In Smash 4 there are two parts to a short hop: the jump squat (where your character crouches for the jump) and then the actual jump in the air. Aerial attacks can be executed as soon as jump squat frames end, however it's very difficult to time aerial inputs as early as possible: often frames are wasted in between the jump squat animation ending and the actual aerial attack input.
Double sticking is a method of using the C-Stick in tandem with the analog stick in order to buffer aerial attacks during jump squat to guarantee the earliest possible frame-perfect execution. What's more, using C-Stick for aerials frees the analog stick for focused horizontal movement control in the air, as otherwise the analog stick would be used both to determine the kind of aerial attack and adjust position.
- Requires custom control setup to perform
Note: Up-airs cannot be buffered with this technique unless C-Stick is set to "Attack" instead of default "Smash Attack", as the game will interpret Up + C-Stick Up input as a jump-cancelled up-smash
- With Tap Jump On
- Push analog stick up and C-Stick attack simultaneously.
- With Tap Jump Off and Shoulder Button set to Jump
- Push analog stick up, shoulder jump button and C-Stick attack simultaneously.
- Optimizes easier frame-perfect execution of short hop aerials to earliest possible frame
- Aerial hitbox starts at lowest possible height out of jump, in some cases allowing rising aerials to hit standing opponents out of jump when they otherwise couldn't (e.g. Pikachu's neutral-air)
- For some characters allows short hop aerial animation to end before landing back on the ground as to prevent otherwise unavoidable aerial landing lag, opening the way follow-ups (e.g. Fox's up-air)
- For characters with interruptible frames towards the end of their short hop aerial animations, ensures a sufficient window before landing for the interruptible frames to be available to cancelling into other moves (e.g. Roy's short hop forward-air)
- Buffer aerials out of jump consistently
- Requires custom control setups
- Not necessary if you have incredible hand-eye coordination/muscle memory or use Claw technique to push jump button and C-Stick
