Super Smash Bros. 4
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Stance mirroring

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Revision as of 03:16, August 24, 2021 by 157.242.208.248 (talk) (→‎List of characters with stance mirroring: It's late, too lazy to make the table, but at least the info is here)
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Mario and Greninja's mirrored stances in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

Stance mirroring is a mechanic in which most or all of a character's animations (including attacks) are mirrored if they turn around, mimicking the sprite mirroring of classic fighting games. The purpose of the mechanic is so characters face the screen more often. When mirrored, all hitboxes are also mirrored - for example, when Mario throws a punch when mirrored, the hitbox will appear on the opposite arm than it is normally defined as being attached to.

In general, a character must have a symmetrical body and not wield a weapon in order to be eligible for stance mirroring, though the weapon restriction was relaxed for many characters in Ultimate if they don't wield it at all times (e.g. Villager's various tools). Minor differences such as Pikachu's tail and K. Rool's eye tic can be acceptable, depending on their exact animations and hurtboxes. In general, characters in Ultimate are animated more with stance mirroring in mind compared to SSB4.

Stance mirroring also affects which hand characters use to hold, swing, and throw items. Turning around will cause a held item to simply teleport to the other hand (there is no animation for it). Similarly, if a character is reversed by Mario's Cape or such, they will complete their rotation before they snap into their mirrored pose.

As some characters mirror while others do not, it is possible for interactions to differ based on whether the characters are facing each other left-to-right versus right-to-left. For example, a mirroring character's thin attack may hit a Marth's extended sword arm from one direction, but not the other.

Stance mirroring is not present in games before SSB4, though certain special moves and taunts in Melee and Brawl would choose between two different animations based on facing direction to mimic the effect.

With the exceptions of Marth, Roy, Young Link, Toon Link, Pit, Lucina, Robin, Dark Pit, Chrom, Simon, Richter, and Sephiroth, as well as Link before Ultimate, all characters listed have their bodies face the screen when facing right.


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The editor who added this tag elaborates: needs description of how the mirrored Kirby interacts with copied moves from non-mirrored characters

List of characters with stance mirroring

Character Super Smash Bros. 4 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Banjo & Kazooie — Yes
Bowser Yes Yes
Bowser Jr. Yes Yes
Charizard Yes Yes
Daisy — Yes
Diddy Kong No Yes
Donkey Kong No Yes
Dr. Mario Yes Yes
Duck Hunt Yes Yes
Greninja Yes Yes
Ice Climbers — Yes
Incineroar — Yes
Isabelle — Yes
Ivysaur — Yes
Jigglypuff Yes Yes
King K. Rool — Yes
Ken — Yes
Kirby Yes Yes
Lucas No Yes
Luigi Yes Yes
Mario Yes Yes
Mega Man Yes Yes
Mewtwo Yes Yes
Mii Brawler Yes Yes
Ness No Yes
Pac-Man Yes Yes
Peach No Yes
Pichu — Yes
Pikachu No Yes
Piranha Plant — Yes
R.O.B. Yes Yes
Ridley — Yes
Ryu Yes Yes
Sonic Yes Yes
Squirtle — Yes
Steve — Yes
Terry — Yes
Villager No Yes
Wario Yes Yes
Yoshi No Yes
Zelda No Yes

List of characters without stance mirroring

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