Lucas (Super Smash Bros.)


 * ''This article is about Lucas's appearance in the Super Smash Bros. series. For information about Lucas in general, see Lucas.

Lucas (Japanese: リュカ Lucas) is a playable character in the Super Smash Bros. series.

General information
Lucas was designed similarly to Ness in terms of moveset, however there are many differences between the two. PK Freeze is Lucas's neutral special instead of PK Flash. It functions similarly to Ness's PK Flash but instead freezes the opponent and does less knockback. PK Fire is Lucas's side special. Lucas fires a lightning bolt that does one single burst that knocks opponents away. This is different from Ness's, where his instead bursts into a multi-hitting flame pillar. PK Thunder fires a controllable ball of lightning which can hit opponents multiple times, as opposed to disappearing upon contact like Ness's. It can also hit Lucas to launch him like a rocket for a useful. PSI Magnet puts a forcefield in front of Lucas that absorbs energy based projectiles such as fire or ice and heal Lucas as a result. When ending the move it can also damage opponents and knock them away. This is different from Ness's, where his instead surrounds him.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee
Lucas was originally planned to replace Ness in Melee, however due to EarthBound 64's constant delay and cancellation, Ness was kept instead.

"Actually, at first, I planned to change him [Ness] into the protagonist of Mother 3 [Lucas], but for various reasons during the delay, I settled back on the original idea."

- Masahiro Sakurai

Lucas eventually became a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Lucas debuts as a playable character in the Super Smash Bros. series. Lucas is gameplay wise similar to Ness as he borrows all but one of his special moves, though they all function slightly differently as noted prior, with his new original move being PK Freeze.

Lucas is ranked 30th out of 38 on the current tier list, being the lowest ranked newcomer in Brawl. The main reason is because of his extra 10 grab-release frames, a flaw he shares with Ness. This leaves him vulnerable to grab-release combos such as chain grabs, including zero-to-death chain-grab combos from several characters including himself. As with Ness this trait is generally disliked and most Brawl hacks remove the extra frames.

Despite this, Lucas has had a few dedicated players that achieved unusually high placings as Lucas in major tournaments, a prime example being Mekos placing 9th at SKTAR as Lucas, being only the second (as well as currently the last) time a perceived low tier character placed high at a national. His tournament results have been noticeably better than other similarly ranked low tier characters, leading many to believe Lucas is actually underrated and not a low tier character like he was always ranked. In fact, the Japanese tier list ranks Lucas 24th out of 38, being in the mid tier.

Special moves









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The
In the Subspace Emissary, Lucas is shown as a weak, shy and timid figure, almost identically to how he appeared in the beginning of Mother 3. Lucas first appears alone in The Ruined Zoo, and is attacked by The Pig King Statue, which chases him throughout The Ruined Zoo. He trips over a branch and gets stuck, but Ness arrives to save him from the giant Pig King Statue, which is soon revealed to be Porky Minch. Lucas and Ness team up to defeat Porky. After the two defeat Porky, Wario arrives with his strange cannon and attempts to hit Ness with it. Ness dodges his attacks, so Wario tries to attack Lucas instead. Lucas doesn't move out of the way, so Ness ends up taking the hit himself. Lucas, scared, runs away and escapes Wario. Later, he meets the Pokémon Trainer, and they join to fight the Subspace Army, as Lucas cannot forget what Wario had done to Ness. Outside the Ruins, the Pokémon Trainer decides to capture a Charizard that flew by. Before entering them, however, they are ambushed by Wario. They defeat him, but Lucas becomes disappointed that Wario doesn't have Ness with him anymore. After capturing Charizard and an Ivysaur inside the Ruins, Lucas and the Pokémon Trainer reach the Ruined Hall, where they are attacked by Galleom (Who falls from the roof after he was previously defeated by Meta Knight, Marth, and Ike). After defeating him, Galleom takes them and starts flying into the air, with a Subspace Bomb in his head about to go off. Lucas frees himself and the Pokémon Trainer, and they are then saved by Meta Knight, whose team they then join. At The Glacial Peak, Meta Knight leaves them to get his ship, the Halberd, back. They are then joined by the Ice Climbers as the Subspace Army is sent out to attack them. Mario, Link, Yoshi, Kirby and Pit then appear to assit them and defeated the enemies. Soon, the other remaining heroes show up and they enter Subspace together. Unfortunately, Lucas and the others were defeated by Tabuu's Off Waves attack. Lucas is saved by King Dedede, who had revived Ness and Luigi with badges. After clearing The Great Maze, the characters reaches Tabuu again. He attempts to use his Off Waves attack, but they are destroyed by Sonic. Lucas, along with the other revived characters team up to defeat Tabuu, the ruler of Subspace.

In the Subspace Emissary, characters are playable by what's going on in the story. Lucas is playable in The Ruined Zoo, Path to the Ruins, The Ruins, The Ruined Hall, and Entrance to Subspace. If the player rescued Lucas in Subspace (Part I)), he is playable in The Great Maze. Lucas also makes cutscene appearances in The Glacial Peak, The Canyon and The Subspace Bomb Factory (Part II). After the game is completed, Lucas can be played on any level.

