Master Hand (or as known as The Hand) is a right hand-like entity who acts as the creator of the Super Smash Bros. universe and is also the creator of the World of Trophies. He is the main antagonist of the Super Smash Bros series. He is only playable in the games through hacking, but in Melee, a glitch exists that makes him playable. Master Hand's origins are unknown and his and Crazy Hand's purposes are undiscovered. However, Master Hand and Crazy Hand seem to respectively represent creation and destruction. He has been a boss on all Super Smash Bros. games.
Appearances
Super Smash Bros.
Official artwork for Master Hand in Super Smash Bros.
In Super Smash Bros., Master Hand is the final opponent of the 1P Game. He resides in a level called Master Hand's Residence by fans. He uses his size and shape to his advantage - he slaps, punches and flicks the player around.
Master Hand can't be defeated by normal means; instead, he has 300 HP which must be depleted. Once 0 HP is reached, he explodes into the background, "dies", and the character is turned back into a toy.
Master Hand also appears in the opening cinematic. He positions inanimate toy versions of two random characters on a table, and, after carefully positioning everything around them, he counts to three on his fingers, snaps his fingers, and changes the table into a stage resembling Princess Peach's Castle.
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Master Hand trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
Super Smash Bros. Melee sees Master Hand taking a similar role - he is the final boss of the 1-player Classic mode, and has a set HP which must be depleted to win. There are, however, a few changes made to him. His moveset is slightly altered, he loses the ability to turn around, and his HP is altered based on the difficulty (for example, he only has 150 HP when fought on Very Easy mode, where Super Smash Bros. had him fixed to 300 regardless of the mode).
The game also introduced Crazy Hand, Master Hand's left-handed alter ego. When the two are on the field at the same time, they can perform powerful combination attacks. Crazy Hand appears when set conditions are met: If Classic Mode is reached on Normal, Hard, or Very Hard without having continued.
Master Hand does not appear in the opening cinematic, though his trophy (see below) elaborates his role in the Super Smash Bros. universe. A hand not wearing a glove does appear, though, which some people believe to be Master Hand's true form, though this has not been confirmed by the developers.
Oddly, it was found that in Sound Test of the respective game, sound #64 of the announcer's lines, Master Hand was named, with the same happening to Giga Bowser, though this sound isn't used in the game. His name also appears on the big screen on the Pokémon Stadium stage, but it appears as "Masterhand" rather than "Master Hand". It could be possible he was going to be playable, but the idea was scrapped during game development. However, in this game he is playable through a glitch. However, most one player modes freeze the game, and in multiplayer the game freezes after the game is ended because he lacks a victory pose. If the match is ended before a winner is chosen, he will not appear, but the name on the bottom will show Sheik and her Triforce symbol. Because of this, if one of Master Hand's opponents is Sheik in any situation, the game will freeze.
Trophy info
Trophy #159: The Master Hand awaits anyone who survives the long difficult road to the Final Destination. This symbolic link between the real world and the imaginary battlefields of Super Smash Bros. Melee is quite a handful in battle, and just because he wears a white glove doesn't mean he fights clean. Be ready to get poked, punched, flicked, and swatted like crazy!
See Also...
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Master Hand is in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He reprises his role as the final boss of Classic mode. His attacks are very similar to that of his Melee form with some changes. The amount of HP he has is still dependent on the difficulty as well. Crazy Hand also returns in Classic Mode, if certain conditions are met.
Role in the Subspace Emissary
Master Hand in the Subspace Emissary.
Master Hand also appears in the Subspace Emissary, as Ganondorf's, Wario's, and Bowser's boss. Soon, a Subspace Bomb is used on King Dedede's castle, Ganondorf receives new orders from Master Hand, which he gets via a TV screen.
Master Hand released from his bonds.
However, when all of the characters arrive in the Subspace world, Master Hand turns out to be Tabuu's puppet. Ganondorf attacks Tabuu with his Dark Dive, but is easily knocked back, though while he falls he breaks Master Hand's strings, thus freeing him. Master Hand too attempts to strike Tabuu, but just like Ganondorf, is defeated with little effort. Being a bit different from the playable characters, he does not change into a trophy, and simply lies motionless apparently showing that he was unconscious and defeated.
