A forward smash, officially side smash attack, also dubbed f-smash by the community, is a smash attack that any character can perform by tapping the control stick or d-pad in Super Smash Bros. 64 in a horizontal direction and pressing the attack button immediately afterward or simultaneously, or by tilting the C-Stick in a horizontal direction, though the latter does not work in the single-player modes of Super Smash Bros. Melee as it instead is used to move the camera. In Melee and Brawl, forward smashes can be charged for a maximum of one second (60 frames; 59 in Melee), resulting in higher damage and knockback.
The window in which the player can perform this technique after tapping the Control Stick forward is 3 frames; as this inputs a dash if not initiated properly, pressing the attack button in the last frame possible results in a small step forward smash. Like forward tilts, certain forward smashes can be performed at three different angles depending on where the control stick is directed, directing the attack in that diagonal direction. While the player needs to tap the Control Stick at that exact angle in Smash 64 and Melee, in Brawl it is possible by just charging the smash and then tilting the Stick in the desired direction. This cannot be done with the C-Stick.
List of forward smashes in Super Smash Bros.
Character | Description | Damage |
---|---|---|
Captain Falcon | Delivers a spinning side kick imbued with fire. The fifth most powerful forward smash along with Ness and Pikachu, knockback wise. | 18% |
Donkey Kong | Brings his hand behind himself, then slaps the foe hard. Incredibly strong (the second strongest in terms of knockback), but one of the slowest smashes in this game, and also the slowest forward smash. | 20% |
Fox | Fox spin kicks, lunging forward onto the ground. Not an outstanding KO move, but good speed and decent range. | 17% |
Jigglypuff | Performs a lunging kick similar to Kirby's forward smash in terms of speed. | 16% (clean), 13% (late) |
Kirby | A furious spin kick with good range, speed, and power. In terms of knockback, it is the most powerful forward smash in the game. | 17% (clean), 13% (late) |
Link | Slashes from top to bottom. Deals good damage and has nice reach. | 20% (center), 8% (tip). Deals 24% in the PAL version. |
Luigi | A huge, powerful punch attack similar to Mario's forward smash. Weaker, but has less ending lag. | 15% |
Mario | Winds up to deliver a powerful punch with an enlarged fist. Slow, but a great KO move. | 17% |
Ness | Swings his baseball bat for a powerful attack. Can also reflect projectiles. | 18% |
Pikachu | Lets loose a powerful jolt of a electricity for great damage. Has a disjointed hitbox. Powerful, but has a slow startup. | 18% |
Samus | Punches with her arm cannon. A quick attack with fair knockback. | 18% |
Yoshi | Slams the foe with his head. Comparable to Mario's forward smash in terms of speed (the fourth most powerful forward smash). | 18% |
Notes
- This game is notable for all characters having very powerful forward smashes.
- Kirby's forward smash is notable for being the most powerful, the fastest, and having far range.
- Ness's forward smash has no sourspot in Smash 64, but in future installments, it has three sourspotted areas in Melee and Brawl. In addition, it is also weaker in Melee and Brawl than in 64.
