Grab

Mario grabbing Donkey Kong in SSB.

Mario grabbing Diddy Kong in Brawl.

Cloud grabbing Mega Man in Ultimate.

A grab (つかみ / 掴み) is an attack all characters possess which causes them to hold an opponent in place, usually in preparation for a throw or some other followup attack.

All characters possess a grab as part of their standard moveset, which can be performed by pressing the shield and attack buttons simultaneously on any controller. They can also be used with a specific grab button, which behaves like a simultaneous shield and attack input (thus, it can be used for other actions involving shield or attack inputs when grabs aren't possible), and is by default:

• the R button on the N64 controller
• the Z button on the GameCube controller
• a horizontal D-Pad input with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk
• the Minus button on a standalone Wii Remote
• the ZL or ZR button on the Classic Controller, Wii U Pro Controller, and Wii U GamePad
• the L button on the Nintendo 3DS, or, on New 3DS models only, the ZR button
• the L or R button on the Switch Pro Controller and dual Joy-Cons
• the SL button on a standalone Joy-Con

Depending on the game, there are different variations of each character's grab:

• Standing grab (known as Catch internally), which is the default type used when standing still or walking. They have the fastest startup and the lowest ending lag, but they usually have the shortest range. In the original Super Smash Bros., they are the only type of grab, so they can be used even while dashing.
• Dash grab (known as CatchDash internally), introduced in Super Smash Bros. Melee, which is used by grabbing while dashing. Fighters move forward during the grab to give it longer range, but generally they have slightly more startup and are heavier on ending lag, making them easier to punish than other grab types if they miss.
• Pivot grab (known as CatchTurn internally), introduced in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which is used by grabbing immediately after a pivot. This results in the character turning around and performing a grab with even longer range than the other grab types, allowing it to be used as an approach mixup. Pivot grabs tend to have more startup than both standing and dash grabs, and more ending lag than standing grabs but less than dash grabs.

Grabs cannot be shielded, and are thus an easy way to open up a hole in an opponent's defense. Upon a successful grab, the opponent is immobilized for a certain period, and the the grabbing character has access to five possible attacks: a pummel by pressing an attack or grab button (except in Smash 64), which racks up damage while keeping the opponent grabbed, or any of four throws (forward, back, up, or down; only forward and back in Smash 64) by tilting the control stick in the respective direction, which launches the opponent and ends the grab. Characters can only be grabbed for a certain period of time, after which they break free in a phenomenon known as a grab release, so the idea is that the grabber can throw them before this happens. This grab period is extended as the victim's damage percentage increases, but can be decreased by button mashing from their part.

Several special moves are similarly able to grab and then throw opponents, which are similarly unblockable and put opponents in a unique state compared to normal grabs. These types of attacks are often referred to as command grabs.

Properties

An important property of grabs is that they cannot be shielded, completely ignoring a opponent's shield and grabbing them out of it; in comparison to other unblockable attacks, grabs are available to the entirety of the cast in all Smash games, preventing foes from overusing their shields against any character. This, along with grabs' generally fast startup, their ability to easily punish out of shield, and most throws allowing the player to execute diverse combos and chains, causes them to be used very prominently in competitive play, constituting the neutral game of characters as a triangle where grabs beat shields, but are beaten by attacks as they are outranged by them. Grabs also ignore moves that conceptually block attacks, such as those that provide armor and most counterattacks, though they do not work against foes knocked down on the floor (with the only exception being in the original Super Smash Bros.).

In Smash 64, grabs are notoriously fast, with more powerful throws than in other games. However, pummels, up throws, and down throws did not exist, nor did grab releases (aside from Donkey Kong's forward throw). Instead, pressing the A button or holding a grabbed opponent for more than one second automatically triggers a forward throw. Since Melee, the speed and power of most characters' grabs and throws have been toned down, and the other grab mechanics introduced have since been widely understood as the series' standard. Ultimate further nerfed grabs by giving them more ending lag, and halving grabbox sizes against airborne opponents, increasing their risk of use.

Limits on grabbing

An example of a grab failing to connect despite appearing as though it should connect, due to Mr. Game & Watch's arms and hands being ungrabbable

In all games, most characters cannot be grabbed by less central parts of their bodies, such as lower arms, legs, or tails, which can lead to some unusual results against characters with extreme proportions. This varies depending on character; for instance, in Melee, all of Kirby's hurtboxes can be grabbed, but only Jigglypuff's body is grabbable, while its hands, feet and hair curl are not. From Brawl onward, ungrabbable limbs tend to be only arms, with a few exceptions. Furthermore, from Brawl onward, characters cannot grab opponents behind them, even if the grab hitboxes connect with a grabbable part of their body that extends in front of them; this is unlike in Melee, where not only this is possible, but certain dash grabs have some grabboxes intentionally placed behind the user.

