The wall jump is a technique available to some characters starting from Super Smash Bros. Melee: it consists in 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 the wall. In Brawl, it can also be performed by pressing the jump button when touching a wall. A wall jumping character experiences a short period of invincibility at the moment they kicks off the wall. One cannot wall jump forever, as the height gained from each successive wall jump decreases until they actually lose height.
Additionally, all characters can perform a wall jump directly after wall teching. This technique is often used by players recovering against an edge-guarder.
Characters who can wall jump
*: These characters can also wall cling.
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, Luigi, Samus, Sonic, Mega Man and Pac-Man have performed wall jumps in their own series: Mario in Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, New Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Galaxy, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Super Mario 3D Land, New Super Mario Bros. 2, New Super Mario Bros. U, and Super Mario 3D World; 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 Unleashed, Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations; Mega Man in 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). Some characters unable to wall jump in the Smash Bros. series have been able to wall jump in their own games, including Luigi in New Super Mario Bros. (but not in Super Mario 64 DS, where it was a power unique to Mario) along with Donkey Kong and Kirby (the latter 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.
- Cloud, Toon Link, and Young Link are the only swordsmen that have the ability to wall jump.
- Luigi could wall jump in the E3 Demo Build of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, but cannot in the final game.
- 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 before version 1.1.3.