Pokemon Trainer is a playable character in Super Smash Brothers Plus for the Nintendo Switch Plus. Representing the Pokemon universe, they are listed as Fighter #39 in Smash's modified numbering system. The Trainer's weight classification is dependent on which character you are playing at the time, with Squirtle being a lightweight, Ivysaur being a middleweight and Charizard being a super heavyweight. The Trainer is hidden at the start of the game, but may be unlocked through random encounters in Versus Mode or by defeating Classic Mode with Pikachu.
The Pokemon Trainer retains the gimmick from previous Smash appearances, namely that they don't fight themselves. Rather they act as the commanding force for their three Pokemon in battle. Each Pokemon fulfills a archetype fighter: Squirtle is a lightweight combo machine, Ivysaur is a midweight zoning character and Charizard is a heavy hitter designed to KO opponents and tank damage. The trick to using the Pokemon Trainer effectively is to know when to use each character and their various strengths and weaknesses. In the transition from Ultimate to Plus, the Pokemon Change command has been altered to be a shield special, giving each Pokemon an additional special move at the cost of some degree of versatility, as changing Pokemon in the air requires an air dodge, though doing so will not send you into freefall. The timer on Pokemon Change has been slightly extended as well.
Squirtle as stated is a lightweight combo fighter, utilizing speed and multihitting attacks to damage foes and stave off defeat. Squirtle is not going to be KO'ing foes anytime soon, but is able to rack up damage rather quickly if he can get in close. Just use that speed for hit and run tactics, because one good hit can send Squirtle to an early grave. Ivysaur is above average in most categories, only really lacking in speed (relatively speaking) as the slowest of the three Pokemon. He also lacks power behind many of his projectiles, but they can be fired off relatively quickly to offset this (particularly Razor Leaf, which has been improved in Plus.) Ivysaur's Smash Attacks are also surprisingly strong, but have a bit of endlag to them. Charizard is the heavy hitter and arguably the Pokemon you'll use the most for quick recovery and KO options. He moves surprisingly fast for a Super Heavyweight, but all of his moves are beset by endlag if they miss, and Charizard's large hitbox makes him one of the easiest fighters to punish. It should also be noted that Charizard's shield is slightly weaker than both Ivysaur and Squirtle, meaning that one good hit can shield stun him in a hurry.
Both Squirtle and Ivysaur have two normal jumps and can crawl. In addition, Squirtle can wall cling and wall jump. Charizard has three normal jumps and no additional movement options, and will take constant damage if submerged in water.
Squirtle Moveset[]
Basic Attacks[]
- Neutral Jab- Squirtle fires off two quick punches before launching into a multi-hit jab where he shoots bubbles from his mouth. Each bubble does very little damage, but they swarm the opponent and have some range to them.
- Side Tilt- Jumps and performs a spinning tail strike at mid range right in front of him. Comes out quickly and the jump beginning gives it a slightly higher hitbox.
- Up Tilt- Squirtle performs a short range jumping headbutt that has minimal ending lag but doesn't do much damage.
- Down Tilt- Squirtle crouches and performs a forward tail sweep low to the ground. Has the slowest frame data of any of Squirtle's tilt attacks, but by far does the most damage.
- Dash Attack- Squirtle does a leaping headbutt attack that sends him a good distance forward, but sourspots if it hits late.
- Grab & Pummel- Squirtle grabs with one hand and pummels by headbutting the foe quickly.
- Forward Throw- Squirtle performs a jumping kick to the opponent in front of him, sending them flying.
- Back Throw- Squirtle performs an overhead throw with both arms to launch the foe behind him.
- Up Throw- Squirtle tosses the opponent into the air and then headbutts them to launch them straight up.
- Down Throw- Squirtle tosses the opponent onto the ground and then slams into them with his shell, knocking them up slightly for combo potential.
- Neutral Air- Squirtle withdraws into his shell and spins around twice before emerging with all limbs and his head at once. Hits opponents multiple times, with the final hit sweet spotting if the head hits the opponent.
- Forward Air- Squritle performs a forward dropkick with a small jet of water exiting out of his shell.
- Back Air- Squirtle sticks its tail out behind him and performs a corkscrew attack that hits multiple times.
- Up Air- Squirtle performs an overhead swipe with his tail that comes out quickly but doesn't do much damage or knockback.
- Down Air- Squirtle performs a downward corkscrew attack with his tail, similar to his back air in that it hits multiple times.
Smash Attacks[]
- Side Smash- Squirtle performs a forward slash attack with a jet of water spewing from his mouth. Has a slow startup but does an impressive amount of damage.
