[base form changes]
so, what has been changed?
a ton.
i do recommend modifying your control scheme to have special, strong and taunt somewhere on the bumpers or triggers if you play with controller. especially to use rune. (its for the best, i swear)

-----basic attacks-----
to KICK us off, ronald mcdonald's down-tilt has two forms.
by default, its a low sweep kick that sets up combos with a slightly inward angle, but if you press strong during its startup it becomes cheese sheet.
cheese sheet places a lingering hitbox that covers a now halved area of ground and control space or landing area.
it only deals stun to opponents that are already stunned, so it can be used to combo-extend, but it wont start combos if the opponent just walks through it (if theyre not in stun, it just threatens light damage like zetterburn fire puddle without fire amps)
the cheese sheet now has a cooldown like re-balanced ronald did, but unlike him the cooldown ends if the opponent is hit by the cheese, allowing you to immediately replace them, but not spam multiple.
the cheese can now be destroyed by enemy attacks, so it should be used carefully. destroying the cheese quickly will leave it on cooldown for a good stretch of time.
it is much slower to use, and isnt something you can do whenever you want.
you can also drop it on opponents from above at the ledge, like villager bowling ball from super smash bros, but this is kinda useless and only exists so you cant place it hovering off stage.
lastly, the cheeses cooldown has a cheese indicator on the hud, so no guessing game like re-balanced.

his f-tilt now has an upward angle that sets up into most other combo moves, or a tech-read.
it has a slight knockback scaling, which reduces combo potential at high percents.

up-tilt hitstun has been increased, so it can actually combo now, and is one of few moves that combos into fair or dair (your kill aerials.)


nair has had its hitstun dramatically reduced, its angle adjusted and been given knockback scaling to resolve its infinite death loops. it still combos well, especially as a landing aerial. depending on position it can combo into burger lob.
you can throw two nairs in a short hop, but only if the first one lands.

fair is WAY slower. its a combo finisher off of some moves and a brutal kill move offstage. its also disjointed, unlike original ronald who has a hurtbox on the fry.
shorthop fair lands before it ends onstage.

dair is similar to fair, a ton slower proportionally to other attacks, but of course, a spike.

up air is a much heavier hitter now that can viably kill off the top at very high percents.
shorthop up air has time to barely double jump before it lands but not throw out any moves. (except go happy or up special, since they stop you from falling)

back air remains to be one of ronalds fastest and safest aerials, but now with his size, it is outranged by a ton of things.
you can throw two back airs in a shorthop even on whiff, or back air>nair or back air>burger lob.


all strongs are a ton slower and deal less damage.
down strong combo's better, and kills earlier.

f strong is the slowest of all, but a brutally early kill if you can confirm it (such as off of mcshake stun) or get a good read.

up strong is an early percent combo starter and a high percent off the top kill move.
this combos any aerial, or any aerial special, or insta-shake.


-----special attacks-----
for starters, all burgers have been fixed to not pass through walls.

here's the fun part. neutral special.
-Burger throw (tap neutral special, grounded)
a fast and decently safe projectile that can cover ground space or hit off stage opponents. it technically can kill, but at some stupid percent, or near the blast zone.
can be used during grounded combos or after landing nair to combo.
it is now reflected by parries and can be destroyed by attacks.

-Burger lob (tap neutral special, aerial.)
the burger clowns bread and butter.
unlike alzter ronald, this throws a somewhat slow traveling burger in a high arch, which does well to threaten airspace, threaten approaches and be overall oppressive when used well.
it is very fast, and fairly safe, but due to its arch, ineffective on nearby targets.
unless they're very close by, and slightly above you, in which case this acts as a great kill confirm and combo tool into the clowns slower combo finishers.
this combo's off of landing nair, up-tilt, rising nair, up-strong and a ton of other things as an extender.
it is also now reflected by parries and can be destroyed by attacks. due to the odd angle and speed of the projectile, reflecting it is unlikely to hit ronald.
you can throw two of these in a short hop, or burger lob>back air, burger lob>nair or burger lob>up air.

-Burger (Mc)Flurry (charged neutral special, grounded)
this is a strong option for covering ground space, attacking from afar, defending the edge, punishing predictable recoveries and deals decent damage. (if you're a tiny clown)
although, yes, the burgers can be destroyed by attacks, most wont stop all 4.
at long distance, parrying them also wont hit ronald with the reflection because the burgers collide and stop eachother, so its safe at good range.

-Fanned burgers (charged neutral special, aerial.)
the height gained from this move is no longer enough to recover but can be used to air-stall, mix up recovery or move horizontally.
this is no longer a spike, but instead pulls opponents up and towards you for a followup.
this can combo into literally any aerial, or aerial special depending on enemy % and positioning.


side special.
-Go happy (tap side special)
this is a combo starter or extender on the ground, but a high damage combo finisher in the air. (also builds the most meter of all possible combo finishers due to high damage + multihit)
its travel distance is dramatically reduced, and it has a subtly longer cooldown between uses. (prevents potential infinites and forces variety in combos)
on the ground, it combos mostly anything other than f strong and down strong, but loses the ability to combo grounded attacks at higher percents.

