A grab is any attack that cannot be blocked. The vast majority of grabs are performed by pressing Z, R+A or L+A. Once grabbed, a character can be pummeled with A or Z and thrown by tilting the Stick in one of the four standard directions. A grabbed character will automatically escape after a certain amount of time depending on their damage; higher damaged characters will be held longer. Damage inflicted upon the grabbed character will increase grab time, and any button input by the grabbed character will decrease grab time.
Once a throw is begun, the character cannot escape, with the exception of Kirby's forward and back throws. All throws grant 8 frames of good invincibility when started.
Some B attacks are specialized grabs. These are:
- Bowser's forward B in Melee (can grab in the air or at close range on the ground, can only throw forwards or backwards. No invincibility)
- Bowser's forward B in Brawl (can grab and suicide kill opponents)
- Yoshi's Neutral B (traps opponent in an egg, opponent takes half damage until they escape)
- Kirby's Neutral B (traps opponent in Kirby, opponent can wriggle to affect Kirby's movement)
- Captain Falcon's and Ganondorf's up Bs (grabs opponent in air and propels them away, can be done repeatedly if connects the first time)
- Ganondorf's side B in Brawl (grabs opponent and hit them to the ground)
- Wario's Neutral B (Wario bites his opponents, then throw them out).
- King Dedede's Neutral B (Works much like Kirby's Neutral B).
- Lucario's Side B is an energy attack at long range and is an Aura-powered grab at close range.
Some grabs also function as a recovery technique when used in midair. By pressing Z in midair, certain characters will extend a long-range grappling item. When used on the ground, these grabs have the longest range, but a lot of lag if the grab does not connect. In Melee, if the grab connects with a wall, the character will hang from that wall and can press Z again to be pulled up to where the end of the grab connected, allowing for second and third jumps to recover, known as wall-grapple. In Brawl, they will be shot to the nearest edge, making them tether recoveries. These include:
- Link, Toon Link and Young Link's Hookshot (and Link's Clawshot in Brawl)
- Samus' Grapple Beam
- Lucas's Rope Snake
In addition, there are several other ranged grabs, although they cannot be used as Tether Recoveries:
- Yoshi's tongue.
- Olimar's Pikmin, which dash forward and do the grabbing and throwing for him
- Zero Suit Samus' Paralyzer whip. (two of her specials are already Tether Recoveries)
| 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 |