List of flaws in artificial intelligence (SSB)

As one might expect from the first Super Smash Bros. game, the AI is considered poor even with CPUs set to level nine. When fighting, their main form of attacking is to constantly use a special attack, especially if it is a projectile, along with smash attacks. For example, Mario constantly shoots Fireballs, and Jigglypuff persistently uses Pound. Other than using tilts occasionally, they tend to not use other attacks, using neutral attacks and grabs rarely, though high-leveled CPUs do combine these two for a jab grab. When a player is at a considerable distance and airborne, CPUs attack mainly by using an aerial attack depending on their distance from the enemy, which makes their attacks very predictable. That is, they often use their up aerials after knocking opponents upwards, and commonly use their forward aerials when approaching them from the air. Specific CPUs also tend to overuse one type of aerial attack, no matter their opponents' position; these include Fox heavily spamming his up aerial against airborne enemies to juggle them, and Samus repeatedly using her down aerial. When a player stands on a platform above them, CPUs with up specials which propel them upwards may also attack with them, even if their attack trajectory would cause them to self-destruct. However, CPUs still have good aiming abilities, such as being able to precisely hit with aerial attacks, as well as with attacks that may seem difficult for human players to use effectively, such as Yoshi's Egg Throw.

Though these attack techniques are not considered as flawed as in Melee, CPUs in Smash 64 still have poor recovery abilities. For example, if a CPU uses their up special to recover after jumping, but the player interrupts the attack, the CPU will not attempt to use it again. This makes CPUs reliably easy to KO with meteor smash attacks. They also underutilise the recoveries of certain characters, and, at low levels, they may not use their up special to recover at all. In addition to this, they always recover in an extremely predictable way, always using their air speed to move towards the stage before using their up special, while never attempting to fight-off edgeguarders with aerials. Additionally, CPUs have poor defensive abilities: for example, when being attacked by a consecutively hitting jab (such as Kirby's), they just hold their shield while standing in place until it eventually breaks, without attempting to escape the attack by rolling, even if the shieldstun is not high enough to lock them into the attack. They do use rolls outside that situation; however, after using the technique once, they heavily spam it, which makes easy for players to punish them with attacks like down smashes (especially Mario's and Pikachu's). Outside of this, however, grounded CPUs may still defend properly against attacks that may be difficult for humans to defend against, such as item-based attacks or quick ground attacks, as well as being able to tech successfully on some stages when launched upwards. Also, Fox and Ness successfully attempt to use Reflector/PSI Magnet against oncoming projectiles; in Ness's case, when playing at Saffron City, he will successfully absorb Charmander's Flamethrower if he's not interrupted, something that may be difficult for humans to do. Despite this, CPUs still cannot recognise these techniques when used by players. For example, they may still throw items against a Fox player with an active Reflector, as well as still shooting absorbable projectiles against a Ness with an active PSI Magnet. Also, a CPU Ness may still attempt to use this move against a non-absorbable projectile, such as a Boomerang. CPUs additionally have almost non-existent edge guarding abilities: when knocking a foe offstage, they will just stand on the ledge and throw off their usual attacks whenever the foe comes near. Additionally, if a foe grabs a ledge when a CPU jumps in an attempt to attack, they will mostly decide to fast fall and attack with a down aerial, which, depending on the character, often causes self-destructs.

CPUs in Smash 64 are also well known for their tendency to use items excessively. Regardless of the CPU level and item, when an item appears, CPUs cease fighting and go for the item, often putting themselves in harm's way while doing so, especially because of the incapability to grab items in midair in Smash 64. The only exceptions are wandering Bob-ombs, and Starmen on some occasions. They also fail to recognize certain items when they are active; they may still walk into their own Bumpers or Motion-Sensor Bombs, resulting in self-destructs. On some stages, they may also walk into traps, such as the tornadoes on Hyrule Castle. Additionally, when using a Fire Flower or Ray Gun, they attack only by shooting with them, and throwing the item after it runs out of ammunition, making their attack pattern predictable. The only exception is when they are battling against Fox or Ness: Level 5 and above CPUs only throw the item against them, never shooting, since they can reflect/absorb the projectiles. In Fox's case, however, his Reflector can still reflect the thrown item. Also, when using a Star Rod, CPUs still shoot stars against these characters. When a foe uses a Hammer or Starman, CPUs will stay away from the character and, in the Hammer's case, shoot projectiles depending on the situation. Also, when a CPU uses a Hammer and a foe is far away, the CPU will jump towards him, even if the other platform is elevated and there is a pit between them, resulting in the CPU self-destructing.

