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. When on ice terrain it becomes very useful for far away opponents, if you charge your smash you will slowly slide in the direction you pressed while charging, allowing you to take full advantage of the area. This doesn't work for up/down smash.

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.

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

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 (the longest reach of the three), tennis racket (the highest knockback of the three), 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.
 * Ice Climbers: Smashes both hammers forward, huge damage(more than Bowser's)and knockback if both are together, still decent if apart.
 * 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: Pulls his left hand back over his shoulder and thrusts his palm forward, releasing a blast of fire. When sweetspoted, this attack is very powerful with high priority. When sourspotted, the move is not as powerful, but still enough to kill around 125%.
 * Luigi: Horizontally spears with his left hand. Most likely his best KO move, this is very quick and deals a great amount of knockback, one of the most powerful in the game, despite its very poor damage. Like Mario's side smash, it can be angled, and deals even more knockback when aimed upward. Even when uncharged, the attack can KO below 75% when angled upward. When the opponent's damage goes above 260%, this move will have more knockback than a reverse Warlock Punch. When this move is used while pivoting, it has more power and is less laggy. Due to its great horizontal and vertical knockback, Directional Influence does not have great effect on the knockback of this attack.
 * Peach: Swings 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 higher knockback, does 13-18% damage and has the strongest semi-spike in the game when sweetspotted, enough to KO at mid percentage (from 60% onwards) when fully charged. The golf club has long range and decent power. The frying pan does the most damage and doesn't have much knockback and has short range. When sweetspotted, it does 19-27% damage. At above 50%, the frying pan has powerful vertical knockback. At above 100%, the frying pan is able to star KO the opponent when fully charged. All three of them possess disjointed hitboxes.
 * Bowser: Reels back and headbutts forward. The most damaging forward smash in the game (does 46% damage fully charged) and has very high knockback but low range for a heavyweight. It has a long lag during start-up and cool-down, its effectiveness is limited.
 * Captain Falcon: Drives his elbow forward. It does fire damage, and can be angled as well. It is slow with low priority, and very unsafe on shields, but high knockback.
 * Donkey Kong: Claps his hands together in front of him. Has great knockback, especially when charged, and is quite quick compared to most smashes considering its power. It has both long range and good priority despite not having a disjointed hitbox.
 * Diddy Kong: Slaps in front of him while spinning around, hitting first with a weak right arm then again with a strong left arm. It's also possible to smash DI the first hit to avoid being hit by the 2nd slap. Not a very powerful attack.
 * Yoshi: Thrusts his head forward. Decent knockback (comparable to Mario's side smash). It can be angled, but is very hard to distinguish visually. Only avagage attack speed means its effectiveness is poor unless pulled off at the right time.
 * Wario: Performs a shoulder charge, similar to that of the Wario Land games. Poor range, but above-average strength and extremely fast for a forward smash (9 frame attack). Has some amount of Super Armor frames (on frames 8-12).
 * Link: Swings his sword from side to side in front of him. This attack is a natural combo, for the attack button/C-stick can be hit again to deliver a second, more powerful hit. First hit is now more powerful than Melee's, so the second hit is harder to hit with. The first strike is stronger at the tip while the second hit is stronger when close-up. Under some circumstances, this can do more damage than Bowser's forward-smash.
 * Zelda: Thrusts her arm out and lets loose 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 disjointed hitbox. Can be easily SDI'd out of, so its not very useful against skilled players.
 * Sheik: Spin-kicks forward twice. The first kick has less knockback and easily combos into the second, more powerful kick. Quite weak for a side smash, and the second kick does not always connect.
 * Ganondorf: Jams his elbow forward, similar to Captain Falcon's Forward Smash. Deals darkness damage. Stronger than Captain Falcon's and with more range, but surprisingly just as fast. It can be angled but it doesn't have an effect on damage dealt. One of the strongest side smashes in the game. The pivoted smash attack has more range than usual and has high shield stun. It has a disjointed hitbox.
 * Toon Link: Performs an attack which is similar to Link's Forward Smash, and also a natural combo. However, the first slash delivers set vertical knockback, while the 2nd strike has good knockback, though it's evadable and can be blocked even if hit by the first strike. Lightweights can escape easily.
 * Samus: Shoves her arm cannon forward quickly but forcefully. It can be angled, but the attack is very weak even if it is angled upwards due to its below average knockback. Low base knockback, but high on the knockback scailing.
 * Zero Suit Samus: Whips forward with her plasma whip. Great range, but has noticeable startup lag. Large disjointed hitbox, and hits behind her too. Not as powerful as a regular forward smash.
 * Pit: Slashes forward twice with bow swords. Very fast with good knockback when not negated. It is one of Pit's finishing moves. The 2nd hit is evadable, but it's tricky to do so.
 * Ice Climbers: Overhead-swing their hammers to the ground. Does not deal as much knockback as in Melee. One of their finishing moves.
 * R.O.B.: Lets loose a blast of electric energy from his eyes. It can be angled too. It has a disjointed hitbox, has knockback that is useful for setting up a spike, but is a tad weak for a side smash.
 * Mr. Game & Watch: Overhead-swings a lighted match. Very powerful, with a long-lasting hitbox, making it difficult to punish. Very powerful and one of the best side smashes in the game.
