Glide toss
Glide tossing is an advanced technique in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl that allows a character to cancel their rolling animation with an item throw (if they are holding a light item), which can result in some characters sliding forwards. As with other techniques that cause characters to slide, the technique allows characters to move across the stage while being able to use any attack or action. Glide tossing was technically introduced in Smash 64, albeit in an extremely primitive form, as Link is the only character who can generate items, and Samus is the only character who can cover any distance with a glide toss; even then, Samus covers a very short distance. It then become a slightly more effective technique in Melee, and a much more effective and useful technique in Brawl. In Smash 4, throwing an item out of a roll does not grant any extra distance, much like characters in previous installments who gained no distance from a glide toss, effectively removing glide tossing. In Ultimate, the window to input an item throw out of a roll has been reduced to two frames, further removing the chance of glide tossing.
Performing the technique
To perform a glide toss, the player must be holding a light item. They must then perform a roll and almost immediately (a six frame window in Melee and a five frame window in Brawl) after, throw the item in any direction. The character will then cancel the roll and throw the item, but as the player's momentum is kept from the roll, the character will slide along the ground.
The traveled distance depends on the character's traction, the direction of roll, the speed of the roll and the direction and moment the item was thrown. In general, the later the item is thrown, the bigger the glide, as characters have more momentum further into their rolls.
The technique can be performed by every character, with the exception of Yoshi in Brawl, as his unique shield prevents him from glide tossing (although this is strangely only the case in Brawl, as he can glide toss in every other game).
Applications
Some characters can benefit greatly from the speed boost gained with a glide toss, allowing them to cover large distances in short time. Given the throwing animation's short duration, a glide toss is usually safer than other approach methods, such as a dash item toss.
Uses in competitive play
Due to the fact that items are turned off by default in competitive play, glide tossing is limited in application. However, there are some characters that can produce their own items. For these characters, glide tossing serves as an excellent means of approach (granted that their glide tosses travel a serviceable distance). Glide tossing is faster and less punishable than dash tossing an item (in addition to potentially travelling more distance than a jump cancel throw depending on the character), and it leaves the character standing at the end, ready to segue into any of their moves. It moves the character forward with the advantages of a forward roll, but without the disadvantages. It also allows the character to throw as fast as their standing item throw, but while moving forward to help advance.
A few characters have truly outstanding glide tosses that allow them to slide much further than others, particularly Pit (highest average distance), Meta Knight (second highest average) and Zero Suit Samus, the latter of which can throw her powerful power suit pieces out of a glide toss during the beginning of a match, immediately attack with her down smash should the opponent be at very low percents, and then regrab her item once the opponent has been knocked away. Peach also makes an excellent glide tosser due to her vegetable down special, though not quite as powerful; she can combine her floating approach with her long-ranged glide toss at any time to frustrate opponents. R.O.B.'s glide toss covers a very large distance, and combined with his Gyro and low-lag ground game, his glide toss is one of the most dangerous.
While glide tossing is nearly limited to characters that can produce items, most characters can glide toss in competitive play if they manage to catch said items. Some characters gain no distance by glide tossing, so they may be better off with other item approach methods (such as a jump cancel throw or a DITCIT). There is a difference between a character's glide toss not gaining any distance and not being able to perform this technique; a character that has a distance of 0 for their glide toss will still be able to cancel the initial roll.
Characters who can glide toss with self-generated items
The following characters have the ability to create items that they can use to perform a glide toss:
- Zero Suit Samus: Power Suit Pieces, created on start/transformation.
- Snake: Hand Grenades, created by his neutral special. They must be shield dropped first and picked back up.
- Peach: Vegetables, created by her down special.
- Diddy Kong: Banana Peels, created by his down special. An opponent or teammate can also grab peanuts from Peanut Popgun, by air dodging.
- Wario: Wheels, created by destroying the Wario Bike (the bike itself cannot be used for glide tossing as it is a heavy item).
- R.O.B.: Gyros, created by down special.
- Kirby: Can copy Snake's Hand Grenades.
Throw distances
The user BurningCrusader777 from SmashBoards performed a study on the distance each character can achieve with this technique. There are 4 ways to glide toss, given that throwing up and down is normally the same as a forward throw, except it gives less distance. Forward roll with a forward throw, backward roll with forward throw, forward roll with reverse throw, and backward roll with reverse throw.