A particular character can grab only one opponent at once, and similarly, neither the user nor the victim can be grabbed by another character before the grab ends. Prior to Ultimate, the Ice Climbers are able to grab two opponents at once, with each climber grabbing one opponent. In Melee, Nana becomes CPU-controlled when grabbing an opponent, whereas in Brawl, she can be controlled by the player during the grab, enabling zero-to-death combos as each Ice Climber regrabs the opponent immediately after the partner's throw. In Ultimate, Nana cannot grab at all, nor act while Popo is grabbing and throwing an opponent.

Characters cannot use their grabs while holding an item; attempting to input one will cause them to drop or throw the item first. In Super Smash Bros. 4 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, characters gain invulnerability to grabs for around one second after being released from them (70 and 60 frames, respectively), preventing chaingrabs and team wobbles. In Ultimate, this is indicated by the released character flashing yellow whilst the grab invulnerability is active.

While non-playable characters such as Metal Mario (in Smash 64) and Fighting Wire Frames can be grabbed, bosses such as Master Hand and Giga Bowser cannot. Most enemies in Brawl's Subspace Emissary and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS's Smash Run (including the enemies inside Master Fortress in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U) can be grabbed, usually those with a comparable size to the playable characters. However, in Brawl, they cannot be held, grab released, or pummeled, instead causing the character to immediately throw them in the direction the control stick is held when the grab connects (forward throw by default). In Ultimate, most but not all Assist Trophies can be grabbed. In Melee, grabbing enemies in Adventure Mode instead allows characters to carry them like heavy items.

Hitting characters during a grab

While a character grabs another, others that are not involved in the grab can still hit either character, which has different effects depending on the game:

• In all games, dealing any knockback to the grabber causes them to release the grabbed opponent and flinch as usual; if this opponent is not hit by the attack, they are either launched at a semi-spike angle in Melee, or go into their grab release animation in later games (or in Smash 64, a short flinching animation akin to it). This causes grabs to leave characters particularly vulnerable in battles with multiple players; however, initiating a throw gives them brief invincibility that can negate punish attempts from other opponents.
• If the grabbed opponent is hit instead, and not the grabber, they can armor through the attack and remain in their grab hold animation until they take above a certain amount of damage. Otherwise, they are released from the grab and launched by the attack as usual, while the grabber goes into their grab release animation.
  • In Smash 64 and Melee, grabbed opponents take half damage from external attacks, and break free if the attack deals at least 6% with this reduction factored in. Hitting them repeatedly with attacks that deal less damage does not release them, even if their accumulated damage is much greater than the threshold; as a result, continuous weak attacks can be particularly effective for racking up damage on them. Additionally, in Melee, hitting a grabbed opponent puts them in their grab flinch animation for 20 frames, during which they cannot escape; exploiting this feature is what enables wobbling.
  • From Brawl onward, grabbed opponents no longer take half damage from external attacks, and they are released if they take at least 10% damage total, rather than from a singular attack. This causes them to escape much more easily, weakening the effectiveness of attacking an opponent while another character holds them in a grab. They are also no longer put in their grab flinch animation, preventing wobbling or any similar techniques.

Interaction with other hitboxes

Grabboxes are not bound by usual priority rules. Instead, in each game, they behave differently if a grab connects with an opponent at the same time the opponent strikes the grabber with a standard hitbox.

• In Smash 64 and Melee, the grab has full priority over the hitbox, with the grabber ignoring it entirely and hitting the opponent.
• In Brawl, the grab has priority over the hitbox, but the hitbox still causes damage to the grabber, instead having them armor through it.
• In Smash 4 and Ultimate, hitboxes outprioritize grabs; in this situation, the grabber receives full damage and knockback from the standard hitbox, while the attacker is grab released and takes 3% damage (or more if the grab came from a special move and the grab itself dealt damage, like the beginning of Falcon Dive). In Ultimate, however, a select few attacks' hitboxes are coded to be outprioritized by grabs, with the grabber taking damage but armoring through the attack like in Brawl; this is the case for Sonic's Homing Attack, Spin Dash, and Spin Charge, and more notably Banjo & Kazooie's Wonderwing (which also causes the grabber to take 0.25× damage from the hitbox).

Likewise, if both characters attempt to grab each other at the same time, the situation is resolved differently in each game. In Smash 64, Melee, and Brawl, this is determined by port priority, with the character in the lower port always getting the grab. In Smash 4, port priority is no longer a factor, with either character having an equally random chance to get the grab instead. Ultimate resolves both quirks by simply causing both grabs to cancel each other out, akin to a clang. This property is known as grab parrying by the in-game tips, and results in both characters taking 1% damage and performing their rebound animation (unless they are in the air, where their grab release animation is used instead). The exact timing of when this can happen is specific to every animation of every character, and may even be assigned to actions that are not grabs.

