‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’ Bug Disables Grab Attacks

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate players have discovered a new glitch that makes it so that nobody can grab opponents in a match.

The glitch is a fairly situational one and needs a few actions to fall into place for it to work, but it revolves around one fighter: Ice Climbers. If someone using that pair of combatants uses the fighter’s side special called Squall Hammer right as they’re grabbed by an enemy, they’ll free themselves from the grab animation and every grab attempt after it by rendering grabs unusable for the remainder of the match.

Competitive Super Smash Bros. player and Twitter user Butter shared the video below that shows what happens when the Ice Climbers escape from a grab using that ability. Luigi successfully grabs the Ice Climbers with his Poltergust 5000, but as soon as they break free, he can’t grab them anymore.

Ice Climbers have a history of causing problems in Super Smash Bros. prior to Ultimate’s release, the character handling a bit differently than others since there are two people wrapped into one fighter, but this glitch could be a problematic one for anyone up against an Ice Climbers user. Many fighters rely on grabs to set up their combos, so removing that part of their kit could severely hinder certain characters. Seeing this happen in an actual game sounds like it’ll be a rare occurrence though given that it’s difficult to replicate, according to the player who found the glitch. Butter described it as having “really strict timing” but said it affects both tether grabs like Luigi’s as well as normal, up-close grabs. It also affects the Ice Climbers and removes their ability to grab their opponent, too, so they won’t benefit from the glitch quite as much since they lose part of their arsenal.

Bugs and glitches have been found occasionally in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate since it released, so this is far from the first that’s been discovered. Players found another bug not long ago that resulted in the game crashing if Isabelle and Villager went up against each other and played a game of catch for a while.