Gyro

Gyro being charged

A gyro can be thrown at an opponent.

Gyro is the name for R.O.B.'s Down Special Move in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The attack encompasses a spin toy that R.O.B. fires. It is chargeable; the longer it charges, the stronger and faster it becomes. A fully charged Gyro normally inflicts 18% of damage, and has high knockback. After being launched, it can be picked back up and thrown at the opponent doing 10% of damage. It also acts like the Unira in that it will still cause damage on contact as long as it is spinning, and can also be picked up by non-R.O.B. players. Each R.O.B. can only have one originating gyro on the screen at any time, and can use Gyro again as soon as the previous gyro leaves the screen. If the move is attempted when R.O.B. cannot reuse his gyro, he goes into his Gyro-charging stance and makes a motion with his arms as if to spin a gyro, but no gyro appears. Much like Donkey Kong's Giant Punch and Samus's Charge Shot, Gyro does not attack instantly when used. Instead, its initial use begins a charging process. The move must be performed a second time to fire the gyro.

Origin

The "Gyro" is essentially a spinning top. The R.O.B. accessory for the Nintendo Entertainment System would spin the gyros on a spinner and use them to press buttons to activate in-game effects for the game Gyromite; the button would remain pressed only as long as the gyro retained enough speed to remain upright. The concept of the move in Brawl is exactly the same as when the gyros were spinning in the Spinner, but throwing the gyro is a new feature added in Brawl.

Trivia

• R.O.B.’s series symbol visually incorporates the design of his gyros and is the basis for the Subspace Army's symbol.
• The color scheme of a gyro varies depending on the color scheme of the R.O.B. who used it.