Squirtle Squad
Plenty of fans know Squirtle from the cards, the plush shelf, and the long grind through Pokémon GO raids, but there is one arena where the little turtle gets to throw hands directly: Super Smash Bros Ultimate. On the Nintendo Switch's flagship fighting game, Squirtle is a fully playable character — fast, floaty, and deceptively tricky to pin down. For anyone who loves the Water starter and owns a Switch, maining Squirtle in Smash is one of the most satisfying ways to represent the squad.
This guide covers how Squirtle fits into the Pokémon Trainer package, what its moveset actually does, the combos and habits that separate a casual pick from a real threat, and the collectibles worth owning if Squirtle is your character. No prior fighting-game experience required.
Squirtle Is Part of the Pokémon Trainer
The first thing to understand is that you do not select Squirtle on its own. Squirtle is one of three Pokémon controlled by the Pokémon Trainer, alongside Ivysaur and Charizard. The Trainer character, originally introduced in Super Smash Bros Brawl and carried into Ultimate, lets you swap between all three starters mid-match using the down special move, Pokémon Change.
That swapping mechanic is the whole identity of the character. Squirtle is the lightweight, nimble opener — quick on the ground, good at racking up early damage, and hard to catch. When Squirtle starts running out of steam or the matchup turns sour, you cycle to Ivysaur for ranged pressure or Charizard for raw power and kill confirms. According to the detailed frame data compiled on [SmashWiki's Squirtle page](https://www.ssbwiki.com/Squirtle_(SSBU)), Squirtle is one of the lighter and faster fighters in the roster, which shapes everything about how it should be played.
Importantly, you can also set the game to let you play a single Pokémon for an entire match if you prefer, so Squirtle-only runs are absolutely possible. Many dedicated players do exactly that, treating Squirtle as a standalone character rather than one leg of a rotation.
Squirtle's Strengths: Speed, Mobility, and a Low Profile
Squirtle's greatest asset is its movement. It has one of the better dash speeds and a slippery, low-to-the-ground silhouette that makes a surprising number of attacks whiff over its head. Short characters are genuinely annoying to fight in Smash, and Squirtle leans into that hard.
Here is what the turtle does well:
- **Fast frame-one-ish close combat.** Squirtle's jabs and tilts come out quickly, letting it win scrambles up close where slower heavyweights struggle.
- **Strong combo starters.** Its up-tilt and up-air chain into themselves and into aerials at a range of percentages, so a single opening can snowball into real damage.
- **Water Gun for stage control.** The side special, Water Gun, is chargeable and pushes opponents without dealing damage — brilliant for shoving a recovering foe away from the ledge or disrupting a charge move.
- **Withdraw mix-ups.** The neutral special sends Squirtle sliding across the stage in its shell, which can catch careless opponents and cover horizontal distance in a pinch.
If you already understand how the Squirtle line thinks about Water-type pressure, the logic translates. Our breakdown of the [Squirtle line's type matchups and battle strategy](/blog/squirtle-line-type-matchups-complete-water-type-battle-strategy-guide-tcg-games) is about the main-series games and TCG, but the underlying instinct — control space, poke, punish overextension — is exactly how Squirtle wins in Smash too.
Squirtle's Weaknesses: Light, and Short on Kill Power
No character is free, and Squirtle has clear trade-offs. Because it is so light, it dies early. A clean hit from a heavyweight can send Squirtle off the top of the screen well before a mid-weight fighter would be in danger, so playing carefully around your opponent's kill moves is non-negotiable.
Squirtle also struggles to close out stocks on its own. Its kill options are real but situational — back-air near the ledge, a well-timed up-smash, or a read with forward-smash — and against players who respect those moves, finishing the job can be a grind. This is precisely why the Trainer design pairs it with Charizard, who exists to convert the damage Squirtle piles on into actual kills. A common high-level pattern is to rack up percent with Squirtle, then swap to Charizard when the opponent is in kill range.
