___ __ __
/ | ____/ / ______ _____ ________ ____/ /
/ /| |/ __ / | / / __ `/ __ \/ ___/ _ \/ __ /
/ ___ / /_/ /| |/ / /_/ / / / / /__/ __/ /_/ /
/_/ |_\__,_/ |___/\__,_/_/ /_/\___/\___/\__,_/
______ __ _
/_ __/__ _____/ /_ ____ (_)___ ___ _____ _____
/ / / _ \/ ___/ __ \/ __ \/ / __ `/ / / / _ \/ ___/
/ / / __/ /__/ / / / / / / / /_/ / /_/ / __(__ )
/_/ \___/\___/_/ /_/_/ /_/_/\__, /\__,_/\___/____/
/_/
______ _ __
/ ____/_ __(_)___/ /__
/ / __/ / / / / __ / _ \
/ /_/ / /_/ / / /_/ / __/
\____/\__,_/_/\__,_/\___/
____ _ _ ____ __ __ __ __
( _ \( \/ ) ( _ \ /__\ ( ) /__\ ( )
) _ < \ / )(_) )/(__)\ )(__ /(__)\ )(__
(____/ (__) (____/(__)(__)(____)(__)(__)(____)
*****************************************************
Copyright 2004 Parth Nikunj Dalal. This guide may not be sold or reproduced
under any circumstances except for personal or private use. It may not be placed
on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written
permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public
display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All trademarks and
copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark
and copyright holders. If you would like to include this guide on your website,
then please feel free to send me an email at the following address:
[email protected]
================I================
==========Introduction===========
================I================
The ability to tech, wavedash, short hop, and l-cancel is what sets a skilled
smasher apart from a beginning Melee player, a newbie. Understanding these
'advanced' techniques helps us become better by adding more strategy into the
game as well as improving our timing and judgment. In this little guide, I'd
like to explain in full detail all the advanced techniques that top-level
players use in battles and tournaments as well as some minor tips that will
improve your game. I hope this helps all those out there who are having trouble
with these techniques or don't even know about them or how to use them. If
you'd like to learn how to become better at the game then read this guide
thoroughly making sure not to skip a single part, even if you think you already
know exactly how to do it. You may learn something new. To begin this little
guide, let's discuss the wavedash!
================II================
===Wavedashing and Dash Dancing===
================II================
The wavedash is an unorthodox movement technique that, depending on your
character's traction, slides him/her to the left or right a certain amount with
smoke clouds forming around the character's feet. You can only attain mastery
over of this essential skill through practice and more practice. However, the
time and effort required for learning the basics of this technique is
negligible. Here I will teach you how to perform this versatile move and how to
proceed with it, and shape it to make it perfect.
Wavedashing is like riding a bicycle without training wheels. You won't forget
it once you learn it. You'll get rusty at times but within a few seconds you'll
get it back. Now, let's get to it. To start, go into versus mode with time
'none' and select your primary character. Also make sure that the item switch
is set to 'none' so you don't get distracted while you're practicing. As for
the stage, I recommend Final Destination, but you can choose any course with
flat ground. Final Destination is best because the texture on the ground is
uniform, level, and the stage looks like a nice training ground.
When the training session begins, just get to the middle of the flat area on
your course. Now, press the 'x' button to jump up high into the air. Examine
your jump. You'll notice that your character, when starting from the ground,
doesn't jump at the exact moment you press the button. This isn't the delay of
the controller sending signals to the game; it's a delay that's built into the
game. Every character will have at least 0.02 seconds of delay before they soar
into the air. Each character has a slightly different delay and the key to
mastering your character's wavedash is to familiarize yourself with this delay.
Jump a few times and carefully examine your jump. Now comes the hard part.
Hold the control stick completely downwards and then jump, keeping the control
stick down. As soon as your character jumps, TAP the 'R' button to air dodge
straight down. DO NOT HOLD 'R'. I repeat, don't get in the habit of holding
'R' after a wavedash. This will interfere when you try to incorporate
wavedashing in your battle strategy. Anyway, again, as soon as your character
jumps, merely TAP the 'R' button to air dodge straight down. You should see your
character go up just a little bit, if not at all, and then immediately hit the
ground with smoke forming around his/her feet. If you didn't get it right, try
again until you get the correct result. The key to doing this right is to press
'x' with your thumb and 'R' with your index finger. The buttons should be
pressed in quick succession according to your character's jump delay. Keep
practicing this until you can get it to appear as if your character doesn't even
leave the ground. Smoke clouds should just suddenly burst underneath your
character's feet. If you got this result, congrats! You just did a downwards
wavedash! Now start wavedashing downwards repeatedly. See how many times you
can do this in a row. You should be able to keep this up as long as you want.
If you can do this, great! Now, for horizontal movement...
So far you've been holding your control stick downwards when wavedashing.
Although this isn't considered a true wavedash, you've still got the motion of
the right hand down. Now you need to use this motion in conjunction with your
left thumb on the control stick. Try the following: go to your training ground
and start by wavedashing downwards repeatedly. After you're reasonably
efficient at this, continue to wavedash downwards repeatedly, but slowly alter
the angle on the control stick. Slowly continue to move your thumb in the left
or right direction. I suggest starting out in the direction your character is
facing. Very slowly increase the angle of the control stick to become more and
more horizontal. Your character should be accelerating in whatever direction
you've chosen. Finally, you'll reach a point where your character will visibly
air dodge just a few pixels above the ground. You've passed the limit. Or at
least, you've passed the limit to which YOU can wavedash. You still haven't
perfected it. Try lightly holding the control stick in a diagonal direction so
that your character begins to trot. Now, try to wavedash while your character
is trotting. It'll be a faster and longer wavedash. With practice, you should
be able to wavedash with the control stick almost completely horizontal. This
is known as a perfect wavedash. If you can't do this yet, don't give up.
Practice everyday. You've learned the basics.
You've learned to wavedash. Now, it's time to use this technique in battle.
The wavedash is primarily used for appearing evasive and tricky, as a mind game.
You can dash towards an opponent at full speed and just when they attack, you
can wavedash backwards, dodging their attack. Since their attack will most
likely have a lag afterwards, you can immediately dash forwards for your attack.
On your training ground, practice dashing in one direction, wavedashing
backwards, and immediately dashing forwards again. Remember not to hold the 'R'
button down after your wavedash (unless of course you are using that as your
strategy), otherwise the back-wavedash, dash approach will fail. This is one
basic application of the wavedash. (Note: 'Keep in mind that 'dashing' is not
the same thing as wavedashing. Dashing is when you jam the control stick in one
direction to run.') You can also repeatedly dash forwards and wavedash
backwards, making it look as if you are sliding back and forth. The opponent
will get frustrated because it is hard to tell when you'll really attack. Other
uses for the wavedash include the cancellation of the attacks of some
characters. This will be discussed later.
Here is a critical technique that can be used as an alternate to wavedashing
back and forth. It is often referred to as the Dash Dance. Wavedashing allows
you to slide forward and then immediately slide backwards. You can repeat this
process; however, dash dancing is a much easier and more efficient way of
achieving the same (if not faster) result. Dash Dancing is another strategy for
appearing tricky. Simply jam the control stick in one direction. When you see
smoke appear from the starting animation of the dash, immediately dash the other
way. Then dash the opposite way again and repeat. If you do this correctly,
you should be able to repeat this Dash Dance for a long period of time. Just
keep jamming the control stick back and forth with good timing. It'll look like
your character keeps flipping around with smoke forming at his/her legs. This
technique has its own uses which will be discussed later in this guide.
Practice wavedashing and dash dancing until you feel you're consistent at both.
These two techniques will help you trick people into attacking you or may even
intimidate them. Use them wisely! Dash dance, wavedash, wavedash, wavedash,
dash dance, wavedash, dash dance etc.
================III===============
==Short Hopping and Fast Falling==
================III===============
'The Short Hop' serves as an essential component of your battle modus operandi.
A short hop is nothing more than a jump, with a lower initial velocity. In
other words, it's a small jump that is about half the length of your character's
full jump. This move can be performed using the control stick, the 'x', or the
'y' button. My suggestion, if you're new to short hopping, is to start with the
'x' button as this button does not affect the angle at which you move, providing
more control over your movement. With the control stick, on the other hand, it
becomes more difficult to move your character in the desired direction as you
have to flick the control stick diagonally, often causing undesirable results.
For this reason, I'll begin by explaining what I call the 'button' short hop.
This method of short hopping uses the 'x' button. If you perform your normal
jump using the control stick and feel uncomfortable using this button to short
hop, just think of short hopping as a totally different technique, because it
is! Now, let us begin.
First go to your training ground and stand in the middle. At this moment, look
at your left thumb. It should be directly over the 'A' button, pointing up and
a little to the left. Now, visualize a dot, about 2 inches to the right of the
'x' button. Quickly move your thumb from its current position to the position
of the imaginary dot. Now move your thumb back to its former position and
repeat a few times, only on these repeats, apply a little downwards pressure
with your thumb as you move it. If you did this correctly, you will hear and
feel the 'x' button snap or go down a little. This is the motion required by
your thumb in order to short hop. Try it again, only this time, observe the
results. If you are short hopping correctly, you will see an obvious effect on
your screen. The jump height for your character should have reduced by a
considerable amount. Congratulations! You've learned to short hop. Now, try
to short hop while moving the control stick in a certain direction. You should
be able to short hop about as consistently as you can jump. Short hop across
Final Destination or do anything that you believe will serve as good practice.
