Super Smash Bros - Television Tropes & Idioms

alt title(s): Super Smash Brothers; Super Smash Bros Brawl; Super Smash Bros Melee

"Something's gone wrong in the happy-go-lucky world of Nintendo!"

Ladies and gentlemen...THE SUPEEEEEER SMAAAAAAAAAASH BROTHEEEEEERS!

Nintendo's very own Massive Multiplayer Crossover Fighting Game with a twist. Remember all those times when, as a kid, you put all your Transformers and GI Joe and Masters of the Universe toys together and made them fight (and you know you did)? Super Smash Bros. takes that idea and runs with it.

Characters from Nintendo's large stable of games, from Mario and Pikachu to Link and Samus Aran, face off in a four-player fight to the finish.

Unlike other games, however, the Smash Bros. series doesn't leave it at that. Several stages have platforms, bringing the carnage to multiple levels, while others have native dangers, such as rising acid and random airstrikes. In addition, various weapons will appear randomly on the field, from barrels and hammers from Donkey Kong, to beam swords (which look suspiciously like light sabers), Super Stars, the old SNES Super Scope, and even Pokeballs, which of course, release Pokemon to help you out. Instead of trying to knock the other player(s) out, players are instead attempting to knock them off the stage, forcing them off the sides, or just smacking them harder and harder, until they eventually go sailing off as A Twinkle In The Sky.

The first game, released for the Nintendo 64, is rightly regarded as one of the best games ever for the system. The sequel, Super Smash Bros Melee for the Gamecube, added even more characters, such as the oft-rescued princesses Zelda and Peach in addition to their oft-kidnappers Bowser and Ganondorf, a side-scrolling Adventure Mode, and collectible trophies. Two hidden characters in the game, Marth and Roy from the Fire Emblem series that until then was only released in Japan, led to that series getting a much larger worldwide audience and release, becoming another of Nintendo's flagship series.

The third game in the series, Super Smash Bros Brawl, adds in Final Smashes, brings back the long-absent Pit from Kid Icarus, and even features characters from outside Nintendo's stable, namely Sonic The Hedgehog and Metal Gear's Solid Snake, the former fulfilling a nearly two-decade-old fanboy dream.

Not to mention that the game now has an actual story: The Subspace Emissary tells of a world in which the characters (as implied in Melee) are trophies that come to life and fight each other, until the Subspace Army appears and tries to destroy the world. The characters team up with each other and battle through worlds inspired by Nintendo games while trying to stop the Subspace Army.

This game pretty much kicked off the Mascot Fighter sub-genre in one go.

This Games Series Is The Trope Namer For:

Marth Debuted In Smash Bros - Also Lucas & Starfy, to some extent. Inverted in Roy's case, as he really did debut in Smash Bros.
Multi Mook Melee - With several different timed and scoring variations.

And Provides Examples Of:

