Editing Fake Smash Ball

Like a true [[Smash Ball]], the Fake Smash Ball slowly floats through the air, although it tends to drift towards fighters and action instead. Also unlike the Smash Ball, it will occasionally move very erratically, usually to interfere with an attack, making it quite difficult to avoid. It can be distinguished from a true Smash Ball by carefully looking at its black lines, whose thickness is switched around. When broken, it slows down time slightly and yields a colorful X-shaped explosion. The explosion deals 36% damage and very strong knockback to nearby players, likely including the player who broke it, and 18% with weaker knockback as it dissipates.

The Fake Smash Ball is much less durable than a real one with only 24 HP (compared to a real one's 40), likely to make the item more effective since if too much screen time is given to the item then players would likely just stop interacting with it after a few attacks, rendering it pointless. Like a real Smash Ball, it automatically loses 2 HP every 60 [[frame]]s (1 second) up until it reaches 2.5 or less HP, at which point it won't reduce its own health. It becomes indestructible during a Final Smash, preventing the Final Smash, or any other attack, from breaking it and dealing extra damage to fighters caught in the Final Smash. In addition, the Fake Smash Ball can appear alongside a real one and multiple Fake Smash Balls can appear at once.

 

The Fake Smash Ball takes different amounts of damage depending on if a player is doing well or not, similar to a real Smash Ball. However, while a real Smash Ball takes more damage from trailing players, the Fake Smash Ball takes more damage from leading players. For players in the lead it will take 1.25× damage while players with a score of -1 or -2 will deal 0.875× damage and players further behind dealing 0.75×.

Although the Fake Smash Ball is an original Smash Bros. universe item, the inspiration for the item can be traced back to the Mario Kart series, which features {{iw|mariowiki|Fake Item Box}}es. These items made their debut in ''Mario Kart 64''. As with the Fake Smash Ball, Fake Item Boxes are obstacles designed to look like the real thing, distinguishable only by an upside-down question mark, lack of spinning, reddish sheen, or some other mark.

*The Japanese name of the Fake Smash Ball, "Smash Bomb", is possibly also a pun on "Smash Ball" ({{ja|スマッシュボーム|Sumasshubōmu}} and {{ja|スマッシュボール|Sumasshubōru}} , respectively), as they only differ by one syllable.