Flaws in artificial intelligence

A glaring example of the very flawed Melee AI

While it is notable that high level CPUs are precise with their reflexes, such as being able to perfect shield almost any attack, reflect projectiles with little hesitation, counterattack out of knockback the instant they can act, and land or control attacks that human players would find difficult such as Yoshi's Egg Throw and Pikachu's Volt Tackle, all three games are known for having AI that can be extremely flawed in most scenarios, even when set to level nine. CPUs also never use techniques that are complex or otherwise require specific timing, such as edgehogging, chaingrabing and edge hopping, nor use other such advanced techniques, such as L-canceling, wave dashing and DACUSing, which are crucial for achieving strong results in competitive play. There are many complaints surrounding the poor artificial intelligence of computer players in Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee, though Super Smash Bros. Brawl has also received attention to its flawed AI system; in all three games, particularly noteworthy and amusing AI flaws have been uploaded to YouTube, often while saying that the AI in the games is "just too good".

The AI in Project M has been reprogrammed to mitigate some flaws of CPUs, such as having them edge-guarding much more aggressively, and using advanced techniques such as wave dashing and L-canceling. However, they still exhibit most of the significant flaws they had before, as well as exhibit new flaws that Brawl AI did not suffer from (such as frequently air dodging offstage, and improperly using recoveries the AI could use before, such as Pikachu's Quick Attack).

Super Smash Bros.

As one might expect from the first Super Smash Bros. game, the AI is considered poor even with CPUs set to level nine. When fighting, their main form of attacking is to constantly use a special attack, especially if it is a projectile, along with smash attacks. For example, Mario constantly shoots Fireballs, and Jigglypuff persistently uses Pound. Other than using tilts occasionally, they tend to not use other attacks, using neutral attacks and grabs rarely, though high-leveled CPUs do combine these two for a jab grab. When a player is at a considerable distance and airborne, CPUs attack mainly by using an aerial attack depending on their distance from the enemy, which makes their attacks very predictable. That is, they often use their up aerials after knocking opponents upwards, and commonly use their forward aerials when approaching them from the air. Specific CPUs also tend to overuse one type of aerial attack, no matter their opponents' position; these include Fox heavily spamming his up aerial against airborne enemies to juggle them, and Samus repeatedly using her down aerial. When a player stands on a platform above them, CPUs with up specials which propel them upwards may also attack with them, even if their attack trajectory would cause them to self-destruct. However, CPUs still have good aiming abilities, such as being able to precisely hit with aerial attacks, as well as with attacks that may seem difficult for human players to use effectively, such as Yoshi's Egg Throw.

Though these attack techniques are not considered as flawed as in Melee, CPUs in Smash 64 still have poor recovery abilities. For example, if a CPU uses their up special to recover after jumping, but the player interrupts the attack, the CPU will not attempt to use it again. This makes CPUs reliably easy to KO with meteor smash attacks. They also underutilise the recoveries of certain characters, and, at low levels, they may not use their up special to recover at all. In addition to this, they always recover in an extremely predictable way, always using their air speed to move towards the stage before using their up special, while never attempting to fight-off edgeguarders with aerials. Additionally, CPUs have poor defensive abilities: for example, when being attacked by a consecutively hitting jab (such as Kirby's), they just hold their shield while standing in place until it eventually breaks, without attempting to escape the attack by rolling, even if the shieldstun is not high enough to lock them into the attack. They do use rolls outside that situation; however, after using the technique once, they heavily spam it, which makes easy for players to punish them with attacks like down smashes (especially Mario's and Pikachu's). Outside of this, however, grounded CPUs may still defend properly against attacks that may be difficult for humans to defend against, such as item-based attacks or quick ground attacks, as well as being able to tech successfully on some stages when launched upwards. Also, Fox and Ness successfully attempt to use Reflector/PSI Magnet against oncoming projectiles; in Ness's case, when playing at Saffron City, he will successfully absorb Charmander's Flamethrower if he's not interrupted, something that may be difficult for humans to do. Despite this, CPUs still cannot recognise these techniques when used by players. For example, they may still throw items against a Fox player with an active Reflector, as well as still shooting absorbable projectiles against a Ness with an active PSI Magnet. Also, a CPU Ness may still attempt to use this move against a non-absorbable projectile, such as a Boomerang. CPUs additionally have almost non-existent edge guarding abilities: when knocking a foe offstage, they will just stand on the ledge and throw off their usual attacks whenever the foe comes near. Additionally, if a foe grabs a ledge when a CPU jumps in an attempt to attack, they will mostly decide to fast fall and attack with a down aerial, which, depending on the character, often causes self-destructs.

CPUs in Smash 64 are also well known for their tendency to use items excessively. Regardless of the CPU level and item, when an item appears, CPUs cease fighting and go for the item, often putting themselves in harm's way while doing so, especially because of the incapability to grab items in midair in Smash 64. The only exceptions are wandering Bob-ombs, and Starmen on some occasions. They also fail to recognize certain items when they are active; they may still walk into their own Bumpers or Motion-Sensor Bombs, resulting in self-destructs. On some stages, they may also walk into traps, such as the tornadoes on Hyrule Castle. Additionally, when using a Fire Flower or Ray Gun, they attack only by shooting with them, and throwing the item after it runs out of ammunition, making their attack pattern predictable. The only exception is when they are battling against Fox or Ness: Level 5 and above CPUs only throw the item against them, never shooting, since they can reflect/absorb the projectiles. In Fox's case, however, his Reflector can still reflect the thrown item. Also, when using a Star Rod, CPUs still shoot stars against these characters. When a foe uses a Hammer or Starman, CPUs will stay away from the character and, in the Hammer's case, shoot projectiles depending on the situation. Also, when a CPU uses a Hammer and a foe is far away, the CPU will jump towards him, even if the other platform is elevated and there is a pit between them, resulting in the CPU self-destructing.

Additionally, CPUs tend to play strangely on some stages. While their behaviour seems to be normal on simple stages like Congo Jungle and Dream Land, they may exhibit certain flaws in others. For example, CPUs on the Yoshi's Island stage won't recognise items dropped on the clouds, and they have difficulty recognising walls on stages like Peach's Castle and Saffron City, not jumping over them unless an enemy provokes them to. On Planet Zebes, they are also very easily KO'd by the acid, and on Mushroom Kingdom, they may go offstage and SD attempting to dodge opponents.

It is a common misconception among Smashers who have not played Smash 64 that the AI in this game is better at KOing than in the later Smash games. However, this is just because of the CPUs' higher tendency to use smash attacks than in the subsequent games, such as Donkey Kong and Captain Falcon frequently using their down smashes, as well as their perfect precision with aerial attacks that allows for unexpected combos, plus their ability to easily use techniques such as jab grab. This, exacerbated by Smash 64's powerful aerials and the incapability of air dodging, along with the much more powerful throws in the game, tends to cause speculations that the AI in this game is better at comboing and KOing, and therefore it is more powerful than in the other games. This is arguably not true, however, as CPUs in this game have poor understandings of numerous attacks, as well as exhibiting strange behaviours in complex situations, poor defensive play that involves spamming rolls and not attempting to dodge attacks when airborne, and an easily gimpable recovery that allows them to be easily KO'd. These flaws leave them highly vulnerable against any experienced players, or even casual ones if they are able to exploit their flaws effectively.

