Crawling
Crawling (also known ascrouch walking) is atechnique introduced inSuper Smash Bros. Brawl. Whilecrouching, certain characters can move while staying low to the ground, allowing them to potentially avoid some attacks orprojectiles. InBrawl, crawling characters only have access todown tilt anddown special as immediate offensive options, but subsequent entries in the series allow any regular grounded option to be used out of a crawl immediately, greatly expanding the technique's utility.
The usefulness of crawling primarily depends on how low the character's crouch is. For example,Snake has a very low crouch that significantly reduces his height, making his crawl highly effective for dodging projectiles and attacks with high hitboxes, whileSteve has a much higher posture while crouching that barely even lowers his height let alone his hurtbox, rendering it almost useless to dodge such attacks. While most characters can change the direction they face while crawling, all crawling characters can crawl backwards.
Crawling is not often used in competitive matches, as other methods ofapproach tend to be more practical. The exception to this are characters with very low crawls (such as the aforementioned Snake) in certainmatchups, as their low crawl allows them to approach while being unable to be hit by opposing projectiles, such asFalco'sBlaster.
Crawlers[edit]
The majority of characters, including theFinal Smash transformationsGiga Bowser andWario-Man, have a forward crawl speed of 0.7 and a backward crawl speed of 0.5 with a few exceptions.
Brawl:
SSB4:
Luigi has a backward crawl speed of 0.4.
Wii Fit Trainer has a forward and backward crawl speed of 0.3.
Ultimate:
| Fighter | | | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bowser |  |  |  |
| Diddy Kong |  |  |  |
| Duck Hunt |  |  | |
| Greninja |  |  | |
| Inkling |  | ||
| Ivysaur |  |  | |
| Lucario |  |  |  |
| Luigi |  |  |  |
| Pac-Man |  |  | |
| Pichu |  | ||
| Pikachu |  |  |  |
| Richter |  | ||
| Rosalina &Luma |  |  | |
| Sheik |  |  |  |
| Simon |  | ||
| Snake |  |  | |
| Sora |  | ||
| Squirtle |  |  | |
| Steve |  | ||
| Wario |  |  |  |
| Wii Fit Trainer |  |  | |
| Yoshi |  |  |  |
| Zero Suit Samus |  |  |  |
Crawl-sliding[edit]
Crawl-sliding is atechnique inBrawl which allows the player to slide across the ground backwards for a short period of time. This was first discovered bySmashBoards member lilscrappy561, who attempted tomoonwalk as inMelee by justwalking instead ofdashing. If done with aBunny Hood, a character will slide even further, as if theywavedashed. This can only be done with characters that can crawl.
Performing the crawl slide[edit]
To do this, the player must tilt thecontrol stick ord-pad so the character will walk. Once the character is walking, the player must then make a half circle in the opposite direction and let go of the analog stick or pad. The character will slide for a short distance unless they are wearing a Bunny Hood, in which case they will go further. It is easiest to do this withLuigi.
Application[edit]
Crawl sliding is most often used as a double-cross-up, used more by characters with short jumps. For example,Bowser can crawl-slide behind an opponent who is in front of him while charging his forward smash, so less time is spent vulnerable.
Video[edit]
Pseudo-crawling[edit]
Some characters havedown tilts that move them forward, causing them to pseudo-crawl, but the usefulness of this is questionable depending on the down tilt. There are two different types of pseudo-crawls: a full pseudo-crawl and a semi pseudo-crawl.
Full pseudo-crawl[edit]
A full pseudo-crawl involves down tilts which deliberately move the user a considerable distance forward. They solely move the user forward and they do not return them to their original position after the down tilt. These moves often have a good amount of range making them solid whiff punishers however, they can leave the user vulnerable for a punish if the down tilt is blocked or if their opponent is a long distance in front of them.
Characters with a full pseudo-crawl:
- Banjo &Kazooie
- Cloud
- King Dedede
- Joker
- Kazuya: Tombstone Crusher (forward crouching attack)
- Mega Man
- Min Min
- Olimar
- Pac-Man
- Richter
- Sephiroth
- Simon
- Sonic
- Zero Suit Samus
Semi pseudo-crawl[edit]
A semi pseudo-crawl involves down tilts which initially move the user forward but then move the user back to where they started, although they can use multiple down tilts to continue inching forward. A down tilt needs two things to semi-pseudo crawl:
- It grants forward momentum at the start of the animation.