 * Kirby: Lunges forward and jump-kicks. Quick start-up and good range, with huge knockback and priority. It also can be angled. Another one of the best side smashes in the game.
 * Meta Knight: Pulls his sword back and slashes across with astounding force, dealing a good amount of knockback. One of Meta Knight's slower finishers (24 frames start-up), although this attack is less laggy than most forward smashes due to almost no ending lag.
 * King Dedede: Overhead-swings his hammer very slowly. This attack is disjointed. It is incredibly powerful when hitting by the tip in the air or by the head on the ground, as they are sweetspots. It has the highest knockback for a side-smash in the game when hitting with the sweetspots. However, it is also the forward smash with the slowest start up (43 frames) and is very weak when sourspotted. Let's of a shockwave on the ground near the hammer.
 * Olimar: Commands a Pikmin to perform a ramming attack, causing it to fly forward while spinning. This attack has great range due to its disjointed hitbox, but only delivers powerful knockback only at close range, for strength decreases the farther the Pikmin travels.
 * Fox: Performs a forward cartwheel. It has moderate knockback and range, but is very fast.
 * Falco: Does a slashing cross-chop. The most powerful side smash of the Star Fox cast, and very powerful in general. The attack is a bit slow and has some ending lag but it has pretty good range. It also has a huge sweetspot behind Falco. It is weak if hit by the tip, but still knocks the opponents far enough so they can't counterattack.
 * Wolf: Stretches his arms in front of his body and thrusts forward, then twists his claws. This attack moves Wolf along the ground, starts quickly, is the longest ranging forward smash in the game, and often strikes opponents twice, but delivers below average knockback and has noticeable cool-down time.
 * Pikachu: Releases a burst of electricity from its cheeks. It has a huge disjointed hitbox, but has noticeable start-up lag. The closer the opponent is to Pikachu, the more strength this attack has.
 * Squirtle: Retracts into its shell and launches forward. Moderate knockback and damage. It has Super Armor frames that prevent Squirtle from being shield-grabbed during the attack.
 * Ivysaur: Plants two vines on the floor and thrusts itself forward with a lot of force. Cannot be shield grabbed until after it gets on its feet. Good knockback makes it a decent finisher.
 * Charizard: Rams its head forward and upwards, dealing two hits. It has long range, and amazing knockback, making it a great KO move, but it does have some start-up lag that accounts for this power.
 * Lucario: Releases a burst of aura. Lucario's Aura ability does affect this attack; if Lucario is at low damage, it will be weak, while at high damage, it has great strength. It has some start up lag, but has IASA frames shortly after the hitbox ends allowing another forward-smash to be started without cooldown. Very hard to punish.
 * Jigglypuff: Jump-kicks forward, similar to Kirby. It has more startup lag and less range than Kirby's, and deals less knockback, but more damage and has a longer duration. Still, it is a powerful attack.
 * Marth: Swings his sword from behind to the front over his head. It is very fast (hits on frame 10), has a great disjointed range and is very powerful when opponents are hit at the tip of the sword. When uncharged, though, a good DI can make super-heavyweight characters, like Bowser, survive up to 200%.
 * Ike: Overhead-swings his sword forward to the ground. It is extremely powerful and has a great, disjointed range but is incredibly slow (it has about 30 frames start-up) and terrible end lag if he misses like most of his moves. It is slightly weaker at the tip though it is still very powerful.
 * Ness: Swings his 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: Quickly swings his stick forward. This can also reflect projectiles. Similar to Ness, but is faster. It is a bit less powerful (though it stil has good knockback), and more reliable to reflect projectiles with because of its speed. Like Ness', it has a sweetspot on the tip of the stick for even more knockback. Even though weaker than Ness' baseball bat, it is an outstanding finisher if it connects.
 * Snake: Slowly 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 end of Final Destination. Almost no vertical knockback but the second slowest forward smash in the game (It hits on frames 41-43) and quite short range for a powerful attack, even though it's disjointed. Best used as a surprise attack because it also deals high amount of shield stun and its great knockback, especially when near the edge of the stage.
 * Sonic: Punches in front of him. A good KO move, but it lacks in range and is slower than most of his other attacks. It can be angled. The tip of his fist has fairly high priority, enough to clash against swords and pass through the Mach Tornado. This is Sonic's most powerful attack.

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. This also applies to Captain Falcon and Sheik's side smashes with any battering weapon, barring the Home-Run Bat in Brawl.
 * Ness's and Lucas's are unique, mainly because it allows them to reflect trajectory attacks and projectiles 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 is one of the few finishing moves in his arsenal, having longer reach and a stronger knock-back than Marth's.
 * Bowser's 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, up to 46%, making it the most damaging Side Smash in the series.
 * Wolf's forward smash has incredible range, and almost no start-up lag.
 * Ike's, 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 (about 30 frames) and follow-up lag.
 * Peach's involves one of three randomly chosen weapons, each with varying range, damage, knockback and knockback angle, and also has a slight range behind her.
 * 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's comes out very quick, does decent damage, and good knock-back, though it has poor range. However, it is notable for having a good amount of Super Armor.
 * Luigi's 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.
 * Ganondorf's has very high knockback when fully charged, and can KO almost any character at low percentages (from 30% onwards)
 * King Dedede, Ike, Ganondorf and Snake have the highest knockback of any forward smash below 260% damage.