Lightning Kick

“	Zelda's forward air attack, Lightning Kick, is a valiant kick with a magically charged tip. Striking with just the glowing spot will deal heavy damage and launch your opponent.	”
—Zelda (Alt.) Trophy, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

The move in Super Smash Bros. Melee, as shown by the trophy that named it.

Lightning Kick (稲妻キック, Lightning Flash Kick) is the name for Zelda's forward aerial and back aerial attacks, as confirmed by one of her trophies in Super Smash Bros. Melee. When sweet spotted, the Lightning Kick deals dramatic hitlag (except in Melee) before dealing heavy damage and launching the opponent with very powerful horizontal knockback. A sourspotted hit on the other hand, delivers very low horizontal knockback with no special effects and much less damage.

Overview

In almost all games, a sweetspotted Lightning Kick is the strongest forward and back aerial, being among the few aerial attacks that can reliably KO under 100%. Along with this great power, both forward and back aerial Lightning Kicks are fairly fast in startup lag, while having good reach. The forward and back aerial versions are nearly identical. In Melee, the back aerial Lightning Kick is slightly better due to being faster. From Brawl onward, similar properties of Lightning Kick were also applied to her down aerial, making it a "Lightning Stomp" of sorts, though with a less dramatic polarization.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee

The Lightning Kick is similar to Captain Falcon's forward aerial, the Knee Smash, as both are effective aerials that deal very powerful horizontal knockback and electric damage with their strong hits, while being exceedingly weak with no special effects with their weak hits. The knee is easier to land due to comprising of a uniformly strong clean hit. In comparison, Zelda's kicks have high-priority sourspots, which require a stricter spacing to land the sweetspot. However, her kicks have much faster startup and have longer-lasting sweetspots. Zelda's weak hits also deal more damage, but have less base knockback. Despite its comparable strength, Lightning Kick hasn't reached the same level of notoriety as the Knee Smash, mainly due to Zelda's poor tournament viability and minimal presence in Melee's competitive scene compared to Captain Falcon.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Zelda's forward aerial Lightning Kick in Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Between Melee and Brawl, the sweetspot had its base knockback increased. Back aerial is now stronger than forward aerial, which would be kept in all succeeding games. Its freeze frames are much higher, but despite this, the sweetspots are now impossible to SDI due to the addition of a 0x SDI multiplier. It is significantly more difficult to land, only lasting for 1 frame, down from 4, and being drastically smaller. It also now has highest priority instead of the lowest, making the precision of the sweetspot based strictly on timing and its tiny size rather than spacing around the sourspots. Furthermore, the sourspots are bigger, but significantly weaker, dealing 4% compared to 10%. Both kicks also have slightly more ending lag, making it impossible to perform two forward Lightning Kicks in a short hop, and can no longer be L-canceled, drastically increasing their landing lag. Overall, the move is significantly more precise and less spammable.

In Super Smash Bros. 4

Zelda's forward aerial Lightning Kick in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Between Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. 4, the sweetspots' sizes were increased, but their base knockback was nerfed. Notably, Zelda's forward aerial has been dethroned by Captain Falcon's as the strongest of its kind. It also has significantly increased ending lag and cannot be interrupted or auto-canceled in a short hop, making it a drastically worse approaching tool. Both kicks have also received one more frame of startup.

The sweetspots have lost the electric effect and instead use the new magic effect. Notably, this ironically leaves Lightning Kick without lightning or electricity in any of its effects, while Knee Smash is still electric.

Animation-wise, for the forward version, Zelda performs a back spin kick (via her left leg) with her crossing-right arm somewhat bracing her face. For the back version, Zelda kicks with her left leg instead in a similar motion, but without the turn. In Smash 4, Zelda has different animations for both; for the forward version, Zelda recovers in a full body spin just after kicking, while with the backwards version Zelda twists her body somewhat, then thrust-kicks behind her; both versions also involve her arms being positioned differently as well as her hands being clenched more into fists and also have her both lean and face away from her kicking directions more. Also, due to the change in hitbox placements, the sweetspots are easier to land, and the new animations somewhat alter her hurtboxes.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Forward Lightning Kick now comes out at frame 6, its fastest startup in the series. The back version is marginally stronger, now being identical to Melee's knockback values. Both versions also have larger sweetspots, less ending lag, less landing lag and auto-cancel earlier, although they still cannot auto-cancel in a short hop.

Aesthetically, Zelda now makes a verbal "shh-" sound akin to Fox Illusion, Falco Phantasm, Palutena Bow and Silver Bow during both versions of the move. The visual effect of the move is altered to emit slight electricity from her foot, and the sweetspots have an additional, unique lightning effect on hit, once again making them true lightning kicks.

Gallery

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  Sweetspotted back aerial Lightning Kick in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

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  Zelda's back aerial Lightning Kick in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

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  Zelda's back aerial Lightning Kick in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

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  Zelda's forward aerial Lightning Kick against Lucario in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.