Belay

Belay in Melee.

Belay being used as a tether recovery in Brawl.

Belay is the Up B move of the Ice Climbers. It functions as a third jump, but only if the CPU-controlled Ice Climber is present. The controlled Ice Climber throws the CPU one up a short distance while the two are attached by a rope, and the CPU Ice Climber will then send the human one a long ways upward by pulling on the rope, and both will enter the Helpless state until they land, making them individually vulnerable until then. If this move is used to recover from falling off the edge of a stage, the CPU Ice Climber will likely fall to its doom while the human one will land on the stage safely.

Without the other Ice Climber alive or near enough in the air, the player merely does the motion for the belay, which will still grab the ledge when close enough, but otherwise gains very little altitude and leaves the Climber helpless to fall. A seperated CPU Climber may also use the move alone to try and get back to their partner. Players typically use Squall Hammer-based recoveries when left with a single Climber.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the AI Climber will aim for and grab the ledge of the stage provided they are facing toward the ledge, and will then pull up the human controlled Climber, acting as a Tether Recovery. As both Climbers can now grab the ledge simultaneously, this effectively eliminates the problem of potentially being edge-hogged by your own partner.

Origin

This move seems to be unique to the Super Smash Bros. series, but it is possibly based on the Ice Climber's ability to "Footstool Jump" on each other in the two-player mode. The animation is similar to when they jumped on each other's head while in midair in the original game.