Side Smash Attack

A side smash attack, also known as a forward smash, is a smash attack that any character can perform by tapping the control stick in a horizontal or slightly above horizontal direction and pressing A immediately afterward, or by tilting the C-stick in a horizontal or slightly above horizontal direction, though the latter method does not work in the single-player modes of Super Smash Bros. Melee (since it moves the camera instead) or in Super Smash Bros. (as the C buttons are used to jump in SSB). Like strong side attacks, certain side smashes can be performed at two or three different angles depending on where the control stick is directed, directing the hitbox in that diagonal direction.

In Melee and Brawl, the side smash can be charged by holding down the A button for up to two seconds, resulting in higher damage and knockback.

List of side smashes in Super Smash Bros.

 * Mario: Winds up to deliver a powerful punch with an enlarged fist. Slow, but a great KO move.
 * Donkey Kong: Brings his hand behind himself, then slaps the foe hard. Incredibly strong, but one of the slowest Smashes in this game.
 * Link: Slashes from top to bottom. Deals good damage and has nice reach.
 * Samus: Punches with her arm cannon. A quick attack with fair knockback.
 * Yoshi: Slams the foe with his head. Comparable to Mario's Side Smash in terms of speed and power.
 * Kirby: A furious spin kick with good range and power.
 * Fox: Fox spin kicks, lunging forward onto the ground. Not an outstanding KO move, but good speed.
 * Pikachu: Lets loose a powerful jolt of a electricity for great damage. Has a disjointed hitbox.
 * Luigi: A huge, powerful punch attack similar to Mario's Side Smash.
 * Captain Falcon: Delivers a spinning side kick imbued with fire.
 * Ness: Swings his baseball bat for a powerful attack.
 * Jigglypuff: Performs a lunging kick similar to Kirby's Side Smash in terms of speed and power.

List of side smashes in Super Smash Bros. Melee

 * Mario: Looses a blast of fire from his extended palm. Very poor range (stronger when used from not very close), yet very powerful and very quick. This move can also be angled.


 * Luigi: Performs a horizontal spearhand. A quick move that can be angled up or down.


 * Peach: Swings forward one of three items - golf club, tennis racket, or frying pan (the most damaging of the three). All three items have a disjointed hitbox.


 * Bowser: Rears his head back, then headbutts forward. Noticeably long start-up, but definitely the strongest Smash Attack in Melee.


 * Dr. Mario: Extends his palm, unleashing a powerful electric blast. Like Mario's Side Smash, but has more knockback and is stronger when used close to him.


 * Donkey Kong: Claps forward with surprising speed and great knockback.


 * Link: Slashes forward. The player can perform a second, stronger Smash by hitting the A button or C-stick immediately following the first attack.  Decent reach on both slashes.


 * Zelda: Zaps the foe with magic from her extended hands. Somewhat quick with slightly disjointed hitbox. Multiple hits.


 * Sheik: Performs two rolling kicks forward. The first kick usually leads right into the second, which does knockback.


 * Ganondorf: Lunges forward with an elbow thrust, much like Captain Falcon. Deals high damage and is imbued with shadow. Enemies are sent flying upwards.


 * Young Link: Like Link's, this Smash has a second available hit. This one is a bit faster with more horizontal knockback.  The first hit is also weaker, so it is easy to trap foes and land both hits.


 * Samus: Punches forward with her Arm Cannon. Quick, but not impressively strong.


 * Yoshi: Slams horizontally with his head. Some start-up lag, but good knockback power.


 * Kirby: Jumps forward while kicking. Good reach.


 * Fox: Does a sort of spinning kick while jumping forward. A rather quick move, with enough power to make it a viable finisher.


 * Falco: Performs a kicking attack much like Fox's, although it may be slightly stronger and has more knockback.


 * Pikachu: Looses a thunder jolt from its cheeks. Great knockback and disjointed hitbox, but some start-up lag.


 * Jigglypuff: Lunges forward while kicking. Some start-up lag, but strong nonetheless.


 * Pichu: Zaps the foe with electricity from its cheeks, like Pikachu, but with less range. This move, however, scores multiple hits, and the last hit deals high knockback.


 * Mewtwo: Blasts psychic energy from its palms. Decent reach, but weak knockback.


 * Ness: Swings his famous baseball bat. A powerful move which can even reflect most projectiles.


 * Captain Falcon: Thrusts his elbow forward. Good knockback, but considerable starting lag.


 * Marth: This is considered by many to be the best Forward Smash in Melee. Marth slashes quickly from top to bottom, with a powerful sweet spot at the sword's tip.  It is very fast, and gives good range.


