Ghost

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.

In Their Own Story

The stage was a crumbling tower, wind howling through broken archways. Riku—no, the fighter, the one in the red jacket—was cornered on a narrow ledge, stock bar flashing, a meteor smash already winding overhead. Then the item box cracked open and a small, round ghost tumbled out, bobbing gently in the gale.

She lunged and grabbed it. The world went quiet. Her boots lost their weight; her outline softened into a pale blue shimmer. The meteor smash crashed through the spot where she'd been standing, punching a hole in the stone floor, and she simply wasn't there anymore. She drifted upward, through the ceiling, through the sky above the arena, feeling the wind pass through her like a half-remembered song. For three, four seconds, nothing could touch her and she could touch nothing. Then the glow faded, gravity remembered her name, and she dropped back into the fight with a grin and a full stock bar.

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?

• The Ghost is one of the very few items in the series that grants complete invincibility to the holder, making it a reliable escape from otherwise lethal situations.
• While ghosted, you can still jump and move normally, so the intangibility is not a stun or freeze—it's a genuine state change that preserves your mobility.
• The Ghost appears in both Brawl and the 3DS/Wii U title, making it a recurring support item across two generations of the series.
• Because the ghost form disables all attacks, you cannot even bump into another fighter with a body check, making it purely a defensive and positional tool.