Back aerial

Wolf's back aerial in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Olimar's back aerial in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

The back aerial attack (abbreviated as "bair", "BAir", or "ABA", and referred to as AttackAirB in internal Brawl files) is an aerial attack that is performed in midair by pressing the attack button and tilting the control stick or d-pad in the direction opposite to which the character is facing. Its official term varies between titles, where it is known as a "back midair attack" in Super Smash Bros. Melee, and a "back air attack" in Brawl. The majority of these attacks are kicks.

List of back aerials in Super Smash Bros.

In general, back aerial attacks in Super Smash Bros. are slow but with good range and good knockback. All except Link's are one-hit moves:

Character name	Description	Damage
Mario	Kicks with both feet. Good KOing move, similar to Luigi's but with less range and more speed.	16%
Luigi	Kicks opponent with both feet. Good range but slow, similar to Mario's but with more range and less speed.	16%
Donkey Kong	Kicks opponent with both feet. Too slow to be overly useful, but good for comboing against wall.	15%
Yoshi	Kicks opponent with both feet. Yoshi's overall slowest DJC aerial, good after up tilts, leads into other DJC aerials.	16%
Link	Kicks feet behind him one at a time. Very quick move usually used for combos, more of a backwards double kick. Good in almost all circumstances and overall Link's most useful aerial for comboing.	15% if both hits connect.
Pikachu	Kicks the opponent behind it. The move is usually used either to start or finish a combo or to edgeguard.	16%
Jigglypuff	Kicks opponent with one foot. An overall good move if it had more range, very quick, low power, virtually useless at low percents, can combo into itself at mid-percents.	13%
Kirby	Kicks opponent with both feet. The best example of a wall of pain move of SSB, good damage + good for combos, great edgeguard tool.	16%
Samus	Raises her foot and then thrusts it behind her. Samus' overall best move. Huge range and power and Samus' main KOing/spacing move.	14%
Fox	Kicks opponent with one foot. Yet another good aerial for Fox, good for edgeguarding Falcon's and Samus's among others.	12%
Captain Falcon	Punches backward with one hand. More of an advanced comboing move compared to his other aerials, more difficult to use in combos but overall better than up aerial against floaty characters.	16%
Ness	Kicks opponent with both feet.	16%
Fox	Kicks opponent with one foot. Yet another good aerial for Fox, good for edgeguarding Falcon's and Samus's among others.	12%

List of back aerials in Super Smash Bros. Melee

Character name	Description	Damage
Bowser	Throws his back out, extending the spikes on his shell. Can semi-spike. A good bit of ending lag if not l-canceled. This attack may be used as a edge-guard, though risky.	13% clean, 8% late.
Captain Falcon	A backhand behind him.	14%
Donkey Kong	Does a back kick like Mario, except with one foot.	13% clean, 9% late.
Dr. Mario	A short-duration back kick. Can semi-spike.	7-8%
Falco	A back kick, similar in appearance to Donkey Kong's. A sex kick.	15% clean, 9% late.
Fox	A back kick similar to Falco's.	15% clean, 9% late.
Ganondorf	A backwards punch similar to Captain Falcon's except it has consistent power throughout.	16%
Ice Climbers	Both climbers swing their hammers behind them.	Leader, 12%, partner, 10%, up to 22-23%.
Jigglypuff	A spinning back kick, similar to Samus. Can be used for Wall of Pain techniques.	12%
Kirby	A backwards kick. Can be used for Fence of Pain techniques.	14% clean, 10% late.
Link	Does a spinning double kick.	13% if both kicks connect.
Luigi	A short-duration back kick that has consistent power throughout.	6-11%
Mario	A backwards kick.	10%
Marth	A reverse aerial sword swipe. This move turns Marth around in the air.	10% untipped, 13% tipped.
Mewtwo	Lashes its tail behind it.	Up to 13%, depending on the distance from the opponent.
Mr. Game & Watch	Holds out a turtle behind him, hitting several times. This attack cannot be L-canceled.	18% if all hits connect.
Ness	A back kick dealing electricity damage. The initial frames inflict powerful knockback, and later frames deal less damage and knockback.	16% clean, 10% late.
Peach	Swings out her hip for 14% damage at the start. Can be used as a KO move.	14% clean, 5% late.
Pichu	Spins with its entire body horizontal. Only one hit.	9%
Pikachu	Spins like a frisbee. Only one hit. Some landing lag if not L-canceled.	12%
Roy	Similar to Marth's, except weaker. This attack turns Roy around in midair.	8% sourspotted, 9% at center of blade.
Samus	Does a spinning back kick. If the attack lands at her foot, it has good power, otherwise, it deals less damage and knockback.	14% at foot, 10% sourspotted.
Sheik	A simple back kick.	Landing the foot hit-box deals 14%; closer to the body does 8-10%.
Yoshi	Wags his tail several times behind him.	20% if all hits connect.
Young Link	Similar to Link's, where he does a double spin kick, though like Link's version it's also a weak air attack.	13% if both kicks connect.
Zelda	Does the powerful Lightning Kick behind her. Powerful knockback and damage when sweetspotted.	20% sweetspotted, 10% sourspotted.

