Air speed, or lateral air movement, is the maximum rate at which a character can move left or right while in midair. Air speed, air acceleration, falling speed, and gravity are factors for how far a character can recover.

Airspeed is often confused with how far a character can travel without landing. Characters with low falling speeds tend to be able to travel farther in the air, simply due to hitting the ground later, not due to traveling through the air faster. As a result, characters with higher falling speeds are often perceived as having lower airspeeds, when in reality, some fast falling characters can move around in the air faster than the floaty characters.

Super Smash Bros. air speed ranking

Super Smash Bros. uses a different scale for air speed compared to later games. An approximate scale conversion is (a * 100) / 3 (so an air speed of 30 is around 0.9, using the scale from later games)

JPN
Rank Character Air speed
1   Yoshi 40
2   Pikachu 37.5
3   Fox 36
4   Jigglypuff 35
5-6   Link 31
  Captain Falcon
7-8   Mario 30
  Donkey Kong
9-11   Samus 28
  Kirby
  Ness
12   Luigi 26
NA
Rank Character Air speed
1   Yoshi 44
2   Pikachu 37.5
3   Fox 36
4   Jigglypuff 35
5-6   Link 31
  Captain Falcon
7-8   Mario 30
  Donkey Kong
9-11   Samus 28
  Kirby
  Ness
12   Luigi 22.5
AUS
Rank Character Air speed
1   Yoshi 44
2   Pikachu 37.5
3   Fox 36
4   Jigglypuff 35
5   Captain Falcon 31
6-7   Mario 30
  Donkey Kong
8-9   Kirby 28
  Ness
10   Link 27
11   Samus 26
12   Luigi 22.5
EUR
Rank Character Air speed
1   Yoshi 44
2   Pikachu 37.5
3   Link 37
4   Fox 36
5   Jigglypuff 35
6   Captain Falcon 31
7-8   Mario 30
  Donkey Kong
9-10   Kirby 28
  Ness
11   Samus 26
12   Luigi 22.5

Version differences

NTSC-U

  •   Yoshi's air speed: 40 → 44
  •   Luigi's air speed: 26 → 22.5

PAL (AUS)

  •   Link's air speed: 31 → 27
  •   Samus' air speed: 28 → 26

PAL (EUR)

  •   Link's air speed: 27 → 37

Super Smash Bros. Melee air speed ranking

NTSC
Rank Character Air speed
1   Jigglypuff 1.35
N/A   Giga Bowser 1.22
2-3   Yoshi 1.2
  Mewtwo
4   Captain Falcon 1.12
5   Peach 1.1
6-9   Donkey Kong 1
  Link
  Young Link
  Mr. Game & Watch
10   Zelda 0.95
11   Ness 0.93
12-14   Dr. Mario 0.9
  Marth
  Roy
15   Samus 0.89
16   Mario 0.86
17-18   Pikachu 0.85
  Pichu
19-20   Fox 0.83
  Falco
21-22   Bowser 0.8
  Sheik
23-24   Kirby 0.78
  Ganondorf
25   Ice Climbers 0.7
26   Luigi 0.68
PAL
Rank Character Air speed
1   Jigglypuff 1.35
N/A   Giga Bowser 1.22
2-3   Yoshi 1.2
  Mewtwo
4   Captain Falcon 1.12
5   Peach 1.1
6-9   Donkey Kong 1
  Link
  Young Link
  Mr. Game & Watch
10   Zelda 0.95
11   Ness 0.93
12-13   Dr. Mario 0.9
  Roy
14   Samus 0.89
15-17   Pikachu 0.85
  Pichu
  Marth
18-20   Mario 0.83
  Fox
  Falco
21-22   Bowser 0.8
  Sheik
23-24   Kirby 0.78
  Ganondorf
25   Ice Climbers 0.7
26   Luigi 0.68

Version differences

PAL

  •   Marth's air speed: 0.9 → 0.85
  •   Mario's air speed: 0.86 → 0.83

Super Smash Bros. Brawl air speed ranking

Rank Character Air speed
N/A Wario-Man 1.692
1   Yoshi 1.316
2   Jigglypuff 1.269
3-4   Wario 1.222
  Wolf
N/A Giga Bowser 1.222
5   Captain Falcon 1.18
6   Sonic 1.1092
7-9   Donkey Kong 1.081
  Mr. Game & Watch
  Squirtle
10   Lucas 1.05
11-13   Bowser 1.034
  Marth
  Zero Suit Samus
14-17   Samus 0.987
  Zelda
  Charizard
  Lucario
18   Ness 0.9588
19-21   Mario 0.94
  Snake
  Toon Link
22   Ike 0.9212
23   Pikachu 0.9118
24-26   Peach 0.893
  Falco
  Pit
27-28   Fox 0.89
  R.O.B.
29   Kirby 0.85
30-31   Sheik 0.846
  Ganondorf
32   Diddy Kong 0.8272
33   Olimar 0.82
34   Link 0.8084
35   Ice Climbers 0.7708
36-37   Meta Knight 0.752
  Ivysaur
38   Luigi 0.7332
39   King Dedede 0.658

