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Home-Run Bat

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Home-Run Bat
Image of the Home-Run Bat from the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate website.
The Home-Run Bat in Super Smash Bros. 4.
Homerunbat.jpg
Home Run Bat trophy from Super Smash Bros. Melee.
HomeRunBatIconSSB.png

Symbol of the Smash Bros. series.
The Home-Run Bat.
Universe Super Smash Bros.
Appears in SSB
Melee
Brawl
SSB4
Ultimate
Item class Battering
You can't throw it very far, but if you combine it with a Smash Attack, you just might hit a home run!
Super Smash Bros.'s instruction manual
Launches foes with a smash attack.
Brawl manual description
With this item you can unleash a series of ultra-powerful smash attacks.
Super Smash Bros. 4 Official Site

The Home-Run Bat (ホームランバット, Home Run Bat) is a battering item in all Super Smash Bros. games. It is best-known for its one-hit KO potential.

Origin[edit]

This is probably the most unusual image I've ever had to upload to SW.
Hanshin Tigers player Tomoaki Kanemoto prepares to hit a baseball pitched at him.
[1]
Ninten using his bat against an enemy in EarthBound Beginnings. The SMAAAASH!! indicates that the attack is a critical hit.

The Home-Run Bat originates from the bat-and-ball sport baseball, which has a particularly strong following in Japan and is known as a national pastime of the United States. In the sport, the bat acts as the way that the player hits the baseball being tossed at them; the best batters are not only able to hit the ball, but also with sufficient power to send it to the fringes of the playing area, away from players of the other team. Should the batter hit with the correct timing and angling, the ball can be sent out of the playing area or even out of the park; these instances are referred to as home runs, as all players on the batter's team can finish a run in the playing area. Most home runs, however, also require almost perfect placement of the ball against the bat; in this case, a hit closer to the tip of the bat provides more power behind a swing, whereas one closer to the handle leads to a weaker hit. In Super Smash Bros., this is mirrored by how the bat is more powerful when hitting with the tip, and how it sends opponents away at extreme velocities and trajectories; mirroring how home runs are sent over the walls of the playing field, the resulting angle of the opponents hit with the bat are also sent upward instead of a semi-spike trajectory. Adding to these references, players also tend to bring the bat slightly farther behind them just before hitting, as to put more power behind the swing; this is emulated in Brawl, where players wind-up for a time as though to get more power behind their swings.

In addition to the real-life counterpart, another possible inspiration for the item is speculated to come from the EarthBound series. Ninten and Ness, the main protagonists in EarthBound Beginnings and EarthBound, respectively, use bats as their main weapon throughout the game. As the game progresses, the player will find increasingly powerful bats. In a battle, there's a random chance (decided by the Guts stat in EarthBound) that the attack will be a critical hit (or "SMAAAASH!!" attack), which deals more damage than an ordinary attack. If these games influenced the Home-Run Bat's behavior, then it can be said that the one-hit KO smash attack comes from the critical hits. This theory is further backed up by the fact that Ness' forward smash in Super Smash Bros. and Melee makes a ping sound like the Home-Run Bat's. Additionally, the Casey Bat in EarthBound has similarities to the Home-Run Bat's mechanics: the Casey Bat has very low accuracy (causing the player to miss a lot when equipped), however, it is the highest offense-raising equipment for Ness in the game. If an attack connects, it will potentially deal enough damage to defeat enemies in a single hit. This is comparable to how the Home-Run Bat's windup makes it difficult to hit an opponent, but when it does it results in a one-hit KO.

The Home-Run Bat's original design, used from its debut up to Brawl, is that of a traditional wooden bat with a striped tip and a wrapped handle. Starting with SSB4, the bat now resembles an aluminum bat and uses an ornate black-and-gold design; it bears the Super Smash Bros. logo at its base and a design resembling a shockwave at its tip, reflecting the "Deadly Blow" effect that appears when a character is hit by an attack strong enough to immediately KO.

Operation[edit]

In battles[edit]

Pikachu using the Home-Run Bat against Mario in Smash 64.
Home-run Bat Screenshot directly from Dojo.
Link and Mario demonstrate the unique animation for the Home-Run Bat in Brawl.

While the Home-Run Bat functions like regular battering items, it has the unusual property of completely altering the character's forward smash. Upon performing a forward smash, the character winds up and performs a single, delayed swing that can potentially KO opponents in a single hit. The attack always takes a set amount of time and cannot be charged, making it the only such item to alter this mechanic in players. The swing time for the Home-Run bat varies between games. In Smash 64 and Melee, swing time varies from character to character, but is much faster overall than in later games. In Brawl, swing time was standardized, but much longer overall, though Smash 4 lowered the swing time somewhat.

