Air dodge

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Air dodging is a technique introduced in Super Smash Bros. Melee, and confirmed to be reappearing in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. As its name suggests, it allows a player to dodge attacks in midair.

Melee

In Melee, an air dodge is performed by fully pressing either the L or R button while in the air. If no direction is held, the character will stop in midair, while holding a direction causes the character to move in that direction. In both situations, the character will get some frames of invincibility (the "dodge") - but after the dodge is finished, they become helpless. It can also be used as a recovery move, but the short distance traveled makes it somewhat ineffective.
Airdodging in a downward direction while your dodge will bring you in contact with the ground will cause a character to slide a distance on the ground depending on the angle of the dodge, the traction of the character and the ground and your height from the ground. This is known as wavedashing.

Brawl

Air dodging is a confirmed technique to return in Brawl, though it has undergone some major changes. Dodging no longer puts the character in the helpless state - they are free to jump, attack and recover after the dodge is done. Also, dodging is now based on the momentum of the character; their speed and direction determines where they will end up after dodging. This deconfirms wavedashing in its current state for Brawl, but it is unknown if it will return in another form.