Helpless

Mario's helpless animation in Super Smash Bros.

Helpless (also known by various other names such as free fall, called "fallspecial" in game data) is a state in which characters are unable to take any action, with the exception of grabbing a ledge or climbing a ladder, until they land on the ground. Helplessness is typically associated with just having used one's triple jump, although it also occurs after using certain other special moves (usually ones which help recovery). Helpless characters can move sideways and fast fall, but are otherwise defenseless.

Helplessness usually ends upon landing on the ground, although it also ends if characters flinch, allowing them to attack or re-use their triple jump. A helpless character is denoted by both a black overlay and a distinct falling animation.

A state similar to helplessness exists in falling after having one's shield broken and then being stunned.

Curiously, the helpless state gives characters an extra ability in Super Smash Bros.: the ability to fall through soft platforms without landing on them. Starting in Melee this can be done at any time.

Landfallspecial and superdashtechnique

As a unique animation is used for falling while helpless, characters enter a different animation than usual once they land on the ground. This is called "landfallspecial" in Melee. Because airdodging enters this state, and wavedashing involves airdodging into the ground, when wavedashing was tried in debug mode, "landfallspecial" appeared for the character state. This led some players to believe that the "landfallspecial" designation was specifically designed for wavedashing and that developers put wavedashing in the game intentionally, further fueling the various debates over wavedashing's legitimacy. At one point, the myth morphed to where, instead of just "landfallspecial", there was purportedly another debug mode designation, cited as "superdashtechnique", "superdashattack", or other variants, created solely for the wavedashing animation. All incarnations of this story have been proven false and should not be taken as evidence that wavedashing was intentionally put or left in Melee.

Moves that invoke helplessness

This article or section is incomplete. You can help SmashWiki by expanding or finishing it. The editor who added this tag elaborates: Not all moves that cause helplessness are listed.

Move	Character	Type	Notes
Air dodge			Melee only.
Agility	Pichu	Up Special
Balloon Trip	Villager	Up Special	Can happen sooner if balloons are popped by opponents.
Belay	Ice Climbers	Up Special
Blazer	Roy	Up Special
Boost Kick	Zero Suit Samus	Up Special
Burst Grenade	Sheik	Side Special
Corkscrew	Wario	Up Special
Dark Dive	Ganondorf	Up Special	If the move's grab connects with an opponent, Ganondorf does not become helpless and can use the move again.
Dimensional Cape	Meta Knight	Down Special
Din's Fire	Zelda	Side Special
Dolphin Slash	Marth, Lucina	Up Special
Drill Rush	Meta Knight	Side Special
Duck Jump	Duck Hunt	Up Special
Egg Roll	Yoshi	Side Special	Does not cause helplessness in SSB4.
End of Day	Olimar	Final Smash	Being ejected from the crashing spaceship puts Olimar into a state that is not exactly helplessness (it uses his tumbling animation, lacks the black overlay, and unlike helpnessness, prevents his Pikmin from chasing him), but it is essentially the same, as the player can only move to the left and right, and cannot attack or air dodge.
ExtremeSpeed	Lucario	Up Special	If Lucario hits a wall during the move, it will wall cling instead of becoming helpless. However, it cannot use the move again.
Falco Phantasm	Falco	Side Special	Does not cause helplessness in SSB4.
Falcon Dive	Captain Falcon	Up Special	Like Dark Dive, if the move connects with an opponent, Captain Falcon does not become helpless and can use the move again.
Farore's Wind	Zelda	Up Special
Final Cutter	Kirby	Up Special	Normally, the move does not end until Kirby lands on the ground. However, if the platform Kirby has landed on disappears while he is still in the landing animation (such as falling off a conveyor belt), he will become helpless.
Fire	Mr. Game & Watch	Up Special	Only causes helplessness in Melee.
Fire Bird	Falco	Up Special
Fire Fox	Fox	Up Special
Fire Wolf	Wolf	Up Special
Flame Choke	Ganondorf	Side Special	If the move connects with an opponent, Ganondorf does not become helpless, although he (and his victim) will fall until he hits the ground.
Fly	Charizard	Up Special
Fox Illusion	Fox	Side Special	Does not cause helplessness in SSB4.
Gerudo Dragon	Ganondorf	Side Special
Giant Punch	Donkey Kong	Neutral Special	Does not cause helplessness in SSB.
Gliding	Meta Knight, Charizard, Pit		If the user has used all their double jumps, they are put into helplessness once the glide ends (either by stalling or by attacking).
Grapple Beam	Samus	ZAir	Melee only
Header	Wii Fit Trainer	Side Special	Only causes helplessness if the user airdodges during the move.
Helicopter Kick	Mii Brawler	Up Special
Hookshot	Link and Young Link	ZAir	Melee only
Hydro Pump	Greninja	Up Special
Hula Hoop	Wii Fit Trainer	Up Special
Jolt Haymaker	Little Mac	Side Special
Jump Glide	Palutena	Up Special	Attacking while under the move's effect cancels the glide and triggers helplessness.
Lloid Rocket	Villager	Side Special	Villager only enters helplessness if he rides then jumps off of the Lloid Rocket, or does not hit an opponent during the ride.
Mach Tornado	Meta Knight	Neutral Special
Onslaught	Mii Brawler	Side Special
Pac-Jump	Pac-Man	Up Special	All jumps trigger helplessness for Pac-Man and triggers helplessness for others when a fighter lands on the trampoline when it's red.
Parasol	Peach	Up Special	Peach only enters helplessness if she decides to fastfall (which retracts the parasol) after using the move - she can also end the helplessness and resume parachuting by pressing up (re-opening it), the only character able to do so. However, if Peach was under the effects of items that make her shrink or grow while she fastfalls, she will become helpless, as her parasol disappears once she's back to normal. The Parasol item allows any character to do this in Melee.
Pikmin Chain	Captain Olimar	Up Special	Normally, the Pikmin Chain makes Olimar helpless after the move is used in the air. However, if he uses grounded Pikmin Chain and the platform disappears (such as falling off a conveyor belt), or he uses ground Pikmin Chain while the stage is rotating, he will become helpless.
Piston Punch	Mii Brawler	Up Special
PK Flash	Ness	Neutral Special
PK Freeze	Lucas, Ness	Neutral Special
PK Thunder	Lucas, Ness	Up Special
Power of Flight	Pit, Dark Pit	Up Special
Quick Attack	Pikachu	Up Special
Quick Draw	Ike	Side Special
Raptor Boost	Captain Falcon	Side Special
Rising Uppercut	Little Mac	Up Special
Rocket Jump	Palutena	Up Special
Rocketbarrel Boost	Diddy Kong	Up Special
Rocketbarrel Barrage	Diddy Kong	Final Smash	Does not cause helplessness in SSB4.
Rollout	Jigglypuff	Neutral Special	Does not cause helplessness in Brawl; Jigglypuff will keep rolling and won't be able to move, however, if it rolls off the stage.
Screw Attack	Samus	Up Special
Screw Attack (item)		Item	When this item is thrown at opponents (Melee only), they execute a Screw Attack and become helpless.
Shuttle Loop	Meta Knight	Up Special	While the initial execution of the move does not make Meta Knight helpless, he does become helpless if the glide ends.
Spin Attack	Link, Young Link, Toon Link	Up Special	Normally, the Spin Attack makes Link, Young Link, or Toon Link helpless after the move was used it in the air. However, if he stands on the platform while using grounded Spin Attack and the platform disappears (such as falling off a conveyor belt), or he used grounded Spin Attack while the stage is rotating, he will become helpless.
Spinning Kong	Donkey Kong	Up Special
Squall Hammer	Ice Climbers	Side Special
Super Dedede Jump	King Dedede	Up Special	Normally, the move does not end until King Dedede lands on the ground. However, if the platform King Dedede has landed on disappears while he is still in the landing animation (such as falling off a conveyor belt), he hits a ceiling while using the move, or the move is cancelled by the user, he will become helpless.
Super Jump Punch	Mario, Luigi, Dr. Mario	Up Special
Teleport	Mewtwo	Up Special
Ultimate Uppercut	Mii Brawler	Neutral Special
Vanish	Sheik	Up Special
Vine Whip	Ivysaur	Up Special
Warp	Palutena	Up Special
Waterfall	Squirtle	Up Special
Whirling Fortress	Bowser	Up Special
Winged Pikmin	Captain Olimar	Up Special
Wings of Icarus	Pit	Up Special	Pit can also avoid becoming helpless by using an aerial attack when using this move.
Wolf Flash	Wolf,Fox	Side Special

