Spot dodge

Mario's spotdodge animation in Melee.

A spotdodge (その場回避, on-the-spot dodge), also called a spot dodge or a sidestep, officially known as a sidestep dodge in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and as an on-the-spot dodge in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, named EscapeN by Melee's debug menu, and Brawl and Super Smash Bros. 4's internal character files, is a maneuver that renders the character intangible for a few frames, with the duration varying based on the game and character. Functionally similar to an air dodge, it is performed by pressing down while shielding, and can be employed to evade any and all harm of short duration. It is perhaps most useful in dodging projectiles and items along with quickly counter-attacking foes during the ending lag of their missed attack.

The spotdodge is the shortest and fastest of the three dodges (roll, spotdodge, and air dodge), and the only one where the player effectively remains stationary.

Though the spotdodge animation shows the character leaning into the back or foreground, the intangibile state gained allows the character to dodge all attacks, including those that come from the foreground or background, such as the lava wave in Norfair. The character's leaning position after the intangibility ends can also result in evading attacks due to the three-dimensional nature of hitboxes, most notably King Dedede in Brawl being significantly outside the playing plane for most of his spotdodge's ending lag.

Spotdodge frame list in Melee

Link spotdodging Fox's Blaster in Melee.

Characters	Intangibility Frames	Total Frames	Total Intangibility Frames	Ending Vulnerability Frames	% Vulnerability vs Intangibility
Dr. Mario	2-15	22	14	7	50%
Falco	2-15	22	14	7	50%
Fox	2-15	22	14	7	50%
Kirby	2-15	22	14	7	50%
Link	2-15	22	14	7	50%
Luigi	2-15	22	14	7	50%
Mario	2-15	22	14	7	50%
Pichu	2-15	22	14	7	50%
Pikachu	2-15	22	14	7	50%
Samus	2-15	22	14	7	50%
Sheik	2-15	22	14	7	50%
Yoshi	2-15	22	14	7	50%
Young Link	2-15	22	14	7	50%
Jigglypuff	2-15	27	14	12	85.7%
Ice Climbers	2-18	27	17	9	52.9%
Marth	2-18	27	17	9	52.9%
Ness	2-18	27	17	9	52.9%
Peach	2-18	27	17	9	52.9%
Roy	2-18	27	17	9	52.9%
Mr. Game & Watch	2-12	32	11	20	181.81%
Ganondorf	2-20	32	19	12	63.1%
Captain Falcon	3-20	32	19	12	63.1%
Zelda	3-20	32	19	12	63.1%
Mewtwo	2-21	37	20	16	80%
Donkey Kong	2-23	37	22	14	63.63%
Bowser	4-24	42	21	18	85.7%

Spotdodge frame list in Brawl

Zero Suit Samus spotdodging Snake's Remote Missile in Brawl.

Characters	Intangibility Frames	Total Frames
Falco	2-20	22
Link	2-20	22
Pikachu	2-20	22
Toon Link	2-20	22
Yoshi	2-20	22
Marth	2-20	24
Captain Falcon	2-20	25
Charizard	2-20	25
Diddy Kong	2-20	25
Fox	2-20	25
Ganondorf*	2-20	25
Ice Climbers	2-20	25
Ike	2-20	25
Ivysaur	2-20	25
Kirby	2-20	25
Lucario	2-20	25
Lucas	2-20	25
Luigi	2-20	25
Mario	2-20	25
Meta Knight	2-20	25
Mr. Game & Watch	2-20	25
Ness	2-20	25
Peach	2-20	25
Pit	2-20	25
R.O.B.	2-20	25
Samus	2-20	25
Sheik	2-20	25
Snake	2-20	25
Sonic	2-20	25
Squirtle	2-20	25
Wario	2-20	25
Wolf	2-20	25
Zelda	2-20	25
Zero Suit Samus	2-20	25
Jigglypuff	3-16	25
Olimar	3-20	25
King Dedede**	2-20	27
Donkey Kong	2-23	30
Bowser	3-24	32

* Moves back slightly.

** Moves significantly back on the Z-axis, to where he's intangible to most attacks for all but 1 frame in his spotdodge. Attacks need to have wide hitboxes that reach far into the Z-axis, or hit low enough to hit Dedede's foot that sticks out, to hit him during his vulnerable frames in his spotdodge.

Spotdodge frame list in Smash 4

Villager spotdodging Shulk's forward smash in SSB4.

Prior to version 1.1.0 of Smash 4, all spotdoges had one more frame of intangibility. This list shows the frame data of spotdodges as of the current version of the game.

