SUPER MEME BROTHERS!!
Being the Massive Multiplayer Crossover it is, Super Smash Bros. is notorious for spawning many memes.
Please note, if you wish to add an example here, please leave a note or labelnote explaining why it's an example. Zero-Context Examples are not allowed on TV Tropes. Similarly, please try to keep the memes actually related to Smash in some way and make sure they're relatively well known already in the community. This page is not for forcing anything you find funny to become a meme.
Ultimate alone has so much it has its own page.
Memes specific to the series' competitive scene can be found here.
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The whole series
- '"SUPERnote or DAIIIIIRANTOU! SMAAAAAAAAAAAASH BROTHERS!"ExplanationWhat the Large Ham announcer says after the game's opening cinematic (but sadly only in the first two games).
- Warning! Challenger Approaching! ExplanationThis screen appears when the player faces an unlockable character. People tend to Photoshop characters they would like to see in Smash Bros. and put them in these screens with the words and their silhouette shown.
- It's Not Melee!''ExplanationFans tend to always say this quote whenever discussing any other Smash Bros. that isn't Melee, thinking it is the only good game in the series.
- TVTROPES CONFIRMED FOR SMASH or TVTROPES joins the Battle!ExplanationBased on character introduction trailers for Brawl, 3DS / Wii U, and Ultimate, particularly the latter two where the character's portrait is shown along with their name and a quip about them entering battle, such as "Mega Man Joins the Battle!" or "Rosalina & Luma Launch into Battle!" Used as both wishing for a certain character to be included as well as a joke about the massive number of available characters.
- Naturally, the newcomer intros are also done with various other characters. As seen here.
- *brawl theme intensifies*ExplanationWhile Brawl is considered to be an "okay" game at best (and divisive at worst), its main theme can be best described as the Smash equivalent of "Guile's Theme", often used for announcing new fighters and/or just hyping up the already-chaotic battles. Naturally, fans were having a field day with this...
- Shrek/Goku for Smash. ExplanationShrek and Goku are popular joke votes/suggestions poking fun at the naïve and immature section of the fanbase who legitimately want them in Smash, despite Sakurai himself stating that only characters who debuted in video games first before any other medium would be eligible for Smash. While Goku still is to this day brought up as a serious idea for a character, thanks to the plethora of well-regarded licensed games his series has and continues to have and being a world famous anime icon, to the point that Sakurai has had to shoot the idea down several times, Shrek is nearly always suggested as a joke. This one only got more hilarious when Goku was discovered to be the winner of the ballot in Latin America, where his franchise is an institution. Even funnier still when it was revealed that Dragon Ball Fighter Z would be ported to the Switch, in the same Direct that revealed Ultimate.
- "Here's your Shrek and Goku. You happy now?" ExplanationA joking Miiverse post parodying the Goku and Shrek joke votes for the ballot.
- Shrek SuperSlam counts as a game!ExplanationA common reason, joking or otherwise, to put Shrek in the game is that he's had his own Super Smash Bros. clone, which is also one of the few Shrek titles to avert The Problem with Licensed Games.
- But Goku's already in Smash!ExplanationThe English voice actor for Goku, Sean Schemmel, is also the dub voice of Lucario in both the Pokemon anime and all SSB games since the fourth game, which has not been lost on Smash fans. Additionally, the Hero (well, Heroes) of another series with designs by Akira Toriyama was revealed as a DLC fighter for Ultimate at E3 2019, with Erdrick in particular having a hairstyle resembling Goku's. Continued with the reveal of the Martial Artist Mii Costume based on the same series, a decision Sakurai had to have been fully aware of. On top of that, Goku & Chao from Yūyūki is a Spirit in Ultimate.
- Lightning McQueen for Smash!ExplanationSince the Licensed Game for the first Cars movie released a few days before the film itself, many fans have joked that Lightning is technically eligible to be a fighter in Smash under Sakurai's stipulation that characters on the roster need to originate in video games.
- Freddy Fazbear for Smash!ExplanationConsidering just how hard FNaF took off, this was kind of inevitable. Freddy is seen as a "meme pick" for Smash Brothers characters, alongside the aforementioned Goku and Shrek. And SpongeBob. A number of people hold the more sensible suggestion that Freddy just be a standard trophy, like fellow indie Commander Video.
- Sans for Smash! ExplanationSans from Undertale succeeded Freddy Fazbear as a memetic requested character. He tends to get requested over the game's actual protagonist, Frisk, due to the game's Pacifist Run being seen as the Golden Ending and them being subject to Thou Shalt Not Kill, and Sans' now well-known status as the final boss of a No Mercy run. He at least applies for the bit of being on a Nintendo console, seeing as Undertale was announced for the Switch in the same Direct that Ultimate was first announced. Ultimately ascended when he made it in as a costume for the Mii Gunner.
- Ness is already in the game, though ExplanationA reference to Game Theory's infamous video in which, among other things, MatPat claims that Ness eventually becomes Sans. This meme is referenced with the costume to an extent, with two of the Mii Gunner's specials resembling PK Fire and PK Magnet, and the costume's own promotional picture showing it on Magicant, a stage from Ness's home series.
- Reckless Safety Notice Man for Smash!◊ExplanationOne joke suggestion is the silhouetted man who appears in the Safety Notice screens at the start of most Wii games.
- My dad Brian, for SmashExplanationA copypasta involving someone asking for their dad, Brian, to be in Smash and how they had incessantly requested Sakurai to include him. Used to parody fans of highly niche characters that form Vocal Minorities requesting they be put in Smash.
- [Nintendo executive] for Smash! ExplanationAnother fairly common and unlikely request is asking for well-known Nintendo employees to be represented in Smash. The most common names are Masahiro Sakurai (due to his being the face of the series), Shigeru Miyamoto (due to his being the face of Nintendo), Reggie Fils-Amie (due to his own memetic presence, being the former face of Nintendo of America, and being one half of the Reggie vs. Iwata video), and the late Satoru Iwata (due to his former position as president of Nintendo making him incredibly important for the company, his role as the former host of Nintendo Direct making him an iconic face within the Nintendo fandom, and his appearance as the other combatant in the Reggie vs. Iwata video).
- Characters getting invitations to Smash ExplanationAs of Ultimate, the Smash invitation that Villager received in the prior game has become the symbol of being added to the base roster, or as DLC. In response to this, people started making art or other◊ silly◊ image◊ edits where other people get an envelope with Smash's distinctive logo on a red seal.
- In the Japanese fandom, certain Kiai screams of the swordsmen will inevitably be quoted whenever the character is mentioned. The most commonly seen are "IIIEEEE-yah!" (Roy), "EAAAAHH!" (Link), with the most popular one being "Nuun!" (Ike).
- "HIYAYAYAYA!!" ExplanationIn the North American version of Brawl, Pit's Kiai scream (with length varying) when using his side special, Angel Ring, became heavily associated with him due to how effective of a Spam Attack Angel Ring is as a move and how annoying it can be. In some circles, it went to become the move's Fan Nickname. For better or worse, Angel Ring was replaced with Upperdash Arm in the fourth game.
- Can also be heard as "HOIYOIYOIYOIYAA!"
- Taunt partiesExplanationA general name for when groups of people play online but don't actually fight; despite the name, taunt parties don't have to consist of just taunting. Other things to do include spamming attacks, walking, running, or crawling into each other, breaking your own shield or someone else's, footstooling repeatedly, using attacks with windboxes, hitting each other with weak attacks, performing stage jumps, or other things like playing catch with Villager's tree or doing the Luigi Ladder.
- Made even better in Ultimate with the introduction of Inkling, who can squidbag.
- McDonalds Wi-Fi ExplanationThe most common way to refer to players whose internet connections are far below unplayable is to say that they're playing from wi-fi at a store or other building that offers public wi-fi, or even places that don't.
- Recreating scenes from SpongeBob SquarePants in a Smash Bros. context. There's even an entire subreddit dedicated to it.
- On this very wiki: whenever someone adds a picture to one of the And the Fandom Rejoiced pages for this series, expect someone to caption it with "The Internet exploded!" or some variation thereof. It's sadly been gutted due to page length issues, however.
- Snowglobed/Stuck in Snowglobe Hell ExplanationA Fan Nickname for Assist Trophy characters that have yet to escape from the role of being an assist item.
- Super Smash Bros. X {franchise}ExplanationEver since Smash 4, whenever a new franchise is introduced (whether it's a third-party universe or a Mii Costume reveal), an animation showing "Super Smash Bros. X Franchise" is shown. Similar to the "Confirmed for Smash!" or "Joins the battle" memes, many people have made up these kinds of images to make suggestions about franchises that could join Smash, both sincere and joking.
- Smash is now M.U.G.E.NExplanationWith the sheer amount of franchises and characters now represented in Smash, ranging from being playable fighters to making small cameos as Spirits, Smash has more or less been acknowledged as an official M.U.G.E.N game.
- Some people will also point out that Bandai Namco, who developed Ultimate, also have Akuma, Geese Howard, Noctis, and Negan in Tekken 7, which they also developed (and published), which gives them the rare honor of having developed two "official" M.U.G.E.N games.
- Bad ledges ExplanationEvery Smash game seems to have one competitively legal stage where the ledges work only when they want to. Melee has Battlefield, Brawl has Final Destination and Lylat Cruise, and For Wii U and Ultimate also have Lylat Cruise.
- Fanrules ExplanationFor reasons unknown, the online Smash community has been incredibly argumentative about what characters should be added to the game. The most notable sign of this are "fanrules", completely made-up rules that are regularly flaunted as "proof" a character can't be added to the game... despite almost all of them being either based on assumptions with nothing solid backing them, or contradicted by characters who are already in the game; the only official rule is that a character has to be from a game or significant to gaming as a whole (the latter being the caveat that R.O.B. falls under). The term "fanrule" is used as a catch-all to refer to any of these fabricated rules.
