How can I pick up items?

Question

How do you pick up an object in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on a Nintendo Switch?

Answer 1

There are several ways to pick up items in Smash Bros...

• Standing near the item and pressing the attack button (A on default controls)
• The following applies to all items except Grass and heavy items¹
  • In midair using the grab button (Z on default controls) - Melee onward
  • In midair using an air dodge (pressing shield - L/R) - Brawl onward
  • Input dash attack or any aerial within 5 frames of coming into contact with an item - Brawl onward
  • Input tilt attack within 2 frames of coming into contact with an item - Ultimate onward (Ultimate also changed Brawl's 5-frame window to be 2 frames for dash attack and aerials)

There are, however, only three ways to drop an item

1. Throw the item
   • Press attack or grab and a direction (or just attack alone to throw forward)²
2. "Z-drop" (named for the default grab button, Z)
   • On the ground, pressing grab alone will have the character toss the item lightly up and behind them. In the air however, pressing grab with no direction will drop the item downward. The important differentiating factor between a Z-drop and a downward throw is that Z-drops have almost no lag. Meaning you can use a Z-drop to combo (see below)
3. Item drop chance
   • When your character is hit while holding an item, there is a random chance they will drop the item. This is computed on the damage of the attack hitting you. From Brawl onwards, that chance is [Base Dmg] / 70 (so Falcon Punch, which has base dmg of 25%, will have 25/70 = ~35.7% chance of making you drop an item).

More fun with item grabs

So what if you want to do an aerial attack while holding an item? Since Z-drop comes out on the first frame (insanely fast!), and you can also use an aerial to re-grab an item... you can actually Z-drop, and then perform your aerial immediately to re-catch the item! This is called an "IZAC" (Instant Z-Drop Aerial Catch).

Putting this all into practice with an item that does a small amount of knockback makes for some crazy combos!

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<sup>1. The exhaustive list of heavy items is as follows... Barrel, Barrel Cannon (Melee only), Blast Box, Crate, Party Ball, Rolling Crate, Wario's bike.
2. There are a few edge-cases where this will do an attack instead of an item throw. Namely, if Peach/Daisy are floating (holding down or jump while in the air to hover), they cannot throw an item. Pressing attack and a direction will cause an aerial to come out.</sup>

Answer 2

To pick up an item all you need to do is press the A button, the basic attack button, while next to an item to pick it up.

You can then press that button again to throw, use, or swing the item around depending on what it is.