- Up Smash- Squirtle causes two geysers of water to erupt from the ground on either side of itself. It launches best if an opponent is standing on one of the geysers just as it fires off.
- Down Smash- Squirtle withdraws into its shell and spins around 360 degrees, shooting a short jet of water out in all directions. It has great framedata and is arguably Squirtle's most reliable KO move.
Special Moves[]
- Neutral Special: Water Pulse- Squirtle launches a small circular orb of water forward that passes through opponents as it damages them. While it can be charged for about three seconds, charging it only increases the distance it travels, not the damage it causes. It doesn't do much damage and very little knockback, but it does 1.65 times damage to shields if it hits them, making it a good tool to get shield punishes and setting up good combo moves.
- Side Special: Withdraw- Squirtle withdraws into its shell and slides across the stage at high speed. It is immune to damage while sliding, but it can be reflected backward or have its trajectory changed due to knockback. Does a decent amount of damage, particularly if input as a tap command.
- Up Special: Waterfall- Squirtle creates a stream of water underneath itself and rides it upward at an angle, hitting opponents caught in the stream multiple times before launching with the final hit.
- Down Special: Water Gun- Squirtle will charge up water for a short period of time. Once fully charged, pressing down special again will launch a stream of water out for a short burst, knocking foes back but not doing any damage to them. A good tool for gimping foes.
- Shield Special: Pokemon Change- The Pokemon Trainer will recall Squirtle into its Pokeball and throw another one onto the field, summoning Ivysaur in its place.
- Final Smash: Triple Finish- The Pokemon Trainer sends all three of his Pokemon out onto the field (all three Pokemon share the same Final Smash) to use finishing moves on the opponent. Squirtle uses Hydro Pump, which creates a vortex that draws opponents in. Ivysaur uses Solar Beam which creates a single multi-hitting damaging beam to hold foes in place. And Charizard uses Fire Blast, firing five powerful blasts of fire that deal massive damage and launches foe on the final blast. When the smash ends, the other two Pokemon are withdrawn and the active one on the field at the start of the Smash will remain.
Miscellaneous[]
- Entry Animation- The Pokemon Trainer fires a Pokeball onto the field while yelling "Go Squirtle!"
- Idle Animation 1- Squirtle hops in place twice with an excited smile on his face.
- Idle Animation 2- Squirtle leans forward waving both of its arms in front of himself as if greeting foes.
- Side Taunt- Squirtle spins around on its tail for a second before getting dizzy briefly.
- Up Taunt- Squirtle performs a single backflip and then poses while yelling "Squirt!"
- Down Taunt- Squirtle dons a pair of black sunglasses briefly, looking cool, before stowing them away.
- Victory Animation 1- Squirtle spins around on its shell in a breakdancing pose while the Pokemon Trainer yells "You All Did Great!"
- Victory Animation 2- Squirtle fires a water gun in three different directions before putting on his sunglasses and posing as the Trainer says "Good Job Squirtle!"
- Victory Animation 3- The Trainer holds Squirtle in his arms and rubs its chin as Squirtle says its name in victory, while the Trainer says "You sure showed them!"
Ivysaur Moveset[]
Basic Attacks[]
- Neutral Special- Ivysaur whips his vines forward twice, leading into a rapid hit jab where he constantly hits with his vines, before launching with the final hit.
- Side Tilt- Ivysaur leans forward and spins his leaves around like a helicopter blade, hitting opponents multiple times with the last hit dealing decent knockback.
- Up Tilt- Ivysaur swings a vine over his head in an arcing motion from front to back.
- Down Tilt- Ivysaur balances on its hind legs and then slams downward onto the ground, creating a small shockwave hitbox in addition to the attack itself.
- Dash Attack- Ivysaur leaps forward with a sliding tackle that covers good distance, but like Squirtle's headbutt will sourspot if it hits late.
- Grab & Pummel- Ivysaur grabs foes with his fines, pummeling them with a shortrange headbutt.
- Forward Throw- Heabutts the opponent forward with a strike that can affect nearby foes. However the throw itself does too much knockback to be a useful combo starter, and not enough to be a kill throw.
- Back Throw- Ivysaur spins around and tosses the opponent away, reversing the initial direction Ivysaur was facing.
- Up Throw- Ivysaur holds the opponent over the bud on his back and then detonates a small explosion that sends them skyward.
- Down Throw- Ivysaur performs a front flip and then slams the opponent onto the ground, popping them up for more combos.
