Tips

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Super Smash Bros. 4 includes a list of tips. These tips appear in two different locations - their own specialized menu in the Vault, or on the loading screens of the game.

List of tips

The many tips in the game are categorized into different types.

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Characters

Character-based tips mainly provide information about characters' special moves.

• Diddy Kong: Monkey Flip While performing this move, you can press the attack button to launch a flying kick that deals considerable damage and has good launching power.
• Diddy Kong: Rocketbarrel Boost If someone attacks Diddy Kong when he's wearing his Rocketbarrel Pack, it'll break free and fly off on it's own.
• Donkey Kong: Hand Slap DK's Hand Slap affects a large area around him. however, it won't hit airborne fighters.
• Fox: Fox Illusion When you use this move on the ground, Fox will always stop if he reaches an edge. When used in the air, you need to be a little more careful.
• Little Mac: Rising Uppercut Little Mac zooms upward with a powerful uppercut. It travels farther when used on the ground than when used in the air.
• Luigi: Green Missile This move can end with Luigi's head stuck in a wall. That leaves him vulnerable, so be careful!
• Meta Knight: Mach Tornado The tornado created around Meta Knight can destroy any weak projectiles it hits.
• Mii Gunner: Cannon Uppercut Fires a blast downward using the recoil to power an uppercut. If you're up close, you can hit your foe with both the uppercut and the blast!
• Mii Gunner: Flame Pillar If you make a pillar of fire on the ground, it'll deliver a single hit to anyone who comes close, pushing them back.
• Mii Swordfighter: Gale Strike The tornado will become weaker as time passes, but the force of the wind will still push opponents even after it stops dealing damage.
• Olimar: Winged Pikmin Two Winged Pikmin carry Olimar. The more Pikmin he has, the harder it is to pull him up.
• PAC-MAN: Bonus Fruit PAC-MAN's apple bounces repeatedly across the ground. It travels quite a distance!
• PAC-MAN: Bonus Fruit PAC-MAN's melon moves slowly through the air, so it's harder to hit opponents with. But when it does hit home, it deals quite some damage.
• PAC-MAN: Fire Hydrant PAC-MAN places a fire hydrant on the ground. The water that it spurts will push fighters back.
• Palutena: Angelic Missile Palutena fires herself forward like a spinning torpedo. This move travels a long way, so be careful not to fire yourself right off the cliff!
• Palutena: Explosive Flame This move causes an explosion a short distance away from Palutena. It deals multiple hits to any opponents in its vicinity and then sends them flying.
• Palutena: Rocket Jump Palutena propels herself with an explosion at her feet, damaging enemies nearby. It's a little more powerful on the ground than in the air.
• Peach: Gliding Holding the jump button will let Peach hover in the air for a short time. She can even attack as she floats!
• Peach: Side Smash Attack Peach pulls out a tennis racket, a golf club, and then a frying pan. Remember that order!
• Pikachu: Thunder The bolt of lightning has a meteor effect. Use it after throwing a foe upward for a powerful combo.
• Robin: Thunder It's difficult to notice in the middle of a battle, but the cover of the tome Robin uses actually changes depending on the spell being used.
• Robin: Thunder Robin will use one of four magic spells, depending on how long you charge Thunder. The color of the tome glow indicates which spell will be used.
• Rosalina & Luma: Star Bits Luma fires Star Bits that can scatter in three directions: high, middle, and low.
• Shulk: Monado Arts Shulk switches between five modes - Jump, Speed, Shield, buster, and Smash - that change his abilities for a short time.
• Shulk: Monado Arts In Shield mode, the power of your shield is boosted but you can't move as fast, jump as high, or deal as much damage.
• Villager: Down Air Attack One to three turnips appear. More turnips means more damage. Three has a meteor effect.
• Wii Fit Trainer: Deep Breathing Deep Breathing can reduce stress. Oh, and it also increases your attack and launch power and heals a small amounf of damage.
• Zelda: Phantom Slash Charge this attack to make the Phantom travel farther. It'll attack differently based on the distance traveled.