Knowing that he would be able to use Master Hand to recruit fighters to aid him in his goals, Tabuu defeats Master Hand with the chains of light some time before the plot of the Subspace Emissary begins. Indeed, his trophy suggests that Master Hand himself is not inherently evil, or he disliked the fact that there was someone stronger than him.
Trophy info
The Master Hand Trophy
A being tied to the link between this world, where trophies fight, and the world beyond. The meaning of his existence is unknown, as are his goals, but he seems to have obtained (and kept hidden) a power that borders on absolute. He also seems to feel a certain joy in challenging chosen warriors who've claimed many victories. He waits even now in Final Destination.
See Also...
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U
Master Hand being defeated by Kirby in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.
Master Hand was briefly shown being defeated on Final Destination by Kirby in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS during the E3 2014 Digital Event.
Other appearances
Master Hand as it appears in Kirby and the Amazing Mirror
Master Hand appears in the Game Boy Advance game Kirby and the Amazing Mirror as a mini-boss. Vacuuming him up will give Kirby the Smash ability, an ability that gives Kirby some of his moves from Super Smash Bros. Melee (though in a slightly altered state). Master Hand and Crazy Hand are also the bosses of Candy Constellation.
Playability
Though there are several "cheats" that supposedly allow Master Hand to be played as a normal character, most of them are false; the only methods of controlling Master Hand are through a cheating device such as a GameShark or Action Replay or using the cheat menu on certain emulators.
However, one glitch works for controlling Master Hand in SSBM.
The following is a list of moves when controlling Master Hand.
None of the move names are official.
Super Smash Bros. moveset
Note that Master Hand's moves will automatically target the highest-numerical player other than himself (Player 1 or 2 in some cases)
| Move | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| R◄ | Poke | Master Hand pokes the air twice. The second poke is more powerful. Inflicts 8-26%. |
| A► | Background Fist | Master Hand flies away up the top of the screen and makes a fist in the background. And he punches into the player.He flies back on the stage. Does 16% to player. |
| B► | Gun | Master Hand makes the shape of a gun, and fires sets of 2 bullets. He fires 1 set if above 100 HP, and three sets if below. 5% each. |
| R▲ | Drill | Master Hand flies up, then slams down while spinning in a drill-like fashion. 1-25% |
| L▲ | Sweep | Master Hand makes several sweeping motions. The amount of motions depend on the size of the platform. 12% |
| R▼ | Crush | Master Hand flies off the top of the screen, then appears in the background. He attempts to flatten the player. 16% |
| L▼ | Walk | Master Hand "walks" using his pointer and middle fingers. When he reaches his opponent, he "kicks" them. 18%. |
| A▲ | Jet | Master Hand makes a vaguely plane-like shape, then flies into the background. He attempts to fly into the player, then flies in from the right. If the player makes contact with him when he is taking off, they will be burned launched downwards. 12-16% |
| L► | Slap | Master Hand makes a slapping motion across the platform. 16% |
| R► | Target punch | Master Hand hovers over the target, then quickly punches down. 8-24% |
| Z► | Dash grab | Master Hand fallows an enemy, then dashes towards them and grabs them, crushing
him/her/it in his hand 3 times. 80% |
| Z▲ | Catch and throw | Master Hand fallows an enemy, then catches them, then crushes him/her/it in his hand 3 times then throws them up in the air (K.O.'s most of the time). 80% |
* B> attacks were not given to "normal" characters until Melee.
Super Smash Bros. Melee
In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Master Hand can only be controlled if set to Player 3, as seen here. Also note that the directions are pressed on the D-Pad, not the Control Stick.