- It hasinterruptibility frames. (Some down tilts such asCaptain Falcon's down tilt inBrawl have the forward momentum needed but lack interruptibility frames, meaning that they cannot be used to pseudo-crawl under normal circumstances.)
Semi pseudo-crawls do not have the range of full pseudo-crawls but they are beneficial overall as they have more range than most down tilts yet the user moves backwards if they decide to not use another down tilt. This gives them much greater spacing potential than a full pseudo-crawl and makes them harder to punish on shield and overall giving them more utility. If continuous down tilts are used, this further increases their reach and can allow the down tilt to continuously chain into itself or lead into other moves depending on the down tilt (withMeta Knight being one of the most prominent examples of this). Some semi pseudo-crawls also have a strange property where if they are interrupted at the right time, they will give the user a decent amount of backwards momentum sending them further back than where they started. Some examples of this includePeach's down tilt inBrawl andLucario's down tilt inUltimate. This creates an additional movement option for the user, further increasing their utility.
Characters with a semi pseudo-crawl:
Gallery[edit]
 | This article is in need of additional images. The editor who added this tag suggests:Missing images / gifs of characters crawling in every game. If you have a good image for this article, upload ithere. |
Snake crawling inBrawl.
Diddy Kong crawling forwards
Zero Suit Samus crawling forwards
Wario crawling backwards
Luigi crawling forwards
Trivia[edit]
- Pikachu'shurtbox height varies depending whether it is crawling forward or backward. Normally, when Pikachu crawls forward, its tail lies low to the ground, allowing it to avoid certain projectiles likeFox'sBlaster; but while crawling backwards, its tail is held over its body, which allows it to be hit by projectiles that would fly harmlessly above it while crawling forward. Squirtle's tail acts similarly.
- Similarly, whenRosalina crawls, her hurtbox height is slightly changed, with her behind being raised slightly when crawling forward, while her behind is lowered slightly when crawling backwards.
- Most characters can turn around while crawling. To do this, they can crouch and do a down tilt and then press thecontrol stick orD-pad to the opposite direction they are facing, and they will turn around.
- WhenSamus is in a higher gravity situation (such as being metal or being inThe Subspace Emissary), upon using herBombs, her morph ball will briefly hit the ground. While this is done, Samus can effectively crawl in her morph ball for a small amount of time.
- Compared towall jumping, a character's ability to crawl is much less related to whether they can crawl in their original games. For example, while Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and Wario can crawl inSuper Mario 64 DS (along withSuper Mario 64 for Mario); the former two can walk while crouching inSuper Mario Galaxy,Super Mario Galaxy 2,Super Mario 3D Land,Super Mario 3D World andSuper Mario Odyssey; and the former three can all crawl inSuper Mario Bros. Wonder, Mario cannot crawl inSmash Bros. Pit can crawl in the originalKid Icarus but is unable to do so inSmash Bros. Zero Suit Samus can crawl inMetroid: Zero Mission and inSmash Bros., while Toon Link can crawl inThe Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker but not inSmash Bros.Joker also cannot crawl inSmash Bros., despite doing so inPersona 5 as well asTerry being able to crouch walk in early titles such asFatal Fury 2 andThe King of Fighters '94.Peach can crawl inSuper Mario 3D World, and both her andDaisy can crawl inSuper Mario Bros. Wonder, yet neither character is capable of doing so inSmash Bros. Link cannot crawl inSmash Bros., despite being able to do so inThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (which serves as the basis for his appearance inUltimate). Conversely,Sora cannot crawl (let alone crouch) inKingdom Hearts, yet is able to do so inSmash Bros.
- Snake,Lucario (inUltimate),Pac-Man (inSSB4),Wii Fit Trainer,Zero Suit Samus,Simon Belmont, andRichter Belmont are the only characters who can both pseudo-crawl and crawl regularly.
- None of the DLC characters inSSB4 can crawl.
- Wii Fit Trainer (inSSB4) and Steve have the slowest crawling speed in both directions.
- InSSB4, Wii Fit Trainer's irregular crawl allows for a tech known asSashimi Wiggling, where Wii Fit Trainer slides along the ground similarly to awavedash.
- Steve's crawling is designed to resemble thesneaking mechanic fromMinecraft. His crawling speed is also identical to the speed of sneaking with two movement keys pressed, 1.8 meters/second (0.3 units/frame*(60 frames/second)*(0.1 meters/unit) = 1.8 meters/second).
- Sora is the only sword user in the series who is able to crawl.