Gallery

• 

  Fox's helpless animation in Melee.

• 

  Fox's helpless animation in Brawl.

• 

  Fox's helpless animation in Super Smash Bros. 4.

Trivia

This trivia section is excessively long. Relevant facts should be integrated into the body of the article and unnecessary ones should be removed. You can discuss this issue on the talk page or edit this page to improve it.

• The moves Fire, Robo Burner, Spring Jump, and Cypher do not cause helplessness in Brawl, although they do restrict the user's choice of moves until they land - Mr. Game & Watch and Snake simply cannot use the recovery move again, while Sonic cannot use any special moves and R.O.B. cannot air dodge. Through a programming oversight, this condition prevents them from using their recovery move again if grabbed and released without pummeling before touching the ground (except for R.O.B.).
• If Kirby copies a move that causes helplessness, he will be affected just as the original character would be.
• In Brawl, certain characters are unable to naturally become helpless, as they lack any moves that cause it. These characters are Jigglypuff, Sonic, Mr. Game & Watch, Snake, R.O.B., and Zero Suit Samus.
  • In fact, R.O.B. is not programmed to have a helpless state in Brawl, and attempting to see it via hacking causes the game to crash. All other characters have a helpless state, even if they cannot enter it without hacking. In Smash 4, Pac-Jump's red trampoline can put any character in a helpless state, and so all characters, including R.O.B., have one in Smash 4.
• Snake is the only character in the whole Smash Bros. franchise whose helpless animation cannot be seen ingame.
• In Brawl, since Jigglypuff's and Mr. Game & Watch's air dodge animations carry over from Melee, pausing just before the animation ends allows the player to see their Melee helpless state.
• Characters can still space jump while helpless.
• Meta Knight is the only character whose entire set of special moves leaves him helpless.
• The unique animation caused by landing while helpless is the cause of the landing lag glitch.
• Mario's, Luigi's, and Dr. Mario's helpless animations are based on the Mario Bros.' death sprite in games such as Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3.
• Villager's fall animation copies the defeat animation of the protagonist of Balloon Fight and also has increased fall speed when helpless, further cementing the similarities.
• When Duck Hunt falls in their helpless state, the sound effect that plays when a duck falls in the original Duck Hunt plays.