Up tilt

Kirby's up tilt in Brawl.

Mario's up tilt in Melee

Wii Fit Trainer's up tilt in SSB4

An up tilt (abbreviated "u-tilt"), officially called a strong up (上強攻撃, Up/above/upper strong attack) before Ultimate, is a tilt attack that can be performed by any character by holding the control stick lightly upward and pressing the attack button while on the ground. It can be difficult to pull off an up tilt quickly, as if the player tilts too fast, they'll either jump or do an up smash instead. Turning off tap jump can help avoid the former problem, or the player can do some other action and hold up on the control stick before it ends.

Up tilts typically fall into two categories: quick strikes with a narrow range directly above the character's head, or slower attacks that hit a wide arc above the character. More often than not, up tilts are used for juggling, as they usually lack the knockback to disturb low damage combos outside of a few exceptions such as Ganondorf and Captain Falcon.

Since the Wii Remote-only control scheme in Brawl and Smash 4 lacks both a control stick and any other way to jump, up tilts become unusable without first holding up during a prior action, making them the only normal attack which a player may not be able to use for no in-game reason.

List of up tilts

Character	Description
Banjo & Kazooie	Banjo kicks upward with one leg as Kazooie lifts him up.
Bayonetta	Twirls her gun while whipping it above herself, hitting twice.
Bowser	Swings his claw in an arc above himself.
Bowser Jr.	Deploys a pitchfork from the Koopa Clown Car and uppercuts with it.
Byleth	Performs an overhead swing with the Sword of the Creator.
Captain Falcon	Swings his leg up and then down in front of himself for an ax kick.
Charizard	Shrugs its wings upwards.
Chrom	Slashes in an arc above himself from front to back.
Cloud	Slashes from back to the front above himself.
Corrin	Performs an upwards sword twirl.
Daisy	Points upwards alongside a flower-shaped magic burst.
Dark Pit	Throws an upwards-angled butterfly kick.
Dark Samus	Performs an ax kick in front of herself.
Diddy Kong	Swats in an arc above himself.
Donkey Kong	Swings his palm in an arc above himself.
Dr. Mario	Throws a spinning uppercut.
Duck Hunt	The dog lies down while the duck thrusts its body upwards, wings-first.
Falco	Throws a scorpion kick behind and above himself. Spins while slashing above himself with one wing after another.
Fox	Throws a scorpion kick behind and above himself.
Ganondorf	Lifts his leg up, hangs it in the air, and then slams it into the ground in front of himself alongside a massive explosion.
Greninja	Swipes its tongue above itself in an arc.
Hero	Swings his sword in an upward arc.
Ice Climbers	Thrust their hammers upwards head-first while twirling them for multiple hits.
Ike	Holds Ragnell parallel to the ground and then performs a jumping thrust with it.
Incineroar	Performs a jumping, arcing headbutt to the area above itself.
Inkling	Performs a backflipping kick.
Isabelle	Swipes a broom in an arc above herself.
Ivysaur	Plants its vines onto the ground and then vaults off of them to tackle upwards with its body.
Jigglypuff	Swings its leg upwards behind itself.
Joker	Throws his knife upwards and lets it twirl above him for multiple hits, then catches it.
Kazuya	Uppercuts twice. A two-stage natural combo.
Ken	Tapped: Uppercuts very quickly with his elbow. Held: Throws an upwards punch.
King Dedede	Headbutts above himself.
King K. Rool	Throws a quick uppercut.
Kirby	Swings his leg upwards behind himself.
Link	Slashes the Master Sword in a wide arc above himself.
Little Mac	Swipes his fist above himself in a wide arc while crouching.
Lucario	Throws a sweeping kick upwards.
Lucas	Flips upside-down and kicks above himself with a PSI spark at his foot.
Lucina	Swings Parallel Falchion in a wide arc up and around her head.
Luigi	Throws a quick uppercut. Performs a back-to-front catpaw swing above himself.
Mario	Throws a spinning uppercut.
Marth	Swings Falchion in a wide arc up and around his head.
Mega Man	Performs the Mega Upper, a very strong jumping and spinning uppercut.
Meta Knight	Stabs straight upwards.
Mewtwo	Performs a psychic-powered backflipping tail strike.
Mii Brawler	Throws an uppercut.
Mii Gunner	Uppercuts with their cannon while simultaneously releasing a fiery blast from it.
Mii Swordfighter	Slashes in an arc above themselves.
Min Min	Performs a wheel kick.
Mr. Game & Watch	Swings a flag in an arc above himself. Swipes straight upwards with a flag to lead into a second upwards flag swipe with the opposite hand.
Mythra	Slashes the Aegis Sword above herself in a wide arc starting behind herself.
Ness	Thrusts both of his palms straight upwards. Thrusts both of his palms straight upwards while releasing a blast of PSI from them.
Olimar	Jumps up and spreads his arms out while spinning rapidly for multiple hits.
Pac-Man	Headbutts above himself. Jabs straight upwards.
Palutena	Kneels down and releases her staff, letting it spin above her for multiple hits.
Peach	Headbutts above herself. Points upwards alongside a heart-shaped magic burst.
Pichu	Swipes its tail above itself in an arc.
Pikachu	Swipes its tail above itself in an arc. Swipes its tail above itself in an arc while performing a handstand.
Piranha Plant	Gives its head a vigorous shake above itself.
Pit	Plants one of his blades into the ground and uses it to perform a double kick out of a handstand. Throws an upwards-angled butterfly kick.
Pyra	Slashes the Aegis Sword above herself in a wide arc starting behind herself.
R.O.B.	Thrusts his arms straight upwards.
Richter	Twirls the Vampire Killer in a circle above his head.
Ridley	Cuts above himself in a front-to-back arc with his wing.
Robin	Performs an inwards uppercutting slash with the Bronze Sword.
Rosalina & Luma	Rosalina: Launches a Saturnian ring a short distance above her head. Luma: Throws a strong uppercut.
Roy	Slashes in an arc above himself from front to back in reverse grip.
Ryu	Tapped: Uppercuts very quickly with his elbow. Held: Throws an upwards punch.
Samus	Performs an ax kick in front of herself.
Sephiroth	Thrusts Masamune directly upward.
Sheik	Sticks one of her legs straight up and then swings it downwards in front of herself.
Shulk	Slashes upwards with the Monado for a spinning uppercut.
Simon	Twirls the Vampire Killer in a circle above his head.
Snake	Kicks straight up above himself.
Sonic	Throws a butterfly kick to the area straight above him.
Sora	Spins his Keyblade three times above his head.
Squirtle	Hops straight up for a quick headbutt.
Steve	Swings his axe quickly above himself.
Terry	Does an uppercut.
Toon Link	Leans back and slashes in an arc above himself.
Villager	Twirls a stick upwards for two hits.
Wario	Thrusts his palms upwards.
Wii Fit Trainer	Assumes the Triangle pose to swipe upwards with an outstretched arm.
Wolf	Hops up and swings his leg upwards.
Yoshi	Performs an upwards headbutt. Flicks his tail up in front of himself.
Young Link	Slashes above himself in an arc.
Zelda	Waves her palm above herself in an arc, emitting a magic flash from it.
Zero Suit Samus	Performs a modified spinning scissor kick out of a handstand.

