Super Smash Bros Codexery

Ghost

Phase through the battlefield, untouchable and untouching, for a few ethereal seconds.

The Ghost is a support item in the Super Smash Bros. series, first introduced in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and carried forward into Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U. Picking it up transforms the player character into a small, translucent spectral form that drifts with a faint blue glow, granting a brief window of intangibility and invincibility at the cost of all offensive ability.

In the chaotic, multiverse-spanning arenas of Smash, the Ghost serves as a wild-card escape tool: a way to slip through solid walls, dodge a barrage of attacks, or reach a ledge that would otherwise be out of reach, all while the rest of the stage seems to pass harmlessly through your shimmering outline.

Quick Facts

Type
Support item
Also appears in
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS; Wii U
Primary effect
  • Intangibility
  • invincibility
  • inability to attack
Wall interaction
Can pass through walls and solid platforms
Offense while active
None — all attacks are disabled

Lore & Background

In the broad mythology fans have built around the Smash universe, the Ghost is one of the many strange artifacts that drift into the Great Battlefield alongside weapons, food, and creatures from a hundred different worlds. It is not tied to any single character's story; rather, it feels like a fragment of the multiverse's own restless spirit—a small, harmless wisp of something that once had a name and a body but has since dissolved into pure, drifting presence.

Its behavior in the arena mirrors that spectral nature. While a fighter clutches the Ghost, their solid form is replaced by a pale, rounded specter with a soft inner glow. The stage's geometry loses its authority: walls become suggestions, floors become memories, and the ghost simply floats between them. Damage from every source—projectiles, melee, stage hazards—passes through without a ripple. In return, the ghost's tiny hands cannot strike, grab, or even bump another fighter. It is a state of pure, peaceful passage.

Fans often describe the Ghost as the item that best captures the playful, rule-bending spirit of Smash itself. In a game where a plumber can punch a god and a sword can shatter a planet, a little ghost that walks through a wall feels perfectly at home.

Reader's Guide

Grab the Ghost from an item box or spawn point. The moment it activates, your character is replaced by a small, translucent ghost. You retain normal movement and jumping, but every attack—melee, special, grab, throw—is locked out. In exchange, you are fully intangible: walls, platforms, and other characters' hitboxes no longer block or harm you. You can walk straight through a solid wall to reposition, phase through a floor to drop to a lower stage, or simply let incoming projectiles pass through you harmlessly.

The effect lasts only a few seconds, so use the window deliberately. A common trick is to grab the Ghost while cornered, phase through the nearest wall to escape pressure, and let the timer expire on the other side. In 3DS/Wii U, the same principle applies, though the ghost's float and intangibility feel slightly snappier.

Competitively, the Ghost is a fun, low-risk tool rather than a damage source. It shines in casual and all-star matches where creative repositioning wins rounds. In serious play it's rare, but a well-timed wall-phase can break a combo or steal a stock when the opponent is locked into a long recovery.

Did You Know?

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