Airborne Aircraft Carrier - The Halberd and the Great Fox
Amazing Technicolor Battlefield - The Battlefield, Final Destination and all of Subspace.
Ascended Extra - Sandbag went from something you had to beat up in Home-Run Contests to not only something that you can beat up in the Online Waiting Room, but also something that pops up during regular battles that anyone can beat items out of.
Ascended Glitch - Brawl's Smart Bomb item has very similar properties to Melee's black hole glitch.
Ass Kicking Pose - Many of the taunts. One of Wario's is an ass-shaking pose.
Ass Kicks You - Peach's side special attack.
A Twinkle In The Sky - Occasionally happens to your character when he/she/it gets knocked above the upper blast line.
Artificial Brilliance - The AI in Brawl can actually learn from repeated matches, and is able to remember how to perform and counter certain tactics
Awesomeness Meter - The first and second games gives you bonuses at the end of a match for killing people in all sorts of different ways, for example while standing on the revival platform.
Badass Mustache - Fighters Mario, Luigi, and Wario have these.
Banana Peel - One of the items in Brawl. Also, they can be produced two at a time by Diddy Kong.
Bare Fisted Monk - Captain Falcon. No fancy gadgets or magic spells. It's just the fisticuffs, which are on fire for some attacks.
- Fisticuffs and the occasional KNEE OF JUSTICE!!!
- It should be noted that he has a gun, but it is always holstered.
- Ganondorf, virtually a clone of Captain Falcon, is another example.
  - Oddly enough, Ganondorf has a large sword he never uses. He is shown posing with it in his after battle Victory Pose
  - And his taunt!
Batter Up - Ness's frontal Smash Attack, and the Home-Run Bat item.
Beam Spam - Mario, Samus, Lucario, R.O.B., and Pokemon Trainer's Final Smash.
BFS - Ike's Ragnell
Big Badass Wolf - Wolf. Even going as far to be taller than Fox and Falco (Although you might not notice because he's always slouching)
Big No - Peach's star KO.
Big Yes - Captain Falcon.
Boss Rush - All-Star Mode in Melee and Brawl, where you fight everyone in the game; the last battle in Melee pits you against 25 (!) copies of Mr. Game & Watch.
- All-Star returns in Brawl (though this time going in chronological debut order — Mr. Game &Watch being first, and Olimar going last. Oddly, this only applies to the debut of the series, perhaps the most egregious example being Ness/Ninten and Lucas, who are separated by more than a decade in the release dates of their respective games.), and completing Subspace Emissary unlocks an actual Boss Rush.
Bragging Rights Reward - The various trophies. The stickers in Brawl would be considered this, if it wasn't that they are actually useful for powering up characters in SSE mode.
Breaking The Fourth Wall - The characters face the screen for many taunts.
- Also, Peach waves at the screen after she appears.
  - And Snake directly addresses the player when he debuts in Subspace Emissary.
Break Meter - The shield which can be used for defense will eventually break if used too much, stunning you for a short duration.
Broken Base - Brawl fans and Melee fans... it's best we leave this example at that.
Calling Your Attacks - Captain Falcon, Ness, Lucas, and Ike; Kirby tries, when he's copying these character's power-sets (and, oddly enough, R.O.B.'s), but it's mostly similar-sounding baby talk.
- You mean REALLY CUTE baby talk. FAWKON PAUNCH!
Canon Dis Continuity - None of Nintendo's arcade titles were listed in the Chronicle section in Brawl. Particularly strange, considering that graphics specifically from the arcade versions of Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. are used in their respective Nostalgia Levels.
Character Select Forcing - On Cruel Melee, you're pretty much restricted to Jigglypuff.
- Very Hard in Melee. See how well the Yoshi fight in this when the maker is using Roy goes compared to when he wasn't using Roy?
Chef Of Iron - Mr. Game & Watch uses a frying pan and the food flung from it as weapons and Peach uses one for her smash attacks sometimes, Kirby's Final Smash in Brawl has him cook his enemies.
Caramelldansen Vid - here.
Car Fu - Wario's motorcycle, and Captain Falcon's Final Smash.
Cast Herd: The All-Star Event matches in Melee and Brawl are laid out like this:
- Melee's All-Star Matches are grouped in Mario characters (Mario, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Peach, and Bowser), realisticly-designed characters (Samus, Link, Zelda, Captain Falcon, Fox), cutesy characters (Kirby, Pikachu, Ness, and Ice Climbers), the more unique secret characters (Marth, Luigi, Jigglypuff, Mewtwo, and Mr. Game & Watch), and the clone characters (Dr. Mario, Falco, Pichu, Young Link, Roy, and Ganondorf).
- Brawl's Solo All-Star Battles group the characters in the default veteran characters from the N64 game (Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox, and Pikachu), most of the default Brawl newcomers (Wario, Meta Knight, Pit, Zero Suit Samus, Oilmar, Lucas, Diddy Kong, and the Pokémon Trainer), the N64 secret characters (Luigi, Captain Falcon, Ness, and Jigglypuff), the returning Melee cast (Bowser, Peach, Zelda, Ice Climbers, Marth, Mr. Game & Watch, Falco, and Ganondorf), and the rest of the Brawl newcomers (King Dedede, Ike, Lucario, R.O.B., Toon Link, Snake, Sonic, and Wolf). The only Co-op All-Star Battle decided heck with it and threw everyone at you (with Samus invariably appearing as either herself or Zero Suit Samus).