Solo moves
The move edit is done, but someone needs the damage of the sweep
| Move | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| A^ | Jet | Master Hand makes a vaguely plane-like shape, then flies into the background. He attempts to fly into the player, then flies in from the right. 10-30% |
| A> | Ram | Master Hand flies off the screen, then appears in the background as a fist. He attempts to slam into the player, then flies back onto the stage from the top of the screen. 34% |
| Av | Crush | Master Hand flies off the top of the screen, then appears in the background. He attempts to flatten the player. 30% |
| B^ | Lasers | Master Hand shoots a laser beam from each of his fingertips. Only the endpoints and start points do damage. 9% each |
| B> | Gun | Master Hand makes the shape of a gun, and fires sets of bullets. He fires 1 set if above 100 HP, and three sets if below. 10% (one set) 6% (three sets) |
| Z^ or > | Grab | Master Hand grabs his opponent and begins to crush them. They can escape by button mashing, but, if they fail to do so, Master Hand will toss them away. 13%/crush, then 18-20% afterwards. Depending on the direction pressed with Z, Master Hand will throw the opponent differently. If up is used, he will throw them upward behind him. If right, he will slam them into the ground. |
| R< | Poke | Master Hand pokes the air three times. The third poke is more powerful. 7-34% |
| R> | Punch | Master Hand hovers over the target, then quickly punches down. 24% |
| Rv | Slap | Master Hand slaps the ground. 26% |
| R^ | Drill | Master Hand flies up, then slams down while spinning in a drill-like fashion. 1-48% |
| L^ | Sweep | Master Hand makes three sweeping motions across the platform. |
| L> | Slap | Master Hand makes a slapping motion across the platform. 25% |
| Lv | Walk | Master Hand "walks" using his pointer and middle fingers. When he reaches his opponent, he "kicks" them. 10-30% |
Moves used in conjunction with Crazy Hand
MH (Master Hand) and CH (Crazy Hand) must both press the input shown to trigger the combination attack. These only work in Melee.
| MH input | CH input | Move | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Y< | Y> | Applaud | A shockwave is released that puts the player to sleep, then the two hands clap together five times. |
| Y^ | Y^ | Double Punch | The two hands punch together. |
| Y^ | Yv | Catch | Crazy Hand punches across the stage and is caught by Master Hand. A shock wave that deals shadow damage is released at impact. |
SSBB
A hacker (Y.S) made a code using USBGecko program that allows the use of bosses on boss battles on Brawl. Those are the available commands for Master Hand. They are not playable, just controllable. They can just be used on Boss Battles, but some glitches, and some attacks cannot be used.
Available commands: [A] [A^] [Av] [A>] [A<] [B] [B^] [Bv] [B>] [B<] [R] or [L]
Changes from Melee to Brawl
- Has been buffed - many of his attacks are faster, deal more damage, and are more difficult to dodge. Walking Hand and Hand Swipe have almost instantaneous start-up.
- Walking Hand begins almost instantaneously and has more power, allowing Master Hand to suddenly hit (and potentially KO) nearby players.
- Hand Swipe is faster, stronger, and covers a larger area.
- Hand Drill is more difficult to dodge: it can only be dodged if a player perfectly executes a roll, or leaves the stage until the attack finishes. Even then, many characters' rolls are too short to escape his vacuum, and going off the stage can make it hard to come back (With the exception of Peach's float and Mr. Game & Watch's Fire with correct timing), as there are hitboxes of the drill that prevent from grabbing the ledge.
- After using Jet Technique, Master Hand returns to his normal position on the right side of the stage, instead of appearing on the left and traveling back to the right side. It now uses magic instead of fire.
- During the start of Master and Crazy Hands' Applause attack, characters are hit by the Fan effect while in the air.
- Ram creates no freeze frames, regardless of whether it hits or misses.
- Laser attack moves forth and back once.
- Gun attack cannot be avoided by crouching.
- Relative to the average knockback of their moves, Master Hand is now more powerful than Crazy Hand.
- If Master Hand grabs you, he attaches a flower on your head. This means that Master Hand's Grab has the same effect as Lip's Stick
- Master Hand's ram cannot be avoided by standing still. If being rammed by Crazy Hand, however, standing still will allow Crazy Hand to fly over your head without doing damage.
Attack Order
Brawl
Attacks in parenthesis require Crazy Hand.
/*First Move*/
- Sweep
- Lasers
- Punch
- (Double Punch)
Second Move
- Drill
- Grab
- Gun
- (Applaud)
- (Double Punch)
- (Catch)
Third Move
- Background Punch
- Background Jet
- Background Slap
Fourth Move
- Grab
- Walk
- Crush
- (Applaud)
- (Twin Laser)
Fifth Move
- Slap
- Poke
- (Double Jet)
Trivia
- Master Hand stars in the original Super Smash Bros. opening, as he sets up the stage and characters, and he is the first Smash character ever seen. This has been a part of the game's controversy over the fighters being "toys", either being brought to life by a child's imagination, or that Master Hand had brought them to life with his "Create" powers.
