Sudden Death

Sudden Death is the tiebreaker that occurs in the Super Smash Bros. series. At least two players will participate in Sudden Death when they tie for 1st place at the end of the match. Players start off at 300% with no items (except the first game) and only one stock. After 20 seconds, Bob-ombs will come down on the stage. Sudden Death acts like a 1-stock match; whoever survives Sudden Death wins it and the match. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, there is a special rule during regular matches called Super Sudden Death, which means players can start with 300% damage at anytime in a Time, Stock, Coin or Bonus match. Also, in Brawl onwards, a player can set their handicap to 300% while statistics are kept track of. In addition, the crowd is silent in all games except for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U.

In the original Super Smash Bros., a Sudden Death is not possible in a Stock match because if two or more players get eliminated even if it is not for 1st place, the position goes to the highest player number.

In the first three games, if three or more players went to Sudden Death, the order of the ranking of Sudden Death decides the rankings of the match.

Ties in Sudden Death
If a tie occurs in Sudden Death, another one will not happen and the match will end with a winner being announced by the following criteria:
 * Super Smash Bros.: Highest player number (P4 > P3 > P2 > P1)
 * Super Smash Bros. Melee: Lowest player number (P1 > P2 > P3 > P4)
 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl: Usually at random
 * Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U: Usually by most KOs in Sudden Death, but a player who was eliminated early in Sudden Death can still win. If three or more players go to Sudden Death, everyone but the winner in Sudden Death each receive 2nd place.

Spin-offs
Sudden Death also appeared in Super Mario Strikers and Mario Strikers Charged when both characters scored the same number of goals at the end of the match. When that happens, the character who scored the golden goal will win the match. If It occurs in Mario Strikers Charged, then a siren will sound, which signals the start of Sudden Death.