Taunt match
A taunt match or taunt party is a type of match where players refuse to take the actual battle seriously; instead, they focus on behavior that is aggravating or otherwise irritating to players who are interested in actually fighting. Taunt matches can be seen as a form of griefing, owing to the fact that players who start taunt matches often team up on players who attempt to take the match seriously. Online taunt matches are generally frowned upon in the Smash community, due to the fact that they disrupt serious matchmaking and cannot be exited without penalty.
Overview
Exact behavior in taunt matches vary from match to match, but the overall concept remains the same. Contrary to their name, taunt matches do not have to specifically feature excessive or non-stop taunting from players; moves that produce repetitive, loud noises can also be done by players, such as Ganondorf's up-smash, Kirby's crouch animation, Charizard's Rock Smash, or Shulk's Back Slash. As other forms of griefing, players can also abuse glitches, hack the game to display unusual stages or force desynchs, exacerbate the lag seen on Wi-Fi via abusing moves such as Transform, or otherwise act uselessly, such as by constantly backfiring Diddy Kong's Peanut Popgun, constantly breaking their shield, moving back and forth (via crawling, walking or dashing), edge running or even completely refraining from performing any actions whatsoever. Costumes can also play a role in taunt matches, with players often choosing "flashy" and "flamboyant" costumes such as pink palette swaps (most infamously with Captain Falcon) and Shulk's shirtless costume. In Brawl, the stage of Temple is a common pick amongst taunt matches, as its large size allows players to easily avoid serious players, though 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 all working together in the match. Very cooperative players may use the same character as to synchronize taunts or to otherwise assist in preventing serious 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.
An idea behind a taunt match is to get all players into the spirit of the match; despite this, serious 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 serious player via the aid of large stages, crowd in the same area to create a near-impregnable camping tactic, or team up on the serious 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 serious players into a Falcon Punch or other moves, or otherwise merely inflicting considerable damage 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. In addition to numerous other perceived flaws with the mode, the inability to otherwise avoid taunt matches via a reporting system or similar method caused Basic Brawl to garner considerable criticism from players.
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 taunt matches or otherwise grief; among the offenses that players can be temporarily banned for include refraining from fighting, relentlessly targeting a specific player, intentionally self-destructing in a short period of time, and "other abuses of the system". Additionally, there is a limit to how often players can taunt during a match in With Anyone mode.
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. As such, SSB4 taunt matches have not reached the same level of notoriety as they did in Brawl, especially because they can be largely avoided on For Glory (although For Glory taunt matches are not unheard of).
Characters with repetitive and/or aggravating attack animations and sounds are frequently used, as their attacks can be used as pseudo-taunts to bypass the taunting limit. Wario is a good example, as most of his moveset (particularly his Wario Waft) is accompanied by humorous animations and sounds, while his Wario Bike taunt is unaffected by the limit. While they are less common than in Brawl due to the taunt limit, Captain Falcon and similarly memetic characters such as Ganondorf, Jigglypuff and newcomer Shulk are also used due to the alleged unintentional humor in their moves and mannerisms.
Notably, a partial taunt match occurred in high-level play during the EVO 2015 qualifiers, during which Manny and True Blue both charged Sonic's Spin Dash for over a minute, an action that was mocked by spectators and commentators.
