Knee Smash
| “ | The Knee Smash, used in midair on foes in front of you, is slow and has a short reach, but if it connects, it'll send foes flying a long way on a low trajectory. | ” |
Knee Smash, also known as "the knee" (or a variety of other nicknames involving the term "knee"), is Captain Falcon's forward aerial in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Brawl, as confirmed by one of his trophies. It is an extremely powerful low-trajectory killer often used at the end of Falcon's combos and for edgeguarding. It deals up to 18% damage in Melee and 19% in Brawl, under circumstances not influenced by items, stale-move negation, or stage effects
Overview
In Super Smash Bros Melee
In Melee, this move is considered amongst the best in the game, due to its short lag time and powerful knockback ability. Many combos and strategies for Captain Falcon end with a Knee Smash. When the Knee Smash is at full power, it makes an excellent wall of pain, and can be accompanied by Captain Falcon's down aerial for a pseudo-Ken Combo.
The Knee Smash has two main hitboxes. The initial hitbox, which lasts only a few frames, is Captain Falcon's primary killer and is accompanied by an electrical pulse. This hitbox is considered the attack's sweet spot, but is actually closer to a "sex kick" (an aerial attack which remains extended for a few moments after the initial thrust). The second hitbox lasts much longer and lacks the damage and knockback of the sweet spot. This is often called a soft knee, or weak knee, which is also a semi-spike.
Due to the Knee Smash's low lag, professional smashers can use it as a launcher into another aerial attack, often a sweet-spotted Knee Smash. In addition, if sweet-spotted at 60% or so, professionals sometimes follow it up with an aerial Falcon Punch in the deadly "Sacred Combo".
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
In Brawl, the Knee Smash was weakened ("nerfed"). The sweet spot became much harder to land, as the back hitbox was just a slightly stronger version of the sourspot, while the sweet spot's hitbox only lasts 1 frame and its knockback power was decreased slightly. However, its hitlag lasts about a second, much longer than in Melee. Nonetheless it remains among Falcon's best finishers, sometimes used in an aerial combo in place of his U-air.
A non-sweet-spotted Knee Smash can trip a grounded opponent often and the sourspot is still useful for edge guarding poor recoveries like Link's and it can follow up an up aerial or a sweetspotted Knee Smash if the opponent doesn't expect it. He can truly set-up a sweetspot Knee if he uses it after grab releases on Wario and Ness.
Skull Crusher
Though Ganondorf is Captain Falcon's clone, his forward aerial is not a knee but is instead an arcing downward punch resembling a faster version of Mario's fair in both Melee and Brawl, nicknamed "Skull Crusher". In Melee, it has the same number of start-up frames as the Knee Smash, but has slightly less knockback, much longer end lag but only has one hitbox in Melee. In Brawl, it has 3 frames slower startup. It has 2 hitboxes (with the sweetspot being much easier to connect with) with less difference in damage and knockback compared to the 3 hitboxes of Captain Falcon's knee (2 of them being much weaker than the sweetspot both in terms of damage and in terms of knockback).
Trivia
- The Knee Smash is one of only three knee-based attacks that are not pummels (the other two being the third hit of Falcon's neutral combo and the first hit of Snake's forward tilt).
Gallery
The knee smash in action in Brawl
- Rapeknee.jpg
A non-sweetspotted KS has no electrical effects.