Character Tiers. - Oh GOD Character Tiers. The arguments about which characters fit where are often heated before any structured metagame appears, with the main Game Breaker character emerging a few months after the games release. This of course is mixed up with those who declare that tires don exits.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder - Ganondorf in Subspace Emissary.
Collapsing Lair - Luigi's Mansion. He's not just the Butt Monkey anymore; he's The Chew Toy. Too bad he didn't get insurance on it...
Color Coded Multiplayer - Distinctive for a game with Polygonal Graphics.
Combination Attack - Pokemon Trainer's Final Smash.
Complacent Gaming Syndrome - Overlaps with Stop Having Fun Guys.
Completely Missing The Point - The cover of Ashley's theme from Wario Ware: Touched! used in Brawl essentially sounds like a pop song... which completely contrasts how the song was originally done, as the original version is pretty much fitting to Ashley's character.
- Many people consider the Lyrical Dissonance to be an improvement.
  - In fact, Lyrical Dissonance is the entire point of the original Japanese version of the song.
Contested Sequel - Brawl, and how!
Counter Attack - Peach, Marth, Ike, Lucario, and to some extent ^*
^{it does not really absorb and counter the attack, but his Reflector has invincibility frames and strikes the opponent}
Wolf in Brawl. Peach, Marth and Roy in Melee.
Cosmetic Award - The trophies in Melee and Brawl.
Convection Schmonvection - Falling to the lava damages you, but being near it is A-OK. Also, in Brawl Lylat Cruise is a platform in space that throughout the background loop enters Corneria's atmosphere with no ill effects.
- In a hidden conversation the Star Fox characters make a Lampshade Hanging about the latter.
- The trope is also inverted in Brawl where the Ice Climber's Final Smash (a huge and chilly iceberg) damages anyone in its vicinity.
The Cover Changes The Meaning - Snake's victory theme is Metal Gear Solid's Memetic Game Over theme. You know...
Crack Pairing - Samus/Pikachu, a Moe Couplet latched on to tongue-in-cheek by the fanbase, referencing obsessive shippers and the amount of creepy fans Samus has recently acquired.
Crossdressing Voices - Kirby, Ness, Young Link, Toon Link, Popo, Pit, Lucas and Pokémon Trainer.
Crosshair Aware - The Dragoon item, Snake's Final Smash and the Halberd's laser.
Crossover - The series' concept.
Crowning Moment Of Awesome - The cutscenes for Brawl's story mode, Subspace Emissary, are full of these.
- Super Smash Bros. Metagame is utterly incredigasmic.
  - WOMBO COMBO!!!, often imitated...
Crowning Music Of Awesome - So many. This game takes nearly every single awesome piece of music from every Nintendo game EVER, throws in some remixes, adds a few new tunes, and makes a soundtrack from it. It's exactly as awesome as you would think it would be.
- All 260 tracks of it. Have a nice Archive Binge!
Deadly Doctor - Dr. Mario
Desperation Attack - You might not notice it at first because only Event No. 25's description merely implies that this is the case, but Lucario's Aura attacks become more powerful the more damage he takes.
- Also the Pity Final Smash that you get as soon as you have 5 lives less than the best player.
Did Not Do The Research and Discontinuity: Some of the trophies in Melee and Brawl seem to pull facts completely out of left field. Surely it's got to be the same K. Rool between Donkey Kong Country games, not twin brothers... right?
- Baby Mario is clearly wearing overalls on his Brawl trophy, contrary to its accompanying description.
Ditto Fighter - A variation: To choose a fighter randomly in tournament mode, you pick Ditto.
- Also, Melee originally had Ditto as a Pokéball Pokémon. It would copy the summoner and attack everyone else. It was taken out because it crashed the console.
Divergent Character Evolution - Luigi in the first game played nearly identical to Mario. In Melee, he gained the Green Missile — completely different from Mario's Cape — and his Super Jump Punch goes straight up rather than an angle. In Brawl, his Super Jump Punch was altered yet again so that Luigi flips over in the air as he does this. As well, every returning clone character has been affected by this between Melee and Brawl to some degree.
Double Jump - All characters can do this, some have even more than 2 jumps, such as Kirby, and most up specials count as jumps.
Downer Ending - In Classic mode in Brawl, your character is reduced to a trophy as a music box plays a bittersweet rendition of the theme. (Possibly not the case, as it does the same with your Final Smash after winning All-Star Mode
Drop The Hammer - King Dedede and the Ice Climbers. To a lesser extent Kirby, who uses a hammer for a single special move. To say nothing of the regular hammer item, or the Golden Hammer in Brawl.
Early Bird Cameo - Roy appeared in Melee before Fire Emblem 6 was released. Quite a few Melee trophies were from as-of-then unreleased games. Gekkos from Metal Gear Solid 4 appeared in Brawl before that game's release (in fact, that stage's entire background action is a shoutout to the final portion of MGS4 with Snake vs. Ocelot). In a strange example, Marth's appearance in Brawl is based on his appearance in the as of now (unreleased at the time of Brawl's release) released ~~FE11~~ Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon.
