Idle pose

One of Ike's idle poses in Ultimate

Idle poses (sometimes referred to as idle animations, and referred to as Wait_ in Super Smash Bros. Melee's debug menu and in internal Brawl files) are minor, mainly nonconsequential animations that play at random if a character stands still for a length of time.

Idle poses can affect the direction the shield carried by the Links faces (excluding Link in Smash 4), therefore affecting its ability to block projectiles.

List of characters without mirrored stances

Starting in Super Smash Bros. 4, certain fighters will face the screen regardless of which direction they are facing. In Ultimate, the only way to see them facing away from the screen is with a move that flips them around, such as Cape. The following characters still keep the distinction of being able to face away from the screen:

• Peach (SSB4 only)
• Rosalina & Luma (SSB4 only for Luma)
• Donkey Kong (SSB4 only)
• Diddy Kong (SSB4 only)
• Link
• Zelda (Smash 4 only)
• Sheik
• Young Link
• Ganondorf
• Toon Link
• Samus
• Zero Suit Samus
• Dark Samus
• Yoshi (SSB4 only)
• Meta Knight
• King Dedede
• Fox
• Falco
• Wolf
• Pikachu (SSB4 only)
• Lucario
• Ness (SSB4 only)
• Lucas (SSB4 only)
• Captain Falcon
• Marth
• Roy
• Ike
• Lucina
• Robin
• Corrin
• Chrom
• Byleth
• Mr. Game & Watch
• Pit
• Palutena
• Dark Pit
• Snake
• Olimar (SSB4 only for Pikmin)
• Villager (SSB4 only)
• Wii Fit Trainer
• Little Mac
• Mii Swordfighter
• Mii Gunner
• Shulk
• Bayonetta
• Inkling
• Simon
• Richter
• Joker
• Hero
• Min Min

With the exceptions of Marth, Roy, Young Link, Toon Link, Pit, Lucina, Robin, Dark Pit and Chrom, as well as Link before Ultimate, all characters listed face the screen when facing right.

Trivia

• Bowser, Zero Suit Samus, Mega Man, Bowser Jr., Ridley, Incineroar, Joker, and Banjo & Kazooie are the only characters to make any sort of sound in their idle animations.
• Master Hand has an idle pose, but it is never seen in normal gameplay because the AI never allows enough time between his attacks. It can be seen if Master Hand is controlled by the player, either by using the Master Hand glitch in Melee or playing as him in Adventure Mode: World of Light in Ultimate; for his idle pose, he simply clenches his fist.
  • In SSB4, there is also a chance that Master Hand will stay still for a while while Crazy Hand attacks solo, resulting in him doing the idle pose.
• Byleth and Jigglypuff are the only fighters who only have one distinct idle animation that can play in a match, though it should be noted that the idle animation is different between Byleth's male and female variants.
• Normally, idle poses will not play when a character is holding a small item, like a Capsule. There are some peculiarities with how this functions, however:
  • In Melee, Mewtwo can still perform any of its idle poses when holding an item.
  • In Super Smash Bros. 4, Yoshi, Link, and Sheik will revert to their Super Smash Bros. Brawl idle animations if they hold an item. Dr. Mario, Lucas, and Roy will revert to the animation of their base character (Mario, Ness, and Marth respectively).
  • In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, there are multiple cases of characters using nonstandard idle animations while holding an item:
    • Fox, Luigi, Jigglypuff, Falco, Pit, Diddy Kong, and Wolf revert to their Brawl idle animations.
    • Mewtwo and Dark Pit revert to their Super Smash Bros. 4 idle animations (which in Dark Pit's case is the same as Pit's), and Daisy will perform Peach's idle animation.
    • Yoshi, Link, and Dr. Mario use their correct idle animations unlike in Super Smash Bros. 4, but Sheik still reverts to her Brawl idle animation.
    • Marth, Lucina, Roy, and Chrom all use Marth's Brawl idle animation.
    • Lucas will still revert to Ness's Brawl idle animation despite Ness not doing so.
    • Simon and Richter will perform the same alternative idle animation that neither normally possess.
    • Inkling Boy and female Byleth do not perform their altered idle animations.
    • Some characters that do not reuse previous animations still have nonstandard behavior while carrying an item: Bowser's lower jaw clips through his mouth, Toon Link reuses his facial expressions from Smash 4, and Mega Man does not look forward.
• Some characters have an animation that actually is part of their regular standing animation, but are often mistaken for idle poses. Unlike idle poses, they play at regular intervals instead of randomly (and they can be seen in the character customization screen on both 3DS and Wii U versions of Smash 4, or by holding a item, where idle poses never play). Some examples include Jigglypuff, Daisy, Sheik, Little Mac, Meta Knight, and Roy.
  • In some cases, this animation is used to transition into the default idle animation, either from their previous one (in the case of Sheik) or their base character's (in the case of Daisy, Roy, and other clones). Other characters, such as Chrom, Dark Samus and Mii Gunner (SSB4 only) have separate animations for this purpose; Dark Samus retains her unique idle animation when holding an item, but Chrom does not.
• Peach and Zelda (the latter up through SSB4) are the only characters to have more than two idle poses.
  • Peach is also the only one with four idle poses, the most of any fighter.
  • Zelda is the only character to have lost an idle pose between two installments of the franchise.
• While Bayonetta has two idle poses, only one of them appears under normal circumstances.
• In Super Smash Bros. 4 and Ultimate, there is a chance that a character will instantly perform one of their idle poses once they climb on top of a ladder.

References

Every idle pose in Smash 4