Additionally, CPUs tend to play strangely on some stages. While their behaviour seems to be normal on simple stages like Congo Jungle and Dream Land, they may exhibit certain flaws in others. For example, CPUs on the Yoshi's Island stage won't recognise items dropped on the clouds, and they have difficulty recognising walls on stages like Peach's Castle and Saffron City, not jumping over them unless an enemy provokes them to. On Planet Zebes, they are also very easily KO'd by the acid, and on Mushroom Kingdom, they may go offstage and SD attempting to dodge opponents.

It is a common misconception among Smashers who have not played Smash 64 that the AI in this game is better at KOing than in the later Smash games. However, this is just because of the CPUs' higher tendency to use smash attacks than in the subsequent games, such as Donkey Kong and Captain Falcon frequently using their down smashes, as well as their perfect precision with aerial attacks that allows for unexpected combos, plus their ability to easily use techniques such as jab grab. This, exacerbated by Smash 64's powerful aerials and the incapability of air dodging, along with the much more powerful throws in the game, tends to cause speculations that the AI in this game is better at comboing and KOing, and therefore it is more powerful than in the other games. This is arguably not true, however, as CPUs in this game have poor understandings of numerous attacks, as well as exhibiting strange behaviours in complex situations, poor defensive play that involves spamming rolls and not attempting to dodge attacks when airborne, and an easily gimpable recovery that allows them to be easily KO'd. These flaws leave them highly vulnerable against any experienced players, or even casual ones if they are able to exploit their flaws effectively.

Because of these numerous flaws, and despite CPUs using certain attacks more effectively than in Melee, the AI in Smash 64 is considered to be the worst of the four current Smash Bros. games.

Specific examples

Examples of flawed AI in Super Smash Bros. include:

General

• Other than not using their up special again after being attacked during their recovery, CPUs also poorly utilize certain character's recoveries:
  • When a CPU Captain Falcon grabs someone with his Falcon Dive during recovery, he will not attempt to use the move again.
  • CPUs always aim their recoveries towards the center of the stage; so, if meteor smashed on stages such as Dream Land and Peach's Castle, no matter the strength of the attack, they will go underneath the stage and fail to recover. Similarly, in Sector Z, they may aim recovery towards the Great Fox's cannons, which cannot be stepped on.
  • A CPU Ness will always aim his PK Thunder as a recovery in an horizontal, barely upwards angle, even if the ledge is above him.
  • A CPU Kirby and Jigglypuff will immediately use up all their jumps after getting knocked off the stage.
    • CPU Jigglypuffs additionally never use Pound to recover, only using the move to attack foes on the edge after reaching it.
• High-level CPUs usually taunt when they hit an opponent with a high knockback attack, even if it doesn't KO them. This means they can taunt even if there are traps or other players nearby, and even if the attack is a meteor smash that leaves the foe at a short distance from the CPU. This makes it easy to punish characters with long taunts, such as Mario.
  • Additionally, if a CPU in midair sends a foe far away, and then quickly grabs a ledge, it will taunt as soon as it gets up.
• When getting close to their opponent in a single battle, high-level CPUs always use a move like a down smash, being easily predictable. If the player is not hit by it, they may use that same move continuously while moving a very short distance forward each time.
• High-level CPUs tend to make persistent use of a special move depending on the character, especially if it is a projectile attack, resulting in them underusing other attacks:
  • CPU Mario and Luigi persistently shoot Fireballs against players at a distance from them. CPU Ness exhibits the same behaviour with PK Fire, as does Pikachu with Thunder Jolt. This makes it easy for an experienced Ness player to have a large advantage over these CPUs by absorbing the attacks with PSI Magnet.
    • Also, though CPU Kirbys use their own special attacks moderately, they may still spam any of these copied attacks.
  • CPU Donkey Kongs almost always charge up a Giant Punch and cancel it when the player comes near, almost never approaching or using another attack instead. CPU Samus behaves similarly with Charge Shot, constantly canceling it and only shooting if a player comes in front of her.
    • Additionally, Donkey Kong mostly uses Spinning Kong to repel enemies at his sides instead of other attacks, and also chases the player after the attack is executed, even if this results in the CPU falling off an edge and self-destructing. This is more noticeable with Giant Donkey Kong: he tends to use Spinning Kong when the player's teammates approach him. CPU Links behave similarly with Spin Attack, though they rarely self-destruct when doing so.
  • CPU Jigglypuffs tend to make constant use of Pound to attack players, especially in midair.
  • A CPU Link will almost always use Boomerang as his first attack, as well as mostly using it when the foe is at a considerable distance. He may also use the move even if the boomerang was already thrown.
  • CPU Foxes tend to aim Fire Fox against players as one of their main attacks. As a result, if a human player runs to the edge of a stage such as Dream Land, Fox will follow him/her and aim his Fire Fox off of the stage - resulting in a self-destruct.
    • Similarly, if a character is far away from him, a high-level Fox CPU may repeatedly use Blaster, even if the enemy is shielding or protecting. This allows players to trick the CPU easily by absorbing the shots with Ness.
  • CPU Yoshi and Captain Falcon may also use Yoshi Bomb and Falcon Kick constantly against a player below them when airborne, but not as often as the other mentioned CPUs. This can still be significant, however, as they use these moves even when platforms are below them.
    • Additionally, CPU Captain Falcon will almost always jump before using Falcon Kick, which can sometimes cause the attack to miss and become easily punished due to its lag. If the player stays above him during the jumping phase, he will use Falcon Dive instead, falling helpless and becoming easily vulnerable.
• When returning on a revival platform, CPUs always reenter the fight instantly regardless of what is happening on the stage.
• When invincible, such as by the effect of a Star of when dropping out of a revival platform, CPUs will still shield and dodge attacks thrown against them. Additionally, when a player comes out of a revival platform, they may still attack him/her during the invincibility period.

