Ganondorf

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Ganondorf
Ganondorf's official art.
Series	Legend of Zelda
Weight	Heavy
Costumes	Old Ganondorf, Neutral, Blue, Red, Green, Tan
Special Moves	Warlock Punch, Dark Dive, Flame Choke, Wizard's Foot
Final Smash	Beast Ganon

Contents 1 Background 2 Super Smash Bros. Melee 3 Role in SSE 4 Multiplayer 4.1 Pros 4.2 Cons 4.3 Strategies 5 Moveset 6 Ways of Fighting 7 Combos 8 Match Ups 9 Countering Ganondorf 10 Credits 10.1 Spot in Tier List (Version 3.0)

Background

Ganondorf is the main antagonist of the Legend of Zelda series. In the Legend of Zelda game he uses his sword, however he won't use it in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Using Punches, Kicks and Dark Magic, Ganondorf is a very strong character. He is the wielder of the Triforce of Power, and also has the ability to transform into Beast Ganon (Twilight Princess) for his final smash.

Super Smash Bros. Melee

The evil warlock from the Gerudo Valley, Ganondorf is the game’s most usable powerhouse. Big, bulky, and relatively slow, Ganondorf’s strength comes from the fact he is powerful enough to make any hit he does land a deadly one. Surprisingly effective in the air and overpowered on the ground, Ganondorf is only really outclassed by characters much to fast for him to handle. To everything else, he’s a significant threat.

Role in SSE

Ganondorf is what you would call a General of the Subspace Army. Here's a quote from the Dojo:

"Ganondorf pretended to swear allegiance to Master Hand, all the while planning to usurp power from within. Bowser is relatively loyal to Master Hand, but he does not care for Ganondorf. Wario cares very little for the actual objective he was given and wants to continue just doing whatever he likes.

And of course, none of them know about Tabuu."

Ganondorf has also played the role of commanding the R.O.B.'s in the bomb factory to set off every bomb, much to the dismay of our heroes, but especially Ancient Minister, or, R.O.B.He also tried to avenge Master Hand,who was attacked and defeated by Tabuu.

General Ganondorf
Ganondorf and Bowser aboard the Subspace ship.

The Countdown Will Not Stop
The destruction of the Isle of Ancients is about to occur.

Multiplayer

Pros

• Not very laggy aerials except for his Fair
• Heavy
• Can K.O. Easily
• High knockback
• Can tech chase with side B
• Easiest spike to connect with the game
• Has a decent range with tilts
• Can use side B to double Suicide

Cons

• Bad recovery
• Laggy moves
• Second slowest dash speed in the game
• No Projectiles
• Large Target
• Easy to combo
• Very slow attacks

Strategies

Moveset

Moveset:

• Basic Moves:

Neutral A (Jab): Ganondorf punches straight forward. Has a decent amount of range, and can kill at higher percentages. Damage %: 7-9

Dash Attack: Can only be used while running. Ganondorf does a body slam into his opponent. Damage %: 15

Edge Attack: The attack you use when getting up from an edge. Damage %: 10

• Tilts:

Forward Tilt (F-tilt): Ganondorf throws a kick forward. Has decent range, with relatively good knockback. Makes for a great surprise attack. Damage %: 13

Down Tilt (D-tilt): Ganondorf throws a kick in the downwards direction. Has the best range of all of Ganondorf's tilts. Makes opponent fly upwards. Use this into a B-Up combo. Damage %: 12

Up Tilt (U-tilt): Ganondorf lifts his lag up high, and creates a wind tunnel. A very slow move, but with great power. Can be used as a KO move, but you will need to make a great prediction to actually use this well. Damage %: 27

• Aerials:

Neutral Air (Nair): Ganondorf performs two kicks. The first one is the easiest to hit with, but the second one does the most damage. Damage %: 18 (with both kicks hitting)

Forward Air (Fair): Ganondorf does a punch while in the air. Has very high knockback, but little range. Damage %: 17

Down Air (Dair): The best of Ganondorf's aerial attacks, and possibly his best attack in general. Ganondorf slams down with both of his legs. It acts as a meteor smash, and has both great knockback and damage. Can KO at higher percentages (kills heavy weight characters at 100% if aimed correctly). Damage %: 22

