Sudden Death

For the Special Mode, see Super Sudden Death.

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Sudden Death in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

Sudden Death occurs when any VS. mode match ends in a tie. When one occurs, the match will restart with only the players involved in the tie, all of whom will be given 300% damage as opposed to 0% (or in the original game, if a player uses hacks to play as Master Hand, he will start with 0 HP, and won't be able to attack), making them very easy to KO. If items are on, then they will not spawn during Sudden Death, with the exception of the original game. The crowd will be silent during Sudden Death.

If no winner is defined after roughly twenty seconds, Bob-ombs will begin to spawn in the stage; unlike normal, these Bob-ombs immediately explode when they make contact with players or the ground, thereby speeding up the match. It is possible for a falling Bob-omb to instantly KO a player (off a side blast line) while the other player is currently being sent flying by a screen or star KO, causing the latter player to win the match.

A mode that replicates Sudden Death can be accessed via the Special Melee or Special Brawl mode "Super Sudden Death". This mode, however, simply sets all players' damage to 300% and lacks the falling Bob-ombs or the silent crowd (who will cheer or make noise as usual).

Conditions to occur

In Time battles, Sudden Death occurs when at least two characters have the same final score at the end of the match; this also applies to Team Battles. In Coin Battles, players with the same amount of coins will fight in a Sudden Death battle; the same applies to Bonus, where players with the same total score will square off. Sudden Death almost never occurs in a stock match (barring a timed Stock Match, where Sudden Death will occur if time runs out and multiple players have the same amount of stocks), though it is possible if all characters lose their last stock on the same frame. Kirbycide and other Sacrificial KOs can easily create this situation in matches with two players remaining, and having all characters on a falling horizontal platform that hits the bottom blast line can cause it with any number of players.

Ties in Sudden Death

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If all of the characters are KO'd at the same time in Sudden Death, a second Sudden Death will not occur; rather, the match will end and one character will be chosen as the winner, based on port priority: in the original game, the winner will be the character with the highest player number, while in Melee, the player with the lowest player number will win; for instance, if Player 1 and Player 2 tie in Sudden Death, then Player 1 would win in Melee while Player 2 would win in Smash 64. As both players must be KO'd on the same frame and the games run at 60 frames per second, the chances of this occurring are slim, and any advantage given to lower player numbers is decidedly negligible. Tests in Brawl have shown that the player who wins the match is decided at random.

In competitive play

In tournaments, should Sudden Death occur, it is ignored, with the winner being decided by other factors. This is because of three main reasons:

1. With no time limit and raining Bob-ombs, camping and planking become dominant strategies, resulting in the match going on for an indefinite length of time as each opponent simply waits for the other to make a mistake.
2. Character balance is significantly skewed. In an environment where almost any attack can KO, characters with fast attacks have a massive advantage over characters whose main advantage is normally in power or survivability. For example, Sonic or Pit may be able to quickly strike their opponent before they can react, whereas Bowser or Ganondorf will have major problems trying to hit their opponent before they themselves are hit.
3. If Sudden Death is an option, it becomes a viable strategy for a player that is tied in stocks but far behind in damage to simply stall out the clock until Sudden Death occurs, therefore eliminating the percentage difference and giving themselves a chance to win within seconds. Players generally agree this is an unfair way to stage a comeback, allowing someone who is being clearly outplayed to win a match with a single blow. An infamous example of this occurring was in the grand finals set between Zero and Hungrybox at the Super Smash Bros. Invitational; the Invitational, while having standard competitive rules for its grand finals match, used Sudden Death to resolve a stock tie. Zero, being aware of this, intentionally camped out and avoided confrontation at the end of the match when Hungrybox took a significant percent lead on their last stock. With Hungrybox playing Kirby against Zero's much more agile Zero Suit Samus, he was unable to land a finishing blow before time ran out despite his significant percent lead, leading to Sudden Death where Zero then won by just being able to land a quick hit despite clearly losing the match beforehand.

As a result of being too imbalanced to be used to resolve ties, should Sudden Death occur in a tournament, the winner is declared by some other criteria. In the most common case of the clock expiring with both players being tied in stock remaining, the player with the lower damage percentage wins. In the rare event of both players having equal stock and damage, or with both players being simultaneously KO'd on their last stock, the winner is determined with a one-stock rematch with the same characters on the same stage. If both players are KO'd at the same time due to a sacrificial KO, tournaments often have a rule that declares the initiator the winner, instead of holding a one-stock rematch.

Gallery

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  The Sudden Death screen in Smash 64.

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  The Sudden Death screen in Melee.

• Sudden death.PNG

  The Sudden Death screen in Brawl.

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  The Sudden Death screen in Smash 3DS.