Air friction

Air friction is a measure of how long it takes for a character to stop moving from a sideways force when in midair. It is the aerial equivalent to traction, which only applies when grounded.

Air friction only applies when the player is not holding the Control Stick in a horizontal direction (or the input is being ignored, such as when in hitstun). If the player is attempting to slow down, air acceleration applies instead, and air friction is ignored. This allows characters to be designed with several properties:

High acceleration and high friction means a character will change velocity quickly in all situations.
High acceleration and low friction means a character will respond quickly to the player's controls, but be very slow to decelerate if the player lets go.
Low acceleration and high friction means a character will respond slowly to the player's controls, but be very quick to decelerate if the player lets go. This would lead to an unintuitive situation where a player trying to slow down will take longer than simply allowing friction to take over.
Low acceleration and low friction means a character will change velocity slowly in all situations.

Air friction also determines how far a character travels when they are aerial grab released (along with gravity in Melee and Brawl). A character with low air friction will travel a long horizontal distance whereas characters with high air friction will not travel far at all. This is because air friction acts as a force against the momentum granted by the aerial grab release. This results in characters with higher air friction being left in a more vulnerable position after being aerial grab released. This is especially significant in Brawl, due to the long amount of time the grab released opponent cannot act. Characters with high air friction in Brawl are much more vulnerable to aerial grab release followups (unless they have extremely high gravity to compensate), especially if they can be forced into an aerial grab release from the ground. This is the reason why Wario's aerial grab release in Brawl sends him nowhere horizontally, making him extremely vulnerable to followups.

It is circumstantial as to whether high or low air friction is good or bad and it is also game dependent (as with the aforementioned Brawl aerial grab release example). Low air friction means a character will not slow down as much if the player attempts to use a neutral aerial when moving, and will cause them to travel a bit further during combos. But on the other hand, high air friction helps resist being KO'd to a degree, and it may be beneficial in some cases to slow to a stop quicker without providing directional input.

Air friction values

Super Smash Bros.

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Rank	Character	Air friction
1	Jigglypuff	1.0
2	Kirby	0.5
3	Pikachu	0.45
4-5	Ness	0.4
4-5	Yoshi	0.4
6-8	Donkey Kong	0.3
6-8	Fox	0.3
6-8	Samus	0.3
9-10	Captain Falcon	0.2
9-10	Mario	0.2
11	Luigi	0.15
12	Link	0.0

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Rank	Character	Air friction
1	Jigglypuff	0.05
2	Sheik	0.04
3	Ness	0.03
4-9	Donkey Kong	0.02
4-9	Falco	0.02
4-9	Fox	0.02
4-9	Ganondorf	0.02
4-9	Ice Climbers	0.02
4-9	Kirby	0.02
n/a	Male Wire Frame	0.02
10-13	Dr. Mario	0.016
10-13	Mario	0.016
10-13	Mewtwo	0.016
10-13	Mr. Game & Watch	0.016
14	Yoshi	0.013
15-20	Bowser	0.01
n/a	Giga Bowser	0.01
15-20	Captain Falcon	0.01
15-20	Luigi	0.01
15-20	Pichu	0.01
15-20	Pikachu	0.01
15-20	Samus	0.01
21-26	Link	0.005
21-26	Marth	0.005
21-26	Peach	0.005
21-26	Roy	0.005
21-26	Young Link	0.005
21-26	Zelda	0.005
n/a	Female Wire Frame	0.005
n/a	Sandbag	0.001

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Rank	Character	Air friction
1	Wario	0.08
n/a	Wario-Man	0.08
2	Jigglypuff	0.0375
3	Ness	0.0225
4	Sheik	0.021
5	Squirtle	0.018
6-12	Donkey Kong	0.015
6-12	Fox	0.015
6-12	Ganondorf	0.015
6-12	Ice Climbers	0.015
6-12	Kirby	0.015
6-12	Meta Knight	0.015
6-12	Olimar	0.015
13-14	Ivysaur	0.014
13-14	Lucas	0.014
15	Falco	0.013
16	Mr. Game & Watch	0.012
17-21	Diddy Kong	0.01
17-21	Mario	0.01
17-21	Peach	0.01
17-21	Sonic	0.01
17-21	Toon Link	0.01
n/a	Fighting Alloy Team	0.01
22	Yoshi	0.00975
23	Ike	0.009
24-26	Charizard	0.008
24-26	Pit	0.008
24-26	Zero Suit Samus	0.008
27-31	Bowser	0.0075
n/a	Giga Bowser	0.0075
27-31	Captain Falcon	0.0075
27-31	Luigi	0.0075
27-31	Pikachu	0.0075
27-31	Samus	0.0075
32-33	King Dedede	0.006
32-33	Zelda	0.006
34-35	Lucario	0.005
34-35	Snake	0.005
36-37	R.O.B.	0.004
36-37	Wolf	0.004
38	Link	0.0038
39	Marth	0.00375

