Hand Grenade

Hand Grenade (, Hand Grenade) is Snake's neutral special move.

Overview
Pressing and holding the special move button once will cause Snake to pull out the pin on a grenade on the very first frame after the input, and releasing the button (or pressing the attack button) will cause him to throw it. Snake can walk back and forth, jump, and midair jump while holding a grenade, albeit while locked into facing the same direction he was in when he started the move. The manner in which Snake throws the grenade depends on how the control stick is tilted while releasing the button: Snake can only have up to two grenades in play at a time; no more can be produced until one of them crosses a blast line or explodes.
 * Tilting towards Snake’s back makes him lob it underhand such that if it lands on level ground, Snake will be just barely outside the blast radius.
 * Not tilting the stick makes Snake throw it in an arc that covers under half the distance of Final Destination; after bouncing twice, the grenade will explode after having traveled roughly two-thirds the length of the stage.
 * Tilting forward makes Snake forcefully throw it almost completely horizontally over a long distance. Specifically, the grenade will come to a stop just under 1500 units away from Snake according to Ultimate‘s Training stage.

The grenade has a 3-second timer in Brawl (as indicated on the grenade itself) and a 2.5-second timer in Ultimate, but it will detonate instantly if hit by an attack. Snake can be damaged by his own grenade if he is still holding it or is too close to it when it explodes. Unlike Young Link and Toon Link's bombs (and Link's prior to Ultimate), it does not detonate on contact, and any fighter can pick it up before it explodes. If a fighter is physically hit by the grenade before it explodes, they will receive 1-5% damage, but will not flinch. The grenade's explosion inflicts around 12% damage (9% in Ultimate) with decent vertical knockback.

If Snake is close enough to a grenade when it goes off, he will cover his ears from the noise of the explosion. Kirby will also do this if he copies Snake (even though he has no visible ears).

The grenade's delay time can be exploited by "cooking" it – that is, by holding the special move button (as it is only thrown when the button is released) to reduce the time between the moment it's thrown and the moment it detonates. Not only does this add an element of unpredictability when using grenades, but doing so also makes it more difficult for enemies to dodge or throw back the grenade.

Grenades are also unique from the Links' bombs or Peach's Vegetables in that they take priority over held items; Snake can still perform the move while holding an item, and that item will be dropped as soon as he presses the special move button.

Interestingly, the grenade cannot be held while shielding; shielding will instead cause Snake to drop the grenade at his feet. This unique property can be exploited in various ways. For example, shield-dropping the grenade can be a useful defensive measure when an opponent attacks; not only will Snake block their attack, but the explosion will damage the opponent and not Snake because he is still shielding. He can also quickly drop the grenade and then pick it back up to throw it in any direction like he can a regular item, or spot dodge an incoming attack after dropping a grenade, which will likely be set off by the attacking player. In Brawl, this also makes any of his grenades that are being carried or even thrown by another player fall straight down. Snake can quickly shield after pulling out a grenade then repeat it again, and can throw both grenades quickly at an enemy and explode each one in the process. This must be done quickly because dropping and picking up the grenades takes two seconds and they must be thrown in quick succession before they detonate. The blast radius of one grenade’s explosion triggering another’s is very large and inflicts around 25% (18% in Ultimate) from both grenades. When Snake is near two of his own grenades, he will always pick up the grenade that has been out longer.

Grenades can be used to ameliorate Snake's sluggish aerial mobility and serve as fantastic combo breakers due to coming out immediately on frame 1, which can help negate his poor disadvantage state. Snake can B-reverse in the air when taking out a grenade, changing the direction that he faces and shifting momentum in the opposite direction. This can be used to mindgame opponents who expect Snake to fall in a certain pattern downwards or on a certain part of the stage.

In Brawl, and  can also perform the Omnigay on a Snake holding a grenade if they have the higher port, which usually causes instant death for the Snake while the other character survives. The same technique can also be applied in Ultimate despite the faster mechanics in the game.

In Ultimate, Snake can use his grenades as setup tools into his attacks much more effectively due to the changes to hitstun canceling as well as the universal 3 frame jumpsquat.

Origin
Hand grenades have been a staple offensive tool in the Metal Gear series ever since their introduction in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. They can easily be found in lockers, store rooms, or obtained from enemy soldiers.

The versions in both Metal Gear and Smash function similarly to the real life. While early versions have existed as far back as the 8th century in ancient Greece, the in-game grenades are based off the American. Created in 1968 and still used today, the M67 is designed to fragment on detonation to cause disorientation and potential injury, unlike the incendiary explosion portrayed in Smash. Another liberty the Smash series takes is that the "timer" on a grenade does not start when the pin is pulled, but rather when the grip on the handle is released, rendering cooking the grenade irrelevant.

Trivia

 * In Brawl and Ultimate, the text on the grenades reads "GRENADE,DELAY 3.0", followed by "SN : 2305-146".
 * However, in Ultimate, the grenades explode after 2.5 seconds after being unpinned.
 * If Snake (or Kirby via Copy Ability) cooks a grenade and it explodes while they're invincible, they will remain in their holding animation but without holding the grenade, and will throw nothing if the button gets released.
 * In Ultimate, all of Kirby's subsequent double jumps will not lose height if he's currently cooking a grenade.
 * Due to Ultimate removing the ability to dash while using a shooting item, dashing while holding a grenade has become a unique quirk for Snake.