Because of these numerous flaws, and despite CPUs using certain attacks more effectively than in Melee, the AI in Smash 64 is considered to be the worst of the three current Smash Bros. games.

Specific examples

Other examples of flawed AI in Super Smash Bros. include:

• Other than not using their up special again after being attacked during their recovery, CPUs also poorly utilize certain character's recoveries:
  • When a CPU Captain Falcon grabs someone with his Falcon Dive during recovery, he will not attempt to use the move again.
  • CPUs always aim their recoveries towards the center of the stage; so, if meteor smashed on stages such as Dream Land and Peach's Castle, no matter the strength of the attack, they will go underneath the stage and fail to recover. Similarly, in Sector Z, they may aim recovery towards the Great Fox's cannons, which cannot be stepped on.
  • A CPU Ness will always aim his PK Thunder as a recovery in an horizontal, barely upwards angle, even if the ledge is above him.
  • A CPU Kirby and Jigglypuff will immediately use up all their jumps after getting knocked off the stage.
    • CPU Jigglypuffs additionally never use Pound to recover, only using the move to attack foes on the edge after reaching it.
• High-level CPUs usually taunt when they hit an opponent with a high knockback attack, even if it doesn't KO them. This means they can taunt even if there are traps or other players nearby, and even if the attack is a meteor smash that leaves the foe at a short distance from the CPU. This makes it easy to punish characters with long taunts, such as Mario.
  • Additionally, if a CPU in midair sends a foe far away, and then quickly grabs a ledge, it will taunt as soon as it gets up.
• When getting close to their opponent in a single battle, high-level CPUs always use a move like a down smash, being easily predictable. If the player is not hit by it, they may use that same move continuously while moving a very short distance forward each time.
• High-level CPUs tend to make persistent use of a special move depending on the character, especially if it is a projectile attack, resulting in them underusing other attacks:
  • CPU Mario and Luigi persistently shoot Fireballs against players at a distance from them. CPU Ness exhibits the same behaviour with PK Fire, as does Pikachu with Thunder Jolt. This makes it easy for an experienced Ness player to have a large advantage over these CPUs by absorbing the attacks with PSI Magnet.
    • Also, though CPU Kirbys use their own special attacks moderately, they may still spam any of these copied attacks.
  • CPU Donkey Kongs almost always charge up a Giant Punch and cancel it when the player comes near, almost never approaching or using another attack instead. CPU Samus behaves similarly with Charge Shot, constantly canceling it and only shooting if a player comes in front of her.
    • Additionally, Donkey Kong mostly uses Spinning Kong to repel enemies at his sides instead of other attacks, and also chases the player after the attack is executed, even if this results in the CPU falling off an edge and self-destructing. This is more noticeable with Giant Donkey Kong: he tends to use Spinning Kong when the player's teammates approach him. CPU Links behave similarly with Spin Attack, though they rarely self-destruct when doing so.
  • CPU Jigglypuffs tend to make constant use of Pound to attack players, especially in midair.
  • A CPU Link will almost always use Boomerang as his first attack, as well as mostly using it when the foe is at a considerable distance. They may also use the move even if the boomerang was already thrown.
  • CPU Foxes tend to aim Fire Fox against players as one of their main attacks. As a result, if a human player runs to the edge of a stage such as Dream Land, Fox will follow him/her and aim his Fire Fox off of the stage - resulting in a self-destruct.
    • Similarly, if a character is far away from him, a high-level Fox CPU may repeatedly use Blaster, even if the enemy is shielding or protecting. This allows players to trick the CPU easily by absorbing the shots with Ness.
  • CPU Yoshi and Captain Falcon may also use Yoshi Bomb and Falcon Kick constantly against a player below them when airborne, but not as often as the other mentioned CPUs. This can still be significant, however, as they use these moves even when platforms are below them.
    • Additionally, CPU Captain Falcon will almost always jump before using Falcon Kick, which can sometimes cause the attack to miss and become easily punished due to its lag. If the player stays above him during the jumping phase, he will use Falcon Dive instead, falling helpless and becoming easily vulnerable.
• When returning on a revival platform, CPUs always reenter the fight instantly regardless of what is happening on the stage.
• When invincible, such as by the effect of a Star of when dropping out of a revival platform, CPUs will still shield and dodge attacks thrown against them. Additionally, when a player comes out of a revival platform they may still attack them during their invincibility period.
• On the Kirby Team in the 1P Game mode, when the Kirbys are knocked off the stage, they tend to fast fall as soon as they run out of midair jumps, without even using Final Cutter to recover. This makes easy for players to KO them, even at Very Hard difficulty.
• CPU Marios and Luigis never rise when using Mario Tornado and Luigi Cyclone, respectively.
• A CPU Kirby using Inhale will only spit out the opponent if it is another Kirby, meaning they won't attempt to steal copy abilites from them.
• A CPU Kirby using Stone will never end the transformation early. As a result, when the attack is used on a slope, such as that of the leftmost part of Hyrule Castle or at the far right side of Sector Z, CPU Kirby will hold the move in place, falling down and self-destructing.
• A CPU player who picks up a throwing item when another player is below their platform will repeatedly throw the item to the ground until it disappears - even if the item is a Bob-omb, which often leads to the CPU self-destructing.
• Other than regular items, CPUs will also attempt to go for Bombs left by a Link player. Not only they will cease fighting for this, but they may pick up the bomb even if it's about to explode.
• When a Bumper is set, a CPU Fox or Ness may hold their Reflector/PSI Magnet near it until it vanishes, they get hit, or another item appears. During this period they will ignore other players, becoming extremely vulnerable.
• When standing on moving platforms, CPUs usually won't be conscious about the danger and will stay there like on a normal terrain, which mostly results on them not jumping off and going offstage with the plaftorm, guaranteeing a self-destruct. This can happen, for example, when a CPU comes to attack a foe on the balancing plaftorms at Mushroom Kingdom, or when landing on an Arwing during recovery at Sector Z.
  • Additionally, if a Crate or Barrel falls on one of the balancing platforms at Mushroom Kingdom, CPUs will still attempt to pick it up, falling down with it and SDing.
• As mentioned above, CPUs have difficulty recognising walls. If there is a player on the right side of the Saffron City stage, CPUs will walk into the doors of the Pokémon trap. Similarly, on Peach's Castle, if a human player stands on the bottom platform, a CPU on one of the moving platforms will run into the wall repeatedly.
• In Mushroom Kingdom, CPUs will never attempt to intentionally use the POW Block nor the Warp Pipes.
• On Saffron City, if a level nine Pikachu is set to Player 2, and the player stands on the left edge of the rightmost building after Pikachu is KO'd, it will jump off the revival platform to the right and then approach with Quick Attack, crossing-up the building and self-destructing. Pikachu will continue this indefinitely as long as it is not interrupted by something.
• In Dream Land, if a player stands below a CPU Donkey Kong on a platform, it will continuously use Hand Slap until the player gets out of there, leaving it easily open for aerial attacks.
  • In a similar scenario, standing on a Dream Land platform above a CPU Yoshi will cause it to use Egg Throw, which (when shielded) will be inevitably followed by an infinite stream of double jump canceled up aerials that are nowhere near hitting the player.

Super Smash Bros. Melee

One of the most notorious AI flaws in Melee, where level nine Fox will repeatedly self-destruct on Jungle Japes.

The AI in Super Smash Bros. Melee is notorious for how flawed it is. Computer players, regardless of level, primarily fight by constantly approaching to then spam their neutral attack and dash grabs when close to opponents, while periodically using any projectiles they have when opponents are out of the range of their jab and grab. For example, Kirby CPUs repeatedly use Final Cutter to attack, and Bowsers frequently use Fire Breath even if the foe is out of the move's range. If the player stays very close to them without moving or being knocked away (which may occur at low percents), CPUs will instead only spam their jabs, grabbing only if the player shields. Though the exact rates of usage vary depending on the character, the AI will generally avoid using their tilts and smashes outside certain situations, and will almost never use aerials to attack unless they were already in the air from trying to reach an opponent's position (such as if they were jumping up to an opponent on a platform above them) or from being hit into the air from a prior attack. In this case, they also tend to use their neutral aerials over other types of aerials. Specific CPUs also have a tendency to overuse one move with certain characters, such as Ganondorf constantly using Dark Dive when a character is in front of or above him, and Zelda constantly using her down tilt to "lock" opponents. Some characters also have their own "playstyle": a CPU Mr. Game & Watch never uses projectiles and instead approaches mostly with his dash attack, a CPU Yoshi uses Egg Lay as often as his grab, CPU Pikachus and Donkey Kongs frequently use their forward smash on a foe from close range, and CPU Ice Climbers don't grab as often and instead just use their jab as their main attack. The AI is additionally notorious for how terrible it is at recovering. While the AI won't give up during recoveries like it does in Smash 64, the AI still has significant problems with its recovery skills. The AI always recovers in a basic and predictable pattern, which itself causes them to fail many recoveries that were possible, while making no effort at all to fight off edge-guarders. This results in computer players being extremely easy to edge-guard, which is exacerbated by Melee's edge-guarding friendly physics. CPUs do, however, possess precise meteor cancel abilities, so if they are hit by a meteor smash during recovery phase, they almost always meteor cancel the attack (except if they are meteor smashed during their special recovery move or near the stage ledge, where they will usually not meteor cancel). A CPU Kirby or Jigglypuff, for example, will meteor cancel almost any attack, even Ganondorf's down aerial at 100% damage. Interestingly, they meteor cancel like this even at Level 1. Regardless, they are very easily KO'd by other edge-guarding techniques, such as walls of pain or spikes.

The AI in Melee also make poor use of their shields and defensive maneuvers in general. Computer players, even at level nine, will often not use their shields to block attacks, and will often not use rolling dodges, sidesteps or air dodges to dodge attacks. As such, computer players will often take whatever attack is thrown their way, expending no effort to dodge it, and, when combined with their constant approaching, will often lead to them just walking into a player's charged attack, or even a slow and predictable but powerful attack (such as Falcon Punch). There is an exception to this though with a few attacks that the AI was programmed to dodge at all costs, such as Bowser's up smash and Bowser Bomb, where computer players will always roll dodge away or air dodge if the attack is being used in their vicinity. This can be observed by charging Bowser's up smash below a CPU, where it will always air dodge away from the attack, or, if on a platform, will roll back and forth until Bowser unleashes his smash. Other examples also include Yoshi Bomb, Raptor Boost and the last hits of Dancing Blade, which the CPUs avoid the same way. Additionally, despite minimal use of their shields, CPUs are very precise with perfect shielding, so when they do shield an attack, it is usually a perfect shield. On top of this, while the AI will often not shield physical attacks, higher level CPUs will always shield any projectile if they are not in lag; level nine CPUs will usually perfect shield to reflect projectiles. They do this to a fault however, which can be exploited with rapid projectiles like Blaster, as when under projectile fire, CPUs will prioritise shielding against all projectiles over all else, leading to the CPU just standing there and shielding against rapid projectiles until the opponent ceases fire or they break their shield. Like in the previous game, CPUs also have poor edge-guarding abilities, as they will just stand on the ledge and use their usual attacks whenever the recovering foe comes near, and still have a chance of self-destructing in an attempt to attack ledge-hanging players while in the air. While there were better chances of the CPU getting a KO in Smash 64, this is rarer in Melee, since jabs and throws are usually not powerful enough to launch the foe into the blast line, and instead they allow the foe to jump and recover again. Some characters, however, will jump offstage and attempt to edge-guard with their meteor smash attacks: these being Mario and Dr. Mario with their forward aerials (even though Dr. Mario's is not a meteor smash), as well as Captain Falcon with his down aerial. While this increases their chances of KOing their opponent, they always jump horizontally and then throw out the attack in the same way, which, combined with the usual lag of the attacks and the poor recovery of CPUs, makes it easy for recovering players to dodge, while often causing the CPU to self-destruct, especially when they are giant or metal. Additionally, there are some rare instances when, if very close to the edge, these CPUs may drop offstage without jumping and use the move (or even fast fall in the case of Captain Falcon), receiving a quick SD.

Certain stages are notorious for being poorly navigated by the AI, such as stages with pits like Jungle Japes, where the AI does not properly recognise these pits and will often fall into them to self-destruct while trying to attack a player near them. The AI also plays especially poorly on moving stages such as Icicle Mountain, where computer players will move up one platform at a time, which is too slow to escape the lower blast line when the stage speeds up.

The AI is also extremely incompetent with handling items and their effects. The AI will ignore any changes made to their physique and will play as if they were normal, which leads to instances where they often will self destruct simply by trying to move, such as giant CPUs inadvertently walking off stages, and metal CPUs plummeting to their death as they attempt to attack an offstage player. CPUs also do not recognise items, so they will never pick them up when one appears, only doing so accidentally when trying to attack an opponent next to the item; additionally, they will always walk into set Motion-Sensor Bombs, walking Bob-ombs, and hostile Poké Ball Pokémon. When picking up battering items (except for the Hammer), the AI still acts and fights as if not wielding it, which often leads into CPUs jabbing persistently with the item and then dropping or throwing it in an attempt to grab opponents. There is an exception to this when there are healing items, Poké Balls, Cloaking Devices, or Hammers present; CPUs will usually immediately cease all fighting against the player and will instead flee to pick up these items. They will often put themselves in harm's way while trying to do so, just to obtain said item. Additionally, they don't attempt to grab items while in the air, so if the item falls on a platform, for example, the CPU will pick it up only after landing on it, while a human player would air grab it from below, making easy to snatch items away from CPUs.

Specific examples

Specific examples of poor AI include:

• Computer players have generally poor recovery abilities:
  • They will never attempt to fight off or evade edge-guarders.
  • They will only use their midair jumps and up special move to recover - never any alternate recovery methods such as side special moves, air dodges or wall-grapples (as they don't use grab aerials).
    • Luigi acts as an exception; he will instead always use the Green Missile and never use Super Jump Punch to recover, even when necessary. He also never charges the former move, so he will most likely fail to recover if the attack is not a misfire, even though the move is used periodically. This leads to CPU Luigis self-destructing easily on stages that emphasise vertical recoveries, like Mushroom Kingdom II or Brinstar Depths.
  • CPU Fox, Falco, Marth, Roy, Zelda, and Mewtwo will always aim in the same upward diagonal trajectory when recovering, even if using such a trajectory will result in them failing to make it back to the stage while a more desirable trajectory would allow them to recover successfully. A CPU Sheik will instead always aim straightly horizontally or vertically (depending on her position from the edge), never diagonally.
  • If a CPU Jigglypuff runs out of midair jumps when recovering, it will use Sing, instead of using Pound or an air dodge, guaranteeing a failed recovery if it cannot grab the ledge.
  • CPU Nesses will use PK Thunder only when recovering if they are set to level nine, and will always aim it in an upwards, barely horizontal trajectory. A lower level CPU Ness will just fall and get KO'd if the midair jump is not enough to make it back to the stage.
  • CPU Peaches will rarely use the ability to float: they only use it near the bottom of the stage after falling off with an attack, and unusually not move around when doing so, simply stalling their eventual fall, and always holding it to the maximum length. This allows players to edgeguard them in a simple and easy way, while they would have survived otherwise. CPU Peaches also tend to use Peach Parasol to recover immediately when close enough to the edge, even when they could have used a midair jump to recover more effectively.
  • Whenever a CPU Pichu uses Agility and ends up above the edge of a platform with the first dash, it will always aim straightly horizontally with the second, even if that causes it to move offstage and self-destruct. A CPU Pikachu will also exhibit this behavior, though it will very rarely SD due to Quick Attack giving a shorter distance.
• Computer players do not correctly use attacks that require repeated or held inputs:
  • They never charge attacks that require button holding, including smash attacks (with the exception of the Ice Climbers, who occasionally charge their forward smash), Shield Breaker, Hero's Bow, Skull Bash, Green Missile, Rollout (Rollout in particular suffers from the CPU's behaviour, since it has no effect other than leaving the user vulnerable if it is used without being charged), and the Super Scope, among others. Zelda with Din's Fire (depending on the foe's distance) and Sheik with Needle Storm, as well as Ness with PK Flash against a grounded opponent, are the only exceptions.
  • They never use the second hit of Link's or Young Link's forward smash; as a result, CPUs have more difficulty KOing with both characters, as Link's forward smash is relatively weak when the first hit connects, while Young Link's first hit deals low, set knockback to set up the second, more powerful attack.
  • CPUs never hold indefinitely extendable attacks such as rapid jabs, Fire Breath, Reflector, Inhale or Hand Slap past their minimum length. They also never hold the Fire Flower's flames, and never fire the Super Scope continuously.
    • When approaching, CPU Bowsers and Giga Bowsers also periodically use Fire Breath even if the opponent is completely out of the attack's range, making their approach even more predictable and easy to counter.
    • Similarly, a CPU Sheik may periodically use Chain when approaching, instead of Needle Storm, leaving her easily vulnerable against attacks. She also rarely swings the chain around, and only if the opponent is close to her.
  • A CPU Kirby under the effect of Stone will never end the transformation early. Besides allowing players to easily punish a CPU Kirby with powerful attacks, this will cause him to self destruct on some stages; if he hits a breakable platform above the lower blast line or is on a slope that ends offstage, he will end up sliding down and plummeting offstage.
  • CPU Marios, Luigis and Dr. Marios never move around nor rise when using their respective down specials.
• CPUs will always throw a grabbed opponent in a random direction, which, combined with their excessive use of throws, results in CPUs throwing the foe into the stage while attempting to edgeguard, or using a certain throw when a different one would have KO'd the foe. Some CPUs also tend to overuse a specific throw, such as Fox overusing his down throw, or Mario and his clones frequently using their back throws.
• CPUs will never initiate a fast fall intentionally, only doing so sometimes when attempting to attack with a down aerial while falling down.
• AI players have poor taunting habits. After the CPU respawns, if the player was previously KO'd by it will occasionally walk to the player and taunt for no apparent reason.
  • Upon KOing a character, CPUs will usually taunt, regardless of what is occurring around them. Additionally, when KOing an enemy horizontally from the middle of a main platform, they will walk to the edge nearest to where the KO occurred before taunting. When Star KOing an opponent, they won't taunt until the animation is finished, leaving them unnecessarily vulnerable during long taunts.
• CPUs will never initiate a dash except to perform dash grabs and dash attacks, the latter being less common. In this case they act almost immediately after the initial dash, which makes their attack pattern predictable and easy to avoid.
• Like in Smash 64, CPUs will still shield attacks when invincible, and still attack other opponents during the invincibility period of a revival platform. When returning on one, they also reenter the fight instantly, regardless of what is happening.
• CPUs will never sidestep intentionally; the only time they will sidestep is when they are trying to shield and fall through a soft platform simultaneously.
• While CPUs always attempt to dodge certain attacks (as noted above), their dodges are often poor in these cases. For example, a CPU near an edge attempting to dodge an attack such as Bowser Bomb may still roll towards the edge, which can result in the attack still hitting and KOing the CPU while it would have survived with another dodging technique.
  • When air dodging, CPUs also tend to shift themselves in the direction they were already moving, or may not move at all, even if it causes them to unnecessarily fail to avoid the attack they were trying to.
• CPUs never attempt to intentionally execute wall or ceiling techs, the former being accidentally triggered when they are near a wall and attempt to shield too late. They also use ground techs only if they are sent on an upwards trajectory and are not interrupted before reaching the ground.
• Other than Fox and Falco using their Reflectors, CPUs always reflect projectiles with perfect shields only, even though some characters like Mario and Zelda have more effective reflectors. This results in things such as CPUs not being able to properly reflect Poké Balls (as perfect shielding them does not change the Pokémon's owner) or consecutive projectiles, or their shields becoming easily broken by rapid-fire projectiles.
• When an opponent is knocked down or hanging on a ledge, CPUs will only use down tilts and down smashes to attack them, even when some like Captain Falcon's down smash don't reach ledge-hanging foes.
• CPUs cannot properly recognise the height differences that occur when standing on slopes, which will lead to things like a CPU flailing above an opponent with its jab when higher up on a slope.
• CPUs do not recognise pits as if they were an offstage area, leading to the CPU just walking and falling into them as the CPU attempts to carelessly attack an opponent near the pit, which often results in the CPU self-destructing.
• CPU Kirbys have unusual behavior with their use of Inhale. When they first use Inhale, they will constantly use it until they can copy a character. Additionally, they will heavily spam the move they copied. They also never move around with swallowed foes, and spit out an opponent only if it is another Kirby. In this case, they also always spit out the Kirby, even if it has a copied ability that can be stolen.
• CPU Peaches, Luigis, Pikachus and Pichus tend to use their side specials against foes near the attack's maximum range, not charging them for the latter three (as noted above). While not seemingly problematic, they can be easily punished if the attack misses, and in Luigi's case, he may self-destruct on small stages if the attack misfires.
  • As an additional flaw, if a CPU Peach ends up offstage with Peach Bomber, she will stall by floating as described above, leaving her vulnerable for several seconds.
• CPU Marths and Roys will never use Counter.
• A CPU Zelda will never use Nayru's Love, not even for reflecting projectiles. A CPU Kirby with Zelda's ability still uses the move, though.
• A CPU Mr. Game & Watch never uses Chef, and uses Oil Panic at inappropriate moments.
• A CPU Ness never uses PSI Magnet; even when projectiles are shot in his vicinity, he will just reflect them by perfect shielding.
• A CPU Jigglypuff never uses Rollout or Rest. Strangely, a Kirby with Jigglypuff absorbed will attempt to use Rollout, but will never charge it when using it (as noted prior).
  • Additionally, a CPU Kirby with Jigglypuff absorbed may use Rollout even if near a ledge, which would cause him to fall down in helpless state and self-destruct. As CPU Kirbys mostly spam copied abilities, this can be easily exploited.
• CPU Links and Young Links will never attempt to angle their Boomerangs.
• When CPU Marths and Roys use Dancing Blade and Double-Edge Dance, respectively, after knocking their foe away with the first hit, they will always execute the three subsequent hits of the attack even if the foe gets out of reach. They also never use the up and down versions of the attacks. If the foe is very close to them and isn't knocked away with the first hit, they may instead only use that one, even when following-up with the others was possible.
• A CPU Samus will only use Bomb when above a foe in midair.
• As they approach the player, CPU Captain Falcons and Ganondorfs will periodically use Falcon/Warlock Punch, Raptor Boost/Gerudo Dragon, and up tilt in the case of Ganondorf, like how other CPUs use projectiles while approaching. They do this despite the opponent being completely out of their range, and the very long lag of these attacks makes it easy for opponents to punish them. They will occasionally use Falcon Kick/Wizard's Foot instead, however.
  • CPU Captain Falcons will additionally always use Raptor Boost after using forward throw (or sometimes down throw) on someone, even if it would cause them to go offstage and self-destruct. They may also use Raptor Boost if the player is near the ledge offstage, attempting to hit them, but usually falling off the stage. CPU Ganondorfs however do not exhibit this behavior with Gerudo Dragon.
