Armor
Launch resistance, also called knockback resistance or super armor, is a phenomenon that manifests itself during certain moves in all three Super Smash Bros. games. It is defined as a character not flying when hit during a certain time, or in some cases not flinching as far. Note that knockback resistance, as the name implies, only affects knockback. The attack's full damage will still be taken. Yoshi's double jump, Snake's Cypher and Kirby's Stone are the only common moves with infinite amounts of knockback resistance, while all other knockback resistance moves have infinite knockback resistance.
In Super Smash Bros.
Knockback resistance was limited to Yoshi's double jump cancel counter, Most characters while throwing, Giant DK at low percentages, and Metal Mario. Master Hand basically has infinite knockback resistance.
In Super Smash Bros. Melee
Yoshi retained his resistance, while Metal and Giant characters had their resistance decreased a whole lot. Giga Bowser also has some amount of knockback resistance when fought in Adventure Mode. Master Hand and Crazy Hand both have infinite knockback resistance.
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Many characters have knockback resistance, usually in the form of moves that give a temporarily infinite amount (a.k.a. super armor.) All of the moves are "super armor" unless otherwise stated.
| Character | Moves | Conditions and Notes |
| Bowser | Giga Bowser, Flying Slam, and Bowser Bomb | For the entire period of being Giga Bowser, and while he is in the air (first frames) for Bowser Bomb. Flying Slam is explained below. |
| Donkey Kong | Giant Punch, Spinning Kong and Carry Throw | Giant Punch: only if fully charged; while moving his arm forward but the attck needs to make contact with his left arm and before it is released. Spinning Kong: only the grounded version; just before he starts to release it. Carry: for the entire first second of the carry only. |
| Ganondorf | Flame Choke | Only the grounded version, when holding the opponent off the ground; opponent also gets super armor. |
| Ike | Aether and Eruption | Aether: After throwing his sword in the air, but before he leaps up towards his sword. Eruption: some frames after the special move button is released but before the sword hits the ground. |
| King Dedede | Super Dedede Jump | From the start until just before the apex of the jump. |
| Kirby | Stone | The entire duration |
| Olimar | Pikmin Order | During the first few frames |
| Pit | Mirror Shield | Only while pulling the shield out. |
| Pokémon Trainer | Fly, Rock Smash and Squirtle's Forward Smash. | Fly:The whole ascension time. Rock smash:When it gets the rock first frames. |
| Snake | Cypher | Snake cannot be flinched by any hitbox that deals exactly 7% or less, regardless of the knockback of the individual hitboxes. Most multi-hit moves deal less than 7% per hit, so they usually cannot interrupt the Cypher (though they of course still deal damage).
(See this post and this followup post on SmashBoards for more details.) |
| Wario | Forward Smash and Wario Waft | Forward Smash: While moving forward Wario Waft:When full or half charged, during the first few frames |
| Yoshi | Double-Jump | Yoshi gains (approximately) 3860mph-worth of knockback resistance, as measured by the post-Brawl stats (under the "top launch speed", though the unit "mph" is nonsensical). This means that Yoshi will ignore any knockback that would launch him at less than ~3860mph(approximately 150%). As he is damaged, of course, he takes more knockback from an attack with the same launching power, meaning that weaker attacks will begin interrupting his double jump when Yoshi is at higher percentages. None of this prevents Yoshi from being affected by hitstun.
(See this post on SmashBoards for more details.) |
| All Characters | All grabs (first frame only) | The very first frame that a grab hits a victim, including special move that penetrate another character's shield such as Chomp, Egg Lay, Inhale, Super Inhale, Falcon Dive, Dark Dive, Flame Choke, Force Palm, Flying Slam. |
External references
A better 'Super Armor List' Thread: lists characters and their moves that have Super Armor, along with some frame data.
The Armor Project: explains how knockback-resisting moves that are not super armor work, including Snake's Cypher and Yoshi's double jump.
