Editing Sudden Death

'''Sudden Death''' ({{ja|サドンデス|Sadon Desu}}, ''Sudden Death'') occurs when any [[VS. mode]] match ends in a tie. A tie happens when at least two characters or teams have the same final [[score]] at the end of a [[Time]] match, the same amount of stocks at the end of a timed [[Stock]] or [[Stamina]] match, the same amount of [[Smash Coins and Bills|coins]] at the end of a [[Coin Battle]], or the same total score at the end of a {{B|Bonus|mode}} match. In an untimed Stock or Stamina match, Sudden Death is possible if all remaining characters lose their last stock on the same frame.

In matches with three or more players, Sudden Death will only occur with the players who are tied for first place.

When Sudden Death occurs, the words "Sudden Death" will appear on-screen with the [[announcer]] calling it, followed by the "GO!" signal, and the match will restart with only the players involved in the tie, all of whom are given one [[stock]] and 300% [[damage]], effectively turning almost any attack with knockback into [[one-hit KO]]s. In effect, this makes it so the first player to land a hit on their opponent(s) wins Sudden Death and therefore the match. With the exception of the original ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'' and certain stages in various games, items will not spawn at this time even if they are turned on. If the battle is in [[Stamina Mode]], all players will have 1 HP instead of 300 percent.

In ''Ultimate'', the camera will start at a fixed position and gradually zoom in from the center of the stage from the start of Sudden Death, with the [[blast zone]] shrinking alongside it until the camera itself is zoomed in very closely, a mechanic known as "Screen Shrink" that is similarly used by the [[Squid Sisters]]. The screen also now has flames around it from corner to corner, surrounding the center. Once the screen is zoomed in, Bob-ombs will start dropping after several seconds to eliminate players lingering for too long.  

Should a tie occur within Sudden Death itself, which can only happen if all remaining characters are KO'd on the same frame, the match will end and a random player is selected to be the winner. In the first two ''Super Smash Bros.'' games, placement is based on [[port priority]]: in the original ''Super Smash Bros.'', the winner is the player with the highest port number (whose controller is closest to P4), while in ''Melee'', the winner is the player with the lowest port number (whose controller is closest to P1). As multiple players must be KO'd on the same frame for this to occur and the games run at 60 frames per second, the chances of this occurring are slim and any advantage given to certain player numbers compared to others is decidedly negligible, especially since Sudden Death is never used in competitive play. In ''Brawl'', tests have shown that the winner of the match is decided at random. In ''SSB4'', the winner is whoever dealt the most damage, with the placement of the other players following suit. The winner is decided at random if all players deal the exact same amount of damage. The same is true for ''Ultimate'', with the addition of a player that was eliminated early potentially being randomly selected as the winner in games with more than two players.

#As a Sudden Death match is always untimed, while each player is disincentivized from [[approach]]ing when a single hit will very likely KO them, and with the raining Bob-ombs making it hazardous to stay on the stage for long, [[camping]] with projectiles and [[planking]] become dominant strategies. This can result in the match going on for an indefinite length of time, as each player simply [[stall]]s in a place where they are sheltered from the Bob-ombs and waits for their opponent to make a mistake, and nothing can force the match to end. ''Ultimate'' does address this by rapidly shrinking the blast zones during Sudden Death, forcing players onto the stage as eventually the entire offstage area will be swallowed by the shrinking blast zones, but this does nothing about the other two reasons.

#Character balance is severely skewed. In an environment where almost any attack can KO, frail characters with fast attacks and projectiles have a massive advantage over characters whose main advantage is normally in greater KO power and survivability. For example, [[Sheik]] or [[Sonic]] are able to quickly strike their opponent to near-instantly win before the opponent can retaliate, whereas [[Bowser]] or [[Ganondorf]] would have major problems trying to hit their opponent before they themselves are hit, while their massive KO power and very heavy [[weight]] are rendered meaningless.

#As Sudden Death in timed Stock matches is based solely on the flat number of stocks remaining, it becomes a viable strategy for a player who is tied in stocks with their opponent but far behind in damage to intentionally stall out the clock until Sudden Death occurs, thus eliminating the damage difference and giving themselves a chance to take the game with just one [[neutral game|neutral]] win. Players generally agree this is an unfair way to stage a comeback, allowing someone who was clearly outplayed to suddenly win a match with a single weak blow. An infamous example of this occurring was in the Grand Finals set between {{Sm|ZeRo}} and {{Sm|Hungrybox}} at the {{Trn|Super Smash Bros. Invitational}}; the Invitational, while having standard competitive rules for its Grand Finals match, used Sudden Death to resolve a stock tie. ZeRo, being aware of this, intentionally spent the remainder of the match running away and avoiding confrontation when Hungrybox took a significant percent lead on their last stock. With Hungrybox playing the sluggish {{SSB4|Kirby}} against ZeRo's much more agile {{SSB4|Zero Suit Samus}}, he was unable to land a finishing blow before time ran out despite his significant percent lead, leading to Sudden Death where ZeRo then won by just being able to land a single grab, despite clearly losing the match beforehand.

Should Sudden Death occur in a tournament, the winner is declared by some other criteria depending on context. In the most common cause of the clock expiring while both players are tied in remaining stocks, the player with the lower damage percentage wins, emulating how conventional fighting games handle time outs by rewarding victory to the player with more remaining health. In the rare event of both players having equal stock and damage, or both players are KO'd simultaneously on their last stock, the winner is determined through a one-stock rematch with the same characters on the same stage. However, either is such a rare occurrence, that it sometimes never crosses the mind of [[tournament organizer]]s, which leads to panic when there is no rule in place for the rare instances these two scenarios occur. If both players are KO'd at the same time due to a sacrificial KO via a [[command grab]] such as [[Flying Slam]] and [[Flame Choke]], tournaments sometimes have a rule that declares the initiator the winner, instead of holding a one-stock rematch. While this rule was popular in the ''Brawl'' era, it rarely sees usage since the release of ''Smash 4'', and it never sees usage in ''Ultimate'', where all sacrificial KO moves are intentionally designed to KO the initiator first.

**Similarly, the original ''Super Smash Bros.'' is the only game where the letters are not displayed in the flaming red letters; instead, the letters are a metallic gray with an exclamation point.