Idle pose

One of Ike's idle poses in Ultimate

Idle poses (sometimes referred to as idle animations, and referred to as Wait_ in Super Smash Bros. Melee's debug menu and in internal Brawl files) are minor, mainly nonconsequential animations that play at random if a character stands still for a length of time.

Idle poses can affect the direction the shield carried by the Links faces (excluding Link in Smash 4), therefore affecting its ability to block projectiles.

List of characters without mirrored stances

Starting in Super Smash Bros. 4, certain fighters will face the screen regardless of which direction they are facing. In Ultimate, the only way to see them facing away from the screen is with a move that flips them around such as Cape. The following characters still keep the distinction of being able to face away from the screen:

• Peach (Smash 4 only)
• Yoshi (Smash 4 only)
• Rosalina & Luma (Smash 4 only for Luma)
• Donkey Kong (Smash 4 only)
• Diddy Kong (Smash 4 only)
• Link
• Zelda (Smash 4 only)
• Sheik
• Young Link
• Ganondorf
• Toon Link
• Samus
• Zero Suit Samus
• Dark Samus
• Meta Knight
• King Dedede
• Fox
• Wolf
• Pikachu (Smash 4 only)
• Lucario
• Captain Falcon
• Ness (Smash 4 only)
• Lucas (Smash 4 only)
• Marth
• Roy
• Ike
• Lucina
• Robin
• Corrin
• Chrom
• Byleth
• Mr. Game & Watch
• Pit
• Palutena
• Dark Pit
• Olimar (Smash 4 only for Pikmin)
• Villager (Smash 4 only)
• Little Mac
• Shulk
• Inkling
• Snake
• Simon
• Richter
• Bayonetta
• Joker
• Hero
• Mii Swordfighter
• Mii Gunner

With the exceptions of Marth, Roy, Lucina, Robin, Chrom, Toon Link, and Young Link, as well as Link before Ultimate, all characters listed face the screen when facing right.

Trivia

• Bowser, Zero Suit Samus, Mega Man, Bowser Jr., Ridley, Incineroar, Joker, and Banjo & Kazooie are the only characters to make any sort of sound in their idle animations.
• Master Hand also has an idle pose, but it is never seen in normal gameplay because the AI never allows enough time between his attacks. The idle pose can, however, be seen using the Master Hand glitch in Melee; for his idle pose, he simply clenches his fist.
  • In SSB4 however, there is a chance that Master Hand will stay still for a while while Crazy Hand attacks solo, resulting in him doing the idle pose.
• Byleth and Jigglypuff are the only fighters who only have one distinct idle animation that can play in a match, though it should be noted that the idle animation is different between Byleth's male and female variants.
• Some characters have an animation that actually is part of their regular standing animation, but are often mistaken for idle poses. Unlike idle poses, they play at regular intervals instead of randomly (and they can be seen in the character customization screen on both 3DS and Wii U versions, or by holding a item, where idle poses never play). Some examples include Jigglypuff, Daisy, Sheik, Little Mac, Meta Knight, and Roy.
• In Super Smash Bros. 4, Yoshi, Link, and Sheik will revert to their Super Smash Bros. Brawl idle animations if they hold a small item, like a Capsule.
  • A similar thing happens to Dr. Mario, Lucas, and Roy when they hold a small item. All three of them would instead perform Mario's, Ness's, and Marth's idle animations respectively.
  • The same thing happens in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In that game, Fox, Luigi, Jigglypuff, Falco, Pit, Diddy Kong, and Wolf revert to their Brawl idle animations if they hold a small item, Mewtwo and Dark Pit revert to their Super Smash Bros. 4 idle animations (which in Dark Pit's case is the same as Pit's), and Daisy will perform Peach's idle animation when holding a small item.
    • Marth, Lucina, Roy, and Chrom all use Marth's Brawl idle animation.
    • Lucas will still revert to Ness's Brawl idle animation despite Ness not doing so.
    • Yoshi, Link, and Dr. Mario use their correct idle animations unlike in Super Smash Bros. 4. Sheik however, still reverts to her Brawl idle animation.
    • Simon and Richter will perform the same alternative idle animation that neither normally possess.
    • Inkling Boy and female Byleth do not perform their altered idle animations when carrying an item.
• Peach and Zelda (Melee-SSB4) are the only characters to have more than two idle poses.
  • Peach is also the only one with four of them.
  • Zelda is the only character to have lost an idle pose between two installments of the franchise.
• Pokémon Trainer has different idle poses depending on if the Pokémon Trainer is male or female, but each Pokémon Trainer only has two idle poses each.
• While Bayonetta has two idle poses, only one of them appears under normal circumstances.
• In Melee, Mewtwo can still perform any of its idle poses when holding an item.
• In Super Smash Bros. 4 and Ultimate, there is a chance that a character will instantly perform one of their idle poses once they climb on top of a ladder.
• Mii Gunner (in Smash 4), Sheik (in Smash 4 and Ultimate), Chrom, and Dark Samus all have an idle pose that's solely used to transition into their idle animation.
  • In Dark Samus's case, she only uses the idle pose for animations that are directly copied from Samus. It will not play when holding a small item.
  • In Chrom's case, the idle pose will not play when he's holding a small item.
• In Ultimate, a few characters contain small alterations in their idle animations while holding an item:
  • Bowser's lower jaw clips through his mouth.
  • Toon Link reuses his facial expressions from Smash 4.
  • Mega Man does not look forward.

References

Every idle pose in Smash 4