  • CPU Ganondorfs will also nearly always use Dark Dive when someone is nearby and above them, even if they're near the edge of the stage, which can cause them to use Dark Dive and then fall offstage, self-destructing. CPU Falcons generally do not exhibit this behavior with Falcon Dive, but they will often try to Falcon Dive after successfully executing an up throw. This is preceded by a single jump. The entire process is a predictable and thus poor attempt at comboing the opponent.
• CPU Kirbys and Bowsers will mostly use their down specials (Stone and Bowser Bomb respectively) on foes below them when they are in midair, regardless of what is below them. Similarly, some grounded CPUs will spam a special attack if a player is above them: a CPU Ness will spam PK Flash, a CPU Pikachu or Pichu will spam Thunder, and a CPU Peach mostly uses Peach Parasol if the player is at a close range. CPU Yoshis may also use Egg Throw in a similar way.
  • Additionally, when CPU Peach uses Peach Parasol as an attack, she will follow the player even if near a pit, making Peach approach it and then, depending on the stage, not being able to reach a platform or ledge, resulting in a self-destruct.
  • When a CPU Kirby without an ability is swallowed by another Kirby player, he will almost always use Stone after being released from Inhale, due to him being left above the player, allowing the human Kirby to rack up damage by repeatedly swallowing the CPU.
• A high level CPU Yoshi mostly uses Egg Roll against a player at a large distance, and chase him/her even if near an edge, so that if the player dodges or just shields against the attack, the CPU may easily fall offstage and self-destruct.
• When using PK Thunder as an attack, a CPU Ness will always aim it in a trajectory between diagonal and horizontal, and will not alter this trajectory even if it misses the foe, leaving him highly vulnerable to attacks during the move.
• A CPU Mewtwo that is charging Shadow Ball in midair (by either falling off an edge when attacking a foe out of range, or sometimes when using the move very close to one) will never cancel the attack, and won't shoot the ball if there are no enemies directly in front of it, simply falling down and self-destructing.
• Whenever a player semi-spikes a CPU Mr. Game & Watch, Zelda, or Mewtwo close to the edge, these three characters will never use their up specials unless they are low and underneath the stage, or are hit by another player, leading to self destructs.
• When CPUs are caped by Mario or Dr. Mario offstage before they use up special after using their midair jump, they will use aerial attacks even if they miss the ledge while using aerial attacks. Depending on the attack's duration, this will cause them to fail a recovery that was possible and self-destruct.
• Despite the AI's tendency to shield and even reflect any projectile as noted earlier, CPU Bowsers will never shield projectiles when approaching the player, even at level nine.
• A CPU Zelda that holds a throwing item will usually throw it down when close to an opponent, in an attempt to use a down tilt. Not only does this often render the item ineffectual, but she will easily self-destruct if the item is an explosive.
• Picking up either a Hammer or a Starman will cause all the CPUs to run to the opposite side of the stage and stand there until the effect wears off; they will not use any defensive maneuvers whatsoever.
  • On Poké Floats, while standing there until the effect wears off, a CPU will only attack if an opponent comes near very close to the camera boundaries or between a blast line and the camera's view. This can result in SD, if the CPU stays on certain float too long while attacking an opponent.
• When using a Warp Star, CPUs never change the trajectory of the attack, which can result in them self-destructing if the default trajectory happens to propel them offstage.
• If a CPU grabs a Hammer, it will chase opponents until they reach a wall and continually jump in place even if the obstacle can be jumped over. It will also jump offstage to chase opponents that have jumped off the stage, and self destruct in the process.
  • Additionally, even if the Hammer's head falls off, CPUs still attempt to chase opponents, putting themselves in harm while doing so. They also never pick up the head intentionally, as with other items.
• If they are next to the radius of Venusaur's earthquake or near Wobbuffet, CPUs may shield even though they are not in the Pokémon's damage radius. Unusually, they may also hold their shields in place, which can result in a self-inflicted shield break (Jigglypuff will SD because of its unique shield jump). This is noticeable with the Wire Frames on the Legendary Pokémon event.
  • Additionally, if a CPU is knocked in the air near Venusaur or goes above it to approach a player, it often immediately air dodges, even if the Venusaur can just be jumped over.
• When the player stands still on certain locations in stages, all opposing CPUs will cease all movement and action if the player is not in attack range, until the player moves or one of the aforementioned desired items appears. A notable example of this is the right edge of the middle right platform in Battlefield, which can be exploited in Cruel Melee.
• On Princess Peach's Castle, CPUs will always run to the opposite side of the castle when Banzai Bill appears. During this, they will ignore opponents, and will not attack nor defend themselves unless an opponent comes near. This allows the player to attack without fear of retaliation, even with normally slow or punishable attacks such as fully charged smashes. When the opponent does come near, it disrupts their normal behavior pattern and they will sometimes stay on the side of the castle where the Banzai Bill is and get KO'd by its explosion.
  • Also, if Banzai Bill spawns in the middle of the castle, CPUs may run straight into it in an attempt to reach the other side.
• On Brinstar, CPUs will always go to the hovering metallic platform in the centre when acid rises from the bottom. During this, the CPU will ignore opponents, and will not attack nor defend itself unless an opponent comes near.
• When at a stop on Mute City and the stage is about to move again, CPUs will not jump back on the main moving platform unless a player or item provokes them to go on it, leading to them sustaining avoidable damage when the stage moves.
• On walk-off stages such as Flat Zone, if the player is close enough to the blast line without getting KO'd, the AI may ignore the player completely and fight other opponents.
• On Jungle Japes when the player is Player 1 while a CPU Ness is Player 2, if the player does not move, Ness will try to jump over to the player, but will fall into the river, and self destruct his first stock. Even at Level 9, he will still fail to recover as his PK Thunder would be blocked by the left platform.
  • Also, if the player stands still on the right platform as a CPU Fox comes off the revival platform in this same stage, Fox will repeatedly jump into the river, use Fire Fox below the center platform and fail to recover until he runs out of stocks or time runs out. A CPU Roy will also exhibit this behavior in this situation, aiming his Blazer to the left, missing the ledge and self-destructing.
• For an unknown reason, high-leveled CPUs on Fourside and Yoshi's Island tend to air dodge near the pits, which depending on the character can lead them to self-destruct. A notable example is Yoshi, who, if selected as Player 2 (who starts on the rightmost building), will always air dodge at the beginning of the match above the first pit and self-destruct when attempting to reach a player in Player 1's spawn position.
• On N64 Yoshi's Island, if the player stands on a cloud close to the horizontal blast line, CPUs will go towards them with their usual recovery patterns, commonly not using other clouds at platforms. When using their up special, they will also aim for the closest cloud even if it's out of range, leading to self-destructs.
• During the first part of the boat ride on Rainbow Cruise, if the player jumps out of sight, onto a platform above the boat, CPUs will go towards them with their usual recovery patterns. When using their up special, they will aim for the closest platform above the boat even if it's out of range, leading to self-destructs.
• On Green Greens, whenever a player meteor smashes a CPU, it will aim its recovery towards the center of the stage even if the blocks don't allow it to get back on, or it could recover by aiming for the outer ledges instead, resulting in self-destructs.
• On Mushroom Kingdom II, when battling against a level 9 Luigi set as Player 2, if the player KOs him and then goes to the right part of the stage, Luigi will jump backwards from the revival platform and miss the ledge, and then use Green Missile on the wall and self-destruct. He will continue this indefinitely until interrupted by an item, Pidgit, or Birdo's eggs.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the AI is generally more proficient with character recoveries (most prominently Luigi). If a human player gets an item like a Starman, rather than just trying to avoid that character, they will also use the opportunity to attack any stragglers. When a Smash Ball appears, computer players will aggressively attack it at opportune times, while repelling anyone who tries to get it as well. They also recognize and use all items as well, unlike in Melee. Additionally, CPUs can now properly charge up or hold smash attacks and special attacks, among others, and choose more alternatives when using certain attacks, such as Kirby spitting out characters more often, Link using his grab aerial and the second hit of his forward smash, and Donkey Kong throwing foes upwards and/or downwards with his cargo throw instead of just forward. CPUs can now properly use aerial attacks against grounded foes rather than just attacking from land, and often punish attacking opponents with shield grabs. Their taunting habits are less flawed than in Melee, as they don't use them if there are other enemies or obstacles, and they won't taunt if the player just escapes from them after they respawn. Additionally, CPUs in Brawl are much better at defending, as they sidestep and roll more often, and, with the change of air dodges, also use this technique properly, as well as being almost impossible for a human player to break a CPU's shield, and high-level CPUs almost always teching on any solid surface when launched a far distance. Plus, when a Hammer, Superspicy Curry, Starman, dangerous Poké Ball Pokémon or Assist Trophy, or Final Smash is being used by a foe, high-level CPUs will stay on their revival platforms if they were KO'd, instead of just reentering the fight instantly like in the previous games. Another notable change is that, when a high-valued item appears, instead of just ceasing fighting to go for it, CPUs now try to repel any other character trying to get it, and if it appears too far from them, they will just ignore it and battle as usual (except for the Smash Ball). Even then, CPUs will always walk toward an offstage item, instead of utilising faster movement options.

