The following is a list of flaws in theartificial intelligence ofSuper Smash Bros.

General[edit]

Category	Description	Character
Recovery	CPUs never attempt to fight off or evade edgeguarders.	All
	CPUs only attempt to recover once. If they get hit during the first recovery attempt they will just fall to their death.	All
	CPUs always aim their recoveries towards the center of the stage; so, ifmeteor smashed on stages such asDream Land andPeach's Castle, no matter the strength of the attack, they will go underneath the stage and fail to recover. Similarly, inSector Z, they may aim recovery towards the Great Fox's cannons, which cannot be stepped on.	All
	After a CPU Captain Falcon grabs someone with hisFalcon Dive during recovery, he won't attempt to use the move again.
	CPU Mario and Luigi never useMario Tornado andLuigi Cyclone (respectively) to recover.
	CPU Kirby and Jigglypuff immediately use up all their jumps after getting knocked off the stage. CPU Jigglypuff additionally never usesPound to recover, only using the move to attack foes on the edge after reaching it.
	A CPU Ness always aims hisPK Thunder as a recovery in a horizontal, barely upwards angle, even if the stage is above him.
Movement & Attack patterns	CPUs almost neverdash to move, acting almost immediately out of their initial dash to perform dash grabs anddash attacks, causing their approaches to be extremely slow and predictable.	All
	CPUs never initiate afast fall intentionally, only doing so occasionally when trying to attack with adown aerial while falling down.	All
	When getting close to their opponent in a single battle, high-level CPUs always use either a forward smash or down smash (if not a special move), being easily predictable. If the player is not hit by it, they may use that same move continuously while moving a very short distance forward each time.	All
	When their opponent in a single battle gets close to them, high-level CPUs often spam easily predictablerolls.	All
Other	CPUs don't intentionally useZ-cancel. Instead, they sometimes accidentally do so when trying to roll right after landing.	All
	CPUs rarely useGround techs.	All
	When returning on a revival platform, CPUs always reenter the fight instantly regardless of what is happening on the stage.	All
	Wheninvincible, such as by the effect of a Star or when dropping out of a revival platform, CPUs still shield and dodge attacks thrown against them. Additionally, when a player comes out of arevival platform, they still attack them during the invincibility period.	All
	When a player has not been damaged for a considerable amount of time, CPUs will start to track and try to damage the said player, ignoring other players completely. In this instance, they will also even go offstage to attack the player, which can cause them to self-destruct. They will only fight as they normally do until the player is damaged or loses a stock.	All
	High-level CPUs usuallytaunt when they hit an opponent with a highknockback attack, even if it doesn't KO them. This means they can taunt even if there are traps or other players nearby, and even if the attack is ameteor smash that leaves the foe at a short distance from the CPU. This makes it easy to punish characters with long taunts, such as Mario.	All
	CPUs will ignore a placedMotion-Sensor Bomb, walking over it even if it would detonate on them.	All
	CPUs do not intentionally collectSuper Stars, only doing so accidentally.	All

Character specific[edit]

Character	Description
	CPU Captain Falcon often usesFalcon Kick when jumping over the player, even when platforms are below him. He often misses the move by a short distance, leaving him open to powerful attacks. If the player stays above him during the jumping phase, CPU Captain Falcon will useFalcon Dive instead, falling helpless and becoming extremely vulnerable.
	CPU Donkey Kong almost always charges upGiant Punch and cancels it when the player comes near, not approaching the player until the punch is fully charged.
	When the player comes near, CPU Donkey Kong almost always usesSpinning Kong to "repel" them, instead of other attacks, and also chases the player after the attack is executed, even if this results in the CPU falling off an edge and self-destructing. This is more noticeable withGiant Donkey Kong: he tends to use Spinning Kong when the player's teammates approach him.
	CPU Fox spams his up aerial to attack foes in midair.
	CPU Fox persistently usesBlaster against players at a distance from him, even if the player can reflect/absorb the lasers or is on a platform at a higher level.
	CPU Fox tends to aimFire Fox against players as one of his main attacks. As a result, if a human player runs to the edge of a stage such asDream Land, Fox will follow them and aim hisFire Fox off of the stage, resulting in a self-destruct.[1]
	CPU Jigglypuff tends to make constant use ofPound to attack players, especially in midair.
	CPU Jigglypuff almost never usesRest, missing the opportunity to use it when in close range to a foe.
	A CPU Kirby usingInhale only spits out the opponent if it is another Kirby, and will always do in this case, meaning that no attempt to steal copy abilities from opposing Kirbys are made.
	A CPU Kirby usingStone tends to not end the transformation early. As a result, when the attack is used on a slope like that of the leftmost part of Hyrule Castle or at the far right side of Sector Z, he will hold the move in place, falling down and self-destructing.
	Despite making moderate use of his attacks, CPU Kirby still spams copied attacks such asFireball,PK Fire, andThunder Jolt.
	CPU Link often usesSpin Attack when the player approaches him (similar to CPU Donkey Kong with Spinning Kong), leaving him vulnerable if the player shields the attack.
	CPU Link almost always usesBoomerang as his first attack, as well as mostly using it when the foe is at a considerable distance. He also uses the move even if the boomerang was already thrown.
	CPU Luigi and Mario persistently useFireballs against players at a distance from them.
	CPU Luigi and Mario nearly always use theirdown aerial when above a player, even one that is invincible or shielding.
	CPU Ness persistently usesPK Fire against players at a distance from him.
	CPU Pikachu persistently usesThunder Jolt against players at a distance from it.
	CPU Pikachu tends to repeatedly useThunder against players on a platform above it.
	CPU Samus spams herdown aerial to attack foes in midair.
	CPU Samus almost always charges up aCharge Shot and cancels it when the player comes near, not approaching until she fully charges it.
	CPU Yoshi often usesYoshi Bomb when jumping over the player, even when platforms are below him, leaving him open to powerful attacks.