- And a musical cameo: part of the bridge in the Waluigi Pinball remix (which is also Wario's winning theme) comes from music in the then unreleased Wii game Wario Land: Shake It!
Early Installment Weirdness: The first game has a very different tone compared to the sequels.
Ermine Cape Effect - Peach and Zelda wearing their royal dresses in the games.
Evil Counterpart - Oddly enough, Crazy Hand to Master Hand, since it's supposed to represent the player being extra mean to his "toys".
Everythings Better With Spinning - some attacks, but Olimar is notable because he has two that fall under this, both being among his moves that don't require his Pikmin, and not to mention 2 of his taunts.
Exploding Barrels, and crates, and capsules, and party balls.
Extreme Omnivore - Kirby, Dedede and Wario. For some inexplicable reason, not Yoshi.
Fake Balance (quite a bit of it, in fact)
Fan Dumb - Let's just say that it exists.
Fan Nickname - Captain Falcon's KNEE OF JUSTICE!!!
- Ganondorfs SPARTA Kick.
- And don't forget King Dedede's BIG GAY DANCE!
- There are many more, for example the the Zap Jump, or Mario's Yeeha.
- Ganondorf's Palette swap "Old Manondorf", also referred to as Sean Connery, is worth mentioning.
  - So he's the Man now Dog?
  - This troper and his friends call that version "Ganondalf." So much so, in fact, that this troper has accidentally written "Ganondalf" on a character sheet.
Fan Haters - If you favor Brawl over Melee, you'll be condemned as a casualfag who should burn in Hell. Likewise, if you like Melee more than Brawl, you're automatically a Stop Having Fun Guy. In some circles of the internet, the Scrub label can be thrown at you just for liking any game in the series.
Fantasy Gun Control - Due to wanting to keep it more or less kid-friendly, the only weapons Snake carries in Brawl are explosives (Rockets, grenades, etc). Whether guns are more tame than rocket launchers is a question for the ages.
Finger Gun: one of Master Hand's attack, which can fire up to three missiles.
Fire Breathing Diner - An item in Brawl is a plate of super-spicy curry that lets you breathe fireballs. You also erupt in a fiery aura. If you stand still, you can even get to see the character dance in agony. Oh yeah, question. How does R.O.B. eat that anyways? Organic matter converter?
Flechette Storm - Sheik's neutral special move.
Floating Continent - Most stages are floating platforms, others are just tall buildings. Also, there's the Isle of the Ancients in the Subspace Emissary.
Fragile Speedster - Fox, Pikachu, Sheik, Falco, Sonic, Pokemon Trainer's Squirtle, Pichu in Melee, Meta Knight, Zero Suit Samus, and to some extent Kirby.
Freaky Friday Flip - In Brawl, the Pokemon Manaphy's Heart Swap move causes you to play as an opponent's character temporarily. However, you have the same lives, so you can't commit suicide to your advantage.
Fridge Brilliance - Snake's codec call regarding Sonic can very easily be taken as a giant Take That by Nintendo or Konami against Sega. But then, one remembers that in the wild, hedgehogs prey on snakes and are immune to their venom.
- Also, why is Crazy Hand the Evil Counterpart to Master Hand? Because he's the left hand, which makes him sinister.
Friendly Fireproof - Team Battles. Can be turned off and does not work with explosives that also hurt the user (Link's bomb, Snake's grenade, …).
Game Mod - Two Main Projects: Brawl+ (which changes everything from attack damage to game physics) and Balanced Brawl (which mostly changes character specific deficencies and game breakers), as well as Texture Mods for Characters and Stages.
Game Shark - Of course, multiple codes are available for most games. However, sometimes a glitch will occur in the 64 version making it impossible to play any character but Mario(regular costume) in 1-Player Mode. It's unwinnable if you hadn't played through with all 8 main characters.
Gangplank Galleon - The Pirate Ship stage.
Gasshole - Wario, whose "Wario Waft" attack is actually an explosive fart.
Giant Hands Of Doom - Master Hand and Crazy Hand.
Glowing Eyes Of Doom - Whenever a character picks up a Smash ball in Brawl.
Gratuitous English - Common in the Japanese versions of the games.
Greek Chorus - Snake's conversation with Otacon, Mei Ling, and the Colonel in Brawl. Also, the Star Fox and Star Wolf transmissions in Melee and Brawl.
Green Hill Zone - Battlefield in Brawl. The original Green Hill Zone appears in the game as well, but does not fit the trope with its unorthodox shape, randomly appearing obstacle and breakable floor.
Good Bad Bugs - so many, for example Wavedashing and Zap Jumps.
Goomba Springboard - Goomba itself and Koopas, both in Melee's and Brawl's Adventure Modes, and Brawl's Footstool Jump.
Guest Fighter - Sonic and Snake obviously do not come from Nintendo franchises.
Hey Its That Voice - Nobuyuki Hiyama, Hikaru Midorikawa, and Jun Fukuyama voice the three main swordsmen (Link, Marth, and Roy, respectively) in Melee.
- So the three of them have been around giant robots, eh?
- Pit's Japanese voice is Minami Takayama, AKA Detective Conan.
- Naturally, David Hayter, Christopher Randolph, Paul Eiding, Rob Paulson and Kim Mai Guest reprising their Metal Gear Solid roles.
- Lucas (and Pit in the English version) is voiced by Lani Minella, known as the current Ivy and the former (Pre-Shadow The Hedgehog) Rouge the Bat (the latter role makes it quite amusing considering Sonic's presence)
