Team Battle

The Team Battle option as shown on the character selection screen in Melee. The current setup shows a 2 vs. 1 vs. 1 team setup, with Players 1 and 2 fighting solo and Players 3 and 4 on a team.

Team Battle is a versus mode setting present in all the games of the Super Smash Bros. series. As the name suggests, players (whether human or computer) fight alongside up to two others against the opposing team. Team Battle can be chosen on the character selection screen in the upper left hand corner by selecting the word "Free-for-all" in Smash 64, or "Melee"/"Brawl" in the respective games of the same name. Team Battle can be removed using the same method.

Gameplay

A team battle contains up to three teams (red, blue, and green), with a character's allegiance being shown by their color scheme or their outline color (Smash 4). If two of the same characters are on the same team, they will be light or dark variations of the same colour. Since a maximum of four characters can participate in a match, the following team setups are available (not including those with only one player per team):

• 2 vs. 1
• 2 vs. 2 (also known as Doubles in competitive play)
• 3 vs. 1
• 2 vs. 1 vs. 1

Since team battles are a regular division of versus mode, the regular options of time, stock, and coin matches can be selected, along with Special Melee/Brawl rules as well. In time and coin matches, the score (or coins collected) of each team is the combined score of its members. Stock matches are played in essentially the same manner; each player starts with a set number of lives and the objective is to deplete the stock of the opposing team(s). However, there is one feature called Share Stock where, when one player loses his/her last life, and that player has a teammate with two or more lives, he/she may borrow one of the lives from his/her teammate, and the character re-spawns as usual.

As a default setting, members of the same team cannot attack each other. However, turning on Friendly Fire on the options screen will allow players to damage their allies. This can lead to techniques such as easily using Mr. Game & Watch's Oil Panic move, giving Kirby a copy ability using Inhale, healing Ness or Lucas with PSI Magnet, or hitting a recovering ally with a low-knockback projectile, allowing them to re-use their third jump.

Team battle was also available for Nintendo Wi-Fi connection. When playing with anyone, a player could select his/her character as usual, but his/her team colour and teammate was determined randomly. Online team battles with anyone were always 2 vs. 2.

In Super Smash Bros. 4, the character is no longer restricted to a single palette swap for team battles; rather, there will be an outline determining which player is on what team. When playing an 8-Player Smash in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, an additional team color, the yellow team, can be selected.

With a maximum of eight characters that can participate in a match, further even-handed team setups are available beyond 2 vs. 2 battles:

• 3 vs. 3
• 4 vs. 4
• 2 vs. 2 vs. 2
• 2 vs. 2 vs. 2 vs. 2

Allowing for teams of different sizes, numerous combinations available, such as matches with up to seven fighters teaming up against a lone opponent, and matches with two large teams and one or two rogue contenders.

Trivia

• In the original Super Smash Bros., selecting the blue team was the only way to use Samus' or Captain Falcon's Blue color, and green team is the only way to get Captain Falcon's, Mario's, Kirby's, and Donkey Kong's green color, due to these colors not being available using the C buttons.
• In 2 vs. 1 or 3 vs. 1 battles, despite there being only one opponent to attack, the Bully, Predator, and Stalker penalties will still be given out to the members of the multi-player team for only attacking a single participant.
• In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario, Diddy Kong, King Dedede, Ness, and R.O.B. use their default costumes for red team; Yoshi, Luigi, Bowser, Link, and Toon Link use their default costumes for green team; and Sonic and Lucario use their default costume for blue team.
• Because Wario has two sets of outfits, each with its own team setup, he is the only character who has a choice of clothing in team battles prior to SSB4.
• In Super Smash Bros. 4, parts for the Dragoon and Daybreak are shared among teammates. If the item's other two parts were each picked up by other teammates, the teammate that picks up the last part--regardless of whether they have a part in their own possession--will have the item fully built and ready to use. Contrast teammates using the Dragoon in Brawl, where if two parts were picked up by different teammates, the Dragoon cannot be built as Dragoon parts cannot be dropped unless the players are KO'd.