A new feature in Training Mode allows the computer's level to be selected. The AI is improved greatly, as opponents set to Attack mode will actively fight the player, rather than walking towards them and rarely throwing an attack like in previous installments. Other CPU modalities can also be improved by raising the AI level.

Also, for each CPU level, the game gives a word to describe the CPU's skill level:

1. Puny-1
2. Wimpy-2
3. Weak-3 (the default level)
4. Normal-4
5. Hardy-5
6. Strong-6
7. Burly-7
8. Mighty-8
9. Nasty-9

The flaws in Brawl's artificial intelligence are considerably lesser and less recurrent than in Melee, but they can still be potent. Computer players still tend to be easier to KO and edge-guard than the average human player, even when set to level 9, due to not utilising survival techniques such as DI and usually not fighting back when being edge-guarded. CPUs do, however, air dodge when sent flying, which provides minimal cushioning for knockback although usually not enough to save them. Computer players sometimes have difficulty avoiding certain stage hazards (most notably on Halberd), and are prone to self destructing in scrolling stages, such as the Melee Stages Rainbow Cruise and Big Blue. They have generally poor edge-guarding abilities (though unlike the previous two games, self destructing while attempting to edge-guard is very rare), and will usually stand on the ledge and spam projectiles when the player is recovering; they will usually attack offstage intentionally only with characters that have multiple jumps, such as Meta Knight. And while they are better at recovering than in the previous game, computer players still under-utilise recoveries, such as by not making use of alternate recovery options with some characters, or always recovering in the same direction with a recovery move. A computer player (regardless of level) will also always aim for solid platforms that can be sweetspotted when recovering, even when there are "soft" platforms off the stage.