Grab time

From Melee onward, grabs hold the opponent for a variable amount of time, increasing proportionally to their damage percentage at the time of the grab (so it is not affected by pummeling or external damage), and decreasing with button mashing from the opponent. In Melee, the formula for grab frames is 76 + 1.6p – 15h rounded down, where p is the victim's percent at the time of the grab, and h is a handicap equal to the victim's current rank disadvantage over the grabber (for example, if the victim is placing 4th and the grabber is placing 1st, it is equal to 3). As a result, players that are currently losing will be grabbed for less time, and the minimum possible grab time without button mashing can be 76, 61, 46, or 31 frames depending on their rank disadvantage. From Brawl onward, the formula is changed to 90 + 1.7p rounded down, removing match placing from the equation and increasing grab time overall.

Button mashing reduces grab time by 6 frames per input in Melee, and 8 frames per input from Brawl onward (14.4 for buttons in Smash 4 and Ultimate, but they cannot be inputted as quickly as stick inputs). However, the grab time from Brawl onward cannot be lower than 19 frames, allowing certain characters to always pummel the opponent at least once and throw them before they can escape. In Ultimate, grabbed characters flash yellow when they are close to escaping (180 frames left or less, equal to 3 seconds).

List of grabs

Character	Description	Characteristic
All other fighters	For the sake of brevity, any character not specifically mentioned in this list can be assumed to have a standard-type grab involving a simple grab, hold, or clinch from the character's free hand(s).	Standard
Bowser Jr.	Deploys a toylike claw from the Koopa Clown Car and grabs with it.	Standard
Charizard	Lunges forward for a bite alongside an extra hold with its arms.	Standard
Dark Samus	Whips forwards with her Grapple Beam.	Tether
Duck Hunt	Lunges forward for a bite.	Standard
Greninja	Creates a vortex of water in front of itself.	Standard
Isabelle	Swings downwards with a net. Can grab and pocket items.	Standard
Ivysaur	Swipes inwards with both of its vines at once.	Standard
Link	Fires his Hookshot forwards. Fires his Clawshot forwards. Simply grabs in front of himself with his free hand.	Tether Standard
Lucas	Whips forwards with Rope Snake.	Tether
Luigi	Simply grabs in front of himself. Fires a Suction Shot from the Poltergust G-00.	Standard Tether
Mega Man	Uses the Super Arm.	Standard
Min Min	Fires both of her ARMS forward.	Extended
Olimar	Commands the first Pikmin in line to rush forwards and grab. Commands all active Pikmin to rush forwards in a line and grab, with the range increasing proportionally to the number of active Pikmin.	Extended
Pac-Man	Fires a Boss Galaga's tractor beam from out of his extended palm.	Extended
Robin	Creates a small magic vortex.	Standard
Samus	Whips forwards with her Grapple Beam.	Tether
Sephiroth	Reaches out with his right hand and telekinetically grabs the foe using dark magic.	Standard
Snake	Reaches forward with both arms to put the opponent in a restraining chokehold.	Standard
Steve	Pulls out a fishing rod, using it to reel an opponent in toward him.	Tether
Toon Link	Fires his Hookshot forwards.	Tether
Villager	Swings downwards with a net. Can grab and pocket items in Ultimate.	Standard
Wii Fit Trainer	Performs a Rowing Squat.	Standard
Yoshi	Opens his mouth and stretches his tongue forwards, holding enemies in his mouth on a successful grab.	Extended
Young Link	Fires his Hookshot forwards.	Tether
Zelda	Uses magic to restrain her opponent.	Standard
Zero Suit Samus	Extends the Paralyzer's plasma whip forwards.	Tether

Tether grabs and extended grabs

Some characters, instead of grabbing opponents directly, throw forward a long rope- or whip-like object in order to grab opponents. This sort of grab is known as a tether grab. The main characteristic of a tether grab is that it completely relies on a secondary model to work, allowing the model to move with the bone the grabbox is attached to, in contrast with standard grabs where the grabbox is attached to the neutral bone. This characteristic is the cause behind tether grabs not behaving properly if the gameplay speed is altered. Similarly, an extended grab is a grab that is not standard, but also not reliant on a secondary model to function; characters with such grabs include Yoshi and Min Min. Both tether and extended grabs are renowned for their very high range compared to most other grabs, but are also much slower than standard grabs, particularly in earlier installments.

