Assist Trophy

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Assist Trophy
Series	Super Smash Bros.
Item Class	Summoning
Appearance

An Assist Trophy is a recurring item throughout the Super Smash Bros. series that summons a certain character to temporarily assist the user. They first appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Overview

Kirby about to summon an Assist Trophy character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

By grabbing and using an Assist Trophy, a character from a certain game, series, or franchise arrives to assist the user temporarily. Assist Trophies function nearly the same as Poké Balls, except no Pokémon can be released from them. When a fighter picks up an Assist Trophy, the character is released from it automatically, not by throwing it. The fighter using an Assist Trophy must be on the ground to use it, since they cannot do so in midair. If a player is attacked and sent flying after grabbing the Assist Trophy, but before breaking it open, they must land before they can call forth the Assist Trophy's character. Once an Assist Trophy is grabbed, it activates automatically only if the holder is standing on the ground without any lag. Assist Trophies can be eaten, unlike Poké Balls.

Originally, only one Assist Trophy could be active at a time, which meant that the next Assist Trophy character would not appear until the current one disappeared. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, multiple Assist Trophy characters can be active at the same time, creating unique combinations. Some Assist Trophy characters attack others as well as opposing fighters.

Only damageable Assist Trophy characters can be at the same time with another, with the exception of Ghosts, which can be defeated but cannot be with other Assist Trophies at the same time. Assist Trophy characters who cannot be harmed can still appear only individually. Some Assist Trophy characters cannot be summoned at specific stages because of limited platforms or because they appear in the background, such as the Moon in Great Bay.

Game appearances

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, some Assist Trophy characters have to be unlocked in order to use, such as Isaac from Golden Sun.

In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, some Assist Trophy characters can be damaged and even disappear as a result. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, nearly all Assist Trophies can be KO'd like other fighters, which gives the player a point in timed battles. Hence, most of them can be grabbed by the players and are affected by items, but they can now also directionally air-dodge similar to in Melee.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Assist Trophies can appear suddenly as enemies in spirit battles due to the battle's conditions (both in Spirit Board and World of Light modes).