Recovery is serviceable but not spectacular. Waterfall, the up special, gives decent vertical height and a little horizontal drift, but Squirtle can be edge-guarded by opponents who commit to the chase. Mixing up your recovery timing and using Water Gun to create space on the way back are both essential habits.
Beginner Combos and Habits That Actually Work
You do not need tournament-level execution to get mileage out of Squirtle. A handful of reliable patterns will carry you a long way:
Up-tilt strings. At low percent, up-tilt links into itself two or three times, then into an up-air to finish the string. This is your bread-and-butter damage opener.
Grab to up-air. Down-throw at low-to-mid percents pops opponents into the air where Squirtle's fast aerials live. Practice reading their air-dodge and you will convert grabs into real punishes.
Edge pressure with Water Gun. When an opponent is recovering, a charged Water Gun can push them out of their recovery's range entirely. It deals no damage, but a stock lost to the blast zone counts all the same.
Shell camping, sparingly. Withdraw is tempting to spam, but good players will shield and punish it. Use it to cover distance or catch a roll, not as a crutch.
The single best habit, though, is learning when to swap. Treat Squirtle as the fighter that builds the lead, not the one that always seals it. If you want the broader context on how Squirtle, Wartortle, and Blastoise each carve out a distinct role across games, our [Pokémon GO movesets and roles guide](/blog/squirtle-line-pokemon-go-movesets-raids-pvp-guide) shows the same design philosophy at work — each stage of the line is tuned for a different job.
Gear Up: What Every Squirtle Main Should Own
Playing Squirtle well is partly about the right setup and partly about celebrating the character off-screen. A few things are genuinely worth it. (Disclosure: this post contains Amazon affiliate links, and purchases made through them may earn us a small commission at no extra cost to you — it helps keep the fan site running.)
Start with the game itself if you somehow do not already have it. You can [shop Super Smash Bros Ultimate on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=super+smash+bros+ultimate+switch&tag=squirtlesquad0d-20), and it remains the definitive package with the entire roster, Pokémon Trainer included.
Serious Smash play rewards better inputs, and the standard Joy-Con is not ideal for a fast character like Squirtle. A proper controller makes a real difference, so it is worth looking at a [Nintendo Switch Pro controller on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=nintendo+switch+pro+controller&tag=squirtlesquad0d-20) for the tighter d-pad and comfortable grip, or a GameCube-style pad if you grew up on that layout.
For collectors, the figure line is the fun part. A [Squirtle amiibo on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=squirtle+amiibo&tag=squirtlesquad0d-20) can be trained up as a surprisingly competent AI partner, and it doubles as a tidy desk piece. And no Squirtle main's shelf is complete without a soft companion — browse a [Squirtle plush on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=squirtle+plush&tag=squirtlesquad0d-20) to sit next to your controller between matches. If you are building out a wider display, our roundup of the [best Squirtle plush of 2026](/blog/best-squirtle-plush-2026) sorts the official releases from the filler.
Why Squirtle Endures as a Fighter
There is something fitting about Squirtle being the scrappy, underestimated option in a cast full of legends and swordfighters. It is small, it is light, and it has no business hanging with the heavy hitters — and yet a good Squirtle player wins fights through speed, cleverness, and relentless pressure. That is the same character fans have loved since 1996, just rendered in a different genre.
If you have only ever known Squirtle through booster packs and plush, Smash Ultimate is a genuinely different way to spend time with the character — one where you are not collecting the turtle, you are being it. Pick it up, learn the up-tilt string, figure out when to tag in Charizard, and you will understand why so many players refuse to drop their shell-wearing main no matter how many tier lists tell them to.
The Bottom Line
Squirtle in Super Smash Bros Ultimate is a fast, light, combo-hungry fighter that lives inside the Pokémon Trainer but can absolutely stand on its own. Lean on its mobility and combo game to build a lead, respect its light weight by playing safe around kill moves, and either swap to Charizard or hunt for your own edge-guards to close stocks. Grab a comfortable controller, train up an amiibo, and keep a plush nearby — the squad belongs on the battlefield as much as it belongs on the shelf.