- Neutral Air- Ivysaur spins the leaves on its back repeatedly, dealing multiple hits to opponents and launching on the final hit.
- Forward Air- Ivysaur performs a downward strike with its vine straight in front of itself.
- Back Air- Ivysaur backflips with its vines extended, striking in a downward motion behind itself with them.
- Up Air- Ivysaur detonates a small explosion from its bud to launch foes. Deals a lot of damage, but it has some startup lag.
- Down Air- Ivysaur turns upside down and detonates an explosion from the bud on its back, spiking opponents if it sweetspots them.
Smash Attacks[]
- Side Smash- Ivysaur plants its vines onto the ground and launches itself slightly upward to hit a powerful headbutt. While it shifts Ivysaur's hitbox slightly, it's endlag makes it easy to punish.
- Up Smash- Ivysaur launches a powerful spore explosion right above its back. It's a powerful move, but it has high startup and endlag, making it a high risk/high reward affair.
- Down Smash- Ivysaur swings two vines on the ground on either side of itself. This is his fastest smash attack, but it lacks real KO power overall.
Special Moves[]
- Neutral Special: Bullet Seed- Ivysaur will launch a barrage of seeds straight up into the air for a short distance, with the final seed with slightly higher knockback. It's entirely vertical approach makes it only useful as a combo move or as an anti-aerial move.
- Side Special: Razor Leaf- Pressing the button once will fire a single spinning leaf projectile ahead. The leaf passes through opponents, letting it hit multiple opponents, but does more damage the closer the opponent is to Ivysaur. However, holding down the button will cause Ivysaur to fire a stream of leaves directly in front of him for roughly three seconds. These leaves do less damage than the main projectile, but can rack up combo damage.
- Up Special: Vine Whip- Ivysaur whips both vines out at a high vertical angle. If these vines hit an opponent, they will simply be knocked away with moderate damage. Ivysaur can also use this move as a tether grapple to recover to stage edges.
- Down Special: Sweet Scent- Ivysaur will fire off a single cloud of powder into the air directly above itself that travels forward a short distance. This cloud will have one of three effects, based on the color of the cloud which itself is based on directional input. Holding the control stick at a downward forward angle releases the yellow Stun Spore cloud, which will cause foes hit by it to be paralyzed briefly before they fall to the ground, dealing a small amount of damage. Holding it straight down will release a purple Poison Powder, which causes any player hit by the cloud to be poisoned for about 5 seconds of time where they take constant damage. Holding the control stick at a downward back angle releases a blue Sleep Powder, which will put foes to sleep if they are hit by it but doesn't do any damage.
- Shield Special: Pokemon Change- The Pokemon Trainer will recall Ivysaur into its Pokeball and throw another one onto the field, summoning Charizard in its place.
Miscellaneous[]
- Entry Animation- The Pokemon trainer tosses a Pokeball onto the field while yelling "Go Ivysaur!"
- Idle Animation 1- Ivysaur spins its leaves around once slowly before resuming battle stance.
- Idle Animation 2- Ivysaur looks around as it shakes its body before resuming battle stance.
- Side Taunt- Ivysaur stands on its front legs and walks around in a circle singing "Ivy, Ivy Ivy!" before falling over briefly as the taunt ends.
- Up Taunt- Ivysaur shakes from side to side, spinning its bud and leaves.
- Down Taunt- Ivysaur spins in place with its vines partially extended, posing at the end and saying "Saur!"
- Victory Animation 1- Ivysaur runs forward and does a backflip and poses as the Pokemon Trainer says "You All Did Great!"
- Victory Animation 2- Ivysaur whips its vines forward three times as the Pokemon Trainer celebrates by yelling "Great job Ivysaur!"
- Victory Animation 3- The Pokemon trainer pets Ivysaur who tries to jump on them, but the Trainer puts it back down while saying "Whoa! Easy there pal!"
Charizard Moveset[]
Basic Attacks[]
- Neutral Jab- Charizard performs a three hit combo, striking twice with his claws and then a forward swing with one of his wings.
- Side Tilt- Charizard performs a tail whip straight forward, with a sweetspot right on the flaming tip of his tail.
- Up Tilt- Charizard jumps a short distance in the air with his wings pointed upward. Despite appearences, the awkward nature of the wings hitbox makes this an ineffective anti-air tool.
- Down Tilt- Charizard performs a quick foot stomp directly in front of itself. Causes decent damage and is quick to come out, but has a slight bit of endlag.
- Dash Attack- Charizard extends its head forward and performs a bite attack, hitting opponents with a headbutt and the bite attack to launch. Sourspots if it hits late or if an opponent lands in Charizard's extended neck.
