Editing Stamina Mode

:''For the stat held by the [[Pokémon Trainer]]'s [[Pokémon]], see [[Pokémon Change#Stamina]]. For the actual stat held by characters in this mode, see [[hit points]].''

'''Stamina''' is a gameplay option that replaces the traditional ''Super Smash Bros.'' [[damage]] percentage with a "HP gauge" similar to the life bars of conventional fighting games, which must be depleted to defeat characters. Stamina was a [[Special Smash|Special mode]] option prior to ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]'', where it became a standard rule option. Battles with Stamina rules also appear in some [[event match|event matches]], one possible [[Smash Run]] Final Battle, and some [[spirit]] battles.

In Stamina, every hit to the player depletes some [[HP]] from them. Once a character reaches 0 HP, they are [[KO]]'d, though characters can still be knocked off the stage through conventional means. However, [[knockback]] is not affected by the amount of damage the player has taken. From ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'' to ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'', characters in Stamina only have a single life, but in ''Ultimate'', the mode can be used with [[stock]]s; when a character reaches 0 HP, they will be [[Instant KO|instantly KO'd]] and [[revival platform|respawn]] for as long as they have stocks remaining. When a character is defeated, the game will temporarily slow down, and the character will let out one of their [[KO]] cries, which varies based on the game. If the victim is hit by a very weak attack when they are KO'd (or defeated by a damage-over-time status effect like [[flower]]), they will perform a unique animation of them dramatically crumpling to the ground, usually falling backward or on their knees; otherwise, they will simply begin [[tumbling]] outside of player control, entering their prone state when landing on solid ground.

Defeated fighters will always stay in their prone position and flash red; they cannot be controlled by the user and will always enter a state of tumbling when hit, and can be knocked off the stage and KO'd with a [[blast KO]] as usual. In ''SSB4'', defeated characters can also be eliminated completely if the victim is trapped in certain hazards such as [[Danger Zone]]s. Any helper characters, such as {{b|Pikmin|species}}, will still stay next to the knocked-out combatant, with the exception of [[Luma]], who will be KO'd alongside [[Rosalina]], and the partner [[Ice Climbers|Ice Climber]] in ''Ultimate'', who will be KO'd alongside the leader. In ''Ultimate'', defeated fighters will explode after a brief moment, removing them from the battlefield.

[[Healing]] items and moves cannot heal a fighter's HP past their starting amount.

In knockback calculations, the opponent's post-hit percent is treated as 20%.

Stamina mode was first introduced in ''Melee'' as a Special Melee option. Unlike future games, the HP of every fighter is fixed to 150 HP. There is no legitimate way the player can edit the starting stamina, barring use of an [[Action Replay]] to modify flags in the match's data; the instruction booklet, however, shows [[Beta elements (SSBM)#Beta gameplay|a screenshot]] of Stamina Mode with HP higher than 150, suggesting that selectable Hit Points was previously considered.

''Melee''{{'}}s version of Stamina is unusual for not having a results screen, as it will send players directly to the character selection screen once a single player remains. This makes it the only mode in all of ''Melee'' with such property; as a result, players can use the [[name entry glitch]] to use [[Master Hand]] in the mode without causing the game to crash if he wins a match.

Characters who have 0 HP remaining in ''Melee''{{'}}s Stamina mode will let out their [[Star KO]] cry. Unlike other rules, there is a noticeable pause after the final opponent being defeated, before the [[announcer]] calls out "Game!"/"Game Set!".

''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'' once again offers Stamina mode in the game's Special Smash mode, Special Brawl. Players can now select their starting HP individually via the Handicap option, allowing increments of 10 between 10 HP and 300 HP, as well as only 1 HP. ''Brawl''{{'}}s 1HP setting allows for lightning-quick games with no legitimate winner if all players also have the [[flower]] status on them: all fighters will be KO'd at the same time, forcing the game to select a random winner.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh4bWHxvZHY]</ref>

Characters who have 0 HP remaining in ''Brawl''{{'}}s Stamina mode will let out their Star KO cry, with an additional echo effect added to it. Additionally, the announcer now calls out "Game!"/"Game Set!" as soon as the final victim is defeated, overlapping their KO cry.