- "FAILURE!"ExplanationThe announcer's line when you fail an Event Match, Multi-Man Smash, or a Spirit Battle. Some players like to replace the usual "GAME!/GAME SET!" with it when the match ends with a self-destruct or other stupid move.
Characters
- Mario confirmed ExplanationDespite the fact that Mario has been playable in the series ever since Super Smash Bros. 64, people decided to imagine a scenario where he wasn't in Smash. Some even pretended that it would be impossible for the company to put him in the game or that the existing pictures of Mario were photoshopped. Nintendo UK acknowledged it and posted on Twitter that Mario is indeed confirmed in Smash after he appeared in the countdown for Ultimate. Yet, people still go with the flow and cheer for the mascot that he got in. It might double as heartwarming.
- Samus/Zero Suit Samus:
- Underwater Samus ExplanationThe most common way to summarize Samus's odd movement physics throughout the Smash series.
- The Hotter and Sexier design of Samus's Zero Suit has resulted in everyone getting drawn in her Zero Suit, and we do mean everyone.
- Dark Zero Suit SamusExplanationWith the playable reveal of Dark Samus, some Smash fans got wondering: what about "Dark Zero Suit Samus?" Metroid fans quickly pointed out that, considering what Dark Samus is, she looks horrifying under her suit◊, which itself would lead to people jokingly comparing the two nonetheless to see who is sexier. Regardless, fan artists conjured up an alternate design for Dark Zero Suit Samus, with it being normal Samus with dark blue skin and cyan hair. Awkward Zombie got in on the fun by having Wolf and Dark Pit speculate what she looks like under helmet, only for Dark Samus to remove her head when they ask.
- Zero Suit Samus' physique in Ultimate gained a ton of attention upon release for the more toned and buff appearance, leading to a massive amount of fanart and appreciation shortly afterwards.
- Nerfed boobs, but overall buff. ExplanationOthers noticed that ZSS's bust size was noticeably reduced, but joked that it didn't matter since she was now toned and it was a net gain.
- Yoshi:
- Yoshi's out-of-shield animationExplanationYoshi's animation for popping out of shield has him in a happy, excited-looking pose. Spamming this is essentially a fourth taunt, and has put Yoshi up with Kirby, Bayonetta, and King Dedede in the "characters who still have taunt-like actions in Ultimate's Quickplay" group.
- Shun Yoshi SatsuExplanationStarting in 3DS/Wii U, one of Yoshi's winning animations has him punch the screen a few times before giving a Badass Back to the camera, similar to what Akuma does after his infamous Limit Break, Shun Goku Satsu. This became Hilarious in Hindsight after Ryu and later Ken were added to the roster, and Nintendo acknowledged the similarities with one Challenge Board image in Ultimate depicting Yoshi in this pose next to a defeated Ken.
- Kirby:
- Ever since the first game came out, it's been a popular trend on art sites to make character hats for Kirby.ExplanationSince Kirby's Adventure, and for most subsequent games in the series, when Kirby uses his neutral B, the inhale, he copies his opponent's neutral special and gains a hat (since Kirby Super Star) or some form of attire based off the character.
- Speaking of copying, it's a popular trend to have Kirby copy Captain Falcon and make remix videos of his version of Falcon Punch with Gourmet Race in the background, like this one.ExplanationSpecifically, this was a video that was initially uploaded to Nico Nico Douga, only to gain further popularity upon being reuploaded to YouTube. It's a common joke for people to admit that they have no idea what the announcer is saying in the middle, with it supposedly supposed to be, "Wazukana jikan wo mitukete PK Fire suru Kirby da." (Roughly translating to, "Kirby uses his PK Fire at the slightest moment.")
- The Smash Bros version of Gourmet Race in general has been a very popular choice for remix videos.
- Kirby turning back and forth ExplanationKirby's animation for turning while walking has him briefly put his hands in the air while looking at the camera. Repeatedly turning around gets a lot of mileage as a secondary taunt for Kirby.
- Kirbyroth ExplanationAfter Sephiroth was added, the image of Kirby with Sephiroth's signature flowing silver hair instantly became fanart fodder; and then Sephiroth was released and it turned out that's exactly what Kirby looks like when he inhales Sephiroth!
- Fox:
- FIYER! LEEEAAANNNDMAAASSSSTUUUURRRRRRRRRR! ExplanationFox's "new" voice in Smash 4, provided by Mike West from Star Fox 64, has been subject to mockery, with many players thinking that he sounds too dorky and annoying for someone as badass as Fox McCloud, as his voice here sounds a lot raspier. West has since undergone Vocal Evolution for Ultimate, making him sound more mature.
- TORYA! FIYAAAAAAAAH! MISHUN CUMPREE! ExplanationBecause of their top tier status in Melee, players and spectators will be hearing Fox and Falco voice clips like these a lot, and easily notice signs that their voice actors are Japanese.
- Brawl Fox's butt ExplanationFox's design in Brawl is somewhat infamous for depicting him with an unusually shapely rear end and tight pants◊, something the internet has since turned into a bit of a Running Gag (and, in certain Periphery Demographics, a point of interest) whenever bringing up Brawl's specificalities. In the same vein as Zero Suit Samus's chest, the fact that future games would see Fox become less refined in that area caused some to joke about Nintendo intentionally "nerfing" Fox's butt.
- Luigi:
- Luigi's down taunt Explanation Luigi's down taunt has him kicking the ground with a dejected look on his face. This taunt is a meteor smash, which can potentially give it some offensive use when used at the right time. It's even more of a meme because in character trailers, in ending cutscenes and in his All-Star Mode congratulations screen in Melee, Luigi is costantly shown using it on Mario to cause him to fall off the ledge, essentially betraying him instead of helping him. This also ties to another meme below:
- Long live the king Explanation As said above, Luigi is often shown using his down taunt to meteor smash Mario when he is hanging on to a ledge. It was already quite known back then, but this became especially viral starting by late 2018, when Ultimate was released and gave Yoshi a new Final Smash, Stampede!, which is based off of Yoshi's scene in Melee's opening cutscene, leading many people to make videos where they edit this scene from The Lion King with Mario and Luigi's faces, or edit two clips from Ultimate that have Mario getting meteor smashed by Luigi and then getting trampled by the Yoshis running in the deserted gorge like Scar assassinating his brother Mufasa by throwing him into the gorge during a wildebeest stampede.
- Mario is dead and Luigi is happy about it Explanation In Brawl, Luigi's Classic Mode congratulations screen has him standing in the final pose he makes in his up taunt, with Mario laying prone at his feet with his eyes closed. While Luigi has a scared look on his face as a reference to how he appears inLuigi's Mansions boxart, the prospective of the scene and the fact that in this pose when Mario is on the ground like this, makes it ambiguous, making it come off to many as if Mario is dead or Luigi killed him, that Luigi is happy about it and that he is enjoying that he will take his brother's place in the spotlight and as the new number 1.
- Ness:
- "Okay" Explanation Based on the voice clip in EarthBound during the naming section, Ness says this as a taunt in a very awkward way. Often used to "reply" to other taunts.
- PK FIRE ExplanationWhat Ness says every time he uses his neutral special (in Smash 64) or side special (in the games afterwards). Unlike most characters, who have either quiet voice lines, multiple unique lines, only say their lines sometimes, use sounds, or just have no audio, Ness only ever says this in a relatively loud voice, and since many players use the move frequently (since it usually locks the enemy into place while racking up damage and leaves them open to followups, including itself (to a limited extent, since it can be DI'd or SDI'd out of)), this line has frequent presence in any match involving Ness.
- Smash 4 Back Throw ExplanationIn the fourth installment(s), Ness's back throw was infamously the strongest throw in the entire game, killing even the heaviest fighters at barely over 120%, gaining it notoriety similar to PK Fire. This was also in the previous games, as unlike the throws of other veterans, it barely lost power from 64 despite its reduced damage, but with the ever larger roster, this becomes even more noticeable.
- Captain Falcon, the series' resident Fountain of Memes. Hell, some consider his memetic status on par with that of real life memetic badass Chuck Norris:
- "FALCON... PUUUUUUNCH!!!"ExplanationCaptain Falcon's neutral special move in all five games so far, consisting of a Megaton Punch that has a slow and telegraphed windup, but has potential K.O. power if it hits. Probably the most famous meme in the series because of the funny/awesome vocal delivery ("FAL-COOOWN... PAAAAAWNCH!"); the Difficult, but Awesome nature of a technique which allows a skillful player to One-Hit Kill an opponent if they get the situation and timing perfect; and the sheer spectacle of Captain Falcon's fist exploding into a flaming bird while knocking the opponent clear off the screen.
- "YESZ!"ExplanationWhat Captain Falcon says after hitting someone with his up special, Falcon Dive.
- Show me ya moves!ExplanationCaptain Falcon's (badass) taunt.
- "Shoyu mousse!" ExplanationA very popular mishearing in Japan, meaning "soy sauce mousse".
- Captain Falcon punched Chrom so hard he fell out of the roster.ExplanationIn Lucina and Robin's reveal trailer for the fourth game, Chrom is knocked out behind her, and Captain Falcon easily has Lucina herself on the ropes before Robin steps in. In the game proper, Chrom is an Assist Character in Robin's Final Smash.
- Captain Fabulous Explanation The affectionate Fan Nickname Captain Falcon's iconic hot pink alternate costume, said to be based off of fellow F-Zero racer Jody Summer. Many claim he's the only character who can pull off wearing it and be even manlier.
- Peach's side taunt "La la la la la la" and one of her victory screens "Did I win?" are both infamous for being absolutely infuriating to those who lose to the character.
