes[edit]

Gallery[edit]

• 

  Duck Hunt's fighter card.

• 

  Duck Hunt's unlock notice.

• 

  Taunting on their titular stage.

• 

  Dashing ahead of Ike and toward a Smart Bomb on Spirit Train.

• 

  Hitting Toon Link with their neutral infinite on The Great Cave Offensive.

• 

  Crouching alongside Falco on Tortimer Island.

• 

  Sidestepping on The Great Cave Offensive.

• 

  Several Duck Hunts on Mario Galaxy.

• 

  Taunting alongside the Nintendog on Dream Land.

• 

  Idling alongside Mr. Game & Watch on Tortimer Island.

• 

  Using Duck Jump alongside Villager's Balloon Trip on Mario Galaxy.

• 

  Alongside Chef Kawasaki on Mushroom Kingdom U.

• 

  Crouching alongside Banjo & Kazooie on Windy Hill Zone.

• 

  Alongside Sora on Battlefield.

Fighter Showcase Video[edit]

Trivia[edit]

• Duck Hunt are the only fighters who travel to Living Room in Classic Mode.
• If Duck Hunt are hit by Max Malicious Moonsault, the duck's wings will be spread out in a t-pose fashion.
  • This also happens if a directional air dodge is used or when caught by an attack with a special grabbing animation. This is also true with the latter in SSB4.
• Duck Hunt are the only characters who face all of the Star Fox fighters in the same round in their route.
  • They are also the only characters to face all of the Donkey Kong fighters in their route, albeit in different Rounds.
• There's a graphical error with Duck Hunt's on-screen appearance when done facing the left. The smoke effects appear behind the 8-bit grass instead of in front of it.
• Duck Hunt's slowest walking speed animation has the dog walk close to the ground, and visibly sniff the ground. This is a reference to the animation that plays at the start of a round of Duck Hunt.
• Despite not being present in Team Battles, Wild Gunman's appearance and firing sound effects can still be heard if Duck Hunt are the leading fighters of a winning team.
• Duck Hunt, Peach, Zelda, Falco, Olimar, and Dark Pit are the only fighters to appear as allies in spirit battles.
• In European Spanish, European French, German, and Italian, the name tag and voice clip from the Announcer on the victory screen is slightly different from the one used on the character select screen. Instead, a noticeable translation of "the" is featured (el Dúo Duck Hunt, le Duo Duck Hunt, das Duck Hunt Duo, il Duo Duck Hunt). This trait is shared with Wii Fit Trainer, Pokémon Trainer, Villager, Ice Climbers, Inkling, Hero, and the Mii Fighters. Additionally, Duck Hunt and King Dedede are the only fighters to have this trait in the European versions, but not in the American version.
• Duck Hunt, the Ice Climbers, Daisy, Ken, R.O.B. and Cloud are the only non-DLC characters who do not appear in more than one spirit battle from their respective home universes. Dr. Mario does not appear in any Mario universe spirit battles at all. This is not counting Olimar, who appears only in Mockiwi spirit battle as himself, but is fought in other spirit battles with Alph taking his place.
  • While the Mii Fighters technically represent the Super Smash Bros. universe, they appear in most of the Mii-related spirit battles.
• If the player is only using VS. matches to unlock characters, like in SSB4, the Duck Hunt universe is the final one with playable representation to appear. Duck Hunt are the penultimate characters to unlock in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (with the final being Jigglypuff, whose universe already has unlocked playable representation in Pikachu, Charizard, Lucario, and Greninja), the final characters to unlock in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and in Ultimate, all other characters that follow Duck Hunt in the timed encounters are from universes that have already appeared.
• Unlike in SSB4, the duck does not blink in any animations that the dog does. This is similar to a situation in SSB4 where R.O.B. does not emote in the Wii U version's Versus Mode.
  • While it does seems odd that the duck doesn't blink while the dog does, it's actually not an error because ducks in real life do not blink. Instead, their eyes stayed lubricated with their third eyelid, which is called the nictitating membrane.
  • However, if Duck Hunt are trapped in a bind pose, the duck can be seen blinking.
• In almost all of their spirit battles, Duck Hunt is solely representing dog characters. Squawks' battle is the only one where Duck Hunt represents a bird character.
• Unlike other Sound Tests with multiple characters in them (such as Popo & Nana, Pikmin & Winged Pikmin, and Banjo & Kazooie), Duck Hunt's voice clips are not split between the dog and duck, nor are their clips given specific designations. The Sound Test first lists the dog's four barking clips, followed by the duck's two quacking clips, followed by the dog's star KO voice clip.

References[edit]

v • d • e Duck Hunt universe
Fighter	Duck Hunt (SSB4 · SSBU)
Stage	Duck Hunt
Other	Wild Gunmen
Trophies and Spirits	Trophies · Spirits
Music	SSB4 · Ultimate