The wall jump is a technique unique to certain characters. Introduced in Super Smash Bros. Melee, wall jumping consists of the character momentarily clinging to the wall, then turning away, and finally jumping back. It is performed by touching a wall and then pressing the control stick or d-pad in the direction opposite to the wall. In Brawl, it can also be performed by pressing the jump button when touching a wall. One cannot wall jump forever, as the height gained from each successive wall jump decreases until they stop gaining any height at all. In Melee, a wall jumping character experiences a short period of intangibility at the moment they kick off the wall, until they are able to perform another action. This is no longer the case as of Brawl, but the intangibility still applies when the character performs a wall jump out of a wall tech, although this intangibility would later be removed in Ultimate.
Additionally, all characters can perform a wall jump directly after wall teching. This technique is often used by players recovering against an edge-guarder.
Wall jumpers
| Key | Normal | Wall clingers |
|---|
Origin
The wall jump is a common ability in platforming games. Several of the characters who have wall jumps here have had them in games of their own. Mario, Samus, Sonic, Mega Man and Pac-Man have performed wall jumps in their own series: Mario in Super Mario 64 and its sequel of sorts, Super Mario Sunshine, the New Super Mario Bros. series, the Super Mario Galaxy series, Super Mario 3D Land and 3D World, Super Mario Maker (only in the New Super Mario Bros. playstyle) and Super Mario Maker 2 (in the New Super Mario Bros. and 3D World playstyles), and Super Mario Odyssey; Samus in all games except Metroid, Metroid II, and Metroid Prime; Sonic in Sonic the Fighters (also known as Sonic Championship), Sonic Heroes (in the latter Sonic could do a horizontal wall jump known as the Triangle Jump), Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colors, Sonic Generations and Sonic Lost World; Mega Man in Mega Man: The Power Battle, Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters and Marvel vs. Capcom; and Pac-Man in Pac-Man World 3.
There is some debate as to whether or not Super Mario Bros. is the first instance of wall-jumping in Nintendo games, as in that game the technique was a glitch (which may have become noteworthy enough to be included as a real mechanic later on in Super Mario 64); however, the Mario series is generally given credit for popularizing the move.
Some characters unable to wall jump in the Super Smash Bros. series have been able to wall jump in their own games. Luigi can wall jump in the New Super Mario Bros. series (but not in Super Mario 64 DS, in which it was a power unique to Mario), in Super Mario 3D World along with Peach and Rosalina, in Super Mario Run along with Peach, Daisy, and Yoshi, and in Super Mario Maker 2. Luigi and Bowser Jr. can also wall jump in Mario Superstar Baseball. Donkey Kong can wall jump in Jungle Beat. Yoshi can wall cling in Super Mario Odyssey, however it is Mario who is controlling him. Kirby can wall jump with the ninja ability in Kirby Super Star, though it functioned more like a wall cling.
Trivia
- Pikachu, Mewtwo, and Dr. Mario are the only veterans to gain the ability to wall jump in games released after Melee.
- Pikachu gaining the ability to wall jump starting in Brawl accounts for part of the evidence of the fan theory that the Pichu from Melee evolved into the Pikachu in future games.
- Cloud, Toon Link, and Young Link are the only swordsmen that have the ability to wall jump.
- Byleth can also wall jump but only with his Up Special Sword of the Creator.
- Star Fox is the only universe with multiple fighters in which all fighters can wall jump.
- Luigi could wall jump in the E3 demo build of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, but cannot do so in the final game.
- In SSB4, Pac-Land is the only stage whose Ω form's walls cannot be wall jumped on.
- Kalos Pokémon League's Ω form also used to share this distinction in SSB4 before version 1.1.3.
- Little Mac's ability to wall jump is fairly unusual, as it not only contrasts with his otherwise notoriously weak aerial game, but also covers a decent amount of height as well.
- Inklings cannot wall jump in their own series. However, they can swim up walls that are covered in ink of their color. However, Inkling's wall jump animation does not involve them turning into their squid form whatsoever.
- The manual for Ultimate incorrectly stated that Simon could wall jump, but his name was later replaced with Pac-Man's.