Characters with tether grabs and extended grabs are noted in the table above. In general, characters with tether grabs also have grab aerials and can use them as a tether recovery, while those with standard or extended grabs do not, however this is not universal. For example, in Ultimate, Luigi has a grab aerial that cannot act as a tether recovery, while Steve and, in Brawl, Zero Suit Samus have a tether grab but do not have either a grab aerial or a tether recovery tied to a grab input. Link and Samus also have a tether grab in the original Super Smash Bros., where grab aerials did not exist.

Notable grabs

• In NTSC versions of Melee, Samus' grab can be extended to almost two and a half times its usual length using a special input combination. When this is done, her grapple beam also homes in on enemies if the L button is held, being the only tether grab able to do so, but only grabs enemies if the A button is pressed when the tip connects, and still cannot affect aerial opponents. This affects both her normal grab and dash grab, though not her grab aerial.
• In Smash 4, Pac-Man's grab appears to be one continuous beam; however, it actually projects three short-lived grabboxes, one after another in front of him, each one further outwards than the last. Because of these blindspots and its heavy ending lag, the move is infamous for its unreliability and high risk. In Ultimate, its hitboxes were reworked to be larger and more continuous, while its ending lag was reduced, making it more reliable and allowing it to beat out spot dodges more effectively.
• In Melee, Marth's standing grab is notorious for its deceptively long range, reaching the farthest out of all non-extended grabs. Its range has since been reduced in later games, though it remains above-average in Brawl.
  • Likewise, Olimar's grabs in Brawl, despite being extended, have only as much ending lag as regular grabs, making them extremely difficult to punish while carrying comparatively much lower risk. From Smash 4 onward, their ending lag was significantly increased to be closer to other extended grabs, though his pivot grab remained exceptionally quick until Ultimate.
  • Bowser's pivot grab in Smash 4 is infamous for similar reasons, being capable of grabbing characters from unnaturally long distances in combination with hurtbox shifting. Its range was reduced in Ultimate, though it remains one of the farthest reaching grabs in the game.
• In Ultimate, Mr. Game & Watch's dash grab has a surprising disjoint in front of him. This is to compensate for him not moving forward during the grabbing portion of his dash grab, which would result in his dash grab having shorter range than what is typical for them.

Special moves that can grab

Confusion is an example of a command grab.

Some special attacks function as grabs (sometimes called command grabs, from the similar concept in traditional fighting games). When their hitboxes are viewed with Melee's Debug Menu, these attacks use the same magenta hitbox color as standard grabs. Special grabs put opponents in a unique state that is manipulated by the move in some fashion, and have their own independent rules as to whether and how opponents can escape. They can also be used in midair, and can usually grab opponents in this state, giving characters with access to them another option against shields.

In the following table, a special grab being escapable indicates it can be interrupted mid-execution and put the opponent in their grab release animation, while being mashable indicates its grab duration can be influenced by button mashing. All mashable special grabs use different duration formulas from regular grabs, with the exception of Force Palm.

