Super Smash Bros. series

Weight

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"Heavy" redirects here. For the Special Smash gravity condition, see Special gravity.
Weight Comparison 1 Brawl.gifWeight Comparison 2 Brawl.gif
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Mario's back throw speed differs depending on the weight of the character being thrown.

Weight is a measurement of how much a character can resist knockback. Weight is one of several factors used in calculating the amount of knockback a character experiences. Characters with a higher weight (heavy) tend to suffer less knockback, and characters with a lower weight (light) tend to suffer more knockback, all other factors controlled.

Overview

File:SSB4 Weight and Knockback graph.png
A graph demonstrating how the rate of knockback increase is affected by weight, labeled with Bowser's and Jigglypuff's weights in SSB4

Weight is in practice understood as how difficult it is to send a character flying away. In this sense, it is usually considered an advantage for a character to be heavy, as less knockback makes it more difficult to KO a character. Additionally, many throws take longer to execute on heavier characters, giving the opponent more time to properly react to throws and DI effectively. Because throwing heavier characters causes the throwing animation to continue longer once the target is let go, the viability of throw combos may be affected; for example, Mr. Game & Watch's down throw-to-down smash combo isn't guaranteed on heavier characters who don't tech the throw; the Ice Climbers' infinite chain grabs in Brawl are more difficult to perform on heavyweights; and in Melee, Captain Falcon is not vulnerable to many of the up throw chain throws (such as from Marth) that the space animals are vulnerable to despite having equivalent falling speed.

Lighter characters have a few advantages. Weight-sensitive platforms such as those in Mushroom Kingdom and Rainbow Cruise fall slower while holding less weight, making them safer to use for lighter characters. Many combos are less effective on lighter characters because their higher received knockback makes it easier to escape — these combos include some of Fox's waveshine combos in Melee and King Dedede's chaingrab in Brawl, where characters below a certain weight usually receive enough knockback to escape. Finally, certain weight-based throws have hitboxes that appear for very short lengths of time, and if the target is very light, the animation may progress so quickly that the hitbox appears and vanishes in less than a frame without hitting — this causes the lightest characters to take less damage, notably with Bowser's down throw in NTSC Melee and Link's down throw in Brawl, both of which miss their pre-throw hit on Jigglypuff.

Heavier characters tend to have stronger attacks, longer range, worse recovery, bigger hurtboxes, and slower movement, while lighter characters tend to have weaker attacks, shorter range, better recovery, smaller hurtboxes, and faster movement. However, this is a very loose correlation that many characters defy in some way — Captain Falcon is heavy but dashes incredibly fast, Yoshi is heavy but rather weak for his weight, Wario is heavy but short and highly maneuverable, Zelda is light-medium with slow and strong attacks, Falco is light with a very high falling speed and lackluster vertical recovery, and Little Mac is light but is considered among the worst at recovering in SSB4.

In single player modes, sometimes unnaturally high weight is introduced to challenge the player, such as when fighting Metal Mario; this is often paired with additional knockback resistance, since even characters with infinite weight will still take knockback from any attack with a base knockback greater than 0.

On an additional note, some attacks are weight independent, and will always act as if the target fighter's weight is set to 100; the amount of knockback dealt would remain consistent, no matter how light or heavy the target is. This is especially notable for attacks that have the bury, paralyze, or stun effects. However, other factors, such as knockback taken multipliers, and knockback resistance, would still affect the amount of knockback dealt.

Super Smash Bros. weight values

These values use a different scale than the later games - heavier characters have lower numbers, representing a direct multiplier in the knockback formula. For comparison purposes, the equivalent value in the newer system is also listed.[1]

Super Smash Bros. Melee weight values

Following are the characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee, ranked in order of heaviest to lightest. The Metal Box multiplies a character's base weight by 3, the Super Mushroom by 1.6, and the Poison Mushroom by 0.625.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl weight values

This is a list of characters' weights in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Super Smash Bros. 4 weight values

This is a list of characters' weights in Super Smash Bros. 4.

According to the game, weight is the base factor in determining how many powers can be equipped in Smash Run. There are other factors — namely a character's speed — so it is not a direct linear correlation, but as a general rule weight definitely carries a positive correlation: the higher the weight, the greater the number of powers, with the only exceptions being Miis and the DLC fighters having a power limit of 25.

Certain updates have made slight alterations to the weights of characters, affecting both survivability and resistance to combos. These changes have not had a major effect on most characters in the metagame, with the exceptions of Sheik and Bowser, who are considered to be worse and better after their weight alterations, respectively.

Update history

1.1.3

  • Change Ganondorf's weight: 112 → 113
  • Change Kirby's weight: 77 → 79
  • Change Sonic's weight: 95 → 94

1.1.4

  • Change Rosalina's weight: 78 → 77
  • Change Sheik's weight: 85 → 84
  • Change Zero Suit Samus's weight: 81 → 80

1.1.5

  • Change Bowser's weight: 128 → 130
  • Change Charizard's weight: 115 → 116
  • Change Mewtwo's weight: 72 → 74
  • Change Sheik's weight: 84 → 81


Notes/Trivia

  • According to Super Smash Bros. Melee's Blue Smash Trophy of Mario, his mass is the standard upon which other Smash fighters are measured. While this is true in NTSC Melee (having a weight of 100), the PAL version dropped Mario's weight to 98, which was slightly below-average. This was carried over for future installments.
  • In each game, the enemy team all have the same weight as Mario, despite each being based on characters of different weights.
    • However, one exception applies to the Female Wire Frame in Melee, who has a weight of 90. This is due to the development team copying Zelda's moveset over to the Female Wire Frame.
  • In Brawl, Giga Bowser and Wario-Man are programmed to have weights of 400 and 130, respectively; however, they cannot be knocked back, so their weight only has an effect on certain stage elements, such as Rainbow Cruise's see-saw platforms.
    • In Smash 4, Giga Bowser retains his weight of 400, and Giga Mac possesses a weight of 140, however Wario-Man no longer has a higher weight than Wario. Additionally, unlike Giga Bowser, Giga Mac can be affected by windboxes (but is still unaffected by regular knockback), making him the only transforming character who has a weight change that can affect gameplay outside of stage elements.
  • Jigglypuff is the lightest character in every Smash game except for Melee and Ultimate, where it is heavier than Pichu and is the same weight as Mr. Game & Watch.
    • But in Ultimate, Mr. Game And Watch shares his weight with Squirtle instead of sharing it with Jigglypuff.
    • Likewise, Bowser is the heaviest playable character in every game since his debut in Melee, with Donkey Kong being the heaviest in the original Super Smash Bros. and the second heaviest in every game afterwards until Ultimate.
  • A tip in Smash 4 states that Kirby is the third lightest character in the game, and Mr. Game and Watch is the second. While this was originally true, the addition of Mewtwo, as well as Kirby's weight being changed, made this tip incorrect.
  • Some moves treat character weights as a set value (such as 100), regardless of the recipient's actual weight. An example of this is Finishing Touch.
  • Weight changes from items such as the Metal Box do not affect the speed of throws affected by weight.

References

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