Cloud is ranked 26th on the tier list. Cloud has fast movement speed, long disjointed range, and high damage output. He can use his side attack to cancel his horizontal movement, increasing his survivability. He also has solid instant-KO attacks in his up attack and down aerial.
However, Cloud's attacks are slower than average and extend his hurtbox, mostly nullifying the benefits of having long range and weakening his neutral game. He also has a slow air speed, which gives him a weak recovery overall and guarantees his death against characters with strong edgeguarding options. Cloud has no means of dealing with projectiles at all, lacking one himself, which spells disaster for him if his opponent has anything even remotely resembling a zoning game. He generally gets battered around by characters with faster movement and attack speed. These attributes place him very low on the tier list.
Cloud performs a strong single hit with his Buster Sword, covering a considerable range in front of him as he skids forward a bit. It has a notably long attack time-out. Because Cloud starts swinging the sword from his back, it is possible to strike opponents behind Cloud.
This attack can be seen as an advanced version of his standard attack. Cloud performs a fast two-hit combo with his Buster Sword. The first slash is basically the same as his standard attack, except it comes out faster and it does not possess the long time-out of the latter, and the second is a swinging slash that covers a considerable range above Cloud's head.
Cloud raises his Buster Sword, damaging opponents that collide with it. Holding down the button makes Cloud lower his Buster Sword and he enters a harmless falling animation frame before he raises it again. Some characters, due to their frame size, may be able to evade this attack as they are moving.
Cloud surrounds himself with colorful Materia orbs that damage opponents on contact. Even though it has terrible knockback compared to his standard attack, it can gimp when used by the edge.
Cloud flips in the air as he slashes downwards. This is the attack that has the most range out of all of Cloud's attacks.
Trivia
Though the intended method to face Cloud and unlock him is to clear 100-Man Melee, exploitation of the skip glitch has found an easier and faster way to get challenged by him, as well as his other fellow SQUARE ENIX character, Crono.
The appearance of Cloud in Super Smash Flash predates by nine years his eventual appearance in both Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U as a downloadable playable character.