Characters	Intangibility Frames	Total Frames
Duck Hunt	2-16	24
Fox	2-15	24
Little Mac	2-15	24
Meta Knight	2-15	24
Pikachu	2-15	24
Sheik	2-15	24
Sonic	2-15	24
Toon Link	2-15	24
Zero Suit Samus	2-15	24
Mewtwo	2-14	24
Dark Pit	2-16	25
Diddy Kong	2-16	25
Falco	2-16	25
Greninja	2-16	25
Mr. Game & Watch	2-16	25
Pit	2-16	25
Wii Fit Trainer	2-16	25
Dr. Mario	2-17	26
Kirby	2-17	26
Lucina	2-17	26
Luigi	2-17	26
Mario	2-17	26
Marth	3-17	26
Mii Brawler	2-17	26
Mii Gunner	2-17	26
Olimar	2-17	26
Pac-Man	2-17	26
R.O.B.	2-17	26
Rosalina	2-17	26
Roy	2-17	26
Samus	2-17	26
Wario	3-17	26
Lucario	2-15	26
Corrin	3-17	26
Bowser Jr.	3-18	27
Captain Falcon	3-18	27
Charizard	3-18	27
Cloud	3-18	27
Ike	3-18	27
Link	3-18	27
Lucas	3-18	27
Mega Man	3-18	27
Mii Swordfighter	3-18	27
Ness	3-18	27
Palutena	3-18	27
Peach	3-18	27
Robin	3-18	27
Shulk	3-18	27
Villager	3-18	27
Yoshi	3-18	27
Zelda	3-18	27
Ryu	3-17	27
Bowser	4-19	28
Donkey Kong	4-19	28
Ganondorf	4-19	28
Jigglypuff	4-19	28
King Dedede	4-19	28
Bayonetta*	5-19	29

*Bat Within activates on frames 1-4

Spotdodge frame list in Ultimate

In Ultimate, the startup of all spotdodges has been standardized, so every character gains intangibility starting on frame 3 (with the exception of Bayonetta, who can instead activate Bat Within starting on frame 2). Additionally, a staleness mechanic has been introduced for spotdodges, which reduces their intangibility frames and lengthens their duration if they are performed repeatedly, gradually leaving the user more vulnerable. This mechanic is shared with rolls and air dodges.

The formula to determine a spotdodge's duration before it can be interrupted is D * (1 + P), where D is the total duration of the spotdodge when fresh, and P is a penalty value that increases by 0.06 for every spotdodge, capping at 0.3. As a result, five consecutive uses of spotdodges will fully stale them. The penalty is reset per each spotdodge used every time the player spends roughly one second without using any kind of dodge. When fully stale, all spotdodges grant intangibility three frames later, making them worse for dodging attacks quickly.

Characters	Intangibility frames		Total frames
	Fresh	Fully stale	Fresh	Fully stale
Fox	3-14	6-15	23	29
Little Mac	3-14	6-15	23	29
Sheik	3-14	6-15	23	29
Zero Suit Samus	3-14	6-15	23	29
Diddy Kong	3-16	6-16	24	31
Greninja	3-16	6-16	24	31
Meta Knight	3-16	6-16	24	31
Pichu	3-16	6-16	24	31
Pikachu	3-16	6-16	24	31
Sonic	3-16	6-16	24	31
Squirtle	3-16	6-16	24	31
Toon Link	3-16	6-16	24	31
Young Link	3-16	6-16	24	31
Bowser Jr.	3-17	6-17	25	32
Chrom	3-17	6-17	25	32
Cloud	3-17	6-17	25	32
Corrin	3-17	6-17	25	32
Dark Pit	3-17	6-17	25	32
Dr. Mario	3-17	6-17	25	32
Duck Hunt	3-17	6-17	25	32
Falco	3-17	6-17	25	32
Ice Climbers	3-17	6-17	25	32
Inkling	3-17	6-17	25	32
Isabelle	3-17	6-17	25	32
Lucario	3-17	6-17	25	32
Lucas	3-17	6-17	25	32
Lucina	3-17	6-17	25	32
Luigi	3-17	6-17	25	32
Mario	3-17	6-17	25	32
Marth	3-17	6-17	25	32
Mega Man	3-17	6-17	25	32
Mewtwo	3-17	6-17	25	32
Mii Brawler	3-17	6-17	25	32
Mii Gunner	3-17	6-17	25	32
Mii Swordfighter	3-17	6-17	25	32
Ness	3-17	6-17	25	32
Olimar	3-17	6-17	25	32
Pac-Man	3-17	6-17	25	32
Palutena	3-17	6-17	25	32
Pit	3-17	6-17	25	32
R.O.B.	3-17	6-17	25	32
Roy	3-17	6-17	25	32
Shulk	3-17	6-17	25	32
Villager	3-17	6-17	25	32
Wii Fit Trainer	3-17	6-17	25	32
Wolf	3-17	6-17	25	32
Bayonetta*	6-17	9-18	25	32
Captain Falcon	3-17	6-17	26	33
Daisy	3-17	6-17	26	33
Dark Samus	3-17	6-17	26	33
Donkey Kong	3-17	6-17	26	33
Ike	3-17	6-17	26	33
Incineroar	3-17	6-17	26	33
Ivysaur	3-17	6-17	26	33
Jigglypuff	3-17	6-17	26	33
Ken	3-17	6-17	26	33
Kirby	3-17	6-17	26	33
Link	3-17	6-17	26	33
Mr. Game & Watch	3-17	6-17	26	33
Peach	3-17	6-17	26	33
Richter	3-17	6-17	26	33
Robin	3-17	6-17	26	33
Rosalina	3-17	6-17	26	33
Ryu	3-17	6-17	26	33
Samus	3-17	6-17	26	33
Simon	3-17	6-17	26	33
Snake	3-17	6-17	26	33
Wario	3-17	6-17	26	33
Yoshi	3-17	6-17	26	33
Zelda	3-17	6-17	26	33
Bowser	3-18	6-18	28	36
Charizard	3-18	6-18	28	36
Ganondorf	3-18	6-18	28	36
King Dedede	3-18	6-18	28	36
King K. Rool	3-18	6-18	28	36
Ridley	3-18	6-18	28	36

*Bat Within activates on frames 2-5