The sweetspottedKnee Smash.

Thesweet spot of anattack is the area of thehitbox with the most desirableknockback effect - usually, the most powerful part of the attack. For example, inSuper Smash Bros. Melee, the sweet spot for most ofRoy's attacks is the area of his sword closest to his body, whileMarth's is at the end of his blade, called atipper. Sweet spots are critical to learn to master acharacter. Most sweet spots on moves come out straight away, e.g. the move has 2 hitboxes, one with a sweet spot and one very weak one. However, the sweet andsour spots of some attacks, such assex kicks, depend on timing rather than the hitbox's placement. In this case, most of the attack's duration is the sourspot and only a fewframes are the sweetspot.

When an attack hits with its sweetspot, it is officially called acritical hit.

Notable sweet spot moves[edit]

• Luigi'sSuper Jump Punch in every game has a sweet spot just before he jumps near the center of his elbow. If this hits an opponent, they will take extremely high damage and knockback, withflame damage and a distinctive 'ping' noise, called theFire Jump Punch, and this is powerful enough to KO characters at just 60% or higher.
• In every game he appears in, nearly all ofMarth's attacks have a sweetspot on the tip of the sword, referred to as a tipper. This is especially noticeable in hisforward smash, which is one of the weakest forward smashes when untipped, but one of the strongest when tipped in all games.
  • One of Marth'sclones,Roy, is the opposite, with nearly all of his attacks having a sweet spot at the hilt of the sword.
  • Lucina andChrom, who are clones of Marth and Roy respectively, are different primarily in that they lack these sweetspots (using the weighted average of the sweetspots and sourspots instead). However, Lucina uniquely has a sweetspot on her up tilt, based on the timing of the move rather than the spacing.
• Captain Falcon'sKnee Smash forward aerial inMelee onward. The Knee Smash is one of the strongest aerials in the games it appears in, giving massive knockback when sweet spotted and anelectric effect, but it is extremely weak when sour spotted. The sweet spot is harder to land inBrawl,SSB4 andUltimate than inMelee, due to slightly less hitbox duration and the player now having to land a specific hitbox, as the back hitbox of the knee is another sour spot.
• Zelda's forward and backward aerials inMelee andBrawl, known as theLightning Kicks, deal extreme horizontal knockback with an electrical effect if the tip of Zelda's foot is landed. Otherwise, they do extremely low knockback and damage.
  • InBrawl, Zelda's down aerial was given a similar sweet spot on the tip of her foot, where instead of being an extremely weakmeteor smash, it is a very powerful meteor smash with electrical damage and is one of the strongest meteor smashes inBrawl,SSB4 andUltimate.
• Mario's forward smash inMelee,Brawl,SSB4 andUltimate is notable for having a visible sweet spot (the flame that he shoots out of his hand). The sweet spot itself doesn't have a very notable effect, though; it simply just hits with stronger damage and knockback while dealing fire damage.
• Sheik'sup smash has a sweet spot at her hands when she splits them apart, where when landed, is one of the strongest up smashes in bothMelee andBrawl (especially in the former game). Otherwise the move hits with unspectacular power.
• Kirby'sHammer inMelee has a sweetspot at the head of the hammer, where it hits with extreme power. When hit with the handle, however, it'll deal much less knockback and damage, with little KO potential. InBrawl, Hammer's reach was reduced, but the handle sour spot hitbox was removed.
• Ganondorf'sWarlock Punch inMelee has a very small sweet spot on his shoulder, which hits with increased damage and much stronger knockback. While this has no real effect in actual play, due to being about impossible to land on a move that's already nearly impossible to land in general, it has special use in theHome-Run Contest, where players have found reliable ways to land the sweet spot and get much farther distances with Ganondorf (where it's necessary for Ganondorf's world record strategies).
• Peach's up smash has a small sweetspot at her shoulders where it hits with extremely powerful vertical knockback, and is one of the strongest up smashes inBrawl.
  • Additionally, the tennis racket ofPeach's forward smash inBrawl is normally a very weak attack that can't even KO at 200%. However, if the area hitbox not overlapped by the other hitboxes lands during the middle of the move, it hits opponents away powerfully on asemi-spike trajectory, and is the strongest semi-spike any character possesses inBrawl.
• King Dedede'sforward smash is much stronger if landed after the initial hitboxes, where it hits with extremely powerful knockback, and is the strongest forward smash inBrawl and on par withBowser's inSSB4, as well being the strongest forward smash inUltimate.
• The end ofWolf'sWolf Flash is a very visible sweet spot, electrifying the opponent, and depending on the location the opponent touches Wolf's body, either hitting the opponent with powerful semi-spike knockback or powerfully meteor smashing them.
  • Wolf's up smash is another move with a notable sweet spot. Normally, the move hits opponents vertically with average knockback for a smash attack. However, if the opponent touches a small hitbox on Wolf's body instead of his legs during the second hit of the move, they are hit with significantly stronger horizontal knockback (which is also the strongest attack in Wolf's moveset).
• The end part ofZero Suit Samus'side special move,Plasma Whip, has a visible and powerful fire-imbued sweet spot. It is also one of the easiest to hit with, as the whip will often push opponents into the sweet spot.
• Almost all ofShulk's sword-based attacks have a sweetspot and sourspot due to theMonado's beam properties, with the blade itself being the sweet spot, and the beam blade being the sour spot. This applies to all Monado-based attacks barring the third hit of jab, dash attack, up smash, andAir Slash.
• The first slash ofLink's forward smash has a sweetspot at the tip of his sword, which can often be unhelpful, as it launches the opponent away from the attack so the second slash cannot hit. However, at higher percents, it can help for a quicker KO than having to follow through.
• All ofCorrin's smash attacks feature a sweetspot on the tips of the dragon fangs, with forward smash andDragon Lunge being the most notable due to their immense ability to punish opponents from a distance.
• Ridley'sSkewer features a sweetspot on the tip of his tail. Hitting an opponent with this sweetspot will cause aSpecial Zoom to occur, and the opponent will crumple onto the ground.
• TheHome-Run Bat has a sweet spot near its tip, also referred to as a tipper, where it hits with even more knockback. However, this is only useful in theHome-Run Contest, as all parts of the batOHKO regardless under normal circumstances.
  • Similar to the Home-Run Bat,Ness's forward smash in each game has a sweet spot at the tip of the bat.

