The rage mechanic in Super Smash Bros. 4 isn’t a secret. Everyone who has gone so far as to watch streams of the game have likely heard it brought up from time to time in justification of an unusual kill percentage or some other in-game oddity. But while everyone knows it exists, no one really seems to know the specifics of exactly how it works.
With this in mind, Smash and Grab set out to determine the difference that rage can make when it comes to netting kills. The duo did something similar before on the 3DS version, but it seems that the rage mechanic doesn’t work in training mode for some reason or another. This resulted in them thinking the mechanic had little or no effect on the game, but once they set up some in-match tests, what they found was pretty alarming. So alarming, in fact, that they compared the mechanic to X-Factor in Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
It seems that the mechanic is in place from zero to eighty percent, but doesn’t become fully noticeable without side-by-side comparisons until after that point. Once you hit 100% and above, the knockback that your moves cause will allow kills at percentages so low that they border on being ridiculous.
For example, Fox’s up smash, which the duo shows to always kill another Fox at right around 120%, was able to do the same at 100% when the space animal performing the Smash was himself at 150% damage. Marth’s tip forward smash had even crazier results and was able to knock out Lucina at a shocking 36%.
Once players have figured out rage-based kill percentages on their characters of choice, this mechanic stands to change the way that the game is played. Could this mean an uprising in tankier characters who can handle being at high percentages longer than the speedier members of the cast? Only time will tell.
Source: Smash and Grab