Item related[edit]

Item	Description
Any	A CPU player who picks up a throwing item when another player is below its platform will repeatedly throw the item to the ground until it disappears - even if the item is aBob-omb, which often leads to the CPUself-destructing.
	Other than regular items, CPUs will also attempt to go for Link's Bombs if dropped onstage. Not only they will cease fighting for this, but they may pick up the bomb even if it's about to explode.
	When a Bumper is set, a CPU Fox or Ness may hold their Reflector/PSI Magnet near it until it vanishes, they get hit, or another item appears. During this period they will ignore other players, becoming extremely vulnerable.
	When a CPU uses a Fire Flower or Ray Gun, they will often use it even if the opponent is out of range.

Stage related[edit]

Stage	Description
	When standing on moving platforms, CPUs usually won't be conscious about the danger and will stay there like on a normal terrain, which mostly results in them not jumping off and going offstage with the platform, guaranteeing a self-destruct. This can happen, for example, when a CPU comes to attack a foe on the balancing platforms at the Mushroom Kingdom, or when landing on anArwing during recovery at Sector Z. Additionally, on the Mushroom Kingdom, if aCrate orBarrel falls on one of the balancing platforms, CPUs will still attempt to pick it up, falling down with it and SDing.
	CPUs have difficulty recognizing walls. If there is a player on the right side of the Saffron City stage, CPUs will walk into the doors of the Pokémon trap. Similarly, on Peach's Castle, if a human player stands on the bottomplatform, a CPU on one of the moving platforms will run into the wall repeatedly.
	On Mushroom Kingdom, CPUs will never attempt to intentionally use the POW Block nor the Warp Pipes.
	On Saffron City, if a level nine Pikachu is set to Player 2, and the player stands on the left edge of the rightmost building after Pikachu is KO'd, it will jump off the revival platform to the right and then approach withQuick Attack, crossing-up the building and self-destructing. Pikachu will continue this indefinitely as long as it is not interrupted by something.
	On Dream Land, if a player stands below a CPU Donkey Kong on a platform, it will continuously useHand Slap until the player gets out of there, leaving it easily open for aerial attacks.[2] In a similar scenario, standing on a Dream Land platform above a CPUYoshi will cause it to useEgg Throw, which (when shielded) will be inevitably followed by an infinite stream ofdouble jump canceled up aerials that are nowhere near hitting the player.
	OnSector Z, CPUs that are on the Arwing loading area behind the tail wing of the Great Fox will never use their up special to get onto the tail, causing them to get stuck there if their midair jumps do not grant enough distance/height.
	When an item is on one of the floating platforms inSaffron City, and two CPUs are on the same platform as the item, they will continually walk to the middle of the platform, and then rollback. This continues and doesn't stop until the item despawns.[3]

See also[edit]

• Flaws in artificial intelligence
• AI flaws (SSBM)
• AI flaws (SSBB)
• AI flaws (SSB4)
• AI flaws (SSBU)

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• The majority of TAS videos by Andtgar show off abusingSmash 64 AI while perfectly comboing.

• Glitches (SSB)