You've learned the basics of the short hop. Now it's time to move on to the
relatively easy technique called Fast Falling.
Whether or not you've heard this term before, I'm sure you've used it in a game
as a defensive technique, as we humans tend to do it naturally. It's purely
instinctive. Holding down on your downwards trajectory will cause you to fall
faster. Pretty basic, huh? Try it now. Jump, and while falling hold the
control stick down. There are both offensive and defensive uses for this
technique which will be discussed in later sections. Although this technique
hardly takes any effort to master, using it in a game effectively with other
moves requires skill.
================IV================
====Advanced Offensive Tactics====
================IV================
Offense, to be on attack, is the main skill needed to win against your opponent.
Offensive skills help us accumulate damage on the opponent and finally, K.O
him/her. A good offense means attacking the opponent and leaving no room for
him/her to attack you. In this section, we will discuss various aspects of this
skill in an order to make you a better offensive player. You will gain a
broader understanding of how attacks work and will be able to use this
understanding to dominate your opponent. That said, let's begin.
An understanding of the priority, delay, and lag time of your character's
attacks will greatly aid you in forming offensive strategies and help you to
stop attacking blindly. When we refer to an attack as a 'high priority' attack,
it means that if this attack occurs at the same time as your opponent's attack,
it will most likely win. In other words, the priority of an attack determines
whether it will be dominant when you and your opponent's attacks occur at around
the same time. Attacks with high priority include grabs and smashes. Hardly
anything can escape a correctly timed grab. However, grabs are hard to pull off
at the correct time to cancel powerful attacks. Later, we will discuss the
Standing Grab, a more accurate and versatile variation of the running grab.
Moving on, you should also take notice of the of the start-up and lag time of
your character's attacks. These properties, unlike the priority, can be easily
figured out by simple trials of each attack. Try every single attack your
character has. Take note of the time it takes to begin (start up) and the time
it takes after the attack until you can begin attacking again (lag time or
delay). Attacks with a large start up and lag time are not good moves to use
when you and your opponent are playing on the ground. Instead, use these
attacks when you wish to edge guard. If your opponent is off the stage trying
to make a recovery, it helps to use these slow moves. Roy's B move can be used
effectively when edge guarding. You'll often see it used in tournament videos
but chances are they'll only be using it to edge guard. These slow moves don't
do well in battle because if your opponent happens to avoid or shield against
it, your lag time will leave you open for attack. Try every attack with your
character and get a general idea of the start up and lag time of each move.
Then, determine which of these moves should be used when in close-up battle and
which should be used for edge guarding. Apart from knowing priority, delay, and
lag time, the hitbox is another property of an attack that is helpful to know.
The hitbox of an attack is the area that attack covers in that particular
direction. Although the term hitbox suggests this area is square, it could be
any shape at all. For example, when Fox sticks out his leg for a kick, if
hitboxes were visible, you would see a circle around his foot. This area can be
hit by your opponent; however, if you have a disjointed hitbox, such as Roy's
sword, you can deal damage without fear of being hit. His sword is a hitbox but
is not attached to a limb making it a great ground attack. To see the hitboxes
for characters, you need to borrow an AR (Action Replay) and find out your
version number. To find the version number, turn your disc over so that the
shiny side is facing you. You should be able to see some text in the middle
ring that looks like this:
'DOL-GALE-0-00'
The very ending section of this text displays your version number where 00 is
version 1.0, 01 is version 1.1, and 02 is version 1.2. To access the debug menu
in you version of Melee, use the corresponding code:
--------------------------------------
| v1.0: v1.1: |
| 77H8-Y4CD-H4VRY 69KC-WJGT-V09F5 |
| JR3K-U29H-U6BHT P5A0-GP46-M8EB7 |
| |
| v1.2: PAL: |
| VBF7-P9Y6-2788D 7X1H-THWE-401YB |
| TDA5-YA0R-8947W 47K3-GPZC-DBY82 |
--------------------------------------
After you've activated the code and started the game, simply begin navigating
and you'll eventually end up at debug mode. It's easiest to just press 'A'
three or four times. On the debug menu, you should see a section called 'DB
Level'. With this text highlighted, keep moving right until you reach Develop
or Debug. After you've done this, start a battle by choosing your character and
course and pressing Start. If you cannot navigate through debug mode
effectively there are several guides around the internet you can find, however,
it should be considerably easy to figure out how to start a battle. Go to
Versus Mode > First Mode > Char Select to select your character. Highlight
'Stage' to change the stage. 'Last' is Final Destination. Anyway, once you
begin battle press R + Up to turn your character into a bunch of yellow blobs.