Unlike the other games, characters who have 0 HP remaining in ''Smash 4''{{'}}s Stamina mode stay completely silent when knocked out, although the slowdown effect still occurs. There is once again a noticeable pause after the final opponent being defeated, before the announcer calls out "Game!"/"Game Set!", though not as long as in ''Melee''.

When playing with more than one stock, losing all HP causes an instant KO and respawn; on the fighter's final stock, KO'd characters will enter their motionless defeated pose, and will eventually explode after a few seconds (instead of permanently staying on-screen unless knocked off, like in previous games). As with other default modes, the final blow will feature the "Final Zoom" effect regardless of how strong the move was unless the KO was a Blast KO; if such, the game just ends like a normal match. If the character dies by a blast zone, then there is a slight delay before the match ending, likely because of the delay present when a character reaches 0 HP. Randomly the announcer may say game at the same time a last character is KO'd on their last stock and the results screen plays during the final zoom.

In ''Ultimate'', victims caught in a trapping or cinematic (e.g. [[Chain Attack]], [[Max Malicious Moonsault]], [[The Mighty Jinjonator]]) Final Smash will not go below 0.1 HP until the final hit. However, a few of these Final Smashes do not have this ability (such as {{SSBU|Isabelle}}'s [[Dream Town Hall]] or {{SSBU|Luigi}}'s [[Poltergust G-00]]), and opponents that attack a trapped foe in a non-cutscene Final Smash will still KO the victim before the move ends. Additionally, Final Smashes that previously had extremely high or [[OHKO]] potential (such as [[Critical Hit]]) have their knockback significantly reduced to prevent them from KOing opponents with high HP, unlike in ''Brawl'' or ''Smash 4''.

Characters who are out of HP and have lost all of their lives in ''Ultimate''{{'}}s Stamina mode will let out an echoed version of their primary Blast KO cries. As a result:

*{{SSBU|Samus}} no longer makes any sounds during the animation. This also applies to her Echo Fighter, {{SSBU|Dark Samus}}.

*{{SSBU|Daisy}} (who exclaims "Ow, ouch!"), {{SSBU|Zelda}} (who exclaims "{{ja|いやぁっ!|Iyaa!}}" (''Nooo!'')), and {{SSBU|Zero Suit Samus}} (who says "No!") are only characters who utter a meaningful word during the animation.

*{{SSBU|Marth}}, {{SSBU|Ike}}'s ''Radiant Dawn'' alternate costumes in English, and his ''Path of Radiance'' costumes in Japanese use their alternate KO voice clips.

*{{SSBU|Mr. Game & Watch}}, {{SSBU|R.O.B.}}, {{SSBU|Mega Man}}, {{SSBU|Steve}} and the {{SSBU|Mii Fighter}}s fall silently. Prior to 3.1.0, Joker also fell silently.

Some team characters appear to be inconsistent:  

*The {{SSBU|Ice Climbers}} have both Popo and Nana scream simultaneously.

*For {{SSBU|Pokémon Trainer}}, the trainer does not vocalize if the match was 1-on-1, or there were no more allies in team battle (as in normal rules).

*For {{SSBU|Rosalina & Luma}} and Banjo & Kazooie, only Rosalina and Banjo vocalize during the animation (for Luma's case, they will have their typical explosion when out of HP or when Rosalina is KO'd normally; Kazooie lacks KO voice clips altogether).

 

If a character lost their final stock by conditions that are capable of instantly KOing them under normal circumstances (e.g. [[Triforce of Wisdom]], [[Command Selection|Whack, Thwack]], [[Danger Zone]]s, [[Death's Scythe]] and [[Mimikyu]]), their knockout voice clip will be heard, but the instant KO explosion occurs without entering the defeated animation, like normal rules. This also applies to [[All-Out Attack]], which will trigger its unique victory screen if the cinematic depletes all opponents' remaining HP on their last stock.

