Super Smash Bros. Fighters - Pokémon series - 05-04 Charizard

Debut
In the Pokémon series: Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green (1996)
In the Super Smash Bros. series

As a Poké Ball Summon: Super Smash Bros. 64 (1999)
As a Playable Character: Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008)

Boxing Ring Title

With the Pokémon Trainer: Wants to Be the Very Best
As a solo fighter: Blazing Fury

Theme Song: Main Theme - Pokémon Red & Blue (Brawl)

Charizard: the Flame Pokémon. Fire and Flying type. #006 in the Pokédex. As a species, Charizard tend to live near mountains. Sometimes it'll go flying about, looking for strong opponents to battle. Its fire breath has been known to quickly melt glaciers and even boulders, though it has also been known to cause accidental forest fires. Charizard will never its powerful flame breath on opponents it considers weaker than it. Charizard have a higher chance of being male than female.

In Pokémon Red & Blue, Charizard's first form, Charmander, serves as one of the player's three potential Starter Pokémon. Charmander would have a tough time against the first gym and second gyms, while being neutral to the third one, making it the hard difficulty option. Charmander would evolve into Charmeleon upon reaching Level 16, and Charmeleon would evolve into Charizard at level 36.

If the player picked Bulbasaur, then their rival would pick Charmander as his starter. In their remakes, Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen, Charizard would be able to learn the absurdly powerful Blast Burn move from an elderly woman living at Cape Brink. 

In Pokémon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition, a Charmander is shown to be under the care of a trainer named Damian. Damian feels he isn't good enough to be Charmander's trainer, since he isn't good at raising Pokémon in general, and considers releasing it. Upon being talked to, he decides to give Charmander to you instead, as long as you promise to take care of him. Charmander retains this role in Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu & Let's Go Eevee.

In Pokémon X & Y, Charizard  would be given two Mega Evolved forms: Mega Charizard X and Mega Charizard Y! It would transform into either of them if the user found the appropriate Mega Stone. As Mega Charizard X, it obtains the Tough Claws ability, which boosts the power of its physical moves. As Mega Charizard Y, it obtains the Drought ability, which brings about a sunny day and boosts the power of Fire-type moves while weakening Water-type moves.

Pokémon Sword & Shield would introduce a Gigantamax form for Charizard, allowing him to perform G-Max Wildfire! Upon using this move, opponents would lose 1/6 of their maximum health for four turns.

The Charizard line also appears in various spin-offs. In the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series, Charmander tends to be one of the Pokémon one can select as either the main character, or the partner. Of note, a Charizard plays an important role in the first game, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team & Blue Rescue Team, as well as their remakes Pokémon Mystery Dungeon DX. Here, Charizard is a member of Team ACT, which consists of him, Alakazam, and Tyranitar. They're considered the best rescue team, and many look up to them, including the player character's partner.

Notable Charizard in the Pokémon games would be none other than Pokémon Trainer Red's Charizard. While the series was initially rather vague on which of the three Starter Pokémon Red picked, most media these days - such as Pokémon Origins and Pokémon Masters EX - pairs him with Charizard. His personality is unknown, though the 4-part animated short, Pokémon Origins, reveals that Charizard is a loyal companion to Red, and trusts him as much as his trainer does. Their trust would allow Charizard to eventually Mega Evolve into Mega Charizard X, allowing him to take on the powerful Mewtwo on equal footing.

A Charizard owned by Ash Ketchum also has a notable role in the animated adaption: Pokémon the Series. Charizard, as a cute little Charmander, makes his debut in the eleventh episode, "Charmander - The Stray Pokémon". During their travels, Ash and his friends happen to find him resting atop of a rock deep in a forest. While Ash initially tries to catch him, they soon learn from Pikachu that Charmander is waiting for his trainer to return to him. The group decide to leave him be and go on their way, eventually stopping to rest at a Pokémon Center as an unexpected rainstorm begins.

Inside, the group find Charmander's trainer Damian, and learn that he deliberately abandoned him in the forest because he thought Charmander was too weak. Ash and friends quickly head back as fast as they can to rescue Charmander, where they seem him weakly trying to cover his flame tail from the rain. They manage to get him back to the Pokémon Center in time, where he makes a miraculous recovery!

The very next day, Charmander intended to return back to the rock to wait for his trainer again, only to stumble upon the Team Rocket Trio, who have captured Pikachu. Charmander manages to effortlessly save Pikachu, and Ash offers Charmander the chance to join his team. Before he could answer, Damain shows up. Surprised by Charmander's strength, Damian claims he abandoned him "on purpose" to toughen him up, before demanding Charmander to return to him. Now fully aware that his trainer never cared about him, Charmander unleashes his Flamethrower on Damian and joins Ash.

Personality-wise, Charmander was initially a loyal companion to Ash, if a bit shy and anxious. The way Damian had treated him affected Charmander badly, giving him some noticeable abandonment issues. This was shown in the 17th episode "Battle of the Giant Pokémon", where he became discouraged when Bulbasaur assumed Ash had abandoned them. However, as he traveled with Ash and won battles, Charmander's confidence slowly grew. By the end of episode 43, "The March of the Exeggutor Squad", Charmander would evolve into Charmeleon! However, it is here that his confidence would turn into arrogance, as he began to disobey Ash and push all of his friends away. In episode 46, "Attack of the Prehistoric Pokémon", Charmeleon would evolve into Charizard, and his disobedience would grow even worse. At that point, he only did what he felt like doing and was very uncooperative.

