Continue

In all five games, when the player loses in a one player match such as 1P Game, Classic, Adventure, or All-Star Mode, they must trade in order to have an extra number of lives in stock. This is known as a Continue. Continues can occur in Classic Mode, Super Smash Bros.s 1P Game, All-Star Mode (prior to and ), Super Smash Bros. Melees Adventure Mode, Super Smash Bros. Brawls Subspace Emissary, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimates World of Light. In Brawl, despite functioning like All-Star, the player has no continues in Boss Battles.

In Classic, Adventure, and All-Star
When the player runs out of stocks, they are faced with a screen where the announcer asks if they wish to continue. In the 1P Game of Super Smash Bros., the player can continue as many times as they wish, with points being sliced in half down from the score with a point added in, regardless of how many continues are used, though waiting a few seconds longer results a Game Over. In Melee and Brawl, however, the player will not have a choice to continue if they do not have enough s to pay; they are instead given a Game Over, returning to the menu. If sufficient funds are available, then the player can choose whether or not to continue. If the player chooses "no" and decides to exit, a Game Over still occurs. If they choose "Yes", however, then the game continues, with the player regaining all their lives and continuing the game as usual. In Melee, the player can own up to 999 coins, while in Brawl, they can own up to 9,999.

Continuing the game cuts the total score the player earned in half. In addition, in Melee and Brawl, continues cause the player to trade a fixed number of coins in order to continue, with higher difficulties costing a higher number of coins.

In Melee, in both and Adventure Mode, the values are:


 * Very Easy = 1 coin
 * Easy = 2 coins
 * Normal = 3 coins
 * Hard = 5 coins
 * Very Hard = 10 coins

All-Star Mode in Melee always costs 10 coins regardless of difficulty.

In Brawl, in both and All-Star Mode, these are the values:


 * Easy = 10 coins
 * Normal = 20 coins
 * Hard = 30 coins
 * Very Hard = 50 coins
 * Intense = 100 coins

If the player completes the game on any difficulty in any of these modes by using a continue, the "Continuation" bonus in Melee or the "Used a Continue bonus" in Brawl is given, worth &minus;20,000 points.

In Boss Battles Mode in Brawl, if the player is KO'd, it's an immediate game over, and they're taken back to the character selection screen.

In and, continuing is only possible in Classic Mode. Unlike in Melee and Brawl, the player no longer uses their funds to continue. Instead, it removes a few of the rewards that the player has attained to that point and drops the intensity by 0.5, down to no lower than a minimum of 2.0. A "Game Over" is actually shown before choosing to continue in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. Unlike the previous two installments, in All-Star in Smash 4, similar to Boss Battles in Brawl, if the player is KO'd or running out of time, there is no option to continue and the player is given a game over, shown as the final results display screen, and taken back to the character selection screen.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the player can continue by spending Gold to lower the intensity or by using a Classic Ticket without lowering the intensity. Upon continuing, the match will start from where the player left off, unlike previous installments.

Note that upon using a Continue, it will be impossible to get the highest intensity, which is 9.9 (unless the player was already at 9.9 intensity); otherwise, the highest the player can get is a maximum of 9.8.

The amount of Gold required to Continue is based on the current intensity, these are the values:


 * Intensity 0.0 - 3.9 = 50 Gold
 * Intensity 4.0 - 6.9 = 100 Gold
 * Intensity 7.0 - 9.9 = 200 Gold

Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary
When the player runs out of stock in The Subspace Emissary, they are faced with a similar choice whether to continue or not. However, there are now three options; Get Up, Back to Map, and Quit. If the player chooses "Back to Map", then they exit the level and can choose another. If they chose "Quit", the player will be given the choice to save their progress and is returned to the Solo menu. Both options cause the player to lose half of all stickers and trophies they had collected in the level. A Game Over screen appears for "Quit", but not for "Back to Map". Unlike Classic and All-Star Mode, continuing in the Subspace Emissary does not cost coins, but it does carry other consequences.

If the player chooses "Get Up" in The Subspace Emissary, they regain all stock that has been lost, and the following events occur:


 * The number of stickers and trophies (including those obtained by the Trophy Stand) attained in the stage is halved. Anything attained from Golden Boxes, however, cannot be lost.
 * The player respawns at the last opened door or at the start of the level.
 * The amount of coins for clearing that stage is reduced.
 * The difficulty is reduced by 1 sub-difficulty.

Adventure Mode: World of Light
If a player fails a match in World of Light, they will be given the chance to challenge the fight again by selecting Rematch, to change their party by selecting Change Party, or to return to the map by selecting Quit. Their primary spirit will gain experience, like it does when a match is won, but in a noticeably smaller amount. The player can retry a match as many times as they want to, with no penalty.

In the, which is split into three phases, selecting Rematch allows one to continue from the beginning of the current phase, with all three stock intact.

Trivia

 * From Melee onward, continuing results in the player's score being increased by one. This is used to show how many times the player has continued.
 * Unlike later games, the score cut in Melee rounds the last digit down to zero before the increase, consequently only showing that the player continued at least once.
 * , a game also directed by Masahiro Sakurai, also uses this system.
 * Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Ultimate do not actually display a Game Over message should the player choose not to continue; the game will simply display the player's score for that run and, depending on how far they went, the Final Results screen.
 * Although the "Continue" screen is overridden by an instant Game Over state if the player runs out of coins, the "Yes" and "No" buttons aren't affected and will appear unless a Game Over occurs after the trophy lands. If automatic continuation is the default action with a Game Over state, the score still deducts in half, but the current amount of coins are kept.