Item

The Capsule item from SSBM.

An item is an object that appears on stage that characters can use or throw. Items are a large part of the gameplay of the Smash Bros. series. They may appear at any time in designated spawning areas during a match.

Using items

A player may pick up an item by pressing A while his or her character is near the item and facing it. Both jabs and tilts will pick up items if they are in range. If the character is in mid-air, he or she can only pick up items using the Z button.

List of items

The items that appear during regular gameplay and are listed under Item Switch may be broken down into several different types of items based on how they are used and their effects.

Container items

Container items can be broken if thrown or hit and will release other items when broken. Opponents hit by thrown container items will be damaged. Container items have a 25% chance of exploding, dealing greater damage than normal but at the same time not releasing any items.

• Party Balls*
• Capsules
• Crates
• Barrels
• Eggs

Battering items

Battering items change each character's neutral A, forward tilt, dash attack, and forward smash into a damaging item swipe. They can be thrown, tilt-thrown, or smash-thrown with Z and the C-stick as well and may also have certain special effects.

• Beam Swords
• Home-run Bats
• Fans
• Star Rods³
• Parasols*
• Lip's Sticks*

Guns

Guns are items that can fire projectiles a certain distance.

• Ray Guns²
• Super Scopes*
• Fire Flowers
• Star Rods³*

Other offensive items

There is another class of items describable only as "offensive items", which have different special attacking effects that take effect after picked up and/or thrown; for example, the Motion-Sensor Bomb will attach the the first contacted surface, and will explode, dealing high damage and knockback, if touched.

• Hammers²
• Green Shells
• Red Shells
• Flippers*
• Freezies*
• Mr. Saturns*
• Poké Balls²
• Bob-ombs
• Motion-sensor Bombs
• Bumpers"
• Warp Stars*
• Barrel Cannons¹*

Healing items

Healing items will reduce the damage of the character who picks them up. In Super Smash Bros., a character may not pick up a healing item while holding another item; this was changed in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

• Food*
• Maxim Tomatoes²
• Heart Containers²

Status-affecting items

Status affecting items are items that, if contacted or grabbed, give certain abilities to the holding character: for example, the Starman makes the character invincible as soon as one touches it. Healing items decrease the character's damage when picked up. Certain "Gun" weapons can be picked up and shot using the A button.

• Super Mushrooms*
• Poison Mushrooms*
• Starmen
• Screw Attacks¹*
• Metal Boxes*
• Bunny Hoods*
• Cloaking Devices*

Other

Other items can be produced only by certain characters, stages, or other items. These include:

• Bombs²
• Turnips*
• Apples*
• Enemies*, such as:
  • Redeads
  • Octoroks
  • Goombas
  • Koopa Troopas
  • Koopa Paratroopas
  • Polar Bears
  • Topis
  • Like Likes
• Electrodes¹*
• Hammer heads
• Walking or flashing Bob-ombs
• Yoshi's Eggs
• Invisible Bombs"º

Footnotes

1: Appears in SSB, but not as an item.

2: Differs significantly in SSB and SSBM.

3: Can function both as a gun (by inputting forward tilt or forward smash) or a clobbering item (by inputting neutral A)

*: Only appears as an item in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

": Only appears in Smash Bros.

º: Only appears as a glitch.

Reflection

This chart shows if an item itself can be reflected by the following characters. That means smashing Forward+Z to throw the item, not to shoot or batter. YES if it can reflect and NO if it cannot reflect.

Item reflection
Item	Fox/Falco	Zelda	Mario/Dr. Mario	Mewtwo	Ness
Attack	Reflector (down B)	Nayru's Love (neutral B)	Cape/Super Sheet (smash B)	Confusion (smash B)	Bat swing (Forward smash)
Ray Gun	YES	YES	YES	YES	?
Super Scope	YES	YES	YES	YES	?
Fire Flower	YES	YES	YES	YES	?
Beam Sword	YES	YES	YES	YES	?
Home-run Bat	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Fan	NO	NO	NO	NO	?
Star Rod	NO	NO	NO	NO	?
Parasol	YES	NO	YES	YES	?
Lip's Stick	NO	NO	NO	NO	?
Green Shell	YES	YES	YES	YES	?
Red Shell	YES	YES	YES	YES	?
Flipper	YES	YES	YES	YES	?
Freezie	YES	YES	YES	YES	?
Mr. Saturn	YES	YES	YES	YES	?
Poké Ball	YES	YES	YES	YES	?
Bob-omb	YES	YES	YES	YES	?
Motion-sensor Bomb/Proximity Mine	YES	YES	YES	YES	?
Screw Attack	YES	YES	YES	YES	?
Hammer Head	YES	?	YES	?	?
Party Ball	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Capsule	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Crate	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Barrel	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Egg	?	?	?	?	?

• Mario/Dr. Mario explode the Bob-omb with the Cape/Super Sheet (Forward+B), but it dosn't reflect or hurt them.
• When Mewtwo reflects with Confusion (Forward+B), it still counts as the thrower's item and doesn't hurt them. For example, if a character throws a Poké Ball at Mewtwo and Mewtwo reflects it, the Poké Ball will not hit the thrower when reflected. When it lands, the thrower gets the Pokémon and not Mewtwo. This applies to all items that Mewtwo can reflect (but explosives can still hurt the thrower if they land at the thrower's feet).
• All of the question marks have not been tested yet.
• When Fox reflects a Poké Ball in Super Smash Bros.(for the n64), the original thrower of the Poké Ball gets it.