- Since the Announcer never speaks when the player fights Master Hand, it is speculated that Master Hand is, in fact, the Announcer.
- This is supported by the fact the voice actor of the Announcer, regardless of which Smash game, also voices Master Hand, as well as Crazy Hand in Melee and Brawl.
- They are voiced by Jeff Manning in Super Smash Bros., Dean Harrington in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Pat Cashman in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
- The Chains of Light leave bloody wounds on Master Hand, suggesting that he may contain organic material. Interestingly, he seems to have glowing blue blood, even though his wounds are red. The revealing of blood could be a factor in the reasons why Brawl was rated "T for Teen" by the ESRB and rated "PEGI 12" by PEGI. However, the concept of the blue stuff being blood is gamer speculation.
- Many gamers like to assume Master Hand "died" in Subspace Emissary, but this is highly unlikely as Master Hand has appeared in every Super Smash Bros. game and will most likely continue to appear in the series. It is more likely Master Hand passed out.
- If Master Hand (or Crazy Hand, for that matter) is KO'd on Brinstar in Melee via Debug Menu, he bounces endlessly on the acid. Using the developed mode camera, he can be seen bouncing away even once he leaves the stage and is in the black void behind the stage. It's interesting to note that the acid programming goes out this far. Since the vertical position of a portion of the acid does not depend on its horizontal position, however, it is possible that only the current height of the acid is used to calculate player damage, in which case the acid programming would go out infinitely far horizontally speaking.
- In Super Smash Bros. Melee, if either Master Hand or Crazy Hand gets a transformation item (i.e. Super Mushroom, Starman, etc.), there is a chance the game freezes.
- The Master Hand and Crazy Hand may have originated from certain bosses in Super Mario 64, Star Fox 64, Kirby's Nightmare in Dream Land, Kirby Super Star and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as attacks used by the Master Hand and the Crazy Hand are similar to the attacks used by Eyerok, Wham Bam Rock, Andross, and Bongo Bongo.
- In Super Smash Bros., Master Hand was much more glove-like in shape, but in Melee and Brawl, he looks more like an arm which fades on the wrist.
- Master Hand and Crazy Hand are the only characters in the Super Smash Bros. series to debut in a game from that series, but also appear in another series. They also appeared in Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, both of them being bosses.
- The Master Hand appears in the commercial for Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble (2000 in Japan, 2001 in North America) where he is holding the Gameboy Color, controlling the game.
See also
 Bosses 
| |
|---|---|
Introduced in
|
Master Hand · Metal Mario · Giant Donkey Kong |
Introduced in
|
Crazy Hand · Giga Bowser · Metal Bros. |
Introduced in
|
Petey Piranha · Rayquaza · Porky Statue / Porky Minch · Galleom · Ridley · Duon · Meta Ridley · Tabuu |
Introduced in
|
Master Core |
Introduced in
|
Rathalos · Ganon · Dracula · Marx · Galeem · Dharkon |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Kirby universe
| ||
|---|---|---|
| Characters | Kirby (64 · Melee · Brawl · 3DS/Wii U · Ultimate) Meta Knight (Brawl · 3DS/Wii U · Ultimate) King Dedede (Brawl · 3DS/Wii U · Ultimate) | |
| Side Characters | Boss | Marx |
| Assist Trophies | Knuckle Joe · Nightmare · Chef Kawasaki | |
| Mii Fighter Costumes | Meta Knight · Marx | |
| Background characters | King Dedede | |
| Stage Hazards | Whispy Woods | |
| Enemies | Bonkers · Bronto Burt · Gordo · Parasol Waddle Dee · Plasma Wisp · Shotzo · Tac · Waddle Dee · Waddle Doo | |
| Stages | Dream Land · Fountain of Dreams · Green Greens · Halberd · Dream Land GB · The Great Cave Offensive | |
| Items | Bomber · Dragoon · Maxim Tomato · Parasol · Star Rod · Superspicy Curry · Warp Star | |
| Music | List | List of Music (Kirby series) |
| Song | "Gourmet Race" | |
| Collectibles | Trophies | Melee Trophies · Brawl Trophies · 3DS Trophies · Wii U Trophies |
| Stickers | List of Stickers (Kirby series) | |
| Spirits | List of spirits (Kirby series) | |
| Masterpieces | Kirby's Dream Land · Kirby's Adventure · Kirby Super Star | |