Star Rod

With the A Button and the Control Stick, you can shoot 20 stars at your opponents. This can also be used as a Clobbering Item. The Star Rod (, Star Rod) is an item that has appeared in all five Super Smash Bros. games. Originating from the universe, the Star Rod acts as an unusual combination of both battering and projectile items.

Origin
The Star Rod has so far only appeared in Kirby's Adventure and its remake , though it did make a brief cameo in Kirby Super Star. In its original appearance, the Star Rod acts as the primary power source of the Fountain of Dreams, and without it, people are unable to properly sleep or dream. Although initially broken into seven shards by King Dedede, Kirby restores the Star Rod, only to discover that Dedede had shattered the Star Rod in order to prevent the main villain of the game, Nightmare, from taking over the Fountain of Dreams; directly after this, Kirby is then tasked with using the Star Rod in order to defeat Nightmare, which he successfully performs.

As a weapon in Kirby's Adventure, Kirby is officially stated to have the "Star Rod" Copy Ability, though Kirby does not need to actually swallow the object to gain the ability. While wielding the Star Rod, Kirby is not only able to utilize the Star Rod as a battering item not unlike Sword Kirby, but also as a projectile weapon that shoots stars, similar to Laser Kirby.

Operation
As a battering item, combatants can use the Star Rod to directly hit opponents up close. Using either smash attacks or tilts, however, cause the Star Rod to shoot out long-range stars that can hit opponents from a distance; in close ranges, a direct hit from the Star Rod can potentially hit opponents directly into the resultant star. Particularly powerful variants are found with the forward smashes of Captain Falcon, Marth, Sheik, Pit and Ike; due to their non-standard forward smash animations with items, the five can fire off more than one shot at a time with a single smash attack, with Falcon's attacks shooting off 5 stars and Sheik's firing off 2 stars. The item, however, has only sixteen stars, and using either of the two aforementioned characters can cause the item to quickly deplete its ammunition. This mechanic has been removed in Super Smash Bros. 4.

As the stars are considered projectiles by the game, they can be reflected by a variety of moves; in addition, they can also be absorbed.

If the Star Rod runs out of stars to shoot, combatants can still use it to directly hit opponents. A more practical option, however, is to throw the item towards enemies; the Star Rod, when thrown, deals powerful semi-spike knockback, which can potentially gimp recoveries or act as a general KO move. A thrown Star Rod cannot be powershielded. When a thrown Star Rod gets reflected, it does not travel far enough to hit the original attacker, unless they are close enough to the reflector's user.

Damage
In Brawl, the momentum of a projectile will affect the damage a character will receive; these are recorded in bounces.


 * Note Captain Falcon's smash attacks with the Star Rod are only 10% instead of 18% in Brawl.

Spirits
The Star Rod also appears as an Ace-class support spirit.

In Adventure Mode: World of Light, the Star Rod is presumably one of the countless spirits captured by Galeem during his takeover of the universe. The Star Rod's spirit is located in the lake section of The Light Realm.

The Spirit Battle for Star Rod uses an army of puppet fighters starting off with a Star Rod and is fought on the Fountain of Dreams stage.

Equipping the MC Ballyhoo & Big Top, Serena, or Tomatrio support spirits will give the player a Star Rod at a start of their stock.

Trivia

 * When shooting a star (whether charged on not) into a small upward slope (like the slight slopes on Battleship Halberd's main platform) the star will hit the slope, spin in place for a second, and then disappear.
 * In Ultimate, does not vibrate in place when charging a smash attack with the Star Rod. This also happens to  when charging a smash attack with the Death's Scythe.