Crouch cancel

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Crouch cancel (or CC) is a technique in the Super Smash Bros. series which reduces the effect of an attack on the user if they are crouching. If a character is crouching when they get hit by an attack, they will suffer from less hitlag, as well as knockback in all games except Brawl.

In Super Smash Bros.

In the original Super Smash Bros., crouch canceling reduces the amount of knockback and hitlags dealt to the opponent to 0.67x its normal amount. While the opponent suffers from 0.67x hitlag, the attacker still goes through their normal amount of hitlag, resulting in the opponent going into hitstun while the attacker is still in hitlag.

One of the main applications crouch canceling has is to survive stronger attacks. As crouch canceling reduces knockback, it can allow the opponent to survive attacks for much longer than they otherwise would be able to normally. For example, Mario's forward smash normally KOes another Mario at 102% from the middle of Dream Land however, if the victim Mario is crouching, the forward smash will not KO him until 178%. Crouch canceling also puts opponents into tumble at later percents due to the lower knockback the victim receives, which can be utilised to avoid tech chasing setups.

Another use crouch canceling has is to use the lower hitlag and knockback against the opponent. As the opponent has less hitlag and knockback, they recover noticeably sooner, which can allow them to avoid potential combos/multi hits which would normally work and they can even potentially punish the opponent after getting hit. This does overall depend on the strength of the attacker's attack however. If combo oriented moves are crouch cancelled, they can actually gain combo potential in scenarios where they otherwise would not combo. For example, Donkey Kong's Hand Slap usually has no followups against Jigglypuff, as Jigglypuff is sent too high. If Jigglypuff crouch cancels the move however, it gets knocked back a much shorter distance, which allows Donkey Kong to get a guaranteed forward aerial against Jigglypuff.

While crouch canceling can be useful in certain situations, it is not an incredibly potent technique overall. While it does allow characters to live longer, characters may have better solutions in certain situations, such as shielding or counter attacking. As mentioned before, crouch canceling can be detrimental against certain moves allowing otherwise impossible combos and KO confirms to work against crouch canceling. Crouch canceling can also be beaten by grabs, as grabs get the opponent out of their crouching state, making it impossible to crouch cancel throws. Kirby and Jigglypuff can crouch under some grabs although this is separate from crouch canceling.

Crouch canceling overall can be useful in the right situations but it is not uncommon for opponents to have better options in situations where crouch canceling can be utilised and crouch canceling can be a hinderance when used in the wrong situations.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee

Crouch canceling reduces the amount of knockback and hitlags dealt with the user to 67% its normal value, often reducing the effects to brief flinching at lower damage percentages. Because the control stick must be held downwards in order to crouch, crouch canceling also effectively guarantees a lower launch angle, due to directional influence reading the downwards motion.

Many characters use crouch canceling to perform a crouch cancel counter (CCC), where the player performs a strong counterattack after crouch canceling an incoming attack. Peach and Samus are well-known abusers of crouch cancel counters; both characters can crouch cancel most attacks and perform a down smash before their opponent recovers. Note that the reduced knockback comes with disadvantages, as it leaves the user open to hits of certain attacks that would not usually connect. For example, Peach's down smash may deal a staggering 70% damage maximum if all hits connect. While the attack was supposed to be designed such that only a single hit will make contact, it has a greater chance of happening against characters who crouch cancel, as they will not take enough knockback to escape the many hits of the down smash.

However, crouch canceling does not work against spikes and meteor smashes, such as Falco's down aerial and Donkey Kong's Headbutt, due to their knockback being downward angled.

Here is a good tutorial for this techique: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72aidPrzScA

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Crouch cancelling does not affect knockback, and instead only reduces the amount of freeze frames suffered by the user by 33%; the attacker's freeze frames are unaffected. This gives the target a small window of time in which to counterattack; for example an Olimar can crouch cancel the first hit of Falco's neutral attack in order to powershield the second hit and gain a free up smash.

Crouch cancelling is mentioned (though not by name) in the Brawl manual, stating that crouching "...stabilizes you, reducing the chances an attack will knock you back." This is more in line with the technique's behaviour in other installments than in Brawl, however.

In Super Smash Bros. 4

Crouch cancelling functions similarly to Melee, albeit toned down. Under normal circumstances, the amount of knockback suffered by the user is reduced to 0.85× its initial value, and the amount of freeze frames suffered by the user is reduced to 0.67× its initial value. However, size changing items seem to reduce the knockback taken multiplier even further.

Although the technique's usefulness at low percents is limited, it is still fairly useful for survival at higher percents, especially with the more polarized knockback of smash attacks and other KO moves. Bowser can uniquely take advantage of crouch cancelling with Tough Guy, his unique form of passive knockback-based armor; he will not flinch for a wider range of percentages from weak attacks while crouching.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Crouch cancelling is equal to in SSB4, with a knockback reduction of 0.85x and a freeze frame reduction of 0.67x. However, the attacker's freeze frames are now also reduced by the same amount.

In addition, attacks in Ultimate (as well as SSB4) generally have much higher base knockback than in older games; this means that, even at very low percents, crouch cancelling usually cannot reduce launch distance enough to allow a punish afterwards. For these reasons, it has very little usefulness in competitive play. It can, however, allow players to avoid tumble until higher percentages, most notably with super heavyweight characters such as Bowser and King K. Rool. Additionally, Bowser retains Tough Guy from Super Smash Bros. 4, and newcomer Kazuya possesses an almost identical mechanic, dubbed Tough Body. As Kazuya has also access to a variety of attacks that can only be used while crouching, he can make use of crouch cancelling, with or without the effect of Tough Body, more often than most other characters.