- Vegeta voices Captain Falcon. So his Falcon Punch power level must be Over ~~9000~~ 8000!!!
- The reason why the Ice Climbers are so strong: Popo is really Allen Walker and Nana is really Lucy.
- Goku voices Lucario. Kind of funny when you realize that Lucario's final smash resembles Goku's Kamehameha.
- And if you at all find the announcer in Brawl's voice familiar, chances are you watched Bill Nye as a kid since that's Pat Cashman, announcer for Bill Nye and the Seattle-only Almost Live.
- The voice over in the commercial for the original game (linked above) is none other than Mr. Movie Trailer himself, the late great Don La Fontaine
I Know Madden Kombat - Princess Peach, who uses a golf club and tennis racket in battle. Waluigi as an assist character, also fights with a tennis racket.
Improbable Weapon User - for exmple Peach and Ness.
Interesting Situation Duel - At least half of the stages.
Interface Screw - Togepi's Night Shade, the Nintendog, and, to some extent, Tingle's flowers and Signor Resetti in Brawl. And guess what? Computer opponents aren't affected by these AT ALL.
Invulnerable Attack - Final Smashes.
- There is also Super Armor which makes the attacker invulnerable only to knockback, not damage. Two moves that are well known for having Super Armor are Ike's Aether and Olimar's Whistle.
Joke Character - Pichu arguably falls under this — he's a clone of an existing character; much smaller and lighter than the main cast, allowing him to get knocked around pretty easily; and any special moves he uses also cause damage to him. Some of his attacks are actually more powerful than Pikachu's, but the charge time and range of them don't quite make up for it.
Jungle Japes - Most of the Donkey Kong stages, including Jungle Japes itself.
Kame Hame Hadoken - Lucario's Smash attack
Kill All Humans - the AI will always favor attacking human targets.
- Except teammates. And low-level AI won't always follow that rule either.
Killer Yoyo - Ness' up and down smash attacks.
- Even the charge up animation does damage, which led to a difficult-to-perform-but-incredibly-powerful glich in Melee.
Kobayashi Mario - Endless Melee/Brawl.
Lag Cancel - Z/L canceling in 64 and Melee removes the lag on air moves by landing and removing the lag of landing by shielding.
- Its absence in Brawl is one of the pro-Melee arguments, since many of the slower, laggier characters in the game actually needed it to keep up with the likes of Marth.
Large Ham - Captain Falcon, using his "FALCON, PUNCH!!!!"
- And, strangely, Metaknight. "Know my power!"
  - And Sonic. "Sonic's the name, speed's my game!!"
Law Of Inverse Recoil - So far, the only weapons to show any discernible recoil are Diddy's popguns, Mario's FLUDD attack in Brawl, and... Mewtwo's psychic blasts. Wait, what?
- And Lucas' PK Fire. Look closely at Fox, Wolf, and Falco when they use their Blasters, and you notice that they do have some minor recoil.
- Lucario's Aura Sphere has obvious recoil when used in midair.
Lens Flare - Used for Marth's glowing sword in his Super Move Portrait Attack.
Lethal Joke Character - Jigglypuff in Melee, Mr. Game & Watch (currently 8th best out of 37) and Olimar.
- Also Luigi in Brawl. The announcer even makes fun of him.
Lethal Lava Land - the Norfair stage
Level Five Onix - Heavier, scarier characters like Bowser and Ganondorf tend to be flat-out worse than surprisingly powerful speedsters like Marth and Meta Knight. Somewhat improved in Brawl, though Ganondorf's currently bottom tier.
Lylat System - Lylat Cruise, obviously.
Magic Versus Science - If Snake gets a Codec description on Sheik, Mei Ling only manages to say that Zelda turns into Sheik through magic before their conversation veers into this.
The Mario - THE Mario, natch. Also, in comparison to the other two Pokémon the Pokémon Trainer has, Ivysaur could be considered a Mario.
Masochist's Meal - The superspicy curry.
Mega Manning - Kirby.
Mercy Invincibility - After you lose a life, after you grab a ledge and when getting up after tripping or having got footstooled.
- Instead of simply getting up you can do an Invulnerable Attack.
Medley - Brawl has an Ocarina of Time medley for the Bridge of Eldin stage. The new Temple theme is a mash of The Great Temple and the normal Temple theme, both from Zelda II.
- There's also a Kirby Boss Theme Medley for the Halberd.
- There are also a number of medleys that aren't labeled as such—for example, "Tal Tal Heights" is a medley of the overworld music for the three Gameboy Zelda games and Tal Tal Mountain Range from Link's Awakening, "Song of Storms" has, in addition to the titular song, Gannondorf's theme and Serenade of Water, "Title (Legend Of Zelda)" has the dungeon music mixed in, "Butter Building" is a medley of Butter Building, Green Greens, and the title screen for Kirby's Dream Land, etc.
Memetic Mutation - The "FALCON PUUUUUUNCH!", Ike's "I fight for my friends" victory line, "TIRES DON EXITS", etc.
- No Items! Fox only! Final Destination!
Meta Guy - Snake's conversations in the codec describing the bizarre logic of the Nintendo characters.
Meteor Move - All 3 types described on the trope page appear in-game.
Mighty Glacier - DK, Bowser, Ganondorf, King Dedede, Ike, and Pokemon Trainer's Charizard.
Mini Game - Target Test, Homerun Contest and others. Brawl also lets you play timed demos of several Nintendo "masterpieces".
