Idle pose

One of the Wii Fit Trainer's idle poses in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

Idle poses (sometimes referred to as idle animations, and referred to as Wait_ in Super Smash Bros. Melee's debug menu and in internal Brawl files) are minor, mainly nonconsequential animations that play at random if a character stands still for a length of time.

Idle poses can affect the direction the shield carried by the Links faces (excluding Link in Smash for 3DS/Wii U), therefore affecting its ability to block projectiles.

Trivia

• Master Hand also has an idle pose, but it is never seen in normal gameplay because the AI never allows enough time between his attacks. The idle pose can, however, be seen using the Master Hand glitch in Melee; for his idle pose, he simply clenches his fist.
• Some characters have an animation that actually is part of their regular standing animation, but are often mistaken for idle poses. Unlike idle poses, they play at regular intervals instead of randomly (and they can be seen in the character customization screen on the on both versions, where idle poses never play). Some examples include Sheik, Little Mac, Meta Knight, and Roy.
• In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, Yoshi, Link, and Sheik will revert to their Super Smash Bros. Brawl idle poses if they hold a small item, like a Capsule.
  • A similar thing happens to Dr. Mario, Lucas, and Roy when they hold a small item. All three of them would instead perform Mario's, Ness's, and Marth's idle poses respectively.
• Peach, Zelda, and R.O.B. are the only characters to have more than two idle poses.
  • Peach is also the only one with four of them.
• Jigglypuff is the only character to have no idle poses post-Melee.

References

All idle poses in Brawl
All non-DLC idle poses in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U