Power of Flight

Power of Flight (, Miracle of Flight) is Pit and Dark Pit's up special move in Super Smash Bros. 4 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Overview
After a brief charging period, the user launches himself in a mainly vertical direction that can be aimed with the directional buttons. Unlike similar special moves, the direction cannot be any downward angle. The standard variant of this move is exclusively a recovery option, inflicting no damage when it makes contact with the foe.

Compared to Pit's old recovery, Wings of Icarus, which was arguably one of the most mobile recoveries in Brawl, Power of Flight does not give Pit as much freedom of movement and acts as a quick single direction recovery, unlike Wings of Icarus which gave Pit full flight for 3 seconds. However, Power of Flight cannot be easily gimped like its Brawl counterpart, as it can be re-used if the user is hit, and gives a massive amount of vertical height, still making it one of the best recoveries in the game.

Customization
Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the variations:


 * Power of Flight: Default.
 * Striking Flight: The angle of the Power of Flight is restricted to only slightly left or right, and mainly travels upward, reducing horizontal recovery. When Pit hits an opponent during the move, 6% to 9% is inflicted on the foe, making them flinch. This is ideal to prevent the opponent from attacking them mid-recovery. Dark Pit deals slightly more knockback and 0.5% more damage compared to Pit.
 * Breezy Flight: The distance covered is reduced, limiting recovery. The Power of Flight starts up quickly, and is executed faster. It has a strong push effect on anyone near Pit or Dark Pit, pushing the opponent a sizable distance away. This makes it ideal for avoiding an opponent's attack during recovery by pushing them away.

Origin
The Power of Flight originates from Kid Icarus Uprising. As Pit cannot fly on his own, Palutena (and Viridi during the arc) grant him this power. However, it could only be used for five minutes; any longer, and Pit's wings would burn up. This consequence was shown in Chapter 21 when even though he already used the Power of Flight for that much time, he wanted to use it again to save Dark Pit from the remains of the Chaos Kin.

Unlike Pit, Dark Pit had the ability to fly freely in Uprising after his wings absorbed the remains of. However, he lost the ability in Chapter 22 when Pandora revived herself by using the Rewind Spring. In Super Smash Bros., Pit's Power of Flight is granted by Palutena while Dark Pit's Power of Flight is granted by Viridi as signaled by the colored trails on their wings.

Trivia

 * In the Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U Official Game Guide, Dark Pit's up special is referred to as Pandora Wings. However, the move is officially named Power of Flight in the game and his Power of Flight doesn't use Pandora's powers.
 * When Power of Flight activates, Pit's wings glow with multiple colors: first blue, yellow in the middle of the move, and red at the end, while Dark Pit's cycles through green, blue and then red. This references the glow of Pit's wings when he plays through aerial levels in Uprising, where his wings change color when changing flight speed. In said game, Pit's wings glow blue as his power of flight was granted by Palutena; meanwhile, Dark Pit's green wings suggest that Viridi granted him the Power of Flight.
 * While Pit in the English version just grunts, he may occasionally shout out the move's name in Japanese in the respective dub ("", Miracle of Flight!).