Spam refers to the practice of using a certain move repetitively. Projectiles are the most used spamming moves. This action is sometimes considered cheap, especially when a player uses the same attacks all the time. Some players will use different attacks but will have a tendency to use spammy attacks more often. Juggling an opponent may also involve spamming such as repeating Up Tilts. Grabs have also been known to spam. This is known as a chaingrab. Ideally, the spammable move is fast, has little or no lag, and can be used from a distance. While the game discourages spamming with Stale-Move Negation, the average spammable move doesn't do much damage anyway, so the effect is less noticeable. Spamming all the time will make a player's attacks very predictable, so a "normal" player can shield to dodge most of the spammer's attacks. Playing with characters with counterattacks or reflectors is also a good way to deal with spamming players. Saying that someone spams is usually considered a John within the competitive community as there is always a way for a character to counter spam.
Essentially any move can be spammed, but not all of them are effective. Here are some popular moves to spam:
- Many character's Neutral A combo
- C-Stick Smashes (especially with Wolf)
- Stall-Then-Falls
- Mario's Fireballs and Mario Tornado
- Luigi's Fireballs and Luigi Cyclone
- Dr. Mario's Megavitamins and Dr. Tornado
- Fox's Blaster and Fox Illusion
- Falco's Blaster and Falco Phantasm
- Wolf's Blaster and Wolf Flash
- Samus's Missiles (either kind)
- Pikachu's Thunder, Thunder Jolt and Down smash
- Link's Bombs, Bow, Hero's Bow, Boomerang and Gale Boomerang
- Young Link's Bombs, Fire Bow and Boomerang
- Toon Link's Bombs, Hero's Bow and Boomerang
- Ness and Lucas's PK Fire, PK Thunder and PK Thunder 2
- Pit's Arrows and Angel Ring
- Zelda's Din's Fire and Nayru's Love
- Diddy Kong's bananas
- Captain Falcon's Falcon Punch and Ganondorf's Warlock Punch (more likely for humor than to actually win)
- Yoshi's Egg Throw
- Snake's Grenades (they don't decay), his tilts, his DACUS and the Remote Missile
- Ike's Aether and Quick Draw
- Meta Knight's Mach Tornado, his Down smash, and the shuttle loop.
- King Dedede's Waddle Dee's and his Down Throw (Well known for it's chain throwing properties).
- Chaingrabs (Especially the infinite ones)