Character	Special grab	Description	Escapable?	Mashable?
Bowser	Koopa Klaw	Performs a claw swipe to grab an opponent at close range, after which he can either bite them by pressing the B button, akin to pummeling, or use forward and back throws specific to the move. The claw swipe also has a non-grabbing hitbox at farther range.
	Flying Slam	Grabs an opponent, then somersaults with them into the air before slamming them down onto the ground. Can be used as a sacrificial KO, but KOs Bowser first from Smash 4 onward.
Captain Falcon	Falcon Dive	Grabs an opponent in midair, then launches them away with an explosion, propeling himself upward and away. Can be used again upon a successful grab.
Diddy Kong	Monkey Flip	Latches onto the opponent, then he can release them either with a clapping attack or by jumping off them. In Smash 4 and Ultimate, he can also automatically deal continuous damage to the opponent while latched onto them, akin to pummeling, by either squeezing them in Smash 4 or scratching them in Ultimate.
Ganondorf	Flame Choke	On the ground, Ganondorf grabs the opponent by their head and lifts them, then crushes them with dark energy to drop them onto the ground. In the air, he plummets down with the grabbed opponent and slams them onto the ground upon landing. Prior to Ultimate, the aerial version can be used as a guaranteed sacrificial KO.	(aerial, only)	(aerial, only)
	Dark Dive	Grabs an opponent in midair, then repeatedly zaps them before launching them away with an explosion, propeling himself upward and away. Can be used again upon a successful grab. From Brawl onward, Ganondorf also performs a non-grabbing uppercut at the apex of the move if he doesn't grab an opponent.
Incineroar	Alolan Whip	Grabs the opponent and throws them into wrestling ring ropes, bouncing them back towards Incineroar. Three outcomes are then possible depending on Incineroar's attack timing when the opponent comes close to it.	*
Kazuya	Heaven's Door	Grabs the opponent with an uppercut, then transforms into his devil form and slams them onto the ground. Can be used as a sacrificial KO, but KOs Kazuya first. The uppercut also has a non-grabbing hitbox near its apex. If Kazuya's Rage is active, the move can turn into a more powerful Rage Drive.
	Gates of Hell	A command-input move performed with ↘ ↓ ↘ and a grab input. Kazuya grabs the opponent, puts them behind him, then bends their back and kicks them away at a steep angle.
King Dedede	Inhale	Vacuums and traps the opponent inside King Dedede, after which he can spit them as a star forward. He can also move around slowly and jump with the inhaled opponent. Can be used for a Swallowcide.
King K. Rool	Blunderbuss	Vacuums the opponent into the blunderbuss at close range after shooting the cannonball, then he can shoot them forward, backward, diagonally, or upward.
Kirby	Inhale	Vacuums and traps the opponent inside Kirby, after which he can either spit them as a star forward, or obtain their Copy Ability, releasing them behind himself and ending Inhale in the process. Kirby can also move around slowly and jump with the inhaled opponent. Can be used for a Swallowcide. Using Inhale, Kirby can also copy Blunderbuss, Chomp, Egg Lay, and King Dedede's Inhale.
Lucario	Force Palm	Grabs an opponent at close range at the beginning of the move, then releases them with a forward thrust. The aerial version cannot grab opponents.
Mewtwo	Confusion	Grabs an opponent at close range and spins them around before dropping them.
Mii Brawler	Suplex	Grabs the opponent and performs a German suplex with them. Can be used as a sacrificial KO.
	Counter Throw	Upon countering an attack, grabs the opponent and slams them onto the ground behind the Brawler.
Ridley	Space Pirate Rush	Grabs the opponent, then drags them across the ground to deal continuous damage, releasing them upon reaching an edge or colliding into a wall. He can also release them early with a jumping throw.
Robin	Nosferatu	Traps the opponent in a dark vortex and damages them continuously while healing Robin, until they are released.
Steve	Minecart	After Steve hops off his Minecart, it can trap opponents while it keeps moving forward, dealing no damage, but putting them in a disadvantageous position if they cannot break free quickly enough. It is unique for being the only command grab in the game that is a projectile and therefore can be reflected.
Wario	Chomp	Bites the opponent several times based on attack button input, then spits them forward. In Ultimate, Wario is healed slightly with each bite.
Yoshi	Egg Lay	Traps an opponent in an egg for a certain amount of time, after which they jump out of it. The opponent can take damage from other attacks while inside the egg, but not knockback, and damage taken is reduced.

*Not possible in real-time.

Hitboxes that can grab

In Ultimate, a minority of special moves utilize hitboxes that grab opponents when they hit (sometimes called hit grab, also from the similar concept in traditional fighting games). Functionally, these moves have all the properties of hitboxes (damage, angle, effect, etc.), but instead of dealing knockback when they connect with an opponent, they place the opponent in a grabbed state. Practically, the most important difference from a regular grab is that they can be shielded. Additionally, should the hitbox have non-zero knockback, it deals knockback if it connects with an opponent that cannot be grabbed. Like regular grabs, hit grabs ignore all forms of armor, though they may still activate certain effects of the armor, such as with Rebel's Guard. They do not work against counters, with certain moves triggering the counter attack, while others ignore the opponent entirely. If the moves' hitboxes are scripted as reflectable, they can also can be reflected, but instead of changing the trajectory of the move, they act as if a regular projectile collided with a shield, leaving both players unharmed. Interestingly, the projectile based hit grabs are the only hit grabs that do not trigger counters, though this may be coincidental.

Hit grabs cannot be escaped, nor influenced by button mashing.

Character	Move	Description
Byleth	Sword of the Creator	Pulls Byleth towards the opponent and has him jump off them, throwing them behind him at low percents, and meteor smashing them at high percents.
Isabelle	Fishing Rod	Throws out a line, hooking and reeling the opponent in, then can use any of four throws in each cardinal direction, much like traditional grabs.
Joker	Grappling Hook	Throws out a line diagonally upwards, pulling the opponent in and releasing them in front of Joker. Can only grab opponents if used on the ground and if they are not in hitstun.
Ridley	Skewer	Briefly holds the opponent in place while impaled, then puts them in a crumpled state. Only the sweetspot has the hit grab property, and from version 8.0.0 onward, it cannot cause opponents with grab immunity to crumple.
Terry	Buster Wolf	A Super Special Move performed with ↓ ↘ → ↓ ↘ → (alternatively ↓ → ↓ →) plus an attack or special input. Terry punches the opponent, holding them in place for a moment, then blasts them away with an explosion.

Initial grab range by game

This article or section is incomplete. You can help SmashWiki by expanding or finishing it. The editor who added this tag elaborates: Needs data on how far the grabs actually reach from the base of the character, as just looking at the hitbox size data is misleading when positioning matters a lot for how far grabs actually reach from a character.

