Assist Trophy

Assist Trophy
The Assist Trophy as it appears in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	Super Smash Bros.
Appears in	SSBB SSB4
Item class	Summoning

An Assist Trophy (アシストフィギャア, Assist Figure) is an item introduced in Super Smash Bros. Brawl that, when grabbed, summons a random Nintendo or third-party character to quickly aid the holder. Assist Trophies work nearly identical to Poké Balls. However, no Pokémon come out of them, and once an Assist Trophy is grabbed, it is automatically activated, assuming the holder is standing on the ground, and not in a jump, attack, or hitstun. Some Assist Trophies must be unlocked in order to be used, such as Isaac from Golden Sun. Unlike the Poké Ball, this can be eaten by those such as Kirby and King Dedede's Inhale and Munchlax.

In Brawl, only one Assist Trophy (and the character it releases) can be in a match at once. The next Assist Trophy will not appear until the data for the character it will release is fully loaded. This appeared to not be the case in Super Smash Bros for Wii U.

The majority of Assist Trophies in Brawl are undamageable. On ther other hand, several videos of Super Smash Bros. 4 show that many Assist Trophies can be hit, interrupting their attacks.

List of Assist Trophies

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Assist Trophy	Relative frequency	Description	Universe	Unlock criteria
Andross	30	Andross (as he appears in the original Star Fox) appears in the background and shoots tiles at the players.	Star Fox
Barbara	30	Barbara strums on her guitar, creating damaging soundwaves, similar to Konga Beat, but with less range and duration.	Daigasso! Band Brothers	Obtain 25 songs
Devil	30	Devil moves the stage boundaries, causing the blast lines to move as well, leading to the possibility of easier KOs.	Devil World
Dr. Wright	30	Doctor Wright summons buildings to rise up out of the ground. This damages opponents who are standing in the area of the building, and produces great vertical knockback. Occasionally makes a massive skyscraper.	SimCity
Excitebikes	30	Excitebike racers ride around the stage, causing damage to those they collide with. Some of them, if on a stage with an edge, will go back and forth until their time runs out.	Excite
Gray Fox	30	Frank Jaeger, the Gray Fox, runs around slashing opponents. Also reflects stray projectiles.	Metal Gear	Unlocked with Snake
Hammer Bro.	30	Hammer Bro throws hammers at opponents.	Mario
Helirin	12	Helirin floats around the stage while rotating, acting as a wall.	Kururin
Infantry and Tanks	30	The Nintendo Wars infantrymen and tank sprites roam across the stage shooting at players. When spawning, they follow the direction of the summoner.	Nintendo Wars	Play 300 Brawls
Isaac	24	Isaac pushes opponents off the stage by using a skill called Move, represented by giant magic hands. Its fixed knockback makes it easy to get trapped in.	Golden Sun	Play 200 Brawls
Jill	24	Jill attacks opponents with her drill.	Drill Dozer
Jeff	24	Jeff Andonuts shoots 5 homing rockets from his Multi Bottle Rocket 5 invention (4 small & 1 large) at his opponents.	EarthBound
Kat & Ana	30	Kat and Ana fly in different directions slashing at anybody in front of them, but always cross in the same spot.	Wario
Knuckle Joe	30	Knuckle Joe delivers a series of Vulcan Jabs to his opponents and finishes with either a Smash Punch or an uppercut attack named Rising Break.	Kirby
Lakitu and Spinies	30	Lakitu drops Spinies onto the field. The Spinies will meteor smash when falling from Lakitu. Upon landing, the Spinies walk around giving damage to opponents. Lakitu can be knocked off the screen or killed.	Mario
Little Mac	30	Little Mac runs and jumps around, attacking with powerful jabs and uppercuts.	Punch-Out!!
Lyn	30	The screen darkens, as Lyn focuses and then, having teleported, she delivers a single, powerful strike focused on the nearest opponent, similar to Galaxia Darkness in animation and knockback.	Fire Emblem
Metroid	30	A Metroid latches onto players and gives them damage. Can be attacked and shaken off, but prevents the victim from using recovery moves. However, if done right, the character can spam recovery moves indefinitely until the Metroid disappears.	Metroid
Mr. Resetti	18	Mr. Resetti gives speeches about different topics. If attacked, he causes an explosion.	Animal Crossing
Nintendog	18	A "Nintendog" (Labrador Retriever) blocks the screen.	Nintendogs
Ray MK III	30	Ray MK III flies around the stage shooting missiles and green energy bullets.	Custom Robo	Play 100 Brawls
Samurai Goroh	30	Samurai Goroh slashes his swords while chasing opponents.	F-Zero
Saki Amamiya	30	Saki Amamiya slashes and fires with his Canon Gun.	Sin and Punishment
Shadow the Hedgehog	30	Shadow slows down time with Chaos Control, similar to the Timer item, but with shorter duration and a more slowing effect. The summoner continues to move at normal speed.	Sonic	Unlocked with Sonic
Starfy	40	Starfy spins, hurting players. Can be knocked off stage.	Starfy
Tingle	30	Tingle randomly summons a variety of strange effects. It also takes longer for more Assist Trophies to spawn after his appearance than any other character. He can inflate lots of balloons and float off the stage. The balloons can lift characters, but will not give any damage. He can cause a Hammer and Golden Hammer shower. He can create a Banana Peel effect. This makes all opponents slip constantly until Tingle disappears. He can burst into flames, which gives everybody a Superspicy Curry effect. He can produce a flower graphic. This will then zoom the camera in on the character who summoned him.	The Legend of Zelda
Waluigi	30	Waluigi repeatedly stomps players into the ground. This onslaught is followed by either a strong kick or a strike from his tennis racket.	Mario

In addition to the above characters, scrapped Assist Trophy data for Ridley was found when hacking Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

In Super Smash Bros. 4

Assist trophies will return in Super Smash Bros. 4. It has been confirmed that the 3DS version will have almost the same Assist Trophies as the Wii U, but with a few differences. It is not yet known though if there will be version exclusives or if a few will be cut from the 3DS version for space issues.

