Mach Rider

General
Mach Rider first appeared in 1985 on a launch title for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) entitled Mach Rider. In it, evil forces called Quadrunners have invaded Earth, and Mach Rider decides to hop on his motorcycle, the Mach Bike, to search for survivors. While looking, he runs into various enemies along the way, and the only way to triumph is by using the machine gun attached to his motorcycle, which somehow contained unlimited ammunition.

Attributes
Mach Rider makes his debut on the battlefield in Super Smash Bros. Crusade. Mach Rider is a very fast character, and most of his Special Moves are based on what his bike could do in the 1985 game. Mach Rider can also be hard to hit, with his bike charging into opponents and multiple damage dealing hits. He is indeed a tough opponent to take down.

Mach Rider relies on his fast speed and power to overwhelm his opponents. Mach Rider can combo and many of his combos may lead to a chain grab (especially DThrow). Mach Rider's fast speed helps him against most opponents such as Goku. His Specials are very useful in many ways, but they have a high learning curve (especially His Side B). Mach Rider's aerial moves are very useful for edgeguarding and they can mix-up another character's strategy if used well.

Mach Rider's aerials, despite being rather slow in comparison to other aerials like Captain Falcon, are really useful and effective and have a multitude of uses. This, with Mach Rider's good jumps, air speed and Mach Bike, give Mach Rider a very effective air game.

Mach Rider has arguably considered one of the best grab games in the game currently. Mach Rider's Down Throw and Forward Throw can chain grab into themselves and the Down Throw gives Mach Rider one of the most reliable chain grabs in the game. His Up Throw can set up a Uair/Bair edge-guard and has a vacuum effect and his Back Throw sends his opponent into an edge-guard position and is really useful at high percentages as it can effectively KO characters with poor recovery like Duck Hunt Dog and Falco.

Mach Rider has flaws though. Mach Rider has somewhat poor range in most attacks (most notably his grab and dair). His priority is not so high either. And despite himself being fast, most of his attacks (mostly his aerials) are slow. But at the same, they come in good prices, making Mach Rider a high risk, high reward character.

Mach Rider's critical problem is extreme vulnerability to edgeguarding and abysmal recovery. Even though Mach Bike helps his horizontal recovery, his vertical recovery is considered to be one of the worst in the game.

Mach Rider is currently ranked 24th (Middle E tier) due to, like Fox, Mach Rider's amazing speed and combo ability. He is also one of the few characters with the ability to chain grab. Mach Rider has many positive attributes, but is ultimately let down with a very poor recovery, susceptible to gimping (though Mach Bike somewhat helps this), and an immense amount of landing lag.

Uniqueness: Combo Ability
Almost all of Mach Rider's attacks can combo, notably his Uair, Dthrow, Dash Attack and UThrow. The problem is Mach Rider has very few moves that can set up a combo. Mach Rider has the Uthrow and Dash Attack to start a combo or the Dthrow chain grab, but that's pretty much it. However, if a Mach Rider uses these moves well, he has number of comboing options. Mach Rider, Captain Falcon, Goku, Fox, Ryu, Evil Ryu and Krystal are the only characters to start up and finish up a Wombo Combo, but Mach Rider is mostly the one to send the opponent to the attacker to set up the finishing attack, due to his lack of a very strong aerial attack (though Bair is quite common and Dair can be the finisher if the combo is done near the ledge).

Mach Rider's Normal Moves
Jab
 * Punches with left hand, punches with right hand, then finishes with another left hand punch. - 3%, 3%, 4%.

Side Tilt
 * Forward kick. - 10%

Up Tilt
 * Upward kick. - 10%

Down Tilt
 * A sweeping kick. - 9%

Nair
 * Kick - 9%

Fair
 * Punches forward. - 10%

Bair
 * Kicks backward. - 12%

Up Air
 * Upwards flip kick. - 10%

Dair
 * Downward punch. - 12-15%. The sweetspot (the lowest part of Mach Rider's fists) spikes opponents.

Side Smash
 * Mach Rider launches himself forward and kicks with both legs. - 16%

Up Smash
 * Kicks upward, hitting twice. - 18%

Down Smash
 * Kick split. Hits on both sides of Mach Rider. - 15%

Forward Throw
 * Kicks opponent twice. - 10%

Back Throw
 * Throws opponent back and shoots a few bullets with his machine gun. - 7% - 10%.

Up Throw
 * Throws opponent upward and kicks them rapidly. - 10%

Down Throw
 * Pins opponent on ground and shoots with his machine gun. - 8%

Dash Attack
 * Throws his knee forward. - 8%

Notable Appearances

 * Mach Rider (1985)