A taunt match or taunt party is a type of match where players choose to Taunt and enjoy the environment rather than particularly fighting. Taunt Party Crashers will occasionally appear, with their main goal being to eliminate all fun from the game. Said players will usually be triple teamed in order to maintain the peace within the Taunt Party Matches.
Overview
Taunt Parties don't always consist of Taunting, they can greatly vary in function; some may crouch as a sign of humility and submission, others may taunt to their heart's content, and then there are others who may sit around, waiting for whatever may be on their minds. Some people can actually manipulate the in-game function to provide rather comical scenes, such as a Snake and Zero Suit romance. another thing that players can do is utilize glitches, hack the game to display hidden stages or force desynchs, lengthen the lag seen on Wi-Fi via using moves such as Transform, though, usually, they will tend to do more simplistic and comical things, such as by constantly backfiring Diddy Kong's Peanut Popgun, constantly breaking their shield, or even completely refraining from performing any actions whatsoever. Costumes can also play a role in taunt matches; Captain Falcon's pink and white attire is particularly infamous in its use with taunt matches, as are Meta Knight's pink and red costume and Shulk's shirtless costume, among others. The stage of Temple is a common pick amongst taunt matches, as its large size allows players to deal with and navigate around arrogant, stubborn players who can't have fun. The deadly stage hazards of New Pork City make that stage a relatively common pick as well.
A sense of cooperation is generally seen in taunt matches, with most of them involving a group of either two or three people on the same console all working together in the match. Cooperative players may use the same character as to synchronize taunts or to otherwise assist in preventing standard, bland matches from occurring. Etiquette is also often displayed by those who start taunt matches; accidental attacks are sometimes followed up with the offending player crouching as a form of apology.
One of the ideas behind a taunt match is to get all players into the spirit of the match; despite this, arrogant players often attempt to "force" the taunt match to end, but the presence of multiple players can make this almost impossible. Players who wish to keep the taunt match going may either constantly run away from the arrogant player via the aid of large stages, crowd in the same area to create a near-impregnable camping tactic, or team up on the arrogant player; in this regard, the use of Mr. Game & Watch is popular with characters such as Samus or Ness, due to his Oil Panic move, though other strategies may involve forcing arrogant players into a Falcon Punch or other moves, or otherwise merely inflicting considerable damage (usually through co-op grab combos, or beachballing) and then getting an easy KO.
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
While taunt matches are theoretically possible in any mode, the anonymity of Basic Brawl allowed for numerous taunt matches to occur in the mode. A lot of controversy has arisen on whether or not Taunt Parties are actually good for the game or not. Taunt Parties have caused some to appreciate and get into the game, and even make new friends, while other players have stopped playing the game altogether for this one reason alone.
In Super Smash Bros. 4
As one of multiple changes done for the game's new online mode, Smash 4 added a system as an attempt to combat players who attempt to enjoy themselves via taunt matches; among the offenses that players can be banned for refraining from fighting, relentlessly targeting a specific player, intentionally self-destructing in a short period of time, performing taunts too often, and "other abuses of the system". However, in the final game, a limit to the number of taunts a player can perform in a single match is instead implemented.
Taunt matches are still a fairly common occurrence, particularly on For Fun. However, as a result of the taunting limit, they are not nearly as ubiquitous as they were in Brawl. More than in Brawl, SSB4 taunt matches see repeated use of moves such as Wario's Wario Waft, his Bike Taunt, Shulk's Back Slash and all of Robin's special moves due to their ability to bypass the taunt limit and their associated soundbites and animations.