Up Air (Uair): Ganondorf's second best aerial attack, and a great damage racker. He does a backflip while kicking his opponent. Best used to hit opponents higher up, or those on a platform. If trying to hit someone on the ground, you will need to perform a short hop. Damage %: 13

Back Air (Bair): Ganondorf slams his arm backwards. It has little range (like most of his attacks), but has very good knockback. Hard to hit an opponent with. Damage %: 16

• Smashes:

Forward Smash (F-smash): Ganondorf moves forward while thrusting his elbow. Has huge knockback and decent range. Very high KO potential. Damage %: 24 (uncharged) - 33 (charged)

Down Smash (D-smash): Ganondorf does one kick forward, then one kick backwards. Can be used in a combo from that to a B-Up. Damage %: 5, 14(uncharged) - 7, 19 (charged)

Up Smash (U-smash): Ganondorf thrusts his leg up high (so, in other words, it's a straight up kick). Can be a potential KO move, and has juggling potential at lower damage percentages. Damage %: 19 (uncharged) - 30 (charged)

• Special Moves

Warlock Punch (B): Possibly the slowest attack in the game, but if it lands, it has the highest KO potential. It's a straight forward punch. It can KO Snake at 33% from the centre of Final Destination. If you jam on the joystick in the opposite direction you are facing, you can reverse the direction of the punch. It will do more damage this way, and can KO Snake from the centre of Final Destination at 25%. Damage %: 32 (normal) - 35 (reverse)

Flame Choke (B-side): Ganondorf races forwards, and grabs his enemy. He throws them down. You can then follow up with a D-tilt, or if your enemy is going to roll, a D-smash into B-Up combo works great. If in the air and you grab an enemy, you thrust them straight down into the ground. Damage %: 9 (on ground) - 12 (in air)

Dark Dive (B-up): Ganondorf jumps up high, and grabs his opponent. A sort of shock electrifies his opponent. If he misses his opponent, Ganondorf does an uppercut at the end of this attack. Damage %: 11 (when he grabs his opponent) - 7 (uppercut)

Warlock Kick (B-down): Ganondorf does a straight forward kick. Has a huge amount of range, but is easy to dodge. This attack helps Ganondorf keep his opponent away from him (spacing). If used in the air, it brings him straight down in a diagonal line (based on what direction he is facing). Damage %: 12%

• Grabs:

Fist Pummel: A fist pummel is when you grab your opponent and pummel them with your fists. Ganondorf is very slow when doing this, but his pummels do more damage than most characters. Damage %: 2

Forward Throw (F-throw): Ganondorf throws his opponent forwards. Damage %: 13

Down Throw (D-throw): Ganondorf throws his opponent at the ground. Damage %: 7

Up Throw (U-throw): Ganondorf throws his opponent upwards. Damage %: 7

Back Throw (B-throw): Ganondorf throws his opponent backwards. Damage %: 10

• Final Smash: Beast Ganon

Ganondorf transforms into a gigantic beast! The roar of the attack can bury his opponents. This is generally an automatic kill if you hit with all three parts of the Final Smash. Damage %: 10, 10, 45

Ways of Fighting

Spacing: Ganondorf is a very good character when it comes to spacing. His b-down and his b-side are generally the reasons for this, seeing as they can catch your opponent off guard. Ganondorf doesn't want very much room between him and his opponent, however.

Approaching: This is one of the hard things about using Ganondorf. How do you approach your opponent? Seeing as he is heavy and slow, he is a large target for projectiles. Ganondorf needs to generally get relatively close to his opponent, shield an attack, and then start fighting back. If it's just a normal attack, like a Jab, he can actually just take the blow and hit his opponent with a F-tilt.

Another good approach is to get within Flame Choke range, and short hop Dair. Then go in with a d-tilt.

Shield Grabbing: Shield grabbing is when you grab a character while still in your shield. It works quite well when you can grab a character who just used a move with lots of ending lag (ex. Mario's Fair). Use this to actually get a few hits in, even though the G-man doesn't have the greatest grabs.

Combos

Out of them all, my favorite of Ganondorf's throws is his F-throw. At lower percentages, it leaves you with enough room to hit your opponent with a f-tilt / d-tilt.