Sour spot[edit]

Asour spot is the exact opposite of a sweet spot; an area with the least powerful part of the attack, such as the tip of Roy's blade and the "jumping" portion of Luigi's Super Jump Punch.

Notable sour spots[edit]

Notable sour spots include:

• The sour spot on Luigi's Super Jump Punch is the most infamous inSmash; if the sweet spot of the move isn't landed, the opponent is otherwise hit with only 1% in damage and near nonexistent knockback.
• InMelee andBrawl, Marth'sdown aerial, when sour spotted, hits with very weak horizontal knockback and much lower damage, instead of powerfullyspiking/meteor smashing.
• InMelee, Roy's forward smash is normally one of the strongest forward smashes. However, when landed with the outer half of the sword, it deals much less damage, with extremely weak knockback.
• InBrawl,Falco's down aerial is a powerful meteor smash during its initial hitboxes. However, if landed during the later hitboxes, the move hits with weak horizontal knockback. This also applies to Falco's down aerial in PAL versions ofMelee.

Useful sour spots[edit]

While normally sour spot hitboxes are undesirable to land, they can occasionally be beneficial. This is usually due to them hitting in a vastly different trajectory, which can be more useful for certain situations despite the lowered knockback, or their weaker knockback allowing the move tocombo into other moves when it normally wouldn't.

The following is a list of notable useful sour spots.

• The sour spot of Captain Falcon's Knee Smash can combo into other moves (especially a sweet spotted knee), and it can be used togimp opponents with very gimpable recoveries (such asFalco). While the comboing properties are near nonexistent inBrawl, it still has use in gimping opponents.
• InMelee andBrawl, Marth's untipped forward aerial is especially effective atcomboing, where it's part of the famousKen combo inMelee, and allows Marth to pull together large aerial strings inBrawl. InSSB4, due to the further reduction of knockback on Marth's untipped swings, this allows him to effectively use sourspotted moves as setups for attacks or tippers.
• The back hitboxes ofGanondorf's up aerial hit with much weaker knockback, while semi-spiking (especially the final hitbox at Ganondorf's foot). The weak to extremely weak semi-spike knockback allows it to gimp recoveries extremely effectively. This also applies to Captain Falcon's up aerial in all games, though it's less useful and prominent than Ganondorf's.
• In bothMelee andBrawl, if Mr. Game & Watch's down smash is sour spotted, it semi-spikes the opponent. This can be utilised foredge-guarding and getting KOs near the ledge (especially inBrawl, where the sour spot is much stronger than it was inMelee).
  • This additionally applies toKirby's down smash inMelee andBrawl. Also like Mr. Game & Watch's, the sourspot of Kirby's down smash is much more useful inBrawl, due to being much more powerful.
• FromBrawl onward, the forward aerial meteor smashes ofMario,Yoshi, andDonkey Kong, and the down aerial meteor smash ofCaptain Falcon, each have a hitbox that hits horizontally, with even stronger knockback than the meteor smash hitbox. These hitboxes can be utilised to get KOs on onstage opponents.
  • Similarly fromBrawl onward, the later hitboxes ofGanondorf'sWizard's Foot and the leg hitbox ofSnake's forward aerial hits opponents vertically instead of meteor smashing, with weaker knockback. However, despite the weakened knockback, they are still very powerful, and can be used to get star KOs on opponents onstage that the meteor smash sweet spots would not KO.
• FromSSB4 onward,Kirby'sStone activates faster if standing on the ground and always hits with its sourspot shockwave. The horizontal knockback off this is very likely to send victims flying off and below the stage.
• FromSSB4 onward,Donkey Kong's down aerial has a sourspot on the chest which sends opponents horizontally with high power. This makes it an effective edgeguarding tool and powerful KO option whether onstage or offstage.
• InSSB4,Cloud's up aerial is notorious for its wide hitbox and effectiveness, but also benefits from a weaker sourspot that can challenge airdodges or attacks even inUltimate. Meanwhile, his down aerial's sex kick properties allow him to protect himself from juggling, and can also be an excellent combo starter into aerials orLimit Break finishers.
• FromSSB4 onward, the late hit ofRyu's neutral aerial is a very effective combo starter due to it having the lowest landing lag of any aerial in the game. This allows him to transition into his powerful combo-oriented offense.

• Unofficial lingo
• Hitboxes
• Game physics