List of Assist Trophy characters

Image	Name	Description	KO'd?		Universe	Debut	Game Appearance
	Hammer Bro.	Throws hammers at opponents.	Y		Mario	Super Mario Bros. (1985)	Y	Y	Y
	Lakitu and Spinies	Lakitu drops Spinies onto the field. The Spinies will meteor smash when falling from Lakitu. Upon landing, the Spinies walk around giving damage to opponents. Lakitu can be knocked off the screen or killed.	Y	-	Mario	Super Mario Bros. (1985)	Y	Y	N
	Chain Chomp	Jumps at and bites players while chained to a stake.	N	Y	Mario	Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988)	N	Y	Y
	Thwomp	Hovers high up the stage, remaining still. If any opponent walks underneath it, it drops down to attack it, then moves back up. It won't attack again until it returns to its original position.	-	N	Mario	Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988)	N	N	Y
	Waluigi	Repeatedly stomps players into the ground. This onslaught is followed by either a strong kick or a strike from his tennis racquet.	Y		Mario	Mario Tennis (2000)	Y	Y	Y
	Flies & Hand	A hand holding a fly swatter moves around to swat the flies buzzing around the screen, damaging any enemy that gets in the way of its swatting.	-	Y	Mario	Mario Paint (1992)	N	N	Y
	Klaptrap	Lunges across the screen and latches onto foes before launching them.	-	Y	Donkey Kong	Donkey Kong Country (1994)	N	N	Y
	Tingle	Randomly enacts one of a variety of strange effects. It also takes longer for more Assist Trophies to spawn after his appearance than any other character.	N	-	The Legend of Zelda	The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (2000)	Y	Y	N
	Ghirahim	Fights with a sword and throwing knives. He will teleport back onstage if he goes over the edge, but he can be KO'd if he takes enough damage.	Y		The Legend of Zelda	The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011)	N	Y	Y
	Midna	Grabs opponents and throws them, while dealing darkness damage. She can be KO'd if she takes enough damage.	Y		The Legend of Zelda	The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006)	N	Y	Y
	Skull Kid	Uses one of three disruptions: flipping the screen upside-down (similarly to Palkia), reversing the directional inputs of players, or making all fighters invisible.	N		The Legend of Zelda	The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998)	N	Y	Y
	Moon	Crashes into the stage, dealing massive damage with a very large area of impact.	-	N	The Legend of Zelda	The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (2000)	N	N	Y
	Metroid	Latches onto players and gives them damage. Can be attacked and shaken off, but prevents the victim from using recovery moves. However, if done right, the character can spam recovery moves indefinitely until the Metroid disappears.	Y		Metroid	Metroid (1986)	Y	Y	Y
	Mother Brain	Uses her signature laser attack when summoned, and is guarded by Rinka enemies. She can be KO'd if she takes enough damage.	Y		Metroid	Metroid (1986)	N	Y	Y
	Dark Samus	Rapidly shoots gunfire and creates blasts of Phazon.	Y	-	Metroid	Metroid Prime 2: Echos (2004)	N	Y	N
	Knuckle Joe	Delivers a series of Vulcan Jabs to his opponents and finishes with either a Smash Punch or an uppercut attack named Rising Break.	Y		Kirby	Kirby Super Star (1996)	Y	Y	Y
	Chef Kawasaki	Captures players using his telescopic ladle and cooks them in a boiling pot, which produces food similar to Kirby's Final Smash in Brawl. If he fails to catch anyone in his ladle, he may throw plates or attempt to use his ladle again.	-	Y	Kirby	Kirby Super Star (1996)	N	N	Y
	Nightmare	Causes the screen to become dark temporarily.	N		Kirby	Kirby's Adventure (1993)	N	Y	Y
	Andross	Appears in the background and shoots tiles at the players.	N		Star Fox	Star Fox (1993)	Y	Y	Y
	Krystal	Wanders around the stage and attacks opponents with her staff. Can deal freezing damage.	-	Y	Star Fox	Star Fox Adventures (2002)	N	N	Y
	Jeff	Shoots 5 homing rockets from his Multi Bottle Rocket 5 invention (4 small & 1 large) at his opponents.	N		Earthbound	EarthBound (1994)	Y	Y	Y
	Starman	Teleports about the stage, shooting lightning bolts out of its head at opponents. It can be KO'd (complete with the "SMAAASH!" effect from Earthbound) if it takes enough damage.	Y		Earthbound	Mother (1989)	N	Y	Y
	Samurai Goroh	Slashes his swords while chasing opponents.	Y		F-Zero	F-Zero (1990)	Y	Y	Y
	Lyn	The screen darkens, as Lyn focuses and then, having teleported, she delivers a single, powerful strike focused on the nearest opponent, similar to Galaxia Darkness in animation and knockback.	Y		Fire Emblem	Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade (2003)	Y	Y	Y
	Tiki	Transforms into a dragon, attacking with large flame breaths from the air.	-	Y	Fire Emblem	Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light (1990)	N	N	Y