Along with its signature forward smash, the Home-Run Bat is also powerful when swung or thrown normally, being capable of KOing relatively early, especially in regards to its dash attack and smash throws.

In Smash 64 and Melee, characters use their standard item swinging animation; however, from Brawl onward the animation was changed so that all characters wind up like actual baseball players when performing the forward smash. This altered wind-up causes the attack to be considerably slower than in previous games.

In SSB4, the smash attack swing is comparably faster than in Brawl. In addition, a smash attack swing gives the user super armor at the very moment he or she swings the bat and is capable of instantly breaking shields. These factors make it more dangerous to interrupt head-on when compared to previous games. Starting in SSB4, the bat swing can also reflect projectiles. In Ultimate, the Home-Run Bat will interrupt its forward smash swing when charging to reflect a projectile; reflecting swings have the same power as a standard forward smash, effectively giving them a nearly instant charge time if it happens to reflect a projectile.

The Home-Run Bat deals most of its damage at the tip of the bat instead of the center; the extreme knockback in both of these hitboxes, however, makes this point relatively moot against other players (though very important in the Home-Run Contest, where the former is commonly known as a "tipper"). The Bat is also powerful when thrown, dealing around 20% damage and high knockback. In Melee and Brawl, the bat has a sourspot on the base, though it is very difficult to get this sourspot with most characters. Melee's sourspot deals little damage and does not make the signature sound effect, but nevertheless has very strong knockback and will usually OHKO. In Brawl, the sourspot deals more damage, but doesn't OHKO, instead KOing at around 110%.

The bat is also an item in Smash Tour: when its trophy is selected, the user starts the battle wielding a Home-Run Bat.

In Home-Run Contest[edit]

In the Home-Run Contest, the player is given a Home-Run Bat to assist in sending the Sandbag as far away from the starting platform as possible within ten seconds. While acting as the primary way to hit the Sandbag for the large majority of characters, some attacks can potentially send it farther than the actual weapon at certain high enough damages, including throwing the Home-Run Bat itself.

Damage[edit]

Action SSB Melee Brawl SSB4 Ultimate
Neutral Attack 7% 7% 7% 7% 7%
Forward tilt 12% 12% 12% 13% 13%
Dash attack 16% 16% 15% 16% 16%
Dash attack (Mewtwo) N/A 14% N/A 16% 16%
Dash attack (Zelda) N/A 23%(16%+7%) 14% 16% 16%
Dash attack (Peach) N/A 30%(16%+14%) 16% 16% 16%
Forward smash 10% 20% 30% 30% 30%
Forward smash (Captain Falcon) 10% 22% (8%+14%), 30% (uncharged) 30% 30% 30%
Forward smash (Ganondorf) N/A 20% 30% 30% 30%
Forward smash (Sheik) N/A 22%(8%+14%) 30% 30% 30%
Forward smash (Sourspot) N/A 8% 15% N/A N/A
Drop 6% 10% 17% 11% 11.9% max depending on distance
Forward tilt throw 18% 19% 18% 16% 19.3% max depending on distance
Up tilt throw 17% 20% 20% 23% 20.8% max head, 18.8% max anywhere else
Down tilt throw 15% 17% 17% 17% 15.2%
Dash attack throw 23% 21% 21% 21% 21.8% max depending on distance
Forward smash throw 23% 22% 22% 21% 22.5% max depending on distance
Up smash throw 23% 23% 20% 22% 23.8% max head, 21.8% max anywhere else
Down smash throw 23% 25% 21% 20% 15.2%
Aerial drop 19% 14% 18% 18% 11.6%-18.6% depending on distance
Aerial forward tilt throw 20% 19% 19% 19% 19.3% max depending on distance
Aerial up tilt throw 21% 20% 20% 20% 23.8% max
Aerial down tilt throw 22% 21% 20% 20% 15.2%-20.6% depending on distance
Aerial forward smash throw 23% 19% 19% 18% 22.5% max depending on distance
Aerial up smash throw 24% 20% 20% 20% 23.8% max head, 21.8% max anywhere else
Aerial down smash throw 24% 21% 20% 20% 15.2-20.6% depending on distance

Home-Run swing timing[edit]