Stages

Stage-based tips give notes about stages.

• 3D Land: Note Blocks Note Blocks appear at the beginning of the stage. Jumping on them will send fighters flying into the sky!
• 3D Land: Spike Pillars Spike Pillars will pop out of the ocean at the random. they can break lifts and deal a lot of damage to unlucky fighters.
• Distant Planet The Red Bulborb will appear on the right, opening its mouth and looking for food. Being eaten by the Red Bulborb counts as a KO.
• Gerudo Valley Sometimes the wooden bridge will break if you stand on it or attack it. It's a flimsy bridge and will break over time, too.
• Golden Plains Touch the red ring to make eight red coins appear. One red coin is worth five regular coins!
• Green Hill Zone The object with the blue ball on top is called a Point Marker. A Point Marker will twirl when the ball is hit, dealing damage to anyone too close.
• Living Room Five kinds of puppies appear in the background. The breed will change randomly. Sometimes a kitten will appear instead!
• Spirit Train The Armored Train is pointy in front and will try and push the train you are on off the stage. Don't get pushed off during their conflict!
• Tomodachi Life Normally, only rooms that fighters are currently in will be visible. If you throw an X Bomb, though, a lot will be revealed!
• Unova Pokémon League Reshiram's Fusion Flare move will unleash a burst of flames and then destroy the stairs, so be careful!
• Unova Pokémon League Stairs will appear and connect to N's Castle. The stairs will make the stage larger - change up your tactics with this new space!
• Unova Pokémon League Sometimes Milotic, Whimsicott, and Shaymin will appear. Don't worry - these three are only here to watch.
• Yoshi's Island Shy Guys sometimes appear from the sky, carrying yummy food. Attack them to make them drop their tasty snacks!

Items

Item-based tips document items, Pokémon, and Assist Trophies.