These are lists that rank how long the hitbox of each character's grab is in each game. Note that hitbox length alone does not accurately reflect how far away a character can actually grab ingame, as where a grab hitbox is positioned on a character plays a large role in how far away it can effectively grab characters. For example, the size of R.O.B.'s grab hitbox is above-average in Smash 4 and Ultimate, however most of the hitbox is positioned inside of his body, leaving so little of it extending outside his body that he has the worst reaching standing grab in both games. Conversely Palutena's grab hitbox is of below-average size in Ultimate, but since it is a positioned in a way where most of it reaches outside her body, she has one of the farthest non-tether grabs in the game.

In Super Smash Bros.

Super Smash Bros. grab ranges as tested by SuperSqank. Testing method is between the character's bone 0 (position) and tip of furthest grabbox. The scale is different than the scale used in later games, with the conversion rate roughly being range/30 (So Fox's range for example is 400u, which would roughly convert to 13.33u using the scale from later games)

JPN Rank Character Grab Range 1 Samus 1276u 2 Link 1204.76u 3 Yoshi 977.9u 4 Donkey Kong 691.25u 5 Jigglypuff 549.45u 6 Kirby 524.8u 7 Captain Falcon 486u 8 Pikachu 464.2u 9 Fox 400u 10 Ness 365u 11 Mario 345u 12 Luigi 342u

NA/AUS/PAL Rank Character Grab Range 1 Samus 1276u 2 Link 1204.76u 3 Yoshi 977.9u 4 Donkey Kong 691.25u 5 Jigglypuff 549.45u 6 Kirby 512.2u 7 Captain Falcon 486u 8 Pikachu 464.2u 9 Fox 400u 10 Mario 369u 11-12 Luigi 365u Ness

Differences between game versions

NTSC-J to NTSC-U

• Mario is slightly bigger (x1.0 → x1.12), increasing his grab range.
• Kirby is slightly smaller (x0.94 → x0.91), reducing his grab range.
• Luigi is slightly bigger (x1.0 → x1.12), increasing his grab range.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee

Yoshi's grab range compared to Marth's. Note that Marth's grab only succeeds due the large hurtbox of Yoshi's nose.

Melee grab ranges by character according to Zeckemyro and SuperSqank. This testing is done by calculating the distance between bone 0 (the character's position) and the tip of the furthest grabbox. While Bowser and Yoshi have higher grab ranges than Marth (who was thought to have the longest non-tether grab in the game), this is only because the long range of their grabboxes was made to fit their larger bodies. Marth has a better grab by comparison due to its better disjoint compared to his smaller size despite having less range overall (which is further complimented by its superior speed).

Rank	Character	Grab Range
1	Samus	43.0441u
2	Link	35.3001u
3	Young Link	25.3015u
4	Yoshi	20.5553u
5	Bowser	19.241u
6	Marth	18.7293u
7	Roy	17.827u
8	Donkey Kong	17.577u
9	Kirby	15.2123u
10-11	Sheik	14.4522u
	Mewtwo
12	Jigglypuff	14.1866u
13	Falco	13.3585u
14	Mr. Game & Watch	13.046u
15	Luigi	12.9875u
16	Zelda	12.7648u
17	Fox	12.1555u
18	Peach	11.9914u
19	Ganondorf	11.4993u
20	Ice Climbers	11.2836u
21	Captain Falcon	10.7259u
22	Pichu	10.3509u
23-24	Mario	10.0189u
	Dr. Mario
25	Ness	9.9603u
26	Pikachu	9.8431u

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Brawl grab ranges by Zeckemyro and SuperSqank. The units displayed are raw range between the character's position in 3D space (TopN bone/bone 0) and the tip of the furthest grabbox in in-game units.

Rank	Character	Grab range
1	Samus	39.0u
2-3	Zero Suit Samus	35.75u
2-3	Olimar (B./W. Pikmin)	35.75u
4	Olimar (R./Y. Pikmin)	34.25u
5	Link	31.8u
6	Yoshi	28.04u
7	Toon Link	27.7u
8	Lucas	25.65u
9	Charizard	25.57u
10	Olimar (P. Pikmin)	25.5u
11	Bowser	23.5u
12	Ivysaur	23.0u
13	King Dedede	22.09u
14	Donkey Kong	21.24u
15	R.O.B.	16.5u
16	Kirby	16.04u
17	Meta Knight	16.0u
18	Marth	15.68u
19-22	Jigglypuff	15.5u
	Wario
	Snake
	Squirtle
23	Diddy Kong	15.0u
24	Zelda	14.8u
25	Ike	14.3u
26-27	Fox	13.8u
	Falco
28	Wolf	13.3u
29	Pit	13.0u
30	Ganondorf	12.8u
31-32	Sheik	12.5u
	Mr. Game & Watch
33-35	Captain Falcon	12.0u
	Peach
	Lucario
36	Ice Climbers	11.8u
37-38	Mario	11.76u
	Luigi
39-40	Pikachu	11.5u
	Sonic
41	Ness	10.8u

