Why Super Smash Bros. Pros are Saying Joker Could be a Top Tier Fighter

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has a new fighter, and it's an exciting one. Joker from Persona 5 joins the fray as part of the Fighter Pass for Smash Ultimate, and the pros are already taking him for a test run and uploading their impressions of him. And the reviews are largely positive.

Last night players got to try Joker out for the first time – assuming they could download the update. Joker is the main protagonist from Persona 5, part of Atlus' Persona JRPG series. In his own game, Joker is a phantom thief who relies on his supernatural companion known as the Persona to sneak into people's consciousness and steal their hearts.

Smash Ultimate translates Joker's Persona ability into the game as the basis of his fighting moves, giving Joker a meter, which can be filled to summon his Persona. Other than that, Joker is slim, light on his feet, and is overall a more acrobatic character.

"He reminds me of Sheik."

Professional Super Smash Bros. champion Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman already released a comprehensive teardown of Joker and calls him "basically a fast, agile character," that reminds him of Sheik. "I think he's not a bad character and honestly he's really fun."

Echo Fox pro Smash Player Leonardo "MKLeo" Lopez Perez also tweeted their impressions of Joker on Twitter calling him "really good so far," and even has the "potential to be top tier." That's high praise considering how contentious the tier lists for Super Smash Bros. can be.

Team Liquid's Samuel "Dabuz" Buzby agrees, calling Joker "extremely strong" and praises Joker's speed and amazing recovery. Buzby highlights Joker's off-stage game, meaning his usefulness when outside of the bounds of a stage or level. "His off-stage presence is amazing due to fast back-air, fast forward-air, lingering air, good kill power and amazing recovery."

Smash pro Juan "Hungrybox" Debiedma had a bit of a more muted response to Joker in his own impressions video which began with excited expletives. "He's not as fast as I expected," Debiedma says at one point in his video. But later he calls Joker "nuts" after exploring more of his Persona abilities.

It's still early days, obviously, and there's a chance that these impressions could change once players get a little more time with Joker. And of course, we'll have to wait until we see Joker in a competitive setting to truly gauge what the character is like at the pro level.

But early impressions are good, and players are excited for Joker, maybe more so than Piranha Plant. You can read our Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Joker guide for our own breakdown of the new Smash Ultimate character.