However, things would begin to turn around in the 105th episode "Charizard Chills". When Ash challenges a trainer named Tad to a Pokémon battle, Charizard would end up getting completely frozen solid while battling Tad's Poliwrath. Even after getting freed from his icy prison, his temperature has dropped way too low, forcing him to lay around as Ash and his friends do their best warm him back up. Ash even goes the entire night trying to get Charizard back to his normal temperature. Its during this that Charizard begins to reflect back on his time with Ash, and realizes how big of a jerk he's become. The following morning, Charizard, now back to his normal temperature, begins to follow Ash's orders again, and even learns how to cooperate with the rest of Ash's team.

Charizard would later leave Ash's group and begin training to get stronger in Charicific Valley in the 134th episode "Charizard's Burning Ambitions," though he would always rejoin Ash whenever he needed him. At some point after "Pokemon the Series: Ruby & Sapphire" ends, Charizard would relocate to Professor Oak's Laboratory.

In the ongoing manga series, Pokémon Adventure, a Charizard is owned by a trainer named Blue. Prior to the start of the manga, Charizard - who was a Charmander at that point - was given to Blue by his grandfather, Professor Oak. While not Blue's first Pokemon, he was one of his most loyal.

Charmander makes his proper debut in the chapter "A Glimpse of the Glow." Here, Blue uses him to battle Mew, but withdraws him, partly due to Red accidentally catching his attention. At some point before "Onix is On!" Charmander evolved into Charmeleon, and helped Blue defeat Brock's team, earning them the Builder Badge. In "Kalling Kadabara," Charmeleon had evolved into Charizard, and was used to try and enter Saffron City. Charizard later defeated Koga, then assisted Red's Vensuar and Green's Blasty in defeating the combined Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres.

In Super Smash Bros., Charizard is the strongest member of Pokémon Trainer's team, and thanks to his wings, he can jump an additional time for a total of three jumps! However, Charizard is also a big target, and some of his strongest moves are rather slow. Regardless, Charizard is quite thrilled at the idea of challenging these interesting and strong competitors!

Special Moves 

 Neutral Special: Flamethrower

Charizard breathes flames in front of him, which can be aimed upwards or downwards. The more Charizard uses it, the smaller the flames become, so don't overuse it! If he starts spitting out little flames, it's best to wait a while before using Flamethrower again.

Inspired by the move, Flamethrower, from "Pokémon Red & Blue." Flamethrower is a Special Fire Type move with a power of 95 (in Gens 1-5) or 90 (in Gen 6 and onwards) that has a 10% of burning the foe.

Charizard tends to learn this move in the later levels.

 Side Special: Flare Blitz

Charizard preps himself for a sec before launching himself forward, covered in flames! The move travels pretty far, and is the strongest move Charizard has, but it slightly damages Charizard when he uses it, and again if he hits the opponent or a wall. Regardless of who or what Charizard crashes into, he'll end up tumbling for a bit, which could leave him open for a counter attack, It's best to use Flare Blitz sparingly.

Inspired by the move, Flare Blitz, introduced in "Pokémon Diamond & Pearl." Flare Blitz is a Physical Fire Type move with a power of 120 with a 10% chance of burning an opponent, but it will give the user 1/5 of the damage dealt to the opponent. If the user is frozen, using this will thaw them out immediately, but this effect isn't in Super Smash Bros.

Charizard tends to learn this move at the later levels.

 Up Special: Fly

Charizard twirls upwards towards the sky, dragging any nearby opponent with him before flinging them away.

Inspired by the move, Fly, introduced in "Pokémon Red & Blue." Fly is a Physical Flying Type move with a power of 70 (in Gens 1-3) or 90 (In Gens 4 and onwards) with an accuracy of 95%. Fly is a two-turn move, the first turn being the Pokémon flying into the sky - during which they will avoid all but a few select attacks - and the second turn being them diving into the opponent. In games prior to "Pokémon Sun & Moon," using Fly in the overworld would allow the player to fly to any town they have visited.

Charizard learns this move through the use of an HM02 or a TM, depending on the game. Notably, despite being a Flying type, Charizard was not able to learn Fly in his debut game "Pokémon Red & Blue" until "Pokémon Yellow" allowed it onwards.

 Final Smash: Triple Finish - Fire Blast

Charizard prepares himself as Pokémon Trainer sends out Squirtle and Ivysaur to help.

Charizard begins breathing powerful blasts of flame called Fire Blast at his foe, up to five of them! Fire Blast travels as far as Ivysaur's attack, and will fling foes further and further away!

Inspired by the move, Fire Blast, introduced in "Pokémon Red & Blue." It is a Special Fire Type move with a power of 120 (in Gens 1-5) or 110 (In Gens 6 and onwards) with an accuracy of 65% and a 10% chance of burning the foe.

Charizard can learn this move through the use of a TM.

Additional Notes 

Being a Fire type and all, Charizard will take additional damage if he falls into the water, so don't go swimming for too long! 

One of Charizard's alternate colors resembles Charmander's and Charmeleon's Shiny forms, while another resembles his original Shiny form from "Pokémon Gold & Silver" as well as "Pokémon Crystal."

Charizard has managed to appear in every installment of the Super Smash Bros. series, being a summonable Pokémon in Super Smash Bros. 64 and Super Smash Bros. Melee, before becoming playable in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and onwards!

While initially part of Pokémon Trainer's team in their debut in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Charizard would briefly go solo in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS & Wii U before returning to the team in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. While this is due to the fact that the Nintendo 3DS version couldn't handle Pokémon Trainer's gimmick of being able to switch between three fighters on the fly, the in-universe reason is that Charizard, like Ash's, was being disobedient and wanted to do things his own way before he decided to return to the team.