Super Smash Bros. series
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Blast line

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When a character passes the blast line, a colorful "blast" (hence the name) occurs.

Ablast line, also called ablast zone, is an invisible boundary on astage that acharacter cannot cross without gettingKO'd, and causing an opponent to go beyond them are the standard means of KOing opponents in standardVersus Mode battles. Blast lines are usually placed beyond the borders of the screen in which the stage is shown.

There are four blast lines, usually referred to as "bottom"/"lower", "left", "right", and "upper"/"ceiling" (alternatively, "north"/"south"/"east"/"west"). FromSuper Smash Bros. Brawl onward, a diagonal-pointing explosion is displayed if a character is KO'd in a corner, but this is only to improve the explosion's visibility.

Overview[edit]

Most stages have left and right blast lines which are far away from the edges of the stage's platforms, and so cannot readily be walked into. Some stages, however, have what are known aswalk-offs, where a stage's platform doesn't stop at a ledge and instead goes all the way to the left and/or right blast line, which allows players to "walk off" the stage's boundaries and be KO'd (both versions ofMushroom Kingdom andOnett are prominent examples). The exceptions areBalloon Fight andMario Bros. (inUltimate), where walking off the side of the stage wraps the player around to the other side. However, fighters are KO'd as usual on either stage if they arelaunched into the blast line. There is additionally a lower blast line which is triggered by falling below the bottom of the screen, which is what KOs characters that fail torecover after being knocked off the stage. Some stages have full floors and walls that prevent access to certain blast lines, but they still exist, should a character be glitched through the stage.

The upper blast line is different from the others in that characters can freely pass it without being KO'd in most situations; characters can freely jump and attack above the blast line (the cause of theLuigi ladder). Characters are only KO'd off the top if they are standing on platforms that leave the stage or they are being propelled upwards byknockback of sufficient vertical launch speed (including fromwindboxes), a brokenshield, a thrownScrew Attack, or theWario Waft. These characteristics do not apply in the originalSuper Smash Bros.; the top blast line in said game will KO characters regardless of how they pass it. Additionally, inBrawl the minimum launch speed requirement is ignored if the player is already above the upper blast line when they are hit, unless they are hit with anElectric attack, then the minimum launch speed still applies.

Characters KO'd via the upper blast line are eitherstar KO'd orscreen KO'd. There are a few exceptions to this, however. In most battles in1P Mode where the player fights a large team of opponents, the opponents are KO'd off the upper blast line as if it were any other blast line, instead of being star or screen KO'd. InBrawl, there's a glitch that causes characters who are KO'd over the upper blast line during the usage of atether recovery to be KO'd with a glitched colored blast. Additionally inBrawl, if a character is KO'd at the upper blast line while near the left or right blast line, they are KO'd as normal instead of star/screen KO'd.

The game's camera refuses to pan or zoom enough during gameplay to actually "see" the blast lines (although the lines themselves are invisible, as can be evidenced when the camera is rotated while pausing). When a character is between a blast line and the camera's view (or above the upper blast line without dying), they will appear in a bubble and slowly take damage. This is known asMagnifying-Glass Damage.

Items and projectiles that cross the blast lines are removed from play (except for, again, the upper blast line). TheSoccer Ball inSSB4 and beyond is an exception, warping back onto the stage if it crosses a blast line. Also aSmash Ball can freely cross blast lines until it leaves gameplay either by disappearing or being used.

In the games[edit]

Super Smash Bros.[edit]

In the first game, blast zones are fairly big, which makes characters with good recoveries, likePikachu, live longer on most stages. Despite this, the absence of air dodging and wall teching, and the high hitstun, coupled with the fact there are few characters that boast long, safe recoveries, makeedgeguarding an easy task compared to otherSmash titles.

Exclusive to this game, if a fighter falls towards the lower blast line, once they are within a certain distance from it, a special "falling" sound effect will play, indicating they are about to die to the lower blast line. However, the distance from the blast line at which it will occur is noticeably inconsistent between stages. Most notably, it is so close to the lower blast line inDream Land that it will play mere milliseconds before the player actually reaches the blast line. The effect is purely auditory, as after triggering the sound effect, the player may still recover back to the stage, should their remaining jumps and recovery moves allow, and can even be saved by the lava onPlanet Zebes.