Notable up tilts

Snake’s infamous up tilt in Brawl.

• Ganondorf's up tilt, known as the Volcano Kick, has the slowest startup of any up tilt, but it deals high damage and extreme knockback. From Brawl onwards, it also creates a vacuum that draws other characters towards him, and is notable from Smash 4 onwards for instantly breaking full shields with its sweetspot (and in Ultimate, breaking shields in its entire range, whether sweetspotted or not). It is often regarded as arguably the worst up tilt in every game it appears in, as its incredibly high startup lag makes it extremely difficult to land.
  • It is also the only tilt in Ultimate to cause Special Zoom.
• Marth's up tilt in Melee covers a large area around him, has long-range, and relatively low ending lag, making it one of the best anti-air options in the game, and allowing it to combo into subsequent up tilts, aerial attacks, and even a grab or forward smash against fast fallers, while it can KO floaty characters at mid-high percentages.
• From Smash 4 onward, Captain Falcon's up tilt meteor smashes opponents who are struck with his heel, making it the only up tilt in the series that is a conventional meteor smash. Conversely, from Melee onward, Samus and Dark Samus's shared up tilt is an unconventional meteor smash.
• Snake's up tilt in Brawl is often considered the best in the game due to its high knockback, fast startup, and huge disjointed hitbox. In Ultimate, its hitboxes have become smaller, but it still sports a frightening combination of speed and power, causing it to handily retain its status as one of the best up tilts in the game.
• In Brawl, King Dedede's up tilt has more knockback than his uncharged up smash, and the third strongest up tilt, after those of Ganondorf and Snake, along with being not particularly slow, making it one of the best up tilts in the game. It also notably grants full intangibility to his body during its first two active frames; which is very rare for a tilt attack. In later games, its knockback has been reduced to the point of being weaker than his up smash.
• Kirby's up tilt in Smash 64 is considered overall one of the best moves in any Smash game, due to its extremely quick speed (coming out on frame 4 and lasting only 17 frames), high damage output, extreme safety on shield and hugely disjointed hitbox. It is notable for its ability to easily and quickly rack up damage and break shields, as well as being able to outspace some characters' reliable approach options entirely on its own (such as Yoshi's). It's ending lag, power and range have been toned down in later installments, but it still remains a strong combo tool in every game.
• Mega Man's up tilt is very fast to start up and incredibly powerful, with among the highest knockback of any tilt (KOing at around 85%, earlier than even some uncharged up smashes), but has extremely high ending lag. Additionally, it is one of only two tilts in the series, along with Simon and Richter's shared down tilt, that causes the user to functionally leave the ground.
• Steve's up tilt in Ultimate can be repeated by holding down the attack button. Steve can also walk and jump while performing the move. It is also overall very fast and combos into itself and aerials.
• Sephiroth's up tilt has the longest vertical range of any up tilt in the series, being able to hit characters standing on Battlefield's top platform.
• Kazuya's up tilt is the only one in the series to be a natural combo.
• Pac-Man's up tilt is known for being one of the worst up tilts in the series, as it has next to no kill power and bad range, especially as it cannot hit opponents in front of him.