Computer players additionally tend to play strangely in complex custom stages, and in overly large and complex stages like New Pork City and 75 m. And, despite recognising items and using them better than in the previous installments, they may still self-destruct with certain items, such as by walking into a row of Bob-ombs when approaching a player, self-destructing with their own Electrodes or, when the player is at a large distance, accidentally shooting projectiles into a Blast Box and being KO'd by it. They still seem to ignore when Team Attack is on, continuing their assaults even when allies are in harms way as though Team Attack was off, which can cause them to hurt or even KO their own allies.

Aside from being flawed as stated above, in Free-for-alls, CPUs will all target the human player even if they aren't teamed. They will also target the character that has the highest damage to earn a KO, and in doing so will not attack other CPUs, which results in them following each other in lockstep.

Specific examples

Specific examples of poor AI include:

• CPUs still underutilise the recoveries of several characters:
  • A CPU Ness or Lucas will always hit themselves with PK Thunder in the same upward diagonal trajectory when recovering, even if using such a trajectory will result in them failing to make it back to the stage while a more desirable trajectory would allow them to recover successfully. This is especially noticeable on Final Destination, as Ness will often not make it back to the stage when using PK Thunder to recover (when recovery is possible), while a Lucas will often launch himself underneath the stage's lips.
    • A CPU Lucas will also never use his grab aerial for recovery.
  • A CPU Ike will not use Aether unless he is directly underneath a ledge. This can cause him to self destruct without trying to recover, or waiting too late to use Aether and failing a recovery that was possible. CPU Snakes exhibits similar behavior using Cypher, often choosing to use it too late and self-destruct.
  • A CPU Yoshi will never use Egg Throw for recovery.
  • A CPU Luigi will never use Luigi Cyclone for recovery, and never rise with the move in any other situation.
  • A CPU Meta Knight will never use Mach Tornado nor Drill Rush for recovery, and will often use Dimensional Cape to recover instead of Meta Knight's other superior recovery options.
  • A CPU R.O.B. will not input any actions after using Robo Burner until he reaches the ground, grabs a ledge, or is hit by an attack.
  • If an opponent jumps offstage in front of a Fox or Falco using their up specials during the charge up phase of their move, they may angle the attack against the foe instead, even if it results in missing the ledge and self-destructing.
  • If a CPU Mr. Game & Watch uses Fire and fails to recover, he will repeatedly use Judge until the bottom blast line is crossed. While not necessarily problematic, there are instances where if a CPU Mr. Game & Watch reaches the apex of Fire and ends up short of the stage but in distance of reaching the ledge, the CPU will decide to use Judge too soon, causing him to miss the ledge and self-destruct.
• If a CPU KOs a player, while the player has invincibility frames after respawning, the CPU will run away from the player and jump onto a platform if there is one nearby, without trying to dodge the player's attacks.
• High-level CPUs will almost always air dodge as soon as possible when launched a moderate distance, which can be easily exploited to get easy followups.
• When players grab the ledge, CPUs will stand still a safe distance from the ledge for some seconds before pursuing the ledge hanging player.
• If a CPU, regardless of level, is hit near the upper blast line while above an elevated platform, they will fall straight down until reaching the ground after knockback is finished, while making no attempt to dodge or counterattack a pursuing player.
• When hit by an electric hitbox, a CPU may randomly DI up or down, more often DIing down, which can result in instances of an attack with an electric hitbox KOing them when the computer player would have survived otherwise.
• While CPUs in Melee could meteor cancel to a moderate degree, CPUs will never meteor cancel in Brawl, sustaining the meteor smash's full knockback before attempting recovery. This results in meteor smashes KOing computer players at much lower percentages than they KO human players.
• If a player gets too close to a CPU while still under the invincibility granted by respawning, the CPU will constantly roll towards the nearest edge, even when jumping or sidestepping is a better option. This is very predictable and often punishable.
• If the player and a CPU with a chargeable projectile are on opposite sides of a stage, the CPU will often start charging and firing the attack, regardless of whether the player can absorb or reflect it.
• CPU Bowser and Charizard will never hold Fire Breath and Flamethrower respectively beyond their initial length. Additionally, they will normally attempt to B-reverse these moves after a jump, leaving themselves vulnerable to any attacks.
• When Snake uses his down throw near an edge on a CPU, the CPU will always roll toward the nearest edge the instant they can make a move. This allows him to infinite them or get an easy KO with an up tilt. When done in a soft platform without grabbable edges, they will instead always use a floor recovery attack.
• If a CPU Snake plants a C4 sticky on an opponent, he will always move a small distance away and use Cypher, then detonate the C4 after. This makes them extremely vulnerable, predictable, and punishable. If attacked out of the Cypher, they will simply run away a short distance and then detonate the C4.
• When Ganondorf uses Flame Choke on a CPU, they will never act the soonest they can.
• A low level Fox, Falco or Wolf will mostly self-destruct when using Landmaster, especially if the target is hanging on a ledge. A high level CPU will stay in place and repeatedly perform barrel rolls against opponents grabbing the ledge. Also, regardless of the level, they won't attempt to Star KO enemies above them by rising, only doing it accidentally when rising on small stages like Flat Zone 2.
• If a CPU Kirby is trying to get back to the stage while above ground level, he will nearly always repeatedly double jump and use forward aerials until he gets back to the stage.
• While this is very unlikely, a CPU Jigglypuff who has used all of its jumps and is directly below an edge, will keep spamming Pound and moving backwards until it reaches the lower blast line.
• When a CPU Luigi uses Negative Zone, he will almost always spam Fireball, even when set to level nine.
  • Similarly, a CPU Pit using Palutena's Army will spam Palutena's Arrow.
• CPU Sonics, Yoshis, or Diddy Kongs using Super Sonic, Super Dragon, or Rocketbarrel Barrage, respectively, have the tendency to behave rather eccentrically:
  • They will mostly avoid pursuing players who are hanging onto ledges or in hard to reach areas.
  • They may get stuck against a wall while chasing human players, and stay there until the effect ends unless the player(s) they are pursuing jumps or moves to another area. (Occasionally, they will manage to get off of the wall on their own and continue chase).
  • They may stand still if the player is not within easy reach. Whenever they do this, they will only move if the player does.
• When trying to approach an offscreen item, a CPU will slowly walk against it instead of just picking it up.
• CPUs with a Gooey Bomb or C4 stuck on them will repeatedly shield and dodge until it falls off or explodes.
• Despite their better recognition of items, CPUs still experiment several flaws when using the Hammer, as in Melee. They still tend to accidentally fall offstage when trying to attack a foe near a ledge and, when on an elevated platform, jump continuously in place even if the obstacle can be jumped over. This is however less common with the Golden Hammer. CPUs also still chase foes when using a Headless Hammer or Golden Squeaky Hammer.
• CPUs exhibit several problems when using a Cracker Launcher. They will usually not turn around while holding the item, and they will not drop the item if it still has ammo. Additionally, if their targeted player is not directly in front of them, they will usually fire the weapon off at a slow, constant rate without changing their trajectory, and step back between each shot.
• CPUs holding a Team Healer will always throw it towards their enemies and never towards their own teammates.
• CPUs will never intentionally pick up Bob-ombs.
• CPUs will throw Deku Nuts at opponents regardless of distance, even if the opponent is close enough they will get stunned themselves. The same applies to Smart Bombs, where they will often throw them too close and get caught in the explosion.
• When a player is crouching behind an Unira, a CPU will always try to walk into it before attacking, resulting in them taking damage. They often do this repeatedly until the Unira disappears.
• When CPUs pick up an capsule they almost always throw it up into the air.
• CPUs will still attack next to an explosive item and can make it explode.
• On Sample S: Hole a level 9 CPU Fox or Wolf will self-destruct if Player 1 does not move.
• On Sample L: Maze an CPU will usually self-destruct on the lower right area.
• In the underground version of Mushroomy Kingdom, CPUs will repeatedly attack the blocks, usually ignoring the player even if items aren't on.
• On Delfino Plaza, when the main platform reappears and starts to rise, CPUs will usually stay on the old stage, which leads to them being lowered towards the lower blast line to their deaths.
• CPUs have a difficult time getting out of the underground part of Temple when opposing players are on the upper part. This is especially noticeable with CPU Wolf.
• CPUs will never swim on Pirate Ship or Delfino Plaza.
• CPU Ice Climbers and Ike will often buffer their down aerials near a ledge, which often leads to them self-destructing.
• If a CPU Jigglypuff fails to grab a ledge during their recovery, they have a tendency to repeatedly spam Pound until they pass the blast-lines.

