Forward smash

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Mario using his forward smash in Brawl.

A forward smash attack (officially side smash attack), also known as just a forward smash, is a smash attack that any character can perform by tapping the control stick or d-pad in a horizontal (or mostly horizontal) direction and pressing the attack button immediately afterward or simultaneously; or by tilting the C-Stick in a horizontal (or mostly horizontal) direction, though the latter method does not work in the single-player modes of Super Smash Bros. Melee (since it moves the camera instead) or in Super Smash Bros. (as the C buttons are used to jump in SSB). Like forward tilts, certain forward smashes can be performed at three different angles depending on where the control stick is directed, directing the attack in that diagonal direction. When on ice terrain it becomes very useful for far away opponents, if the player charges the smash, they will slowly slide in the direction the player pressed while charging, allowing them to take full advantage of the area (doesn't work for up/down smash).

In Melee and Brawl, the forward smash can be charged by holding down the attack button for up to two seconds, resulting in higher damage and knockback.

List of forward smashes in Super Smash Bros.

• Mario: Winds up to deliver a powerful punch with an enlarged fist. Slow, but a great KO move. 17% damage.
• Donkey Kong: Brings his hand behind himself, then slaps the foe hard. Incredibly strong (The second strongest in terms of knockback), but one of the slowest Smashes in this game. 20% damage.
• Link: Slashes from top to bottom. Deals good damage and has nice reach (The strongest in the PAL region dealing 24%), 20% in the PAL region.
• Samus: Punches with her arm cannon. A quick attack with fair knockback. 18% damage
• Yoshi: Slams the foe with his head. Comparable to Mario's side smash in terms of speed (The fourth most powerful side smash). 18% damage.
• Kirby: A furious spin kick with good range, speed, and power. In terms of knockback, it is considered the most powerful forward smash. 17% damage.
• Fox: Fox spin kicks, lunging forward onto the ground. Not an outstanding KO move, but good speed. 17% damage.
• Pikachu: Lets loose a powerful jolt of a electricity for great damage. Has a disjointed hitbox. 18% damage.
• Luigi: A huge, powerful punch attack similar to Mario's side smash. 15% damage.
• Captain Falcon: Delivers a spinning side kick imbued with fire (The fifth most powerful side smash along with Ness and Pikachu, knockback wise). 18% damage.
• Ness: Swings his baseball bat for a powerful attack. Can also reflect projectiles. 18% damage.
• Jigglypuff: Performs a lunging kick similar to Kirby's side smash in terms of speed. 16% damage.

Notes

• This game is notable for all characters having very powerful side smashes.
• Kirby's side is arguably the most feared in SSB. It is notable for being the most powerful, the fastest, and having lots of range for a lightweight.
• While Mario and Luigi are considered clones in SSB, Luigi's Side Smash does not have as much power as Mario's, but doesn't have as much lag.
• Ness's side smash has no sourspot in SSB, but in future installments, it has three sourspotted areas in Melee and Brawl. In addition, it is also weaker in Melee and Brawl than in N64.

