Power Wave

Power Wave (, Power Wave) is Terry's neutral special move in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Overview
Terry slams his fist into the ground, creating a burst of energy that travels across the ground. Similar to the Hadoken, the move travels at two different speeds, depending on whether or not the player holds the button or taps it (Hadoken has heavy, medium, and light variants, but Power Wave only has heavy and light). Upon activation, Terry will either shout "Power Wave!" or "Rock you!", or grunt. Power Wave covers a lot of horizontal distance while having a relatively large hitbox, allowing it to control a lot of space for the player. It has decent vertical range as well, making it sometimes even cover short hop approaches. However, it has very little followup potential in comparison to Terry's other moves, making it almost strictly used for this. However, if a Power Wave has been active for a while, it is possible to follow up with Crack Shoot or even Buster Wolf.

If used in the air or at the ledge, Power Wave will instead be a burst of energy that covers a small distance in front Terry. This version does more damage and knockback in exchange for range. The aerial Power Wave has transcendent priority akin to 's, allowing it to bypass projectiles completely. It also sends the opponent at a horizontal angle, making it a good option for gimping opponents off-stage. Due to its range and disjoint, as well as its ability to stall Terry in the air, this is also a very safe edgeguarding option as well. The aerial version also hits the ledge, enabling it to be a decent ledgetrapping option. Despite its appearance, it is considered a projectile like the grounded version.

Canceling
Terry can perform a Power Wave out of some standard attacks, as part of his special move canceling mechanic. By pressing the special button after connecting with one of certain standard attacks, Terry will cancel the endlag of the attack and perform a Power Wave. Compared to some of his other special moves, Power Wave is not nearly as effective for follow-ups. This is due to Power Wave's very high endlag (FAF of 50), which at close range can even be unsafe on hit.

However, there are niche scenarios where cancelling into Power Wave can be favorable. Once forward tilt sends into tumble, Burning Knuckle and Buster Wolf are no longer valid followups. In this scenario, Power Wave becomes more viable to keep up the pressure. Cancelling into aerial Power Wave with a neutral aerial is also viable off-stage for more effective gimps, as aerial Power Wave can sometime be difficult to connect. Outside of these scenarios, however, cancelling into Power Wave is almost completely suboptimal.

Origin
Power Wave has been one of Terry's special moves since the original Fatal Fury, being used by him in every following Fatal Fury title and in The King of Fighters series. The move in Terry's home series is performed with ↓ ↘ → + light/heavy punch. This command input was not included in Ultimate. The heavy version is faster and deals more damage than the light version, but has a much longer recovery time to compensate. Originally, the move had energy rise from the ground in a wave motion, before eventually being changed to the animation seen today. The move typically uses quarter-circle forward input, much like the Hadoken, but in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the quarter-circle forward motion is instead assigned to Burning Knuckle to make up for the lack of a punch and kick system. Ergo, Power Wave lacks a command input in Smash and is the only special move in Terry's moveset to do so. The aerial version is based on the short-ranged version of the move as seen in The King of Fighters '96 through The King of Fighters '98, which in turn was based on Round Wave, a stronger and shorter-ranged variant that debuted in Real Bout Fatal Fury.