Charge

Lucario charging an Aura Sphere, making it bigger and more powerful.

Charging is the powering up of an attack or item in order to increase its potency (damage, range, speed, etc.).

In all games except Super Smash Bros., smash attacks can be charged for up to 60 frames (1 second) by holding the attack button, which increases their damage up to a maximum of 1.4x (1.3671x in Melee), with a corresponding increase in knockback. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, charged smash attacks can be held for significantly longer. Certain special moves can also be charged, either by holding the special attack button or by pressing the button once to begin charging and again to launch the attack. Sonic's Spin Charge is unique in that it is charged by pressing the special button repeatedly. Some chargeable special moves, most of them projectiles, can be charge-canceled, allowing a charge to be saved for later.

In addition to manually chargeable moves, a few passive charging mechanics exist. Moves such as Wario's Wario Waft and R.O.B.'s Robo Burner automatically charge over time, while Little Mac's Power Meter and Cloud's Limit Break are charged by dealing and receiving damage.

There are also items which can be charged. The Ore Club's tornado's size varies with the charge of smash attack, and the Super Scope's shots can be charged (though it runs out of ammunition faster that way). Also, the Hothead will be charged as it receives Flame and Electric damage.

Chargeable special moves

Character	Move	Charge effect	Charging method	Shield-cancellable?	Notes
Banjo & Kazooie	Shock Spring Jump	Increases height	Automatically activates at full charge		Charging will briefly stall the duo in mid air and increase the height of the jump.
Bayonetta	Bullet Climax	Increases damage	Automatically activates at full charge		The bullets become more prominent in appearance, accompanied by a magic circle effect.
Bowser Jr.	Clown Cannon	Increases damage, speed, and range	Automatically activates at full charge		The cannonball will bounce off of opponents that it hits. Bowser Jr. glows yellow when charging this move.
Byleth	Failnaught	Increases damage, speed, and range	Automatically activates at full charge		Cannot be charge-cancelled once the second phase is reached.
Chrom	Flare Blade	Increases damage and knockback	Automatically activates at full charge		Attack is stronger when almost-fully charged; fully charged attack directly deals 10% damage to Chrom. Can turn around while charging.
Cloud	Limit Charge	Gives access to Limit Breaks	Auto-charge special; also charges by dealing and receiving damage		When fully charged, this move becomes Finishing Touch. In Ultimate, if Cloud is interrupted while manually charging, some charge is lost; furthermore, a full charge can only be retained for up to 15 seconds.
Corrin	Dragon Fang Shot (shot)	Increases damage and paralysis duration.	Automatically activates at full charge		Dragon Fang Shot is the only move with two different chargeable attacks.
	Dragon Fang Shot (arm)	Increases damage.
Dark Pit	Silver Bow	Increases damage	Automatically activates at full charge		Can aim upwards or turn around while charging, allowing the move to charge indefinitely.
Dark Samus	Charge Shot	Increases range, damage, and size of sphere	Auto-charge special
Diddy Kong	Peanut Popgun	Increases damage and lowers angle of fire	Automatically activates at full charge		If charged too long, the popgun will explode and Diddy Kong will be momentarily stunned in Brawl or create a damaging explosion in Smash 4 and Ultimate.
	Rocketbarrel Blast	Increases height and damage	Automatically activates at full charge
Donkey Kong	Giant Punch	Increases damage	Auto-charge special		Near fully charged is more powerful than fully charged; fully charged version is faster and, in Brawl, grants super armour.
Greninja	Water Shuriken	Increases size and number of hits.	Automatically activates at full charge.
	Shadow Sneak	Increases knockback and distance covered.	Automatically activates at full charge.		Greninja can traverse freely while charging.
Hero	Frizz	Increases spell rank, increasing damage, knockback and MP cost.	Auto-charge special		The spell used changes depending on charge level. The attack will fail if the user has less MP than needed for the given charge level.
	Zap		Automatically activates at full charge.
	Woosh	Increases spell rank, increasing damage, recovery distance and MP cost.	Automatically activates at full charge.
Inkling	Splat Bomb	Increases speed and throw distance.	Automatically activates at full charge.		If charged, Inkling will throw the bomb at a long distance, otherwise she will throw it at a short arc in front of herself.