Super Smash Bros. Melee[edit]

While the first game previously featured big blast lines, for the most partMelee features smaller ones, though there are some exceptions, likeDream Land. Combined with the faster falling speeds, this makes edgeguarding technically easier than in the previous game, despite the significantly lowerhitstun and the introduction ofair dodging.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]

Brawl's blast lines seem to retain the same size asMelee's blast lines. However, changes to air dodging as well as the introduction of hitstun andmomentum cancelling have made edgeguarding a harder task in the game.

With the addition ofAssist Trophies, the stage's blast lines will be moved ifDevil is summoned.

InThe Subspace Emissary's side-scrolling stages, the upper blast line is stripped of its unique properties; characters don't need to be in knockback to be KO'd by it and don't fall into the background or foreground. On the other hand, the blast lines are otherwise disabled if the character is not in hitstun; the camera will follow Player 1 and keep them away from the blast lines, while Player 2 will do aSpace Jump instead of being KO'd. If a hit is momentum cancelled or otherwise interrupted, the character is still vulnerable to the blast lines for the full duration of the hitstun.

Super Smash Bros. 4[edit]

InSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, blast lines have become much larger; specifically, most are about 2/3 of the distance ofFinal Destination. These allow for even lighter characters to live up to 200%damage on smaller stages such asBattlefield. However, it also forces several characters to grab the ledge when recovering instead of just landing on the stage. When combined with the removal ofedge-hogging, this allows for many more edgeguarding techniques along with the addition of the edge trump mechanic. Certain returning stages, such asCorneria, have their usual smaller blast lines to match their respective original games.

By contrast,Super Smash Bros. for Wii U used to feature the smallest blast lines in the whole series (with only a select few having big blast lines, likePAC-LAND), being significantly smaller than in the3DS version and being in fact smaller than inMelee andBrawl. This makes edgeguarding easier than in the3DS version, though not as easy as inMelee or64, where edge-hogging is possible.

In addition, in both versions, Screen and Star KOs no longer happen in the last few seconds of a match (save for an unknown glitch which causes Star KOs and Screen KOs tostill happen). They also might not always occur when a character is KO'd across the upper blast line.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]

In a first for the series, blast lines are visually represented in a small graphic (called theradar in-game), similar to how they are delineated inMelee's debug mode, that appears at the side of the screen whenever a player approaches the camera boundary. Color-coded dots in the graphic indicate the player's position in the zone between the camera's boundary and the blast lines. This graphic can be made smaller or turned off entirely in the options.

An additional, lower "meteor blast line" now exists on all stages. This blast line sits between the camera's lower limit and the regular blast line and affects fighters with a speed greater than 3.[1] This allows players to go for riskier attacks (such asfast-fall down-airs) or to ensure ameteor smash KOs an opponent before they get to act again.

The game also beatsSuper Smash Bros. for Wii U's smallest blast lines with theSquid Sisters Assist Trophy, as the camera zooming in on them will also bring the blast lines closer, regardless of the stage.Sudden Death will bring the blast lines to the center of the stage in a similar manner; this is likely intended to discourage camping and stalling in Sudden Death matches.

Gallery[edit]

Trivia[edit]

The blast lines on theMelee version of Mushroom Kingdom.
  • On theMushroom Kingdom stage ofSuper Smash Bros. (as well as itsSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate remake) and theMushroom Kingdom stage ofSuper Smash Bros. Melee, the camera can be panned far enough to see black signs with a red circle and the word "Danger" off to the side. The sign itself is behind the blast line.
  • Sandbag,Master Hand, andCrazy Hand are the only characters that can cross blast lines inMelee. If they cover a great enough distance in either direction, the game will even freeze, as it is too far off the center of the stage for the game to handle.
  • In the originalSuper Smash Bros., KOing a character through the upper blast line will always result in aStar KO orScreen KO, including characters in horde battles.
  • InSuper Smash Bros. Brawl onwards, after a boss is defeated the blast lines are temporarily disabled until the screen fades to white. This is to prevent players from losing if they happen to defeat a boss offstage.

References[edit]