List of forward smashes in Super Smash Bros. Melee

• Mario: Looses a blast of fire from his extended palm. Very poor range (stronger when used from not very close), yet very powerful and very quick. This move can also be angled.
• Luigi: Performs a horizontal spearhand. A quick move that can be angled up or down. 13% damage.
• Peach: Swings forward one of three items - golf club, tennis racket, or frying pan (the most damaging of the three). All three items have a disjointed hitbox.
• Bowser: Rears his head back, then headbutts forward. Noticeably long start-up, but definitely the strongest Smash Attack in Melee. 24% damage.
• Dr. Mario: Extends his palm, unleashing a powerful electric blast. Like Mario's side smash, but has more knockback and is stronger when used close to him.
• Donkey Kong: Claps forward with surprising speed and great knockback.
• Link: Slashes forward. The player can perform a second, stronger smash by hitting the A button or C-Stick immediately following the first attack. Decent reach on both slashes. The first hit has knockback growth, so at above 30%, it's impossible to land the second, stronger hit.
• Zelda: Zaps the foe with magic from her extended hands. Somewhat quick with slightly disjointed hitbox. Multiple hits.
• Sheik: Performs two rolling kicks forward. The first kick usually leads right into the second, which does knockback.
• Ganondorf: Lunges forward with an elbow thrust, much like Captain Falcon. Deals high damage and is imbued with shadow. Enemies are sent flying upwards. Second strongest side smash (only Bowser`s side smash is stronger)
• Young Link: Like Link's, this smash has a second available hit. This one is a bit faster with more horizontal knockback. The first hit is also weaker, so it is easy to trap foes and land both hits.
• Samus: Punches forward with her Arm Cannon. Quick, but not impressively strong.
• Yoshi: Slams horizontally with his head. Some start-up lag, but good knockback power.
• Kirby: Jumps forward while kicking. Good reach. 15% damage.
• Fox: Does a sort of spinning kick while jumping forward. A rather quick move, with enough power to make it a viable finisher. 15% damage.
• Falco: Performs a kicking attack much like Fox's, although it may be slightly stronger and has more knockback. 17% damage.
• Pikachu: Looses a thunder jolt from its cheeks. Great knockback and disjointed hitbox, but some start-up lag.
• Jigglypuff: Lunges forward while kicking. Some start-up lag, but strong nonetheless. 17% damage.
• Pichu: Zaps the foe with electricity from its cheeks, like Pikachu, but with less range. This move, however, scores multiple hits, and the last hit deals high knockback.
• Mewtwo: Blasts psychic energy from its palms. Decent reach, but weak knockback.
• Ness: Swings his famous baseball bat. A powerful move which can even reflect most projectiles.
• Captain Falcon: Thrusts his elbow forward. Good knockback, but considerable starting lag. The third strongest f-smash. 20% damage.
• Ice Climbers: Smashes both hammers forward, huge damage (more than Bowsers) and knockback if both are together, still decent if apart.
• Marth: This is considered by many to be the best forward smash in Melee. Marth slashes quickly from top to bottom, with a powerful sweet spot at the sword's tip. It is very fast, and gives good range.
• Roy: Much like Marth's, a huge vertical slash. Roy's, however, is slightly slower, but with amazingly strong knockback.
• Mr. Game & Watch: Hits the foe with a fire poker. Slow, but strong, with a long-lasting hitbox.