| Character | Forward | Backward | Forward reverse | Backward reverse | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bowser | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Captain Falcon | 1.357 | 2.6426 | 1.357 | 2.6426 | 1.9998 |
| Charizard | 0.2856 | 0 | 0.2856 | 0 | 0.1428 |
| Diddy Kong | 1.5355 | 1.8568 | 1.7854 | 1.8568 | 1.7586 |
| Donkey Kong | 4.2142 | 0 | 4.2142 | 0 | 2.071 |
| Falco | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| Fox | 0.714 | 0.7854 | 0.714 | 0.714 | 0.7319 |
| Ganondorf | 1.3927 | 1.1785 | 1.2142 | 1.2142 | 1.2499 |
| Ice Climbers | 0.6426 | 0 | 0.6426 | 0 | 0.3213 |
| Ike | 0 | 1.0714 | 0 | 1.0714 | 0.0357 |
| Ivysaur | 1.6783 | 1.2142 | 1.4641 | 1.3213 | 1.4195 |
| Jigglypuff | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| King Dedede | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kirby | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Link | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lucario | 0.714 | 1.6426 | 0.714 | 1.7497 | 1.2051 |
| Lucas | 0.357 | 0.5712 | 0.357 | 0.5712 | 0.4641 |
| Luigi | 0.1785 | 0.357 | 1.4284 | 6.0714 | 2.0088 |
| Mario | 0.4284 | 1.357 | 0.4284 | 1.3213 | 0.8838 |
| Marth | 1.357 | 5.357 | 1.357 | 5.357 | 3.357 |
| Meta Knight | 4.5712 | 4.4284 | 4.5712 | 4.4284 | 4.4998 |
| Mr. Game & Watch | 4.1428 | 4.2142 | 4.1428 | 4.2142 | 4.1785 |
| Ness | 0.357 | 0.5712 | 0.357 | 0.5712 | 0.4641 |
| Olimar | 0.9282 | 0.6426 | 0.9282 | 0.6426 | 0.7854 |
| Peach | 2.1071 | 0.4641 | 2.0714 | 1 | 1.4107 |
| Pikachu | 1.0714 | 1.0714 | 0.4284 | 0.5 | 0.7678 |
| Pit | 5.0714 | 4.8925 | 5.0714 | 5 | 5.0088 |
| R.O.B. | 2.2142 | 2.5355 | 2.2142 | 2.6783 | 2.4106 |
| Samus | 0.9639 | 1.714 | 0.9639 | 1.714 | 1.339 |
| Sheik | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Snake | 1.0357 | 1.4641 | 1.0357 | 1.5 | 1.2589 |
| Sonic | 4.1785 | 4.0714 | 4.1428 | 4.1071 | 4.125 |
| Squirtle | 2.1428 | 1.7854 | 2.1428 | 1.7854 | 1.9641 |
| Toon Link | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wario | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Wolf | 0.8568 | 0.9282 | 0.8568 | 0.9282 | 0.8925 |
| Yoshi | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Zelda | 1.4284 | 1.6069 | 1.5 | 1.714 | 1.5623 |
| Zero Suit Samus | 2 | 0 | 2.1428 | 0 | 1.0357 |
Video tutorial
Aerial glide tossing
In Melee, there is a method to perform a glide toss while in the air. Performing a directional air dodge and then throwing an item will result in the item toss canceling the air dodge, essentially being an "aerial glide toss". Peach and Captain Falcon benefit the most from the aerial glide toss, especially in Peach's case, as she can generate items. Naturally with the removal of directional air dodges, it can no longer be performed in Brawl although the player can still cancel the air dodge animation with an item toss.
Dash item throw cancel item throw (DITCIT)
In Brawl, a new technique with extremely similar uses and applications was introduced which allowed for a player to cancel a dash item toss with a up smash item toss, know as a Dash Item Throw Cancel Item Throw (alternatively a DITCIT or a super glide toss). The technique is essentially a dash attack canceled up smash, except that the player is holding an item while performing it. It will result in the character throwing the item upward while sliding forward a variable distance, depending on the character. Throwing the item in other directions is also possible. Throwing the item forward requires the control stick to be forward and slightly upwards before the smash attack is inputted, backwards requires the control stick to be slightly diagonal in the other direction and then immediately upward, and downward requires the control stick to be held down and then up immediately afterward.
Much like with a DACUS, different characters have different DITCIT windows, with some characters having a longer window to perform it than others. If delayed characters with a long DITCIT window (such as with Link or R.O.B.), the item will only be thrown forward, but another item throw animation will follow the first animation, with this second "fake-out" animation corresponding to the direction the control stick was in before the slide was triggered. The technique is easier to perform with characters with a "fake-out" animation however, the DITCIT does not slide as far with a "fake-out".
Unlike with standard glide tossing and DACUS, DITCIT was retained in Smash 4 and with the removal of the former, it became an even more effective technique. The characters who benefitted the most from the technique were characters who can spawn their own items, and characters who could slide a long distance with it (especially if it covers noticeably more distance than a regular glide toss). Link (in both Brawl and Smash 4, with his version of the technique being called "bombsliding") and Mega Man were two characters who greatly benefitted from the technique as they could generate their own items and they could travel a long distance when performing the technique.
In Ultimate, the increased traction of all characters results in DITCIT generally covering less distance than in Brawl and Smash 4. Additionally, the DITCIT window has universally been reduced to only two frames. Altogether, these changes largely remove the technique's utility.
Characters that can gain distance with DITCIT
- Bowser Jr. (with Mechakoopas)
- Charizard
- Cloud
- Corrin
- Dr. Mario
- Falco
- Fox
- Greninja
- Ike
- Ivysaur
- Link (with Bombs)
- Lucas
- Luigi
- Mario
- Mega Man (with Metal Blades)
- Meta Knight
- Mewtwo
- Mii Brawler
- Mii Swordfighter
- Mr. Game & Watch
- Ness
- Pac-Man (with Bonus Fruits)
- Palutena
- R.O.B. (with Gyros)
- Ryu
- Shulk
- Toon Link (with Bombs)
- Villager (with Timber pieces)
- Wolf
- Wii Fit Trainer
- Yoshi
- Zero Suit Samus
Pivot cancel item toss
In Smash 4 and Ultimate, it is possible to throw items out of a dash turnaround. The player must dash and then perform a turnaround and then they can throw the item. In Smash 4, the technique is not very useful due to jump cancel throws being more effective and it is only possible to throw items forward, but in Ultimate, the technique is significantly more useful as jump cancel throws are more difficult due to decreased jumpsquats and it is possible to throw an item in any direction out of a pivot in Ultimate.
