Flinch
- Not to be confused withhitstun.
Flinching is an animation used by every character when their current action is interrupted by an attack. The interrupted action is replaced with an animation of being hit, with the character reacting differently to the attack depending on itsknockback strength and which part of their body is hit (for example, rearing their head back if hit high, or kneeling if hit low). The length of the flinch animation is correlated to the attack'shitstun, which itself is directly determined by knockback; as a result, stronger attacks cause longer and more exaggerated flinch animations, while attacks that do not deal any knockback will not cause flinching. If an attack deals high enough knockback, characters are sent intotumbling after their flinching animation. However,windboxes are able to deal flinchless knockback to fighters, manifested by simply pushing them around.
As flinching is directly related to knockback received, reducing knockback through asticker orEquipment, increasingweight through aSuper Mushroom orMetal Box, or using a move witharmor, will also make it more difficult (or impossible) to flinch.Metal Mario andGiga Bowser (inSuper Smash Bros. Melee only) are a few examples of characters who don't flinch when hit with low knockback attacks, due to a combination of their weight, along with the inclusion of armor or knockback taken multipliers.Bowser inSuper Smash Bros. 4 onward, as well asKazuya inSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate, havefighter abilities that prevent them from flinching when hit by attacks that deal below a certain amount of knockback.
Flinching whilecharging an attack orspecial move will cause the charge to be lost, regardless of whether any charge had been saved previously.Mewtwo does not loseits projectile's charge if it flinches, though this is only the case for when it is about to fire the projectile, not while it is actually charging.
Flinching does not strictly apply to playable characters.Phosphora can flinch inSmash 4 when attacked, as can mostAssist Trophies inUltimate.Petey Piranha, aboss inSuper Smash Bros. Brawl, may also flinch when attacked.
Flinching animations[edit]
In allSuper Smash Bros. games, every character has multiple flinching animations. On the ground, they are split into three height categories — high, central, and low — depending on the specifichurtbox struck, and three intensities — weak, medium, and strong — depending on the attack's knockback, leading to nine possible flinching animations. Internally, these are first referred to by height, then by strength; for example,DamageHi1,DamageN2, andDamageLw3 refer to the characters' high weak, medium central, and low strong flinching animations. Medium flinch animations require the character to take at least 12 frames ofhitstun (15 frames inUltimate), equivalent to at least 30 units of knockback (37.5 units inUltimate), while heavy flinch animations require them to take at least 21 frames of hitstun (equivalent to at least 52.5 units of knockback). If hit in the air or off the ground, characters initially only have three flinching animations depending on knockback strength (known internally asDamageAir1,DamageAir2, andDamageAir3), with height not being a factor.
If a character takes enough knockback to be senttumbling (equivalent to at least 80 units of knockback, or 32 frames of hitstun), several other flinching animations are used. If the attack launches at anangle between 70° and 110° (ignoringdirectional influence), a homogeneous "high launch" animation is used (known internally asDamageFlyTop); otherwise, up to three launch animations are used depending on height (known internally asDamageFlyHi,DamageFlyN, andDamageFlyLw). InUltimate, the high launch animation modifies characters'falling speed andgravity during knockback, homogenizing the effect of vertical launch speed on them; in other games, it has no practical difference other than their hurtboxes being shifted differently. Additionally, if the character has accumulated at least 100%damage and is not sent into the high launch animation, they have a 30% chance of using areeling animation instead (known internally asDamageFlyRoll).
LaterSmash games add a few more flinching animations. FromBrawl onward, characters hit byelectric orparalyzing attacks undergo a more realistic electrocution animation (known internally asDamageElec) duringhitlag or paralysis, respectively. InSmash 4 andUltimate, hitting a character from behind withShulk'sBack Slash causes them to use a single launch animation where they remain facing away, which is the same as the animation when bouncing off walls (known internally asWallDamage). InUltimate, this is used when a character is hit from behind by any attack that deals tumbling-level knockback, preventing them from turning around like in previous games; for lower knockback strengths, the standard flinching animations are used depending on the circumstance, except the character doesn't turn around until near the end of the animation. Additionally,Ultimate introduces a unique flinching animation for characters launched by a meteor smash when their damage is 100% or more (known internally asDamageFlyMeteor), which overrides the normal launch animations outside of reeling.
To summarize, there are a total of 17 possible flinching animations inSmash 64 andMelee, 18 inBrawl, 19 inSmash 4, and 20 inUltimate.
