Stale-Move Negation

Stale-Move Negation refers to using the same particular move over and over again, losing power with each attack.

Masahiro Sakurai added "Stale-Move Negation" to the Super Smash Bros. series in order to encourage players to try different attacks out and use characters to their fullest instead of using the same attack over and over again. When a character uses an attack, usually their more rapid weak attacks, too many times, the damage and knockback goes down until it becomes less than half its original power. This is something to remember in the Home-Run contest, as some combos will get weaker and weaker.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee the Stale-Move Negation only affected damage not knockback and, one could get "Stale Moves" as a Bonus at the end of a match. The bonus negates your points by 500-2000.

Some Brawl players were initially confused, as testing in Training Mode seemed to show no difference in strength. Apparently, Stale-Move Negation is not applied in Training Mode in Brawl, but it is in Melee. In addition, Stale-Move Negation is much more punishing in Brawl.

Mach Tornado, Drill Rush, Quick Attack, Vegetable, Eruption fully recharged (when damaging yourself), the Grapple Beam, and the Hookshot and Clawshot are not affected by Stale-Move Negation.