Helpless
Helpless (known as various other names, called "fallspecial" in game data) is a state in which characters are unable to take any action except grabbing a edge or climbing a ladder until they land on the ground. Helplessness is typically associated with just having used one's triple jump, although it also occurs after using certain other special moves (usually ones which help recovery). Helpless characters can move sideways and fastfall but are otherwise defenseless.
Helplessness usually ends upon landing on the ground, although it also ends if the character flinches, allowing them to attack or re-use their triple jump. A helpless character is denoted by both a black overlay and a distinct falling animation.
A state similar to helplessness exists in the form of falling after having one's shield broken.
Landfallspecial and superdashtechnique
As a unique animation is used for falling while helpless, characters enter a different animation than usual once they land on the ground. This is called "landfallspecial" in Melee. Because airdodging enters this state, and wavedashing involves airdodging into the ground, when wavedashing was tried in debug mode, "landfallspecial" appeared for the character state. This led some players to believe that the "landfallspecial" designation was specifically designed for wavedashing and that developers put wavedashing in the game intentionally, further fueling the various debates over wavedashing's legitimacy. At one point, the myth morphed to where, instead of just "landfallspecial", there was purportedly another debug mode designation, cited as "superdashtechnique", "superdashattack", or other variants, created solely for the wavedashing animation. All incarnations of this story have been proven false and should not be taken as evidence that wavedashing was intentionally put or left in SSBM.
Moves that invoke helplessness
| Move | Notes |
|---|---|
| Air dodge | Melee only. |
| Aether | Normally, the move does not end until Ike lands on the ground. However, if the platform Ike has landed on disappears while he is still in the landing animation (such as falling off a conveyor belt), he will become helpless. |
| Agility | |
| Belay | |
| Blazer | |
| Corkscrew | |
| Dark Dive | If the move's grab connects with an opponent, Ganondorf does not become helpless and can use the move again. |
| Dimensional Cape | |
| Din's Fire | |
| Dolphin Slash | |
| Drill Rush | |
| Egg Roll | |
| End of Day | Being ejected from the crashing spaceship puts Olimar into a state that is not exactly helplessness (it uses his tumbling animation, lacks the black overlay, and unlike helpnessness prevents his Pikmin from chasing him), but it is essentially the same. |
| ExtremeSpeed | If Lucario hits a wall during the move, it will wall cling instead of becoming helpless. |
| Falco Phantasm | |
| Falcon Dive | Like Dark Dive, if the move connects with an opponent, Captain Falcon does not become helpless and can use the move again. |
| Farore's Wind | |
| Final Cutter | Normally, the move does not end until Kirby lands on the ground. However, if the platform Kirby has landed on disappears while he is still in the landing animation (such as falling off a conveyor belt), he will become helpless. |
| Fire Bird | |
| Fire Fox | |
| Fire Wolf | |
| Flame Choke | If the move connects with an opponent, Ganondorf does not become helpless, although he (and his victim) will fall until he hits the ground. |
| Fly | |
| Fox Illusion | |
| Gerudo Dragon | |
| Giant Punch | Does not cause helplessness in SSB. |
| Gliding | If the user has used all their double jumps, they are put into helpless once the glide ends (either by stalling or by attacking). |
| Mach Tornado | |
| Parasol | Peach only enters helplessness if she decides to fastfall after using the move - she can also end the helplessness and resume parachuting by pressing up, the only character able to do so. The Parasol item allows any character to do this in Melee. |
| Pikmin Chain | |
| PK Flash | |
| PK Freeze | |
| PK Thunder | |
| Quick Attack | |
| Quick Draw | |
| Raptor Boost | |
| Rocketbarrel Boost | |
| Rocketbarrel Barrage | |
| Rollout | Does not cause helplessness in Brawl. |
| Screw Attack | |
| Screw Attack (item) | When this item is thrown at opponents (Melee only), they execute a Screw Attack and become helpless. |
| Shuttle Loop | While the initial execution of the move does not make Meta Knight helpless, he does become helpless if the glide ends. |
| Spin Attack | |
| Spinning Kong | |
| Squall Hammer | |
| Super Jump Punch | |
| Teleport | |
| Vanish | |
| Vine Whip | |
| Waterfall | |
| Whirling Fortress | |
| Wings of Icarus | |
| Wolf Flash |
Helpless air speeds (Brawl)
Note, this is helpless air speed over weight/falling speed. Speeds are recorded by how many fractions of blocks are moved over in an alotted space, the higher the number the better the distance
| Rank | Character | Speed |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yoshi | 19 |
| 2 | Wario | 17 |
| 3 | Zelda | 16 |
| 4 | Lucario | 15 |
| 4 | Ness | 15 |
| 4 | Bowser | 15 |
| 4 | Toon Link | 15 |
| 4 | Lucas | 15 |
| 9 | Donkey Kong | 14 |
| 9 | Kirby | 14 |
| 11 | Pit | 13 |
| 11 | Olimar | 13 |
| 11 | Ice Climber | 13 |
| 11 | Samus | 13 |
| 15 | Ike | 12 |
| 15 | Ivysaur | 12 |
| 17 | Diddy Kong | 11 |
| 17 | Meta Knight | 11 |
| 17 | Squirtle | 11 |
| 17 | Peach | 11 |
| 21 | Mario | 10 |
| 21 | Link | 10 |
| 21 | Luigi | 10 |
| 21 | Sheik | 10 |
| 25 | Fox | 9 |
| 25 | Charizard | 9 |
| 25 | Ganondorf | 9 |
| 25 | Captain Falcon | 9 |
| 29 | Pikachu | 7 |
| 29 | Marth | 7 |
| 29 | King Dedede | 7 |
| 32 | Wolf | 6 |
| 33 | Falco | 5 |
Notes/Trivia
- The moves Fire, Robo Burner, Spring Jump, and Cypher do not cause helplessness in Brawl, although they do restrict the user's choice of moves until they land - Mr. Game & Watch and Snake simply cannot use the recovery move again, while Sonic cannot use any special moves and R.O.B. cannot air dodge. Through a programming oversight, this prevents them from using their recovery move again if grabbed and released without pummeling before touching the ground (except for R.O.B.).
- If Kirby copies a move that causes helplessness, he will be affected just as the original character would be.
- In Brawl, certain characters are unable to naturally become helpless, as they lack any moves that cause it. These characters are Jigglypuff, Sonic, Mr. Game & Watch, Snake, R.O.B., and Zero Suit Samus.
- In fact, R.O.B. is not programmed to have a helpless state, and attempting to see it via hacking causes the game to crash. All other characters have a helpless state, even if they cannot normally enter it. This is curious from a developer's point of view as there is no apparent reason to do this.
- Since Jigglypuff's and Mr. Game & Watch's air dodge animations carry over from Melee, pausing just before the animation ends allows the player to see their Melee helpless state.
- Characters can still Space Jump while helpless.
- The unique animation caused by landing while helpless is the cause of the landing lag glitch.
- Meta Knight is very vulnerable to helplessness since all of his special moves invoke it if used in midair.
