Spam

Spam refers to the use of a certain move by any character that is repetitively being used, be it a ground attack or a projectile, the latter being most commonly spammed. Spamming is more effective for a move if the move has little-to-no lag (such as Fox's Blaster in Melee and Brawl). This action is sometimes considered cheap, especially when players have difficulty countering it. Juggling an opponent involves spamming the up tilt, up aerial, or up smash of a character (in most cases, the former two). Chaingrabbing is also sometimes considered a form of spamming. While the game discourages spamming with stale-move negation, the point of spam is to throw out many attacks to the point where the reduced damage can be made up simply by using the move twice as much, and in the case of some moves like Sheik's forward tilt the reduced damage and knockback makes it even easier to spam. Spamming all the time will make a player's attack pattern very predictable and easier to counter. Playing with characters with counterattacks or reflectors is also a good way to deal with spam. Using spam as an excuse for losing is usually considered a John.

See also

• Button mashing