A Hat in Time is a rather strange fighting game. It gives the most universal movement options of possibly any fighting game on the market, but the vanilla character options are only 1 fighter and a clone of that fighter and the equippable moves are horribly unbalanced and have varying degrees of utility. However, Marvel vs Capcom has shown us that you can have a balancing disaster and still have it be fun, and that applies to the fighting portion of A Hat in Time (this guide will not cover the platformer minigame included)

As stated in the intro there are only 2 characters who are identical so this part will be short. Hat Kid is the all-rounder shoto and Bow Kid is basically Ken but if Ken was just Ryu. There are moddable characters that actually have different movesets however there are many characters to choose from to mod in and not everyone will have it installed so for this guide we will only be covering the vanilla options.

Has access to every universal option and all-round good stats. Average movement speed, average jump height, 1 double jump, a good pick. Recommended for beginners, mid-level players, top-level players, and people who want to play the game in general.

Hat Kid but if you replaced the hat with a bow and then changed Hat Kid's name to Bow Kid. Same stats and options, pick on preference.

This game is also unique in that defense and offense in this game is not handled normally. It's very much like Tekken in that neutral is more focused on 3-dimensional movement, but not like Tekken in that they straight up removed blocking. There's armored moves, but no way to hold back and no dedicated blocking button.

Useful for footsies and attack evasion. Very broken due to the lack of proper anti-airs in this game and good air-drift stats on the 2 characters making mixing up landings very easy and catching them very difficult. This is further supplemented by the universal double jump, which instantly changes your momentum to full speed in any direction upon performing. Sadly, these double jumps have no combo utility and are used exclusively as a mixup.

Useful 2-part ability. Gives you another aerial mixup option (as if there wasn't enough) and a rapid approach tool. Unlike jump there is counterplay as the only cancel options are hookshot, which is arena dependent, or a lengthy recovery animation which leaves you in counterhit state during its duration. The animation of this looks like an overhead attack, however there is no hitbox. Make sure to not dash into your opponent unless they are recovering from a move themselves or has their controller unplugged. Despite the usefulness of this ability, beginners tend to mash it and leave themselves open to attack. This will go unpunished at low-level, but top players know to punish this and is one of the learning curves transitioning to mid-level. However, if you hit a wall without the No-Bonk badge all your momentum will be cut short and you'll fall to the ground, putting you in a trip animation which is probably the most punishable state in the game. Exercise caution around walls with this.

Shrinks your hurtbox. Not particularly useful as there are few aerial attacks and it is not enough to low-profile any grounded ones. However it can be cancelled into dash and a pretty useless crawl so at least it's something.

Has no immediate benefit as this is not Street Fighter 3 and you will receive no buffs from this. Along with the stock voicelines there are equippable stickers which can be earned via the minigame. Can be used in mindgames to enrage your opponents or confuse them, but you must be quick as the dial menu to access these taunts make you completely inactionable. You can move during the taunt though. There are also taunts bound to dpad up and down which are significantly better as you don't have to go into the laggy menu to access them and start immediately with no endlag.

There is a command taunt in this game similar to Guilty Gear's Respect. By mashing up and down on the dpad you can activate it. Not useful in combat at all due to its startup and inability to move while doing it outside of a very small area. It is useful for timing out your opponent though, as an oversight in the game's code gives opponents an irresistible urge to stop fighting and join you when you do it. Duration of this effect is completely randomized though.

A gauge that only appears after using some hats. Effectively a cooldown on hat use to prevent spam. Hat Gauge persists between hat switch and different hats cause different amounts of gauge consumption. You can only see your own gauge and the opponents gauge must be guessed. Meter management and awareness of your opponent's can make or break a match

Like every good fighting game there has to be button mashing. After being launched or bonking off a wall, timing a jump input with the landing will cut the time on the recovery animation significantly. Interestingly enough, you can also tech a dive by activating the dive recovery soon after you touch the ground, which will give a unique effect of giving a lot of forward momentum. This is not always useful in the competitive environment however as this momentum, while fast, leaves you airborne and cannot be shifted left or right much.

This is where it starts getting real. You can evade all you wish but utilizing your normals is how you will win. But you can't discuss normals without discussing the Weapon mechanic, which drastically changes your character's normals. This is actually a nod to the hit fighting game Survival Arts, which also let players collect weapons to use in combat. Bravo Vince.

Your only normal when you have no weapons. Deals no damage, stubby range, horrible recovery, practically no reason to use it. Thankfully you are unable to use this normal as you have to have no weapon equipped and you cannot de-equip weapons. If you see someone punching, feel free to bully them.

The core of your offense. Near instant startup, big range, massive disjoint, launches the opponent. Godlike, heavily privileged normal that you will use and abuse.

