A tether recovery (ワイヤー復帰, Wire Comeback) is a type of recovery move in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. 4 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate that lets the player latch onto the edge of a platform with an extendable item or hook. If there is an open edge when it is used, the tether will automatically connect to it. Pressing the standard attack button after grappling an edge will pull the player towards it. Tether recoveries are effectively the successor to the wall-grapples in Super Smash Bros. Melee, though tethers can only grab onto unoccupied edges as opposed to any wall. Most tether recoveries are grab aerials, though some special moves and aerial attacks also act as tethers.
Many tether recoveries have a larger range than regular recoveries and also home in on the edge, allowing for better control. However, in Brawl, if the edge is currently occupied when a tether recovery is used, it will fail to grab onto the edge (the player can, however, knock other players off the edge should the tether hit the opponent). None of the other players can grab the edge while a player is attached to it with a tether (prior to SSB4), making it a method of edge-hogging other players. A tether recovery can only be used three times without touching the ground; if it is used a fourth time, the tether will simply hover near the edge, and the player will have to make use of his/her remaining jumps.
As of Super Smash Bros. 4, multiple characters can latch onto a ledge at once if using their tether, but once players pull up to the ledge, normal ledge grabbing rules apply.
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
List of tether recoveries
Note that characters that have tether recoveries as a special move cannot use their extended grab as one.
In Super Smash Bros. 4
Several characters with tether recoveries were removed and the remaining characters have been rebalanced so that none have a tether recovery as their only means of surviving knockback.
List of tether recoveries
- Link - Clawshot
- Samus - Grapple Beam
- Toon Link - Hookshot
- Zero Suit Samus - Plasma Whip*
- Lucas - Rope Snake
*: Also a side special recovery.
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Link no longer possesses a tether recovery due to Breath of the Wild (which is the basis for his current design) lacking both the Hookshot and the Clawshot, although his counterparts Toon Link and Young Link retain the Hookshot as their grab. Brawl veteran Ivysaur retains its tether recovery up special, and newcomers Joker, Byleth, and Min Min use a tether recovery for their normal up specials.
- Zero Suit Samus - Plasma Whip
- Ivysaur - Vine Whip
- Isabelle - Fishing Rod
- Joker - Grappling Hook
- Byleth - Sword of the Creator
- Min Min - ARM Hook
Gallery
An example of a tether recovery in Brawl.
Lucas's tether recovery in Brawl; his tether is notable for being the only zair in the game to not have a damaging hitbox.
Vine Whip used as a tether recovery.
Trivia
- Simon and Richter are the only characters to have a tether recovery that is not a tether grab nor a special move.
- Link, Sheik, and Olimar are the only characters to have a tether recovery removed in a later installment.