-Go active (charged side special)
works as a high damage punish tool on the ground, and as a kill move in the air. solid rush option to close distance and attack from afar either way, and deals very high damage.
its slow and punishable, however, and doesn't generally combo.
at the edge, you can combo grounded go active from landing nair or landing burger lob at the right percent.


up special is the simplest changes out of all specials.
doesnt travel as far, animation ends rather than being cancellable, angle adjusted, regained on wall jumps.
it is lil ronalds fastest attack startup, and a good combo tool that combo off of most things and into almost anything airborne.
its important to remember when using it offensively that you dont regain it if you get hit, and getting knocked offstage is brutal without it.
try comboing up special into fanned burgers.


down special.
-McShake lob (tap down special, grounded)
lobs a milkshake into the air and creates a geyser of stunning plasma from where it lands.
basically unchanged, but the timing, positioning, damage and stun have been tweaked, alongside the universal size changes to hitboxes.
a powerful space control option that sets up whatever you want. its weakness is being a little slow, delayed and narrow, hard to land.

-McShake toss (tap down special, aerial)
the same as McShake toss, but throws it farther.

-Apple bomb (charged down special, grounded)
plants a bomb that explodes on a delay and deals massive damage and has high kill power.
it is slow to plant and has had its startup hitbox removed, along with its damage reduced.
its timer is also longer.
it has increased hitpause and hitstun, so you can combo off of it.
it can be detonated early at any time while flashing, making it a threatening stage control option.
if positioned right, landing nair, burger toss, jab, f-tilt, d-tilt, go happy or fanned burgers can combo into the manual detonation.

-Apple drop (charged down special, aerial)
drops a bomb from above with a weak spike hitbox, and once it hits the ground, it primes to explode.
functionally the same as the grounded form once dropped, although it has a shorter fuse and smaller hitbox.

-Apple detonation (charged down special while apple is flashing)
exactly what it says on the tin. this is the input for detonating the apple.


-----taunt and EX attacks-----

(EX's replace the soul siphon lock-on mechanic, since i felt unavoidable infinite range instant guaranteed death was a LITTLE unfair.)

taunt.
-Hard-Read (tap taunt)
ronalds teleport counter, now with longer startup (slightly), reduced duration and a good amount more endlag.

-Todays special... (charged taunt)
converts 20 super into 1 soul point.
if you tap taunt a second time while its active, it will convert as many times as you can afford at once, like bulk-buying, so you dont need to slowly use this animation up to 5 times.


EX down special.
-Insta-Shake. (strong held during tap down special, grounded)
drops a McShake directly onto the ground for instant geyser.
powerful anti-air and combo tool with a deadly stun.
consumes a soul point.

-Shake cascade (strong held during tap down special, aerial)
throws four shakes at progressively faster speeds, creating a sequential wave of delayed geysers.
like the normal mcshake but it effects a crazy big area. the geysers will be more spread out if thrown from higher.
consumes a soul point.

-Atomic apple (strong held during charged down special, grounded)
drops an apple that explodes multiple times on a delay, creating a lingering threat of explosions for four whole seconds.
consumes a soul point.
if detonated early, multiple explosions go off at once and deal way bigger damage to the opponent if theyre inside it.

-Volatile apple (strong held during charged down special, aerial)
drops an apple bomb that explodes instantly on contact with the ground.
consumes a soul point.


EX cheese sheet.
-Boiling cheese (taunt held during cheese sheet startup, or in other words, taunt and strong during d-tilt startup)
boiling cheese places a burning hot sheet of cheese that deals knockback regardless of enemy state, and lights them on fire, offering greater damage and stage control over cheese sheet.
kinda jank and risky, but you can actually combo off of dropping it off stage, unlike cheese sheet.
consumes a soul point.


-----supers and ultras-----

-McLazer
same as usual, but with a VASTLY harder time gaining meter and the ability to lose it when parried, li'l ronald wont often get to use this.
if he does, however, it does have a long start up and wont be as guaranteed in neutral. some moves combo it, or you can just get it off of parries, or recovery punish.



li'l ronald is a brutal trapper/zoner who wants to stay in close-mid range to try to capitalize on the combo centric design of his gameplay and traps.
with his greatest kill options being unreliable, unconfirmable, a delayed area trap or a slow building meter that may as well be a timer until certain death, li'l ronald can get stuck in droughts of no kills until very late percents that doom him, even with an incredible neutral game.
li'l ronald is also lighter and at risk of early deaths.
li'l ronald can feel oppressive and dominant with good setup and meter, but easily be overwhelmed or killed due without resources, breathing room and stage control.

golden form doesnt come with built in runes or any kind of special mechanics anymore (projectile streams, regen, meter building, etc.)
golden form is basically just way better frame data, mobility, etc. (more similar to alzter ronald frame data)
golden form doesnt have infinites or any notable cheese as far as im aware but it certainly isn't fair.


please report bugs and cheese!