Neutral special move
The neutral special move (officially referred to as standard special move, also known as neutral B, standard B, B move or simply B) is a special attack performed by pressing the special move button without holding a direction on the control stick. As the original Super Smash Bros. lacks side special moves, neutral specials can also be used if the stick is tilted sideways; with the introduction of side specials in Melee, some characters' neutral specials were changed to be side specials, with a new neutral special taking their place.
The majority of neutral specials are either a projectile or a strong single-hit attack that may be chargeable (and sometimes both). If a character has a single projectile, it is most likely to be their neutral special. Neutral specials also tend to not move the character.
Reverse neutral special move
A reverse neutral special move allows a character in mid-air to use a neutral special in the opposite direction that they're facing. This requires a different method than simply holding backward and pressing 'B', as this would activate the side special move. Instead, one must tap the control stick in that direction and allow it to return to its neutral position before pressing 'B'.
In Melee, Brawl, and SSB4, the player can perform a reverse neutral special move by tapping the control stick in the opposite direction they are facing right after they press 'B'. This can be done on the ground and in the air, although some characters will not reverse even when doing the input or have extreme difficulty doing so, such as Samus.
List of neutral special moves
| Attacks in the Super Smash Bros. series | |
|---|---|
| Standard ground attacks | Neutral attack · Dash attack |
| Tilt attacks | Forward tilt · Up tilt · Down tilt · Crouching attack |
| Smash attacks | Forward smash · Up smash · Down smash |
| Aerial attacks | Neutral aerial · Forward aerial · Back aerial · Up aerial · Down aerial · Grab aerial · Glide attack |
| Throws | Grab · Pummel · Forward throw · Back throw · Up throw · Down throw |
| Get-up attacks | Floor attack · Edge attack |
| Special moves | Neutral special move · Side special move · Up special move · Down special move · Command-input move · Final Smash |