Misguided Missile - Duon, thankfully.
Mushroom Samba - Luigi's Final Smash certainly looks like one, and the effects it has on characters stuck inside its effect radius also count.
- ZA WARUDO!
Nerf - The most infamous example is Kirby's going from one of the best characters in the original game to one of the worst characters in Melee. Pikachu and Ness also received major nerfs. As for Brawl, one of the reasons why some people refuse to play it is because of the large number of top-tier characters in Melee who became bottom-tier.
Nightmare Fuel - It even has its own page!
Nostalgia Level - Not only of certain game levels, but previous Smash stages as well.
Older Than They Look - Lucas and Ness.
Old Save Bonus - In Melee, if you had Pikmin saved on your memory card, it would unlock the Captain Olimar trophy.
One True Pairing - Snake/Samus, for many Brawlers.
Out Of Character Moment - Ike and Marth's lines in-game are often at odds with their actual personalities from their original appearances in Fire Emblem.
Personal Space Invader - The ReDeads in Melee, making a crossover from The Legend Of Zelda.
- Don't forget the LikeLikes in the same level.
  - And the Bucculus in Subspace Emissary.
Painting The Fourth Wall - Occasionally when characters get knocked off the top of the stage, they smash into the screen on the way down instead of getting star KOed.
Paper Fan Of Doom - The item. Do not be fooled, especially in Multi Mook Melee mode.
Petal Power - Peach's final smash.
Pimped Out Dress - Brawl has Peach's most elaborate form of her dress yet.
- Costume Porn - All the characters have really awesome outfits this time around.
Pocket Protector - The Franklin Badge, as well as the Reflectors used by the Star Fox team.
Power Creep Power Seep - Mewtwo is Uber tier in the Pokemon series. In Melee, he's bottom tiered.
Power Glows - Also whenever a character picks up a Smash Ball.
Power Floats - Again, the Smash Ball.
Powers That Be - Master and Crazy Hand.
Princesses Prefer Pink - Both Peach and Zelda.
Proud Warrior Race Guy - Pit seems to have become this.
Reflecting Laser - ROB's laser will literally bounce off stage elements, and frame-perfect shielding of a projectile will either make it continue to fly in almost the same direction, but diagonally upwards, or reflect it back, still flying upwards.
- Also, 11 characters^*
  ^{Fox, Ness, Falco, Wolf, Zelda, ROB, Mario, Dr. Mario, Pit, Lucas, Dedede}
  and 3 items^*
  ^{Franklin Badge, Gardevoir, Gray Fox}
  have reflectors, that reflect projectiles back at 180 degrees exactly.
Replacement Scrappy - Lucario for Mewtwo, for a few of the latter's fans.
Rule Of Cool: The game's main reason for existing.
The Scrappy - Pichu.
Scrappy Level / That One Sidequest - Cruel Melee/Brawl, along with Battlefield Fortress in Subspace Emissary & the Boss Battles in Brawl.
Scrappy Mechanic - While the series' Broken Base as a result of Brawl is epic there's one constant- no-one will suggest that characters randomly tripping and falling on their faces when they try to move was a good addition to the gameplay.
- Almost no-one, as some people do and even abuse the mechanic. You can use an attack to stand up from a trip, just like having been knocked down, which gives you a fairly strong attack on both sides of you, while you're temporarily invincible.
- It's also led to some fairly hilarious pictures. Especially with Captain Falcon; the man just looks so darn sad when he trips.
Scrub - casual players who force their house rules and playstyles on everyone around them, not realizing that they're no better than the Stop Having Fun Guys who diss them for playing with items. Ironic.
- Also commonly misused by some of the more obnoxious tournament players to refer to anyone who isn't a tournament player.
Sequel Displacement: When Melee was young, a number of fans failed to realize that there was a game that came before it, despite the information being in Melee.
Shifting Sand Land / Underground Level - Mushroomy Kingdom.
Shout Out - The Trophy Room is a veritable treasure trove of shout-outs to Nintendo's library, and the series itself can be considered one massive Shout Out to everything Nintendo. Brawl includes a non-videogame shoutout with the song "Go K.K. Rider!", which is arranged in the style of the original theme of Kamen Rider.
Skill Gate Characters - several, with a non-typical example in Pit
Slippy Slidey Ice World - The Ice Climber stages, Pokémon Stadium's ice transformation and anything made with the ice blocks in Stage Builder.
SNK Boss - Crazy Hand, Giga Bowser and Tabuu. And the opponents in Cruel Melee/Brawl mode.
Shotoclone: Mario, Luigi and Dr Mario all have an uppercut and a fireball as special moves, and focus on melee. Lucario as well.
Some Dexterity Required - Notably averted, since the controls are relatively straightforward and don't involve huge button combos. While that might not be a big deal from a Nintendo game, it is a big deal from a fighting game.
Soundtrack Dissonance - The TV commercial for the first installment showed Mario and DK ganging up on Yoshi to the sounds of "Happy Together" by the Turtles.
- Presumably, the infamous Lost Tracks of Brawl featuring Beware the Forest's Mushrooms from Super Mario RPG, Ballad of the Windfish from Link's Awakening, and Because I Love You, Eight Melodies, and Smiles and Tears all from the Mother Universe were rejected from the 200+ song playlist of Brawl - talk about the irony of beating your friends while "listening to a song about friendship..."
