Fall Break

Fall Break is an attribute present in certain special moves that makes a character cancel fall momentum to stop in midair or even cause them to bounce upward. All of these special moves can be used multiple times in the air, but have this effect only once even if hit afterward (with a few exceptions). This is refreshed when landing on the ground. Most often these are used as mix up tools for recovering, approaching, landing, etc.

Special moves with Fall Breaks include:

• All Counters
• All Tether Recoveries (excluding Z-airs and aerials)
• Mario's side special
• Samus's down special
• Yoshi's up special
• Fox's down special
• Ness's neutral special and down special
• Zelda's neutral special and side special
• Dr. Mario's side special
• Mewtwo's side special and down special
• Mr. Game & Watch's down special
• Lucas's neutral special, and down special
• Wolf's down special
• Pac-Man's down special
• Ryu's down special
• Cloud's neutral special and side special
• Bayonetta's neutral special
• Simon's side special
• Incineroar's neutral special
• Piranha Plant's neutral special, side special and down special
• Joker's neutral special
• Hero's neutral special and side special
• Banjo & Kazooie's down special
• Terry's neutral special
• Byleth's side special

Notable Fall Breaks

• Samus and Dark Samus' Bomb Drop triggers a bounce when imputed that can be used multiple times in midair, and can make them bounce a second time if they're within the explosion's range.
• Yoshi's Egg Throw grants a considerable hop when used for the first time in midair as a benefit for not having a 'true' recovery move.
• Pac-Man's Hydrant causes a Fall Break when dropped and will fail if a hydrant is already out, but can be used again when the hydrant despawns.
• Byleth's Areadbhar's Fall Break can be used an infinite amount of times akin to Samus' Bomb Drop.

The following do not qualify as Fall Breaks:

• All Special Moves that travel in a set trajectory such as Sheik down special and Bayonetta side special and up special.
• All Special Moves that lead to free fall.
• Some Special Moves cancel some or all momentum, such as Ness up special, Meta Knight neutral special and Wii Fit Trainer side special, but are moves that:
  • Makes the stall serve a purpose in the animation.
  • Are meant to lead into another action.
  • Themselves can only be used once until landing.
  • Cause free fall.

Trivia

• Lucario's down air is the only aerial attack that has a Fall Break.
• In Melee, the first hit of Marth’s Dancing Blade is a crucial recovering tool, as it causes a fall break that stalls to improve his horizontal distance.
• In Brawl, Fox’s Reflector had no limit to how many times the move would cancel falling, making it notorious for its uses in landing and stalling.