List of forward smashes in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Character | Description | Damage |
---|---|---|
Bowser | Rears his head back, then headbutts forward. Noticeably long start-up, but definitely the strongest smash attack in Melee. | 24%. |
Captain Falcon | Thrusts his elbow forward. Good knockback with a flame effect, but considerable starting lag. The third strongest forward smash. Can be angled. | 20%, deals 1% more angled up and 2% less angled down. |
Donkey Kong | Claps forward with surprising range and great knockback. Hitbox is located at Donkey Kong's hands. | 20%. |
Dr. Mario | Extends his palm, unleashing a powerful blast. Similar to Mario's forward smash, but has more knockback, less range and is stronger when used close to him as well as having an electric hitbox as opposed to Mario's fire. | 19%, same damage changes as Mario's. |
Falco | Performs a kicking attack much like Fox's, although it is stronger and has more knockback. The late hitbox sends the opponent vertically. | 17% (clean), 14% (late) |
Fox | Does a spinning kick while jumping forward. A rather quick move, with enough power to make it a viable finisher, and like Falco's forward smash, the late hitbox sends opponents vertically. | 15% (clean), 12% (late) |
Ganondorf | Lunges forward with an elbow thrust, much like Captain Falcon. Deals high damage with a darkness effect, and can be angled. Enemies are sent flying upwards. Second strongest forward smash (only Bowser's is stronger). | 22%, deals 2% more angled up and 3% less angled down. |
Ice Climbers | Smash both hammers forward. Huge damage and knockback, dealing more damage than Bowser if they are together, still decent if apart. | 14% leader, 13% partner. |
Jigglypuff | Lunges forward while kicking. Some start-up lag, but strong nonetheless. | 17% (clean), 14% (late) |
Kirby | Jumps forward while kicking. Good reach. | 15% (clean), 13% (late) |
Link | Slashes forward. The player can perform a second, stronger smash by hitting the A button or C-Stick immediately following the first attack. Decent reach on both slashes. The first hit has knockback growth, so at above 30%, it's impossible to land the second, stronger hit. | 14% then 13%. |
Luigi | Performs a horizontal spearhand. A quick move that can be angled up or down. Weak at low precentages, but has the highest knockback scaling of all forward smashes. | 13%, deals 2% more angled up and 1% less angled down. |
Mario | Releases a blast of fire from his extended palm. Poor range, yet very powerful and very quick, with the fireball sweetspot dealing more damage and knock back. This move can also be angled. | 19% sweetspot, 14% sourspot. Deals 1% more angled up, and 2% less angled down. |
Marth | This is considered by many to be the best forward smash in Melee. Marth slashes quickly from top to bottom, with a powerful sweet spot at the sword's tip. It is very fast, and gives good range. | 20% tipped, 14% base. |
Mewtwo | Blasts psychic energy from its palms. Decent reach, but has a sourspot with weak knockback. | 18% (sweetspot), 12% (sourspot) |
Mr. Game & Watch | Hits the foe with a fire poker. Slow, but strong, with a long-lasting hitbox. | 18% |
Ness | Swings his famous baseball bat. A powerful move which can even reflect projectiles. Sweetspot is located at the bat's tip, it is the third strongest forward smash besides the Ice Climbers duo. | 17% (sourspot), 23% (sweetspot) |
Peach | Swings forward one of three items - golf club, tennis racket, or frying pan. All three items have a disjointed hitbox. The racket sends opponents flying horizontally stronger than the others, yet is the weakest damage-wise. The frying pan deals the most damage and launches opponents vertically. The golf club is the weakest in terms of knockback and is only slightly stronger than the racket, yet it has the longest range. | Frying pan 19%; Tennis racket 14%; Golf club 15%. |
Pichu | Zaps the foe with electricity from its cheeks, like Pikachu, but with less range. This move, however, scores multiple hits, and the last hit deals high knockback. | 6 hits: 15% total. |
Pikachu | Looses a thunder jolt from its cheeks. Great knockback and disjointed hitbox, but some start-up lag. | 21% |
Roy | Much like Marth's, a huge vertical slash. Roy's, however, is slightly slower, but with amazingly strong knockback. It is however much weaker when hitting with the tip. | 20% center, 13% tip. |
