Side Smash Attack, abbreviated as Side Smash, Forward Smash and Forward Smash Attack (commonly abbreviated "F-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 the (A) button 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 Super Smash Bros.).
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 Smash Attacks 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.
- Kirby: A furious spin kick with good range and power similar to Jigglypuff's Side Smash in terms of speed and power.
- Link: Slashes from top to bottom. Deals good damage and has good 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. Can reflect projectiles, though difficult timing makes it an unsafe option.
- 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 Smash Attacks 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 attack 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 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 Attack 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 Smash Attacks 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 K.O around 125%.
- Luigi: Horizontally spears with his left hand. Most likely his best K.O 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 attack, it can be angled, and deals even more knockback when aimed upward. Even when uncharged, the attack can K.O 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 13-28% damage and has the strongest semi-spike in the game when sweetspotted, enough to K.O 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 but has less knock with short range. When sweetspotted, it does 19-27% damage. At above 100%, the frying pan is able to star K.O the opponent when fully charged. All three of them possess disjointed hitboxes.
- Bowser: Reels back and headbutts forward. The most damaging forward smash attack in the game (does 46% damage fully charged) and has very high knockback but low range for a heavyweight. It has a long animation 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, has a low base knockback, but fairly high knockback scaling.
- 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 attack). It can be angled, but is very hard to distinguish visually. Only average 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 hard to hit with except at very low damages. The first strike is stronger at the tip while the second hit is stronger when close-up (making it nearly impossible to hit with). When fully charged and both hits connect, 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 decent 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 attack, and the second kick does not always connect.
- Ganondorf: Jams his elbow forward, similar to Captain Falcon's Side Smash Attack. Deals darkness damage. Stronger than Captain Falcon's and with more range, but surprisingly almost as fast. It can be angled but it doesn't have an effect on damage dealt. One of the strongest side smash attacks 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 Side Smash Attack, 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 (though with almost no knockback). Very weak for a side smash attack.
- 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 attack.
- Mr. Game & Watch: Overhead-swings a lighted match. Very powerful, with a long-lasting hitbox, making it difficult to punish. Very powerful, not too slow, and one of the best side smash attacks in the game.
- Kirby: Lunges forward and jump-kicks. Quick start-up and good range, with good 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. It is Meta Knight's slowest attack (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 lowest K.O percentage for any side-smash in the game when hitting with the sweetspots. However, it is also the side smash attackwith the slowest start up (43 frames) and is very weak when sourspotted. Gives off a shockwave on the ground near the hammer which does very low damage and knockback.
- 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 can combo into itself at low damage due to very low base knockback.
- Falco: Does a slashing cross-chop. The most powerful side smash of the Star Fox cast, but still not very powerful. The attack is a bit slow and has some ending lag but it has pretty good range. It also has a 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 ranged forward smash in the game, and often strikes opponents twice, but is the fourth weakest side smash attack 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. 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 high knockback, making it a great K.O 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's 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, good DI can allow 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 very 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 still more powerful than most side smash attacks.
- 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's, it has a sweetspot on the tip of the stick for even more knockback. Even though weaker than Ness's 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 side smash attack 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 can K.O very early when close to the blast lines, due to its very high base knockback. Unfortunately, it has somewhat poor knockback scaling, so it does not KO until around 80% or 90% across the stage.
- Sonic: Punches in front of him. A good K.O 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.
List of Side Smash Attacks in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U[]
- Mario: Thrusts his hand forwards, emitting a fiery explosion in front of him. Can be angled.
- Luigi: Thrusts his hand forwards, hitting with his fingertips. Can be angled.
- Peach: Swings a tennis racket, a golf club, and a frying pan. The frying pan does the most damage and has vertical knockback; the tennis racket has the farthest launch and has horizontal knockback, and the golf club has the farthest reach and upward diagonal knockback.
- Bowser: Leaps forwards and drop-kicks.
- Rosalina and Luma: Rosalina thrusts her wand emitting a miniature spiral galaxy in front of her hands; Luma will punch forward. Rosalina's attack naturally combos into Luma's if the two are together, allowing for the greater knockback from Luma to be taken into account. Can be angled upwards and downwards.
- Bowser Jr.: Takes two drills out of the clown car at converges them like pincers in front of him, causing multiple hits.
- Donkey Kong: Claps in front of him.
- Diddy Kong: Swings his arms twice in front of him.
- Yoshi: Headbutts forwards.
- Wario: Does a back-handed punch.
- Dr. Mario: Thrusts his hand forwards, emitting electricity sparking from his palm. Can be angled.
- Link: Swings his sword forwards; press the attack button again for a second swing with greater launch power.
- Zelda: Thrusts both arms forwards, emitting magic blasting forth from her palms.
- Sheik: Does a double kick which propels her forward.
- Ganondorf: Thrusts his elbow forwards. Can be angled.
