Party Ball (item)

A Party Ball is an item container featured in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In battle, these paper balls often provided unpredictable chaos (or "wild fun", according to its trophy description) when broken. To release the items inside, the Party Ball could either be picked up and tossed in the air or attacked repeatedly on the ground. The container could also be tossed at opponents to damage them (and, of course, reveal the items inside). However, unlike other carriers, the Party Ball would not immediately break open. Instead, the Party Ball was installed with a time-release. When tossed (or sufficiently struck enough times), the paper ball would rise in the air, hover for a couple seconds, then split in half and release its contents (and some confetti).

Each Party Ball had a 42% chance of releasing a random number of assorted items, a 36% chance of revealing a banquet of Food items, or a 12% chance of dropping several Bob-ombs onto the battlefield (the aptly named "Bob-omb Fest"). The other 10% of the time, the Party Ball would self-destruct. Like the Crate, the Party Ball was extremely heavy. Only very strong fighters, such as Donkey Kong or Bowser, could walk with relative ease while carrying a Party Ball.

The Party Ball returns for the two sequels to Melee, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, first in the Nintendo 3DS version and will later appear in the Wii U version. In Brawl, although it still releases items when opened, a new feature is that the Party Ball has a chance of not releasing any items when it opens.