Samus | Punches forward with her arm cannon. Quick, but not impressively strong. Can be angled. | 14%, deals 2% more damage angled up and 1% less angled down. |
Sheik | Performs two rolling kicks forward. The first kick usually leads right into the second, which does decent knockback. | 6% then 9%. |
Yoshi | Slams horizontally with his head. Some start-up lag, but good knockback power. Yoshi's head is intangible for a short period during the attack. Can be angled. | 16%, deals 1% more angled up and 2% less angled down. |
Young Link | Like Link's, this smash has a second available hit. This one is a bit faster with more horizontal knockback. The first hit is also weaker, so it is easy to trap foes and land both hits. | 10% then 7%; 17% total. |
Zelda | Zaps the foe with magic from her extended hands. Somewhat quick with slightly disjointed hitbox. Multiple hits. | 5 hits: 15% total. |
List of forward smashes in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Character | Description | Damage |
---|---|---|
Bowser | Bowser reels back and headbutts forward. The most damaging forward smash in the game (does 46% damage fully charged) and has very high knockback and range, but since it has a long lag during start-up and cool-down, its effectiveness is limited. | 10% (hit 1), 23%/21% (hit 2) |
Captain Falcon | Thrusts his elbows in a somewhat slow motion. It received a huge power and speed nerf from Melee. However, it is still powerful. It still has its psuedo-counter effect from Melee. | 20% (high), 19% (mid), 18% (low) |
Charizard | Charizard while it rams its head forward and upwards, dealing two hits. It has long range, and amazing knockback, making it a great KO move, but it does have some start-up lag that accounts for this power. | 5% (hit 1), 17% (hit 2) |
Diddy Kong | Diddy Kong slaps in front of him while spinning around, hitting first with a weak right arm then again with a strong left arm. It's also possible to smash DI the first hit to avoid being hit by the 2nd slap. | 5% (hit 1), 13% (hit 2) |
Donkey Kong | Donkey Kong claps his hands together in front of him. Has great knockback, especially when charged, and is quite quick compared to most smashes considering its power. It has long range despite not having a disjointed hitbox. The damage depends on where it hits. | 18%-21% |
Falco | Falco does a slashing cross-chop. The most powerful forward smash of the Space Animals, and very powerful in general. The attack is a bit slow and has some ending lag but it has pretty good range. It also has a huge sweetspot behind Falco. It is weak if hit by the tip. | 15% (clean), 10% (late) |
Fox | Fox performs a powerful spinning kick. It has moderate knockback and range. | 15% (clean), 12% (late) |
Ganondorf | Ganondorf jams his elbow forward, similar to Captain Falcon's Forward Smash. Deals darkness damage. Stronger than Captain Falcon's and with more range, but slightly slower. It can be angled but it doesn't have an effect on damage dealt. One of the strongest forward smashes in the game. The pivoted smash attack has more range than usual and has high shield stun. It has a disjointed hitbox. | 24% |
Ice Climbers | The Ice Climbers overhead-swing their hammers to the ground. Does not deal as much knockback as in Melee. | 13%/12% (leader), 10%/9% (partner) |
Ike | Ike overhead-swings his sword forward to the ground. It is extremely powerful and has a great, disjointed range but is incredibly slow (it has about 30 frames start-up; the third longest) and terrible end lag (the longest out of any forward smash) if he misses like most of his moves. It is slightly weaker at the tip though it is still very powerful. | 17%-22% |
Ivysaur | Ivysaur plants two vines on the floor and thrusts itself forward with a lot of force. Cannot be shield grabbed until after it gets on its feet. Good knockback makes it a decent finisher. | 16% |
Jigglypuff | Similar to Kirby, Jigglypuff jump-kicks forward. It has more startup lag and less range than Kirby's, and deals less knockback but more damage. | 16% (clean), 13% (late) |
King Dedede | King Dedede overhead-swings his hammer very slowly. This attack is disjointed. It is incredibly powerful when hitting by the tip in the air or by the head on the ground when sweetspoted. It has the highest knockback for a forward smash in the game when hitting with the sweetspots. However, it is also the forward smash with the slowest start up (43 frames) and is very weak when sourspotted. Less of a shockwave on the ground near the hammer. Strongest smash attack in the game. | 13% (early), 24% (clean), 5% (late) |