 

 

While a simple change on the surface, changing the damage from a percent to hit points completely changes how the game is played. Due to reaching the [[blast line]]s no longer being the only way to take a stock, new strategies that deprioritize doing so form. Due to how hit points work in-game, all attacks essentially only have base knockback the entire game, which completely changes the functionality of certain moves that heavily rely on knockback scaling to be effective while indirectly improving attacks with set knockback. Also, since any attack can now KO regardless of knockback, poking and playing defensively is preferable to being aggressive and paying dearly for a mistake.

 

While no "official" tier lists for stamina mode exist, some generally agreed upon results exist. The best characters for stamina mode are those that excel in combos that can rack up damage quickly, and those that can play keep-away by whittling down their opponent's health from far away. While high damage is still important, it is inherently less impactful without knockback, forcing slow characters without good projectiles or long combos to play carefully and slowly get close to do as much damage as possible before the opponent can run away. That being said, lower knockback than usual can help some characters make longer combos due to the opponent not being knocked away, helping those same characters that need to get in close.

Stamina Wii U.jpg|Stamina  Mode in ''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U''.

*Some characters have an unique animation if KO'd in Stamina Mode, referencing their respective home series:

**[[Mega Man]] emits orbs around him with the "lose a life" sound from the original ''Mega Man''. In ''Smash 4'', this effect occurs immediately upon receiving fatal damage (or getting a [[Blast KO]]), while in ''Ultimate'' this effect occurs alongside the [[Instant KO]] explosion.

**[[Inkling]]'s squid ghost can be seen flying away from the Instant KO explosion.

**On his final stock, [[Terry]]'s hat will fly off of his head.

**Defeated characters can grab ledges.

**Defeated characters cannot swim and so will instantly drown if they fall into the water.

*If [[Sudden Death]] occurs, the players will have 1 HP.

**In ''Ultimate'', if a player uses stamina boosting spirits they will start with extra HP but will incorrectly be shown with 1 HP. Taking damage will update their HP to the correct amount.

**Because of this, the aforementioned "1 HP Flower Smash" from ''Brawl'' can still be played in ''Smash 4'' and ''Ultimate'' when Sudden Death occur in [[Special Smash]]/Custom Smash with Flower effect being enabled.

*Five moves in the ''Smash Bros.'' series can force victims into Stamina mode's unique falling animation outside of the mode itself: a fully-charged [[Focus Attack]] from [[Ryu]] or [[Ken]], [[Ridley]]'s sweetspotted [[Skewer]] on a grounded opponent, and three moves from Kazuya (the 9th hit of 10-Hit Combo, Demon God Fist, and sweetspotted [[Devil Fist]]).

*In ''Ultimate'', the knockout screams in Stamina mode have separated files from their normal counterparts, carrying over the in-game echo. Despite this, none of them are present in [[Sound Test]]. This is unlike [[Star KO]] screams, as well as most of vocalized Final Smashes, which only add echo effects in-game, but rather similar to the echo effect used for [[Jigglypuff]]'s [[Sing]], [[Wii Fit Trainer]]'s {{b|Wii Fit|Final Smash}}, and [[Viridi]]'s voice clips in [[Reset Bomb Forest]].

*In ''Ultimate'', {{SSBU|Cloud}}'s [[Palutena's Guidance]] conversation is slightly altered when playing in Stamina Mode, with [[Pit]] commenting that his [[Finishing Touch]] isn't a threat in this mode.

*In ''Ultimate'', if {{SSBU|Sora}} is the fighter to land the final blow, a special slow motion effect goes into place while the camera pans around and fades into white, referencing the visual effects that play when defeating a Boss in the {{uv|Kingdom Hearts}} series. The exceptions are if the victim is offscreen when the blow is landed, or if the opponent is [[Instant KO|instantly KO'd]], in which case the normal Finish Zoom occurs.