Glide


 * For the mechanic known as gliding in SSB4 and Ultimate tips, see Floating.

Gliding (, Gliding) is a technique in Super Smash Bros. Brawl available to, , and , characters notable for having wings. Once in a glide, the character gliding will fly forward at a rather quick speed, while being able to angle themselves up and down and attack out of the glide. Characters cannot turn around during glides.

The three characters each have slightly different glide mechanics. Meta Knight's glide can have the sharpest angle while gliding up or down, being capable of going almost straight up. It also has the fastest startup, and is the only one which can be used twice before landing. Pit's travels the fastest, albeit by a very small margin, and has the highest default angle, making it the lightest of the 3 glides. Charizard's has the most startup, the slowest travel speed, and the smallest range of angles. It also has the lowest default glide angle, making it the heaviest glide.

Gliding after using one's final midair jump will put one's character into a helpless state. If a character glides into a floor, the character will enter a fallen position. This action is commonly known as glide tripping, though it is not the same as an actual trip.

Peach possesses a similar ability called floating, though it is not identical. Differences include the fact that it has a time limit, it can be moved forward or back, and it cannot change elevation.

Gliding was removed in Super Smash Bros. 4, though there are files for Pit, Dark Pit and Meta Knight in the game that suggest it was at one point intended to make a return. This also applies to Shuttle Loop. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, unused code refers to Pit, Dark Pit, Charizard, Meta Knight, and Ridley being able to glide. Although gliding itself is not present in Ultimate, 's up special, Elytra, uses a similar mechanic.

Performing a glide
To glide, characters must jump and perform a midair jump. If a player continues holding down the jump button, they will start gliding. Alternatively, at the peak of the jump, players can tilt the control stick/d-pad left and then right in quick succession to start gliding. The latter is the only option for Wii Remote users. Meta Knight can also start gliding by using his Shuttle Loop, but this glide is slower, and will put Meta Knight in a helpless position no matter how many jumps he has remaining.

The glide direction can be controlled by tilting forward or down to angle downwards and backward or up to angle upwards. Gliding downwards gives the character a speed gain, while gliding upwards will make the character steadily lose speed until he stops moving. Once this happens, the glide ends. Jumping out of a glide ends it more quickly than attacking out of it. If players do not cancel the glide and move into the stage's surface, they will crash into it and lay down, as if they had been knocked down.

As Shuttle Loop always starts a glide, Meta Knight can glide twice before having to touch the ground. This can be utilised to stall under the stage, which is known as scrooging. The use of scrooging is banned in most tournaments where Meta Knight is legal.

Glide attack
All three gliding characters have a unique aerial move when they attack out of gliding (known as the in Japanese). Meta Knight does a single slash downward, Pit does one slash upward, and Charizard spins. All of these attacks do 12% damage, but have varying knockback. Meta Knight and Pit's glide attacks have predominantly vertical knockback, while Charizard's has horizontal knockback. Meta Knight's deals the least knockback, but is the most disjointed, while Charizard's deals the most knockback but is the least disjointed. The differences in knockback dealt are fairly minor, however, so Meta Knight's is generally considered the most useful, as it is still a potent kill move. When a glide attack is used just before landing, it cancels all of the glide's landing lag/ending lag, leaving the player free to perform any input while sliding forward a short distance.