B-side > D-tilt > F-smash: Actually, I love this combo. It doesn't work to well, but if you get it off the very beginning of the match, it's an instant 45 damage.

B-side > D-tilt / D-smash: It's one of Ganondorf's easiest combos, but essential regardless. D-tilt if you can get your opponent fast enough, but if you think they will roll behind you, D-smash for lots of damage. You can then follow up with a B-Up.

Match Ups

• Good Match-Ups:

• Bowser-

The Koopa King doesn't have much on our big buddy, Ganondorf. Bowser requires lots of Fire Breath to actually rack up damage, and so Warlock Kick and Flame Chock will keep Bowser at bay. If he tries to jump into the air and pull of Flame Breath, immediately follow up with a Dark Dive -> Down Air.

• Bad Match-Ups:

• Pit-

Pit causes tons of trouble for Ganondorf, primarily because he is a projectile user (as well as spammer). Pit is very good on both land and air, and so you need to play carefully. Your Up Smash should have slightly more range than his Dair, so try and hit him with that if he's right over top of you. His Bair kills, but has little range. Fair is another one of his killing moves.

Try and keep Pit on the ground. If you can, mix up your fighting pattern using Flame Choke, Warlock Kick, F-tilt, and D-tilt. You need to make your opponent think when fighting you, and surprise them. One Flame Choke should be enough to set up a bit of an attack string.

• Link-

Yes, Ganondorf has problems when fighting his mortal enemy. Same reason as before- projectiles. Link has three different projectile attacks, and can draw you close to him with his Boomerang. Try and keep little distance between you and Link.

To counter Link, you really need to spam Dair and f-tilt. B-Up will really help if he jumps above you, as you can usually follow into a Fair. If used close to the edge, you should be able to pull off a Meteor Smash Dair and kill him.

• Ice Climbers-

These guys are a huge problem for the G-man. Ganondorf isn't very hard to grab, and one grab = 1 stock, in the Ice Climbers' case. Not only can they spam projectiles, they're really hard to separate. F and D-tilt really only work when they run directly at you, but who's stupid enough to do that?

This match really relies on Dair, once again. It's one of the few hits that will actually work, but you need to watch out for shield grabs. As said before, one grab = one stock.

• Olimar-

Another character that causes Ganondorf problems? Yep. And expect the list to keep going.

Ganondorf is a HUGE target for Pikmin spamming. He'll just keep pluckin' and throwin' them at you, so there's no point in even trying to kill them. Aerial approach works the best when Olimar is on land. Dair is the only thing you really got on Olimar, and depending on what Pikmin is out, he has it on you.

• Pikachu-

I really want to murder this electric mouse. It has huge hit boxes, a good projectile move, and the unpredictable B-Up renders Ganondorf helpless.

So, what can you do to counter this yellow mouse? You need to play really bulky, and only attack when you can. Try and shield grab Pikachu whenever it uses an aerial with lots of lag, such as Dair, Uair, or Fair. Make it seem like you're right open for a Nair, and you should be able to grab Pikachu.

Your only KO options on this yellow mouse are f-tilt and d-tilt, simply because Pikachu's moves have huge hitboxes.

• Toon Link-

Toon link is faster, Has projectiles, Quick short hopped Aerials, And a killer F-smash. And to top it all off, he's small. TL will likely come at you from the air at first hoping to get your % higher than his early. Watch out for a short hopped fair because it kills at around 100% which TL can get you there pretty fast. Toon link can also prevent your side B and Down B with his projectiles. On top of all that If you try to play the wall strategy he will simply grab you from afar and proceed to Bair you senseless. What are your options? There's not many. It's hard to play aggressively but you have to dodge as much as you can. He's very light so an unexpected attack around the 80% percent range needs to happen. Don't let yourself get Ko'd by him first. When he has an extra stock on you, he'll probably spam projectiles just to increase your % before he dies. Try going for a quick Uthrow to uair for damage. If he sees through that, ftilt and dtilt are your best bet. If you cant seem to KO him and his % gets pretty high, a dash attack never hurts.

