Ganondorf (SSBM)/Neutral attack

Hitbox visualization showing Ganondorf's neutral attack.

Overview[edit]

Ganondorf does a palm thrust, shocking any opponent within range. The move, officially named Thunder Punch (despite the fact that the move is not a punch at all), is a strong contender for the title of "best jab" in all of Melee, as it has a lot of unique traits that make it stand out compared to its competition: being a frame-3 jab, it's tied for the 10th-fastest jab with 5 other characters (C. Falcon, Samus, Kirby, Ness, & Yoshi), deals electric damage instead of using the normal effect, giving it better frame advantage via the 1.5x hitlag multiplier, is noticeably disjointed, etc... However, what really makes it an incredible move and an essential part of Ganondorf's moveset is the high damage and knockback it boasts, making it the only jab-1 able to knockdown at reasonable percents. Whereas most jabs deal in the realm of 3-4% and have very low, if not zero, base knockback, Thunder Punch deals 7-8% and a very respectable 30 units of base knockback, the highest of all single jabs.

The move would be incredible on its own, able to give characters greater scrapping potential and being a useful wakeup option to punish opponents who were sloppy with their reaction tech chase, but Ganondorf arguably benefits from the move more than any other character. His ability to scrap without it is quite limited, having a slow walk and backdash speed and a decent but punishable forward tilt. With Thunder Punch, he can slap any character who runs into him before they can punish him, giving coverage after whiffing his powerful and disjointed, long-ranged but slow pokes, such as his forward aerial or back aerial. The move can be whiff-punished, but this usually requires a read on the part of the Ganon's opponent instead of being reactable. It also sees use after a techroll, as it's the fastest move in the entirety of Ganon's kit, and Ganon lacks fast escape options, especially considering he boasts a frame-6 jumpsquat.

In neutral, jab sees use as a decent poke, especially at mid-to-high percents when it can begin to knockdown. Ganon can run at opponents and buffer in ASDI-down or crouch to crouch cancel (since the run state permits crouching) right before the opponent hits and counter-attack, which usually results in a trade that's in Ganon's favor. Alternatively, the Ganon player can play extremely aggressive and waveland straight into the opponent's face, using it as a mixup option with walling the opponent out. Alternatively, the Ganon player can use jab as a defensive option instead of an offensive one, and wall with it in a similar manner to Falco's up-tilt, standing in place and repeatedly jabbing. This is usually inferior to walling with Ganon's back air, which is stronger and less whiff-punishable, but has the benefit of covering auto-cancelled back air's blindspot on the ground.

Overall, Thunder Punch is an essential part of Ganon's kit, covering a massive hole in his gameplan and giving him a fighting chance in close-range grounded interactions he would otherwise be at a significant disadvantage in. It would also be at its fastest in Melee, subsequently being nerfed from Brawl onwards and becoming much slower, making it one of the slower jabs among the cast instead of the fastest, further giving Melee Ganondorf a unique feel as compared to his later incarnations.