Back aerial

Diddy Kong, Lucario and Samus’s back aerial in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

Wolf's back aerial in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

A back aerial attack (後空中攻撃, rear/back midair attack; commonly abbreviated as bair or b-air, and internally AttackAirB) is an aerial attack that can be performed in midair by pressing the attack button and tilting the control stick in the direction opposite the character is facing. Its official term varies between titles; it is known as a back midair attack in Super Smash Bros. Melee, and a back air attack from Super Smash Bros. Brawl onward.

Back aerials are the natural inverse of forward aerials, hitting the area behind a fighter with mainly horizontal range. As a result, they are a common defensive option out of hitstun, as they can interrupt an opponent attempting a follow-up attack from behind. Back aerials are more difficult to land against targets due to hitting in the opposite direction a user is facing, but compensate by being the strongest aerial attack on average, often serving as highly useful finishers. Some may also be faster than a fighter's other aerial attacks. Techniques like reverse aerial rush are commonly used to instantly reverse a fighter's orientation and gain access to their back aerial.

List of back aerials

Unless stated otherwise, all back aerials are aimed behind the user.

Character	Description
Banjo & Kazooie	Kazooie performs an aerial Rat-a-Tat Rap 3 times.
Bayonetta	Performs a back kick at a high angle.
Bowser	Leans back and thrusts his shell spikes. Performs a dropkick.
Bowser Jr.	Deploys a wrecking ball from the Koopa Clown Car and swings it in a straight line.
Byleth	Stabs Areadbhar behind himself.
Captain Falcon	Performs a backwards facing back-fist.
Charizard	Swings one wing horizontally, followed by its tail. Swings its tail in an upward arc.
Chrom	Slashes in an upward arc, turning Chrom around after its use.
Cloud	Slashes horizontally with the Buster Sword.
Corrin	Sprouts dragon wings and thrusts them backward, hovering slightly and propelling himself forward.
Daisy	Thrusts her rear, generating a flower particle from it.
Dark Pit	Separates the Silver Bow and stabs with both blades simultaneously.
Dark Samus	Performs a back kick.
Diddy Kong	Performs a roundhouse kick.
Donkey Kong	Performs a dropkick. Performs a back kick.
Dr. Mario	Performs a dropkick. Performs a spinning dropkick.
Duck Hunt	The dog thrusts his lower back backward to propel the duck, who performs a turning peck.
Falco	Performs an outstretched back kick, hitting to both sides. Performs a quick back kick.
Fox	Performs an outstretched back kick, hitting to both sides. Performs a roundhouse kick.
Ganondorf	Performs a backwards facing back-fist.
Greninja	Performs three consecutive kicks at different angles.
Hero	Slashes in a delayed heavy upward arc.
Ice Climbers	Swing their hammers horizontally.
Ike	Slashes horizontally with Ragnell.
Incineroar	Performs a roundhouse kick.
Inkling	Jabs with the Splattershot.
Isabelle	Fires a pellet from a slingshot.
Ivysaur	Swings one vine after the other in a downward arc.
Jigglypuff	Performs a roundhouse kick. Turns Jigglypuff around in Ultimate.
Joker	Slashes in an upward arc. If active, Arsene chops in a downward arc, causing the duo's attacks to interlock with each other.
Kazuya	Performs a roundhouse kick.
Ken	Performs a roundhouse kick.
King Dedede	Performs a back kick. Swings his hammer in an upward arc. Swings his hammer horizontally.
King K. Rool	Punches in a downward arc from a turnaround.
Kirby	Performs a dropkick.
Link	Kicks twice with one leg after the other.
Little Mac	Weakly throws out a spinning backhanded punch.
Lucario	Extends one arm and unleashes a blast of aura.
