Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
Times have been rough for Puff in the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate scene. The character isn’t awful, but players like Melee god Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma of Team Liquid have felt like Jigglypuff has been missing some key components that could put it over the edge in competition for a long time. Seemingly, that has changed as of Smash Ultimate patch 6.0.0. Hungrybox claims the buffs to the character are substantial, and to the Ultimate scene he has made a declaration: “I’m coming.”
Super Smash Bros Ultimate update version 6.0.0 dropped on November 6, 2019, bringing a number of changes and the addition of DLC character Terry Bogard to the game. Among the buffs, Donkey Kong, King K. Rool, and Kirby made for a substantial list of changes. That said, Jigglypuff also got plenty of attention, which of course got the attention of arguably the best Puff player in the world. Hungrybox went right into practice to see what his beloved Puff could do with its adjusted toolkit and was amazed to be able to pull off things that were pretty much impossible before.
Of course, playing around in practice is only half of the equation. The other half is fully dependent upon whether or not a player can apply it in a real match. Smash Bros Ultimate isn’t known for having the best network when it comes to online play, but Hungry took his Puff into a few matches anyways to see if the changes paid off in a competitive situation.
In a match between his Puff and a Terry Bogard player, Debiedma’s curiosity was rewarded and then some. HB put his efforts to work and pulled out a devastating beat down, for which you can see two stock kills in extremely short order below.
During further matches, Debiedma went on to explain that while he was thrilled with the changes, he wasn’t so certain it would be meta changing.
“I do think that when you have a character that with a significant enough change the meta could play a bit if players begin to fear her, but these are just quick adjustments, so I think people will play the same way now,” Hungrybox explained. “Maybe people will just give [Jigglypuff] an ounce more respect. They’ll know drill-busts are a thing, that counter-rush is a thing, so they won’t leave themselves open to those.”
Regardless, Hungrybox seems to believe it’s substantial enough for him to make moves at his next competitive showing. Despite many appearances, HB has yet to crack a top 8 in Ultimate since its launch. It will remain to be seen if he can pull off a victorious appearance with 6.0.0 Puff, but to him, it seems it’s only a matter of time.