The last time I wrote about Smash Bros., it was to give my thoughts on the concept of character complexity. Since then, the developers have declared Smash Bros. Ultimate balance changes are more or less done, so outside of discoveries from the community itself, there likely wouldn’t be anything new to discuss. But that’s exactly where new tech has arisen, namely in the form of what has been coined the “slingshot.” 

Building off of a few seemingly disparate techniques found earlier in the game’s competitive life, the slingshot was introduced to players at large thanks to Smash Bros. tournament organizer GIMR, who also runs the biggest Smash stream around, VGBootcamp. I’ve put his video above, as he explains it better than I can, but to sum it up: The slingshot is a technique that purposely uses the cumbersome buffer system in Ultimate to allow characters to juke while facing the opponent.

Even in this early stage, there are many reasons I feel that the slingshot is a net positive for me personally and Smashers in general. I’ll admit that prior to this announcement, I hadn’t really touched the game in months. But now, I find myself grinding the inputs trying to see what I can learn, and it’s exciting. Also, as GIMR begins to show in the video, it has immediate benefits for both of my mains, Mewtwo and Mega Man. 

I predict that slingshot will benefit Mewtwo immensely. While it’ll make the character more vulnerable to shield pressure, Mewtwo never dealt with it well anyway, so nothing much will change on that end. On the flip side, being able to mitigate that pernicious tail hurtbox that has plagued Mewtwo throughout Ultimate through quick turnarounds is itself a major boon. But Mewtwo also sports specific physics that seems ideal for slingshots and the way it instantly boosts characters to max air speed: a combination of low initial air speed but also the third highest max air speed in the game. It doesn’t help when Mewtwo is being juggled, but on the ground, I think it’ll be a fundamental change to the character.

Mega Man is different in that he has extremely high air acceleration and a strong (though not Mewtwo-level) max air speed. Although I think he potentially won’t benefit quite as much, the slingshot looks like it’ll still be a great asset. The tech will add an extra trick to his already strong and wiggly neutral, and I can see every move of his being useful with this new trick.

My only worry is that in a game where out-of-shield options are already bad, things might get a whole lot worse. But with the added layers I predict the slingshot will open, it’s going to make for a more dynamic experience.