Lucas	Performs a somersaulting kick in a downward arc, emitting a PSI spark from his foot.
Lucina	Slashes in an upward arc, turning Lucina around after its use.
Luigi	Performs a dropkick. Performs a spinning dropkick.
Mario	Performs a dropkick. Performs a spinning dropkick.
Marth	Slashes in an upward arc, turning Marth around after its use.
Mega Man	Uses the Slash Claw, generating three crescent-shaped energy swipes from his hand.
Meta Knight	Performs three consecutive horizontal slashes at different angles.
Mewtwo	Swings its tail in an upward arc.
Mii Brawler	Performs a back kick.
Mii Gunner	Unleashes a fiery blast from their arm cannon.
Mii Swordfighter	Slashes horizontally.
Min Min	Fires and extends her ARM behind her. Can change depending on Megawatt, Ramram, and Dragon.
Mr. Game & Watch	Holds a turtle behind himself that bites opponents, hitting multiple times. Possesses a landing hitbox.
Mythra	Swings the Aegis Sword behind herself in a wide arc starting below herself.
Ness	Performs a dropkick. Performs a dropkick, releasing a PSI spark from his feet.
Olimar	Grabs his leading Pikmin by its stem and swings it in an upward arc. If no Pikmin are following Olimar, he still performs the move, but it has no effect.
Pac-Man	Performs a dropkick.
Palutena	Bashes with her shield.
Peach	Thrusts her rear. Thrusts her rear, generating a heart particle from it.
Pichu	Performs a series of belly turns. Performs a series of belly turns while discharging electricity around itself, hitting multiple times. Causes recoil damage to Pichu.
Pikachu	Performs a back kick. Performs a series of belly turns. Possesses a landing hitbox. Performs a series of belly turns, hitting multiple times. Possesses a landing hitbox.
Piranha Plant	Spits out a fiery blast.
Pit	Separates the Palutena Bow and stabs with both blades simultaneously.
Pyra	Swings the Aegis Sword behind herself in a wide arc starting below herself.
R.O.B.	Points his base behind himself and activates his thrusters, propelling himself forward.
Richter	Whips horizontally with the Vampire Killer. Can be angled diagonally up or down, and function as a tether recovery.
Ridley	Performs a roundhouse kick.
Robin	Stabs at a diagonally downward angle. Can use either the Bronze Sword or the Levin Sword.
Rosalina & Luma	Rosalina: Performs a dropkick, releasing a miniature spiral galaxy from her feet. Luma: Performs a dropkick.
Roy	Slashes in an upward arc, turning Roy around after its use.
Ryu	Performs a roundhouse kick.
Samus	Performs a back kick.
Sephiroth	Performs a horizontal slash with Masamune.
Sheik	Performs a back kick.
Shulk	Stabs at a slight upward angle with a double grip.
Simon	Whips horizontally with the Vampire Killer. Can be angled diagonally up or down, and function as a tether recovery.
Snake	Performs a dropkick.
Sonic	Performs a roundhouse kick.
Sora	Performs a horizontal swing with his Keyblade.
Squirtle	Jabs with its tail. Jabs with its tail and spins horizontally, hitting multiple times.
Steve	Swings his pickaxe in an arc. If initiated using the short hop aerial shortcut in Ultimate, becomes a quicker swing with a sword instead.
Terry	Spins around and kicks behind himself.
Toon Link	Slashes in an upward arc.
Villager	Fires a pellet from a slingshot.
Wario	Leans his full body back, hitting with his head and arms.
Wii Fit Trainer	Assumes the Cobra pose to perform a dropkick.
Wolf	Performs a back kick.
Yoshi	Performs a dropkick. Swings his tail repeatedly in vertical arcs.
Young Link	Kicks twice with one leg after the other.
Zelda	Performs a magically infused lunging kick that is extremely powerful if it hits near Zelda's foot, but extremely weak otherwise. It is known as the Lightning Kick.
Zero Suit Samus	Performs a roundhouse kick.

Notable back aerials

Dr. Mario's in Melee can semi-spike, while Mario's cannot.