Classic Mode
''The younger of twin brothers living in Tazumili Village in the Nowhere Islands. He's a kind boy who can communicate with animals, but he's shy and never really got over the tragedy that struck his mother. He fights a warped dictatorship, hunts the Seven Needles, and crosses swords with his missing brother, Claus. In the end, the young boy with psychic PSI powers grows up.''

Final Smash (PK Starstorm)
''Lucas's Final Smash. He pulls a large group of stars from the sky and sends them smashing down among his enemies, causing damage to one and all. In Mother 3, this move was used by Lucas's traveling companion, Princess Kumatora. As Ness learned this move from Poo, Princess Kumatora taught Lucas when he learned he would appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.''

In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U
Although Lucas was cut from the base roster, he was later added as DLC on June 14th, 2015, the same day was released worldwide as EarthBound Beginnings.

Lucas retains his moveset from Brawl but received notable buffs: the removal of allows Lucas to take advantage of his fast speed, useful projectiles, and disjointed hitboxes to heavily improve his combo game, plus his recovery was also improved with PK Thunder and Rope Snake covering more distance. His biggest buff was the removal of the extra 10 grab-release frames that was originally a big threat to his survivability. Because of this his tournament represented is significantly better than in Brawl, he is currently tied with Ness and is ranked 28th out of 55 on the current tier list, a huge improvement from his placement in Brawl.

Special moves









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Non-fighter trophy
''Before adventuring, Lucas was a timid, cautious boy. His journey has made him a stronger person. Maybe he met someone to spend his life with... Hang on—we're moving way too fast! For now, remember that Lucas and Ness are favorites in the hearts of EarthBound fans."

Classic Mode

 * ''The younger of the twin brothers from Nowhere makes his triumphant return to the game of Smash. Hailing from the Japan-only game Mother 3, Lucas's specialty is psychic projectile attacks. He can use these PSI attacks to do things like absorb enemy projectiles and deal supernatural damage!

All-Star Mode
''Lucas's up special PK Thunder can hit enemies multiple times, but if you hit yourself with it, you can then tackle and launch opponents! Lucas's up smash has the strongest launch power of any fighter's up smash. The range for this attack is wide, and it's strongest right after Lucas unleashes the attack.''

PK Starstorm
''You can adjust the direction of the stars in this attack! Rain stars down on multiple fighters, or be mean and pick on a single fighter. The choice is yours! If a star connects, it will deal ongoing fire damage, making it hard for opponents to return to the stage.''

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
As with all veterans returning, Lucas returns as an unlockable playable character, classified as fighter #37. Lucas retains his moveset from previous games but recieved a few changes: he recieved a few nerfs such as his combo game being noticeably toned down as s can now be ed, plus his down throw has recieved more endlag making it harder to combo with it at low percentages. However Lucas has also recieved buffs: his mobility has been increased, and his forward, up, and back aeriels now autocancel to help his approach. PK Freeze now lanches opponents horizontally making it a dangerous edge-guarding technique, with it being infamous when some players early on were jokingly trying to ban Lucas due to the move being "broken". Ultimate's universal gameplay changes also benefit him with the return of directional air-dodges benifiting his already impressive recovery. Lucas has achieved great tournament results in locals, though his results at majors have been fairly poor, making it unclear how his viability is.

Special moves









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Lucas's PSI special attacks have recieved graphical changes as they now resemble their respective graphics in Mother 3, his attacks that emit hexegonal graphics were now recolored to cyan instead of pink to match the colors of PK Love. When PK Starstorm is used, Kumatora and Boney now appear and assist him and the background changes and resembles the background during the final battle against the Masked Man.

Classic Mode
Lucas's route is named Magic, Sacred Powers, and PSI! All of the fighters in this route have supernatural abilities.

Although Lucas didn't appear in the intro, he was vaporized by 's attack and turned into a spirit along with everyone else (excluding Kirby).

Lucas can be found as a spirit in a foggy village possibly as a callback to his home of Tazmily Village. When defeated Lucas is freed and joins the player for the World of Light.


 * Mei Ling: I see you're fighting Lucas, Snake.


 * Snake: Lucas?


 * Mei Ling: That boy has PSI powers, which he can use for different kinds of attacks. But the poor little guy's had such a hard life. His mother was killed when he was young, and he was separated from his brother. After that, he faced all kinds of senseless hardships, and he slowly grew stronger.


 * Snake: Senseless hardships — yeah, I had a lot of those too. The question is how you translate those hardships into a better future.


 * Mei Ling: ...Mmm. Well, I hope things turn out okay for him.


 * Pit: Who's the little guy?


 * Palutena: That's Lucas. He's from Tazmily Village. Just like Ness, he uses PSI. He might be the most introverted opponent you've ever fought.


 * Pit: If he's so shy, why is he fighting?


 * Palutena: He's been through a lot. Things you couldn't imagine. Maybe fighting is how he copes with his feelings.


 * Pit: Aw, man. Now I feel bad for him.


 * Palutena: Me too. Maybe you shouldn't fight him.


 * Viridi: SHOW NO MERCY! Launch this crybaby to the stars!


 * Palutena: Or that... Just remember — Lucas's attacks are a bit different from Ness's. Don't expect to be able to fight both of them the exact same way.

Palette swaps





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Trivia
None of Lucas's PSI special moves were originally used by him, instead all of them were used by Kumatora.