In Super Smash Bros. 4

Smash 4 grab ranges by Zeckemyro and extra data for tether and extended grabs from SuperSqank. Numbers are raw horizontal range from the character's bone 0 position and the tip of the furthest grabbox. Certain tether and extended grabs will have asterisks next to their range due to not being able to get perfectly accurate values. Despite the innacurate values, the placements in this ranking are accurate.

Rank	Character	Grab range
1	Samus	40.0u*
2	Zero Suit Samus	37.0u*
3	Link	36.0u*
4	Olimar (W. Pikmin)	30.0u*
5	Toon Link	29.0u*
6	Pac-Man	28.0u
7	Yoshi	26.65u
8	Olimar (R./B./Y. Pikmin)	26.0u*
9	Lucas	24.0u*
10	Olimar (P. Pikmin)	22.3u*
11	Bowser	20.0u
12	Donkey Kong	19.5u
13-14	Charizard	19.0u
	Villager
15	Greninja	18.5u
16	Bowser Jr.	17.0u
17	King Dedede	16.0u
18	Zelda	15.3u
19-20	Palutena	15.0u
	Duck Hunt
21	Marth	14.54u
22	Lucina	14.39u
23	Mewtwo	14.3u
24	Roy	14.2u
25	Rosalina & Luma	14.0u
26	Lucario	13.5u
27	R.O.B.	13.4u
28	Kirby	13.3u
29-36	Captain Falcon	13.0u
	Ganondorf
	Meta Knight
	Pit
	Dark Pit
	Wario
	Sonic
	Shulk
37-39	Mr. Game & Watch	12.5u
	Ike
	Robin
40-56	Mario	12.0u
	Fox
	Luigi
	Ness
	Jigglypuff
	Peach
	Sheik
	Dr. Mario
	Falco
	Diddy Kong
	Mega Man
	Mii Brawler
	Mii Swordfighter
	Mii Gunner
	Cloud
	Corrin
	Bayonetta
57-58	Pikachu	11.2u
	Ryu
59-60	Wii Fit Trainer	11.0u
	Little Mac

Update History

1.0.4

• Palutena's pivot grab's range was slightly decreased (Z2 offset: 19.4 → 17.4).
• Zelda's pivot grab's range was decreased (Z2 offset: -18.7 → -15.7).

1.0.8

• All of Diddy Kong's grabs have 3 more frames of ending lag (FAF: 29 → 32 (standing), 36 → 39 (dash), 34 → 37 (pivot)).
• Clawshot now behaves like it does in the version. Link's grab range has been doubled in terms of Clawshot length and grab distance. Clawshot also grabs just before it droops back down to the ground, while Link's standing grab has been sped up by two frames.
• Link's grabs have less ending lag (FAF: 67/78/80 → 62/66/67).
• Samus's standing and pivot grabs have less ending lag (FAF: 80/92 → 76/88).
• Villager's grabs have less ending lag (FAF: 58/72/66 → 56/70/65).

1.1.0

• Link's dash grab and pivot grab are both 1 frame faster.
• Lucas's grabboxes are bigger (2.5 → 3.0 (early), 2.4 → 2.8 (late)) for all grabs.
• Palutena's grabs have 2 less frames of ending lag.
• Toon Link's dash grab is 2 frames faster and his pivot grab is 1 frame faster.
• Wii Fit Trainer's grabboxes on all grabs are placed lower.

1.1.3

• Lucas's standing grab and dash grab had their ending lag decreased (FAF: 51/61 → 46/56).
• Lucas's grabs have sped up animations.

1.1.5

• Greninja's standing grab has 3 frames less of startup: 14 frames → 11.
• Samus's grabs have decreased ending lag (FAF: 76/74/88 → 70/68/84).
• Zelda's grabs have more reach(Z2 offset: 10.5 (standing)/13.5 (dash)/-15.7 (pivot) → 11.5/14.5/-16.7).
• Zero Suit Samus's grabs had their duration reduced by 4 frames with identical startup.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Grabs in SSBU ranked from shortest to longest.

Grab ranges in Ultimate as tested by Zeckemyro and CrimsonStarfall. The number besides each position indicates the range using in-game units. Extended grabs will be followed by an asterisk (*) due to only being approximations. Their range was tested and is placed correctly. Jostle and the height of the grabboxes can affect their consistency in the midst of battle. The grabs are listed based on their raw horizontal range.