List of forward smashes in Super Smash Bros. Brawl

• Mario: Mario pulls his left hand back over his shoulder and thrusts his palm forward, releasing a blast of fire. A quick, ranged smash, and also quite powerful, especially when sweetspotted. Slightly disjointed hatbox. Like from Melee, the smash can be angled. 17% when sweetspotted, 14% sourspotted.
• Luigi: Luigi horizontally spears with his left hand. Most likely his best KO move, this is very quick and deals a great amount of knockback, one of the most powerful in the game, despite its very poor damage. Like Mario's side smash, it can be angled, and deals even more knockback when aimed upward. Even when uncharged, the attack can KO below 75% when angled upward. When the opponent's damage goes above 260%, this move will have more knockback than a reverse Warlock Punch. When this move is used while Pivoting, it has more power and is less laggy. Due to its great horizontal and vertical knockback, Directional Influence does not have great effect on the knockback of this attack. 14% uncharged, 19% fully charged.
• Peach: Peach swings with either a golf club, frying pan or tennis racket. Each weapon has varying knockback, damage and range. The tennis racket does little damage (12-16%) and has very weak knockback when sourspotted, but higher knockback when sweespot, doing 13-19% damage and is the strongest semi-spike in the game, enough to KO at mid percentage (from 60% onwards). The golf club has long range, does 15-21%, and decent power. The frying pan does the most damage, but doesn't have much knockback and has short range. When sweetspotted, it does 18-25% damage. At above 50%, the frying pan has decent vertical knockback. At above 100%, the frying pan is able to star KO the opponent when fully charged. Tennis racket and golf club can be use for edgeguarding. All three of them possess disjointed hitboxes.
• Bowser: Bowser reels back and headbutts forward. The most damaging forward smash in the game (does 46% damage fully charged) and has very high knockback and range, but since it has a long lag during start-up and cool-down, its effectiveness is limited.
• Donkey Kong: Donkey Kong claps his hands together in front of him. Has great knockback, especially when charged, and is quite quick compared to most smashes considering its power. It has both long range and good priority despite not having a disjointed hitbox.
• Diddy Kong: Diddy Kong slaps in front of him while spinning around, hitting first with a weak right arm then again with a strong left arm. It's also possible to smash DI the first hit to avoid being hit by the 2nd slap.
• Yoshi: Yoshi thrusts his head forward. Decent knockback (comparable to Mario's side smash). It can be angled, but is very hard to distinguish visually. 16% damage.
• Wario: Wario performs a shoulder charge, similar to that of the Wario Land games. Poor range, but above-average strength and extremely fast for a forward smash (9 frame attack). Has some amount of launch resistance (on frames 8-12). 19% uncharged, 26% fully charged.
• Link: Link swings his sword from side to side in front of him. This attack is a natural combo, for the attack button/C-Stick can be hit again to deliver a second, more powerful hit. First hit is now more powerful than Melee's, so the second hit is harder to hit with. The first strike is stronger at the tip while the second hit is stronger when close-up. Under some circumstances, this can do more damage than Bowser's forward-smash.
• Zelda: Zelda thrusts her arm out and lets loose a small burst of magic, which sucks foes in and deals multiple hits. The last hit has a lot of knockback. This is quite quick, powerful, and has a disjointed hitbox. Can be easily SDI'd out of. 17% damage.
• Sheik: Sheik spin-kicks forward twice. The first kick has less knockback and easily combos into the second, more powerful kick.
• Ganondorf: Ganondorf jams his elbow forward, similar to Captain Falcon's Forward Smash. Deals darkness damage. Stronger than Captain Falcon's and with more range, but slightly slower. It can be angled but it doesn't have an effect on damage dealt. One of the strongest side smashes in the game. The pivoted smash attack has more range than usual and has high shield stun. It has a disjointed hitbox. 24% uncharge, 33% fully charged.
• Toon Link: Toon Link performs an attack which is similar to Link's Forward Smash, and also a natural combo. However, the first slash delivers set vertical knockback, while the 2nd strike has good knockback, though it's evadable and can be blocked even if hit by the first strike.
• Samus: Samus shoves her arm cannon forward quickly but forcefully. It can be angled, but the attack is very weak even if it is angled upwards due to its below average knockback.
• Zero Suit Samus: Whips forward with her plasma whip. Great range, but has noticeable startup lag. Large disjointed hitbox, and hits behind her too. Not as powerful as a regular forward smash.
• Pit: Slashes forward twice with bow swords. Very fast with good knockback when not stale. It is one of Pit's finishing moves.
• Ice Climbers: The Ice Climbers overhead-swing their hammers to the ground. Does not deal as much knockback as in Melee.
• R.O.B.: R.O.B. lets loose a blast of electric energy from his eyes. It has a disjointed hitbox, has knockback that is useful for setting up a spike, but is a tad weak for a side smash. Can be angled.
• Mr. Game & Watch: Mr. Game & Watch overhead-swings a lighted match. Very powerful, with a long-lasting hitbox, making it difficult to punish.
• Kirby: Kirby lunges forward and jump-kicks. Quick start-up and good range, huge knockback and priority. It also can be angled. 15% uncharged, 21% fully charged.
• Meta Knight: Meta Knight pulls his sword back and slashes across with astounding force, dealing a good amount of knockback. One of Meta Knight's slowest finishers (24 frames start-up), although this attack is less laggy than most forward smashes due to almost no ending lag. 14% unchagerd, 19% fully charged.
• King Dedede: King Dedede overhead-swings his hammer very slowly. This attack is disjointed. It is incredibly powerful when hitting by the tip in the air or by the head on the ground, as they are sweetspots and deal 32% damage. It has the highest knockback for a side-smash in the game when hitting with the sweetspots. However, it is also the forward smash with the slowest start up (43 frames) and is very weak when sourspotted, only dealing 5% damage with minimal knockback. Less of a shockwave on the ground near the hammer. Strongest smash attack in the game.
• Olimar: Olimar commands a Pikmin to perform a ramming attack, causing it to fly forward while spinning. This attack has great range due to its disjointed hitbox, but only delivers powerful knockback only at close range, for strength decreases the farther the Pikmin travels. The knockback depends on the Pikmin used.
• Fox: Fox performs a forward cartwheel. It has moderate knockback and range. 15% uncharged, 21% fully charged.
• Falco: Falco does a slashing cross-chop. The most powerful side smash of the Space Animals, and very powerful in general. The attack is a bit slow and has some ending lag but it has pretty good range. It also has a huge sweetspot behind Falco. It is weak if hit by the tip. 15% uncharged, 21% fully charged.
• Wolf: Wolf stretches his arms in front of his body and thrusts forward, then twists his claws. This attack moves Wolf along the ground, starts quickly, is the longest ranging forward smash in the game, and often strikes opponents twice, but delivers below average knockback and has noticeable cool-down time (The third weakest in the game).
• Captain Falcon: Thrusts his elbows in a somewhat slow motion. It received a huge power and speed nerf from Melee. However, it is still powerful. It still has its psuedo-counter effect from Melee. 19% damage.
• Pikachu: Releases a burst of electricity from its cheeks. It has a huge disjointed hitbox, but has noticeable start-up lag. The closer the opponent is to Pikachu, the more strength this attack has. 20% at close range.
• Squirtle: Squirtle retracts into its shell and launches forward. Moderate knockback and damage. It has launch resistance frames.
• Ivysaur: Ivysaur plants two vines on the floor and thrusts itself forward with a lot of force. Cannot be shield grabbed until after it gets on its feet. Good knockback makes it a decent finisher.
• Charizard: Charizard while it rams its head forward and upwards, dealing two hits. It has long range, and amazing knockback, making it a great KO move, but it does have some start-up lag that accounts for this power.
• Lucario: Releases a burst of aura. Lucario's Aura ability does affect this attack; if Lucario is at low damage, it will be weak, while at high damage, it has great strength. It has some start up lag, but has IASA frames shortly after the hitbox ends allowing another forward-smash to be started without cooldown. Very hard to punish.
• Jigglypuff: Similar to Kirby, Jigglypuff jump-kicks forward. It has more startup lag and less range than Kirby's, and deals less knockback but more damage. 16% uncharged, 22% fully charged.
• Marth: Marth swings his sword from behind to the front over his head. It is very fast (hits on frame 10), has a great disjointed range and is very powerful when opponents are hit at the tip of the sword. When uncharged, though, a good DI can make super-heavyweight characters, like Bowser, can survive up to 200% (when it´s not hit by the tip). 14% at the base, 19% when tipped.
• Ike: Ike overhead-swings his sword forward to the ground. It is extremely powerful and has a great, disjointed range but is incredibly slow (it has about 30 frames start-up; the third longest) and terrible end lag (the longest out of any side smash) if he misses like most of his moves. It is slightly weaker at the tip though it is still very powerful.
• Ness: Ness swings his baseball bat forward, with significant start up lag. The tip of the bat is more powerful than the rest of it, and it can reflect projectiles. Great finisher. 24% uncharged, 33% fully charged if sweetspotted, 18% uncharged, 25% fully charged if sourspotted.
• Lucas: Lucas quickly swings his stick forward. This can also reflect projectiles. Similar to Ness, but is faster. It is a bit less powerful (though it stil has good knockback), and more reliable to reflect projectiles with because of its speed. Like Ness', it has a sweetspot on the tip of the stick for even more knockback. Even though weaker than Ness' baseball bat, it is an outstanding finisher if it connects.
• Snake: Snake slowly fires an RPG-7 at his feet. Large hitbox, can OHKO if fully charged anyone except Bowser without directional influence and used from the extreme end of Final Destination. Almost no vertical knockback but the second slowest forward smash in the game (It hits on frames 41-43) and quite short range for a powerful attack, even though it's disjointed. Best used as a surprise attack because it also deals high amount of shield stun and its great knockback, especially when near the edge of the stage.
• Sonic: Sonic punches in front of him. A good KO move, but it lacks in range and is slower than most of his other attacks. It can be angled. The tip of his fist has fairly high priority, enough to clash against swords and pass through the Mach Tornado. 14% uncharged, 19% fully charged.