Ike	Eruption	Increases damage. Increases damage and range.	Automatically activates at full charge		Near fully charged is more powerful than fully charged; Fully charged deals 10% to Ike, and gives knockback resistance. In Ultimate it creates more flame pillars at high charge levels which increase the move's range.
	Quick Draw	Increases damage, knockback, and distance covered.	Can be held indefinitely in all games except Ultimate.
Jigglypuff	Rollout	Increases speed, duration, damage	Can be held indefinitely in all games except Ultimate.
Ken	Focus Attack	Increases damage and hitstun, causes crumpling animation	Automatically activates at full charge		Can be cancelled by inputting either direction twice on the control stick.
King Dedede	Jet Hammer	Increases damage	Can be held indefinitely		Near fully charged is slightly more powerful than fully charged; while fully charged, 1% is dealt to Dedede every second until Dedede is up to 150%; Dedede can move while charging
Kirby	Inhale	Various (see notes)			Kirby can copy a chargeable neutral special from some characters.
	Hammer Flip	Increases damage	Can be held indefinitely		While fully charged, 1% is dealt to Kirby every second; Kirby can move while charging.
Link	Hero's Bow	Increases damage and speed of arrow	Can be held indefinitely.
	Bow and Arrows (Ultimate)	Increases damage speed of arrow	Once at full charge, can be held for three seconds before automatically firing.
	Spin Attack (Brawl onwards)	Increases damage and duration	Automatically activates at full charge		Aerial version cannot be charged.
Little Mac	Straight Lunge	Increases range; increases damage in Ultimate. Gains high power but heavy ending lag when fully charged	Automatically activates at full charge		Has 8% damage-based armor while charging, making it a niche way to escape combos.
		Becomes KO Uppercut	Filling the Power Meter by dealing and receiving damage
Lucario	Aura Sphere	Increases damage, range, and size of sphere	Auto-charge special		Charging animation has a damaging hitbox and can be held indefinitely, even after reaching full charge. Per Lucario's Aura, grows stronger at higher damage percentages.
Lucas	PK Freeze	Increases damage, and freezing duration	Automatically activates at full charge		Makes Lucas helpless when used in the air.
Lucina	Shield Breaker	Increases damage and shield damage	Automatically activates at full charge.
Luigi	Green Missile	Increases damage and distance Luigi travels	Automatically activates at full charge Can be held indefinitely Can be held for a few seconds before Luigi gives up and cancels the move on the ground but can be held indefinitely in the air		Can misfire (1 in 8 chance or 1 in 10 chance ), sending Luigi a very far distance, regardless of charging time.
	Luigi Cyclone (Melee only)	Allows Luigi to ascend when using the move in the air once.	Finish or interrupt the move while on the ground.		Unlike most charged moves that can be stored, Luigi Cyclone has no visual indicator.
Mario (Brawl onwards)	F.L.U.D.D.	Increases range and pushback	Auto-charge special
Marth	Shield Breaker	Increases damage and shield damage	Automatically activates at full charge.
Mewtwo	Shadow Ball	Increases damage, range, and size of sphere	Auto-charge special		Charging animation can be held indefinitely, even after reaching full charge. In Melee, the charging animation has a damaging hitbox.
Mii Brawler	Ultimate Uppercut	Increases damage	Auto-charge special
	Burning Dropkick (Smash 4 only)	Increases damage and travel distance	Automatically activates at full charge.
Mii Gunner	Charge Blast	Increases range, damage, and size of sphere	Auto-charge special
Mii Swordfighter	Blurring Blade	Increases damage	Automatically activates at full charge.
	Airborne Assault (Smash 4 only)	Increases damage and travel distance	Automatically activates at full charge.
	Slash Launcher/Gale Stab	Increases damage and travel distance	Can be held indefinitely. Once at full charge, can be held for a few seconds before automatically activating.		Mii Swordfighter flashes red upon reaching full charge.
	Hero's Spin	Increases damage and duration	Automatically activates at full charge.
Mr. Game & Watch	Oil Panic	Gives access to a powerful attack	Absorb up to 3 energy projectiles		Charge can be held even after Mr. Game & Watch is KO'd. If Oil Panic is fully charged, Bucket Braking cannot be performed. As of Smash 4, strong projectiles will fill multiple segments at once.
Mythra	Lightning Buster	Increases damage, performs an additional slash at full charge	Automatically activates at full charge		The charging animation has a damaging hitbox. Can turn around as the move is released.
Ness (Melee onwards)	PK Flash	Increases damage	Automatically activates at full charge		Makes Ness helpless when used in the air.
