Celebrating the DLC of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has been an amazing journey. Each character reveal, for better or worse, has made its mark on the internet. That being said, there aren’t many character inclusions in Smash Ultimate (or the entire franchise) that have the bragging rights of breaking the internet due to the sheer influx of reactions that came about from their reveal. However, there’s one well-known character that has definitely achieved that, due to the shock factor and the fact that the idea of them in Smash was treated as no more than a meme: Steve and Alex from Minecraft.
Due to the unique nature of Minecraft, Sakurai and his team had to get very creative to make the characters work in Smash while being faithful to their original game. They achieved this to great effect, giving him many interesting tools and mechanics. This resulted in what’s possibly the best character in the game alongside the likes of Pikachu. He can be very difficult to beat, so here’s what you need to know about him. Be warned though: it is a lot to cover.
Steve’s Strengths
Steve’s strength lies in his ability to force approaches. His game plan revolves around mining materials to upgrade and allow the use of his more powerful attacks. Because of this, he’s comfortable playing passively, sitting back, and gathering resources if it means he can get stronger. This is easier for him thanks to his ability to set down blocks. He can create a wall of materials to hide behind and mine, so he won’t be disrupted by projectiles or head-on approaches. This gives him unique stage control by allowing him to create floors or walls that suit various situations.
Another strength of Steve is his great frame of data. A lot of his moves come out very quickly. His normals in particular, such as his jab, walking jab, and Up-Tilt, are such a fast startup that they combo into themselves very reliably. This becomes easier as he upgrades to golden tools, which have even faster frame data than his other material levels. These combos have great damage output as well. They often lead to opponents accumulating over 60% damage, if not losing their stock entirely.
Steve’s frame data and damage output assist in his excellent advantage state. His combo tools are great for pushing his advantage and keeping his opponents in juggling situations. A skilled Steve player can extend this advantage really well by placing blocks under him in between attacks, allowing him to use grounded attacks in the air and dishing out more damage, like Up-Smash or Forward-Smash. There’s also his Mine Cart Side-B, a powerful burst option and movement option that doubles as a command-grabbing projectile if Steve jumps out of it. This excellent advantage translates into his ability to edgeguard and ledgetrap. He can stand on these blocks while offstage to deliver powerful grounded attacks as edgeguards or just place the blocks around the ledge to gimp recoveries. These blocks can also be used to cover ledge options, which is very helpful for his Down-B, which places powerful TNT (this also helps with his previously mentioned stage control capabilities).
Steve’s disadvantage state is also pretty good. He can escape and deter juggle attempts thanks to his powerful DAir, which summons a falling projectile he can jump off of. He’s also able to place blocks underneath him as he’s falling, allowing him to mix up his landings as well as refresh his midair jump. Because of this, he also has a great recovery. Placing the blocks also helps him mix up his recovery anywhere they can be placed. If he does this next to the stage, he can mine from the wall until the block he’s standing on breaks, giving him even more resources to do this. His Up-B, while not having a hitbox beyond its initial frames, gives him a lot of maneuverability that makes him hard to hit. Of course, there’s also his Side-B, which is a very reliable recovery tool when it’s unexpected.
Steve’s Weaknesses
Steve’s primary weakness is his reliance on resources in his moveset. Without upgrading his tools with materials from mining, his attacks are very weak. Some of his tools can even break if they’re used too much, leaving Steve’s moves that use said tools in a much weaker state than usual. Some moves also require resources to be used at all, such as his DAir, Side-B, and Down-Throw, all of which require iron. A reckless Steve players will find themselves in trouble very quickly if they burn through their materials needlessly.
Most of Steve’s moves have very poor range. His normal moves have a small disjointed reach, with his best options being his FAir and BAir. None of his moves cover a decent area around him either; even the FAir and BAir attacks don’t reach well above or below him. This makes his neutral game pretty bad since he’s putting himself at great risk when approaching the opponent directly. His approach can only be covered by his Side-B. However, that has the issues of being unconventional, leaving him open both as he travels in it and as he jumps out, and wasting iron.
Steve’s neutral game is further hindered by his awful mobility. All of his universal movement stats are among the worst of the cast, especially his aerial mobility. Because his jump allows just enough space to place a block below himself, it’s easily the worst in the game in terms of height. This highlights his susceptibility to camping since his low jump height makes him unable to catch an opponent that tries to stay out of his reach.
Steve has a peculiar aspect about him in terms of getting hit. When most characters are attacked and launched (as well as when they do other things, such as dashing and jumping and such), they often change their body’s positioning. A character’s hurtbox often changes as well to accommodate for this, which is called hurtbox shifting. Steve has almost none of that; whether he’s running, jumping, or being attacked and launched, he remains in the same upright position as when he’s normally standing. Even his crouch doesn’t help, being a sneaking animation that only slightly tilts his head down. Despite his great disadvantage state, he is extremely susceptible to attacks and combos because of this.
Strategy & Counterplay
Steve prefers staying back and mining to get the resources he needs. This is how he forces players to come to him, especially when he builds a wall between himself and his opponent. While you normally shouldn’t allow your opponent to dictate the pace of the game, you have no other choice if you don’t want Steve to kill you with ease later. So keep the pressure on him and don’t give him space to gather materials. He’ll eventually run out and be at a major disadvantage, making him a lot easier to beat than if he has the blocks at his disposal. This can be done to great effect if you utilize ranged attacks on him. His poor range won’t be able to contest it, and it can help you win out against some of his stronger options.
A major part of fighting Steve is learning how to deal with his blocks. Whether you learn this or not ultimately determines how your battles are going to play out, because dealing with them poorly will often end in you getting punished. It’s often best to jump over the blocks, but don’t be too predictable about it since Steve can punish you for it. Destroying the blocks are also an option; ranged attacks are often your best bet for this, especially if they’re large disjointed attacks since they can sometimes go through the blocks as well. They’re also your best bet to deal with his Side-B, another major part of Steve’s game plan. He’ll often use this to immediately escape disadvantage or recover. However, the mine cart can be destroyed before it reaches you, with either Steve in it or out.
His crafting table has a hurtbox that allows it to be attacked and destroyed by his opponent. If you’re smart with it, you can attack the crafting table to prolong strong moves. Most characters won’t be able to use this to their advantage pretty often, and even the characters that can get much from it outside specific scenarios, but it’s worth knowing if you want to play mind games with Steve a bit. Think of it as a fun tip to use to your advantage.
Good/Bad Matchups
Steve is great against characters that have to approach him. It’s even better for him if those characters are more easily camped out by him. Characters like Kazuya, Jigglypuff, Ice Climbers, Incineroar, and Kirby will have a hard time fighting him. He’s also great against characters he can combo due to their large size. Donkey Kong, King Dedede, Bowser, and King K. Rool are terrible choices for fighting him.
Steve does badly against characters that outrange him with projectiles or disjoints. His poor range and lack of mobility make this an easy fight for them. Characters like Sephiroth, Hero, Shulk, Min Min, and Pac-Man are great against him. He does badly against characters that can escape his combos and edgeguards with ease as well. Zero Suit Samus, Pikachu, Yoshi, Sheik, and Peach are great bets.