Kirby | Kirby lunges forward and jump-kicks. Quick start-up, good range, and huge knockback. It also can be angled. | 16% (clean high), 15% (clean mid), 14% (clean low), 13% (late) |
Link | Link swings his sword from side to side in front of him. This attack is a natural combo, for the attack button/C-Stick can be hit again to deliver a second, more powerful hit. First hit is now more powerful than Melee's, so the second hit is harder to hit with. The first strike is stronger at the tip while the second hit is stronger when close-up. Under some circumstances, this can do more damage than Bowser's forward smash. | 14%-15% (hit 1), 17%-20% (hit 2) |
Lucario | Releases a burst of aura. Lucario's Aura ability does affect this attack; if Lucario is at low damage, it will be weak, while at high damage, it has great strength. It has some start up lag, but has IASA frames shortly after the hitbox ends allowing another forward smash to be started without cooldown. Very hard to punish. | 14% (arms), 16% (blast) |
Lucas | Lucas quickly swings his stick forward. This can also reflect projectiles. Similar to Ness, but is faster. It is a bit less powerful (though it stil has good knockback), but only compared to the tip on Ness' bat, otherwise it is much better and more reliable to reflect projectiles with because of its speed. Even though weaker than Ness' baseball bat, it is an outstanding finisher if it connects. | 15% |
Luigi | Luigi horizontally spears with his left hand. His second best KO move, with only his Fire Jump Punch surpassing it. It is very quick and deals a great amount of knockback, one of the most powerful in the game, despite its very poor damage. Like Mario's forward smash, it can be angled, and deals even more knockback when aimed upward. Even when uncharged, the attack can KO below 75% when angled upward. When the opponent's damage goes above 260%, this move will have more knockback than a reverse Warlock Punch. When this move is used while Pivoting, it has more power and is less laggy. Due to its great horizontal and vertical knockback, Directional Influence does not have great effect on the knockback of this attack. | 15% (high), 14% (mid), 13% (low) |
Mario | Mario pulls his left hand back over his shoulder and thrusts his palm forward, releasing a blast of fire. A quick, ranged smash, and also quite powerful, especially when sweetspotted. Slightly disjointed hitbox. Like from Melee, the smash can be angled. | 18% (fire, up), 15% (arm, up), 17% (fire, straight), 14% (arm, straight), 16% (fire, down), 13% (arm, down) |
Marth | Marth swings his sword from behind to the front over his head. It is very fast (hits on frame 10), has a great disjointed range and is very powerful when opponents are hit at the tip of the sword. When uncharged, though, a good DI can make super-heavyweight characters, like Bowser, can survive up to 200% (when it´s not hit by the tip). | 14% (base), 19% (tip) |
Meta Knight | Meta Knight pulls his sword back and slashes across with astounding force, dealing a good amount of knockback. One of Meta Knight's slowest finishers (24 frames start-up), although this attack is less laggy than most forward smashes due to almost no ending lag. | 14% |
Mr. Game & Watch | Mr. Game & Watch overhead-swings a lighted match. Very powerful, with a long-lasting hitbox, making it difficult to punish. | 18% (clean torch), 14% (clean handle), 8% (late) |
Ness | Ness swings his baseball bat forward, with significant start up lag. The tip of the bat is more powerful than the rest of it, and it can reflect projectiles. Great finisher. | 18% (base), 24% (tip) |
Olimar | Olimar commands a Pikmin to perform a ramming attack, causing it to fly forward while spinning. This attack has great range due to its disjointed hitbox, but only delivers powerful knockback only at close range, for strength decreases the farther the Pikmin travels. The knockback depends on the Pikmin used. | R: 9%-15% Y: 6%-13% B: 6%-15% W: 3%-9% P: 13%-18% |