- Grab & Pummel- Charizard grabs at the opponent with both arms, with its pummel being a simple bite attack.
- Forward throw- Charizard quickly flings its opponent forward with a simple toss. Charizard's most reliable kill throw.
- Back Throw- Charizard quickly flings its opponent behind itself with a simple toss. Will cause Charizard to change direction.
- Up Throw- Tosses the opponent into the air and then flexes its wings upward, launching foes with the hit. It has a bit of endlag, allowing it to be punishable in multi-man matches.
- Down Throw- Charizard pins the opponent onto the ground and breaths fire on it for a short while before kicking them aside.
- Neutral Air- Charizard somersaults forward, striking with its tail in a downward arc.
- Forward Air- Charizard performs a quick arcing slash with its claws from high to low.
- Back Air- Charizard swings its long tail directly behind it. Despite its poor startup and endlag, it is Charizard's most reliable KO aerial, wiping out opponents as low as 80% with a clean hit on the flame.
- Up Air- Charizard extends his neck and performs a pseudo-headbutt swing in an overhead arc.
- Down Air- Charizard performs a straight kick downwards. Will spike opponents if it hits cleanly.
Smash Attacks[]
- Side Smash- Charizard performs a lunging headbutt attack straight forward. It has great damage potential, but is highly dangerous given its startup and ending lag.
- Up Smash- Charizard will perform a quick 1-2 strike with its wings, launching with the second hit. Easily the quickest of all of Charizard's Smash Attacks, but it also does the least amount of damage.
- Down Smash- Charizard performs a small Ember attack on either side of himself, detonating a small explosion of fire that sends opponents flying.
Special Moves[]
- Neutral Special: Flamethrower- Charizard begins blowing a constant stream of fire straight outward, damaging foes multiple times if they are caught in the stream. It does less damage than Bowser's Fire Breath, but it has longer range and lasts slightly longer too.
- Side Special: 'Flare Blitz- Charizard will pause for a moment and then hurl himself forward with a flaming corkscrew tackle. Just launching the move will deal 6% damage to Charizard, while hitting with it will deal an addition 5% recoil. However, the move does a massive amount of damage and knockback to foes hit by it.
- Up Special: Fly- Charizard will fly high into the air with a corkscrew like move, hitting opponents multiple times and launching on the final hit. More of a last ditch recovery move, as it doesn't cover much distance vertically and doesn't do much damage overall.
- Down Smash: Inferno- Charizard begins charging energy as long as the Special Button is held, before stamping his foot and unleashing a powerful shockwave of fire that sends opponents flying at full charge. It does a large amount of damage if fully charged, but has naturally high start lag and has really bad endlag if it misses. It does the most damage if foes are close to the shockwave once it unleashes.
- Shield Special: Pokemon Change- The Pokemon Trainer will recall Charizard into its Pokeball and throw another one onto the field, summoning Squirtle in its place.
Miscellaneous[]
- Entry Animation- The Pokemon Trainer tosses a Pokeball onto the field while yelling "Go Charizard!"
- Idle Animation 1- Charizard turns its head to the side and quickly spits fire towards the ground before resuming normal stance.
- Idle Animation 2- Charizard flexes his wings straight out and lets out a snort of smoke from its mouth.
- Side Taunt- Charizard performs a quick aerial flip and then roars as it lands.
- Up Taunt- Charizard stands at attention and lets out a small puff of flame from its mouth as it puffs out its chest in defiance.
- Down Taunt- Charizard poses upright and roars loudly.
- Victory Animation 1- Charizard stomps its foot and rears back to roar as the trainer says "You All Did Great!"
- Victory Animation 2- Charizard flies into frame with a flourish, firing a single burst of fire as it stands in victory while the trainer yells "Great job Charizard!"
- Victory Animation 3- The trainer pets the head and neck of an appreciative Charizard, who extends his wings and roars as the Trainer says "You were amazing!"
Playable Skin[]
The Pokemon Trainer has an alternate playable skin of a Female Pokemon Trainer. Aside from the aesthetic differences of voice acting, there are no other changes between the two characters.
How to Unlock[]
The Pokemon Trainer can be unlocked any of the following ways.
- Playing versus matches until he randomly shows up as a "Challenger Approaching" fight. Defeat him to unlock him.
- Defeat Classic Mode with Pikachu on starting difficulty 3.0 or higher.
- Unlock him in the Finale of World of Light by defeating him.
- Paying 1,000 Gold in the Shop, where he can randomly appear (though rarely).