Hey, Smashers! The 0ne here, with my first guide on a topic that probably has never crossed your mind. What exactly ARE the "effects" that appear after I hit someone; more specifically, what do they actually mean? And why did you make a guide about it...?
Well, I'm here to answer that. And no, before you ask, they aren't purely aesthetic, which is why I made this guide. They actually do change gameplay, if in a very slight or even almost unnoticeable manner.
The effects I'm talking about appear after hitting an enemy with certain moves. That being said, the Rage Effect therefore is not on this guide. They are mostly visual, but many have SFX to go along with it, or in few cases, no visuals at all.
I will cover every effect that has been discovered to date, despite some of them being implemented in later iterations.
I'll list off all the effects I've managed to gather information on, including what each one does aside from how it looks.
dmg=Damage; KB=Knockback
Electricity
The electrical effect creates little blue and yellow sparks around the impact area, ranging in size, depending on how powerful the attack is. It sounds kind of like a low-pitched rumble with some quiet shock sounds.
Ex. Pikachu's Thunder
This effect
Fire*
The fire effect creates flames all around the victim, and in some cases, turns them a shade of red. It sounds like an explosion or something burning.
Ex. Ness's PK Fire
This effect
*In Project M 3.5, Luigi acquired his own unique "green fire" effect. It functions exactly the same as the red fire, but it just appears green. Funky!
Water
The water effect looks and sounds simply like water splashing on someone.
Ex. Greninja's Water Shuriken
This effect
Grass
The grass effect has the same visuals and audio as the Slash effect. It is the least common effect in Smash history, because the only two characters that possess it are Ivysaur in Brawl and Kirby if he were to copy Ivysaur.
Ex. Ivysaur's Bullet Seed
The only purpose this effect has is to deal 1.1x the dmg/KB to Squirtle and 0.9x the dmg/KB to Charizard in Brawl.
In the Subspace Emissary, all of the enemies except Primids that have resistance or weakness to the Slash effect have the same multipliers for the Grass effect.
The bury effect will do what you think it does: bury an enemy in the ground for a short time. If they are airborne, they will take normal knockback, and if they are already buried, the effect will not be reset with another burying attack.
Ex. Villager's Down Smash
This effect
Meteor Smash*
The Meteor effect occurs when an enemy is hit with a special kind of attack that sends them straight downward at 90° (with no DI) hurtling to their death like a meteor. In Smash 4, it has a special high-pitched KSSSHHHIIING not unlike the PING from a Home-Run Bat, almost like a nuke being dropped.
Ex. Link's new Dair
This effect
*This is not to be confused with a Spike, which is similar to a Meteor. It is not an effect. Rather, it's a move that sends the victim downWARD, as opposed to straight down. These are in every Smash game except Smash 4, and cannot be Meteor Cancelled.
Ex. Falco's and Marth's Dairs in Melee and PM, C. Falcon's nipple spike on his Dair, C. Falcon's aerial Raptor Boost, Lucario's Aerial Force Palm in PM
There are also Semi-Spikes, which sends the victim weakly at 45° downward, making them slide along the ground, so often, they can't be teched. Great for gimping, and also cannot be meteor cancelled. In every Smash game.
Ex. Fox's Reflector, back hit of Pikachu's, Ganondorf's, and Falcon's up-airs, Donkey Kong's Headbutt
Freezing/Ice
The freezing effect encases a character in a block of ice for a short period based on their current damage and the knockback dealt.
Ex. Kirby's Ice Breath
This effect
Reverse
The Reverse effect is another rare one: only Mario and Doc can pull it off in Melee and above, Pit in Brawl and PM, and the Mii Swordfighter and Jigglypuff's up-b custom in Smash 4. It turns the victim around 180°, and can reverse their momentum as well.
Ex. Mario's Cape
This effect
Sleep
This sleep effect puts a character to sleep, rather than have them take knockback. The time they are asleep for is dependent on their damage. Every character has a different sleeping animation and snoring SFX.
Ex. Jigglypuff's Sing
This effect
Trip/Slip
The trip effect guarantees a trip, as opposed to other moves that just have a chance of tripping.
Ex. Diddy Kong's bananas
This effect
Wario's uncharged Waft and the weak hit of his dash attack also have this effect, and nothing else.
Stun/Paralyze
The stun effect will stun a character for a short time, depending on their damage.
Ex. Zero Suit Samus's Paralyzer
This effect
Flower
A flower is planted on the victim's head that grows every time an attack with the effect is used.
Ex. Lip's Stick
This effect
The darkness affect appears during the tics of a White Pikmin and after many of Ganondorf's and Mewtwo's attacks.