• Marth, Lucina, Roy, and Chrom's turn them around in midair, unlike any other aerial attack in the series. In Ultimate, Jigglypuff's also has this property.
• R.O.B. and Corrin's uniquely cancel their momentum, then set a mostly forward velocity with a marginal upward component. R.O.B.'s also temporarily disables the user's drift.
• Simon and Richter's have two unique distinctions from every other in the series: they can be angled up or down, and function as tether recoveries. Their forward aerials also have these properties.
• Villager's and Isabelle's are projectiles, and can be reflected and pocketed.
• Lucas's and King K. Rool's are the only ones in the series that can meteor smash.
• Bowser's in Brawl and Palutena's are the only two in the series that provide invincibility, specifically for Bowser's shell and Palutena's upper body, allowing them to outright beat most attacks. Palutena's is particularly effective due to its deceptively large and disjointed hitbox.
• Mr. Game & Watch has the only back aerial in Melee that cannot be L-canceled, due to being coded as a special move. This bug is also present in his neutral aerial and up aerial.
• Samus's is the strongest in Smash 64 due to its unusually high knockback scaling. In addition to this, it is also one of the fastest back aerials in the game.
• Kirby's is outstanding in every Smash game, being a fast and solid KO move (especially in Smash 64) that can create a "wall of pain". It also has particularly great range in Brawl and low landing lag in all games except Smash 4.
• Fox's in all games has excellent frame data and a very early auto-cancel window, being fairly strong in all games from Melee onward, and semi-spiking from Brawl onward.
• Jigglypuff's in Melee is infamous for its deceptively large hitbox, extending well beyond Jigglypuff's leg. When combined with its low cooldown and Jigglypuff's high air speed, it is able to perform extensive wall of pain combos.
• Zelda's is one of her Lightning Kicks. It deals extremely high damage and knockback when sweetspotted, and is extremely weak when sourspotted, like Knee Smash, but comes out much more quickly. Its strongest iteration in Melee has a very generous sweetspot with outstanding frame data, to the extent that her Lightning Kicks alone comprise the majority of her attacks used in competitive gameplay. It is the strongest back aerial in every game from Melee onward.
• Ganondorf's is one of the strongest in all its appearances. In Melee, it is the second strongest back aerial, surpassed only by Zelda's.
• King Dedede's in Brawl is considered to be the best in the game due to its fast startup, low ending lag, long reach, long-lasting hitboxes and strong power. He can perform two in a short hop and can string multiple together at low percents, as well as use it for a wall of pain and edgeguarding.
• Wolf's in Brawl is fast with good power, and boasts an extremely lenient auto-cancel window. Ultimate's version is much different, being much slower but much more powerful, while retaining an excellent auto-cancel window; as a result, it is still one of the best back aerials.
• Falco's in Smash 4 and Ultimate, similar to Samus's in Smash 64, has 0 base knockback, but very high knockback scaling with the clean hit, making it one of the strongest of its kind. It is additionally one of the fastest back aerials in Smash 4 at frame 4.
• Charizard's in Smash 4 and Ultimate is notorious for its high disjoint, high base knockback and overall power, being one of the strongest back aerials in both games.
• Bowser's is one of the strongest of its kind in Smash 4 and Ultimate.
• Cloud's is notorious for its large disjoint and low landing lag, to the extent that it is often unpunishable even when perfect shielded.
• Pikachu's in Ultimate is infamous for being able to chain into itself multiple times at low percentages, as well as having a very low hurtbox animation when landing.
• Steve's is the only one that changes if performed using the short hop aerial shortcut in Ultimate; it becomes a faster and weaker combo-starting sword swing with similar properties to his neutral aerial. This property is shared with his forward aerial. Its diamond form is notoriously powerful.
• In Ultimate, Ryu, Ken, Terry and Kazuya all have similar back aerials, a powerful and fairly fast straight roundhouse kick. However, because they automatically turn to face their opponents in 1v1 battles, they are required to cross-up or to use a reverse aerial rush to be able to hit their opponent with their back aerials.
• Min Min's is the longest ranged and most disjointed back aerial in the game, especially when using the Dragon.
  • It, along with her forward aerial, are the only aerials to be able to be charged like a smash attack if inputted with a smash input rather than a tilt input.