List of flaws in artificial intelligence (SSB)

The following is a list of flaws in the artificial intelligence of Super 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, if meteor smashed on stages such as Dream Land and Peach's Castle, no matter the strength of the attack, they will go underneath the stage and fail to recover. Similarly, in Sector 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 his Falcon Dive during recovery, he won't attempt to use the move again.
	CPU Mario and Luigi never use Mario Tornado and Luigi Cyclone (respectively) to recover.
	CPU Kirby and Jigglypuff immediately use up all their jumps after getting knocked off the stage. CPU Jigglypuff additionally never uses Pound to recover, only using the move to attack foes on the edge after reaching it.
	A CPU Ness always aims his PK Thunder as a recovery in a horizontal, barely upwards angle, even if the stage is above him.
Movement & Attack patterns	CPUs almost never dash to move, acting almost immediately out of their initial dash to perform dash grabs and dash attacks, causing their approaches to be extremely slow and predictable.	All
	CPUs never initiate a fast fall intentionally, only doing so occasionally when trying to attack with a down 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 predictable rolls.	All
Other	CPUs don't intentionally use Z-cancel. Instead, they sometimes accidentally do so when trying to roll right after landing.	All
	CPUs rarely use Ground techs.	All
	When returning on a revival platform, CPUs always reenter the fight instantly regardless of what is happening on the stage.	All
	When invincible, 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 a revival 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 usually taunt when they hit an opponent with a high knockback 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 a meteor 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 placed Motion-Sensor Bomb, walking over it even if it would detonate on them.	All
	CPUs do not collect Super Stars, only doing so accidentally.	All

Character specific[edit]

Character	Description
	CPU Captain Falcon often uses Falcon 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 use Falcon Dive instead, falling helpless and becoming extremely vulnerable.
	CPU Donkey Kong almost always charges up Giant 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 uses Spinning 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 with Giant 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 uses Blaster 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 aim Fire Fox against players as one of his main attacks. As a result, if a human player runs to the edge of a stage such as Dream Land, Fox will follow them and aim his Fire Fox off of the stage, resulting in a self-destruct.^[1]
	CPU Jigglypuff tends to make constant use of Pound to attack players, especially in midair.
	CPU Jigglypuff almost never uses Rest, missing the opportunity to use it when in close range to a foe.
	A CPU Kirby using Inhale 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 using Stone 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 as Fireball, PK Fire, and Thunder Jolt.
	CPU Link often uses Spin 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 uses Boomerang 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 use Fireballs against players at a distance from them.
	CPU Luigi and Mario nearly always use their down aerial when above a player, even one that is invincible or shielding.
	CPU Ness persistently uses PK Fire against players at a distance from him.
	CPU Pikachu persistently uses Thunder Jolt against players at a distance from it.
	CPU Pikachu tends to repeatedly use Thunder against players on a platform above it.
	CPU Samus spams her down aerial to attack foes in midair.
	CPU Samus almost always charges up a Charge Shot and cancels it when the player comes near, not approaching until she fully charges it.
	CPU Yoshi often uses Yoshi 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 a Bob-omb, which often leads to the CPU self-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 an Arwing during recovery at Sector Z. Additionally, on the Mushroom Kingdom, if a Crate or Barrel 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 bottom platform, 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 with Quick 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 use Hand 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 CPU Yoshi will cause it to use Egg Throw, which (when shielded) will be inevitably followed by an infinite stream of double jump canceled up aerials that are nowhere near hitting the player.
	On Sector 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 in Saffron 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]