With the inception of the Super Smash Bros. franchise, characters were initially only able to throw forward or backwards after grabbing an opponent. Super Smash Bros. Melee would later introduce the down throw, up throw, and pummel interactions that became mainstays for the rest of the series.
Recently, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa confirmed plans to unveil the Switch successor within this fiscal year, which spans through March 31, 2025. As such, Nintendo has maintained a tradition of having a new Super Smash Bros. entry released for all of their mainline consoles since the Nintendo 64. Could it finally be time to add a new grab interaction mechanic?
C Sharp recently released a new video that showcases one of his mods in action. This mod takes the “special pummel” mechanic from Rivals of Aether and essentially puts it into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Essentially, this allows characters to perform a slower, character specific pummel by pressing the special button after grabbing an opponent. Since this type of pummel is slower, players generally won’t have enough time to perform this action against opposing fighters at low percentages since they’ll be able to easily escape.
For a number of combatants, the special pummel effectively just behaves as an extra throw. Upon being used, the initiator will basically just transition into a rapid jab combo, releasing the other player from the grab.
However, some of the fighters were gifted with some particularly interesting tools. Even C Sharp himself believes that some of these ideas might be a little too overpowered.
Duck Hunt’s special pummel, for example, has the duo harmlessly placing a targeting reticle on the held victim. After a set amount of time, the other combatant will be shot at with the NES Zapper.
Similarly, Sephiroth’s special pummel will place a single Shadow Flare orb on the opponent without the need to hit with a side special. If they’ve already been marked with Shadow Flare, then this will adds one to the total orb count (up to five as normal).
As one might expect, Snake’s special pummel has him placing a C4 explosive on the opponent. If the C4 is already placed, he can detonate it while still holding the opponent in place.
An important caveat to consider is that C Sharp has it so that a special pummel can only be used once per grab. Additionally, this mostly seems to be a proof of concept as some special pummels (such as Kirby’s due to grab lockouts) don’t work correctly.
Check it all out below: