Brawl is full of items. There’s a whopping 49 items available for you to turn on and off via the Item Switch, and that number climbs even higher when you include the specialised items for modes like Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary.
Posting a description of each of these might be a bit too much work...
But what the heck, let’s do it.
I’ve already started the process, and I might as well lay it all out.
To all the localisation staff out there in each country helping me communicate through the Dojo, sorry for upping your workload.
 | | Smash Ball
Attacking one of these until it breaks gives you the ability to use your Final Smash.
Read more here.
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 | | Assist Trophy
Raise one of these high into the air to call one of Brawl’s many assistant characters to your aid.
Read more here.
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 | | Poké Ball
Throw a Poké Ball to summon a Pokémon that will assist you in fighting your opponent.
Read more here.
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 | | Crate
Attack or throw a crate to break it open and gain access to the items inside. There are three designs for crates. Additionally, some crates have dollies underneath them. Attacking these crates sends them rolling away.
Read more here.
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 | | Barrel
These bear a resemblance to crates but can tip over and roll. Barrels are pretty sturdy and can be a bit tough to crack open.
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 | | Capsule
Break open these little capsules to find items. They’re also effective as a throwing item. Capsules will explode on occasion.
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 | | Party Ball
When hit, Party Balls float up into the air and split open, raining down a torrent of items. These items are known to drop nothing but Bob-ombs sometimes.
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 | | Blast Box
Hit these with a strong attack or fire-based attack to detonate the blast box, causing a huge explosion that blows anything in the area away. If one of these pops up, your first move should be to keep an eye on any characters that can use fire-based attacks.
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 | | Sandbag
Beat Sandbag up to make it drop items and food. As Sandbag accumulates damage, it gradually becomes easier to hit longer distances. Of course, beat Sandbag too much and its pool of items will run dry.
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 | | Food
Scoop food items up to lower your damage percentage. There are essentially 28 different types of food. Each item restores a certain amount of health. In addition to the types mentioned above, you can expect to chow down on a variety of other items, such as peaches from Peach and Summit veggies!
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 | | Maxim Tomato
These tomatoes are emblazoned with a striking letter "M". Eating one of these reduces your damage by 50 percentage points.
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 | | Heart Container
Pick up one of these to reduce your damage by 100 percentage points. Heart Containers float slowly to the ground once they appear, but don’t risk waiting around for them to hit the ground – jump up and grab ‘em in mid-air. You should also know that the three Heart Containers that appear in All-Star Mode heal all accumulated damage.
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 | | Dragoon Parts
Gather all three pieces to assemble the legendary Air Ride machine called the Dragoon.
Read more here.
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 | | Super Mushroom
Pick one of these up to grow huge. In your enhanced form, you won’t fly as far when hit and are capable of dealing harder-hitting blows than usual.
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 | | Poison Mushroom
These are hard to distinguish from Super Mushrooms. Pick one up and you’ll shrink in size, your blows will do less damage and you’ll fly farther when hit.
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 | | Warp Star
Take a ride on a Warp Star to launch a vicious attack from above on your opponent. You can control where the Warp Star falls by using your Control Stick.
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 | | Super Star
Just touch one of these and you’ll gain temporary invincibility. The effect lasts 10 seconds.
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 | | Metal Box
Turn metal and gain no-flinch resistance to lighter attacks. Just be aware that you’ll fall like a rock.
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 | | Bunny Hood
The Bunny Hood provides a substantial boost to your running speed and jumping power. Plus you get rabbit ears, which makes your character look adorable.
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 | | Superspicy Curry
Eat one of these and the flames just won’t stop. You can, however, continue to attack as normal. This item also has the side effect of making you run even if you try to walk.
Read more here.
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 | | Timer
Pick up this item to slow down the flow of time for all other players. Occasionally the Timer will have a different effect and only slow you down, or it may slow down everyone.