List of back air attacks in Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Character name	Description	Damage
Mario	A twizzle-kick of sorts, he kicks behind himself with both feet and spins.	12% clean, 7% late.
Luigi	The same as Mario's with longer range.	12% clean, 8% late.
Peach	Bashes her bottom backwards. One of her few KO moves.	13-14% clean, 7% late. Deals 20-21% damage if she performs Float double aerial, but it is difficult to land both hits at high percentage.
Bowser	Forces his shell backwards.	15% clean, 7% late.
Donkey Kong	A simple backwards kick. Moderately long duration, great range and powerful.	13% clean, 8% late.
Diddy Kong	A fast turnaround motion with his leg stuck out.	9%
Yoshi	Flips his tail up and down multiple times.	14% damage if all hits connect.
Wario	Falls over in the air. Can be used to fly as Wario-Man.	10%
Link	Two backward kicks. Very fast. Relatively weak, but can combo into other moves if Link lands immediately after landing the first hit.	11% if both hits connect.
Zelda	Lightning Kick. She jabs her heel behind her giving an extremely powerful initial, electricity-imbued attack for the first hitbox is sweetspotted. The second hitbox is very weak.	20% if sweetspotted. 4% when sourspotted.
Sheik	Extends her leg backward very fast, the hitbox stays out long. The sweetspot is on her foot. Not a reliable KO'r.	11% clean, 6% late.
Ganondorf	Punches backward. Very similar to Captain Falcon's, but instead of having a long duration it has a large hitbox with a large sweetspot but fairly long landing lag.	16%
Toon Link	Slashes backwards with his sword. Can chain into itself at low percents and can also KO at higher percents.	10%
Samus	A backward kick. The sweetspot is on her foot, otherwise it's weak.	14% if sweetspotted. 10% if sourspotted.
Zero Suit Samus	Identical to Samus', but slightly faster and stronger in terms of knockback.	13%
Pit	Jabs his swords backwards. Good knockback, but hard to sweetspot.	15% damage.
Ice Climbers	Spin around with hammers slightly extended. Deceptively powerful.	Leader, 11%. Partner, 8%. Total, 8-19%
R.O.B.	Pushes boosters behind himself. Propels him forward and deals decent knockback.	11%
Kirby	Extends both feet backwards. Used for Fence of Pain. Often considered the best move in Kirby's arsenal.	12% first frames. 9% later frames.
King Dedede	Similar to Kirby's, but with one foot. It has a large hitbox, with disjoint during the first frames of the move. Generally considered on of the best back aerials in the game.	13% first frames, 9% later frames.
Meta Knight	Slashes three times behind himself very quickly, slightly slower/more powerful than his forward aerial, which has the same properties.	10% if all hit connects.
Olimar	Swings a Pikmin backward.	Red: 13%, Blue: 13%, Yellow: 12%, White: 5%, Purple: 13%.
Fox	A standard kick, Fox spins with his leg outstretched. It has some ending lag in the air that but can be used as a KO move.	15%
Falco	Kicks backwards similar to Fox but with less knockback and is a sex kick.	13% first frames, 9% later frames.
Wolf	Jams his leg backwards with deceiving range. Short duration but very fast and powerful.	13% when sweetspotted, 11% when the middle hitbox connects, and 9% when sourspotted.
Captain Falcon	Punches behind himself.	14%
Pikachu	Spins around for multiple hits. Has high ending lag.	11% if all hits connect.
Squirtle	Sticks its tail behind it, similar to Mario's back aerial.	10% first frame, 6% later frames.
Ivysaur	Spins around with vines extended. Low damage and very low knockback, but excellent range.	5% damage if both hits connect.
Charizard	Spins around surprisingly quickly with tail extended and wings slightly extended. 2 possible hits, one with wings and one with tail. Decent knockback on tail hit, wing hit will always link into tail hit. Wing hit meteor smashes, but this is only to lead into the second hit. Has a sweetspot on the fire, but it's hard to sweetspot as it has a small size.	16% when all hits connect and sweetspotted.
Lucario	Punches backwards. Aura extends from palm.	8% at minimum power and 16% at maximum power.
Jigglypuff	Spins around with foot extended to about twice its regular size. Used for the wall of pain.	12%
Marth	Similar to Toon Link's in animation, Marth thrusts his sword upwards. However, this attack is notable because it turns him around. When tipped, this attack can KO around 150%.	11% untipped, 14% tipped.
Ike	A quick spin with sword extended. Powerful, can be auto canceled in short hops (it misses against smaller characters) and very fast start-up but it has a very long cooldown like all of his aerials and moveset in general.	14%
Ness	Plugs backwards with both heels. Initial hitbox quite powerful with electrical properties, second hitbox fairly weak, although buffed from Melee. It is a very powerful move.	15% sweetspotted, 8% sourspotted.
Lucas	Flips and hooks his foot downward. Can meteor smash at a certain angle (on the tip of Lucas's foot). Can KO at low percentages.	12% if sweetspotted, 10% if sourspotted, 7% during last frames.
Mr. Game and Watch	Snapping turtle, hits multiple times with good range, however it can be SDIed out of and be punished before the move has ended. Eats through shields. Last hit can be powershielded, but is very difficult to perform.	15% if all hits connect.
Snake	Kicks backward with both feet, body becomes horizontal. Large duration and high knockback (although it deals the same damage, his body has slightly more knockback than his legs), but has a fairly long cooldown and 30 frames landing lag. Doesn't auto cancel in short hops. Large range and disjointed hitbox.	Does 16% when sweetspotted, 14% sourspotted, 10% if the later hitbox is landed.
Sonic	Similar to Diddy Kong's, he spins around with his foot extended. One of his few KO moves, but is slow for a back air.	13%

