Hammer (item)

Hammer
Hammer artwork from Brawl.
Universe	Donkey Kong
Appears in	SSB SSBM SSBB SSB4
Item class	Duration/Battering
Article on Super Mario Wiki	Hammer

“	A favourite of Mario's in his younger days, the Hammer enraptures any character that grabs it and sends them into a clobbering frenzy!	”
—Super Smash Bros.'s instruction manual

The Hammer (ハンマー, Hammer) is a close-range item that appears in all Super Smash Bros. games. Upon being grabbed by any player, it sends them into a unique state that inflicts significant damage and knockback.

Origin

Mario using the hammer in Donkey Kong.

The hammer comes from the arcade game Donkey Kong. In Donkey Kong, when Mario obtains the hammer, he is unable to stop swinging until the hammer disappears. He also is unable to climb ladders while swinging the hammer. The hammer can be used to destroy barrels that are being rolled down towards Mario, and can be used against other enemies.

Contrary to its depiction in the Super Smash Bros. series, the Hammer's head cannot fall off in the game, nor can it otherwise malfunction.

Use

Bowser swings the Hammer in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

Upon picking up the Hammer, characters enter a unique state; they will constantly swing the hammer back and forth, and will be unable to midair jump, attack, or defend. The Hammer also cannot be manually dropped unless the user has been sent into a state of tumbling. The Hammer deals about 22% per hit, and it also deals extremely high vertical knockback, potentially KOing opponents at low percentages; the effects of the Hammer are even more formidable in Super Smash Bros., where the Hammer instead does 30% damage with even more knockback. The Hammer disappears after seven seconds.

The Hammer, however, limits the user's options, and particularly careful hitbox placement by other characters can potentially interrupt the wielder. Counters are especially powerful against Hammers, since most of them deal more damage for any attack they counter. As the wielder of the hammer cannot use special moves or midair jump, sending an opponent off a ledge while they swing the Hammer can effectively KO them unless they can somehow drop the Hammer. In Brawl and Smash 4, the Hammer also operates on a "timer"; if a character wielding the Hammer is constantly hit so that they cannot swing the item, the timer will still count down, potentially getting rid of the Hammer before they can properly utilise use it.

Headless Hammers

A Headless Hammer in action.

Starting in Melee, there is a 12.5% chance of the head of the Hammer falling off, after which the item becomes functionally useless, though the wielder will continue to swing the harmless stick around. The Hammer Head itself can be picked up and thrown as a powerful item, dealing 35% when smash thrown.

If the Hammer Head falls off, then the player is rewarded with the Headless Hammer bonus, worth 2500 points. This bonus only appears in Melee.

Damage for Hammer Head

Action	Melee	Brawl
Throw	32%	32%
Dash attack throw	32%	34%
Up tilt throw	31%	31%
Forward tilt throw	32%	32%
down tilt throw	34%	27%
Forward smash throw	33%	35%
Up smash throw	28%	31%
Down smash throw	38%	30%
Air throw	32%	32%
Air up tilt throw	29%	31%
Air down tilt throw	34%	31%
Air forward smash throw	35%	32%
Air up smash throw	31%	31%
Air down smash throw	34%	31%

Trophies

Melee trophy

Hammer

If you grab the Hammer, you'll run across the screen swinging it back and forth nonstop. In Donkey Kong, Mario used the Hammer in exactly the same fashion. It's an extremely powerful item, but you have no recovery move when carrying it. Every now and then, the mallet head will fall off, and you'll end up completely vulnerable, swinging just the handle.

• Donkey Kong, Arcade 1981

Brawl trophy

Hammer

An item that, once grabbed, makes you swing nonstop. It's a powerful attack item that does terrific damage and sends opponents sailing. Once in a great while, the hammer's head will fall off, leaving you nothing but the handle. Of course, you can't tell whether the head is securely fastened just by looking. Hammer heads that fall off can be picked up and thrown as weapons.

: Donkey Kong

Trivia

• Certain characters have unusual Hammer-swinging animations:
  • King Dedede swings both the item and his own hammer in a back-and-forth fashion; his own hammer, however, does not actually do any damage, even if the Hammer's head falls off.
  • Pit swings the Hammer by pivoting his wrist in right angles; furthermore, his animations become much choppier, with his jumping and walking animations referencing Pit's sprite from the original Kid Icarus. This behaviour carried over to Dark Pit in Smash 4.
  • Mewtwo holds the Hammer sideways and rotates it horizontally around itself. As a result, its effective range is severely reduced, as Mewtwo is significantly more vulnerable from attacks that harm it from above than other characters.

Gallery

• Hammerssb.jpg

  Hammer artwork in Smash 64.

• 

  Hammer in Smash 64.

• 

  Hammer in Melee.

• 

  A Hammer head in Melee.