Spot dodge

File:Mario Sidestep Melee.gif

Mario sidestepping animation in Melee.

Link sidestepping Fox's Blaster in Melee

rightZero Suit Samus sidestepping Snake's Remote Missile in Brawl

Sidestepping (also known as sidestep dodging, spot dodging, ground dodging, dodging, or EscapeN by Brawl's internal character files) is a maneuver in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl that renders the character invincible for a split-second. Functionally similar to an air dodge, it is performed by pressing down while shielding, and can be employed to evade any and all harm of short duration. It is perhaps most useful in dodging projectiles and items along with quickly counter-attacking foes during the ending lag of their missed attack.

Sidestepping is the shortest and fastest of the three dodges (rolling, side, and air), and the only one where the player effectively remains stationary.

Though the sidestep animation shows the character leaning into the back or foreground, the invincibility frames gained allows the character to dodge all attacks, including those that come from the foreground or background, such as the lava wave in Norfair. The character's leaning position after the intangibility ends can also result in evading attacks due to the three-dimensional nature of hitboxes, most notably King Dedede being significantly outside the playing plane for most of his sidestep's ending lag.

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Spot dodge frame list in Brawl

The numbers before the / are the invincibility frames of the spot dodge, and the number after the / is the total number of frames taken to perform the spot dodge.

2-20 / 22 Link

2-20/ 22 Pikachu

2-20 / 22 Falco

2-20 / 22 Yoshi

2-20 / 22 Toon Link

2-20 / 24 Marth

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2-20 / 25 Mario

2-20 / 25 Samus

2-20 / 25 Zero Suit Samus

2-20 / 25 Kirby

2-20 / 25 Fox

2-20 / 25 Mr. Game & Watch

2-20 / 25 Luigi

2-20 / 25 Diddy Kong

2-20 / 25 Zelda

2-20 / 25 Sheik

2-20 / 25 Pit

2-20 / 25 Meta Knight

2-20 / 25 Squirtle

2-20 / 25 Ivysaur

2-20 / 25 Charizard

2-20 / 25 Ike

2-20 / 25 Snake

2-20 / 25 Peach

2-20 / 25 Ganondorf (Moves back slightly)

2-20 / 25 Ice Climbers

2-20 / 25 Wolf

2-20 / 25 Lucario

2-20 / 25 Ness

2-20 / 25 Sonic

2-20 / 25 Wario

2-20 / 25 R.O.B.

2-20 / 25 Captain Falcon

2-20 / 25 Lucas

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3-20 / 25 Olimar

3-16 / 25 Jigglypuff

2-20 / 27 King Dedede

2-23 / 30 Donkey Kong

3-24 / 32 Bowser