 * Roy: Much like Marth's, a huge vertical slash. Roy's, however, is slightly slower, but with amazingly strong knockback.


 * Mr. Game & Watch: Hits the foe with a fire poker. Slow, but strong, with a long-lasting hitbox.

List of side smashes in Super Smash Bros. Brawl

 * Mario: Sticks out his palm and looses a burst of fire. A quick, ranged smash, and also quite powerful, especially when sweetspotted. Slightly disjointed hitbox, can be angled.


 * Luigi: Horizontally spearhand karate chops forward. Most likely his best KO move, this is very quick with some of the highest knockback in the game despite its very poor damage for such massive knockback. Aimed upward uncharged can KO below 75%. Can be angled (very strong when upward). When opponent damage goes above 260% this move will have more knockback than a reverse Warlock Punch. When this move is upward Pivoting, it has more power and is less laggy. Due to both great horizontal and vertical knockback Directional Influence does not make the victim resist much better.


 * Peach: Swings forward with either a golf club, frying pan or tennis racket. Each weapon has varying knockback, damage and range. The tennis racket does little damage and has very weak knockback when sourspotted, but extremely high knockback when sweetspotted. The golf club has long range and decent power. The frying pan does the most damage, but doesn't have much knockback and is short range. All three possess a disjointed hitbox.


 * Bowser: Headbutts forward. Most damaging forward smash in the game (does 46% damage fully charged) and very high knockback, but with little range and a lot of start-up and ending lag as well as it has sweetspot.


 * Captain Falcon: Elbows forward. Gives out a fire effect, and can be angled. Slow, but powerful.


 * Donkey Kong: Claps forward. Great knockback, especially when charged, and quite quick considering its power. Also great range and priority despite not having disjointed hitbox.


 * Diddy Kong: Spins his body around, hitting first with a weak right arm then again with a strong left arm, screeching whilst doing so. Surprising range, but quite weak for a smash.It's also possible to smash DI upward the first hit to avoid the 2nd hit.


 * Yoshi: Swings his head forward. Can be angled, but hard to distinguish.


 * Wario: Performs his shoulder charge from Wario Land games. Poor range, but above-average strength and extremely quick. Has a small amount of Super Armor.


 * Link: Swings his sword forward. The attack button/C-stick can be hit again to deliver a second, more powerful hit. First hit is now more powerful than Melee, so the second hit is harder to hit with. Also, under some circumstances, this can do more damage than Bowser's f-smash.


 * Zelda: Sticks her arm out and lets out a small burst of magic, which sucks foes in and deals multiple hits. The last hit has a lot of knockback. This is quite quick, powerful, and has a very small disjointed hitbox.


 * Sheik: 2 rolling-kicks forward. The first kick nearly always links into the second, more powerful kick.


 * Ganondorf: Elbows forward, like Captain Falcon. Gives a darkness effect. Stronger and with more range, but surprisingly just as fast. Can be angled but it doesn't change damage. One of the strongest side smashes in the game. Pivot forward smash has more range than usual and deals high shield stun. Has a huge disjointed hitbox.


 * Toon Link: Similar to Link's. However, the first swipe delivers set vertical knockback, the second hit can be blocked after being hit with the first, and the 2nd strike has good knockback.


 * Samus: Shoves arm cannon forward forcefully. Quick but weak if not angled upward though still below average knockback. Can be angled.


 * Zero Suit Samus: Whips forward with the plasma whip. A lot of range. Has noticeable startup lag as well. Large disjointed hitbox. Hits behind as well. Not the power of a forward smash tough.


 * Pit: Swipes forward twice with swords. Very fast with good knockback when fresh, one of Pit's better KO moves.


 * Ice Climbers: Swing hammers forward. Not their best finisher.


 * R.O.B.: Lets loose a blast of fire/electric energy from his eyes. Can be angled. Disjointed hitbox, useful knockback for spike setup, but weak for a side smash.


 * Kirby: Jumps forward with his foot extended. Similar to Jigglypuff's, but with less start-up lag and more range. Can be angled.


 * Meta Knight: Pulls his sword back and, after a grunt, looses forward an astoundingly powerful slash. This is considered to be Meta Knight's only laggy move (if only quite slow), in any way, shape or form.


 * King Dedede: Swings hammer forward, very slowly. This is incredibly powerful when tipped in the air or in the ground the head of the hammer. The highest knockback side smash in the game. Slowest start up side smash but not the worst end lag. Weak if sourspotted.


