For examples related to specific games, plus the Smash Tauntsnote , see their respective sub-pages:
- Super Smash Bros. 64
- Super Smash Bros. Melee
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl
- Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Super Smash Bros. - Smash Taunts
- The simple idea of seeing tons of characters from different genres and settings, art styles, physics (including dimensional spaces), tones, creators, world laws and heck, even races and species, fighting each other in stages from their own series and universes. It almost feel so surreal to be true. The first and second game in the franchise obviously was the start of this, although a bit more subtly (save for Mr. Game & Watch), with characters and stages from the Nintendo universe. However, from Brawl to Ultimate, different third party Guest Fighters started to appear, and there were no rules anymore (except that the characters had to be originated only from video games, which was especially notable with Sora's inclusion for Ultimate in mind). So now you can, for example, play as the M-rated semirealistic-looking witch Bayonetta teaming up with the more realistic-looking Solid Snake and the animesque Joker against the pixelated-esque cartoony-looking Pac-Man accompanied with the 2D 8 bit-like Mr. Game & Watch and the chibi-esque Villager in the Minecraft World in the same game.
- Whether you're fighting against other players or computers, any given battle in this series can be hilarious. This is usually the case when items are involved, as they add an element of randomness. Items or not, the ridiculous ways people get KO'd will usually make them laugh, often taking their loss in stride. Some players have made montages of these moments and uploaded them online, such as these two
examples. Even awesome moments like this can make people laugh, because of how over-the-top they are. - Since Melee, clearing almost any single-player mode gives you a picture from your character taken in-game. The development team times such pictures expertly enough that you often get stuff like what you see in this page.
- This commercial for Super Smash Bros. 64 is already funny in and of itself, as explained in its own page. However, it also becomes possibly the ultimate Hilarious in Hindsight in the series once you connect that game with the latter instalments, which also becomes something of a "Fridge Funny" for it. Think about this: if you pay attention, you'll realize that the gang formed by Mario, DK, Yoshi and Pikachu didn't start fighting (and, in fact, where just walking in peace) until Mario Smash Brawl-ednote Yoshi, meaning that it's possible that the events of Super Smash Bros. 64 started in that precise moment. So to make things clear: first, the fighters must defeat a god-like giant hand, then that same being with his erratic counterpart, along with Mewtwo, Ganondorf and Giga Bowser. Later, they must stop an even MORE powerful entity who controls that same hand and wants to turn every fighter of each universe (including two from non-Nintendo universes) into trophies; then the same hand and his counterpart once again, only this time with a BIG Shapeshifting creature made of unknown black particles that appears once you beat them. And finally, they have to cease the plans of the personifications of Light and Dark themselves who are fighting each other to decide who would take control of the entire video game multiverse via trapping everyone in their Pocket Dimensions, turn them into Spirits and use their bodies to create clones who serve them. And all of this disaster of biblical proportions - coupled with a ridiculous amount of playable and non-playable characters (who, let's remember, are all beating the snot out of each other, save for the non-fighting characters in Ultimate) and enemies (all including gods, angels, demons, and other otherworldly creatures, and even people who KILL gods, angels, demons, and other otherworldly creatures) from other franchises in general, and Pokémon (in which there are EVEN MORE powerful entities) - started... just because Mario had the brilliant idea of kicking Yoshi in the leg... The origin of Smash Bros., everybody. Butterfly Effect is just too kind to put it.
- The fact that that same commercial was one with people with costumes (and probably a plushie for Pikachu) accompanied with the song Happy Together compared to the more fleshed out characters and original music in the trailers (not to mention the more detailed animations in the more modern games) just makes this all the more hilarious!
- Jigglypuff's down-special, Rest, has it fall asleep. It seems utterly useless at first... but is actually an extremely powerful attack that KOs as low as 25% in Melee and 50% in 3DS/Wii U. Yes, Jigglypuff's strongest attack is falling asleep. The fact that it's never explained why it does this makes it even funnier. (Not counting Colonel Campbell's explanation of a buildup of energy in its center-of-gravity.)
- Whenever Peach hits someone in the head with her frying pan. Bonus points if it's Bowser, Mario, or someone more serious like Meta Knight. Just imagine the characters' reaction if they spoke.
- Starting in Melee, when a character gets knocked off-screen upwards in regular fights, there's a rare chance where instead of getting Star-KO'd, they end up getting launched into the screen. 3DS/Wii U makes this even funnier by having the character get stuck to the screen for a moment before sliding down. The look on their faces when this happens is definitely priceless.
- The Hammer is one of the deadliest items in the series, but starting in Melee, there's a chance of the hammerhead falling off, resulting in the fighter frantically swinging a harmless stick. The image alone is hilarious, and it only gets funnier if you proceed to hit them with the hammerhead.
- The Golden Hammer is even stronger than the regular Hammer, but its chance of failure is even funnier. A defective Golden Hammer is just a harmless squeaky hammer.
- Doubles as a Moment of Awesome, but beating an opponent using only Falcon Punch.
- Break Jigglypuff's shield. Watch her rocket upwards and self-destruct. Or, alternatively, cling to the ceiling for upwards of eight seconds.
(POP!) "Jigglypuuuuuuuuff!" (Twinkle in the Sky)
- In Multi-Man modes, most of the adversaries are generic and taken out with ease (Cruel being an exception). Sometimes, a normal playable character will show up among the generics too — and get taken out just as easily. This includes characters with high renown in their home games, like Snake or Marth; and characters who are supposed to be extremely powerful, like Ganondorf or Rosalina.
- Peach's neutral-special is using Toad as a Human Shield. At least until Ultimate, where he actively defends her.
- Super Sudden Death matches, where you can expect multiple KOs per second. It gets even better if you set the item appearance rate to the maximum and only allow powerful items such as Bob-Ombs and Hammers.
- Bowser's forward jump animation in Melee and Brawl is literally him doing his own rendition◊ of Mario's jump. There's just something about it that makes it both awkward and amusing.
- King Dedede's "ducking" animation in which he spreads out and lays on the ground in a sassy pose. Even funnier, for 3DS/Wii U allows players to transition directly into a roll attack from it and back, allowing them to keep the pose and still defend themselves. Then Ultimate gave him a smug expression.
- Goldeen's effect is to just splash around and do absolutely nothing. This is hilarious by itself, but then 3DS/Wii U introduces the Master Ball as an item, which only summons Legendary Pokémon and Zoroark... and Goldeen is still a summon. That's right; some poor sap threw their one-of-a-kind Master Ball at a common-as-dirt Goldeen!