• Zelda:

G-Mans other mortal enemy, and for good reason. Her hit boxes are Enormous, all of her aerials are a constant danger to his rather bulky persona, and his not exactly the guy you'd want to dodge those fireballs with. While its not as hopeless as fighting Toon Link, There are some things to look out for. First off, her bair and fair are almost guaranteed to sweetspot you if you don't sidestep. I repeat, Sidestep these or:

A. You shield and get pushed to far back to retaliate. B. You don't shield and get hit with 20% damage and possibly die.

Sidestep then ftilt or Usmash wherever she is.

Second- her smashes are amazing at hitting large people. Shield or sidestep these and fight back! If you ever get sent vertically from her, don't dair! Her uair has tremendous priority and will make you a "star" faster than *insert celebrity here*

Her fireballs are equally annoying. Roll and then try to get closer.

KOing Zelda: Despite all that she is relatively easy to control. Think weight of Pikachu, size of Marth. Shes easy to hit and send flying use a combination of tilts and specials till about 90% and smash her. She probably wont survive.

• 50 / 50 Match-Ups:

• Yoshi-

Yoshi hasn't got much on Ganondorf other than Eggs and turn-around grabs. Ganondorf's f-tilt / d-tilt should be able to hit before a grab is close enough to grab, so use that to your advantage. Avoid using Warlock Kick and Flame Choke in this fight, because if you fall short, expect to be grabbed.

• Mario:

The plumber isn't the best counter character for Ganondorf. He only has two attacks that separate him from utter doom- F.L.U.D.D. and Fire Balls. Since FLUDD requires charging to be used effectively, approach Mario from the air and using Dair. F-tilt and d-tilt will help a lot, too.

• Meta Knight-

Call this crazy, but it's true to an extent. Ganondorf rules the ground because Meta Knight's attacks don't have very large hitboxes. He only has 3-4 attacks that actually work on Ganondorf, and these are: Shuttle Loop, Drill Rush, and Mach Tornado. The other attack is his Counter, but it can easily be punished.

Meta Knight unfortunately rules the air. Short hop - U-Air is probably the only thing you can do if Meta intends to fight from the air. Try and keep him on the ground, and punish him with f-tilt and d-tilt.

Countering Ganondorf

Well, this is going to be a short section. It doesn't take much to counter Ganondorf. I'll cover the basics here-

First things first- Ganondorf hates projectile attacks. He's so large and slow that he makes a huge target for projectiles, primarily Fox's lasers and Pit's lasers. Olimar's Pikmins also do a lot of damage, too.

Next, large hit boxes. Ganondorf only has a few attacks with large hitboxes, and most of these have a decent amount of ending lag. Use the opportunity to punish Ganondorf. A good example of this would be to shield his down-b, then follow up with a F-smash. In this case, our model was Pikachu.

Speed is another thing that causes our favourite villain some problems. He has problems countering characters who are speedy. The Space Animals, mainly Wolf, cause huge problems for Ganondorf. All of Wolf's attacks are fast, have large hitboxes, as well as power.

Play with strategy! One mistake can allow Ganondorf to rack up plenty of damage on you. Be careful when fighting him.

Credits

Damage Percentages: A big thank you to TDL12344 for calculating the damage percentages of Ganondorf's throws, edge attack, and his grabs. Cheers.

Toon Link Match-Up: Credit to Ragnell. Cheers, mate.

Zelda Match-Up: Credit to Ragnell. Once again, thanks mate.

Images: Credit to the smashbrosdojo. The article on Ganondorf can be found here:

Also, a big thanks to Masahiro Sakurai for creating this game, and for Nintendo hosting it on the Nintendo Wii!

Also, thanks to Sixth Sense for letting me put up this guide!

Spot in Tier List (Version 3.0)

Ganondorf is an F, or Bottom Tier character. He is below Link and is the lowest character on the tier list. However, this doesn't mean that you should use him or that he's bad. Teirs are largely based off of matchups and tournament results, not voting, so teirs are not bogus.

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"FALKAWNNNN... PWNCH!" - An In-Depth Ganondorf Guide - last post by Mikstaslaya @ Feb 7, 09
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Ganondorf and Kefka - last post by Kuhn @ Nov 24, 06
Ganondorf vs. C. Falcon. - last post by DarkLink @ Apr 16, 04
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