Sweet spot



The sweet spot is the part of an attack that deals more damage or knockback than other parts of the attack. Inversely, the sour spot of an attack does less damage or knockback than the sweet spot.

This is generally due to a hitbox in the attack that causes more damage than the other parts of the attack, although some may come about at a certain timing, such as Mario's forward air.

They are an element in the Super Smash Bros. series and in the Super Smash Flash series. While for the most part they only change minor amounts of damage, certain knockback effects are critical to learn in order to master a character.

Notable sweet spot moves

 * 's forward aerial, the knee of justice. The move's sweet spot is in the initial frames of the attack. It is one of the strongest horizontal KO moves in the game and is generally used at the end of his combos.
 * 's forward smash has a visible sweet spot; the fire ball that shoots out of his hand. The move will deal 23% and with good knockback when touched at the tips of the fire ball.
 * 's forward aerial and back aerial, Lightning Kick. The sweet spot is at the heel of her foot in the initial frames of the move and is difficult to land, but if landed, it can have an incredibly powerful effect. Her back aerial's sweet spot is bigger, easier to land, deals more damage and knockback then her forward aerial.
 * 's up smash has a sweet spot at her hands when she splits them apart.
 * 's attacks have a sweet spot when hit at the top of his sword, which is referred to as a tipper.
 * 's side special move, Plasma Wire, has an enormous sweet spot at the end of her whip which is easy to land due to the whip pushing opponents into the sweet spot.
 * 's forward smash, Beast, is stronger in the initial frames of the attack.

Notable sour spot moves

 * The sour spot of the Knee Smash can be useful in combos or following up with a sweet spotted Knee Smash and can be used for gimping opponents.
 * Marth's untipped forward aerial is useful in combos and can sometimes be led into a down aerial which is called the Ken Combo.
 * Mario's forward aerial has a sourspot with good horizontal knockback, making it a reliable finisher offstage.

Trivia

 * Originally the developers had the sweet spot of most attacks be in the first frame of the attack. However, with the introduction of Marth, the developers had to find another way to achieve the effect of landing the sweet spot of the hitbox of an attack.