Robo Beam

Robo Beam
	; Robo Beam in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.
User	R.O.B.
Universe	'

"Laser" redirects here. For Fox and Falco's neutral special move, see Blaster.

Robo Beam (ロボビーム, Robo Beam) is R.O.B.'s neutral special move. The attack is a small pink laser that does a small amount of damage (normally 5%) and has decent stun capabilities. The shots can be angled up or down and reflect off of walls and floors. It should also be noted that this attack does not stop when it hits an opponent, allowing the player to hit multiple foes. R.O.B. must wait 1 second for the laser to recharge, or R.O.B. will shoot a weak, short-range laser. When the laser is charged, the red light on R.O.B.'s head will begin to flash. Kirby also has this property when he copies R.O.B. There are actually two levels of charge; if the beam is left alone for 20 seconds, it will become the Super Robo Beam. Super Robo Beam is much stronger and thicker and has increased range (enough to travel all the way across any stage), though it is significantly slower than a normal Robo Beam. If used at a very close range, the beam will do higher, flame type damage, starting at 9%.

In the Subspace Emissary, R.O.B. Blasters use a purple Robo Beam, although it is shorter and cannot be charged.

Customization

Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the variations:

1. Robo Beam	2. Wide-Angle Beam	3. Infinite Robo Beam

"Fire a laser beam, but only when the LED on your head is flashing. It can bounce off the floor."	"A Robo Beam that can be fired at a wider range of angles but doesn't do quite as much damage."	"Never runs out of charge, but isn't as strong as the standard Robo Beam."

Robo Beam: Default.
Wide-Angle Beam: Slightly longer startup, but an increased trajectory angle that allows R.O.B. to aim the move almost vertically, and deals less damage in favor of a piercing ability.
Infinite Robo Beam: Always can fire a charged laser, but takes longer to charge to a Super Robo Beam, the damage is less, the startup is slightly longer, and the laser loses its ability to bounce off of walls.

Wide-Angle Beam in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.
Wide-Angle Beam at its full charge.
Infinite Robo Beam in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.
Infinite Robo Beam at its full charge.

Origin

An advertisement snippet showing R.O.B.'s glowing eyes.

Robo Beam is virtually identical in function (including the ricochet) to the Laser copy ability from the Kirby series. R.O.B. has no relation to the Kirby franchise, but this move is likely to have been an idea incorporated by Kirby creator and Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai when putting together R.O.B.'s moveset. While the real life R.O.B. toy obviously never had the ability to fire lasers, the flashing red LED on R.O.B.'s head being an indicator of Robo Beam's charge is a throwback to when the red light flashed to indicate that R.O.B. was ready for use with the NES.