Flies & Hand

Flies & Hand
A screenshot of Gnat Attack from Mario Paint.
Universe	Mario
Debut	Mario Paint (1992)
Smash Bros. appearances	Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance	WarioWare Gold (2018, cameo)
Console/platform of origin	Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Species	Flies (Flies) Presumably human (Hand)
Gender	Unknown
Article on Super Mario Wiki	Gnat Attack

Flies & Hand (ハエと手, Flies & Hand) are entities from the Mario series.

Origin

Mario Paint is a multi-purpose art utility for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System that came bundled with a rolling-ball mouse and mousepad - the game featured three modes: Drawing Mode, Music Mode, and Flies & Hand's origin mode Gnat Attack, a mini game where the player uses the SNES Mouse to move the hand holding a flyswatter and attempt to swat the insects of increasing size and number. The player must defeat one hundred flies in order to complete the three levels, leading to a boss battle against King Watinga. After the boss is defeated, the game loops and adds a tiny icon at the top left of the screen, these icons depict figures such as Mario, a rocket, a chicken, a mermaid, a Game Boy, and the infamous Mario Paint baby face.

The Gnat Attack minigame reappeared in the Wario game WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! under the name "Fly Swatter", and later reappeared in one of Mario Paint's spiritual successors, the first Super Mario Maker. It has also been referenced through microgames in WarioWare Gold and another one of Mario Paint's successor games, WarioWare D.I.Y. Although it didn't make the final release, a variant of Gnat Attack was found in a prototype of Mario Artist: Paint Studio, which implies the hand to be Mario's through its life bar.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

As an Assist Trophy

“	Flies buzz around the stage, and a hand holding a fly swatter goes around swatting up a storm. Getting caught in the swat-storm will cause severe damage, so think like a fly and run away!	”
—Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

Wario being damaged by the flyswatter in Ultimate.

The Flies & Hand debuted as an Assist Trophy. They were revealed during the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Direct in November 1, 2018.

During the reveal trailer, the Flies & Hand are first seen moving around the Dream Land GB stage, referencing the retro aesthetic of Mario Paint.

As an Assist Trophy, the flies will fly around the stage and swarm around the opponents while the hand holding the flyswatter will hover in the foreground and attempt to swat them, damaging any fighters who are hit in the process. The hand can be attacked and even KO'd. When it is KO'd, it acts as it does in Gnat Attack, displaying eyes and a mouth when it is damaged. KO'ing the Flies & Hand Assist Trophy earns the player an extra point.

When the Flies & Hand are active, the camera will become fixed in a specific angle, and will not be able to be moved while the game is paused.

Flies & Hand cannot be summoned on the Garreg Mach Monastery, King of Fighters Stadium, Mishima Dojo, Mushroomy Kingdom, and Norfair stages.

Spirit

Flies & Hand also appears as an Advanced-class support spirit.

The Hand uses a Giant Donkey Kong puppet fighter while the Flies use an army of Tiny Dark Pit puppet fighters, and is fought on the Living Room stage. During the battle, the player's fighter must survive until the timer runs out while the Flies & Hand appears as a hostile Assist Trophy. Also, the Giant Donkey Kong's frequent hand-based attacks references the hand's ability to swat the flies while the Tiny Dark Pit army's frequent Power of Flight references the flies' ability to fly and swarm.

No.	Image	Name	Type	Class	Cost	Ability	Series
117		Flies & Hand		★★	1	Battering Items ↑	Mario Paint Series

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	ハエと手	Flies & Hand
English	Flies & Hand	—
French (PAL)	Mouches & main	Flies & Hand
French (NTSC)	Mouches et main	Flies and Hand
German	Mücken und Händchen	Mosquitos and Hands
Spanish	Moscas y mano	Flies and Hand
Italian	Insetti e mano	Insects and Hand
Chinese	Flies & Hand	—
Korean	Flies & Hand	—
Dutch	Vliegen en hand	Flies and Hand
Russian	Мухи и рука	Flies and Hand

Trivia

• Despite the Flies & Hand's spirit being listed in the Mario series, as well as the hand itself being playable in Gnat Attack, in the Assist Trophy category in Training Mode it is listed with the Assist Trophies from universes without playable characters, being listed between Dr. Wright and Sablé Prince. In addition, the Friend icon for Flies & Hand has a gray background, as opposed to the red used for Mario characters.