Peach | Peach swings with either a tennis racket, a golf club or a frying pan. Each weapon has varying knockback, damage and range. The tennis racket does little damage and has very weak knockback when sourspotted, but higher knockback when sweetspot, and is the strongest semi-spike in the game, enough to KO at mid percentage (from 60% onwards). The golf club has long range, and decent power. The frying pan does the most damage, but doesn't have much knockback and has short range. At above 50%, the frying pan has decent vertical knockback. At above 100%, the frying pan is able to star KO the opponent when fully charged. Tennis racket and golf club can be use for edgeguarding. All three of them possess disjointed hitboxes. | 12%/13% (racket), 15% (club), 18% (pan) |
Pikachu | Releases a burst of electricity from its cheeks. It has a huge disjointed hitbox, but has noticeable start-up lag. The closer the opponent is to Pikachu, the more strength this attack has. | 20% (early), 17% (mid), 14% |
Pit | Slashes forward twice with bow swords. Very fast with good knockback when not stale. It is one of Pit's finishing moves. | 7% (hit 1), 12% (hit 2) |
R.O.B. | R.O.B. lets loose a blast of electric energy from his eyes. It has a disjointed hitbox, has knockback that is useful for setting up a spike, but is a tad weak for a forward smash. Can be angled. | 14% (base), 13% (mid), 12% (tip) |
Samus | Samus shoves her arm cannon forward quickly but forcefully. It can be angled, but the attack is very weak even if it is angled upwards due to its below average knockback. | 14% (high), 13% (mid), 12% (low) |
Sheik | Sheik spin-kicks forward twice. The first kick has less knockback and easily combos into the second, more powerful kick. | 5% (hit 1), 9% (hit 2) |
Snake | Snake slowly fires an RPG-7 at his feet. Large hitbox, can OHKO if fully charged anyone except Bowser without directional influence and used from the extreme end of Final Destination. Almost no vertical knockback but the second slowest forward smash in the game (It hits on frames 41-43) and quite short range for a powerful attack, even though it's disjointed. Best used as a surprise attack because it also deals high amount of shield stun and its great knockback, especially when near the edge of the stage. | 22% |
Sonic | Sonic punches in front of him. A good KO move, but it lacks in range and is slower than most of his other attacks. It can be angled. | 14% |
Squirtle | Squirtle retracts into its shell and launches forward. Moderate knockback and damage. It has launch resistance frames. | 14% |
Toon Link | Toon Link performs an attack which is similar to Link's Forward Smash, and also a natural combo. However, the first slash delivers set vertical knockback, while the 2nd strike has good knockback, though it's evadable and can be blocked even if hit by the first strike. | 10% (hit 1), 13% (hit 2 front), 11% (hit 2 back) |
Wario | Wario performs a shoulder charge, similar to that of the Wario Land games. Poor range, but above-average strength and extremely fast for a forward smash (9 frame attack). Has some amount of launch resistance (on frames 8-12). | 19% |
Wolf | Wolf stretches his arms in front of his body and thrusts forward, then twists his claws. This attack moves Wolf along the ground, starts quickly, is the longest ranging forward smash in the game, and often strikes opponents twice, but delivers below average knockback and has noticeable cool-down time (The third weakest in the game). | 5% (hit 1), 10% (hit 2) |
Yoshi | Yoshi thrusts his head forward. Decent knockback (comparable to Mario's forward smash). It can be angled, but is very hard to distinguish visually. | 16% |
Zelda | Zelda thrusts her arm out and lets loose a small burst of magic, which sucks foes in and deals multiple hits. The last hit has a lot of knockback. This is quite quick, powerful, and has a disjointed hitbox. Can be easily SDI'd out of. | 1% (hits 1-4), 13% (hit 5) |
Zero Suit Samus | Whips forward with her plasma whip. Great range, but has noticeable startup lag. Large disjointed hitbox, and hits behind her too. Not as powerful as a regular forward smash. | 10%-14% (front), 6% (back). |
List of forward smashes in Super Smash Bros. 4
Character | Description | Damage |
---|---|---|
Bowser | Jumps forward and does a dropkick. Extremely powerful; can KO under 40% if fully charged while hitting clean, and is capable of KOing at even lower percentages if against a light character and in rage. | Clean:23% (feet), 20% (body) Late: 17% (feet), 14% (body) |
