Throw

Ike throwing Ryu in Ultimate.

A throw (投げ) is an attack performed after a character grabs an opponent that ends the grab. Throws appear in all installments of the Super Smash Bros. series. In Super Smash Bros., two types of throws can be performed by pressing left or right on the Control Stick when grabbing the opponent. Beginning in Super Smash Bros. Melee, the player can also press up or down on the control stick, triggering two other throws. The main purpose of throws in general is to either start combos or create space between the user and their opponent.

Throws cannot be escaped once started, with the exception of Donkey Kong's cargo throw and Kirby's forward and back throws in Melee. Throws also grant a short period of invincibility to the thrower when started, as a measure of protection against any bystanders; the invincibility period is 8 frames in Melee and Brawl and 18 frames in Smash 4. In Smash 64 and Ultimate, throw invincibility is more varied and depends on the throw. In Ultimate throws typically have invincibility from frame 1 up until the character throws their opponent. A general rule of throws is that characters that rely on supernatural powers (Lucario, Ness, Mewtwo, Zelda, and Lucas) have better throwing abilities than characters that don't; however, this often refers merely to the damage or knockback inflicted by the throws, as weak throws tend to be useful for starting combos, and can sometimes even lead into other KO moves.

Beginning in Melee, some throws have their speeds affected by the grabbed character's weight; these are usually known as weight dependent throws. An easy example is comparing Mario's back throw speed against both Bowser and Jigglypuff; the latter is thrown about twice as fast. This effect is achieved by applying a frame speed multiplier to the throw equal to the target's weight divided by 100: in accordance to this formula, characters with weight values of 75 and 125 will cause a weight dependent throw to execute 50% faster and 25% slower respectively (0.75x and 1.25x of the base duration), while a character with a weight of 100 will be thrown at the default speed. In Smash 4, the formula adds 26 x (weight / 100 - 1) to the total animation length to get the new duration, and the rest of the throw scales from frame 1 to that point. This essentially made the effect of weight dependent throws less severe, benefiting lighter character but hindering heavier characters. Weight dependent throws were removed from Ultimate, making all throws the same speed against all characters.

On a final note, throws will always make fighters flinch, regardless of whether or not they have knockback-based heavy armor or knockback resistance. However, the grabbed target's weight, knockback taken multiplier, and knockback resistance will still affect how much knockback the throw will deal.

Appearances

In Super Smash Bros.

Throws in Super Smash Bros. are usually attacks of high knockback. Throws typically deal high damage (12% for forward throws and 16% for back throws on average), launch opponents horizontally and have high base knockback however, throws have somewhat low knockback scaling, and as such are not exceptional KO moves with a few exceptions. Because of this, they are often followed up with edgeguarding techniques. The main exceptions to this are Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff, whose forward throws launch opponents vertically. This makes their forward throws useful for combos. All throws cause enough knockback to make opponents enter a tumbling state.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee

In Melee, throws in general inflict much less damage and knockback, with only a few throws being powerful enough to KO at realistic percents. Every single throw from the transition from Smash 64 to Melee received a reduction to their power (with some throws receiving a more severe power reduction than others) and Directional Influence can also be used to further hinder the effectiveness of throws. However, many more throws, usually the newly-introduced up and down throws, have the capacity to combo into subsequent attacks, including grabs; repeatedly using throws that lead into another grab is known as chain grabbing. Melee also introduced weight dependent throws as mentioned before.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

In Brawl, the introduction of hitstun cancelling has hindered the combo potential of many throws (if they cause tumble), limiting the followups numerous characters can get out of throws. This makes KO setups out of throws less common than in Melee. However, throws which do not cause tumble can no longer be DIed. This results in throws with low enough knockback and ending lag having guaranteed followups, with chaingrabs in particular being powerful. Throws such as Falco and King Dedede's down throw are particularly notorious in this aspect. While the opponent could DI throws in Melee to avoid followups or to at least make followups more difficult, this cannot be done in Brawl for weak enough throws. Naturally, some throws that used to KO in Melee such as Jigglypuff and Peach's forward throws have been nerfed in power although some other throws have seen an increase in their KO power, while others (particularly up throws) can simply KO earlier due to universal changes.

The effect of throw invincibility is mitigated in Brawl because hitlag from an attack is only applied to the attacker, not the character using the throw. Additionally, the attacker's hitbox will be able to hit the thrower after invicibility wears off, even if it initially connects during the invicibility. Therefore, moves with either high hitlag or long-lasting hitboxes may be impossible to block with the 8 frames invincibility.

In Super Smash Bros. 4

Throws have not changed much since Brawl other than the increase to throw invincibility and the change in how weight dependent throws are calculated. However, chaingrabbing has effectively been removed, as characters now have a 60 frame period in which they cannot be regrabbed. This makes throws much less effective if they do not cause tumble. Naturally, some throws have been rebalanced in terms of knockback and speed. Some throws (like Falco's down throw) had their knockback noticeably increased, weakening their followups after a grab, while still usually being too weak to KO. On the other hand, the removal of hitstun cancelling and the weakening of DI gives many new followup options out of a throw if it causes tumble. Some notable examples of this can be seen with Luigi, Mr. Game & Watch, Sheik and Donkey Kong. Multiple throws are also more effective at KOing, not only due to receiving an increase to their knockback but also due to the introduction of rage, although some throws did naturally see a decrease to their KO power.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Throws have significantly changed; weight dependent throws have been removed, making all characters' throw speed remains the same regardless of the thrower's weight, much like in Smash 64. In addition, the thrower is now invincible until the opponent has been thrown.

Gallery

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  Ness's forward throw in Super Smash Bros..

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  Fox's back throw in Melee.

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  Kirby throwing Mario in Brawl.

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  Mario back-throwing Jigglypuff in Brawl.

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  Said back throw takes significantly longer to complete with Bowser, a far heavier character.

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  Samus throwing Mega Man in Ultimate.

Types

• Forward throw
• Back throw
• Up throw
• Down throw

See also

• Grab
• Chain grab