- Sheik's damage output ExplanationSheik's moves all do little damage but have high combo potential. Starting in Ultimate, many people began to exaggerate her low damage output by joking about things like a 6-hit combo from Sheik doing a whopping 7%, or comboing with her for 3 days straight and only doing 27%◊.
- Zelda: "STAND POWER!!!" ExplanationFans have noted that Zelda's flashy pose when performing B-down in Smash 4 and Ultimate looks a lot like something Joseph Joestar would strike. Never mind the fact that B-down summons an Assist Character to fight for Zelda, which is heavily reminiscent of a Stand.
- Emo Pichu. ExplanationMost of Pichu's attacks cause it to hurt itself. Naturally, many fans tended to portray it as an Emo Teen. Wooden Plank Studios has best popularized this, with Pichu portrayed as a masochist named Blackrose, stealing Simon's whip to continue its self-harming habits.
- Falco: "Soumen" ExplanationIn the Japanese version of Brawl's Lylat Cruise stage Easter Egg, Falco says that the enemy attacks are "like soumen" (a type of noodle; translated as "overcooked noodles"), causing the others to lampshade how ridiculous that sounds. The fandom ran with this, and he earned the eternal Fan Nickname "soumen".
- "Personally, I prefer the air!" ExplanationA quote said by Falco in the English versions of Brawl and Smash 4 when using his Final Smash, the Landmaster. Fans were quick to point out that Falco openly expresses disdain for the same vehicle in Star Fox 64, so this line quickly became memetic as a result. The line was retired with the rework of his Final Smash in Ultimate, although it lives on in his ingame Tips and Hints page, where the writer heard that Falco "prefers the air".
- Marth:
- Any variation of calling Marth a girl. ExplanationMany people noticed Marth's incredibly Bishōnen appearance, certain feminine animations, and the fact that he wears a tiara. The addition of Lucina in the fourth game didn't help.
- His white costume looking like a wedding dress.
- "The gay is mine!" ExplanationOne of Marth's victory phrases, "the day is mine!" misheard as "the gay is mine!"
- "Just the tip."ExplanationThe tip of Marth's sword does more damage and knockback than the rest of it.
- One Marth
Two Marth
Red Marth
Blue MarthExplanationAfter Chrom's announcement, an edited picture◊ of the cover of One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish popped up, referencing how there are 4 Fire Emblem characters that play like Marth and just so happen to fit the book's title: Marth himself, his Echo Fighter Lucina, Marth's red-haired semiclone Roy, and Roy's blue-haired Echo Fighter Chrom. - _____ Marth ExplanationFans give these kinds◊ of nicknames to other Fire Emblem characters, addressing their criticism and stigma toward them (i.e. being another sword-wielder (it doesn't help that they are very prominent in the series), shares Marth's famous blue hair, suffering under the Only Six Faces designs, and only Robin not having a counter move). This goes only further when it applies to the non-Fire Emblem characters, like this◊.
- Ganondorf:
- Ganondunk◊! Explanation Ganon in Smash 4 has become notorious for his use of Flame Choke to perform Ganoncide◊. In Brawl on last stock behavior, it was unpredictable whether he won, lost, or sudden death occurred. Cut to Smash 4 on last stock behavior, and he always wins! However, in Ultimate, he always dies first. If you're a stock ahead, however...
- Ganondorf, King of Disrespect! ExplanationGanon got his nickname as the "King of Disrespect" because he's slow but hits hard. This means that playing as him requires precision and hard reads. Also, since he is a Falcon clone, his playstyle naturally lends itself to looking flashy (especially in Melee, as he's gained a majority of his own sluggish animations in later games), much like he is disrespecting his foes. His ability to Ganondunk and gain an easy KO on an opponent who lets him do this also contributes to the disrespect.
- "Falcondorf!"ExplanationA frequent nickname given to Ganondorf because of the fact that he is a moveset clone of the F-Zero racer Captain Falcon, even though the two aren't from the same franchise. It doesn't help that he has remained a semi-clone or echo-fighter since Melee.
- "DORIYA!"ExplanationUltimate finally allows him to wield a sword as a Smash Attack after his last two games have him simply hold it as a taunt. His Side Smash is the most well known because he always yells this and because it can reliably score a kill at very low damage, even for Ganondorf standards.
- MEWTWO!! MEWTWOOOO!! OH MY GOD!!ExplanationThe late Etika made history upon reacting to the reveal that Mewtwo, who was previously cut from Brawl and initially didn't make it in for 3DS/Wii U, would be returning for the latter installment as the game's first taste of Downloadable Content. Masahiro Sakurai himself even retweeted the reaction.
- Roy:
- "Roy is in Super Smash Bros. 4!" ExplanationA joke that implies that Roy from Fire Emblem is returning, when it's really Roy Koopa (or, less commonly, Marth with a Palette Swap in Roy's colors). Eventually, the Fire Emblem Roy also returned via DLC, which is Lampshaded by having Roy show animosity towards the Koopaling and attacking him mid-trailer. A Classic mode clear image on the 3DS version shows them both being pals and riding Roy Koopa's clown car together, and multiple pictures in Ultimate (one challenge and Roy's Classic victory picture) also have the two together.
- Since the Young Lion's DLC release, it's become common to show art of the two Roys being friends, if not rivals.
- Another common joke is to show all the Fire Emblem characters, but replacing Roy with Roy.
- Among the Japanese fanbase, Roy (FE) is associated with curry, thanks to the winner of a photo contest◊ from the Melee days. There is always at least one curry-related post that can be seen floating around in his Miiverse sub-community, and even his Wii U/3DS reveal trailer references the photo.◊
- Roy's our boy! ExplanationRoy's crowd cheer in the Smash series, and easily one of the most iconic ones. Roy in general is associated with the phrase "our boy" due to this cheer, to the extent that some people will call him that or use the phrase as a modifier when differentiating him from Roy Koopa.
- t3h ph1r3 ExplanationJokingly stating that the fire effects produced by Roy's attacks are an advantage he has over other Fire Emblem characters, particularly Marth and Chrom.
- Meta Knight:
- Brawl Meta KnightExplanationBack in the Brawl days, the swordsman of Dream Land was infamous for his insane versatility and recovery options, to the point where the game's meta revolved entirely around him, and some tournaments outright banned him from play. Brawl Meta Knight is referred to almost as a single entity due to his top-tier status, especially since later games in the series would go on to severely Nerf him.
- Where's Meta Knight's sword?ExplanationOne of the nerfs Meta Knight got in the fourth game is reduced range in his attacks, to the point where some people joke that he doesn't have a sword.
- Looks like Meta Knight borrowed Roy's sword for Smash 4. ExplanationIn Melee, Roy also had hitboxes that didn't match up with his moves' animations.
- COME. ExplanationMeta Knight's down taunt has gotten a lot of recent notoriety thanks to the Double Entendre nature of the word.
- Wario:
- Associating with Wario is bad luck. ExplanationSo far, a number of characters who starred in games with Wario have gone on to become Assist Trophies in Smash. This includes Waluigi, Bomberman, Ashley, and Starfy.
- Wario Vectoring ExplanationDue to how Smash Bros for 3DS processed momentum for characters being sent flying to account for a player fighting back against the trajectory, in combination with Wario's nature as a floaty character, he had the unique distinction of being able to alter his momentum in completely absurd ways, able to either recover from almost any attack that didn't send him careening directly into the KO boundaries, or flying back the way he came, across the screen, and into the opposite boundary. The glitch was eventually patched, but given Wario's general characterization as spitting in the face of physics and logic whenever it suits him, it stuck in people's minds as something he might as well be doing, glitch or not.
- WARIO!!! I GOTTA WIN!!!ExplanationThe only two things Wario can say in Real-Time Fandub's dub of Subspace Emissary, repeated over and over as loudly as possible. It has since been used in association with Wario outside of said fandub.
- Solid Snake:
- DA DA DADADA, DA DA DA! "It's showtime!"ExplanationSnake says this upon the reveal that he's a newcomer in Brawl, accompanied by a triumphant version of his Game Over music.
- "Kept you waiting, huh?"ExplanationOne of Snake's entrance quotes. It gained even more traction after his return in Ultimate.
- "THERE!" / "NOW!" ExplanationOne of these two lines is said by Snake whenever he manually detonates a pack of C4. Gained its memetic status after one too many times where Snake gets sudden and unexpected kills with it.
- KILLER QUEEN ExplanationAn overlapping meme with the one above portrays Snake as Yoshikage Kira, with his C4 detonations represented as Killer Queen. This specifically focuses on the kills where Snake detonates C4 while it is stuck to an opponent.
- B B B B B B B B DownB B B B B B DownB ExplanationMany online Snake players feel the need to have at least 2 grenades in play at any given time. This hasn't gone unnoticed by the internet.
- Ike:
- "I FIGHT FOR MY FRIENDS."ExplanationWhat Ike says during one of his victory poses, delivered in the strangest way possible. It's also a very, very cliché line, so much that it crosses the line twice into being iconic.
- GREAT! AETHERRRR!!! ExplanationWhile performing his Final Smash, Ike dramatically declares its name.
- AETHERRRR!!!! ExplanationDitto for his Up+B.
- The above two lines are misheard in Japan as "I! HATE! YOU!" and "PIZZA!", respectively.
- You'll get no sympathy from me.ExplanationAnother of Ike's victory quotes, infamous for two major reasons — first, it's hilariously blatant Trash Talk, and second, it's completely Out of Character, as it's actually a Beam Me Up, Scotty! of a quote in which he originally says "You'll get no mercy from me", which the Japanese version of the quote gets right.
