Buried is a state that characters enter under various circumstances, including being hit by Donkey Kong's Headbutt move and being affected by a Pitfall. In this state, controls are disabled until it wears off (this point being where the once buried character will get some invincibility frames). Like other status effects, button mashing reduces its duration.
Characters can only be buried if already standing on the ground; moves that bury will usually Meteor Smash airborne opponents. Burying someone is a great way to set up a smash attack or other powerful move.
In SSBM, a buried character cannot be "unburied" by getting hit; they will remain stuck in the ground until the effect wears off. However, in SSBB, a character that takes a hard enough hit will be relieved of the bury effect and sent flying.
Causes of Burying
- Donkey Kong's Headbutt - When Donkey Kong uses its Forward B attack on a grounded opponent, they will be stuck in the ground for a brief moment.
- Giga Bowser's dash attack and down tilt - These moves can sometimes slam foes into the earth. Down throw can bury other opponents close by.
- Pitfall - This item will cause characters to become buried if it is thrown. However, it does not bury characters standing on soft platforms - they will get sent down right through the platform.
- Togepi's Earthquake - One of the moves that Togepi can use with its Metronome move is Earthquake. When it's used, all other ground characters in the radius of Earthquake will be buried, while this move does not Meteor Smash aerial opponents.
- Metagross's Meteor Mash - It slams a claw in the ground. Any opponent caught in the shock wave is buried in the ground and takes heavy damage.
- Waluigi's stomping - When Waluigi appears on the field as an Assist Trophy, he will target one character and stomp them into the ground, resulting in a buried state. The player remains in this state as Waluigi continues to stomp, and is released when Waluigi delivers a finishing blow.
- Olimar's End of Day: When Olimar enters his ship at the beginning of the attack, any grounded enemies touching the ship will be buried.
- Beast Ganon: When Ganondorf first transforms, characters touching him will be buried.
- Ticken's crush attack.
- Being crushed by the foot in the "Sole Survivor" microgame on the WarioWare, Inc. stage.
- Some of Crazy Hand's attacks can bury characters; specifically when he slaps or punches the ground.