Smash Advent Calendar - Day 11 - Peach

Day 11 is the day of the Peach. Originally the cake-baking Princess Toadstool, this character seems to have a knack for getting kidnapped - though with the way she fights in Smash Bros., it's unclear how that ever happens! She has also enjoyed other roles, from golf pro to star of her own game and her most recent appearances have had her as a playable hero alongside Mario donning various outfits and powerups.

Peach has been with the series since Melee on the Gamecube, and has been very popular ever since. Her quirky but effective moves have won over many players and her power and strategic uses have made her top dog in competitive play. In both her appearances so far, she has had moderately powerful attacks with decent potential for combos and follow-up; her tilts are solid with some good range, forward smashes have the potential to launch far at a decent percentage and her up smash can devastate opponents if her specific sweet-spot connects. Peach also has one of the best projectiles in both games. She pulls a vegetable from the ground and throws it like an item. These attacks throw enemies back a good distance and give out some good damage, so were infinitely useful - especially for edge guarding.

In Melee Peach was one of the greatest characters from a competitive standpoint, being used commonly in tournaments. One of her most prominent features is her incredible recovery due to her gliding ability after her second jump and a Up+B that covers both vertical and horizontal. All of these things can be controlled tightly and her Up+B can be cancelled and re-initiated at will, meaning it becomes incredibly hard to predict which precise angle Peach will come from. Also, her second jump could be immediately cancelled into her glide meaning she could quickly move a short distance off of the floor to put pressure on grounded opponents. Another major strength that Peach possesses is a God-like down smash. It's fast, it's powerful and it can hook in opponents fairly easily - if an enemy were to accidentally crouch cancel the move, damage can range from 20 to 60% easily.

RIP whoever gets hit by this.

In Brawl, Peach was hit by some nerfs, but didn't suffer as badly as some characters. She lost the madness associated with her down smash with her range and power decreased. She also had her dash attack nerfed, losing its good smash factor and hitting twice instead, and her glide cancel was lost in the transition as well. Still, she had her up and side smashes buffed with more power and bigger sweet-spots so it wasn't all bad news. Her up tilt was completely changed, from a fierce headbutt to a more Peach-like attack, throwing her hands into the air and a large and damaging heart shape appears above them. In fact, many of her attacks became a little more Princess-y, like her side B hitting with a love heart instead of explosion, and this kept to her character nicely.

So what could Peach do with in the next game? Well in my opinion, it would be a good thing to see her glide cancel return. It keeps opponents guessing and gives her a good speed near to the floor at the expense of being able to do her fast dash attack. I don't think this would make her too good in any way, just give her options. I think it would be good to see her down attack stay the same as Brawl, as it was admittedly far too good in Melee - considering it hits both sides, it shouldn't have been more powerful than her slower forward smash. Her up smash has an aesthetic change, now surrounding herself in a ribbon that highlights her hitboxes at her sides - if these hitboxes are buffed a little then they would keep enemies at bay, especially if trying to sweet spot an enemy above you in a 4 player match when other enemies approach from the sides.

I swear Peach gets more adorable with every game.

All in all, Peach is a very solid and fun character to play as. She has lots of good attacks that aren't too powerful for her speed and this is also balanced with her light nature and poor defense, meaning she can be sent flying easier than many characters. There are some minor tweaks she could benefit from but these aren't overly important to be honest as she is by no means a bad character in her latest incarnation.

What do you guys think of Peach? Did you use her in any of the Smash Bros. games? Were you offended by her changed properties in Brawl? Do you fear the onslaught of vegetables that come with every Peach player? Let me know in the comments below or leave a message on the facebook page.