• Assist Trophy: Chain Chomp If a Chain Chomp falls off the stage, it'll just jump straight back up!
• Assist Trophy: Color TV-Game 15 The paddles that appear to the left and right will try to keep the ball in play. You'll take damage and be launched if you touch them.
• Assist TrophyL Dillon Watch out! This armadillo will attack without fear. His Arma-Charge is super powerful, so get to dodging if you see him spinning up!
• Assist Trophy: Dr. Kawashima Numbers will fly in from off-screen. Attack them to make them change direction.
• Assist Trophy: Elec Man Elec Man will move swiftly across the stage, firing Thunder Beam at the fighters. A hit from this attack will leave a fighter stunned for a time.
• Assist Trophy: Ghosts Pinky will try to catch her target out by getting in front and ambushing them. Clyde doesn't have a target - he just does whatever he likes.
• Assist Trophy: Isabelle Isabelle cares how the fight is going! If the fighter who summoned her gets a KO, she'll be happy! She'll flinch if the fighters get close.
• Assist Trophy: Lakitu Lakitu's Spiny Eggs will have a meteor effect on anyone they hit. Lakitu is perfect for stages that have small platforms.
• Assist Trophy: Midna Midna won't be abandoned in battle - she'll teleport to chase foes. She also uses her teleport to return if she gets launched.
• Assist Trophy: Mother Brain Mother Brain will send colorful lasers shooting up and down the screen. They can't be absorbed or reflected, so you'll just have to avoid them!
• Assist Trophy: Phosphora Phosphora can't be defeated when she arrives on the battlefield, only made to flinch. However, her thunder attacks can be reflected or absorbed.
• Assist Trophy: Phosphora Phosphora will teleport around the stage, dodging attacks and shooting lightning at everyone not fortunate enough to have summoned her.
• Assist Trophy: Saki Amamiya Depending on the location of his target, Saki may shoot or slash with his weapon. The slash is very powerful at close ranges, so watch out!
• Assist Trophy: Sheriff Sheriff fires high-speed, powerful shots at the fighters. These shots can be reflected, but absorbing them is not an option.
• Assist Trophy: Skull Kid Skull Kid calls on a variety of mystical powers when he appears in the battle. Unfortunately, these powers affect whoever summoned him, too.
• Assist Trophy: Tingle Every so often, Tingle will send down a shower of Hammers. Even more rarely, he'll rain Golden Hammers on the battlefield!
• Assist Trophy: Waluigi Luigi's purple-clothed rival. He only ever jumps directly up, so leaping left and right is a good way to avoid him.
• Beetle Attack an incoming Beetle and it'll do a U-turn. Beat the person who threw it at their own game!
• Fire Bar You can use the Fire Bar both at short range and long range. The fireballs at the base of the weapon do the most damage.
• Golden Hammer This sometimes turns into a Squeaky Hammer. It doesn't hurt much, but that sound sure is cute, eh?
• Pokémon: Arceus The attack Gravity will pull fighters out of the air. Anyone caught out beyond the edge will fall straight down.
• Pokémon: Eevee Eevee will use Take Down on any fighters nearby. If there aren't any, it'll just stand around looking a bit confused.
• Pokémon: Fennekin Incinerate creates a fire pillar reaching out in front of Fennekin. If it connects, it'll do repeated damage to fighters.
• Pokémon: Gardevoir Gardevoir uses a barrier that reflects projectiles. If you summoned it, your own projectiles won't be affected. Nice!
• Pokemon: Goldeen If damage was dealt from enthusiasm, then Goldeen would KO everyone with Splash. But it isn't. Not even when Goldeen comes from a Master Ball.
• Pokémon: Goldeen No matter how enthusiastically it splashes, nothing ever happens. Not even on those rare instances you find it in a Master Ball.
• Pokémon: Inkay Inkay's Topsy-Turvy move knocks over nearby fighters. It doesn't work on anybody in the air though, so try jumping!
• Pokémon: Meloetta Meloetta's song will bounce off walls and platforms. In smaller stages, the song will bounce unpredictably, making it tough to avoid.
• Pokemon: Mew Mew is so rare, you'll be lucky to see one at all - but when you do, it'll drop rare items onto the battlefield.
• Pokémon: Moltres Moltres slowly rises after appearing. Even barely touching this Legendary Pokémon will send a fighter flying.
• Pokémon: Oshawott Surf sweeps up anybody in its path - adjust your aim to catch fighters who try to get out of the way!
• Pokémon: Staryu Staryu will pursue a target and shoot stars at high speed. For fighters with projectile-absorbing moves, this is like an early birthday present!
• Pokémon: Swirlix Anyone who strays too close to Swirlix will have their movement reduced. Take advantage of this if you brought Swirlix into battle!
• Pokémon: Victini Victini will use Victory Star to give the fighter who summoned it a boost. In a team battle, it will boost your teammates as well.
• Pokémon: Xerneas Everyone's launching power will get a boost when Xerneas is around. It'll be much easier to launch rivals who have low damage.
• Screw Attack You can deliver air attacks while using the Screw Attack item. This can lead to powerful combos.

Modes

Mode-based tips provide notes about the various modes, including Smash Run.

• Classic: Route Map The paths are marked with a color to show their difficulty: blue, green or red. The harder the path, the better the reward!
• Items on Floating Platforms In Multi-Man Smash, items occasionally float by on a platform. These aren't random - the same items appear at the same time in every battle.
• Smash Run: Powers The number of Powers a fighter can carry depends on the fighter's weight - the heavier the fighter, the more they can manage.

Smash Run

Smash Run-based tips focus on enemies encounter in Smash Run, as well as its other unique features.