Game Character Frame
SSB Mario 30
Donkey Kong 28
Link 23
Samus 26
Yoshi 27
Kirby 26
Fox 29
Pikachu 27
Luigi 30
Ness 30
Captain Falcon 28
Jigglypuff 26
Melee Mario 26
Luigi 26
Bowser 38
Peach 23
Yoshi 26
Donkey Kong 27
Captain Falcon (tapped) 28
Captain Falcon (held) 27
Fox 30
Ness 26
Ice Climbers 28
Kirby 26
Samus 18
Zelda 24
Sheik 26
Link 23
Pikachu 27
Jigglypuff 26
Mewtwo 30
Mr. Game & Watch 23
Marth 31
Dr. Mario 26
Ganondorf 28
Falco 30
Young Link 23
Pichu 27
Roy 31
Brawl All characters 60
SSB4 All characters 51
Ultimate All characters 51

Trophies[edit]

In Super Smash Bros. Melee[edit]

Home Run Bat trophy from Super Smash Bros. Melee.
Home-Run Bat's trophy in Melee
Home-Run Bat
Smash an enemy with this slugger, and you'll send them flying out of sight; hence the name Home-Run Bat. The sound of the bat being swung immediately strikes fear into the hearts of opponents and can turn the tide of a battle. It's slightly risky to use, though; it has a very limited range, and it takes a little time to wind up for your swing.
Super Smash Bros. (4/99)

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]

Home-Run Bat trophy from Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Home-Run Bat's trophy in Brawl
Home-Run Bat
A battering item. Smash a foe with this and be rewarded with the distinctive "KREEEEENG!" sound of a home run as your foe goes flying. The sound echoes with what's surely the timbre of supreme bliss. For the character being hit, though, it must be one of the scariest sounds ever. But it's not easy to use--it swings slowly and has a limited range. High risk, high reward.
N64: Super Smash Bros.
Wii: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

In Super Smash Bros. 4[edit]

Home-Run Bat's trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
Home-Run Bat's trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Home-Run Bat
NTSC Combine this black bat with a forward smash to try for a home run, using an opponent as the ball! Unfortunately, the reach on the bat is not all that impressive, so it takes some real skill to line up a hit. Keep your chin up, though—the loud "KREEENG" of a hit makes it all worthwhile.
N64: Super Smash Bros. (04/1999)
Wii U: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
PAL Batter up! (That's what they say, right?) Get a home run by side-smashing an enemy right off the stage! Enemies are more difficult to send flying than baseballs, though – or so we're told – and this bat doesn't exactly have a long reach, so if you want to hear the satisfying sound of your foe flying off-screen, you'll have to work for it!
N64: Super Smash Bros. (11/1999)
Wii U: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Gallery[edit]

Super Smash Bros.[edit]

Super Smash Bros. Melee[edit]

Super Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS[edit]

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U[edit]

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]

Names in other languages[edit]

Language Name Meaning
Japan Japanese ホームランバット Home Run Bat
UK English Home-Run Bat
France French (PAL) Batte de base-ball Baseball Bat
Quebec French (NTSC) Bâton de baseball Baseball Bat
Germany German Baseballschläger Baseball Bat
Spain Spanish Bate de béisbol Baseball Bat
Italy Italian Mazza da fuoricampo Home-Run Bat
China Chinese (Simplified) 全垒打球棒 Home-Run Bat
Taiwan Chinese (Traditional) 全壘打球棒 Home-Run Bat
South Korea Korean 홈런 배트 Home-Run Bat
Netherlands Dutch Honkbalknuppel Baseball Bat
Russia Russian Бейсбольная бита Baseball Bat

Trivia[edit]

  • Bayonetta, Joker, Byleth, and Sora are the only characters who speak when using a smash attack with the Home-Run Bat. Joker, Byleth, and Sora say "You're mine!", "Take this!", and “There!” respectively, while Bayonetta has five different lines, which are "Fire!", "Bingo!", "Goodbye!", "See you!", and "Boom!".
  • The Home-Run Bat's forward smash in Melee is the attack that deals the most extra shield damage in the entire series, dealing 119%.
  • In Brawl, Wolf is the only character who vocalizes when swinging the bat rather than during the windup. This was eventually carried over to nearly every character in Ultimate except for both Falco and Nana.
  • In Melee, Captain Falcon's uncharged forward smash with a Home-Run Bat deals 30% damage and 10 weight-dependent set knockback.
  • In Melee, Sheik ends up sending opponents flying vertically with the Home-Run Bat. As a result, she needs to transform into Zelda to use the Home-Run Bat properly in the Home-Run Contest.

External links[edit]