Beam Sword

Beam Sword
Beam Sword artwork from Brawl.
Universe	Super Smash Bros.
Appears in	SSB Melee Brawl
Item class	Weapon

The Beam Sword (ビームソード, bīmu sōdo) is a long-range clobbering item, similar in appearance to a lightsaber. Available in all three games, it can be wielded and charged for melee attacks or can be thrown. The length of Beam Sword in Melee and Brawl changes depending on the character wielding it and the intensity of the attack performed with the Beam Sword's smash attack generally having the longest range of all Beam Sword strikes. In Melee and Brawl, it is possible for Peach to pull out a Beam Sword with her Vegetable attack, but this is incredibly rare.

• In the original Japanese versions of SSB and Melee, the Beam Sword sounded similar to a lightsaber from the Star Wars trilogy; in Brawl, the sound effects have been kept for all versions.
• When held by either Marth, Ike, Pit, or Roy, the smash attack is a double smash; the character slashes with his regular sword and then takes a second stronger swipe with the Beam Sword.
• When held by Captain Falcon, the forward smash is a two part attack with a weak hit low followed by a strong upwards hit that knocks opponents skyward.
• When held by Sheik, the forward smash is a very quick double hit, both upwards, with the first slightly stronger than the second
• When held by Mewtwo, a dashing A attack is around 5 spinning hits (around 20 damage). When he smashes with it, he slices it downwards.
• When held by the Ice Climbers the one holding the Beam Sword will do a Beam Sword attack while the other will hit with its hammer. Both do a Beam Sword attack if they both hold Beam Swords.
• In Brawl if Peach plucks out a Beam Sword while using Vegetable, the sword's range will be severely decreased, as Peach will use her turnip throwing animation to swing the sword rather than her proper item swinging animation. After about a minute of wielding it, the picking up an item sound will be heard and Peach will be able to use it normally. It also goes back to normal if Peach just throws the sword and picks it up again.

Damage

Action	SSB	Melee	Brawl
A	12%	7%	5%
F-Tilt	18%	11%	7%
Dash	16%	13%	7%
Dash (Mewtwo)	N/A	18%	N/A
Dash (Peach/Zelda)	N/A	23%(13%+10%)	7%
F-Smash	25%	15% - 20%	11 - 15%
F-Smash (C. Falcon)	25%	15% - 14%(5%+9%)	18%(8%+10%) - 26%(11%+15)
F-Smash (Sheik)	N/A	14%(5%+9%) - 19%(6%+12%)	23%(11%+12%) - 32%(15%+17%)
F-Smash (Marth/Roy, if first swipe connects)	N/A	14%(1%+13%) - 20%(1%+19%)	16%(5%+11%) - 23%(7%+16%)
Drop	5%	7%	8% - 10%
Forward tilt throw	15%	12%	11% - 12%
Up tilt throw	16%	10% - 13%	13%
Down tilt throw	13%	8% - 14%	12%
Dash attack throw	19%	9% - 14%	14%
Forward smash throw	19%	10% - 15%	15%
Up smash throw	20%	10% - 17%	16%
Down smash throw	13%	10% - 18%	12% - 16%
Air Drop	13%	8%	10%
Air Forward tilt throw	17%	8% - 12%	12%
Air up tilt Throw	17%	10% - 11%	13%
Air down tilt throw	19%	6% - 14%	10%
Air forward smash throw	19%	7% - 12%	12%
Air up smash throw	20%	2% - 13%	13%
Air down smash throw	20%	6% - 14%	10%

Differences between Melee and Brawl

• The Beam Sword in Brawl is blue, instead of purple.
• The Beam Sword's reach in Brawl is 3 times further than Melee.
• In Brawl, the longer the Beam Sword is charged with a smash attack, the further it reaches.

Origin

Fox charges up a forward smash with the Beam Sword. The retracting blade references weapons in various forms of science fiction.

The Beam Sword acts as a reference to various types of energy weapons found in works in science fiction, specifically those that take the form of a sword; while the popularity of the concept is primarily attributed to the Star Wars film series, multiple literary works prior to the series had similar weapons, such as Fritz Leiber's Gather Darkness from the 1940s. The Beam Sword in Super Smash Bros. acts as a clear reference to the Star Wars weapons in its original Japanese release; the weapon, when used, would make sound effects similar to those found in the actual films, including a distinctive, sharp crackling noise when two swords collided. While the sound effects were removed in the PAL and American releases of the games, as well as in both Melee and Brawl, the references to Star Wars continued; in the latter two games, the Beam Sword's blade would shrink when not used, such as in the charging animations for Fox and Falco.

Description from the Super Smash Bros. Instruction Booklet

This is an item of great power. It also has the longest range of all Clobbering Items when thrown.

Trophies

The Beam Sword in Melee at about three-quarters of its maximum length.

Melee

"With its distinctive glowing blade, the Beam Sword is eye-catching and lethal. At first, the blade is about the size of a short sword, but the length changes depending on who wields it. The blade also lengthens in direct proportion to the power of an attack, so it reaches its maximum size when swung as a smash attack."

Game: Super Smash Bros. (04/99)(N64)

Brawl

A sword with a blade of glowing energy. The length of the blade changes depending on the fighting spirit of the wielder. It has four attacks: a standard attack, a strong side attack, a side smash attack, and a dash attack. When doing a side smash attack, the Beam Sword's blade grows to three times its normal length--that's the best reach of all battering weapons.

Gallery

• BeamswordSSB.jpg

  Beam Sword in SSB