Bowser Jr. | Uses two drills on his opponents. Can be angled up or down. | 1% (hits 1-5), 11% (hit 6) |
Captain Falcon | Rears back and lunges his forward, burning opponents on contact. Can be angled up or down. | High: 20% Mid: 19% Low: 20% |
Charizard | Winds up and does a swinging headbutts forward. | 17% (clean, late body), 14% (late head) |
Dark Pit | Identical to Pit's. | 5% (hit 1), 10% (hit 2) |
Diddy Kong | Slaps forward while spinning around, then does a backhand punch. The second hit launches opponents. | 5% (hit 1), 11% (hit 2 fist), 9% (hit 2 arm) |
Donkey Kong | Winds up and claps both hands forward. Strong horizontal knockback and has good range. | 19% (arms), 20% (hands) |
Dr. Mario | Releases a blast of electricity. Its range has increased from Melee and can now sweetspot at the arm. This move can be slightly aimed up or down. | High: 19.992% (arm), 19.464% (hand) Mid: 19.04% (arm), 15.68% (hand) Low: 19.6112% (arm), 16.1504% |
Duck Hunt | Signals the offscreen player to three fire shots forward. Its range grows the longer the charge is held, making it one of the game's best ranged KO moves (though its power is only average). | 4% (hits 1-2), 9% (hit 3) |
Falco | Swings both his wings in an overhead powerful swipe. High knockback when sweetspotted. | 15% (clean), 10% (late) |
Fox | Does a cartwheel kicks forward. Good knockback with has a long-lasting hitbox. | 14% (clean), 11% (late) |
Ganondorf | Leans back and thrusts his elbow forward. Deals more knockback if an opponent is close to Ganondorf. | 24% |
Greninja | Slashes forward with a water sword. Very fast and somewhat powerful. | 14% |
Ike | Lifts his sword over his head and slams it down in a powerful, two-handed overhead swing. One of the strongest smash attacks in the game, KOing under 50% if fully charged and hitting clean. | 19% (early), 22% (clean blade), 17% (clean tip) |
Jigglypuff | Lunges forward and delivers a jump kick forward Can KO starting at 90%. | 15% (clean), 12% (late) |
King Dedede | Winds up his hammer then forcefully slams it down in an overhead swing. By far the strongest forward smash on par with Bowser's, and the second-most damaging in the game (only Lucario's at full power is more damaging). However it requires some startup and cooldown. | 15% (early), 24% (clean), 6% (late) |
Kirby | Lunges forward and delivers a very large jump kick that moves him forward. Can be angled up or down. | High: 16% (clean), 12% (late) Mid: 15% (clean), 11% (late) Low: 14% (clean), 10% (late) |
Link | Swings his sword downwards and then horizontally. A second slash can be inputted by tapping the A Button right after the first slash. | Hit 1: 7% (base), 14% (tip) Hit 2: 12% (body), 13% (sword) |
Little Mac | Punches in front of him. Has three different angles. Angled up: Becomes an uppercut with very high KO potential. No angle: Punches forward with good KO power. Angled down: A body hook that deals high damage, but very low knockback. |
High: 19% (hand), 17% (arm) Mid: 19% (hand), 17% (arm) Low: 22% |
Lucario | Releases a blast of aura forward. It the game's most damaging forward smash if sweetspotted and fully charged at full power, dealing 38% fresh. | 16% (clean), 13% (late) |
Lucas | Quickly swings a stick forward. This move can reflect projectiles. | 14% (base), 15% (tip) |
Lucina | Identical to Marth's with the exception of Marth's tipper effect. | 15.275% |
Luigi | Bends his elbow and thrusts his arm out with an open hand stab. Can be angled up or down. | 15% |
Mario | Releases a fiery burst in front of him. Its range, power and speed have been improved from Brawl. Can be angled up or down. | High: 14.7% (arm), 17.85% (fire) Mid: 14% (arm), 17% (fire) Low: 14.42% (arm), 17.51% (fire) |
Marth | Rotates his body counter-clockwise with a strong arc-like swing from his head to the ground. Deals extremely high knockback if tipped. | 13% (base), 18% (tip) |
Mega Man | Charge Shot: Charges up energy in his Mega Buster before firing off a big, powerful burst. Very long range when fully charged (the longest of any forward smash), with high KO power to match. | 11.5%-19.5% |
Meta Knight | Pulls his sword back for a second, then slashes horizontally in forward. Somewhat slow, but it's the strongest attack in his arsenal, having high KO potential and moderately safe endlag. | 16% |