- Not to mention a few songs that did make the game: Ai No Uta comes to mind.
Sphere Of Destruction - Subspace bombs in Brawl basically eat perfectly spherical chunks of the universe, sending them into the sub space zone.
Spoony Bard - Some fighters have unique traits compared to others. For example, we have Kirby, who copies the abilities of other fighters; the Pokémon Trainer, who stays in the backround and lets his three Pokémon do the fighting for him; and the Ice Climbers, whom there's almost always two of.
Spy Catsuit - Two Guesses.
Stab The Sky - One of Marth's taunts in Brawl. Also, his up-smash attack and what he does just before he uses his final smash.
Stop Having Fun Guys - No items! Fox only! Final Destination!
Super Move Portrait Attack - most Final Smashes use the alternate version.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute - In Brawl, 12 years old, Ocarina wielding Link is replaced by...12 years old, Baton wielding Link. Despite their proportions, you can count the differences between them on one hand.
Sword Lines - The second type. Even the Ice Climbers' hammers have them.
Take A Third Option - Competitive or casual? How about you play like a man? If only, right?
Take That - The game's website includes a screenshot of a player whose message is "real men use items!", a jab at the no-items-allowed Stop Having Fun Guys mentality some tournament players have.
- Some people think that Starfy's general uselessness as an Assist Trophy is a jab from Sakurai (maker of Kirby) at the Starfy series (whose fans have a sort of Dueling Shows rivalry with Kirby's fans). The line "Stafy, why did you even come here?" in his Dojo update is probably what cemented the idea.
Temple Of Doom - The Zelda-themed "Temple" stage, and the Ruins from the Subspace Emissary.
That One Boss - Tabuu, again. Also, Porky, and Giant Shadow-Bug Diddy Kong.
The Computer Is A Cheating Bastard - Invisible Mode, nuff said.
The Lethal Connotation Of Guns And Others - Snake cannot use guns. Not even a tranq. Of course, grenade launchers and missiles that would cause a very bloody death in his own game can be used.
There Is No Kill Like Overkill - fan fan fan fan fan fan fan fan fan fan fan fan fan fan fan Critical Hit!
Time Keeps On Ticking - At least in Break the Targets, and probably the other timed missions.
Timed Mission - Target Breaking, Zebes Escape, and Home Run Contest, among others.
Title Scream - Both the original and Melee, but not in Brawl, much to the disappointment of some fans.
Tournament Play - Melee has a thriving tournament scene to this day.
Thong Of Shielding - Two. Guesses.
Training Dummy - The Sandbag.
Try Not To Die - "Try to stay alive, huh Fox?"
Ultimate Showdown Of Ultimate Destiny - Sonic vs. Mario, Snake vs. Mario, original Pokémon vs. new Pokémon, Olimar vs. Diddy Kong, etc.
Unpleasable Fanbase - People like to complain that their favorite characters didn't make the selectable roster. Geno, Ridley, and Isaac are among the most popular suggestions.
Urban Legend Of Zelda - Rumors of Sonic and Tails being unlockable characters in Melee.
- In Brawl, the very same rumors actually came to fruition this time around — at least for Sonic. (Tails is just randomly-occurring stage decor, along with Knuckles and Silver.)
- The announcement that Solid Snake would be joining the roster led to dozens of rumors about other possible characters, including Simon Belmont and Mega Man.
Victory Pose - The winner of each match does one at the results screen, and some of the taunts count. In fact, You gain points for taunts after a KO in the N64 original and Melee.
- You also got points for attacking someone who's in the middle of a taunt.
Video Game Flight - Most characters with wings have several extra jumps. It's not quite "flight," but close. Winged characters can also glide in Brawl.
The Voiceless - Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, King Dedede, and Bowser were reduced to grunts, screeches, and roars in the Smash series, while they're perfectly capable of speaking in other games. Additionally, Brawl does not take advantage of Yoshi's expanded vocal vocabulary in the recent games, and while Olimar can say his own name in Pikmin 2, in Brawl he does not speak AT ALL. Ironically, the classically mute Samus has three lines as Zero Suit Samus.
Wall Jump - The ones that can do it in their games do it here, and many others gain that ability.
What Do You Mean Its Not Awesome - Three words - Orchestrated Pokemon music (at least the Viridian city song).
- Even more so - Orchestrated Tetris music.
White Gloves - Master and Crazy Hand embody this trope. Pun intended.
You Should Know This Already - Quite a few of the plot points in various games are ruined by stages or trophy descriptions. For example, Sheik's true identity is obvious once you press down-B in Melee, and at least three major points in Mother 3 are ruined by various appearances in Brawl.
- Not to mention Zero Suit Samus.
- The Mother 3 spoilers are particularly infuriating given that, despite fairly vocal outcry, Nintendo has refused to release the game outside of Japan.
- Snake, coming from what is probably the plot-heaviest franchise represented, save perhaps Fire Emblem, spoils surprisingly little about his backstory, aside from mention of the destruction of Metal Gear (and the Shagohod, on a trophy).

