But I know that for example a game like Smash Brothers has done this for the Fox and Falco characters (forward+B), and they clearly pulled it off.
No, actually theres just a long hitbox that appears for the length of the attack. You can trust me: i'm probably the only guy on these boards (along with my brother) who has played smash brothers since it's dawn. Me and quazi still play often, and we know all about the hitbox postions and such (yes, we're hardcore melee players ). I suggest you should think of multiple ways to acheive a desired result. While a loop can work well, it's often the slowest way of doing something.