Mewtwo | Blasts psychic energy from its palms. | 19% (blast), 15% (arms) |
Mii Brawler | Punches forward. Its hitbox has a very short duration but high KO power to compensate. Can be aimed up or down. | 18%* |
Mii Gunner | Unleashes a stream of bullets. Has the longest range of any non-projectile smash, and has a long duration, but suffers from lower-than-normal damage and knockback. Useful for edgeguarding. | 0.8% (hits 1-6), 5% (hit 7)* |
Mii Swordfighter | Swings their sword with both hands while stepping forward. Deals slightly more damage and knockback if tipped. | 14% (hilt), 15% (center), 16% (tip)* |
Mr. Game & Watch | Takes out a flaming torch and swings if forward. Deals higher damage and knockback if sweetspotted, which has a flame effect. Orginates from Fire Attack. | 18% (head), 14% (handle) |
Ness | Swings his bat forwards. The bat can reflect projectiles. | 18% (close), 18% (mid), 22% (tip) |
Olimar | Thrusts a Pikmin forward, attacking with a spinning body slam. | R: 7.2%-17.4% YB: 6%-14.5% W: 4.8%-11.6% P: 8.4%-20.3% |
Pac-Man | Shoots Blinky forward. Its surprisingly good range, power and effective lingering hitbox make it one of the best forward smashes in the game. | 16% (clean ghost), 15% (clean arm), 9% (late) |
Palutena | Summons a pair of ethereal wings and flaps them forward. Has a small push effect at the tip. | 16% (near), 13% (far) |
Peach | Swings a clubbing weapon, cycling constantly between a golf club, a frying pan or a tennis racket. Each weapon has its own property: The golf club deals the most diagonal knockback (and has the longest range), the frying pan has the most vertical knockback, and the tennis racket is a semi-spike. | 15% (golf club), 18% (frying pan), 13% (tennis racket) |
Pikachu | Rears back and the leans forward, ejects a powerful electric shock. Very high knockback if hitting clean. | 15% (early), 18% (clean), 12% (late) |
Pit | Slashes forward twice. Decent knockback. | 5% (hit 1), 10% (hit 2) |
R.O.B. | S3: Fires a short-ranged laser in front of himself. Good knockback with good range, but still a tad weak for a forward smash. Can be aimed up or down. | 15% (base), 11.5% (mid), 6% (tip) |
Robin | A quick, short-ranged stab with his sword. Good knockback with the Levin Sword, but low knockback with the Bronze Sword. | Bronze: 9.6% Levin: 16% (clean), 5% (late) |
Rosalina & Luma | Rosalina: Thrusts her hands forward, hitting the enemy with a galaxy blast. Luma: Delivers a powerful straight punch. Decent range, high knockback, and can KO at 90% when combined. Can be aimed up or down. |
Rosalina: 12% Luma: 7% (arm), 5% (body) |
Roy | Holds his sword with both hands before spinning around into a two-handed downward diagonal slash. Very powerful when sweetspoted, capable of KOing fully charged at around 50%. Has rather low start up. | 20% (close), 17% (mid), 12% (far) |
Ryu | Performs the Joudan Sokutogeri, a powerful wind-back kick with his leg while moving a step forward that is derived from Street Fighter III. It has the highest range of all of Ryu's standard attacks, able to hit opponents 2 character lengths away from him, without an awful lot of endlag. Deals slightly more damage and knockback when hit at Ryu's heel. | 16% (close), 17% (far) |
Samus | Punches forward with her arm cannon, creating a ball of fire similar to Mario's forward smash in appearance and function. The move can be aimed up or down. | High: 15% (fire), 13% (cannon) Mid:14% (fire), 12% (cannon) Low: 13.5% (fire), 11% (cannon) |
Sheik | Delivers two spin kicks forward. The first has low knockback, while the second has significant knockback. | 5% (hit 1), 8% (hit 2) |
Shulk | Stabs forward with the Monado, then extends the beam to hit farther. Has good range and power, but high ending lag. Can be angled up or down. | 5.5% (hit 1), 13% (hit 2 blade), 11.5% (hit 2 beam) |
Sonic | Winds up his fist, then throws a punch forwards. Can be angled up or down. | 14% |
Toon Link | Similar to Link's, except the first hit has consistent power throughout. | 10% (hit 1), 11% (hit 2) |
Villager | Leans forward while dropping a bowling ball. One of the strongest forward smashes, and has nearly unpunishable endlag. The bowling ball can go over the edge, making it a reliable edgeguarding move despite its limited horizontal range. However, because the bowling ball is a projectile, it can be pocketed or reflected, which can be potentially fatal for Villager. | 15% (early), 17% (clean) |