The Subspace Emissary Mode In Brawl Provies Examples of:

Androcles Lion - Samus and Pikachu.
Anti Villain - The Ancient Minister
All There In The Manual - This page clears up some of the less obvious parts of the narrative.
Ass Kicking Pose - besides the taunts, which work here too, many of the cutscenes end with one, as the screen freezes for you to choose the characters you're using.
Back To Back Badasses - Marth and Meta Knight, Samus and Pikachu. Really.
Big Bad - Tabuu
Big Damn Heroes - On separate occasions: Fox, Ness, Falco, Meta Knight, Captain Falcon, Mario, Link, Kirby, Yoshi, Pit, R.O.B., King Dedede and Sonic.
Bonus Boss - Jigglypuff, Toon Link and Wolf
Broken Heel - The root that trips Lucas.
Bullet Time - Too many instances to count.
Catch A Falling Star - Captain Falcon, Pikachu, the Kongs, R.O.B., Olimar, and Samus drop onto the Falcon Flyer After Ganondorf ordered some R.O.B.s to set off Subspace bombs.
Character Development - Lucas, big time. Pretty good for a game with no spoken lines outside of yelps and taunts.
Chekovs Gun - The special badges carried by Dedede which later de-trophy Ness, Luigi and Kirby to rescue the other Smashers.
Cloning Blues - The so-called Shadow Bugs can imitate characters by using their trophy.
Crack Fic - Look here and look well, fanficcers: this is how you do crack right.
Cutscene Power To The Max - Too many to name.
Crowning Moment of Awesome - So very many.
Darkest Hour - After Tabuu turns everyone into trophies, you couldn't replay any stages you've already cleared, and when you go to save your game, you'll find that everybody is gone from your file. Of course, in the only stage available at that point, Dedede saves the day.
Defeat Means Friendship - Lucario and Meta Knight, Mario and Pit against Link and Yoshi.
- Subverted with Bowser and Dedede.
Desolation Shot - "The Ruined Zoo" opens with this.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu - Tabuu is capable of wiping out every character effortlessly, and even practically killed the Master Hand. Later, he was weakened by Sonic breaking his wings of power.
- Technically, killing Master Hand in any of the series' installments also counts, since he's the creater of both the Smash universe and the World of Trophies.
Diving Save - Ness to Lucas, Falco to Fox and Diddy.
Duel Boss - Meta Knight vs. Lucario in "The Glacial Peak". In a twist, you can actually choose to play as either one.
Evil Laugh - Bowser, Wario, Dedede, Ganondorf, Master Hand, and Crazy Hand.
Eye Beams - One of Tabuu's attacks.
Five Bad Band - We have:
- Big Bad - Tabuu
- The Dragon - Ganondorf
- The Brute - Bowser/Ridley?
- The Evil Genius - The Ancient Minister/AKA R.O.B.
- The Dark Chick - Wario
Gameplay And Story Segregation - Many cases; possibly the most extreme being, after mowing through R.O.B.s by the dozen in the preceding stage, the characters are completely unable to damage them in a cutscene.
- Also oddly averted near the beginning: Zelda teleports onto the field, and later, gets captured in a cage without even trying to escape. However, this is completely accurate to the actual mechanic of the attack which does not let you go through things, just turn invisible and quickly move in one direction.
The Glomp - Dedede to Kirby. Foe Yay?
Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: Tabuu.
Goddamned Bats - Pretty much all the ~~flying~~ enemies that are not already Demonic Spiders.
Heel Face Turn - R.O.B.
Heroic Mime - The entire mode contains no dialogue save one No Fourth Wall moment from Snake. Several characters call their attacks and make some interjections, but that's it.
Hijacked By Ganon - Played very straight when Ganondorf finally betrays Bowser. Subverted when Tabuu finally reveals he is The Man Behind The Man.
I Have The High Ground - Lucario is standing on the peak of a mountain when he's first introduced.
Irony - Sonic, the fastest thing alive, arrives very late to the party.
- And furthermore the fact that in doing so he saves every Nintendo franchise!
  - And Snake!
Jump Physics - Pretty much every character is shown to be able to jump at least as well as Mario, and everyone gets at least a double jump.
Just In Time - Sonic the Hedgehog saved the entire cast from Tabuu.
- "Heroes always arrive late!"
Lets You And Him Fight - almost Meta Knight and Marth, Meta Knight and Lucario, Mario and Pit vs. Link and Yoshi, almost Sheik with Fox.
Lightning Bruiser: Galleom attacks incredibly fast for a giant robot.
The Man Behind The Man - Tabuu was the mastermind behind all the Subspace Emissary, and was actually controlling Master Hand, who was giving orders to Ganondorf, Bowser and Wario, who were manipulating the Ancient Minister. Got that?.
Marathon Level - The Great Maze, which is straight Metroidvania style, in contrast to the linear levels used in the rest of the game. It also counts for roughly one-third of your completion percentage.
Mecha Mooks - The R.O.B squads.
Mooks - Primids, Goomba, basic ROB models, etc.
New Game Plus - As the story progresses, Subspace Bomb explosions prevent you from replaying certain levels (including the very first level of the game), and when you finally enter Subspace, the Halberd gets destroyed in the movie building up to it, so you can't replay the Halberd levels either (though you still walk on it at the beginning of the Sea of Clouds level, somehow). The only way to replay these levels at this state is to beat the game.
Nightmare Fuel - A lot of the Mooks (those not taken from existing settings like the Goombas from Mario) appear to have been designed by Tim Burton.
Nightmare Retardant: Tabuu. Three Words: Rainbow Butterfly Man
No Fourth Wall - When Snake first appears, he addresses the player — not the other characters — with "Kept ya waiting, huh?" This is possibly a Shout Out to the Metal Gear Series' general lack of a fourth wall.
Odd Couple - While most of the team-ups could qualify, Samus and Pikachu trump them all.
Only Mostly Dead - Characters become trophies instead of dying. All one has to do is touch their trophy stand in order to revive them.
Out Of The Inferno
The Palantir Ploy - Ganondorf spends most of the first part of the game watching the action from a base, and generally looking menacing.
The Sadistic Choice - In the first level the player has to choose to save Peach or Zelda. You eventually are able to play the character not chosen later in the game though.
The Scrappy - a mild case, but it's easy to get sick of the Kirby gang in general due to their ever-presence. See also Spotlight Stealing Squad below.
Spotlight Stealing Squad - Most characters get a moment or two, but this is the Kirby gang's show. Not at all surprising, however, considering Masahiro Sakurai was the creator of Kirby. And that he voices King Dedede, as revealed in the last Dojo update.
- There's also Mario, Yoshi, Pit, Link and Kirby at the Canyon. Would normally be Big Damn Heroes, until you realise that the rescuees consisted of six people and three Pokémon who probably could've handled it themselves.
The Starscream - Subverted by Ganondorf Who tries to usurp power but Usurps the wrong person and gets his ass beat with everyone else
Story Breadcrumbs - Since there's no dialogue, the only concrete information you have to go on are the relevent trophies.
Strange Bedfellows - Bowser, Wario and Ganondorf join the others at the end.
Taking The Bullet - Ness for Lucas and Donkey Kong for Diddy
Tear Jerker - Seeing that one R.O.B. unit sadly waving goodbye to the Ancient Minister (later revealed to be the playable character R.O.B.) before being destroyed by the Subspace Bomb; all of the robots in the factory turning on their leader by firing lasers at him, when he was trying to save them all from destroying the island and themselves; and when the Island of the Ancients could never be restored upon Tabuu's defeat, making R.O.B. the Last Of His Kind. Oh, gosh...
Time Limit Boss - Meta Ridley.
Unexpected Gameplay Change - The final level is done in a non-linear, ~~Metroid~~ Kirby-esque style.)
Unflinching Walk - Princess Peach gets a particularly awesome one, walking along the deck of the Halberd unconcernedly while she holds her parasol and explosions blossom in her wake.
The Very Definitely Final Dungeon - Manages to include one within one!
Villain Team Up - Ganondorf, Wario, Bowser, and even Ridley gets in on the fun too.
Wave Motion Gun - Literal, in the case of the Great Fox in Corneria and the Subspace Gunship in Brawl. In its effect, Mario's Final Smash also counts.
We Cannot Go On Without You - If you play subspace with a friend, the game ends if Player 1 is knocked out and has no extra stock left, regardless if Player 2 is alive.
The Worf Effect - Nintendo fans should already know that Ridley is a threat, but just in case you thought he might be a pushover in Brawl? His cutscene introduces him by having him brutally attack Samus by grinding her into the wall. Ouch.
Yeah Shot - many cinematics end in a variation of this as the player gets to choose which of the available characters to play. Also, the camera zooms in on the player and takes a snapshot for the results screen of Classic matches. The player can set up some good victory shots with this. Unless you're Snake. Then all you get are box shots.