Smash attack

How to do a smash attack with the four different controls in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Mario's Forward Smash attack

A smash attack is an attack performed by "tapping" (quickly tilting) the control stick and pressing the A button at the same time. This class of attacks includes forward smash, up smash and down smash. Smash attacks generally have the highest knockback of the moves in a character's arsenal, with the forward smash usually being the most powerful. In Melee, it can be charged by holding the A button down, then releasing when you want the attack to unleash, thus giving it more damage and knockback. A smash attack can be charged for exactly 120 frames, or 2 seconds. A fully-charged smash attack does 1.4x damage; for example a smash attack that normally does 16% damage will do 22.4% damage when fully charged.

In Melee's Versus mode, smashes can also be performed by pressing the C-stick in any direction. Holding the Z button while pressing the C-stick results in charging the smash. Some forward smashes can be angled in the same way forward tilts can. And, depending form the tilt, a different amount of damage will be dealt. An upward angled smash can deliver +2% damage than a regular smash, while a downward angled smash delivers -1% damage.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, one can play the game with 4 different controller setups. While the Wii Remote, the Wii Remote and the Nunchuk, GameCube Controller, and the Classic Controller all have control sticks to perform Smash attacks the standard way, when using the Wii Controller on its side, one can also press the direction they are attacking and press both the 1 and 2 buttons at the same time. When attacks are charged in Brawl, characters now move while flashing as opposed to just freezing then unleashing the attack. In addition, a small sound can be heard when charging a smash attack. For most characters it's a 'crack' sound, however more cartoony characters like Diddy Kong and Kirby make a 'boing' sort of noise instead.

Smash attacks are powerful finishing moves, but they are usually slower than neutral A or tilted A attacks, and have a longer lag. A character who overuses smash attacks is easy to counter.