Wario | Leans back then delivers a backhanded punch. Better knockback and range than his old forward smash, but it has lost its transcendent priority and launch resistance. | 19% |
Wii Fit Trainer | Performs the Warrior pose ,stomping forward while extending her arms in either side. Deals more damage if opponents hit the arms and less at the body. | 15.5% (arms), 14% (body) |
Yoshi | Winds his head back then hurls it forward, dealing a powerful a powerful headbutt. | 13% (tip), 15.5% (nose), 14% (body) |
Zelda | Charges magic energy in her right hand and flashes it forward, dealing multiple hits. Fairly good knockback and range. | 1% (hits 1-4), 13% (hit 5) |
Zero Suit Samus | Does a double kick forward. The second hit has a visible sweetspot, being the small burst of fire at the tip of Samus' foot, which is stronger and deals flame damage. | 5% (hit 1), 11% (hit 2) |
* This assumes the Mii is default height and weight.
Notable forward smashes
- Link, Young Link, and Toon Link have a second forward smash that can be performed by pressing the attack button again after completing the first slash.
- Ness's and Lucas's forward smashes are unique mainly because they are able to reflect projectiles, if timed correctly.
- Bowser's forward smash is the most powerful smash attack in Melee, and the only one capable of KOing around 15 % to 38%, doing 32% fully charged, and can even send the Sandbag farther than the Home-Run Bat at certain percentages. In Brawl, it is powered up even more to 46%, making it the most damaging forward smash. In Smash 4, its damage has been lowered due to the removal of its initial hit, but its knockback is drastically more powerful, to the point where it is on par with King Dedede's forward smash for strongest forward smash in the game, while also being decently fast with deceptively high range.
- Wolf's forward smash sends him a considerable distance forward, and has almost no start-up lag.
- Ike's forward smash is the second strongest in Brawl. Although it doesn't deal as much damage as a few of the strongest characters, it has the highest knockback scaling and extremely long range, though this is counterbalanced by considerable start-up (about 30 frames) and ending lag.
- King Dedede's forward smash is the fastest-KOing forward smash in Brawl, with the second-highest base knockback and knockback scaling. It also has the lowest possible KO percent uncharged of any Smash Attack in the Series. It is by far the most powerful Forward Smash (and to an extent Smash Attack) in the entire series. In Smash 4, Bowser's forward smash is on equal footing in terms of knockback, but with less startup and 1% less damage.
- Peach's forward smash involves one of three randomly chosen weapons, each with varying range, damage, knockback and knockback angle, and also has a slight range behind her.
- Lucario's forward smash (as well as its up smash, to a lesser extent) leaves a small ranged Aura residue from its paws, allowing Lucario to attack from a small distance. It is nearly unpunishable if spaced correctly, even when shielded.
- Wario's forward smash in Brawl is one of the most feared moves in the game, due to its KO potential, transcendent priority, high speed, and launch resistance.
- Olimar's forward smash is a projectile where Olimar throws a Pikmin. This is also true for his up smash and down smash.
- Mii Gunner's forward smash has the longest range of any non-projectile forward smash in SSB4.
- Duck Hunt's forward smash, similarly to its other smash attacks and Snake's up smash, increase in range the longer the attack is charged.
- Mega Man and Villager are the only fighters in the entire series to have projectile-based forward smashes. Coincidentally, Mega Man's forward smash has the highest horizontal range, while Villager's forward smash has the highest (infinite, to be precise) vertical range.
- Little Mac's forward smash can be angled upwards or downwards. Unlike other forward smashes that can be angled, they gain different properties if aimed up or down: a standard punch if aimed forward, an uppercut useful for KOing lighter characters if aimed upwards, or a body hook that deals much more damage and shield damage than the previous attacks, but with much less knockback if aimed downwards.
See also
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 |