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 | | Lightning
Touch one of these and all of your opponents will shrink. The effect is more dramatic and dangerous than the one brought on by a Poison Mushroom. Sometimes the Lightning will backfire and only your character will shrink.
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 | | Beam Sword
Grab one of these and your sideways attacks will all change to use the Beam Sword. The stronger the attack, the longer the beam of the sword will be.
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 | | Home-Run Bat
Perform a side smash while holding this item to take a home-run-sized swing at the opponent that’ll send him or her soaring. The Home-Run Bat is also your friend in the Home-Run Contest mode. It’s strong when thrown too.
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 | | Fan
This item doesn’t pack much of a punch but is easy to score rapid multiple hits with – it can also break shields. The Fan has deceptive strength when thrown straight up in the air in modes like Multi-Man Brawl.
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 | | Lip’s Stick
Hit an enemy with this or throw it to make a flower bloom on your opponent’s head. While the flower is on his or her head, the opponent will slowly accumulate damage. The more you beat your foe with Lip’s Stick, the bigger the flower on his or her head will grow.
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 | | Star Rod
Perform a strong side attack or side smash attack while holding the Star Rod to swing the rod and simultaneously fire off a star-shaped projectile. It’s both a battering and throwing item. When you throw a Star Rod at the opponent, it sends them rocketing off sideways.
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 | | Hammer
Seize this item to unleash a barrage of hammer swings on the opponent. The attack itself is quite powerful but you’ll lose the ability to perform mid-air jumps and special moves while attacking with it. Sometimes the head of the hammer will pop right off.
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 | | Golden Hammer
This rare hammer appears every once in a while. Repeatedly press buttons in mid-air to float while the hammer is in use.
Read more here.
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 | | Nintendo Scope
This beam gun lets you choose between attacking with rapid-fire and charged shots. The Nintendo Scope holds enough energy for 48 rapid-fire shots, or about three fully-charged blasts.
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 | | Ray Gun
The Ray Gun is a beam gun that lets you fire fast-moving blasts. It comes loaded with 16 shots. When you’ve exhausted your rounds, shooting items remain useful since you can throw them at the opponent to score a smash attack.
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 | | Fire Flower
The Fire Flower is a shooting item that spouts a torrent of fire over a short distance. Take care that you don’t direct the flames into a PSI Magnet, which will absorb the attack.
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 | | Cracker Launcher
Change the angle of fire by moving the barrel up and down, then let off a stream of fireworks. Tap the direction opposite the direction you’re facing to turn around. You’ll be able to tell when you’ve fired the final shot in the Cracker Launcher by the colour of the smoke.
Read more here.
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 | | Bob-omb
A simple and powerful bomb. The power of this thing earns top marks. If you leave it alone it will get up and walk around on its own. Once enough time has passed in Sudden Death, Bob-ombs start to fall from the sky in droves.
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 | | Motion-Sensor Bomb
Set one of these on the floor or wall and it will react to the next moving object in its proximity by detonating. These guys are small and inconspicuous, so try setting one as a trap.
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 | | Gooey Bomb
Gooey Bombs stick to the opponent and blow up once a set amount of time has passed. If someone sticks one to you, you should make it a priority to pass it back to them.
Read more here.
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 | | Smart Bomb
Throw a Smart Bomb and it will burst into a massive explosion that pulls friend and foe alike into the blast, scoring multiple hits. Every once in a while you’ll come across a dud smart bomb, too.
Read more here.
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 | | Deku Nut
Peg the area near an enemy with one of these to make them dizzy. When the Deku Nut makes contact with an opponent in mid-air, it can send them quite a distance. When you strike with a Deku Nut, make sure you don’t get caught in the explosion.
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 | | Freezie
This icy item slides slowly along the ground. Throw it at the enemy to freeze them in a block of ice, trapping them. You’ll want to hammer on the buttons and wiggle the Control Stick to get out of that ice as fast as you can.
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 | | Smoke Ball
Smoke issues with a hiss from this item and obscures the area. You can slap one of these on your opponent or yourself.
Read more here.
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 | | Pitfall
Set one of these on the ground and watch as your opponents stumble into it, burying themselves in the floor. This throwing item has a meteor smash effect when you throw it at an airborne opponent.
Read more here.
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 | | Hothead
Hotheads slide across the ground releasing bursts of sparks, damaging your opponents. What’s more, when hit with fire or electricity-based attacks, they grow even bigger!
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 | | Mr. Saturn
When you throw Mr. Saturn into a solid object, he gives a little cry of "puuu!" He’s more of a mascot character than anything else, but he’s fairly good at breaking shields.
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 | | Green Shell
Throw, hit or jump on this shell to send it sliding along the ground. Green Shells can suddenly reverse the direction they are travelling if they bump into a wall or are hit by an attack, so keep an eye out for returning shells.
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 | | Banana Peel
The item is positively begging for you to slip on it. If you step on a Banana Peel, your character will fall on his or her backside.
Read more here.
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 | | Bumper
A pinball bumper. Set this Bumper on the ground or in the air and watch it bounce opponents who make contact with it down and away.
Read more here.
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 | | Spring
Hop on a Spring to perform an extra-high jump. Every so often a Spring will topple over sideways. When it does so, anyone who makes contact with the fallen Spring will be knocked sideways.
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 | | Unira
Throw an Unira into the ground or attack it to cause its spikes to extend and damage opponents who bump into it. Attack the Unira again to make its spikes retract. Unira comes to Brawl from Clu Clu Land.
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 | | Soccer Ball
You can’t pick up this item but when you hit the ball with an attack, it bursts into flames and zips off into the air. The angle of your attack determines the direction the Soccer Ball will fly off in, so aim well before you shoot.
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 | | Team Healer
This item is designed for Team Brawl use. Throw it at your opponent to reduce their damage percentage. Hitting enemies with a Team Healer may damage or heal them depending on the circumstances.
Read more here.
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 | | Franklin Badge
Just slapping this handy item on your chest causes all incoming enemy projectiles to be repelled. There’s no disadvantage to having one on, so if you see a Franklin Badge, grab it!
Read more here.
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 | | Screw Attack
This is another item that you wear. While wearing it, the Screw Attack ability is added to your standard and mid-air jumps. You’ll still be able to attack as normal during the Screw Attack, which means you’ve got the potential to create chains of attacks in some unexpected combinations.
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 | | CD
CDs add a single song to the song collection you can access through the Sound Test and My Music modes. CDs will stop appearing once you’ve unlocked every song in the game.
Read more here.
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 | | Trophy
Sometimes single trophies will appear as well. Grab this item to add a trophy to your collection.
Read more about trophies here.
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 | | Sticker
Character stickers. Other than their obvious purpose as collectibles, stickers serve as a means to power up your character in The Subspace Emissary.
Read more here.
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 | | Key
These open the locked doors you’ll encounter within Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary. If you lose a key you were holding on the way to the door, just return to where you originally found it. By the way, these guys pack a real punch when thrown.
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 | | Trophy Stand
Use these to turn enemies into trophies in Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary. Hold off on throwing the stand at an enemy until it’s been sufficiently weakened.
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 | | Stock Ball
This item is known as a Stock Ball. In Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary, Stock Balls increases the number of lives you have left. There’s no downside to picking these up, so don’t pass them up.
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 | | Coins and Notes
These special items appear when playing Brawl under the Coin rule. Bronze coins are worth one point, silver are worth three, gold are worth six, and the notes are worth ten. These are different than the coins you use in the Coin Launcher and Spectator modes.
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In addition to everything listed above, each character gets their own Final Smash from the Smash Ball and there are a ton of different Assist Trophies and Poké Balls to boot.
The anything-can-happen spirit of Brawl is clearly aided in part by all the variety you’ve seen here.
