Cheap

Cheap is a word that has been used to complain about almost any aspect of a game. Because of this, it has no clear meaning. The closest definition is, "a strategy that someone can not figure out how to beat" or "a strategy that is seen as unfair or in poor sportsmanship". However, there is absolutely no rule against these tactics in tournaments simply becasue other players find them to be cheap. Many times, players cry cheap about any style that prevents them from performing their top moves or even just prevents them from winning. To date, there are no tactics or characters banned in Super Smash Bros. simply for being "cheap." Tactics that truly are so "cheap" that they completely destroy the game are considered broken.

Examples of Tactics That Have Been Claimed to be 'Cheap'

Tactics that one player sees as cheap can be seen as fair to another, and vice versa. This list is not complete, official, or accurate for judging a player in any way.

SSB

• Infinite throw trap
• Teleport (SSB)

SSBM

• Box glitch
• Chain grabbing
• Edge-guarding
• Edge-hogging
• Freeze glitch
• Infinite Super Scope Glitch
• The kamikaze glitch
• Ken combo
• Projectiles
• Short hop laser
• Spikes
• Shine spike
• Soul Breaker
• Super Wavedash
• Wavedashing
• Yoyo Glitch

SSBB

• Earthquake Glitch
• Laser Glitch
• Puff Up glitch

All Games

• Sacrificial KO
• Camping
• Stale Moves/Spamming
• Abusing glitches
• Abusing Powerful Items such as the Smash Ball
• Ganging up on one player (e.g. uneven teams)
• Edge-hogging

Outside of the video games

• Constantly/randomly pausing
• Distracting other players
• "Accidentally" knocking down controllers or the entire console

Characters that have been accused of being cheap

• Pit- His arrows are fast and spammable, don't disappear until they hit something or go too far off the screen, and can be controlled. He has two ways to reflect projectiles, multiple jumps, and his recovery gives a huge vertical boost. However, if he's attacked while using his Up B, Pit won't be able to use it again until he gets back on ground.
• Ike- Aside from Aether (which can be a Sacrificial KO though), all of his attacks have high knockback and excellent range. Probably the cheapest on four player time matches (especially if there are computer opponents), because he can easily KO characters at lower percentages than the rest of the cast and computers don't even think about dodging Ike's very powerful smash attacks.
• Marth- Aside from dancing blade, all of his attacks have considerable knockback, damage, and range. Marth also has 5 recovery options (First jump, second jump, dancing blade, shield breaker, dolphin slash) which can be annoying to foes. Also, Marth's attacks and running speed are fast. His forward smash and forward air are known to be great killers. His attacks result in good edgeguarding and his shield breaker can stop opponents. Finally Marth's Critical Hit is a One-hit KO and the extra time lag is not noticed very much which is why many people tend to remove Smash Balls from the list in Tournaments. Because of this, he has been called overpowered or cheap.
• Zelda - Din's Fire and Down Smash is extremely Abusive. Farore's Wind makes Zelda one of the biggest campers in the game. Nayru's Love also reflects projectiles and Grabs are very powerful but abusive.
• Lucas - PK Thunder makes it too easy to get the Smash Ball and use PK Starstorm, Up Smash KO's fast and has the biggest hitbox in the game of all the Smashes (Except Solid Snake's Up Smash which is a projectile). Furthurmore any of Lucas's Specials can KO an opponent in Sudden Death.
• Pikachu - Some Pikachu players are known to be unfair by Constantly spamming Thunder and C-Stick Smashes such as his Down Smash (Electric Spin) due to the extreme reliability of these moves. Infact they can still KO quite quickly even with Stale-Move Negation.

Examples of Final Smashes that are considered Cheap

• Landmaster - This is one of two Final Smashes (other being Wario-Man with a fully charged Wario Waft) that can defeat an opponent twice in one move due to the long lasting time of the Landmaster (except Wolf's), and the fact that the Landmaster can drag someone into the Off-screen position for them to Self-destruct right after they fall off the revival platform.
• Critical Hit - Not only is this move an One-hit KO, but can be more difficult to avoid than Cook Kirby or even Aura Storm. This is mainly broken in 4 player matches (especially with CPU's) due to the fact that it is hard to dodge it whilst someone is attacking you. However, it only hits in a straight line, is stopped by walls, opponents, and edges if grounded, and can SD the user.
• Super Sonic - A lot of player consider this move unavoidable once Super Sonic first hit's them, but skillful dodging can reduce or eliminate damage.
• Negative Zone - On a small stage such as Battlefield. This final smash can take up the entire stage, If someone uses the Fire Jump Punch on anyone hit by Negative Zone is a guaranteed KO.

See Also

• No Johns
• Broken