Equipment

Equipment is a major aspect of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U. Equipment is earned through a variety of ways including unlocking them via Classic Mode, Smash Run, Trophy Rush, Street Smash, Target Blast, and Challenges. Equipment come in three types: Attack, Defense , and Speed. Each character can wear only three pieces of equipment, and equipment stats can be stacked. Once the player has finished giving equipment and setting different special moves, if there are any, the player can save this combination of equipment, including the character's color (which can be altered if players are selecting their character under the character select screen under the Custom menu). There are ten available slots, so players can save a total of ten combinations for one character. Equipment can be turned on or off, although characters cannot use equipment in the Stadium modes or With Anyone during online play.

Any stat that has a majority trait has a label attached to it. If there are two stats that are roughly equal, the label shows both traits. For example, a character with mostly attack and speed have the "Spd/Atk" label.


 * Bruiser (Attack)
 * Defender (Defense)
 * Speedy (Speed)
 * Balanced (no dominant stat)

Every stat-boosting equipment has a drawback, depending on the type of equipment. The bigger boost the equipment offers, the bigger the penalty.


 * + Attack - Defense
 * + Defense - Speed
 * + Speed - Attack

Finally, speed affects how many powers for Smash Run a character can carry. The more speed a character has, the less powers he or she can carry. The default amount of powers a character can hold also varies for each individual character. For example, Bowser by default can carry more power than Fox.

Special attributes
Some equipment carry special attributes, which can either be positive or negative.

Equipment that offers positive effects usually have a stronger stat drop than a stat boost. How massive the stat drop is when compared to the stat boost can depend on the strength of the extra effect; for example, the Critical Hitter equipment typically hinders a stat way more than what it boosts, while the Hard Braker equipment may still offer a stronger stat boost than a stat drop.

Equipment that offers negative effects are depicted by red text. Such equipment often offers a stat boost that's way higher than its stat drop, sometimes rivaling the stat boosts of the equipment that does not have any extra effects. However, the negative effects that they offer could be detrimental to the fighter who's using the equipment.

Also, some equipment can give one item at the start of the match; if the item is turned off via item switch, then the item does not appear. Likewise, some extra effects will never activate when the player is fighting against Master Hand, Crazy Hand, and/or Master Core.

Unlockable equipment
The first Challenge Panel contains no unlockable equipment; if players meet the conditions listed, they must first uncover enough challenges to reveal the next panel, and once the next panel is revealed, the items are automatically unlocked.