Smash Advent Calendar - Day 18 - Captain Olimar

Captain Olimar is the focus of Day 18, and was introduced to the series in Brawl and has been confirmed to return in Smash 4. Star of the Pikmin series, Olimar represents one of Nintendo's most modern franchises and was met warmly during his debut. Many fans love his style and effectiveness that all stem from cleer implementation of the source material.

Olimar carries with him many unique attributes that make him a blast to play with. All his moves revolve around the Pikmin that potter around behind him. He plucks up to 6 Pikmin of assorted colours from the ground with Neutral+B and then every smash and special move uses them. Each colour has different powers and attributes, and most attacks will use the Pikmin closest to Olimar in the line behind him. These can be shuffled with Down+B which adds tactics and depth to Olimar by choosing the right Pikmin for the right job. Once a Pikmin is used, it goes to the back of the line, but too much damage or being thrown off of an edge means certain death for your flowery pals.

Of course, you want to avoid killing off Pikmin if you can avoid it. The longer a Pikmin stays alive, the flower on its head turns into a bulb, and then a flower, each a stage in its power and usefulness. If Olimar has a full set of Pikmin with flowers on their heads, you're in trouble. If Olimar is left with no Pikmin, it's best to pluck out some as soon as possible as he is only left with tilts and his neutral air attack.

I don't know what causes this - Olimar's good projectiles or Ness' bad recovery.

Olimar is without a doubt one of the best characters in the game. His grab range is long, and can KO easily with certain Pikmin. His tilts are good for juggles and combos and his range is pretty good too, with smash attacks reaching far by flinging Pikmin in front of him. Olimar also has a great projectile game - Side+B flings Pikmin massive distances and if they latch on to an enemy, they cling on and deala good amounts of damage, especially if they're white Pikmin. Purple Pikmin don't latch, but instead hit the opponent for good instant damage and knockback, giving Olimar some stun to his camping game. These projectiles are also great for gimping, as seen above.

Olimar's major downside is his poor recovery. His jumps aren't the best in the game for one, but what he really suffers with is his Up+B. Even with a full 6 Pikmin, the move only grabs on to ledges with a very minimal push in upwards momentum. This means that he is easily edgehogged and his recover is very predictable. Without Pikmin though, the move is next to useless, meaning Olimar plumets to his death from moves others would easily come back from. This disadvantage balances him well though, and makes you think about how you use Pikmin at high percentages.

All in all, it's good to see Olimar confirmed for Smash 4 at this early stage. He perhaps needs his power nerfed just slightly, but his position in the top of the tier list is mostly due to characters that need some heavy buffing instead. He's a unique character with functional gimmicks that are both interesting and effective in equal part. I hope to see him continue to be widely used and see some more tournaments.

What do you think of Olimar? Perfect for the roster? Or gimmicky nonsense? Let me know in the comments below or talk over on the facebook page.