The side special move (also commonly called forward B, side B, smash B, or over B) is a special attack performed by pressing the special move button with the control stick held left or right.
Not counting Final Smashes, the side special is the only special attack to originate in a game other than the original Super Smash Bros. - namely, in Super Smash Bros. Melee. In the original, pressing the special button with the stick held sideways would result in a neutral special move. With the introduction of side specials in Melee, some characters' neutral specials were changed to be side specials, with a new neutral special taking their place.
Many side specials involve either significant sideways character movement or a projectile that has more horizontal range than the user's other projectiles. As a result, many can be utilized as approaches.
Smash special move
Some side special moves are different depending on whether or not the control stick (or pad) is tapped/"smashed" or simply tilted to the side. The side special moves affected by this are:
- Link's Boomerang: Flies a further distance and at a faster speed, also dealing more damage. Young Link and Toon Link's Boomerangs also have this property. Gale Boomerang is also affected, but its damage is not increased.
- Samus's Missiles: Instead of the regular missile, a more powerful, faster, non-homing missile known as a Super Missile is fired.
- Pikachu's Skull Bash: Starts off already slightly charged.
- Luigi's Green Missile: Starts off slightly charged.
- Ivysaur's Razor Leaf: Travels faster and is more powerful, but its trajectory cannot be arced as effectively.
- Wario's Wario Bike: Moves faster and deals more damage.
- Duck Hunt's Clay Shooting: Moves faster and does more damage on contact. In the case of Clay Break it will never break until the 3rd hit, while in the case of Rising Clay it scales in damage faster and arcs up lower and later.
- Mii Swordfighter's Airborne Assault: Starts off slightly charged.
- Mii Swordfighter's Chakram: Flies much farther, dealing more damage.
- Mii Brawler's Burning Dropkick: Starts off slightly charged.
Reverse side special move
In Brawl, most side special moves can be reversed in the first few frames (except Bowser and Samus), although the usefulness is questionable, since any character can quickly turn around on the spot and immediately perform their side special move. The only true use for a reverse side special is while running; when running, the player cannot use their side special backwards without having to stop or turn around first. The reverse side special can be done while running and gives certain characters boosts when turning around, the most notable boosts being Donkey Kong's and Luigi's reverse side specials, where the former gets a quick boost backwards and has an unsurprising hit, and the latter will keep sliding forwards while being able to charge his move.
List of side special moves
| Attacks in the Super Smash Bros. series | |
|---|---|
| Standard ground attacks | Neutral attack · Dash attack |
| Tilt attacks | Forward tilt · Up tilt · Down tilt · Crouching attack |
| Smash attacks | Forward smash · Up smash · Down smash |
| Aerial attacks | Neutral aerial · Forward aerial · Back aerial · Up aerial · Down aerial · Grab aerial · Glide attack |
| Throws | Grab · Pummel · Forward throw · Back throw · Up throw · Down throw |
| Get-up attacks | Floor attack · Edge attack |
| Special moves | Neutral special move · Side special move · Up special move · Down special move · Command-input move · Final Smash |