Ex. Ganondorf's Warlock Punch
Despite White Pikmin using this same effect, they are not immune to Ganondorf's rampage of Gerudo terror.
Aura
The Aura effect is used only by Lucario, and by Kirby after a satisfying gulp. It produces blue flames similar in texture to the darkness effect.
Ex. Lucario's Max Aura
In Smash 4, when Kirby copies Lucario, his Aura Sphere is the size, speed and power of what Lucario's would be if he were at 70%.
Slash
The slash effect is another purely visual effect that I like to think is the opposite of a normal bash or hit, because it's a cut. There is a sharp slicing sound of varying intensities depending on the strength of the attack.
Ex. Meta Knight's Dimensional Cape
Toon Link's Master Sword has a bashing sound, and it bothers me because it sounds like a piece of cardboard.
PSI/Magic
The magic effect is a new one to Smash 4. It creates sparkles in a large area, and like the electricity effect, they grow depending on the power of the attack. It also sends them flying with sparkles trailing after them. It sounds like PWANG followed by twinkles in the background.
Ex. Palutena's Jab
It looks a lot cooler on Wii U.
OK everyone, those are all the different effects your moves will have throughout Smash, if you don't count a normal hit as an effect. You probably knew most or all of the effects already, but hopefully after reading this you learned a little something about what they really do.
Corneria-Fire (Lasers)
Wily Castle-Electricity (Yellow Devil Eye Lasers)
Brinstar-Fire (Plasma)
Gerudo Valley-Fire (Koume)
Ice (Kotake)
Jungle Japes-Meteor/Slash (Klaptraps)
PictoChat 2-Bury (Boots); Electricity (Sparks);
Unova Pokémon League-Fire (Reshiram); Electricity (Zekrom)
WarioWare-Bury (Boot/Foot in Jump Microgame); Slash (Arrows in Sidestep Microgame)
Flat Zone 2-Fire (Fire in Fire, Food in Chef)
Tortimer Island-Water
Smash Wii U
Mushroom Kingdom U-Water (Geysers); Slash (Urchins)
Delfino Plaza-Water
75m-Fire (Fireballs)
Jungle Hijinks-Fire (Cannons)
Bridge of Eldin-Fire (Bokoblin Bombs)
Pyrosphere-Slash (Ridley)
Norfair-Fire (Lava)
Orbital Gate Assault-Fire/Electricity (Lasers)
Kalos Pokémon League-Fire; Slash (Swords); Electricity (Rayquaza); Water; Darkness
Gamer-Stun (Mom)
The Great Cave Offensive-Fire (Danger Zones); Slash (Spikes in crystal zone)
Halberd-Fire (bomb); Electricity (Laser); Slash (Arms)
Gaur Plain-Slash (Metal Face)
Wily Castle-Electricity (Yellow Devil eye lasers)
PAC-LAND-Water (Hydrants)
Pilotwings-Water
Wuhu Island-Water
Wrecking Crew- Fire (Bombs)
Thanks for reading, folks! And remember: no fire around Blast Boxes, kids!
UPDATE: included every stage in both versions of Smash 4 that have stage hazards with special effects!
UPDATE2: added a footnote detailing Luigi's PM 3.5 green fire and added two new characters with the reverse effect.
UPDATE3: A new effect has been added! Say hello to Flower!
Well, I'm here to answer that. And no, before you ask, they aren't purely aesthetic, which is why I made this guide. They actually do change gameplay, if in a very slight or even almost unnoticeable manner.
The effects I'm talking about appear after hitting an enemy with certain moves. That being said, the Rage Effect therefore is not on this guide. They are mostly visual, but many have SFX to go along with it, or in few cases, no visuals at all.
I will cover every effect that has been discovered to date, despite some of them being implemented in later iterations.
I'll list off all the effects I've managed to gather information on, including what each one does aside from how it looks.
dmg=Damage; KB=Knockback
Elements
Electricity
The electrical effect creates little blue and yellow sparks around the impact area, ranging in size, depending on how powerful the attack is. It sounds kind of like a low-pitched rumble with some quiet shock sounds.
Ex. Pikachu's Thunder
This effect
- multiplies the freeze frames of an attack by 1.5x the time it'd have without the effect
- does not affect Yellow Pikmin in any way
- slightly increases the hitstun the attack would have without the effect
Fire*
The fire effect creates flames all around the victim, and in some cases, turns them a shade of red. It sounds like an explosion or something burning.
