Forward tilt

Mario's Strong Side, faster than his Forward Smash.

Strong Side, also known as a "Forward Tilt" (or "F-tilt"), is a Strong Attack performed by any character by holding the control stick forward and pressing A while on the ground. This is distinct from a Forward Smash in that the control stick is only tilted, not tapped, when performing this attack. Strong Side attacks generally act as either powerful alternatives to a character's Forward Smash or as quick defensive moves with less lag time than a Smash.

Along with certain Forward Smashes, some Strong Sides can be "angled" up or down to some extent, pointing the hitbox in a diagonal direction instead of totally forward. Most attacks that are angled up are slightly more powerful than if they weren't angled, while some are weaker if angled downwards. Knockback is also affected by angling, with up angles providing more vertical knockback and down angles providing more horizontal knockback. Strong Sides cannot be charged like Smash Attacks.

Characters in Brawl with Strong Sides That Can Be Angled

Kicks/Legs

• Mario (often angled down by CPUs)
• Luigi
• Ness
• Fox
• Falco
• Kirby
• Jigglypuff
• Samus (easiest angled tilt to distinguish)
• Zero Suit Samus
• Pikachu
• Sonic (difficult to distinguish angling, attack barely altered in general)
• Captain Falcon

Punches/Arms

• Wario (If angled upwards, Wario will grunt during the start-up lag instead of during the actual attack.)
• Donkey Kong (difficult to distinguish)
• Diddy Kong
• Bowser
• R.O.B.
• Zelda (sparkles come out of her hand, but aren't a hitbox)
• Wolf

Tail

• Yoshi
• Squirtle
• Charizard

Weapons

• Ice Climbers
• Ike

Energy

• Lucas
• Lucario

Characters in Brawl with Strong Sides That Can't Be Angled

Kicks/Legs

• Peach - Kicks straight up, while she bends back completely.
• Sheik - Does a spinning kick, great for juggles.
• Ganondorf - Kicks straight foward. Very much like Captain Falcon's, aside from not being able to be angled and stronger with more horizontal knockbck. Commonly called the "Sparta Kick" of the film "300", where Leonidas, king of Sparta, kicks the Persian into the hole - however, Ganondorf used the kick in Twilight Princess, which came out before the movie.
• Snake - Darts his knee with fixed knockback in front of him and after a powerful punch. Great speed, great priority and great range in (which both hits have huge disjointed range), doing a total of 21% and high knockback, making it arguably the best forward tilt in the game. Great damage racker. First he knees with set knockback against grounded opponents (but has knockback on aerial opponents). If another Strong Side is done right after the first one, he'll do a double fist that's stronger than the first one, like Toon Link's Forward Smash. The properties of the first kick can be exploited. Doing that is called Knee Locking. Overall, one of the quickest moves of his arsenal, and is a very powerful kill move at a high percentage.
• Olimar - Thrusts his body foward in the air with a kick.

Weapons

• Pit - Thrusts both of his swords foward.
• Meta Knight - Swings his sword foward, then can do two more swings into a combo, like a three-hit neutral combo.
• King Dedede - Spins his hammer in front of him. Notable that it is the longest ranged physical attack in the game.
• Link - Swings his sword vertically downwards.
• Toon Link - Same as Link's, but different in that it stalls the opponent, like if hit by a sweet spot.
• Marth - Does a slashing uppercut. Sometimes mistaken for being able to be angled, due to his up tilt being very similar to his forward tilt.
• Mr. Game & Watch - Pulls out a chair from Lion in front of him.

Miscellaneous

• Ivysaur - Thrusts its body foward a bit and then spins the leaves of its flower. Can hit multiple times.