Why does DCUS (Up Smash out of run) exist?

[Quillion]

Why can you do your Up Smash out of a run? I know it existed in Brawl, but even then it didn't make sense to me.

It's just really weird. Running is supposed to be purely a movement option with a very limited offensive capability, but out of all your Smashes, you can only do your up smash. I don't even think it's described in Smash U's loading tips.

 

[---]

I think this would be a better question for the Brawl General board. Moving.

 

[Quillion]

I think this would be a better question for the Brawl General board. Moving.

But it exists in Smash 4, too, so that wasn't really necessary.

 

[Nuttre]

I think it is to do with how brawl (and sm4sh) interpret C-stick inputs. In melee it is treated as a seperate input, but in brawl/sm4sh it is an analog + a iirc

 

[Stride]

It's a necessary side effect of the fact that the inputs for jumping and up smashing overlap.

One of the ways to input an up smash is by smashing up on the control stick and pressing the A button; since smashing up on the control stick also makes you jump, you would have to press the A button on the same frame as you press up on the control stick in order to have the input interpreted as an up smash and not as a jump (the A button press would be ignored because it takes place during inactionable lag, or maybe it would buffer an aerial; I'm not too sure about how it would work in Brawl).

To compensate for this, the game allows you to cancel your jumpsquat with an up smash so that you don't have to be frame-prefect with your input. Because you can cancel your dash with a jump (which is a completely intentional design decision), and then cancel the jumpsquat into an up smash (which is a practically necessary concession), this has the side effect of letting you do running up smashes.

The only reason you can do up smashes out of a dash or run is because you basically have to be able to; the other smash attacks don't have input overlaps like up smash does, so the designers don't have to let you do them out of a dash.

 

[Quillion]

It's a necessary side effect of the fact that the inputs for jumping and up smashing overlap.

One of the ways to input an up smash is by smashing up on the control stick and pressing the A button; since smashing up on the control stick also makes you jump, you would have to press the A button on the same frame as you press up on the control stick in order to have the input interpreted as an up smash and not as a jump (the A button press would be ignored because it takes place during inactionable lag, or maybe it would buffer an aerial; I'm not too sure about how it would work in Brawl).

To compensate for this, the game allows you to cancel your jumpsquat with an up smash so that you don't have to be frame-prefect with your input. Because you can cancel your dash with a jump (which is a completely intentional design decision), and then cancel the jumpsquat into an up smash (which is a practically necessary concession), this has the side effect of letting you do running up smashes.

The only reason you can do up smashes out of a run is because you basically have to be able to; the other smash attacks don't have input overlaps like up smash does, so the designers don't have to let you do them out of a dash.

I know you can A-stick a DCUS in Brawl and Smash 4. Can you do it in Melee (which reads C-stick inputs as their own thing)?

 

[Stride]

I know you can A-stick a DCUS in Brawl and Smash 4. Can you do it in Melee (which reads C-stick inputs as their own thing)?

Even though the mechanic exists to make the up and A method viable, it is implemented such that jumpsquat can be cancelled by any up smash input, no matter the method used: you can use up and A, or X/Y/up and C-stick up. Technically you can even jump with a button and then use up and A (but no-one does that because it's pointless).

 

[Comet7]

DACUS is not in smash 4 any more.

 

[Quillion]

DACUS is not in smash 4 any more.

DCUS, not DACUS.

 

[Tocaraca2]

I was wondering this too. Looks like my thoughts have been solved.