Assist Trophy	Description	Universe	Version
Andross	Spits out tiles at players.	Star Fox
Ashley	Conjures a cloud with a damaging area of effect.	Wario
Chain Chomp	Jumps at and bites players while chained to a block.	Mario
Color TV-Game 15	Two paddles on the sides of the stage play Pong, with the ball damaging players.	Color TV-Game
Dark Samus	Has been shown to rapidly shoot gunfire, and create blasts of phazon.	Metroid
Devil	Devil moves the stage boundaries, causing the blast lines to move as well, leading to the possibility of easier KOs.	Devil World
Dillon	Is known to perform rolling attacks, such as a quick charge.	Dillon's Rolling Western
Dr. Wright	Dr. Wright summons buildings from within the ground. Anyone other than the summoner who touches these buildings will receive damage.	SimCity
Elec Man	Moves around freely and attacks characters with electric projectiles.	Mega Man
Hammer Bro.	Throws hammers at opponents.	Mario
Isabelle	Throws fruit to heal nearby opponents. It appears that Isabelle can heal any character, and not just the one that summoned her.	Animal Crossing
Knuckle Joe	Unleashes a flurry of punches, and can finish with a strong jab or uppercut.	Kirby
Lakitu and Spinies	Same as in Brawl, a Lakitu appears on a cloud and hurls Spinies from above. The Spinies are capable of meteor smashing.	Mario
Lyn	Attacks unsuspecting characters with a single, strong sword swipe.	Fire Emblem
Magnus	Leaps around and slashes with his sword.	Kid Icarus
Metroid	Latches onto players damages them. Can be attacked and shaken off, but prevents the victim from using recovery moves.	Metroid
Midna	Grabs opponents and throws them, while dealing darkness damage.	The Legend of Zelda
Mother Brain	She uses her signature laser attack when summoned, and is guarded by Rinka enemies.	Metroid
Nintendog	A "Nintendog" (French Bulldog) blocks the screen.	Nintendogs
Saki Amamiya	Moves around on his own accord and slashes players, and can also shoot a stream of gunfire.	Sin and Punishment
Samurai Goroh	Samurai Goroh slashes his swords while chasing opponents.	F-Zero
Shadow the Hedgehog	Shadow slows down time with Chaos Control. The summoner continues to move at normal speed.	Sonic
Skull Kid	Inverts the stage, similarly to Palkia.	The Legend of Zelda
Starfy	Same as in Brawl; wanders around and spin attacks opponents.	Starfy
Tingle	Seems to be similar to Brawl, in which he summons one of a variety of strange effects.	The Legend of Zelda
Waluigi	Waluigi repeatedly stomps players into the ground. This onslaught is followed by either a strong kick or a strike from his tennis racket.	Wario

Phosphora has been seen on a non-Kid Icarus stage, implying but not confirming her for an Assist Trophy role.

Description from the Super Smash Bros. Brawl instruction booklet

Spawns a character to help you.

Trophy Description

A capsule that contains characters who will help you out in battle. You won't know who's in the capsule until you open it. It may be someone everyone knows or someone who's a bit of a mystery. The majority of these characters are invulnerable, so attacking them is not an option. You know what that means, right? RUN!

File:Assist Trophy Trophy.jpg

The Assist Trophy trophy in Brawl.

Trivia

• Hammer Bro. is the only Assist Trophy character to appear as an enemy in the Subspace Emissary.
• In Brawl's Classic Mode, if the character who summoned an assist trophy is KO'd, the assist trophy goes away. However, this does not happen in All-Star Mode.
• In the GameCube preview issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, the Super Smash Bros. Melee article comments that Nintendo originally tried to implement Assist Trophies in Melee. The only trophy concept they gave details on was one that would release the ducks from Duck Hunt to fly around the stage and interfere with the fighters.^{[citation needed]}
• In Brawl, Mario is the only universe to have more than one Assist Trophy.
• In the Smash Direct for SSB4, Waluigi was shown as a Wario series Assist Trophy, despite never appearing in a Wario game.
• Attendants at the 2007 Whobby Game Festival who played a demo of Brawl claimed to have seen Assist Trophies of Duster, Muddy Mole, and Rosalina, but the veracity of the claims was never proven, and there is no evidence in the final game that these characters were ever planned.

Gallery

• 

  Assist Trophy item from Brawl.

• 

  Kirby, about to release an Assist Trophy character.

• 

  A collection of all Assist Trophies from Brawl, as well as an actual Assist Trophy.

• 

  Mario next to an Assist Trophy in SSB4.