- Ike is a Fountain of Memes in Japan as well. Thanks to this snapshot◊ from the official Brawl website, it was a common joke in the fandom to superimpose a doughnut on Ike's face and call him "Doughnutman"; probably due to the cape and belt making him resemble some kind of superhero in the vein of Anpanman.
- Buff Ike ExplanationAfter Ike's new, Radiant Dawn-based appearance in the fourth game, plenty of jokes have been made about how he has bulked up since Brawl. The Japanese fandom has taken to calling this model of him "Gorilla Ike", probably from the Fan Nickname of "Gorrilaguz" from the main Fire Emblem fandom. He is usually grouped up with Mega Swampert from Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire and Knuckles from Sonic Boom due to the similar buffed-up appearances. It's also the subject of a lot of Anchor Arms jokes.
- HURRICANE IKE. ExplanationIn September of the same year that Brawl was released, a major Hurricane formed in the northern atlantic and ripped through The Bahamas, Haiti, Cuba, Louisiana, and Texas. It was officially named Ike by the National Hurricane Center, leading to humorous reactions by the fanbase which proceeded to make some fitting parodies.
- Diddy Kong: Hoo! Hah! ExplanationBorn at Paragon 2015 where a member of the crowd (Static Manny, now known as All Might) kept shouting it whenever Diddy would use a down throw>up-aerial combo. Well-known player Hungrybox (who plays as Jigglypuff) got so irritated with hearing it that he ragequit, forfeiting the set. Hilariously, that became Hungrybox's sub sound for his Twitch account.
- Lucas:
- Winning won't bring Claus backExplanation (SPOILERS)The ending of Mother 3 involves Lucas' twin brother, Claus, dying, and some of the comments that appeared in the fourth installment's Miiverse stage made fun of this Tear Jerker. Sometimes Claus is replaced for Hinawa, Lucas' mother who dies early in the game.
- Sonic the Hedgehog:
- "YOU'RE TOO SLOW!" ExplanationSonic's side taunt in Brawl. Spammed endlessly by players that dash across the stage and can't be hit. This was changed to the far less obnoxious "Sonic Speed!" in the fourth game, mostly due to a change of voice actor (though Sonic's clips in 3DS/Wii U onward are mainly just Roger Craig Smith's voice clips from other games).
- "NOW I'LL SHOW YOU!!! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"ExplanationSonic shouts the first phrase upon activating his Final Smash, Super Sonic. He then continuously yells the second phrase during the Final Smash. Smash 4 changes this to a reused voice clip from Sonic Generations; "Super Sonic Style!"
- The other taunt, "COME ON! STEP IT UP!", gets this a lot too. Like the side taunt, this was changed in Smash 4 as well, specifically shortened to just "Come on!"
- "You're going to Minecraft!" ExplanationSonic's forward Smash somehow sending Mario flying into the world of Minecraft from the Steve reveal trailer led to comparisons with the "You're going to Brazil" meme.
- "For his Down Smash, I'd change it so he spawns two flickies to both sides of him." ExplanationA phrase taken from a moveset video for Sonic, which got popular in Twitter as a way to refer to and criticize fan-movesets focusing more on shoving references than proper attacks.
- King Dedede:
- Dedede is already perfect.ExplanationOne of the loading screen tips provides this explanation for why King Dedede's inhale ability doesn't grant him copy powers like Kirby. The fanbase frequently reference the line in response to the fact that Dedede had virtually no changes whatsoever in the many balance patches since the game's launch.
- Gordo ExplanationKing Dedede's side special since Smash 4, the Gordo, is effectively a Skill Gate Character in the form of a move; while at high levels Dedede players can turn the Gordo into an effective combo and kill tool, the move is more known for being spammed by anybody who's fresh to the penguin king, due to its high damage and kill power even when staled. This becomes problematic for low-skill Dededes considering that it's incredibly easy to return this incredibly strong projectile back to them just by hitting it.
- King Dedede laughing ExplanationAfter pranking Donkey and Diddy Kong into thinking that King K. Rool was outside their house, the bulky penguin starts jumping around and laughing◊, looking a lot like the Joy emoji as he does so, which caught on as a reaction image. Due to Sakurai voicing Dedede, it's also become a visual shorthand for his streak as a Trolling Creator.
- Double DededeExplanationA well-known visual glitch in Melee where two Dededes will sometimes appear in the background of the Dream Land stage.
- King Dedede's crouch. ExplanationKing Dedede has what is often named as the best taunt in the game… his crouching animation, in which he lays down in a very "draw me like one of your French girls" fashion (since he has no legs to bend). Got even more hilarious in Ultimate, because with online play's ban of taunts, he ended up the only guy still capable of taunting like a champ.
- Wolf:
- "What's the matter, scared?"ExplanationA quote from Wolf's Side Taunt in Brawl that very quickly became a meme among Wolf players, and remains so even though Wolf lost the line when he made his return in Ultimate.
- Villager:
- Psycho Villager/Killager ExplanationThe Villager's constant smile and soulless eyes have made the fandom deem him Cute and Psycho. It doesn't help that even his reveal trailer seems to hint that there's a mean streak behind the carefree face. His unsettlingly happy smile and gleam in his eye has been interpreted in many, many horrifying ways. This has become an Ascended Meme with the announcement of Bayonetta as DLC, as her official art◊, which depicts a battle between light and dark, has an axe-wielding Villager on the dark side.
- Dorpsbewoner ExplanationThe Dutch translation of Villager has proven to be surprisingly popular with non-Dutch people. Especially after Ultimate introduced a Dutch announcer.
- Little Mac:
- "You ain't no air-fighter, Mac." ExplanationTaken from one of Doc Louis's quotes in Little Mac's introductory trailer, this is used to make fun of Little Mac's ineffectiveness at attacking in the air and inadequate recovery, or sometimes to point out the irony if he does manage to beat someone with an air attack.
- "Is X an air-fighter?"/"X is/is not an air-fighter." ExplanationThe original phrase is also snowcloned and semi-snowcloned for other characters.
- Little Mac jumping off the edge of Final Destination.ExplanationIn 4, inexperienced players would often use Little Mac on For Glory mode. They would often accidentally use the Jolt Haymaker (Mac's side special) to leap off the edge of Final Destination, self-destructing in the process. Ultimate made it possible to recover from this grave error, however.
- Dicking on (Little) Mac. ExplanationAlpharad on YouTube has had quite a good time messing with For Glory Little Macs, taking advantage of his awful recovery. Others have followed in his footsteps.
- Encompassing all of the above, "For Glory Little Mac" ExplanationDuring the early days of 4, Little Mac was seen as a potential Game-Breaker, what with his impressive ground game and instakill gimmick in the Power Meter; but soon Little Mac fell out of popularity quickly thanks to his aforementioned weakness in the air and recovery that more often than not resulted in an SD. His previous legacy and status as a Skill Gate Character made it so that inexperienced players picked him over any other character... and with their inexperience the weaknesses of Little Mac were exacerbated, with these players being stereotyped as having Suicidal Overconfidence and a tendency to throw themselves off the stage with abandon.
- Following the above, "Dash Attack Does Not Work On Shield." ExplanationTypically how Little Mac dicking starts.
- For Glory Mode in general, primarily 1 on 1. There are not enough fingers and/or toes to count how many memetic montages of the mode there are on YouTube with many players who are of too many varying skill levels pit against each other out of complete disrespect and contempt towards one another due to the horrible matchmaking system. As a result, you have players who have trained non-stop to be able to crap on others who spam bad habits and/or plateau from such a bad learning environment.
- Greninja:
- Numerous pics have been made joking about how Lucario and Greninja were chosen over Mewtwo◊ for Smash Bros. 4.
- Greninja fights with Mewtwo fans' tears.
- "Wait, [insert minor complaint here]!? Better Nerf Greninja." ExplanationSimilar to League of Legends and its "Better nerf Irelia" meme. There's a perception that Greninja has received nerfs in every patch since launch (he was only nerfed considerably in 1.0.4 and has actually only been buffed ever since), even though Greninja isn't out of line, while other characters remain stronger than him. It has since become a joke that whenever a huge bug is found, the patch that fixes it will include a nerf to Greninja thrown in for good measure.
- ◥θ┴θ◤ ExplanationAn emoticon representing Greninja's face, used in many gameplay montages on YouTube and often spammed in message board and livestream chat whenever a skilled Greninja player is involved.
- Mii Fighters:
- Reggie Vs. IwataExplanationThe reveal trailer for the Mii Fighters (which also marks the first official reveal of amiibo) starts with a stylized battle between Reggie Fils-Aimé and the late Satoru Iwata. The two presidents of Nintendo duking it out was so ridiculously awesome that it took off extremely quickly. Notably, the timeframe in which this trailer dropped happened while the anime adaptation of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders was airing in Japan, leading to some memes later on down the line referencing the final battle between Jotaro Kujo and Dio Brando.
- Making a Mii Fighter of anyoneExplanationThe intended use of the Mii Fighter was that anyone who didn't get in for whatever reason (either due to legal issues, time constraints, or being based on non-video game characters or real people) can now join in the fight, made even more viable with the downloadable costumes churned out through 3DS/Wii U and Ultimate's lifespans. Because the idea was to go nuts, people used the concept to create their dream inclusions, ranging from fantastical (Goku, Naruto, Mr. Incredible) to memetically ridiculous (Shrek, Sans, Lonk).
- Mii impostorsExplanationDuring 3DS/Wii U's run, several Mii Costumes were added as Downloadable Content as stand-ins for characters who didn't make it in such as Chrom or King K. Rool (and even characters already in the game such as Link, Samus, Fox and Captain Falcon). Because of the Mii's basic and often more cartoony face, many saw them as ill-fitting replacements and either drew the Mii versions as mere avatars or, more commonly, creepy impostors of the characters in question. This carried over somewhat into Ultimate, though far less often thanks to the characters' revised proportions and the Sans and Cuphead costumes being more detailed.