	Black Knight	Walks around the stage slowly, attacking any nearby opponents with his sword Alondite. Appears to be very resistant to attacks.	-	Y	Fire Emblem	Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (2005)	N	N	Y
	Magnus	Leaps around and swings the Magnus Club. He flinches if he's attacked and can be KO'd if he takes enough damage.	Y	-	Kid Icarus	Kid Icarus: Uprising (2012)	N	Y	N
	Phosphora	Flies around quickly and shoots lightning bolts. She can be attacked, which will cause her to flinch, and she can be KO'd if she takes enough damage.	Y		Kid Icarus	Kid Icarus: Uprising (2012)	N	Y	Y
	Kat & Ana	Kat and Ana fly in different directions slashing at anybody in front of them, but always cross in the same spot.	N	-	Wario	WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! (2003)	Y	Y	N
	Ashley	Conjures a cloud which causes various adverse effects.	N		Wario	WarioWare: Touched! (2004)	N	Y	Y
	Gray Fox	Runs around slashing opponents. Also reflects stray projectiles.	-	Y	Metal Gear	Metal Gear (1987)	Y	N	Y
	Shadow	Uses his "Chaos Control" ability to slow down the flow of time for around 7 seconds, affecting everyone except the summoner. In Ultimate, after the 7 seconds of slowdown pass, all opponents are then entirely frozen for 2-3 seconds. Functions similarly to the Timer Item though with shorter duration, and without the risk of it backfiring.	N		Sonic the Hedgehog	Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (2001)	Y	Y	Y
	Knuckles	Burrows underground before emerging with a rising uppercut. Can attack with a combination of punches, or strike using a homing attack similar to Sonic's.	-	Y	Sonic the Hedgehog	Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994)	N	N	Y
	Burrowing Snagret	Emerges from the ground and wildly pecks at opponents, then hides underground before reappearing at another location.	-	Y	Pikmin	Pikmin (2001)	N	N	Y
	Mr. Resetti	Gives speeches about different topics. If attacked, he causes an explosion.	-	-	Animal Crossing	Doubutsu no Mori (2001)	Y	N	N
	Kapp'n	Drives a bus across the screen. Any fighter he contacts will be trapped, dragging them off-screen.	-	N	Animal Crossing	Doubutsu no Mori (2001)	N	N	Y
	Isabelle	Throws fruit to heal the player who summoned her. Fruit will heal the summoner on contact; if it misses, anyone can eat the fruit off the ground. While Isabelle cannot be defeated, she can be stunned if attacked.	N	-	Animal Crossing	Animal Crossing: New Leaf (2012)	N	Y	N
	Elec Man	Moves around freely and attacks characters with his Thunder Beam; he can be KO'd if he takes enough damage.	Y	-	Mega Man	Mega Man (1987)	N	Y	N
	Zero	Zero attacks by using his Z-Saber, and uses special techniques acquired from Mavericks and from his boss appearances.	-	Y	Mega Man	Mega Man X (1993)	N	N	Y
	Wily Capsule	Piloting his Wily Capsule from Mega Man 7, Dr. Wily warps around the stage and fires fire, ice, and lightning projectiles at opponents. Unlike most Assist Trophies that can be defeated, he does not disappear immediately, instead falling to the ground and begging for forgiveness.	-	Y	Mega Man	Mega Man (1987)	N	N	Y
	Little Mac	Runs and jumps around, attacking with powerful jabs and uppercuts.	-	-	Punch-Out!!	Punch-Out!! (1983)	Y	N	N
	Ghosts	Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde make their way around the stage, moving as if in a maze while damaging and pushing opponents around.	N	Y	Pac-Man	Pac-Man (1980)	N	Y	Y
	Riki	Uses several different arts from Xenoblade, including Happy Happy, Bedtime, You Can Do It, Roly-Poly, Freezinate, and Yoink.	N		Xenoblade	Xenoblade Chronicles (2010)	N	Y	Y
	Guile	Crouches in place, throwing Sonic Booms and blocking any physical attacks that hit him. Intercepts nearby enemies with his signature Flash Kick move.	-	Y	Street Fighter	Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (1991)	N	N	Y
	Rodin	Attacks with giant arms similar to Bayonetta's Wicked Weaves, as well with attacks resembling aerial Heel Slide and heel drop. Before disappearing, he spawns a random item and tosses it at the summoner.	-	Y	Bayonetta	Bayonetta (2009)	N	N	Y
	Squid Sisters	They perform a concert and, as the camera zooms in on them, the blast lines are brought closer, so that whoever is left outside the camera will be KOed.	-	N	Splatoon	Splatoon (2015)	N	N	Y
	Alucard	Wields his blade, Crissaegrim. He can also transform into a bat and fly to another portion of the stage.	-	Y	Castlevania	Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (1989)	N	N	Y
	Spring Man	Jumps around and attacks with extended punches. He can also activate Rush, dealing rapid pummels before finishing with an uppercut.	-	Y	ARMS	ARMS (2017)	N	N	Y
	Nintendog	Blocks the screen.	N		Nintendo DS	Nintendogs (2005)	Y	Y	Y
