The less damage the grabbed player has, the easier it is to break free from a foe's grab. Unlike in Super Smash Bros., however, players can break free from grabs. The player can now attack the grabbed character by using the or buttons, and can also throw the other character in a direction by tilting the. When not holding items and standing next to a character, the player can press, or and in combination with, to grab the character. A thrown character can hit other characters and damage them this way, too. The player can also throw the character in any direction, or smash them to the ground. This allows the player to hit the character while they are not able to protect themselves or fight back. Players are able to grab other characters and hold them. Light characters may even be knocked out by the shield break. Also, the harder the player presses on the or triggers, or button depends on how thick the shield is, a thicker shield will erode slower from damage, but faster from time, while a thinner shield will erode more from damage but significantly less from time duration, adding to shielding strategy. The longer the player waits before using the shield, the stronger it becomes, similar to Bowser's Fire Breath. The shield's power decreases every time it is used, and when the shield breaks, the character will be unable to move for a certain period of time. The shield has the form of a bubble (except for Yoshi, where it is a Yoshi Egg).

More powerful ones such as Samus' fully charged charge shot, however, will merely be absorbed by the shield. If used at the right time, and for only a split second, the shield can be used as a reflector for items thrown and most projectile attacks. Shields can be used to prevent any kind of attack from a character or an item, only grabbing cannot be prevented. The shield changes color depending on the player number (red for P1, blue for P2, yellow for P3, green for P4, and gray for a CPU). When pressing the or triggers, or the button, the character's shield is activated. The higher the damage percentage is, the easier it is for the player to be knocked out. The maximum damage that can be dealt to a player is 999%. Whenever a player is hit, they get a certain amount of percent damage. series thus does not rely on hit points for each character which have to be brought down to zero, but on damage percentage.

Unlike other fighting games, the Super Smash Bros. When a player hits these boundaries, the player is knocked out.

Melee, up to four characters fight on a side-view stage with invisible boundaries on each side.

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