Character Specific

• On the Kirby Team in the 1P Game mode, when the Kirbys are knocked off the stage, they tend to fast fall as soon as they run out of midair jumps, without even using Final Cutter to recover. This makes easy for players to KO them, even at Very Hard difficulty.
• CPU Marios and Luigis never rise when using Mario Tornado and Luigi Cyclone, respectively.
• A CPU Kirby using Inhale will only spit out the opponent if it is another Kirby, meaning that no attempt to steal copy abilities from opposing Kirbys will be made.
• A CPU Kirby using Stone will never end the transformation early. As a result, when the attack is used on a slope, such as that of the leftmost part of Hyrule Castle or at the far right side of Sector Z, he will hold the move in place, falling down and self-destructing.

Item Related

• A CPU player who picks up a throwing item when another player is below its platform will repeatedly throw the item to the ground until it disappears - even if the item is a Bob-omb, which often leads to the CPU self-destructing.
• Other than regular items, CPUs will also attempt to go for Bombs left by a Link player. Not only they will cease fighting for this, but they may pick up the bomb even if it's about to explode.
• When a Bumper is set, a CPU Fox or Ness may hold their Reflector/PSI Magnet near it until it vanishes, they get hit, or another item appears. During this period they will ignore other players, becoming extremely vulnerable.
• When standing on moving platforms, CPUs usually won't be conscious about the danger and will stay there like on a normal terrain, which mostly results on them not jumping off and going offstage with the plaftorm, guaranteeing a self-destruct. This can happen, for example, when a CPU comes to attack a foe on the balancing plaftorms at Mushroom Kingdom, or when landing on an Arwing during recovery at Sector Z.
  • Additionally, if a Crate or Barrel falls on one of the balancing platforms at Mushroom Kingdom, CPUs will still attempt to pick it up, falling down with it and SDing.

Stage Related

• As mentioned above, CPUs have difficulty recognising walls. If there is a player on the right side of the Saffron City stage, CPUs will walk into the doors of the Pokémon trap. Similarly, on Peach's Castle, if a human player stands on the bottom platform, a CPU on one of the moving platforms will run into the wall repeatedly.
• In Mushroom Kingdom, CPUs will never attempt to intentionally use the POW Block nor the Warp Pipes.
• On Saffron City, if a level nine Pikachu is set to Player 2, and the player stands on the left edge of the rightmost building after Pikachu is KO'd, it will jump off the revival platform to the right and then approach with Quick Attack, crossing-up the building and self-destructing. Pikachu will continue this indefinitely as long as it is not interrupted by something.
• In Dream Land, if a player stands below a CPU Donkey Kong on a platform, it will continuously use Hand Slap until the player gets out of there, leaving it easily open for aerial attacks.
  • In a similar scenario, standing on a Dream Land platform above a CPU Yoshi will cause it to use Egg Throw, which (when shielded) will be inevitably followed by an infinite stream of double jump canceled up aerials that are nowhere near hitting the player.
• On Sector Z, CPUs that are on the Arwing loading area behind the tail wing of the Great Fox will never use their up special to get onto the tail, causing them to get stuck there if their midair jumps do not grant enough distance/height.

See also

• Flaws in artificial intelligence