Rank	Character	Grab range
1-2	Samus	42.2u
	Dark Samus
3	Min Min	40.0u*
4	Zero Suit Samus	37.0u
5	Olimar (W. Pikmin + 2)	35.8u
6	Olimar (W. Pikmin + 1)	33.45u
7	Steve	31.9u
8	Luigi	29.8u
9	Olimar (R./B./Y. Pikmin + 2)	29.55u
10	Young Link	29.5u
11	Olimar (W. Pikmin)	28.8u
12-13	Toon Link	28.2u
	Pac-Man
14	Olimar (R./B./Y. Pikmin + 1)	27.5u
15	Yoshi	26.0u*
16	Olimar (R./B./Y. Pikmin)	24.15u
17	Olimar (P. Pikmin + 2)	23.9u
18	Ivysaur	23.0u
19	Lucas	22.9u
20	Olimar (P. Pikmin + 1)	22.5u
21	Charizard	21.4u
22-23	Bowser	20.0u
	King K. Rool
24	Donkey Kong	19.5u
25	Olimar (P. Pikmin)	19.4u
26-27	Villager	19.0u
	Isabelle
28	Greninja	18.5u
29	Bowser Jr.	18.0u
30	King Dedede	17.0u
31	Ridley	16.5u
32	Incineroar	16.0u
33	Snake	15.5u
34	Zelda	15.3u
35	Kazuya	15.2u
36	Mii Gunner	14.8u
37-39	Marth	14.5u
	Lucina
	Duck Hunt
40	R.O.B.	14.4u
41-42	Mewtwo	14.3u
	Piranha Plant
43-44	Roy	14.2u
	Chrom
45-48	Ganondorf	14.0u
	Wario
	Squirtle
	Rosalina & Luma
49	Terry	13.7u
50	Lucario	13.5u
51	Banjo & Kazooie	13.2u
52-56	Captain Falcon	13.0u
	Pit
	Dark Pit
	Palutena
	Robin
57	Little Mac	12.9u
58-63	Kirby	12.5u
	Sheik
	Mr. Game & Watch
	Mega Man
	Shulk
	Bayonetta
64-65	Joker	12.3u
	Byleth
66-84	Mario	12.0u
	Dr. Mario
	Cloud
	Simon
	Richter
	Ness
	Jigglypuff
	Peach
	Daisy
	Pichu
	Falco
	Sonic
	Wolf
	Mii Brawler
	Mii Swordfighter
	Inkling
	Sephiroth
	Pyra
	Mythra
85-86	Pikachu	11.9u
	Sora
87	Corrin	11.8u
88-89	Ryu	11.6u
	Ken
90-93	Meta Knight	11.5u
	Ike
	Diddy Kong
	Wii Fit Trainer
94-95	Link	11.0u
	Fox
96	Hero	10.3u
97	Ice Climbers	10.0u

Update history

2.0.0

• Luigi's standing and pivot grabs were given a longer duration (6 frames → 7) to match dash grab.

3.0.0

• The grounded-only grabboxes of the dash grabs of Marth, Lucina, Roy and Chrom were made bigger (2.6u → 3.0u) and placed higher (Y offsets: 7.0 → 7.25). This notably prevents them from missing a shielding R.O.B..

3.1.0

• Pikachu's standing grab was given more range (11.0u → 11.9u).

7.0.0

• Sheik's standing grab has more range (Z2 offset: 7.9 (grounded)/9.45 (aerial) → 9.4/10.95).

8.0.0

• Lucas's pivot grab stretches farther towards Lucas (Z offset: 0.5u → 3.5u), making it less likely to whiff at point-blank range.
• Incineroar's grabs have one frame faster startup (frame 8 → 7 (standing), 12 → 11 (dash), 13 → 12 (pivot)), with their total duration reduced as well (FAF 39/47/45 → 38/46/44).

11.0.0

• Palutena's standing grab has considerably less range (Z2 offset: 11.4 (grounded)/13.2 (aerial) → 9.4/11.2)

Trivia

• Only two characters in the series – Luigi and Link – have had their grab type outright changed, with Link's grab changing from tether to standard, and Luigi's grab changing from standard to tether. Both of these changes occurred in Ultimate.
• In Melee, characters hanging on ledges cannot be grabbed, but in every other game they can. This can be done if a certain character's grab animation is low enough to be able to grab a character hanging from a ledge if the latter character's head is above the ledge. An example video for SSB4 can be seen here. Example for SSB can be seen here
• Grabs are the only non-special moves to not cause the player's controller to rumble (should the feature be turned on) when used, only doing so if the grab connects with an opponent.

See also

• Chaingrab
• Grab release
• Jump-canceled grab
• Shield grab