Freeze frame: Difference between revisions

'''Freeze frames''', (also known as '''hitlag''', officially known as '''impact stall'''), are a phenomenon that appear in all three Super Smash Bros. games whereby a character will freeze for a period of time after connecting with an attack. If successful with some attacks, the attacker is frozen in time for a number of [[frames]] while the target suffers from [[hitstun]]. This causes the attack to get "stuck" out longer than it would if it had not hit anything, while the target has a short time to react before the knockback occurs. This is most easily noticed in multi-hit attacks such as Yoshi's d-air; the attack takes less time to finish if it does not hit anything.

The number of freeze frames, that is, the length of the freeze, depends on the attack - weak, normal attacks such as Mario's neutral punch have minimal freeze frames, but the freeze frames of strong, electric, and sweetspotted attacks can last as long as half a second. Freeze frames are also exaggerated if two attacks clash, or the attack is [[Perfect Shield]]ed. In the latter case, the attacker suffers from [[hitstun]] while the defender receives none.

Freeze frames only affect the object that deals the damage; all other game elements are uninterrupted. For example, Captain Falcon will be frozen for half a second upon a sweetspotted [[Knee Smash]], while Samus' movement is not interrupted by a [[Charge Shot]] hitting something. Freeze frames affect the attacker as long as the attack connects, even if it deals no damage. Thus, if a character were to attack an opponent with [[Invincibility#Blocking Invincibility|blocking invincibility]], that character would still suffer freeze frames.