- Pac-Man:
- After his reveal, it became common among some Japanese Miiverse posters to have him conjure up various items; this soon led to him conjuring sprites of unconfirmed characters like Ness with the aforementioned "No, you'll get it today" subtitle (which in Japanese read more like a very casual "not really").
- Smash 4 Pac-Man's grabExplanationPac-Man's grab in the fourth game was infamously among the worst in the game, for being very slow, very laggy, and full of deadzones that often resulted in it physically touching an enemy◊ and failing to grab them◊. Some people would jokingly ask what move he's using if a Pac went for a grab as a joke about how infrequently it was seen; others, due to its comical uselessness, dubbed it his fourth taunt.
- "Pac-Man's grab feels faster" ExplanationWhen each patch releases, Placebo Effect runs rampant with many players misreporting false changes that they "feel" happened. The change most notoriously subjected to placebo is Pac-Man's grab, which players have begged to get buffed since day 1. Every patch had people claiming the grab was made faster, and sometimes serious debate occurred over what, if any changes happened, only for the hard data to come in showing the grab completely unchanged every time. So now when a new patch drops, or there is news of a patch coming, some of the first and most upvoted posts will be people claiming Pac-Man's grab "feels faster" to mock placebo-stricken players.
- Pac-Man mains have the highest IQ. ExplanationDue to the sheer amount of ridiculous setups and fancy kills Pac-Man players can use his Bonus Fruit and Fire Hydrant for, they've gained a sort of Memetic Badass reputation due to how big their brain must have to be in order to use such a character. Inevitably, you'll see comments like this on any given Pac montage.
- From Robin and Lucina's reveal trailer, the "No, you'll get it today" (or more directly translated, "Not necessarily not") subtitle at the end became memetic around the Japanese fanbase, often used to mock other characters who didn't become playable.
- Also, good luck mentioning Robin without someone mentioning tipping scales somewhere along the thread. This has sometimes been lumped together with the "Shulk time" meme mentioned below.
- To a lesser extent, Lucina's "I challenge my fate!" line had become somewhat quotable around the fanbase, as it was in her original game.
- Robin, the Avatar. Master of All Four Elements.ExplanationIn Palutena's codec about Robin, she starts out with "That's Robin — also known as the Avatar." Replace Nosferatu with Earth and give Robin a water bottle, and they've got the bases covered.
- Shulk:
- I hope you enjoy my good friend Shulk :)ExplanationThe Gematsu leaker, who had previously gotten the majority of his predictions correct, positively said that Shulk would be revealed for an at-the-time upcoming announcement. The reveal in question then proceeded to turn out to be Robin and Lucina, which cast the credibility of the remainder of his leak into question. The phrase was then used to mock people who wanted/thought Shulk would be in, until he really did get in, at which point the phrase was used triumphantly by Shulk fans.
- Now it's Shulk time!ExplanationBased on the already memetic "Now it's Reyn time!" from Shulk's game of origin, this is the first line he recites after his official confirmation in his trailer. His ridiculously British accent does not help.
- "I'm really feeling it!"ExplanationWhen Shulk said "I'm really feeling it!" in his reveal, people thought the line was awkwardly hilarious and immediately made many jokes about it. The original Japanese quote is "Dandan nottekita yo!" (I'm getting the hang of this!)
- "Odayaka janai desu ne?" Translation"Not being gentle, huh?" Explanation One of Shulk's Japanese lines that went memetic in the Japanese fanbase, used in place of his "Shulk time" taunt. In Xenoblade itself, it's the equivalent to "It looks like we don't have a choice!", meaning it was also his trailer title, possibly explaining its popularity, and it is often used to express Self-Deprecation in the disclaimers of fan videos, and as a general expression for This Is Going to Suck or "This got ridiculous, didn't it?". Strangely, Shulk is still memetic in Japan despite his lack of an accent in the original.
- "This is the Monado's power!" ExplanationAnother taunt from Shulk, generally used by people to describe a great play or fail on a Shulk player's part. Like his other taunts, made more amusing by his British accent. This is also the only taunt of his that is almost identical in meaning between English and Japanese, since in Japanese he says "Monado no chikara yo!" (Oh, power of the Monado! (as in "I call upon thee!")).
- Shulk is just a photoshopped Little Mac.ExplanationWhen the 4chan leaker posted a screenshot of the roster, its detractors claimed that Shulk's portrait appeared to be a Photoshopped Little Mac, as their faces were turned at the exact same angle and their eyes were almost exactly the same◊. Now that Shulk has been revealed (and it turned out that the "photoshopped" portrait was real), pictures featuring Shulk are often sarcastically claimed to contain a "shopped Little Mac".
- "Back Slash!" "Air Slash!" ExplanationThe names of both Shulk's side and up special respectively (two of his original arts from his home game). Even though it's mainly for his British accent as mentioned in the above notes, a small number of circles tend to treat the names of such moves as naughty jokes… but it gets even worse with his "I'm really feeling it" quote up above, and the fact that he has a shirtless costume…
- MONADO BOYExplanationIn his reveal trailer, Shulk is called that by Metal Face, an antagonist from Xenoblade Chronicles who sometimes refers to Shulk as this nickname in the original game. Likely due to the rather obscure status of the series (making this trailer the first contact with the character for a large number of players) and the silliness of the nickname pronounced by the hammy Mechon, it subsequently became a popular way to call Shulk in the SSB community.
- Because of how similar their names are, a lot of fanarts of Shulk and She-Hulk doing each other's job and/or in the other's outfit appeared.
- Shulk's swimsuit alternate costume immediately became really popular, a lot of people wishing to see all the other characters with a "swimsuit mode" (in the same way people wanted to see everybody in the Zero Suit).
- The dog from Duck Hunt is a Stand user.ExplanationDue to the dog's exaggerated pose when summoning a Wild Gunman, which wouldn't be out of place in JoJo.
- The Wii Fit Trainer is a Hamon Master.ExplanationThe game explicitly says that she uses the Power of the Sun and special breathing techniques to empower her attacks.
- Ryu:
- "Talk is cheap." ExplanationRyu's side taunt. Can be used as a counter-taunt to… well, taunt spammers.
- "My/Your range was one fist short."ExplanationOne of Ryu's victory quotes. Used by a player whenever an attack is just out of range of hitting or getting hit by an opponent.
- Sakurai: "Capcom, could we put Ryu in Smash?" Capcom: "Sure you can!"ExplanationA wordplay on Shoryuken, a special move Ryu has.
- Cloud:
- GENKAI WO KOERUExplanationTranslates to "Exceed the limit", this is what Cloud says when he triggers Limit Break via charging. The move only uses this line without any variation, and guess how frequently this comes out.
- Winning won't bring Aerith back
- Up B out of Shield
- Corrin:
- Big brother is now big sister!ExplanationSakura, Corrin's younger sister from Hoshido, says this upon seeing female Corrin. The awkwardness of this line quickly caught on in both the Japanese and English fanbase, and in the former has become associated with Female Corrin in general.
- WOW, EVEN BETTER!ExplanationElise, Corrin's younger sister from Nohr, replies with this statement of (surprising) glee.
- Corn for Smash! ExplanationBecause Corrin's name looks and sounds similar to the word corn, people have begun photoshopping Corrin into corn◊ related◊ images.◊ Corn is also a popular Fan Nickname for them, and Corrin and corn jokes are also often made in the fandom for Fates itself, which became even more appropriate when their Omega Yato's sprite resembled a cob of corn in Fire Emblem Heroes.
- Who the hell is Corrin?!ExplanationA relatively common reaction to Corrin's reveal trailer, due to them being a very new character whose game hasn't even been released outside of Japan yet, leading to some serious confusion for those not familiar with Fire Emblem Fates.
- GIGA DRILL BREAK! ExplanationSeveral of Corrin's attacks (namely their forward smash and side B) morphs their hand into a giant drill-like lance, leading to many Gurren Lagann jokes.
- Option A, Option B, Refuse to pick a side, Join the battle in SmashExplanationFrom Corrin's announcement trailer.
- "Good!"ExplanationOne of female Corrin's victory lines where she literally just says "good" in an incredibly narmy and monotone way. Because of the sheer randomness of the line (it has no reference to Fire Emblem Fates), it's been subjected to plenty of jokes and mocking from fans.
- AFK Corrin ExplanationOriginated from a video made by Alpharad, in which he makes Corrin stand idle, giving the impression of going absent and luring the opponent to shoot a super-powerful attack, then reflecting it with Corrin's tremendous counter for an instant One-Hit-KO.
- There's a male Corrin?ExplanationFemale Corrin is much more popular than Male Corrin in both online and competitive play, leading to jokes about how no one plays Male Corrin. Became Hilarious in Hindsight when Female Corrin became the default appearance of Corrin in certain later Fire Emblem crossovers.
- Corrin's feet. Explanation Much is made of how they're always barefoot.
- Bayonetta:
- Bayonetta's legs. ExplanationAfter Bayonetta's reveal, and the appearance of Kirby's Copy Ability from her, a lot of Tumblr fan-artists made fanart of the little pink puffball with Bayonetta's long legs — not all of it Safe for Work. This expanded into Kirby donning Zero Suit Samus' legs, Palutena's legs, and even Waluigi's legs, and would expand even further into other characters such as Ridley and Isabelle donning Bayonetta's legs as well.
- "I didn't know Hideo Kojima made it into Smash!" ExplanationAfter seeing Kirby's Copy Ability form with Bayonetta, many fans realized he looked just like the famed Metal Gear creator.
- "If you need to learn how to talk to a lady, ask your mum."ExplanationBayonetta says this during one of her taunts, being taken from one of her taunts in Bayonetta 2. Many fans have associated this line with her taunting fighters who have Missing Moms, especially Lucas, whose mother's death was a major source of Tear Jerker in his home game. Here's◊ a few examples.
