Mechanics

SARB is based off of the Super Smash Bros. series, and has similar mechanics to the games. However, there are still different ways that SARB uses these mechanics.

Controls
E - Locks/Unlocks the mouse.

T - Taunt

LMB - Light attack

RMB - Heavy attack

Shift - Crouch

F - Block

Q - Dash

In-Battle Mechanics
Damage and Percentage


 * To put it short, there is no health in this game. In place of that, there's a damage percentage. As you take damage, the percentage rises. Note that the game uses up to the tenths place in training mode, but rounds up or down in the game.

Knockback


 * When damage is taken, knockback is also applied. This actually applies to all attacks besides the first two Neutral Lights of every fighter, the only exception being Athena. Knockback also scales with damage, so the more damage you take, the farther you get sent flying by attacks.

Dash and Spot Dodge


 * Pressing Q makes your character dash in the direction they are currently traveling.
 * Holding no buttons and pressing Q performs a spot dodge, which makes any attack that "hits" you during it's active time miss completely while your character emits a special effect. You can be hit out of the spot dodge briefly before and after the visual special effect.
 * Dashing and spot dodging can be performed midair, making them the only defensive option while airborne.

Shield


 * Activated by pressing and holding F.
 * Releasing F right as an attack connects with a shield, better known as a parry, will allow the receiver to act almost immediately out of shield and the attacker being stunned momentarily, leaving them defenseless. The timing is rather precise and, due to latency, sometimes fighters have to release it earlier or later for it to register.
 * The shield slowly decays while F is held, and also takes damage and gets visually smaller as it takes damage. This is visualized by a bar over the current character's percentage display. When the bar is emptied, or the shield is completely destroyed, the fighter will be temporarily stunned, unable to act.
 * Shields cannot be used while airborne.

Spike or Meteor Smash
 * Some attacks knock straight downwards. This can be seen most clearly with Engram's Axe Kick and Brawler's Rising Dragon. This isn't exactly a mechanic by itself, but unique enough to earn its own spot.

Recovery


 * A recovery is the attempt to get back onto the stage after being launched or falling off.
 * A recovery move is an attack that can launch the user back on stage.
 * Every fighter has a recovery move as their aerial heavy and can also be combined with other moves, dash and double jump to get back on stage.
 * An example a recovery move is Brawler's Dragon's Fist and Swordfighter's Dolphin Slash

Edgeguarding


 * Edgeguarding is the attempt to prevent an offstage opponent from recovering onto the stage.

Super Armor
 * Attacks still connect and deal damage, but no knockback is received until a certain amount of damage is dealt within a short period of time. So far, this has only been implemented with Swordfighter's Neutral Heavy. Visually, two circles will appear around the attacked, indicating that the partial guard is still up. For Swordfighter's Neutral Heavy, the move will be canceled after 15% is dealt.

Hyper Armor


 * Similar to Super Armor, however there is no damage cap. Athena's Crouch Heavy and Bruiser's Neutral Heavy both have Hyper Armor. Both are notably offset by having slow startup and endlag, particularly when used outside of a combo.

Advanced Mechanics
Dash Cancel


 * Almost any movement can be performed while dashing by performing the move input and a dash at almost the same time. The input is somewhat precise, but it allows the controlled fighter to move at the speed of a dash while also performing an attack. The attack has to be input first.
 * Dash cancelling is ineffective with regular attacks, as they do not register. Heavy attacks are much more effective, as they do register and pack a serious punch.
 * Crouching cancels your dash, so crouching attacks do not apply to dash cancelling.
 * 99.9% of the time you cannot combo out of a dash cancel. It's best to apply this with strong attacks.


 * You cannot use neutral attacks (attacks that require input that isn't forward) while dash cancelling forwards.

(Editor Note: This might actually be possible but I haven't verified it. Theoretically it's extremely difficult.)

Jump Cancel


 * Like dash cancelling, you can perform an attack then jump right after to perform the attack while jumping. The input for jump cancelling is slightly less precise than dash cancelling.
 * You can't jump while crouching, but in specific situations (such as delaying the first two hits of Brawler's JC to crouch attack), certain crouch attacks can be cancelled with a jump. The input for performing this is very strict, and allows crouching attacks to link into aerial attacks.
 * Unlike dash cancelling, jump cancelling is a powerful combo tool, but not a combo starter. The Brawler can jump cancel his crouching sweep after his jab combo at higher percentages to combo into his heavy grab.
 * Jump cancelling mid combo allows you to input the jump slightly after the attack. This generally only applies to crouching lights, as they are the only universal move characters can jump cancel out of after moving.

Instant Air Dash Attack (IADA)


 * Performed by inputting an attack, then immediately after inputting jump and dash. The fighter will move the full length of an aerial dash and perform the inputted attack while the dash occurs.
 * This is a combination of both a jump cancel and a dash cancel, and an IADA can be used with both a crouching attack along and regular standing attacks. Using a crouching attack with an IADA is much more difficult than a regular attack.
 * Like dash cancels, IADAing regular attacks is ineffective as the move doesn't usually register. The strength of an IADA comes when used in tandem with a heavy attack, which allows the usage of a fighter's (typically) most powerful attack while moving at blinding speed.
 * Also like dash cancels, you cannot IADA forwards while performing a neutral attack.
 * IADAs don't have any applicable combo potential (yet, as of current writing) for most characters, except with the Scourge and Engram, with their Moving Heavy and Crouching Heavy respectively, as they both are good combo starters. Athena might also be able to use this with her Moving Heavy.

JC Storage


 * Strangely, interrupting any character's JC combo with a crouching attack "stores" the next attack in the series, making the next time a jab is thrown out the next in the said series. (Example JC 1-2 -> Crouching Light "stores" JC A3 and will make the fighter perform JC A3 the next time you attempt a JC).
 * Some moves cancel JC storage, making the JC normal again. This is most observable in the Brawler's Overhead slam and many Crouching Heavies.
 * JC Storage is often detrimental, so before throwing out an attack after performing a Crouching Light, it's best to reset your storage to ensure your next combo starter comes out correctly.
 * The Swordfighter is a special snowflake, and cannot perform JC Storage usual circumstances. His crouching attacks instead reset his JC.
 * Dashing right after attacking will in some cases perform JC Storage. This form of JC Storage seems to be universal.

Cooldown Switch


 * Every attack has a cooldown except jabs. If you attempt to do an attack while it's in cooldown, either no attack will come out, or the next acceptable move will. This is most observable in dash attacks, where after using a dash attack, the next attempted dash attack will instead throw out a dashing JC A1, if done fast enough.
 * This is most exploitable with characters who have a bad DA but a good starting jab, like the Swordfighter. If your character has a poor dash attack that can't be comboed off of, a cooldown switch can potentially allow them to instead combo off of a dashing JC A1.
 * Cooldown Switch ignores JC Storage. A dashing JC A1 will always be the move that comes out, but the next attack in the JC will be the stored attack.
 * If not performed fast enough, the Cooldown Switch doesn't occur, instead performing the dash attack again, but the first half of the animation bugs out and doesn't play at all. The hitbox still comes out, which, while it looks awkward, can aid in ambiguous approaches.
 * The Brawler, Scourge, Brickbattler, and Bruiser cannot Cooldown Switch. They can only perform the ambiguous dash attack.

Nick Nack Pattywack


 * By leaving the game as player one in a 1v1, it keeps player 2 within the 1v1 section. It usually does not break the 1v1 pad, which means that if you start another 1v1 with the person still in there, the other person will be there in the 1v1, therefore making it a 1v1v1.
 * This usually confuses people.