Invincibility

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Pac-Man demonstrates invincibility due to the Super Star.

Invincibility is a state during which a character cannot be attacked or damaged. Attacks will hit (so the attacker takes hitlag), but will not deal damage, knockback, or hitstun. Characters who are invincible can still be affected by certain windboxes, as well as Master Giant's grab attack in Smash 4.

Invincibility's negative aspect is that on the Planet Zebes, Brinstar, and Norfair stages, characters will fall straight through the stage's lower hazard, rather than sustaining damage and bouncing back up. They may occasionally also be KO'd if they are standing on the track on Port Town Aero Dive, and both the Melee Mute City and the Smash 3DS Mute City.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee's debug menu, invincibility is displayed by affected hurtboxes changing from their usual yellow color to a green color during the invincibility period. A similar feature is present in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's Training Mode via an invincibility toggle, which causes invincible parts of characters to acquire a green tint.

Invincibility should not be confused with intangibility. In invincibility, all knockback and damage is canceled when the character is hit. In intangibility, however, the character cannot be affected by either knockback or damage in the first place.

Examples

• Bowser's shell during his up smash, feet during his forward smash, falling after his up special, and fist during his up aerial.
• Mr. Game & Watch during his up smash.
• Palutena's shield during her dash attack and back aerial.
• Characters using a Super Star.
• 8 frames of a character about to perform a throw.
• The 2 seconds (120 frames) after dismounting a revival platform.
• The secondary Ice Climber for a second when Belay is used.
• The start of Lucas's and Ness's PK Thunder 2.
• The entire duration of Squirtle's Withdraw (different from other examples, as instead of bright "bubbles" appearing when an attack lands and a blunt sound effect being heard, one can both hear and see the attack's visual effects as if there were no invincibility frames at all)
• The start of a shield break
• Ike's Counter, only 1 frame
• Donkey Kong's aerial Spinning Kong from frames 3-6, and many of his ground attacks grant invincibility on his arms only.
• Yoshi's pre-shielding animation, 4 frames.
• Pit's Wings of Icarus for a few frames.
• Frames of Wii Fit Trainer's Up Smash
• Banjo & Kazooie's Wonderwing, for the entire duration that the hitbox is active. Seems to be a special case in that grabs can bypass the invincibility.
• Luigi's Luigi Cyclone, frames 4-8 while grounded and frames 1-7 while airborne.