The first Challenger Pack DLC fighter arrives on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate this week and many in the community are curious to see what the new fighter will bring to the table. Joker, the lead character from Persona 5, is coming to battle and we’ve corralled some early impressions from professional Smash players.
I just don’t like joker grapple recovery, I ain’t about that getting gimped at 30% life
— eU Samsora (@Samsora_) April 17, 2019
The opinions on Joker thus far, based on the reveal of his Super Smash Bros. Ultimate moveset in a video from Nintendo, lean toward him being potentially overpowered. In addition to the take from eUnited’s Ezra “Samsora” Morris in the tweet above, Elliot Bastien “Ally” Carroza-Oyarce, a Smash 4 Pro Champion, says he thinks Joker looks really good, while Samuel “Dabuz” Buzby of Team Liquid thinks he looks “legit broken”.
Professional player Ramin “Mr. R” Delshad hosted a poll that some of his over 40,000 followers participated in, asking them if they felt he was high/top-tier or low/mid-tier; 82% of the 15,123 voters selected high/top tier. There’s also this take from professional player Larry “Larry Lurr” Holland predicting how the responses to Joker will evolve over time.
Everyone tomorrow: Joker is so sick! I love his victory screen and his clean combos! I LOVE YOU DADDY SAKURAI <3
Everyone a month later: FUCK JOKER HE KEEPS DOWN BING OUT OF ALL MY SHIT!!! WHY THE FUCK DOES HE HAVE LIMIT AND COUNTER IN THE SAME MOVE?!?!
— Larry Lurr (@LarryLurr) April 17, 2019
Christina “Chia” Korsak, an American player from Pennsylvania and founder of the CLASH Tournaments, spoke with Digital Trends about her excitement for Joker’s arrival and also shared some of her fears regarding his gameplay.
“I think the character looks very good, though I have some potential concerns on recovery, and landing kill moves properly,” Korsak said. “I believe this will depend on how often Joker will enter his Persona mode throughout a match. Having to rely on a tether recovery only without Arsene can be very troublesome and easy to edge guard. If Joker ends up needing to rely on Arsene to land kill moves on his opponents, based on the amount of time it lasts, it may be fairly easy for opponents to camp against him during his Persona mode to waste the timer on it, then go aggressive when he’s in his regular form.”
Those in the Smash community may share some of those concerns, but there’s still a chance that Joker’s Persona form could get an edge competitively.
“If Joker’s Persona form lasts a reasonable amount of time and can charge back fairly quickly, that will help alleviate this problem, and solve his recovery issues as well,” Korsak said. “Not having a straight charge mechanic similar to Cloud’s Limit Break will be tough, since Cloud is able to use that to force his opponents to approach.”
Joker joins Super Smash Bros. Ultimate via Challenger Pack 1, which can be purchased individually for $6. If you purchase the $25 Fighters Pass, you get Joker and four future Challenger Pack characters. The update goes live on Nintendo Switch on Wednesday, April 17, and we’ll be reaching out to pros for impressions once they get their hands on him.
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