Super Smash Bros. 4 air speed ranking

Rank Character Air speed
N/A Giga Mac 1.7
N/A Wario-Man 1.69
N/A   Mii Brawler (lightest) 1.422
1   Yoshi 1.28
2   Jigglypuff 1.269
3   Mewtwo 1.25
N/A   Mii Gunner (lightest) 1.24425
4   Roy 1.24
N/A Giga Bowser 1.22
5   Wario 1.21
6-7   Zero Suit Samus 1.2
  Mii Brawler (default)
8   Greninja 1.18
9-11   Mario 1.15
  Donkey Kong
  Sonic
N/A   Mii Brawler (Fighting Mii Team) 1.15
N/A   Mii Gunner (Fighting Mii Team) 1.15
N/A   Mii Swordfighter (lightest) 1.1376
12-13   Mr. Game & Watch 1.12
  Ryu
14-19   Captain Falcon 1.1
  Sheik
  Lucas
  Mega Man
  Duck Hunt
  Cloud 1.1
20   Lucario 1.09
21-23   Ike 1.08
  R.O.B.
  Bowser Jr.
24   Shulk 1.06
25   Mii Gunner (default) 1.05
26-27   Zelda 1.04
  Pac-Man
N/A Mega Lucario 1.04
28   Samus 1.03
29-30   Marth 1.02
  Lucina
N/A   Mii Brawler (heaviest) 1.02
31-34   Bowser 1.0
  Rosalina & Luma
  Little Mac
  Robin
35   Meta Knight 0.99
36-38   Wii Fit Trainer 0.97
  Corrin
  Bayonetta
39-40   Fox 0.96
  Mii Swordfighter (default)
41   Ness 0.9588
42   Peach 0.95
43-44   Toon Link 0.94
  Villager
45   Falco 0.93
46   Dr. Mario 0.9292
47   Charizard 0.92
48   Pikachu 0.9118
49   Palutena 0.91
N/A   Mii Swordfighter (Fighting Mii Team) 0.9
N/A   Mii Gunner (heaviest) 0.8925
50-51   Pit 0.89
  Dark Pit
52-53   Link 0.88
  Diddy Kong
54   Olimar 0.82
N/A   Mii Swordfighter (heaviest) 0.816
55   Kirby 0.8
56   Ganondorf 0.79
57   Luigi 0.7341766
58   King Dedede 0.63

Update history

1.0.8

  •   Falco's air speed: 0.893 → 0.93

1.1.3

  •   Lucario's air speed: 1.01 → 1.09
  •   Mewtwo's air speed: 1.15 → 1.25

1.1.4

  •   King Dedede's air speed: 0.658 → 0.63

1.1.5

  •   Bowser's air speed: 0.98 → 1.0
  •   Charizard's air speed: 0.87 → 0.92
  •   Corrin's air speed: 1.0 → 0.97
  •   Samus's air speed: 0.95 → 1.03

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate air speed ranking

Rank Character Air speed
1   Yoshi 1.344
2   Jigglypuff 1.332
3   Mewtwo 1.313
4-5   Roy 1.302
  Chrom
6-7   Lucario 1.281
  Wolf
8   Wario 1.271
9   Zero Suit Samus 1.26
10   Greninja 1.239
11   Mythra 1.22
12   Captain Falcon 1.218
13-17   Mario 1.208
  Donkey Kong
  Sonic
  Little Mac
  Inkling
18   Mr. Game & Watch 1.176
19   Mii Swordfighter 1.17
20-25   Bowser 1.155
  Sheik
  Lucas
  Mega Man
  Duck Hunt
  Cloud 1.155
'26   Mii Brawler 1.15
27-29   Ike 1.134
  R.O.B.
  Bowser Jr.
30-31   Ryu 1.12
  Ken
32   Shulk 1.113
33   Fox 1.11
34-36   Samus 1.103
  Dark Samus
  Charizard
37-38   Joker 1.1
  Pyra
39-40   Zelda 1.092
  Pac-Man
41-42   Marth 1.071
  Lucina
43-46   Toon Link 1.05
  Rosalina & Luma
  Robin
  Ridley
47   Meta Knight 1.04
48-50   Peach 1.029
  Daisy
  Pichu
51   Isabelle 1.02
52-54   Wii Fit Trainer 1.019
  Corrin 1.019
  Bayonetta
55-56   Squirtle 1.01
  Hero 1.01
57   Ness 1.007
58-59   Palutena 1.0
  Piranha Plant
60   Ivysaur 0.998
61-62   Snake 0.987
  Villager
63   Falco 0.977
64   Young Link 0.966
65   Pikachu 0.957
66-67   Terry 0.95
  Sephiroth 0.95
68   King K. Rool 0.945
69-70   Simon 0.94
  Richter
71-72   Pit 0.935
  Dark Pit
73   Mii Gunner 0.93
74-75   Link 0.924
  Diddy Kong
76   Dr. Mario 0.9238784
77   Banjo & Kazooie 0.92
78   Byleth 0.89
79   Incineroar 0.88
80   Nana 0.8715
81   Olimar 0.861
82   Steve 0.86
83   Min Min 0.85
84   Kirby 0.84
85-86   Popo 0.83
  Ganondorf
87   Luigi 0.77
88   King Dedede 0.735


See also