Notable forward smashes

• Link, Young Link, and Toon Link have a second side smash that can be performed by tapping A again after completing the first slash.
• Ness's and Lucas's side smash is unique mainly because it allows them to reflect trajectory attacks, if timed correctly.
• Roy's side smash is one of the few finishing moves in his arsenal, having longer reach and a stronger knock-back than Marth's forward smash.
• Bowser's side smash is the most powerful smash attack in Melee, and the only one capable of KOing around 15 %, doing 32% fully charged, and can even send the Sandbag farther than the Home-Run Bat at certain percentages. In Brawl, it is powered up even more to 46%, making it the most damaging side smash.
• Wolf's forward smash has incredible range, and almost no start-up lag.
• Ike's side smash. Although it doesn't deal as much damage as a few of the strongest characters, it has the second highest knockback and extremely long range, though this is counterbalanced by considerable start-up (about 30 frames) and follow-up lag.
• Peach's side smash involves one of three randomly chosen weapons, each with varying range, damage, knockback and knockback angle, and also has a slight range behind her.
• Lucario's side smash (as well as its up smash) leaves a small ranged Aura residue from its paws, allowing Lucario to attack from a small distance. Also has IASA frames.
• Wario's side smash comes out very quickly, does decent damage, and has good knock-back, though it has poor range. However it is notable for its launch resistance and Transcendent Priority.
• Luigi's side smash has surprisingly high knockback. When angled up and fully charged, at +260% it has even higher knockback than the reverse Warlock Punch. That makes it the most powerful side smash at very high percentages.
• Ganondorf's side smash has very high knockback when fully charged and can KO almost any character at low percentages (from 30% onwards)
• Olimar's side smash is a projectile where Olimar throws a Pikmin. This is also true for his up smash and down smash.
• Mewtwo's side smash has a disjointed hitbox, giving it good range but poor knockback.

See also

• Down smash
• Up smash
• Forward smash chart