Helpless

Mario's helpless animation in Super Smash Bros.

Helpless (also known as free fall and various other names, and called "fallspecial" in game data) is a state in which characters are unable to take any action, with the exception of grabbing a ledge, maneuvering left/right, fastfalling, or climbing a ladder, until they land on the ground. Helplessness is typically associated with just having used one's triple jump, although it also occurs after using certain other special moves (usually ones which help recovery). Many special moves involving controllable projectiles (such as Ness's PK Flash and Zelda's Din's Fire) cause helplessness as well.

Helplessness most commonly ends upon landing on the ground, although it also ends if characters flinch, allowing them to attack or re-use their triple jump. A helpless character is denoted by both a flickering black overlay and a distinct falling animation.

A state similar to helplessness exists in falling after having one's shield broken and then being stunned.

Curiously, the helpless state gives characters an extra ability in Super Smash Bros.: the ability to fall through soft platforms without landing on them. Starting in Melee, this can be done at any time (not just when a character is helpless).

Moves that invoke helplessness

Character	Move	Type	Notes
All	Air dodge		Melee only.
Pichu	Agility	Up Special
Shulk	Air Slash	Up Special
Villager	Balloon Trip	Up Special	Can happen sooner if balloons are popped by opponents. Based on defeated animation of Balloon Fighter.
Ice Climbers	Belay	Up Special
Roy	Blazer	Up Special
Zero Suit Samus	Boost Kick	Up Special
Sheik	Burst Grenade	Side Special
Cloud	Climhazzard	Up Special	If the follow-up attack is executed, Cloud will fall rapidly until he hits either solid ground, grabs the edge of a stage, or bypasses the lower blastline. However, in tall stages (such as a custom stage or Smash Run), Cloud will enter helplessness during this falling attack, after one full second.
Wario	Corkscrew	Up Special
Ganondorf	Dark Dive	Up Special	If the move's grab connects with an opponent, Ganondorf does not become helpless and can use the move again.
Meta Knight	Dimensional Cape	Down Special
Zelda	Din's Fire	Side Special
Marth, Lucina	Dolphin Slash	Up Special
Corrin	Draconic Ascent	Up Special
Meta Knight	Drill Rush	Side Special
Duck Hunt	Duck Jump	Up Special
Yoshi	Egg Roll	Side Special	Does not cause helplessness in SSB4.
Olimar	End of Day	Final Smash	Being ejected from the crashing spaceship puts Olimar into a state that is not exactly helplessness (it uses his tumbling animation, lacks the black overlay, and unlike helplessness, prevents his Pikmin from chasing him), but it is essentially the same, as the player can only move to the left and right, and cannot attack or air dodge.
Lucario	ExtremeSpeed	Up Special	If Lucario hits a wall during the move, it will wall cling instead of becoming helpless. However, it cannot use the move again.
Falco	Falco Phantasm	Side Special	Does not cause helplessness in SSB4.
Captain Falcon	Falcon Dive	Up Special	Like Dark Dive, if the move connects with an opponent, Captain Falcon does not become helpless and can use the move again.
Zelda	Farore's Wind	Up Special
Kirby	Final Cutter	Up Special	Normally, the move does not end until Kirby lands on the ground. However, if the platform Kirby has landed on disappears or something causes him to slide off while he is still in the landing animation (such as falling off a conveyor belt), he will become helpless.
Mr. Game & Watch	Fire	Up Special	Only causes helplessness in Melee.
Falco	Fire Bird	Up Special
Fox	Fire Fox	Up Special
Wolf	Fire Wolf	Up Special
Ganondorf	Flame Choke	Side Special	If the move connects with an opponent, Ganondorf does not become helpless, although he (and his victim) will fall until he hits the ground.
Charizard	Fly	Up Special
Fox	Fox Illusion	Side Special	Does not cause helplessness in SSB4.
Ganondorf	Gerudo Dragon	Side Special	Melee only.
Donkey Kong	Giant Punch	Neutral Special	Does not cause helplessness in SSB.
Meta Knight, Charizard, Pit	Gliding		If the user has used all their double jumps, they are put into helplessness once the glide ends (either by stalling or by attacking). Brawl only.
Samus	Grapple Beam	Grab aerial	Melee only.
Mii Brawler	Headache Maker	Side Special
Wii Fit Trainer	Header	Side Special	Only causes helplessness if the user airdodges during the move.
Mii Brawler	Helicopter Kick	Up Special
Link, Young Link	Hookshot	Grab aerial	Melee only.
Greninja	Hydro Pump	Up Special
Little Mac	Jolt Haymaker	Side Special	SSB4 only.
Palutena	Jump Glide	Up Special	Attacking while under the move's effect cancels the glide and triggers helplessness.
