Sharking

From SmashWiki, the Super Smash Bros. wiki

Meta Knight sharkingKing Dedede onHalberd inBrawl.

Sharking is the act of going underneath a stage to attack opponents from below. While underneath the stage, a character can attack and/ordamage shields relatively safely, while their opponent has few options to counterattack, being unable to pass through the stage floor. However, an experienced player can perform ameteor smash on a sharker which, if timed correctly, will usually result in an immediateKO.

Sharking can only be performed on stages containing either one-waysemisoft platforms (which can only be passed through upwards), such asDelfino Plaza andHalberd, or thinhard platforms, such asJungle Japes. It is best performed by characters with multiple jumps such asMeta Knight andKirby, who are better able to recover after attacking.

Sharking has historically been considered a legitimate but risky strategy, because it is easy to make a mistake andself-destruct, especially on stages with hard platforms. Sharking is considered particularly risky inSuper Smash Bros. andSuper Smash Bros. Melee, due to their faster physics and falling speed than in other games. InSuper Smash Bros. Brawl, Meta Knight can shark with ease on many stages, thanks to his very fast and disjointed up aerial, as well having a choice of four quick recovery moves. For this reason, several players consider sharking to becheap orbroken on certain Brawl stages, although others limit this criticism to the Meta Knight character. UntilSuper Smash Bros. 4, which largely eliminatedplanking through its newedge mechanics, it was common to see players combine sharking with planking as a way to restore jumps and avoid vulnerability to attacks.

Sharking is also used to describe the act of attacking an opponent on a platform from below. In this case, the goal of the sharker is not to be evasive but simply to safely pressure their opponent and deny stage control. This application of the term is sometimes specified with the phraseplatform sharking. Sharking is occasionally used to describe any attack from below on an aerial opponent, even without a platform involved, but usually, this would instead be referred to asjuggling.

The term 'sharking' directly referencessharks, which swim close enough to the surface of the water, so that only their dorsal fins are seen overhead. The technique has been mentioned on the official website forSmash 64 under a name that can be translated as "mole tactics".^[1]