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Some of the alternate costumes use different animations, like Inkling for example or, more recently, Byleth. Inkling's idle animation is different depending on if it's a female or male Inkling for example. Wouldn't that mean that their hurtboxes behave differently in their idle animation? Is there an actual theoretical/practical gameplay difference (however minor) between alternate costumes?

Because some people seem to have trouble seeing very obvious differences in animations, here's an example grabbed from Sakurai's Direct:

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Notice how they hold their swords over their right shoulder. Let's say you had a Fox fire his Blaster from the left at the same height as their heads. If hurtboxes and hitboxes follow the animations (which is what I thought would be the case), wouldn't that mean that Fox would hit female Byleth in the head, while male Byleth's right hand would be hit?

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No, alternate costumes have never changed the hurtbox of any character. Hitboxes (and by extension, hurtboxes), are derived from the default skin. This is why characters like Male/Female Corrin & Robin share the same height, as they have the same hitbox and hurtbox on their attacks. This also applies to characters less "alternate costume" but more "echo fighter", like the Koopalings.

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  • That makes no sense, I thought the hurt and hit boxes follow the animations? Why would they stay the same if the animations are different?
    – user181983
    Commented Feb 1, 2020 at 2:20
  • The animations are not different. Unless you care to provide a source for that claim.
    – childe
    Commented Feb 1, 2020 at 3:26
  • ... really, dude? Did you even read my question? That was literally the entire point of my question, which your "answer" didn't even address: that animations are different, even if only slightly, for some alternate costumes, and I provided an example. And you want a source? What, do you want me to find a gif for you? I assume if you tried to answer a Smash Ultimate question, you probably have a copy of the game yourself, so why not boot it up and check it for yourself? You could go and check male and female Byleth, it's much easier to spot with them if you just look at their swords.
    – user181983
    Commented Feb 2, 2020 at 0:23
  • I booted up my copy of the game and found no differences in the animation. Instead of just saying you believe there's a difference, you should do your best to provide proof to support your claims.
    – childe
    Commented Feb 2, 2020 at 0:24
  • Dude, LOOK AT MALE AND FEMALE BYLETH! Are you joking or what?
    – user181983
    Commented Feb 2, 2020 at 0:26
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Agreeing with senpai, alternate costumes and associated different animations do not change the hurtboxes (and hitboxes) for the characters. However, I want to back this statement with a quote from the Smash Wiki page.

Pikachu, Pokémon Trainer, Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, Robin, Corrin, Inkling, and Byleth all have male and female variants; and Olimar and Bowser Jr. have model swaps that change them into different characters with different names, complete with corresponding voice and Announcer clips, though like all other alternate costumes, they bear no gameplay differences.

And also this previous Arqade answer, which states that it is mechanically impossible for alternate costumes to have different hurtboxes (and hitboxes).

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Wouldn't that mean that their hurtboxes behave differently in their idle animation? Is there an actual theoretical/practical gameplay difference (however minor) between alternate costumes?

This is correct. Odd-costumed Byleth uses idle animations 1 and 2, while even-costumed Byleth uses idle animations 3 and 4, and they are sufficiently different that even though their hurtboxes are the same, there is a minor gameplay difference. (Note that they do use the same "base pose", so they both return to the same shape after executing other actions, before the idle animations start.)

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    Can you prove that those idle animations, different as they may, have different hurtboxes?
    – childe
    Commented Feb 8, 2020 at 19:46
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    Animations do not "have" hurtboxes. Hurtboxes are a property of the character slot, and they always follow animations. This is one of the most fundamental axioms of the Smash Bros. engine. Unfortunately this is difficult to prove in this case, because the difference is so small that there are few (if any) hitboxes small and precise enough to hit Byleth 1's arm without hitting Byleth 2's arm or either's head.
    – Toomai
    Commented Feb 8, 2020 at 23:21
  • Hurtboxes being a property of the character slot (which the two Blyeths share), and animations don't have hurtboxes, seems to suggest that the Blyeths have the same hurtboxes, not different.
    – BGamer
    Commented Feb 9, 2020 at 0:46
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    Yes they have the same hurtboxes, which will always be in identical positions relative to the bones they're attached to. But if they use different animations, the hurtboxes will be accordingly located in different places relative to the global playing field, and thus cause a miniscule but nonzero gameplay difference.
    – Toomai
    Commented Feb 9, 2020 at 15:34
  • youtube.com/watch?v=8exYA7uNkLg seems to show that even with different animations, the hurtboxes are always located in the same place, shown in the case of female byleth having hitboxes disjointed from the actual arm movement.
    – childe
    Commented Feb 10, 2020 at 9:01

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