Pac-Man	Bonus Fruit	Advances to next fruit, each with varying damage and travel behavior	Auto-charge special		Once orange is reached, time to charge to the next stage doubles. Opponents can attack the fruit during the charge, although this causes only hitlag with no negative effect.
	Power Pellet	Increases travel distance	Automatically activates at full charge		If the pellet is attacked, it will drop to the ground as a healing item and interrupt the move.
Pichu	Skull Bash	Increases damage and travel distance	Automatically activates at full charge.		Causes the same level of recoil regardless of charge level.
Pikachu		Increases damage and travel distance	Automatically activates at full charge.
Piranha Plant	Poison Breath	Increases damage and distance	Auto-charge special
	Long-Stem Strike	Increases distance	Automatically activates at full charge.
Pit	Palutena's Arrow	Increases damage	Automatically activates at full charge		Can aim upwards or turn around while charging, allowing the move to charge indefinitely.
Pyra	Flame Nova	Increases damage and duration	Automatically activates at full charge
Ridley	Plasma Breath	Increases amount of fireballs	Automatically activates at full charge		If he is hit in the mouth while charging he will take more damage while negating knockback.
R.O.B.	Robo Burner	Increases duration (and therefore range)	Automatically charges when R.O.B. is on the ground.
	Robo Beam	Increases damage; lowers speed	Automatically charges when R.O.B. is not using it.
	Gyro	Increases duration and damage	Auto-charge special
Robin	Thunder	Advances rank of thunder magic, which increases effectiveness	Auto-charge special
Rosalina	Luma Shot	Increases range	Can be held indefinitely.
Roy	Flare Blade	Increases damage and knockback	Automatically activates at full charge		Attack is stronger when almost-fully charged; fully charged attack directly deals 10% damage to Roy. As of Ultimate, can turn around while charging.
Ryu	Focus Attack	Increases damage and hitstun, causes crumpling animation	Automatically activates at full charge		Can be cancelled by inputting either direction twice on the control stick.
Samus	Charge Shot	Increases range, damage, and size of sphere	Auto-charge special		Prior to Ultimate, cannot be charged in midair.
Sephiroth	Flare	Increases spell rank, increasing damage and explosion size; lowers travel distance	Automatically activates at full charge
	Shadow Flare	Increases range and number of shadow balls attached to opponents	Automatically activates at full charge		Can turn around as the move is released.
	Blade Dash	Becomes Octaslash, increasing number of hits, damage and recovery distance	Automatically activates at full charge
Sheik	Needle Storm	Increases duration and damage	Can be held indefinitely (Melee) Auto-charge special (Brawl onwards)		In Melee, the attack is performed after releasing the button and must be shield-cancelled to store the charge; as of Brawl it functions like a standard auto-charge special.
	Burst Grenade	Increases duration of vacuum effect.	Automatically activates at full charge
Sonic	Spin Charge	Increases speed and damage	Charged by rapidly pressing the special move button.		The move will cancel once enough time has passed without pressing the button.
	Spin Dash	Increases speed and damage	Can be held indefinitely.
Squirtle	Water Gun	Increases duration, range and pushback	Auto-charge special		In Brawl, the move will deal damage if uncharged.
Toon Link	Hero's Bow	Increases damage, range, and speed	Can be held indefinitely.
	Spin Attack	Increases damage and duration	Automatically activates at full charge
Wario	Wario Waft	Increases damage, travel distance and range	Charges automatically over time		Almost fully charged stronger than fully charged. Charge can be held even after Wario is KO'd
Wii Fit Trainer	Sun Salutation	Increases size, range, and damage	Auto-charge special
Young Link	Fire Bow	Increases damage, speed, and range	Once at full charge, it can be held for three seconds before automatically firing.
	Spin Attack (Ultimate onwards)	Increases damage	Automatically activates at full charge		Aerial version cannot be charged.
Zelda	Din's Fire	Increases travel distance	Automatically activates at full charge		Prior to Ultimate, leaves Zelda helpless when used in midair.
	Phantom Slash	Increases damage and range	Automatically activates at full charge.
Zero Suit Samus	Paralyzer	Increases damage and hitstun	Automatically activates at full charge

Trivia

• R.O.B., Hero and Sephiroth each have the most chargeable special attacks at three (though two of R.O.B's attacks have a passive charging phase).
• In Melee, Ness cannot charge his up and down smashes if he stands on an edge and the yo-yo reaches beyond the edge.
• In Smash 4 and Ultimate, the fighter's eye in their icons will briefly glint when an attack is fully charged.