- AND THEN HERE COMES THE GIANT FIST! ExplanationBayonetta's forward and up smash are giant fists, so some people used that SpongeBob clip to explain them.
- Also popular is claiming your opponent just got "Fisted" after killing them with Bayonetta's forward or up Smash. "You just got fisted!" or "Oops, guess I just fisted you!" and the like.
- Smash 4 BayonettaExplanationIn a similar vein to Brawl Meta Knight, the Umbra Witch quickly became infamous upon release for her quick and varied attacks and zero-to-death aerial combos. Even after she was nerfed to require more skill to play, that still didn't stop top players from mastering her and steamrolling through tournaments with her skillset. Fears of a History Repeats scenario sprung up after Bayo returned for Ultimate and, despite having been nerfed further since then, proceeded to nearly 4-stock the then-announced Ridley, but Sakurai clearly paid attention to the match and heavily nerfed her to the ground, meaning Bayonetta's broken nature was exclusive to 3DS/Wii U.
- $5.99 explanationThis stems from complaints about Bayonetta being overpowered, and potentially the best character in the game. Her DLC costs $5.99, so people use it to complain about the game being pay-to-win. Similar complaints have been put out for Cloud and Ryu, although the latter two's Difficult, but Awesome learning curve eases the pressure. Ultimate Joker is also considered in a similar scenario, although not quite as bad due to Joker's inability to kill without Arsene, being Difficult, but Awesome, and there being multiple characters in the base game that can stand up to him.
- Announcer:
- BOWSER! ...Junior? ExplanationThe announcer in Smash 3DS/Wii U has a rather... strange... reaction to announcing Bowser Jr. — switching from his "strong" voice to a confused-sounding one.
- BAYONETTA?!?! ExplanationIn the same way, the announcer says Bayonetta's name in the most confused, incredulous manner possible. Sometimes brought up when people wonder why she won the ballot.
- Greninja.../Gekkouga... ExplanationIn the same way, the announcer says Greninja's name in a strangely ecstatic voice, which has become memetic in the Japanese fanbase.
Fan Videos
Forums (usually GameFAQs)
- At one point, there was always a new meme every day (mostly started by mentioning Wario and Dedede, or by misspelling a character's name, eg. Chairzard, Snoic, Noss, or especially Metrod, which also adds the "Samus is not Metroid" meme to the mix) on the GameFAQs board for Brawl.
- "Why is Misty?" "She's a trophy"ExplanationThe first quote was the title of a GameFAQs message board topic asking why there was a picture of Misty from Pokémon: The Series in the manual for Super Smash Bros. Melee. The topic quickly reached the limit of 500 posts thanks to a multitude of replies similar to the second quote.
- "Kirby Cheat?" "Furby Meat?" (etc.)ExplanationAnother Melee-related GameFAQs topic where someone asked for information on a "Kirby cheat", possibly referring to spamming Kirby's standard A attack to rack up a high combo in Training mode. After a number of replies like "Kirby cheat?" it mutated into other phrases that rhymed with it.
- Who would you is the original Smash Bros.?ExplanationThe nonsensical title of a GameFAQs thread due to the lack of the word "think" between "you" and "is", and the inability to attribute "the original Smash Bros." to a character.
- "20xxbot, define tvtropes." "I'm sorry, I wasn't able to find that term in my database, most likely due to a misspelling, the desired term not coming right after "define", or the term not being in my database. The correct way to ask me for a definition is "20xxbot define [term]". If you'd like for the term you asked for to be added to my database, please message kirby_freak and he'll look into it! A list of terms that 20xxbot recognizes is listed here." ExplanationRedditor kirby_freak created a bot on the Super Smash Bros subreddit called 20xxbot, which would define advanced terminology when prompted. While its list of terminology is 21 pages long, it quickly became apparent that it wasn't long enough, and whenever somebody wanted a definition that wasn't in the bot's list, it would reply with the above message. This quickly became a copypasta on r/smashbros.
- Evidence.zip ExplanationIn 2013, controversial player Leffen was temporarily banned from playing in European Smash tourneys after various fandom members and other players gathered evidence of his vitriolic online behavior in a .zip file named as such. He has since sought forgiveness for his actions, but the term "evidence.zip" is still used online whenever Leffen is fighting against somebody in Melee.
- "This is looking more like a bodybag.zip right now!" ExplanationA line used during Leffen's infamous money match against Chillindude829 (detailed in the "Competitive" section) referencing the file.
- "Old Man Yells at Cloud" ExplanationUpon the announcement of Cloud Strife as a newcomer, several fans were confused or outraged at the reveal. Naturally, this meme circulated, sometimes with edits to include the actual Cloud or other popular newcomer choices like King K. Rool or Snake.
- "______ for Smash!" ExplanationBecame the rallying cry during the voting for the Smash Ballot., the most infamous candidates being John Cena, Goku, Shrek, and Cory in the House.
- Home Depot for SmashExplanationA famous post on /r/smashbros where one user claimed they had a dream where Home Depot was a newcomer for 3DS/Wii U. It has since become one of the subreddit's favorite in-jokes.
- Corndog Shulk ExplanationWas on GameFAQs after someone claimed to have wanted to get a Shulk since Shulk would appear to have an awkward pose. Later someone mentioned how it reminded them of a corndog.
- YOU DON'T KNOW MEXICO SON THEY WILL BEAT YOU DOWN ExplanationReferring to Mexican Melee players Javi and Twin, GameFAQs user yugioh_master insisted for years that they were the best players in the world and that Javi in particular could beat any of the strong American and European Melee players of the time, such as Mango or Mew2King. Years later, he would be vindicated as Javi played in his first international outing at Apex 2012, placing 4th. The commentators D1 and Prog shouted out this meme at the event.
- Congrats Memoryman / Michaeloll / the trolls actually did it! ExplanationMemoryman and Michaeloll were two infamous Daisy fans (of the loony variety) who often demanded Daisy be added to the game, pulling several ridiculous stunts in attempts to get her in the game. Come Ultimate and her getting in as an 'Echo' character, many on GameFAQs various reactions were either to congratulate them or exclaim in disbelief how trolls got her into the game.
- "Two spin dashes and a spring"ExplanationA GameFAQs user by the name of 7NATOR kept arguing against the idea of Shadow of being Sonic's Echo Fighter because he didn't want Shadow to only use Sonic's lame moveset, "two spin dashes and a spring". It became a short-lived in-joke there.
- "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Xtreme" TournamentExplanationSomeone posted a flyer on Reddit (which also spread to Discord) for a casual Ultimate tournament, which got a lot of jokes at the tourney holder's expense due to the flyer seemingly having been made by a massive Scrub. Among other things, edgeguarding is banned, directional airdodging is banned, all Echo Fighters are banned (which includes several characters that aren't Echoes at all, like Dr. Mario, Pichu, Young Link, and Lucas), several moves are banned for being "unfair", up specials aren't allowed to be used onstage since they're "for recovering ONLY" (apparently Jigglypuff is chopped liver), and each player can only use 15 projectiles and 15 Smash attacks in a game. Between all that, the 8 am starting time, the repeated banning of things "Kyle" does (leading many to joke that Kyle is the one who posted the flyer on Reddit), the banning of talking during fights (no talking at a party?), and a rule about not complaining about the rules, the tourney flyer became widely-mocked.
Masahiro Sakurai
- JAPAN TIMEExplanationReferring to Sakurai's daily blog at the Smash Bros. Dojo, leading up to the release of Brawl, in which he'd detail new features of the game. Since it updated on Japanese mornings, this meant checking at unusual hours for it in more Western countries.
- Sakurai: -laughs-ExplanationAnd the counter-reaction. Comes from many interviews with Satoru Iwata in his "Iwata Asks" column, wherein every chuckle from anyone present is meticulously recorded as shown ad nauseum. One of these columns happened to involve an interview with Sakurai, popularizing the oddity. King Dedede is also associated with this meme, since he laughs and is voiced by Sakurai. Probably Ascended Meme status in Ultimate's reveal trailer for K. Rool, where King Dedede fakes being the much requested character. Dedede then starts laughing madly until the real K. Rool shows up.
- *trips* SAKURAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!ExplanationBrawl introduced a mechanic in which characters would randomly trip while running. This was the reaction. It was later used as a means for those jokingly/seriously frustrated that their requested character isn't added, or a chatacter they might not care about is.
- Sakurai's hand movements in the Smash Direct attracted much attention, leading to videos like this.
- Mashpotato Samurai.ExplanationThis comes from a Miiverse post that misspelled series creator Masahiro Sakurai's name as such.
- Anything that sounds vaguely like Masahiro Sakurai (e.g. Massive Hero Sack of Fries) also works.
- Sakurai hates Chrom.ExplanationEvery time Chrom appears, it's to make fun of him. This video really hammers it in, with the Kid Icarus characters joking that Chrom's taking a nap, having Chrom himself say that Robin was a better choice than him, Viridi stating that he'd be a clone of Ike without the unique moves and a crestfallen Chrom realizing he's useless until the Final Smash. Now a Discredited Meme thanks to Chrom's inclusion in Ultimate as an Echo Fighter.
- Sakurai Bias.ExplanationA complaint towards Sakurai's alleged favoritism or dislike of certain franchises determining the characters on the roster. Often cited as the reason Kid Icarus has three playable characters (as Sakurai directed Kid Icarus: Uprising), more than some long-established franchises that have more popularity outside of Japan (e.g. Metroid), but is often used to complain about any character choice or exclusion without any particular reasoning. More recently, it pops up to reference the fact that every single Kirby stage and character originates only from the games in the series that he personally directed, the Subspace Emissary primarily featuring Kirby characters as heroes, and the World of Light having Kirby as the only survivor of an attack that wiped out every other character.
- Sakurai Magic.ExplanationWhen TheJWittz was shown Cloud Strife's character trailer, this was the explanation he was given as for how Cloud got into Smash (despite his subseries being generally Sony exclusive, and, despite being an iconic PlayStation mascot, he wasn't put in Sony's own Mascot fighter).
- "Never ask me for anything ever again."ExplanationComes from this comic◊, which depicts Sakurai insulting Smash fans for their ridiculous Smash Ballot votes and disregarding them all, ending with this phrase. It popped up again during the December 2015 Direct, after some rather controversial choices. After Ultimate revealed it would have every character from all the prior Smash games, on top of adding in lots of highly-requested characters like Ridley, Chrom, King K. Rool, and Banjo & Kazooie, this meme saw resurgence, with many joking that Sakurai is just done with the fanbase as a whole and is giving them everything they want so that they stop bothering him. Ironically, the true winner of the Smash Ballot, Sora, ended up as the last DLC character, bringing the meme full circle.
- "You must recover!"ExplanationComes from this article from the Brawl DOJO site, which revolves around a launched character trying to get back onto the battlefield from afar.
- "It was binary!"ExplanationIn the lead up to the reveal of Byleth from Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Sakurai released a teaser picture with his index, middle, and ring fingers extended. Fans speculated what it meant, with some assuming Smash would be featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry series, while others correctly guessed that it was a symbol for Three Houses. On the reveal, Sakurai stated that it was for Three Houses, but the fingers didn't mean three, they meant seventeen. Sakurai explained that Three Houses is the 17th game in that series, and proceeded to count up to 17 on his hand in binary.
- Sakurai flips you off.ExplanationOf course, when most people count in binary on their hands, they extend a finger for "on" (counted), and tuck it in for "off", which results in the unfortunate Flipping the Bird at 4. However, Sakurai did the opposite, retracting his fingers to show when a number is counted, which delays the middle finger until 27, meaning he could get through the sequence without leaving up his middle finger. However, even with his system, the binary for 10 leaves the thumb, middle, and little fingers exposed. Because of the short extension of his finger, it still looks like he's flipping the viewer off... And at the end of the clip, he does count up to 31, meaning he does include 27 and thus flips the viewer off.
- "Smash is for good boys and girls!" ExplanationIn the reveal trailer for Terry Bogard from the Fatal Fury & The King of Fighters series, Sakurai had to explain why the series' leading heroine Mai Shiranui didn't even show up as a background character model. In the original Japanese, Sakurai made a joke about how her costume wouldn't make it past the Japanese ratings board (CERO). In the English translation, this was changed to explain that since Smash is "for good boys and girls", she couldn't make it in.
- "Mai Shiranui (or other fan-servicey character) isn't for good boys and girls."
- "You clearly ought to get your priorities in order." ExplanationSakurai's criticism of the CERO ratings board decisions for which costumes are too racy, based on turning the female characters' models upside down to check for the possibility of a Panty Shot, and their prioritization of that over depictions of violence.
- Sakurai holding a diamond sword◊ and pickaxe◊ from Minecraft.ExplanationDuring the Steve presentation, Sakurai pulled out a toy Minecraft diamond sword that can shift to a pickaxe for the sake of explaining a bit about Steve's tools. The sheer Bathos that resulted from seeing the creator of Smash wielding a Minecraft toy quickly caught on in the Smash fanbase, with edits photoshopping him into several situations with those tools being very common.
Mods
- Pikachu + Ganondorf's moves = Pikaman! (AKA Longchu and Ganonchu)ExplanationBased on a famous moveset-swapping hack for Brawl. A video featuring the moveswap was featured shortly after the game came out. This would not go unnoticed in Smash 4.
- Brawl- Warlock Punch ExplanationBrawl− is aimed to balance Brawl by making every single character completely overpowered. Ganondorf's neutral special, the Warlock Punch, was edited to do 666% damage and essentially be a one-hit-KO, as it cannot be teched out of, cannot be usefully redirected with SDI or DI, is very hard to roll out of, has too long of a hitbox to be spotdodged, cannot be perfect shielded, and cannot be countered, reflected, or interrupted in any way, as Ganondorf has super armor during the punch. The only way to dodge it, aside from getting the hell out of dodge (which isn't always possible), is to use super armor, which is only really viable as Bowser, or if you can exploit a frame-perfect double jump as Yoshi. It has been regarded as so egregiously bad that talking about it on the Brawl Minus forums will immediately start a flame war and will get you a Warning.
- Brawl- "lol Spring" combo ExplanationDiscussion as to what changes should be made in the version 4.0 has landed the forum in a discussion about Sonic. Sonic can essentially get a guaranteed KO on almost every single character from extremely low percentages, most characters being able to be zero-to-death-ed with two moves. The combo consists of a down air off of a ledge immediately canceled by sending a spring out. It is impossible to dodge, as the player is still in hitstun and the move cannot be SDI'd toward the walls to be wallteched or tech walljumped, and even if the down air is meteor-cancelled, the spring will immediately spike the character downward instead, and the Sonic can recover with the spring. This has been regarded as an extremely cheap combo, with many calling for Sonic's nerfing.
- GOExplanationWario yells "Go!" when he uses his side special, Wario Bike. However, the meme is more associated with his side special from Project M, the Shoulder Bash, made famous by a video from videogamedunkey. Because of its association with the Shoulder Bash, it is also used to refer to Wario's dash attack in Ultimate, which was changed to resemble it.
Audio-Based Memes
- Some popular mishearings include "Hands off my bread!", "Too easy, pizza-cake!", "Falcon Thrust!", "Rape the targets!", "Three for all!", and "Landbastard!"
- "Hands off my COCK!" / Falco's Down Taunt + Down SmashExplanationa mishearing that stems from using Falco's down taunt ("Hands off my prey!"), then immediately interrupting it before he says "prey" with his down smash (which has him say something that sounds like "COCK!") Naturally, fans went wild with this discovery.
- I'll be the Marth, e.g. noob... ExplanationMisheard lyrics of Brawl's main theme as featured in a comedic combo video.
- CORN ExplanationDue to the way Corrin's name is spelled and pronounced, many have started calling them this.
- Da Cunt ExplanationA Fan Nickname for Duck Hunt, playing off the dog's reputation as a Troll. Is somewhat lost on the European version, where they're instead named "Duck Hunt Duo." An interview with Xander Mobus, the voice of the announcer for Wii U & 3DS, confirms he tried to word his pronunciation very clearly to avoid this during recording, and that Nintendo had him do numerous takes before they got one they were satisfied with.
- Bear this TorchicExplanationA mishearing of the line "bear this torch against the cold of the night" in Ultimate's main theme Lifelight; some Twitter users, most notably Chuggaaconroy, noticed this.
- "BOW TO ME!" ExplanationA mishearing of Villager's Korean name (마을 주민, maeul jumin), adding more fuel to the fire of his reputation as a Memetic Psychopath.
Others
- Snake, do you know who that is?
- Stafy, why did you even come here?!ExplanationPossible shoot comment from the official website when introducing Sta(r)fy as an assist trophy.
- "Heroes always arrive late."ExplanationThis cryptic sentence ended the music update post for "Go K.K. Rider!" It's a paraphrase of a semi-common quote used in sentai series. The song is an homage to intros from tokusatsu shows such as Kamen Rider. Its obscurity led to quite a bit of confusion.
- "Mei Ling, Samus took her clothes off!" ExplanationWhen Snake does a special taunt with Zero Suit Samus as a focus, he seems shocked that Samus ditches her armor.
- There was going to be another meme here, but we cut it in favor of Environmental Noises.ExplanationEnvironmental Noises is a "music" track that is Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Some people see it as a completely useless music track and complain about other cool songs that could have been in the game instead.
- LANDMASTER!ExplanationThis meme originated shortly after Brawl came out in Japan; it was revealed that three characters (the Star Fox representatives) used the Landmaster as a Final Smash; more than any other Final Smash in the game. Fans now joke that any unknown Final Smash is going to be the Landmaster.
- When TV Tropes joins the battle, Alfonzo is in charge of the tropes. Alfonzo: "Leave it to me!" ExplanationOne pic of the day revealed that in the 3DS version of the game, Alfonzo drives the Spirit Train instead of Toon Link when the latter participates in a match. It got started as a meme the next week, when a pic of the day featured a Palutena statue and someone photoshopped Alfonzo in as a reference to a (later-proven-accurate) rumor making the rounds that Palutena was playable. Before long, Alfonzo was being edited◊ into◊ pictures to replace other characters◊, and it eventually◊ mutated◊ further.
- BANNED!ExplanationSmash Bros. commentator D1 reacted to the sizzle reel of stages in the Smash Direct by proclaiming that most of the stages would get banned. And that Jungle Japes is banned already.
- Photorealistic Substitute Doll◊ExplanationThe Substitute doll for Greninja is incredibly detailed, despite only being seen for a few seconds at a time.
- They invited Pac-Man?! ExplanationWith Pac-Man's inclusion in Smash Bros, this particular line from Wreck-It Ralph (where Pac-Man was invited to the 30th anniversary of the Fix-It Felix Jr. game instead of Ralph) becomes fairly appropriate. There's even gifs where Ralph is photoshopped with Captain Falcon's helmet or Ness' head.
- Mario's stars-and-stripes NES Open Tournament Golf costume has already earned nicknames like "Uncle Mario" and "America Mario". Many jokes like this one are popping up.
- Ridley is too bigExplanationRidley had been a popular request since his somewhat misleading appearance in the opening of Melee shown at E3 2001, and the demand only grew with each passing game. However, many considered his gargantuan size to make him too impractical to ever be a fighter while staying true to his character (not helped by Sakurai himself acknowledging it in an interview), spawning the infamous and memetic phrase that led to many images◊ like these◊. For years it became impossible to mention Ridley in the context of Smash without some mention of his size... making it a major Hilarious in Hindsight following his reveal as a playable fighter alongside Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at E3 2018. And his tagline when it finally happened? "RIDLEY HITS THE BIG TIME!".
- "I suppose I'll get my chance... another day..." ExplanationChrom's statement in the reveal trailer for Lucina and Robin, who were both confirmed while he was simultaneously disconfirmed. The statement's been used to refer to other characters that were looking less likely to appear, such as Ridley and Mewtwo.
- "I did get my chance another day!"/Chromgratulations! ExplanationChrom then gets playable in Ultimate, as an Echo Fighter, but it's still an improvement, and also fulfilling his hope from above.
- Yes, you can play as a female Robin. No, it didn't double our work load to make that character @Ubisoft. ExplanationA parody Twitter account threw shade at Ubisoft for not including female characters in Assassin's Creed: Unity because they were too hard and time-consuming, compared to Smash having both male and female models for the same character.
- "I told you, Pit. It's Super Bash Sisters." ExplanationWhat Palutena misremembered Super Smash Bros. as in Kid Icarus: Uprising, it's gained use due to the high number of female characters in Smash 3DS/Wii U — including Palutena herself. Ultimate increases the female character count even further.
- FEET CONFIRMED FOR SMASH! ExplanationTying in with the meme of none of the 3D character models in Awakening having feet, fans were delighted and tickled when they saw that Lucina, Robin and Chrom's Smash models did.
- "Settle it in Smash!" ExplanationThe empathically-declared slogan used in English commercials for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, being Nintendo's primary method suggested regarding the resolution of disagreements.
- So happy together... ExplanationEverything from the original English commerical for the Nintendo 64 game has become memetic in some way or another. From the sheer ridiculousness of the concept to the dissonant yet somehow fitting choice of music to Don LaFontaine as the narrator, it's widely considered to be one of the best — and funniest — commercials that Nintendo has ever produced.
- Chuggaaconroy wrote these descriptions.ExplanationA few of the new trophy descriptions are rife with puns, including those for Eggplant Pit and Fly Guy. Some fans of the games linked them to Chuggaaconroy's tendency to spout awful puns himself.
- The "50 Facts" Direct for the Wii U version has become a Fountain of Memes in itself thanks to the amazingly theatrical (and surprisingly young) Xander Mobus, its Large-Ham Announcer:
- BUTTONS!!! ExplanationXander Mobus as the Announcer goes to town with the ham, noticeably making even mundane things such as the return of button configuration sound exciting.
- A MICROPHONE! ExplanationThe Announcer states this triumphantly when describing the game's voice chat features, pointing out the Wii U Gamepad's built-in microphone.
- IT'S NOT EVEN COMPARABLE!ExplanationStated by the announcer when comparing the amount of songs in the Wii U version to the amount of songs in the 3DS version.
- BOY, IS IT SWEET TO LINE 'EM UP LIKE THIS!ExplanationStated after talking about the amiibo functionality, making very little sense in context. Expect this to be said whenever any set of things are lined up.
- Please secure your wrist strap to safely contain hype. ExplanationCommon in any hype-worthy situation, mostly in the Project M community.
- Naming characters in Smash Bros. ExplanationThere are a few videos and images of people getting other people (usually those who are not gamers or are unfamiliar with Nintendo games) to name various characters that appear in the Smash Bros. games. A few like Mario, Donkey Kong, Pikachu and Pac-Man are recognizable enough to get named correctly, but others are less lucky and get more amusing monikers. A short list of examples: Mega Man is "Astro Boy", Rosalina is "Elsa", Kirby is "Ghost Peach", Fox McCloud is "Rocket Raccoon", Pit is Princess Angel, etc.. A particularly amusing example is in StephenVlog's video. When Ness rolls around, the parents somehow call him both "Ninten" and "Lucas".
- Who I mained, What I expected, What I got. ExplanationMany fans have been posting charts labelled like this. The first panel shows the character they played as; the second panel shows their expectations for the character (usually wimpy or childish); and the third panel shows their reaction after playing, generally being rejoiceful or satirical. Here's an example.◊ Many of these can be found on Know Your Meme and Tumblr.
- Just because you try hard, doesn't mean you'll make it into battle.
- Bowser broke the stream.ExplanationIn the Super Smash Bros. Brawl Grand Finals of Super Smash Con 2015, ESAM was down 2-0 against Mew2King's Meta Knight. Since his Pikachu and Samus got him nowhere, he decided to roll the dice and go in with Bowser. At first ESAM was actually giving Mew2King a run for his money, but then he tried to grab the ledge with the Bowser Bomb similar to Yoshi and SD'd. At the same time, VGBootCamp's stream went down, spawning a joke about how Bowser broke the stream by crashing into the bottom of the pit.
- Super Fire Emblem Bros. ExplanationWith the announcement of Corrin bringing the number of playable Fire Emblem characters to 6, people have joked that Super Smash Bros. is now becoming a Fire Emblem fighting game (sometimes including some Mario characters, simultaneously lampooning that series' prevalence in the roster as well). This meme only grew more popular after Byleth was revealed, bringing the number of characters to 8 (including Lucina and Chrom).
- EmblemBoardsExplanationOn April Fools' Day 2016, popular fansite Smashboards changed its name to "EmblemBoards". This also resulted in every user having their profile pictures and character mains changed to characters relating to the Fire Emblem franchise. Tier lists on that day would focus on waifus and husbandos from said franchise.
- Super Slash Relatively Realistically Proportioned Humans (or alternatively, just Super Slash Bros). ExplanationAs of Pyra and Mythra, there are 23 characters that carry swords in Ultimate (out of 88, counting Echo Fighters), and only 5 (Ganondorf, Meta Knight, Toon Link, Mii Swordfighter, and Steve) lack an anime-inspired facial design. This has become a point of ridicule. For the shorter nickname, it also factors in just how many of these sword users are popular with slash shippers.
- Not another anime sword-fighter character! Explanation"Anime Swordsman" is the typical term used when complaining about said characters, especially the Fire Emblem characters, Cloud, and Shulk. As such, it's become a reoccurring joke among Smash fans that whenever any new character is announced, even if they have no sword (or even any weapon) at all, they'll snarkily be referred to as such anyway.
- Super Anime Swordsman Brothers ExplanationAn offshoot of the above meme.
- Dragon Quest Hero is THE Anime Swordsman. ExplanationAfter backlash to the Dragon Quest Hero's reveal, many fans pointed out that Arusu, one of the Hero's skins, actually is the inspiration for the other anime-style swordsmen in the roster, preceding the rest.
- "Too many swordsmen, are there?" ExplanationA line from Sothis in the Byleth trailer after he gets his ass kicked by three of the prominent swordsmen in the game, referencing the meme as a whole. People latched onto it as another one of Sakurai's Trolling Creator moments.
- Such detail.ExplanationIn the final broadcast, during the part showing off Cloud's alternate costume (the Advent Children) having a variation where the sleeve is gone, the English dub had an odd pause at that part and mentions that statement with such focus.
- Roll Glory. ExplanationA common nickname given to For Glory due to many of the less experienced players spamming dodges.
- "Oh would you look at the time!" ExplanationAn off-shoot of "Shulk Time" (see above) has characters with a clock with the numbers replaced with whatever the catchphrase involving time is: For Robin it's "Tip the scales", for Lucina it's "change fate" and for Bayonetta it's "Witch" (as in Witch Time).
- Because I'm a big fan of Meow Meow Mario. ExplanationNintendo demonstrated the Smash Ballot by voting for Cat Mario with this reason attached. Seeing as it's a pretty petty reason even by Smash fans' standards, it inevitably became memetic.
- Taunt to get bodied: True Combo ExplanationTempting Fate at its finest, many people (often in For Glory) will taunt when they are sure of their victory, only to get destroyed in short order.
- Nintendo Direct Mini? SMASH BROS SWITCH OR RIOT! ExplanationFans that expect a Smash Bros. announcement in every Nintendo-related announcement, no matter how minor, have become a source of mockery due to the fact that they'll inevitably be disappointed after said announcement before writing unreasonably angry posts on various social media sites. However, this became a Discredited Meme after the March 2018 Direct teaser.
- SURPRISE ExplanationMany people were trying to tell hyped Smash fans that the next game wouldn't be revealed until E3 at the very least. The surprise teaser at the end of the 3/8/18 Direct ended up bringing a sweet, sweet Catharsis Factor to many of these fans.
- That's it? No Smash? ExplanationA reaction (used both genuinely and mockingly) that has become associated with Smash fans when any presentation is announced, even if it is definitively not a Nintendo presentation a Smash reveal would be in (like an Indie World) or even a Nintendo or video game-related presentation at all, like a Sony State of Play or a basketball conference.
- Target Test videos ExplanationEditing videos, usually either existing memes or scenes from other games entirely, to add the Melee HUD, Target Test music, and pictures of targets so it looks like the people or characters in the video are breaking the targets.
- Smash Bros. Cinematic Universe ExplanationThe release of the Detective Pikachu and Sonic the Hedgehog movies led to jokes that they were both the start of a Super Smash Bros. shared universe series of films much like Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk started the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008.
Sakurai: Hello, everyone. It is I, Masahiro Sakurai. I am here today to tell you we have ended the meme poll early and tallied up the votes. The results were...disappointing, but not unexpected. You've all wasted your memes. We have disregarded all your meme examples and only have one more
Smash meme planned. We look forward to bringing you
Red Link sometime in winter. Never ask me for anything ever again.