	Color TV-Game 15	Two paddles on the sides of the stage bounce a ball back and forth, with the ball damaging players.	N	Y	Color TV-Game	Color TV-Game 15 (1977)	N	Y	Y
	Sheriff	Walks around in the air, shooting at opponents with his pistol. He can be KO'd (complete with his original death animation) if he takes enough damage.	Y		Sheriff	Sheriff (1979)	N	Y	Y
	Devil	Walks around in the air, shooting at opponents with his pistol. He can be KO'd (complete with his original death animation) if he takes enough damage.	N		Devil World	Devil World (1984)	Y	Y	Y
	Excitebikes	Excitebike racers ride around the stage, causing damage to those they collide with. Some of them, if on a stage with an edge, will go back and forth until their time runs out.	-		Excitebike	Excitebike (1984)	Y	N	N
	Takamaru	Throws his pinwheel knife rooks at opponents and slashes them several times with his katana. He can be KO'd if he takes enough damage.	Y		The Mysterious Murasame Castle	The Mysterious Murasame Castle (1986)	N	Y	Y
	Infantry & Tanks	Nintendo Wars infantrymen and tank sprites roam across the stage shooting at players. When spawning, they follow the direction of the summoner.	N	-	Nintendo Wars	Famicom Wars (1988)	Y	Y	N
	Prince of Sable	Releases a cloud of dust, trapping an opponent, before he attacks as a frog or snake. He can be KO'd if he takes enough damage.	Y		Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru	Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru (1992)	N	Y	Y
	Sukapon	Moves around with his arms raised, launching heads at opponents (Tondeker), grabbing and tossing them (Sukapon Toss), or rolling forwards quickly to attack (Sukapon Roll).	-	Y	Joy Mech Fight	Joy Mech Fight (1993)	N	N	Y
	Saki Amamiya	Slashes and fires with his Dolphin Gun.	Y	-	Sin and Punishment	Sin and Punishment (2000)	Y	Y	N
	Helirin	Floats around the stage while rotating, acting as a wall.	-		Kururin	Kuru Kuru Kururin (2001)	Y	N	N
	Isaac	Pushes opponents off the stage by using a skill called Move, represented by giant magic hands. Its fixed knockback makes it easy to get trapped in.	-	Y	Golden Sun	Golden Sun (2001)	Y	N	Y
	Starfy	Spins, hurting players. Can be knocked off stage.	Y		Starfy	Densetsu no Starfy (2002)	Y	Y	Y
	Barbara	Strums on her guitar, creating damaging soundwaves, similar to Konga Beat, but with less range and duration.	-		Jam with the Band	Daigasso! Band Brothers (2004)	Y	N	N
	Dr. Kawashima	Flings numbers onto the stage that can be attacked to knock them around. When they add up to 10 or more, they cause an explosion, with a sum of exactly 10 causing an explosion like a Smart Bomb.	N		Brain Age	Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! (2005)	N	Y	Y
	Jill	Attacks opponents with her drill.	-		Drill Dozer	Drill Dozer (2005)	Y	N	N
	Ray MK III	Flies around the stage shooting missiles and green energy bullets.	-		Custom Robo	Custom Robo Arena (2006)	Y	N	N
	Vince	Draws large drawings of various objects, one following each opponent in the foreground, hiding them and slowly damaging them.	-	N	Art Academy	Art Academy: First Semester (2009)	N	N	Y
	Nikki	Doodles various obstacles on the stage.	-	N	Swapnote	Swapnote (2011)	N	N	Y
	Dillon	Performs rolling attacks, such as a quick charge; he can be KO'd if he takes enough damage.	Y		Dillon's Rolling Western	Dillon's Rolling Western (2012)	N	Y	Y
	Arcade Bunny	Operates a giant claw machine in order to grab opponents.	-	N	Nintendo Badge Arcade	Nintendo Badge Arcade (2014)	N	N	Y
	Bomberman	Drop bombs which create an cross shaped explosion similar to an X Bomb. It is possible for him to be affected by his own bombs.	-	Y	Bomberman	Bomberman (1985)	N	N	Y
	Akira	Runs around and attacks with various martial arts moves.	-	Y	Virtua Fighter	Virtua Fighter (1993)	N	N	Y
	Rathalos	Rathalos unleashes several flame-based attacks, such as breathing fireballs and roaring to stun opponents.	-	Y	Monster Hunter	Monster Hunter (2004)	N	N	Y
	Yuri Kozukata	Yuri gets out her Camera Obscura, a specialized camera to take photographs of spirits, and uses it to take pictures of the battle. This will stun opponents and poison them, leaving them vulnerable to attacks.	-	N	Fatal Frame	Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water (2014)	N	N	Y
	Shovel Knight	Runs and jumps around, using his Shovel Drop to bounce off of obstacles. He also digs, which flings dirt at fighters, buries them, and can occasionally produce items.	-	Y	Shovel Knight	Shovel Knight (2014)	N	N	Y
	Dr. Wright	Summons buildings to rise up out of the ground. This damages opponents who are standing in the area of the building, and produces great vertical knockback. Occasionally makes a massive skyscraper that deals even more knockback and damage.	N	Y	SimCity	SimCity (1991)	Y	Y	Y

