Effect

Effect is the term used to refer to what kind of elemental properties an attack applies to what it hits. For example, attacks with the freezing effect can freeze opponents, while those with the flame effect produce fiery visuals and trigger fire-based interactions. Most attacks use the normal or slash effects, which have only cosmetic results.

The origin of the term "effect" is unclear. It is believed to come from how it determines whether an attack can apply status effects to opponents, such as freezing, burying, or using the Screw Attack. It could also relate to a basic visual system in most video games known as particle effects, which would pretain the aesthetic flair of attacks in Smash Bros.

List of effects

Introduced in Super Smash Bros.

Normal, the default effect for all attacks
Coin, which is purely cosmetic and appears only in the Super Jump Punch and its variants
Electric, which increases freeze frames
Flame, used for all fire-based attacks
Slash, primarily used by swords and other sharp attacks
Sleep, which puts opponents to sleep

Introduced in Super Smash Bros. Melee

Bury, which embeds opponents in the ground
Darkness, which applies shadowy flames to targets
Flower, which gives the opponent a flower that damages over time
Freezing, which encases opponents in a block of ice
Grab, which is used to turn hitboxes into grabs; this is unique to Melee and differs from how grabs function in other games
Inert, which is only used for detection rather than damage
Reverse, which turns opponents around
Screw, unique to the Screw Attack item, which causes victims to do a Screw Attack
Stun, which stuns the opponent

Introduced in Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Aura, which allows Lucario's attacks to gain or lose strength based on its current damage
Down, which leaves the opponent lying down
Flinchless, which doesn't cause flinching or knockback, only damage
Grass, which is used in type effectiveness
Paralyze, which locks the opponent in place for several seconds before applying knockback
Plunge, which acts like Bury except that it shoves opponents all the way through soft platforms
Slip, which automatically makes the opponent trip
Water, which is used in type effectiveness

Introduced in Super Smash Bros. 4

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Obliviate, used by Ornes to instantly KO players
Magic, which was previously in Brawl as a type
Stab, which appears to be a purely cosmetic Slash variant
Solar, which is used for the lens flare visuals of Sun Salutation

Introduced in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate