Looking at the game competitively, items are hugely dismissed in Super Smash Bros. Although there are some “items on” style tournaments, it really is a pretty rare thing to run into. Chances are if you’re playing with items on, then you’re playing the game for fun. While competitive is definitely a growing scene in Super Smash Bros. the game was originally designed as a party game, and many people choose to enjoy it that way.
There are a diverse amount of items featured in the newest rendition of the Smash Bros world, and sometimes it can be difficult to find the best items when you’re worried about what Mario is doing on that far right platform. We’ve taken the guesswork out of the scouring and taken some time with the new Smash Bros. to give you a rundown of the best items to use when facing off against your friends on your 3DS.
“Freezie”
Hitting your opponents with the Freezie pickup will cause them to be frozen for a short amount of time. During this short time limit you may inflict considerable amounts of damage on their character. In a lot of cases your opponent may be holding a shield, or ready to roll when Freezie wears off. In either scenario, simply try to predict best which action they will take and you can tack on a little extra damage after the item’s duration runs out. At the very least you’ll end up with fewer enemies rushing you afterwards, instead aiming for a retreat away from your woeful blows.
“Home-Run Bat”
Being one of the most feared items in the Smash Bros. Universe, you’re going to want to move quickly when using this item. The attack is a bit slower than most Smash Attacks, it can still be pretty easy to sneak up on opponents duking it out in Free for all and manage a hit in on them. Most cases of the Home-Run Bat actually landing on its target will result in an instant KO.
Even if you don’t have the time to move in and use the Smash Attack variation of the bat you can still throw it at an opposing character. Even when thrown the Home-run bat has a large chance of knocking your opponent out of stage. The knockback on this item is also very strong, and should thus be treated as a dangerous piece of equipment when in your enemy’s hands. Your best bet is to grab this item whenever you see it and wait out your chance to smash an opposing character.
“Master Ball”
The Poké Ball item has always been a strong contender in previous installments of the Smash Bros. series, and while random at times, more often than not you’re going to get a decently powerful Pokémon. The 3DS variation of this item is no different, and while legendary Pokémon aren’t always going to do loads of damage, there is still a much higher percentage of a dangerous Pokémon springing from the innards of your Master Ball than ever before.
Each legendary will either set you up for a sweet KO, or even end up doing all the work for you along the way. It isn’t much of a gamble even if you get a less effective Pokémon, as the opposing players are will still have to scatter to avoid the potential danger inside your Master Ball. Just be ready to capitalize on your spoils of war, or your opponents running for their lives.
“Ore Club”
New to the Smash Bros. universe, Kid Icarus’s Ore Club has multiple uses. You can wield it with a basic attacking, swinging it at opponents for moderate damage, or you can use it as a Smash Attack and send out a tornado that covers a large portion of the screen and pushes opponents back. When used the tornado moves slow enough that you can easily follow it to perform combos if an enemy is hit by it.
Perhaps the best ability of the Ore Club is the fact that it grants the user with armor during a Smash Attack swing. If you happen to get hit while swinging, you’ll still take damage, however your character won’t experience any knockback and will continue onward in his or her use of the weapon in this variant. Last but certainly not least, the club bounces back in a boomerang-like pattern when thrown at other players and scoring a hit. If your opponent isn’t too far away from the edge of the stage you can easily use this attack to edge guard and guarantee yourself several easily KOs.
“X bomb”
Another new item from the Kid Icarus universe, the X Bomb is a bomb that rotates and shoots out four explosive beams when thrown. The orientation of the bomb determines the trajectory of the explosive beams, but when aimed correctly it can be super effective. This fact alone makes the item difficult to dodge, and our opponents will never know exactly which way to go to escape unless they pay close enough attention to the device. But this works out for you, because if they’re that focused on the device they probably aren’t paying much attention to you are more susceptible to attack from your character. Once the X Bomb hits it inflicts a large amount of damage, and can even KO an enemy if their health is low enough.
Once it appears it is going to be a mad dash to get this powerful item, and usually this means you’ll get to attack other players while they’re focused in on picking up the bomb. However, another mentionable bonus to the X Bomb is that once it is dropped, it doesn’t matter if the character who picked it up is hit immediately after, the explosive beams will likely interrupt any combo the opposing player is trying to perform and at the very least they will have to scramble to avoid the damaging explosive beams now erupting from the device.