- Toon Link: Swings his sword forwards; press the attack button again for a second swing with greater launch power.
- Samus: Thrusts her arm cannon, releasing an explosion in front of her. Can be angled.
- Zero Suit Samus: Spins around, kicking, and then follows through with a second kick after the spin.
- Pit: Slashes twice with his blades.
- Palutena: Smashes two angel wings forwards. Has a wind effect that slightly pushes opponents.
- Dark Pit: Slashes twice with his blades.
- R.O.B.: Fires a short-range burst of energy forwards.
- Kirby: Powerfully kicks forwards.
- Meta Knight: Powerfully swings his sword.
- King Dedede: Slams his hammer on the ground in front of him. Strongest knockback of all forward smashes, however one of the slowest.
- Captain Olimar: Launches a Pikmin forwards. The range, damage and knockback depends on which Pikmin he currently has in order. Pikmins counts as projectiles, meaning they can be reflected.
- Fox: Does a leaping round-house kick.
- Falco: Slams both wings forwards. One of the strongest forward smashes in the game.
- Captain Falcon: Thrusts an elbow forwards. Can be angled.
- Pikachu: Blasts an electric shock from his cheeks.
- Charizard: Performs a swinging headbutt.
- Greninja: Slashes a water sword forwards.
- Lucario: Thrusts both hands forwards, a blast of aura coming from the palms.
- Jigglypuff: Powerfully kicks forwards. Similar to Kirby, but much slower.
- Mewtwo: Thrusts both hands forwards, emitting a dark energy pulse in front of him.
- Marth: Slashes his sword forwards until it impacts the ground. One of strongest forward smashes if tipped.
- Ike: Swings and slams his sword on the ground in front of him.
- Lucina: Slashes her sword forwards until it impacts the ground.
- Robin: Swings the Levin Sword forwards, causing electric sparks. Uses the Bronze Sword if the Levin Sword broke, with no electricity effect.
- Corrin: A spinning dragon spire attack.
- Roy: Swings his sword forwards.
- Ness: Swings his legendary bat. Has three hit boxes, getting more powerful the closer to the tip. Very slow start-up, but can K.O as low as 60% when hit at the tip. Also reflects projectiles with incredible strength.
- Lucas: Swings a stick forwards, similarly to Ness, but faster. Can reflect projectiles.
- Mr. Game & Watch: Swings a match forward. Has a powerful sweetspot at the match head with a fire element. Some startup and cooldown.
- Little Mac: Powerfully punches forwards. Can be angled, having different animations and properties when done so; if angled up, causes higher knockback, but less damage; if angled down, causes higher damage, but less knockback. Has Super Armor.
- Duck Hunt: Fires three shots forwards with the NES Zapper. Has higher range the more it is charged.
- Wii Fit Trainer: Does the Warrior pose. Hits on both sides, unlike most forward smashes.
- Villager: Pulls out and drops a bowling ball. Lowest range of all forward smashes, as well a long start-up, but very powerful. Will continue falling if it does not land on a platform, making it useful for edgeguarding characters recovering vertically. Counts as a projectile, meaning it can be reflected/pocketed.
- Shulk: Thrusts the Monado forwards, then activates it, releasing the energy beam. The thrust naturally combos into the activation, which has knockback and great horizontal range but poor vertical range. Has significant endlag and can be tilted up and down.
- Sonic: Winds up and punches forwards. Can be angled.
- Mega Man: Charges up his Mega Buster and fires a energy blast forward. The projectile goes farther and grows larger the more it is charged. Second longest range of all forward smashes. Being a projectile, it can be reflected/pocketed.
- Pac-Man: Thrusts one hand forwards, Blinky appearing as he does so.
- Ryu: Uses the Joudan Sokutogeri, a special move originated from Street Fighter III; a powerful side kick.
- Cloud: A very fast triple slash attack.
- Mii Brawler: Punches forwards.
- Mii Swordfighter: Slashes forwards.
- Mii Gunner: Fires lots of blasts forwards. Longest range of all side smash attacks.
Notable Side Smash Attacks[]
- Link, Young Link, and Toon Link have a second hit in their Side Smash Attack 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.
- In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U, Link's Side Smash Attack has the highest base knockback in the game.
- Ness's and Lucas's are unique, mainly because it allows them to reflect trajectory attacks and projectiles if timed correctly.
- Marth's side smash attack is most likely the most well known and feared of all the side smash attacks 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% damage 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% damage, making it the most damaging Side Smash in the series.
- Wolf's side smash attack 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 chosen weapons, each with varying range, damage, knockback and knockback angle, and also has a slight range behind her.
- Lucario's side smash attack, as well as its up smash attack, 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 attack 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 side smash attack below 260% damage.
- Villager, Mega Man, and Mii Gunner's Side Smash Attacks are all projectile attacks and can be reflected and pocketed.
Gallery[]
See also[]
External Links[]
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