Forward tilt

Mario's forward tilt.

Strong side, more commonly known as a "forward tilt" ("f-tilt") or "side tilt", is a strong attack performed by any character by holding the control stick forward and pressing the attack button while on the ground. This is distinct from a forward smash in that the control stick is only tilted, not tapped, when performing this attack. Strong side attacks generally act as either powerful alternatives to a character's forward smash or as quick defensive moves with less lag time than a smash.

Along with certain forward smashes, some strong sides can be "angled" up or down to some extent, pointing the hitbox in a diagonal direction instead of totally forward. Most attacks that are angled up are slightly more powerful than if they weren't angled, while some are weaker if angled downwards. Knockback is also affected by angling, with up angles providing more vertical knockback and down angles providing more horizontal knockback. Strong sides cannot be charged like smash attacks.

Forward tilts in Super Smash Bros.

The majority of forward tilts are used just for spacing, a majority of them are weak for combos outside of facing a wall. Pikachu, Ness, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Mario, Luigi, Jigglypuff, Captain Falcon, Samus, and Fox are examples of this. Of the more basic forward tilts, Captain Falcon is usually considered to have the best forward tilt while DK and Ness are considered to have the worst. Samus's is also slightly unique as it is slightly quicker and is more often used than the other "bad" forward tilts due to Samus having few good ground moves. All forward tilts are as follows:

• Mario: Roundhouse kick. Good for spacing, comes out fast with decent range. 13%.
• Luigi:Roundhouse Kick. Decent spacer and KOs at very high damage percentages. 10%.
• Donkey Kong: Extended punch. A somewhat slow punch forward with decent range and good knockback. 12%.
• Yoshi: Kicks suddenly forward. Can be angled. Below-average upward diagonal knockback. Useful for setting up his forward aerial spike due to its hitstun. Referred to as the best Forward tilt in SSB due to its very fast speed and power. 13%
• Link: Sword Chop. Link brings his sword up and slashes down. Somewhat slow but above average damage and knockback for a forward tilt. 18%.
• Samus: Roundhouse Kick. Very fast, little ending lag. 9-12% (depends on angle)
• Kirby: Roundhouse kick. Rather short range, but fast. Can be angled. 10%.
• Fox: Roundhouse Kick. A fast but somewhat short-ranged move, this move is good for spacing or leading into a wall combo. 9%.
• Captain Falcon: Kicks to his side for 13%. Like most forward tilts, this one can be angled. A good defensive or punishing move.
• Pikachu: Pikachu stands on its two hands and kicks its two feet forward. Around the same if not slightly lower range than its neutral attack. Can be slightly angled up or down, though not very noticeable. Commonly considered to be Pikachu's worst attack. One of Pikachu's few moves with low priority. 10%.
• Jigglypuff: Circles in place and kicks. Can be angled. The knockback angle can be adjusted according to the angle of the attack. 8%.
• Ness: Roundhouse kick. He kicks in front rapidly, his body moves with it, giving it minor ending lag. Decent close-up spacer. 9%.

Characters in Super Smash Bros. Brawl with forward tilts that can be angled

Kicks/legs

• Mario (often angled down by CPUs)
• Luigi
• Ness
• Fox
• Falco
• Kirby
• Jigglypuff
• Samus (easiest angled tilt to distinguish)
• Zero Suit Samus
• Pikachu
• Sonic (difficult to distinguish angling, attack barely altered in general)
• Captain Falcon

Punches/arms

• Wario (If angled upwards, Wario will grunt during the start-up lag instead of during the actual attack.)
• Donkey Kong (difficult to distinguish)
• Diddy Kong
• Bowser
• R.O.B.
• Wolf

Tail

• Yoshi
• Squirtle
• Charizard

Weapons

• Ice Climbers
• Ike

Other

• Lucas
• Lucario
• Zelda

Characters in Brawl with forward tilts that can't be angled

Kicks/legs

• Peach - Kicks straight up, while she bends back completely.
• Sheik - Does a spinning kick, great for juggles.
• Ganondorf - Kicks straight forward. Very much like Captain Falcon's, aside from not being able to be angled, and it has more horizontal knockback. Commonly called the "Sparta Kick" of the film "300", where Leonidas, king of Sparta, kicks the Persian into the hole - however, Ganondorf used the kick in Twilight Princess, which came out before the movie.
• Snake - Darts his knee with fixed knockback in front of him and after a powerful punch. Great speed, great priority and great range (which both hits have huge disjointed range), doing a total of 21% and high knockback, making it arguably the best forward tilt in the game. Great damage racker. First he knees with set knockback against grounded opponents (but has knockback on aerial opponents). If another strong side is done right after the first one, he'll do a double fist that's stronger than the first one, like Toon Link's forward smash. The properties of the first kick can be exploited. Doing that is called knee locking. Overall, one of the quickest moves of his arsenal, and is a very powerful KO move at a high percentage.
• Olimar - Thrusts his body forward in the air with a kick.

Weapons

• Pit - Thrusts both of his swords forward.
• Meta Knight - Swings his sword forward, then can do two more swings into a combo, like a three-hit neutral combo.
• King Dedede - Spins his hammer in front of him. Notable that it is the longest ranged physical attack in the game.
• Link - Swings his sword vertically downwards.
• Toon Link - Same as Link's, but different in that it stalls the opponent, like if hit by a sweet spot.
• Marth - Does a slashing uppercut. Sometimes mistaken for being able to be angled, due to his up tilt being very similar to his forward tilt.
• Mr. Game & Watch - Pulls out a chair from Lion in front of him.

Miscellaneous

• Ivysaur - Thrusts its body forward a bit and then spins the leaves of its flower. Can hit multiple times.