Wall grapple
Wall grappling is a technique in Melee that can be used by Link, Young Link, and Samus that allows the player to hook to a wall and climb up. Unlike tether recoveries in later games, wall grapples can connect with any wall surface instead of only edges.
Wall grapples are executed by performing a grab air while facing the wall. If the grab air is executed by the R/L and A buttons, the character can also air dodge upwards to aid in their recovery. The distance from which a wall can be grabbed is limited; if the character is too close or too far away, the grab will not connect and the character will enter the helpless state. Additionally, characters can only wall grapple once before touching the ground; if the player attempts to wall grapple again, the character will perform a neutral air or air dodge instead.
Once the wall is grappled, pressing the A button will cause the character to scale up the wall. While wall grappling will not refresh double jumps, players may still use them as well as their up special and other moves afterwards for recovery. Players do not have to immediately act when they have attached to a wall; however, if the player hangs for too long, the wall grapple will end, sending the character into a state of tumbling as well as taking away their second jump if it is not yet used. Similarly, being slightly too far away from the wall can cause players to immediately "fall off" after their character swings towards the stage, putting them into a state of tumbling as though they had held on for too long.
A similar form of wall grappling appears in Ultimate. Byleth can hook to a wall using Sword of the Creator should it hit a wall instead of an edge, and will automatically jump afterwards. However, unlike wall grapples in Melee, this will not put the character in helplessness should the grapple fail, and will not allow the character to hang from the wall.
Gallery[edit]
Grapple Beam as a wall-grapple in Melee.
Hookshot as a wall-grapple in Melee.
Byleth's Sword of the Creator as a pseudo wall-grapple in Ultimate.
