SSBU/Simon/Matchups

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Matchups will be categorized as Favorable, Either Way, or Unfavorable. These are generalizations that are nebulous at best and meant to be taken with a grain of salt, but for those who care about what they mean, Favorable matchups are ~+1 (60:40) or better, Unfavorable matchups are ~-1 (40:60) or worse, and matchups that go Either Way fall in between.

The one-liner for each character will give information regarding character-specific vulnerabilities like how easy it is to hit each character with falling Holy Water on ledge (characters this is particularly easy for can be comfortably D-AirSPIKEd for an early kill).

Rough descriptions for now. Others (who are qualified) feel free to add anything else. ~Valerian

Banjo & Kazooie

Banjo & Kazooie
Either Way

It's generally a good idea to play passive in this matchup. Like most matchups, especially across stage, Cross can be Simon's best friend due to its ability to stop both of Banjo's projectiles. Besides that, it's also good to keep weaving in and out of the midrange and throwing out F-Air/B-Air sparingly to interrupt his approaches. Even more important, shielding is generally quite useful in this matchup, at least until the percent where his D-Throw combos or strings start killing.

Be extremely careful committing when Banjo has Wonderwing stocks left, as these can go through all of your projectiles and will take away your advantage if not dodged or shielded. Shielded Wonderwing can be reliably punished by a raw F-Smash.

If you're offstage, be wary of the egg from Breegull Blaster, as getting hit by one of these without a double jump usually means death. If Banjo is trying to use Breegull Blaster offensively onstage, either punish it with Uppercut or DF-Air/DB-Air out of shield depending on how far away he is from you.

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Bayonetta

Bayonetta
Unfavorable

In neutral, shield often. Bayonetta does not get much off of her Grab or throws, especially at lower percents where a throw usually means a reset to neutral, which is much better than getting hit by her traditional combo starters. Stay grounded, and be careful with your midair jump; losing it will cost your stock against any Bayonetta worth their salt.

Safely punish grounded Side-B with Uppercut out of shield, and be careful of Afterburner Kick when ledgetrapping Bayo (to discourage this, dash back and U-Smash). Witch Twist will get hit by Holy Water on ledge, and, assuming Bats Within doesn't proc, you can DF-Smash or DB-Air her. Otherwise, keep her above you while being wary of what she can do in the position she's in, whether that be Downward Afterburner Kick, D-Air, or descending N-Air/U-Air.

Holy Water is a particularly good tool in this matchup, especially against a Bayonetta that can comfortably Witch Time Cross. In addition to the use mentioned above, Holy Water prevents Bayo from going for most grounded approach options, but be careful when using it on her shield. If she instead takes to playing passive and using her Neutral-B, crouch down at a distance where you can react to what she does next. If she persists in using the move, dash up as she's firing (Simon's dash decreases his height somewhat) and then use D-Tilt, being careful not to hit the bullets on your way to her.

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Bowser

Bowser
Either Way

Holy Water and Rapid Jab are the only moves stopped by base Tough Guy, while some weaker moves like D-Tilt1 and the fist hitbox of most whip attacks will get tanked during his tilts and smash attacks. Keep in mind that a lot of Bowser's moves have comparable range to Simon's, so be more careful about when trying to air-to-air Bowser. It's best to just keep him away with your aerials and Cross.

Be wary of F-Air when trying to recover. If the Bowser instead opts to ledgetrap, be ready to recover if Flame Breath hits you away from ledge. Otherwise, the main moves to look out for are U-Tilt, DF-Tilt, and U-Smash.

Of course, the pseudo-infinite that takes advantage of Tough Guy deserves mention. By looping

HW > SH(FW) HW* > delay N-Air FF Land > ...

Bowser is essentially trapped, with the only thing he can do being SDIing out of the fire produced by Holy Water, which Simon can still generally cover. The loop itself is pretty strict on timing, however, so for safety, you can use the N-Air to combo into something else like D-Throw. This also stops working when Bowser starts actually taking knockback from the fire, which is around 130%, but at that point, Simon has a few enders that can kill either horizontally (B-Air or D-Smash) or vertically (U-Smash or D-AirSPIKE > Uppercut).

Lastly, Bowser's recovery is fairly linear, so it doesn't hurt to throw an Axe at him while he's recovering. If he avoids it, Simon can go back to the traditional ledgetrapping plan, but if it hits, Simon can go for a F-Air/B-Air to kill. Running off and F-Airing, especially down, is also a viable option if the Bowser is recovering the same way or has no other choice.

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Bowser Jr.

Bowser Jr.
Either Way

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Byleth

Byleth
Either Way

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Captain Falcon

Captain Falcon
Either Way

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Chrom

Chrom
Either Way

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Cloud

Cloud
Unfavorable

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Corrin

Corrin
Either Way

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Diddy Kong

Diddy Kong
Either Way

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Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong Falling HW: Easy
Either Way

DK seems like a character that would get eviscerated by Simon, but with his decent range and mobility for a heavy as well as good ability to find kills, DK can be a threat, especially to impatient Simon players. However, an impatient DK can be just as easy, if not easier, prey to Simon due to his large hurtbox making him prone to Simon's most rewarding combos. While his weight of 127 makes him even more susceptible to combos at low percent, it also means that DK has a lot of survivability.

Avoid getting grabbed, as DK gets a lot of reward out of grab combos regardless of percent. Do this by using plenty of Cross, F-Tilt, F-Air, and B-Air to keep him at bay, as these moves are the most reliable in neutral. If you land Holy Water, you can comfortably go for a falling U-Air combo and net an easy 40%-60%.

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Dr. Mario

Dr. Mario
Favorable

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Duck Hunt

Duck Hunt
Favorable

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Falco

Falco
Unfavorable

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Fox

Fox
Unfavorable

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Ganondorf

Ganondorf
Favorable

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Greninja

Greninja
Unfavorable

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Hero

Hero
Either Way

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Ice Climbers

Ice Climbers
Favorable

Ice Climbers have a couple of ways to freeze their opponent, namely with Neutral Special and Down Special. As a result, this is one of the few matchups where the Belmont you pick matters very slightly. Since Simon's Holy Water has fire properties, in cases where the flame pillar becomes neutral and Simon is frozen, Simon will be unfrozen as soon as the fire hits him once. Meanwhile, Richter's aura flame pillar will not free him from being frozen. This means that, typically, you would want to go Simon instead of Richter in this matchup. Other fringe cases exist with characters having freezing moves, but this is the most pronounced case.

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