Ex. Ness's PK Fire
This effect
- thaws frozen characters
- detonates Blast Boxes instantly
- does not affect Red Pikmin in any way
- deals 1.1x the dmg/KB to Ivysaur and 0.9x the dmg/KB to Squirtle in Brawl
*In Project M 3.5, Luigi acquired his own unique "green fire" effect. It functions exactly the same as the red fire, but it just appears green. Funky!
Water
The water effect looks and sounds simply like water splashing on someone.
Ex. Greninja's Water Shuriken
This effect
- does not affect Blue Pikmin in any way
- deals 1.1x the dmg/KB to Charizard and 0.9x the dmg/KB to Ivysaur in Brawl
Grass
The grass effect has the same visuals and audio as the Slash effect. It is the least common effect in Smash history, because the only two characters that possess it are Ivysaur in Brawl and Kirby if he were to copy Ivysaur.
Ex. Ivysaur's Bullet Seed
The only purpose this effect has is to deal 1.1x the dmg/KB to Squirtle and 0.9x the dmg/KB to Charizard in Brawl.
In the Subspace Emissary, all of the enemies except Primids that have resistance or weakness to the Slash effect have the same multipliers for the Grass effect.
Active Traps
Bury
The bury effect will do what you think it does: bury an enemy in the ground for a short time. If they are airborne, they will take normal knockback, and if they are already buried, the effect will not be reset with another burying attack.
Ex. Villager's Down Smash
This effect
- immobilizes enemies for a short time, allowing for followups
- decreases the knockback the victim will take during the time they're grounded, because otherwise that'd be pretty cheap (cough stun effect cough)
- may cause a meteor smash in the air, depending on the move
- can be mashed out of
Meteor Smash*
The Meteor effect occurs when an enemy is hit with a special kind of attack that sends them straight downward at 90° (with no DI) hurtling to their death like a meteor. In Smash 4, it has a special high-pitched KSSSHHHIIING not unlike the PING from a Home-Run Bat, almost like a nuke being dropped.
Ex. Link's new Dair
This effect
- bounces an enemy upward if they miss the tech onstage, even if they're not airborne
- can be meteor-cancelled prior to Smash 4, meaning one can act after about 11 frames after the meteor smash hit
*This is not to be confused with a Spike, which is similar to a Meteor. It is not an effect. Rather, it's a move that sends the victim downWARD, as opposed to straight down. These are in every Smash game except Smash 4, and cannot be Meteor Cancelled.
Ex. Falco's and Marth's Dairs in Melee and PM, C. Falcon's nipple spike on his Dair, C. Falcon's aerial Raptor Boost, Lucario's Aerial Force Palm in PM
There are also Semi-Spikes, which sends the victim weakly at 45° downward, making them slide along the ground, so often, they can't be teched. Great for gimping, and also cannot be meteor cancelled. In every Smash game.
Ex. Fox's Reflector, back hit of Pikachu's, Ganondorf's, and Falcon's up-airs, Donkey Kong's Headbutt
Freezing/Ice
The freezing effect encases a character in a block of ice for a short period based on their current damage and the knockback dealt.
Ex. Kirby's Ice Breath
This effect
- makes the victim vulnerable to damage and usually a followup
- makes the victim immune to grabs while frozen
- sounds like a variation of the PING sound
- sometimes ignores shields, depending on the move
- freezes the victim at a certain percent based loosely on their weight (Jigglypuff will freeze starting at about 18%, but Bowser won't freeze until about 25%), otherwise the attack will just deal ice damage
- freezes the victim, but they can be thawed out immediately if hit by a fire attack
- can be mashed out of
- is considered a physical and/or an energy projectile depending on the move (ex. Ness's PK Freeze is energy, Mega Man's Ice Slasher is physical)
Reverse
The Reverse effect is another rare one: only Mario and Doc can pull it off in Melee and above, Pit in Brawl and PM, and the Mii Swordfighter and Jigglypuff's up-b custom in Smash 4. It turns the victim around 180°, and can reverse their momentum as well.
Ex. Mario's Cape
This effect
- ignores shields
- forces the victim to perform the opposite input or move in the opposite direction, usually causing death if used to edgeguard
- delays hitboxes slightly until the victim is reversed so the attacker usually won't be hit
- does not reflect projectiles, it's just that they're all also reflectors
Sleep
This sleep effect puts a character to sleep, rather than have them take knockback. The time they are asleep for is dependent on their damage. Every character has a different sleeping animation and snoring SFX.
Ex. Jigglypuff's Sing
This effect
- immobilizes the victim, allowing for followups
- can be be mashed out of
Trip/Slip
The trip effect guarantees a trip, as opposed to other moves that just have a chance of tripping.
