Spike

A spike is an an attack that sends the opponent downward until the hitlag wears off. A spike is not to be confused with a Meteor Smash, which also sends the opponent downwards, but can be Meteor Canceled before the hitlag depletes. Few characters have spikes; currently there are 5 characters who have a known spike, and are as follows:

• 1) Falco's Dair.
• 2) Marth's Dair. (NTSC only)
• 3) Ganondorf's Aerial Down+B.
• 4) Captain Falcon's Nipple Spike (Hitting with the upper half of his body during the dair)
• 5) Roy's Up Smash (Must be hit against an airborne Character with the tip of the sword)

Note also that Spikes don't necessarily kill the opponent each time: at low damages the downwards thrust wears off and the spiked opponent can recover. Regardless of this, recovery tends to be impossible at percentages near or above 40%. The spike is almost always devastating to the opponent; because of this, many Falco and Marth players try to integrate it into play as often as possible.

See also

• Meteor smash – a spike that can be recovered from through a meteor cancel.
• Semi spike – a move that hits the opponent at a very low angle, minimizing recovery opportunities.
• Shine spike – a Fox technique that utilizes the down-b reflector to spike an opponent.