Rosalina	Launch Star	Up Special
Villager	Lloid Rocket	Side Special	Villager only enters helplessness if he rides then jumps off of the Lloid Rocket, does not hit an opponent during the ride, or if Lloid is destroyed. Based on defeated animation of Balloon Fighter.
Meta Knight	Mach Tornado	Neutral Special
Robin	Nosferatu	Down Special	Robin only enters helplessness after Nosferatu finishes dealing damage to an opponent in mid-air or over a temporary platform that is no longer active.
Mii Brawler	Onslaught	Side Special
Pac-Man All	Pac-Jump	Up Special	All jumps trigger helplessness for Pac-Man. When the trampoline is red, both Pac-Man or any other character who lands on it will instantaneously enter helplessness.
Peach	Peach Parasol	Up Special	Peach only enters helplessness if she decides to fastfall (which retracts the parasol) after using the move - she can also end the helplessness and resume parachuting by pressing up (re-opening it), the only character able to do so. However, if Peach was under the effects of items that make her shrink or grow while she fastfalls, she will become helpless, as her parasol disappears once she's back to normal. The Parasol item allows any character to do this in Melee.
Captain Olimar	Pikmin Chain	Up Special	Normally, the Pikmin Chain makes Olimar helpless after the move is used in the air. However, if he uses grounded Pikmin Chain and the platform disappears (such as falling off a conveyor belt), or he uses ground Pikmin Chain while the stage is rotating, he will become helpless. Brawl only.
Mii Brawler	Piston Punch	Up Special
Ness	PK Flash	Neutral Special
Lucas, Ness	PK Freeze	Neutral Special	Ness's variant is accessible via SSB4 customs only.
Lucas, Ness	PK Thunder	Up Special
Pit, Dark Pit	Power of Flight	Up Special
Pikachu	Quick Attack	Up Special
Ike	Quick Draw	Side Special	Does not cause helplessness if it hits someone in SSB4.
Captain Falcon	Raptor Boost	Side Special
Little Mac	Rising Uppercut	Up Special
Palutena	Rocket Jump	Up Special
Diddy Kong	Rocketbarrel Boost	Up Special
Diddy Kong	Rocketbarrel Barrage	Final Smash	Does not cause helplessness in SSB4.
Jigglypuff	Rollout	Neutral Special	Only causes helplessness in Melee, as for the latter games Jigglypuff will keep rolling and won't be able to move if it hits while mid-air (making it literally helpless until it lands or takes knockback).
Samus	Screw Attack	Up Special
	Screw Attack (item)	Item	When this item is thrown at opponents (Melee only), they will involuntarily execute a Screw Attack and thus become helpless.
Ryu	Shin Shoryuken	Final Smash	Ryu becomes helpless after he executes the final attack, whether it connects or not.
Meta Knight	Shuttle Loop	Up Special	In Brawl, while the initial execution of the move does not make Meta Knight helpless, he does become helpless if the glide ends. In SSB4, gliding does not exist and Meta Knight is made helpless after the move concludes.
Ryu	Shoryuken	Up Special	The helpless animation starts after Ryu falls below his starting point. Before that, Shoryuken is unique in that it allows none of the usual maneuvering (making Ryu literally helpless).
Link, Young Link, Toon Link	Spin Attack	Up Special	Normally, the Spin Attack makes Link, Young Link, or Toon Link helpless after the move was used it in the air. However, if he stands on the platform while using grounded Spin Attack and the platform disappears (such as falling off a conveyor belt), or he used grounded Spin Attack while the stage is rotating, he will become helpless.
Donkey Kong	Spinning Kong	Up Special
Ice Climbers	Squall Hammer	Side Special
King Dedede	Super Dedede Jump	Up Special	Normally, the move does not end until King Dedede lands on the ground. However, if the platform King Dedede has landed on disappears while he is still in the landing animation (such as falling off a conveyor belt), he hits a ceiling while using the move, or the move is cancelled by the user, he will become helpless.
Wii Fit Trainer	Super Hoop	Up Special
Mario, Luigi, Dr. Mario	Super Jump Punch	Up Special	Their helpless animations are based on the Mario Bros.' death sprite in games such as Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3.
Mewtwo	Teleport	Up Special
Mii Brawler	Ultimate Uppercut	Neutral Special
Sheik	Vanish	Up Special
Ivysaur	Vine Whip	Up Special
Palutena	Warp	Up Special
Squirtle	Waterfall	Up Special
Bowser	Whirling Fortress	Up Special
Captain Olimar	Winged Pikmin	Up Special
Pit	Wings of Icarus	Up Special	Pit can also avoid becoming helpless by using an aerial attack when using this move. Brawl only.
Wolf, Fox	Wolf Flash	Side Special	Fox's variant is accessible via SSB4 customs only, and doesn't cause helplessness for him.