 * Olimar: A Pikmin spins and flys forward. This has a lot of range, but only delievers powerful knockback when the opponent is near to you and when you use a red/purple Pikmin.


 * Fox: A simple forward cartwheel. Same as his Melee side smash, with a different animation. Decent knockback and range.


 * Falco: A slashing cross-chop forward. The most powerful side smash of the Space Animals, and very powerful in general. Is quite slow and has some ending lag. Good range, also has a huge sweetspot hitbox behind Falco. Weak if tipped.


 * Wolf: Slides forward in an odd pose, with his front claws outstretched. This cannot be shield grabbed. Incredible range, fast and decent knockback.


 * Pikachu: Looses a burst of electricity in a ball from its cheeks. Large disjointed hitbox, but noticable start-up lag. Does a lot of knockback near Pikachu's body, though not as much if the opponent is further away.


 * Squirtle: Charges forward, shell-first. Cannot be shield grabbed.


 * Ivysaur: Plants vines on the floor and pushes its body forward with lots of force. Cannot be shield grabbed initailly, but can be after Ivysaur returns to the ground. Good KO move.


 * Charizard: After some start-up lag, it roars while it slams its head forward and upwards. Long range, double hit and amazing knockback, not very slow for its power.


 * Lucario: Looses a burst of aura. Extremely high knockback when Lucario has high damage, otherwise weak. Has some start up lag. Has IASA frames shortly after the hitbox ends allowing another fsmash to be started without cooldown.


 * Jigglypuff: Similar to Kirby, it jumps forward with its foot extended. It has more startup lag and less range, but more knockback and damage.


 * Marth: Swings his sword forward over his head. Very fast and is very powerful when opponents are hit at the tip of the sword.


 * Ike: Smashes his sword forward. Very powerful but incredibly slow and terrible end lag if he misses like most of his moves. Out of all the low percentage KOing side smashes, this is one of the most reliable.


 * Ness: Swings a baseball bat forward, with significant start up lag. The tip of the bat is more powerful than the rest of it, and it can reflect projectiles. Great finisher.


 * Lucas: A very quick swing forward with a twig. This can also reflect projectiles. Similar to Ness', but quicker, a bit less powerful (though still good knockback), and more reliable to reflect projectiles with (because of speed). Like Ness', has a spark on the tip of the twig for even more knockback. Even though weaker than Ness', an outstanding finisher.


 * Snake: Fires an RPG-7 at his feet. Large hitbox, can OHKO if fully charged anyone except Bowser without directional influence and used from the extreme of Final Destination. Almost no vertical knockback but a large amount of start up lag. Best used with surprise because it also deals high amount of shield damage and high amount of shield stun and if hit it can KO very early.


 * Sonic: Punches forwards. A good KO move, but lacks in range and is slower than most of his other attacks. Can be angled. Tip of fist has fairly high priority, enough to fight against swords and pass through Mach Tornado.

Notable side smashes

 * Link, Young Link, and Toon Link have a second side smash that can be performed by tapping A again after completing the first slash.
 * Ness' and Lucas' side smash is unique mainly because it allows them to reflect trajectory attacks, if timed correctly.
 * Marth's forward smash is most likely the most well known and feared of all the side smashes because of its speed, range, and knockback.
 * Roy's side smash is one of the few finishing moves in his arsenal, having longer reach and a stronger knock-back than Marth's forward smash.
 * Bowser's side smash is the most powerful in Melee, doing 32% fully charged, and can even send the Sandbag farther than the Home-Run Bat at certain percentages. In Brawl, it is powered up even more to 48%, making it the most damaging side smash.
 * Wolf's forward smash has incredible range, and almost no start-up lag.
 * Ike's side smash. Although it doesn't deal as much damage as a few of the strongest characters, it has the second highest knockback and extremely long range, though this is counterbalanced by considerable start-up and follow-up lag.
 * Peach's side smash involves one of three randomly chosen weapons, each with varying range, damage, knockback and knockback angle.
 * Lucario's Side smash (as well as its up smash) leaves a small ranged Aura residue from its paws, allowing Lucario to attack from a small distance. Also has IASA frames.
 * Wario has a forward smash that comes out quick,does decent damage, and good knock-back. However it is notable for having a good amount of Super Armor.
 * Luigi's side smash has surprisingly high knockback.. When angled up and fully charged, at +260% it has even higher knockback than the reverse Warlock Punch. That makes it the most powerful side smash at very high percentages.
 * King Dedede has the highest knockback of any forward smash, along with Snake.