Rumors

Many rumors have circulated about the AI of Brawl. One rumor claims that level 9 CPUs read button commands the player inputs, thereby allowing them to perfect shield and air dodge more often. This sparked general dislike among the community, many of whom labelled the idea as "cheating". There has been no evidence however that the AI reads the player's inputs, and "evidence" presented for it has just shown that the AI has 1 frame reactions.

Another rumor claims that there is a system in Brawl that enables AI players to "learn" from human players. All is Brawl blogger Churro Emiliano documented much of this widely for the first time in a blog post made at the end of 2008. Aside from some advanced techniques (such as dash dancing and DACUSing) and play-styles, the AI have also been reported to "learn" to taunt a KO by crouch-spamming, and to overuse Falcon Punches after humans play several Falcon Punch free-for-alls. This rumour is demonstrably false for several reasons:

• The AI code has been disassembled and examined during hacking (such as when KingClubber made changes to the AI for Project M) and no evidence of any learning mechanisms have been found.
  • Disassembling a Brawl save file also reveals that no AI traits are retained in the save.
• Despite the existence of videos showing the AI having supposedly learned various techniques or strategies, the AI will never under any circumstances learn to perform many actions (all actions documented in the "specific examples" section above exist in the AI regardless of the save file being played).
• There are save files in existence which have logged several hundred hours of versus matches against CPUs, but they do not have any clear, objectively measurable differences in their AI to other save files.
  • This applies to both differences between fresh save files that will not have had the opportunity for its AI to learn and to save files with AI which, if the rumour was true, have learned from different players and therefore developed a different playstyle.
• If the rumour was true then replays would desynchronise when the AI learned from the player and changed its behaviour after the replay was saved. Replay data does not contain the inputs of the AI; it contains the player inputs, information such as the stage and characters used, and the random seed of the original match. When the replay is played back, the AI determines its actions from scratch in exactly the same way as it did in the original match (the same actions are produced because all variables that would affect the AI's decisions are identical). The replay data has been disassembled to reveal that it does not contain any information about what the AI had learned at the time the match was saved. A learning AI would make different decisions in the replay than it did during the original match, causing the replay to desync, as it would be using its current behaviour (with the adjustments it had made after the original match) and not the behaviour it used in the original match.
• No documented objective tests (for example, only using one move in several matches on a fresh save file and seeing if the AI uses that move significantly more than on a save file which has been used normally) have been performed which have concluded that the learning mechanism exists.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

The AI in the most recent installment of the series appears to be generally more proficient than that of Melee, retaining most of its improvements over that game that were present in Brawl, including waiting to use a Final Smash until they are in close proximity to a human opponent, (Little Mac is also shown to do this when his Power Meter is maxed out), and remaining on their Revival platform until a character using a powerful item or Final Smash finishes the attack. It also seems to be more aware of opposing items; it will tend to stay away from areas where a Snorlax or Hocotate Bomb is about to come down, for example, and will avoid walking directly into Motion-Sensor Bombs or other Pokémon. Currently, it is not fully known how it compares to Brawls AI however.

Specific examples

• Whenever another character (human or CPU) reenters the battle after a KO, CPU Mii Brawlers have a tendency to move to one end of the stage (unless the stage has no pits on the sides), and jump backwards off of the ledge, only to grab the edge and climb back up (especially on Omega stages).
• Like in Brawl, CPUs with a Gooey Bomb or Crash Bomber stuck onto them will repeatedly shield and dodge until it explodes.
• CPU Mii Fighters have a habit of using their jabs near the edge of a stage, in an attempt to edgeguard recovering human players while they're hanging onto a ledge. In the process, they will usually let the jab reach its automatic finisher even if it completely misses (assuming that the player does not climb back onto the stage during the duration of the attack).
• While the CPUs in Smash 4 appear to understand items better than those in both Melee and Brawl, they still exhibit flaws when approaching or using certain ones...
  • CPUs will rarely use the Ore Club correctly; when holding it, they will often stand in place and use its forward tilt repeatedly as if expecting this to produce a projectile, even though a side-smash must be used to do this.
  • CPUs will rarely target characters who are holding/using Special Flags.
  • Like in Brawl, CPUs will actively seek out any powerful items that are on the stage. However, this proves to be a fatal issue on Corneria; in this scenario, a CPU may try to grab an item that falls onto the Great Fox's laser blaster, but will often not be able to make it back onto the ship's deck, forcing them to stay put, (though they will repeatedly jump in place or even jump off the gun entirely only to get back onto it) until they are inevitably blasted off screen.
• CPU Little Macs will not change their tendency to use their neutral special even if their Power Meter is full, resulting in them wasting their KO Uppercut when the player is not in range.