Trophy descriptions

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Image	Title	Appears in	How to unlock
	Assist Trophy	Wii Super Smash Bros. Brawl	Random drop
Description
A capsule that contains characters who will help you out in battle. You won't know who's in the capsule until you open it. It may be someone everyone knows or someone who's a bit of a mystery. The majority of these characters are invulnerable, so attacking them is not an option. You know what that means, right? RUN!

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U

3DS image	Wii U image	Title	Category	Appears in*	Trophy Box*	How to unlock
		Assist Trophy	Assist Trophy	Wii Super Smash Bros. Brawl (03/2008) Wii U Super Smash Bros. for Wii U	5: Road to Master Hand	Random drop (3DS) Trophy Rush only (Wii U)
Description
American English: This strange capsule contains a guest character who will aid you in your battle. Who will emerge? Grab it to find out! Maybe it'll be a famous character from a popular game, or perhaps a goofy sidekick here to prove his or her worth. Too bad you can't choose who shows up or control them... British English: A mystery capsule containing a guest character who'll stand by you in battle. You won't know who's in it till you open it! It could be almost anyone from all sorts of games – a famed warrior or a slightly loopy sidekick! Whoever it is, you can't control them, so you'll just have to trust them.

Trivia

• Hammer Bro is the only Assist Trophy character that is also an enemy in Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary.
• In Classic Mode, if the character who summoned an assist trophy dies, the assist trophy goes away. However, this does not happen in All-Star mode.
• In the GameCube preview issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, the Smash Bros Melee article comments that Nintendo originally tried to implement Assist Trophies in Melee. The only trophy concept they gave details on was one that would release the ducks from Duck Hunt to fly around the stage and interfere with the fighters.
• Oddly, they appear in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate despite regular trophies being absent.
• Fans often show disappointment when a specific character is announced as an Assist Trophy because they were hoping to see the character playable in the installment, even though there is no source of confirmation that being an Assist Trophy disqualifies the character from being a playable fighter. Fans were more vocal at the Assist Trophy announcements of characters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Some examples were Waluigi, Bomberman, Knuckles, Krystal, Shadow the Hedgehog, Lyn, Isaac, Zero, Spring Man, Ashley, Black Knight, Midna, Skull Kid, and Shovel Knight.
• The Pokémon and Yoshi series are the only series in the Original 10 without any Assist Trophy characters. Due to the Pokémon series having the Poké Ball and Master Ball items instead, the Yoshi series is the only original series without any summonable characters.
• The Animal Crossing series is the only series to have different assist characters for every game (Mr. Resetti appears in Brawl, Isabelle appears in Smash 4, and Kapp'n appears in Ultimate).
• In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, when a character summons an assist, the summoner will point for a half-second.
• If an assist cannot find a target, it teleports near a target to attack.
• ARMS is the first series to introduce an Assist Trophy (Spring Man) in the base game and then later release a playable character (Min-Min) as part of downloadable content.

Gallery

Trophy description screenshot (Super Smash Bros. Brawl)

External links

• Assist Trophy page at Smash Bros. DOJO!!.
• All Assist Trophies in Smash Bros 3DS