Item

Items can be picked up, wielded as weapons, tossed… There are all kinds of items! Weapons, single-use projectiles, crates, Poké Balls that explode into a Pokémon helper, and Assist Trophies that summon a classic helper from all over the gaming universe. The ultimate item is the Smash Ball, which fills whoever shatters it with Final Smash energy! Watch out for the Fake Smash Ball, which likely KOs whoever’s foolish enough to break it. (Tell them apart by which strip is thicker. A real Smash Ball has a thick vertical strip. If it’s a thick horizontal strip, stay back.)

Weapons can be swung with the Attack button and thrown as projectiles with the Grab button (or Grab command, the Attack+Shield buttons together).

Items that aren’t weapons can be thrown with either the Attack or Grab buttons. Unless an item is very heavy, you can usually jump and midair-jump while carrying it. Some items, like heavy crates or Wario’s ditched bike, are too heavy to jump while hefting them.

Whenever throwing an item, the speed and power of the throw can be increased by flicking the stick in a smash-style input as you press the button. This is called a smash throw, and you’ll know it works because the fighter flashes just like during a smash attack.

You can catch items the enemy has thrown at you, though this is risky, and you can even catch items you’ve thrown to yourself, whether tossing them straight up and then catching them, or jumping, dropping them in midair, then catching them on the way down before they hit the ground. Catching enemy items requires an immaculately timed Attack button press just as the thrown item arrives. Your own items can be caught on the ground with an Attack input, or in midair with a perfectly timed Grab input, if you want to forgo an attack whiff on the catch. There are all kinds of applications for specific fighters’ item options, which are covered in fighter chapters.

Depending on the game mode and environment, the selection of available items varies. In an eight-player free-for-all, on a big stage with all items enabled, you’re in for quite the chaotic party battle! In serious competitive environments, most or all items are usually disabled. This doesn’t mean item mechanics vanish totally, though, because several fighters can produce their own items. This includes fighters like Peach and Daisy with their turnips, Snake with his Hand Grenades, Diddy Kong with Banana Peels, and Bowser Jr. with motorized Mechakoopas, to name just a few.