Landfallspecial and "superdashtechnique"

As a unique animation is used for falling while helpless, characters enter a different animation than usual once they land on the ground. This is called "landfallspecial" internally in Melee. Because air dodging enters this state and wavelanding involves air dodging into the ground, when wavedashing is performed Melee's debug menu shows "landfallspecial" as the character state. This originally led some players to believe that the "landfallspecial" designation was specifically designed for wavedashing and that developers intentionally put wavedashing in the game, further fueling the various debates over wavedashing's legitimacy. At one point, the myth morphed to where, instead of just "landfallspecial", there was purportedly another debug mode designation - cited as "superdashtechnique", "superdashattack", or other supposed variants - created solely for the wavedashing animation. All incarnations of this story have been proven false, and should not be themselves taken as evidence that wavedashing was intentionally put or left in Melee.

Gallery

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  Fox's helpless animation in Melee.

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  Fox's helpless animation in Brawl.

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  Fox's helpless animation in Super Smash Bros. 4.

Trivia

• The moves Fire, Robo Burner, Spring Jump, and Cypher do not cause helplessness in Brawl, although they do restrict the user's choice of moves until they land - Mr. Game & Watch and Snake simply cannot use the recovery move again, while Sonic cannot use any special moves and R.O.B. cannot air dodge. Through a programming oversight, this condition prevents them from using their recovery move again if grabbed and released without pummeling before touching the ground (except for R.O.B.).
• If Kirby copies a move that causes helplessness, he will be affected just as the original character would be. These moves are Giant Punch (Melee and onward), Mach Tornado, PK Flash, PK Freeze, and Rollout (only Melee).
• In Brawl, certain characters are unable to naturally become helpless, as they lack any moves that cause it. These characters are Jigglypuff, Sonic, Mr. Game & Watch, Snake, R.O.B., and Zero Suit Samus.
  • In fact, R.O.B. is not programmed to have a helpless state in Brawl, and attempting to see it via hacking causes the game to crash. All other characters have a helpless state, even if they cannot enter it without hacking. In Smash 4, Pac-Jump's red trampoline can put any character in a helpless state, and so all characters, including R.O.B., have one in Smash 4.
• In Brawl, since Jigglypuff's and Mr. Game & Watch's air dodge animations carry over from Melee, pausing just before the animation ends allows the player to see their helpless state.
  • Additionally, whenever Link, Samus, and Toon Link perform a grab aerial, it's possible to see their helpless animations by pausing just before the animations ends.
• Meta Knight is the only character whose entire set of special moves leaves him helpless.
  • Meta Knight is also the only character with two different helpless animations; one with his wings, and one without.
• The unique animation caused by landing while helpless is the cause of the landing lag glitch.