Has identical normals to Umbrella, however will replace your smug dance command taunt with a significantly less smug bat pose. For this alone the bat is completely tournament unviable and should be avoided and Bat mains ridiculed.

Identical to the stock umbrella but you can be quirky and unique.

Identical to the stock umbrella but gives your character a passive +5% buoyancy buff. Has no effect on competitive gameplay.

Identical to the stock umbrella but you can be closer to your lord and savior Herbert. https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/2316601738448748710/36EB98839F2AB6BA5F8E82424CBB7070C158C193/?imw=256&&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

Could've been incredibly broken due to its namesake homing property making it unable to miss, big activation range, good damage and complete invulnerability until it hits. However a glitch makes it unable to target other players. Shame.

A Hat in Time has a unique fighting game mechanic in the Hats, which function like assists if you could just equip every assist with no decision making involved. This allows your character to have new equippable special moves to use during a fight at the cost of having to grind the dumb platforming minigame to get them. All tournament organizers should be advised to make sure all special moves are unlocked on all the setups as to ensure fair play.

The stock hat given at the start. Has no competitive utility as it has no combat function and will be on your head when something actually useful could be on it. Skip this hat.

Install super that will make your character significantly faster for no meter. Downright broken hat and will dominate the top of your head and the competition 90% of the time.

Gives your character a new projectile, the explosive potion. Flies in a predetermined arc before exploding on contact with a wall or the ground. Not a very good projectile as it does not hurt on direct contact, the explosion is of a pretty small size and only works from very specific ranges. Has a niche in some midrange fights but attempting to use this regularly will result in an aggressive player shutting you down quick.

Divekick-type super that will stop all air momentum and send you hurtling down to the ground into a massive earthquake-style explosion. Can also be performed on the ground which will automatically tiger knee the move. This move also has a nice bonus of having full invulnerability throughout its duration, and can be held to increase its duration with no increase to endlag or meter consumption making it a good reversal and mixup tool. Good get-off-me move and aerial mixup with a ludicrous range. Beware however as the attack is very reactable and the shockwave is much like Potemkin's Slidehead in it doesn't hit aerial opponents, which is a big deal in how aerial-centric the metagame is. Use often but use with caution of its reactability and meter burn.

Has some niches in some arenas due to having the ability to turn some stage elements into solid ground or thin air at the cost of meter. The bubble however has no hitbox and should not be used for a purpose other than to trigger the stage elements. Do not attempt to attack with this.

Super move that slows time, not stopping it as its name would suggest. Could potentially have had utility like Axl's One Vision in Strive, however due to a misplaced semicolon in the code the time wave actually has no effect on other players, making it a basically useless super. Costs significant meter, too. Just don't use it.

Before you hop into matchmaking, it is important to understand the Badge system and how to use it. The badges you choose can decide a match. This guide will only cover meta-relevant badges and will not cover cosmetic/minigame-focused badges

Bad badge. Gives your main 3-hit jab an option to cancel the first hit into a projectile. While this projectile has an impressive hitbox, range and knockback, it is completely unable to be aimed after starting, has a long startup which is extremely reactable, and has minimal benefit when charged, making it a very commital option. Each charge makes the laser bigger, deal more damage and look cooler and can be charged to level 3. Good on paper but doubling or even tripling an already reactable startup for a bigger hitbox that probably won't hit a competent opponent has minimal utility.

Broken badge. Increases Hat Gauge fill rate, effectively giving you more meter to use your hats with. No reason not to choose, as simple as that.

Dependent on stage. Gives an extra mobility option at designated hookpoints, is dead weight otherwise. Use if you will be fighting in an area with said hookpoints, as the mobility option is very nice outside of its long startup.

Only use if you are fighting on a high area. Spares fall damage from high heights at the cost of an extremely long animation which is completely uncancellable. Waste of a slot otherwise.

Makes you climb walls when diving into them instead of bonking off. Useful for giving the dash more mobility and options as well as making it less punishable. Good badge for a dash-heavy playstyle and just in general.

Not very useful. Gives your sprint hat a speed boost but less cancel options and mobility (first jump cannot alter trajectory and turning has more of a curve), along with having a startup instead of being immediate. The only cancel options out of scooter is jab, a double jump, or a long recovery by using the sprint hat again which leaves you airborne. Has niche playstyles but using stock Sprint Hat is probably the better option.

Reduces your character's health to 1/4th at the benefit of nothing. Use this to make your friends mad or lose your local tournament immediately.

hit them and dont get hit back

Now that all the details have been covered you are now combat ready for the wild world of A Hat in Time fighting. Hopefully this scene can grow into a large and thriving metagame as A Hat in Time is a really underrated fighting game. If anyone from Dustloop is reading this guide I think your guy's emails are broken because I emailled about adding this game to your site 397 times and none of the requests ever got a response, which I think was a mistake. Looking forward to hearing back!