Super Smash Bros. 4

Rank	Character	Air friction
n/a	Wario-Man	0.08
1	Mega Man	0.05
2	Wario	0.04
3	Jigglypuff	0.0375
4	Ness	0.0225
5	Mewtwo	0.016
6-20	Bowser Jr.	0.015
6-20	Donkey Kong	0.015
6-20	Dr. Mario	0.015
6-20	Duck Hunt	0.015
6-20	Fox	0.015
6-20	Ganondorf	0.015
n/a	Giga Mac	0.015
6-20	Greninja	0.015
6-20	Kirby	0.015
6-20	Mario	0.015
6-20	Mii Brawler	0.015
6-20	Olimar	0.015
6-20	Pac-Man	0.015
6-20	R.O.B.	0.015
6-20	Ryu*	0.015
6-20	Sheik	0.015
21	Lucas	0.014
22-23	Meta Knight	0.012
22-23	Mr. Game & Watch	0.012
24-32	Falco	0.01
24-32	Mii Gunner	0.01
24-32	Palutena	0.01
24-32	Peach	0.01
24-32	Rosalina	0.01
24-32	Sonic	0.01
24-32	Toon Link	0.01
24-32	Villager	0.01
24-32	Wii Fit Trainer	0.01
33-36	Cloud	0.009
33-36	Corrin	0.009
33-36	Ike	0.009
33-36	Shulk	0.009
37-42	Bayonetta	0.008
37-42	Charizard	0.008
37-42	Dark Pit	0.008
37-42	Diddy Kong	0.008
n/a	Giga Bowser	0.008
37-42	Pit	0.008
37-42	Zero Suit Samus	0.008
43-48	Bowser	0.0075
43-48	Captain Falcon	0.0075
43-48	Little Mac	0.0075
43-48	Luigi	0.0075
43-48	Pikachu	0.0075
43-48	Samus	0.0075
49	Robin	0.007
50-51	King Dedede	0.006
50-51	Zelda	0.006
52-54	Lucario	0.005
n/a	Mega Lucario	0.005
52-54	Roy	0.005
52-54	Yoshi	0.005
55-56	Link	0.0038
55-56	Mii Swordfighter	0.0038
57-58	Lucina	0.00375
57-58	Marth	0.00375

* Ryu is a special case. In most circumstances, his air friction is a standard 0.015. However, when he jumps, his air friction is 0, meaning he will not slow down at all unless the player attempts to decelerate.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Rank	Character	Air friction
1	Mega Man	0.05
2	Wario	0.04
3	Jigglypuff	0.0375
4	Ness	0.0225
5-6	Simon	0.02
5-6	Richter	0.02
7	Squirtle	0.018
8	Mewtwo	0.016
9-28	Mario	0.015
9-28	Donkey Kong	0.015
9-28	Kirby	0.015
9-28	Fox	0.015
9-28	Ice Climbers	0.015
9-28	Sheik	0.015
9-28	Ganondorf	0.015
9-28	Olimar	0.015
9-28	R.O.B.	0.015
9-28	Greninja	0.015
9-28	Pac-Man	0.015
9-28	Bowser Jr.	0.015
9-28	Duck Hunt	0.015
9-28	Ryu	0.015*
9-28	Inkling	0.015
9-28	Ridley	0.015
9-28	King K. Rool	0.015
9-28	Incineroar	0.015
9-28	Mii Brawler	0.015
9-28	Ken	0.015*
29-31	Ivysaur	0.014
29-31	Lucas	0.014
29-31	Banjo & Kazooie	0.014
32-36	Mr. Game & Watch	0.012
32-36	Meta Knight	0.012
32-36	Terry	0.012
32-36	Mythra	0.012
32-36	Mii Gunner	0.012
37	Dr. Mario	0.011472*
38-48	Peach	0.01
38-48	Falco	0.01
38-48	Sonic	0.01
38-48	Toon Link	0.01
38-48	Villager	0.01
38-48	Wii Fit Trainer	0.01
38-48	Rosalina	0.01
38-48	Palutena	0.01
38-48	Isabelle	0.01
38-48	Joker	0.01
38-48	Daisy	0.01
49-53	Ike	0.009
49-53	Shulk	0.009
49-53	Cloud	0.009
49-53	Corrin	0.009
49-53	Pyra	0.009
54-62	Pit	0.008
54-62	Dark Pit	0.008
54-62	Zero Suit Samus	0.008
54-62	Charizard	0.008
54-62	Diddy Kong	0.008
54-62	Bayonetta	0.008
54-62	Piranha Plant	0.008
54-62	Hero	0.008
54-62	Sephiroth	0.008*
63-71	Samus	0.0075
63-71	Pikachu	0.0075
63-71	Luigi	0.0075
63-71	Captain Falcon	0.0075
63-71	Bowser	0.0075
63-71	Pichu	0.0075
63-71	Little Mac	0.0075
63-71	Dark Samus	0.0075
63-71	Steve	0.0075
72	Robin	0.007
73-74	Zelda	0.006
73-74	King Dedede	0.006
75-78	Yoshi	0.005
75-78	Roy	0.005
75-78	Snake	0.005
75-78	Chrom	0.005
79-80	Lucario	0.004
79-80	Wolf	0.004
81-82	Link	0.0038
81-82	Mii Swordfighter	0.0038
83-85	Marth	0.00375
83-85	Young Link	0.00375
83-85	Lucina	0.00375