• Area Lockdown The number in the top left is your target number of enemies to beat. Hit that mark, and you'll get an especially large stat boost!
• Challenges: Crystal Smash! Break all the crystals in the time allotted. Breaking them gets you stat boosts!
• Challenges: Crystal Smash! When you're attacking crystals, sometimes large cracks will appear. Aim your attacks at these to destroy the crystals more efficiently.
• Enemies: Bronto Burt Bronto burts fly around and try to hit you with their spin attack. The attack doesn't do much damage but has high launching power.
• Enemies: Bumpety Bomb Bumbety Bombs flash more and more quickly as they get closer to exploding. The blast hurts other enemies, too, so use that to your advantage!
• Enemies: Bumpety Bomb You can't hit a Bumpety Bomb through the armor on its front. Instead, attack from behind or try to throw it.
• Enemies: Clubberskull When a Clubberskull's on a revenge, it'll come after fighters relentlessly. It'll even jump over walls and other obstacles!
• Enemies: Devil Car These cars are the most inconsiderate drivers, trying to ram right at you! If one hits you at high speed, it'll hurt.
• Enemies: Flame Chomp Don't touch the Flame Chomp's fireballs! That means both the ones it fires at you and the ones that are still attached to its tail.
• Enemies: Fly Guy A type of Shy Guy that flies around, dangling items. Sometimes they even carry custom parts!
• Enemies: Geemer Geemers can crawl along the ground, the walls... even the ceiling! Those spikes will hurt any fighter who touches them.
• Enemies: Generator Generators disappear after they've finished spawning enemies. Defeat them before they finish to get a big bounty as a reward!
• Enemies: Iridescent Glint Beetle These golden bugs stay underground until a fighter comes near. They're bonus enemies, and often when you launch one, it'll drop some gold.
• Enemies: Lethinium These floral fiends shoot lasers that can go through the terrain. If the beam doesn't hit, the next shot will be at a different angle.
• Enemies: Megonta Hit a Megonta's weak point - the stomach - and you can topple it over. It can't do anything until it gets back up, so you have a chance to strike.
• Enemies: Metroid These alien creatures float around and then try to clamp down on you with their sharp fangs. Quickly struggle to break free from their grasp.
• Enemies: Nutski These airborne enemies from the Forces of Nature fire either a burst of weak seeds or a single big seed that deals more damage.
• Enemies: Octorok When you get close to an Octorok, it'll hide in the grass. You won't be able to hit it with attacks, but you can still throw it.
• Enemies: Pooka Pookas can chase after you by burrowing through walls and the ground. While doing this, you can't hit them, only look at their goggles.
• Enemies: Reapette These Reaper minions can pass right through walls. They'll disappear in one hit, so it's easy to clear them out with some careful aim.
• Enemies: Roturret Roturrets hang in the air and fire three shots from each od their two cannons. The last pair of shots has extra lunching power.
• Enemies: Shotzo Depending on the type, these indestructible cannons will either fire three shots in a fixed position or one shot aimed at you.
• Enemies: Skuttler Cannoneer The color of the cannon shows which type it is. Blue = beam, green = bazooka, and red = missile.
• Enemies: Starman Starmen are aliens that move by teleporting and unleash PK Beam attacks. They will paralyse you briefly if they hit you.
• Enemies: Types of Shy Guys Shy Guys come in four colors: red, blue, yellow, and green. They have different abilities and tend to drop different stat boosts.
• Enemies: Zuree These ghosts with big claws are impossible to hit before they take physical form. When they attack, that's your chance to strike back.
• Event: Fast Learner One stat will be easier to upgrade for a while. Stat boosts for it will appear more frequently, and it'll upgrade more quickly from play, too.
• Event: Heavenly Light A light engulfs the fighters, causing damage to nearby enemies. The effect is just like the Power of the same name.

Other

Other tips document game terminology and otherwise-unsorted notes.

• Catching Items You can catch items thrown at you by pressing the attack button at just the right time.
• Meteor Smash Launching an opponent straight downward is known as a Meteor Smash. Doing this when there isn't a platform below is a good one-hit KO method.
• Super Armor This is a state where you won't flinch even while taking damage. Some specials will trigger this.