Ex. Diddy Kong's bananas
This effect
- forces you to trip, which will allow for followups or tech chases. #trolled
- is different from laying on the ground after missing a tech. Such that the getup attack and rolls are different, jab locks are not possible, and the opponent can be grabbed. They can also escape the trip position faster.
Wario's uncharged Waft and the weak hit of his dash attack also have this effect, and nothing else.
Stun/Paralyze
The stun effect will stun a character for a short time, depending on their damage.
Ex. Zero Suit Samus's Paralyzer
This effect
- immobilizes the victim, allowing for followups (noticing a pattern?)
- can NOT be mashed out of
- deals its own knockback if an attack with greater knockback isn't applied before the stun ends
Other
Flower
A flower is planted on the victim's head that grows every time an attack with the effect is used.
Ex. Lip's Stick
This effect
- does dmg to the victim about twice or thrice per second with no hitstun or kb, but HELLA rumble
- can be mashed out of
- does more dmg per hit depending on the size of the flower
Purely Aesthetic
Darkness/Poison
The darkness affect appears during the tics of a White Pikmin and after many of Ganondorf's and Mewtwo's attacks.
Ex. Ganondorf's Warlock Punch
Despite White Pikmin using this same effect, they are not immune to Ganondorf's rampage of Gerudo terror.
Aura
The Aura effect is used only by Lucario, and by Kirby after a satisfying gulp. It produces blue flames similar in texture to the darkness effect.
Ex. Lucario's Max Aura
In Smash 4, when Kirby copies Lucario, his Aura Sphere is the size, speed and power of what Lucario's would be if he were at 70%.
Slash
The slash effect is another purely visual effect that I like to think is the opposite of a normal bash or hit, because it's a cut. There is a sharp slicing sound of varying intensities depending on the strength of the attack.
Ex. Meta Knight's Dimensional Cape
Toon Link's Master Sword has a bashing sound, and it bothers me because it sounds like a piece of cardboard.
PSI/Magic
The magic effect is a new one to Smash 4. It creates sparkles in a large area, and like the electricity effect, they grow depending on the power of the attack. It also sends them flying with sparkles trailing after them. It sounds like PWANG followed by twinkles in the background.
Ex. Palutena's Jab
It looks a lot cooler on Wii U.
OK everyone, those are all the different effects your moves will have throughout Smash, if you don't count a normal hit as an effect. You probably knew most or all of the effects already, but hopefully after reading this you learned a little something about what they really do.
Stage Hazards
Smash 3DS
Corneria-Fire (Lasers)
Wily Castle-Electricity (Yellow Devil Eye Lasers)
Brinstar-Fire (Plasma)
Gerudo Valley-Fire (Koume)
Ice (Kotake)
Jungle Japes-Meteor/Slash (Klaptraps)
PictoChat 2-Bury (Boots); Electricity (Sparks);
Unova Pokémon League-Fire (Reshiram); Electricity (Zekrom)
WarioWare-Bury (Boot/Foot in Jump Microgame); Slash (Arrows in Sidestep Microgame)
Flat Zone 2-Fire (Fire in Fire, Food in Chef)
Tortimer Island-Water
Smash Wii U
Mushroom Kingdom U-Water (Geysers); Slash (Urchins)
Delfino Plaza-Water
75m-Fire (Fireballs)
Jungle Hijinks-Fire (Cannons)
Bridge of Eldin-Fire (Bokoblin Bombs)
Pyrosphere-Slash (Ridley)
Norfair-Fire (Lava)
Orbital Gate Assault-Fire/Electricity (Lasers)
Kalos Pokémon League-Fire; Slash (Swords); Electricity (Rayquaza); Water; Darkness
Gamer-Stun (Mom)
The Great Cave Offensive-Fire (Danger Zones); Slash (Spikes in crystal zone)
Halberd-Fire (bomb); Electricity (Laser); Slash (Arms)
Gaur Plain-Slash (Metal Face)
Wily Castle-Electricity (Yellow Devil eye lasers)
PAC-LAND-Water (Hydrants)
Pilotwings-Water
Wuhu Island-Water
Wrecking Crew- Fire (Bombs)
Thanks for reading, folks! And remember: no fire around Blast Boxes, kids!
UPDATE: included every stage in both versions of Smash 4 that have stage hazards with special effects!
UPDATE2: added a footnote detailing Luigi's PM 3.5 green fire and added two new characters with the reverse effect.
UPDATE3: A new effect has been added! Say hello to Flower!
- Applicable Games
- Smash 64, Melee, Brawl, Project M, Smash 3DS, Smash Wii U
