Reflector (Fox)
From SmashWiki, the Super Smash Bros. wiki
Reflector is Fox's down B attack in all three installments of the Super Smash Bros. series. The term "shine" is specifically used to describe Down B's use as a direct attack, though Smashers sometimes use it to describe Down B's reflective abilities as well. The shine can directly harm enemies when it is activated, and the player can hold down the B button to continue reflecting projectiles. If the player releases B, gets hit, or (in Super Smash Bros.) lands on the ground after shining in mid-air, the shine will deactivate. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, players can also jump-cancel out of shine while it is active.
The shine has many uses, the most obvious of them all being to reflect projectiles that are thrown at you. When it hits Fox's shine, a projectile will rebound in the opposite direction as it was thrown. The reflector multiplies the projectile's damage and knockback by 1.5. Fox also experiences a short amount of lag time every time he reflects a projectile. The shine can be destroyed like a normal shield, however this only happens when a projectile is reflected several times to the point where it is powerful enough to break any shield in one hit. (This is most easily observed with the Red Shell)
It should be noted that Fox's as well as Falco's reflectors do in fact give invincibility frames like Wolf's. However they have limited use as Fox's lasts only 1-frame at the start and Falco's lasts about 5 shortly after he kicks it when he turns blue.
A second use of shining is to attack. Fox's shine is an attack with low range, so Fox generally must be touching his target to use it as an attack. It has a 1-frame start-up time (the fastest possible), low damage, set knockback and a downward trajectory.
In competitive play, shine is used mostly to attack. When Fox hits airborne enemies with shine, they are sent at an angle diagonally down. This makes the shine suitable for spiking a recovering foe. Shine is especially dangerous at low damages because of its set knockback.
When Fox hits grounded enemies with shine, they slide along the ground with extra stun. Since shine has set knockback, the target's knockback depends only on that character's weight and traction and on whether the character crouch canceled (in SSB64 and SSBM) the attack. DI also affects the knockback. Fox can waveshine to follow these opponents, and against some characters he can combo directly from a waveshine. Using the shine correctly, against certain characters, it is possible to land infinite combos.
Note this attack has a set knockback in SSB and SSBM. What changes how far they go from being Shined on the ground is the character's traction. The higher the traction, the shorter distance they go, and vice versa.
[edit] Origin
Like most of Fox's moves, the Reflector is unique to Smash, but may have been inspired by the Arwing's ability to deflect enemy fire by doing a Barrel Roll. In addition, it bears a similarity to the Barrier power-up in Star Fox: Assault, although that game was released years after Super Smash Bros.. If anything, the SF:A Barrier takes after the SSB Reflector.
[edit] Slowing down falls
While in the shine, Fox's falling speed is altered: Fox falls and accelerates more slowly. This is the reason that Chillin Dashing works. In Brawl, Fox can effectively hover in the air by repeatedly using his reflector. The slowed falling speed, mixed with the damaging aspect of the Reflector, can prevent Fox being juggled. However, shine-spiking in Brawl is much less useful due to a combination of the reflector's damage affected knockback, longer recoveries and floatiness.
[edit] Related Articles
| Fox's Special Moves | |
|---|---|
| Standard Special Move: | Blaster |
| Side Special Move1: | Fox Illusion |
| Up Special Move: | Fire Fox |
| Down Special Move: | Reflector |
| Final Smash2: | Landmaster |
| 1: In Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl only. 2: In Super Smash Bros. Brawl only. | |