Notable back aerials

Dr. Mario's back aerial attack in Melee. It is a semi-spike.

• Jigglypuff's back aerial in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Brawl, used for the highly effective "wall of pain".
• R.O.B.'s back aerial propels him forward, and forward while traveling diagonally upward when using Robo Burner.
• Peach's back aerial has almost no landing lag if not in the midair.
• Kirby's back aerial in Melee, an attack similar to Jigglypuff's back aerial but instead has almost no start-up lag. The move is dubbed the "fence of pain".
• Marth and Roy's back aerials allow them to turn around while still in midair. These are the only aerials able to do so in the Super Smash Bros series.
• Dr. Mario's back aerial is a semi-spike with high base knockback, making it effective for edgeguarding.
• Ness and Zelda's back aerials in Melee, are powerful semi-spikes. Zelda's back aerial semi-spike can only be achieved from a hit with the sweetspot at her toe, while Ness's has to be hit in the intial frames to be powerful.
• Toon Link's quick back aerial, with minimal knockback in Brawl. The move is effective for positioning the opponent for an immediate down aerial.
• Pikachu's back aerial has extremely short range but the hitbox surrounds Pikachu.
• Mr. Game & Watch's back aerial is the feared Turtle, a disjointed five-hit combo.
• Lucas's back aerial is the only one in the entire series to meteor smash.
• Samus's back aerial in Melee, one of her combo moves, which, when sweetspotted, is a very powerful low-percent killer, and when not sweetspotted, is a wall of pain on some fast and medium fallers.

Reverse Aerial Rush

The Reverse Aerial Rush, often abbreviated the RAR, is a technique in Brawl that allows a character to use a back aerial in front of him or her. This is often used because the character has an inferior forward aerial or that a back air is simply more efficient than a normal attack at the time. It can also be used as an approach option. Many characters, such as King Dedede can benefit from this technique.