Drop cancel
Drop canceling, also known as platform canceling, is essentially the fastest way to use an aerial attack, leaving only one frame before the aerial attack's hitbox appears. In comparison, DJCFFL has 5 or 6 frames (the jumping animation) before the attack initiates.
The concept
While dropping down from a platform - one frame after the initial crouch animation - characters are considered to be in the air. Because of this, they are obviously allowed to use aerial attacks. Drop canceling takes its name from the fact that using an aerial attack during that one frame causes the character to re-land on the platform, thus canceling the drop.
In Smash 64, it's important to note that it is far simpler to drop cancel an aerial attack that shifts the character's body upwards (like Falco's back aerial or Captain Falcon's up aerial). Conversely, it is harder (and possibly impossible) to drop cancel aerial attacks that generally shift the character downwards (like Marth's down aerial).
In Melee, there are many deciding factors to whether an attack can be drop/platform cancelled. How strong the attack is, and thus how much hitlag it has, how fast the aerial's hitbox comes out, the ECB pattern of the aerial and the character's fall speed all affect an aerial's ability to drop/platform cancel.
How to perform
- Drop through a platform that the character is standing on.
- Exactly one frame afterwards, use any aerial attack and L-cancel.
- If done correctly, an aerial interrupt will occur, and one will be in the landing animation of the aerial attack on the platform that was dropped from.
Applicable attacks in Melee
Unless noted, attacks have a one frame window. These apply to stationary platforms; for downward moving platforms, the window sizes may vary, and more attacks may be possible.
- Link – nair (two frame window), uair
- Luigi – nair (two frame window), bair
- Mario – nair
- Marth – fair
- Samus – nair
- Yoshi – uair
- Sheik – nair
- Falco – bair
- Young Link – nair
Pseudo Platform Cancel
When sliding off a platform you start falling with lower velocity than when dropping through a platform. This allows you to cancel many more aerials than a regular platform cancel, because you effectively have more airtime. Here are 2 examples of this phenomenon.
In these examples marth/falcon use aerial's which cannot normally be platform cancelled. They are hit in shield, and shield DI towards the edge, which push them off the platform, then the knockback pushes them back on the platform.
These still require hitlag though, as hitlag allows the ECB to update (and thus become above the platform). Samus however has such low fall speed, that she can throw out a nair, have her ECB update, and be above the platform, without any use of hitlag.
Application
When used with aerial attacks that have little lag, a drop-canceled aerial attack can lead into lethal combos due to the incredibly small amount of lag. In comparison to the SHFFL, the character's jump animation and falling animation are both eliminated, removing somewhere from 20-30 frames from an aerial attack. However, drop canceling could easily be considered the most difficult to use advanced technique in the game, requiring frame-perfect technical skill to be used consistently and effectively.
It is also possible to do this in Smash 64, as demonstrated through TAS style combos by Jpheal, and it is similarly incredibly difficult. However, it is only possible on rising platforms/diagonal platforms.
Advantages
- Erases the jumping and falling animations, replacing them with a one-frame crouching animation.
- Slow-starting aerial attack are auto-canceled, creating a mindgame option.
- The speed of the technique allows for extremely fast combos, especially shield break combos.
Disadvantages
- Requires a platform which can be passed through.
- Only quick aerial attack will actually hit; all others are canceled.
Aerial interrupt
Similar to drop cancelling is the aerial interrupt: a technique in Melee that causes a character to land on a platform earlier by doing an aerial attack at a certain frame. The reason it works is that the character's environment collision box (ECB) is shifted downwards due to the attack's animation, making it connect with a platform and triggering the landing animation. It can be used to preserve enough ledge intangibility so that a grounded attack can be carried out whilst being still intangible. It's use can replace the need to air-dodging onto a platform, since the aerial interrupt is the fastest possible way to get onto a platform from under it.