These are collision bubbles. Your opponent's collision bubbles have to touch
yours in an order for contact to take place. Use attacks while in this
'collision bubble' mode to see exactly where your attack hits. By doing this,
you'll get a better idea of how to use your moves in offense. You'll also see
when you're invincible as your collision bubbles will turn a different color.
Use all this knowledge to your advantage in battle. All the R functions in this
mode are useful. Do down, right, left, and up and you'll see all kinds of
useful things such as stage boundaries and hitboxes. By now you should have a
broader understanding of your character's attacks regarding priority, lag time,
start up time, and range. Now, let's discuss cancellation.
What is cancellation? Cancellation is the process of canceling lags or attacks.
There are two main types of cancels: L-Cancels and Jump-Cancels. Using these
cancels in battle will make your character far more agile. The most important
type of cancel is the l-cancel. This type of cancellation reduces the lag from
aerial attacks to almost zero, so you can get up and start attacking directly
after an aerial attack. Try this with your character. Go to your training
ground and short hop. You should remember how to short hop from III. At the
peak of your hop, move your thumb back to 'A' keeping the control stick in the
neutral position. Press 'A' at this point. You should have performed some kind
of aerial attack. Now, perform the action again except try to jump a split
second after you land from the aerial. It doesn't work does it? This is
because when you land while performing an aerial, there is a horrendous lag time
that leaves you open for attack if you miss them. To reduce this lag, TAP 'L',
'R', or 'Z' as soon as you land the attack. You'll know if you performed it
right when you can jump or shield immediately after landing. When short
hopping, one easy way to l-cancel that requires less practice is pressing 'Z'
twice. The first press of the button will result in an aerial attack while the
second press will immediately cancel the lag from landing. You can practice
this method or you can do it the traditional way. L-Cancellation is one of the
hardest techniques to get used to. Every aerial attack you do from now on
should be l-cancelled as it never leaves you open for attack. You can combo
your opponent like crazy if you master this ability. Another type of
cancellation, known as the Jump-Cancel, is a method of canceling an actual
attack or a dash, by jumping. Naturally, if an attack or dash can be jumped out
of, it can be wavedashed out of. So use this technique wisely for combos. One
example of an attack that can be jump-canceled is Fox's Down + B reflector move.
Its ability to damage opponents opens the door for many infinite combos, as you
can Down + B, wavedash, Down + B, wavedash etc. Another very common use for the
jump cancel is for performing Standing Grabs, Running Smashes, and Shield
Smashes.
Go to your training ground right now and place your opponent somewhere in front
of you. Begin a dash, by jamming the control stick in the desired direction,
and press 'Z' as you approach the opponent. If you did this correctly, you
should have grabbed the opponent. Now, once again place your opponent in front
and dash towards him/her. As soon as you are about to collide with the
opponent, go ahead and press Up + Z. The action of pressing Up + Z (X + Z also
works) should cancel the dash and begin a standing grab, opposed to the crouched
grab that is normally performed by a character when running. This version of
the grab is faster than the normal dash-grab and should be used either as a
mind-game, or for grabbing high-priority attacks. When a high-priority attack
approaches you, you can immediately jump-cancel the dash and grab, to the
annoyance of the opponent. Next, you can use the same principle of jump-
canceling the dash, to up-smash out of a dash or shield (especially useful with
characters with strong up-smashes e.g. Fox). When performing the Running Smash,
simply dash and then press Up + A at the correct time. It'll take some time to
get it right but once you do, it gets easier to perform it again. Uses for this
technique are endless. If your opponent is falling down away from you and you
are dashing towards him/her to send her up again, you can perform a running
smash. The running smash, however, can be performed using a different method of
canceling the dash as well. To cancel the dash in an alternate, slightly slower
way, crouch as you are dashing. This will cancel the dash and allow you to use
any attack. Now, let's discuss Shield Smashes. This is more of a defensive
counter technique, but since it falls along the lines of jump-canceling, it will
be explained here. A shield smash is nothing more than a shield to an
opponent's attack, immediately followed by your smash attack. It's faster than
grabbing out of a shield and will deal more damage as well. Simply press Up + A
at the correct time when the shield is activated. Since you can Jump-Cancel
shields, you can wavedash out of them as well, but you'll have to be careful not
to accidentally perform a roll.
By now you know how to short-hop, fast fall, and l-cancel. These 3 techniques
can be combined to perform one extremely useful technique called the 'Shffl' or
shuffle. The S and the H in this acronym stand for Short Hop. The FF stands
for fast fall, while the L stands for l-cancel, which is why 'Shffl' is
sometimes also called 'Shfflc'. What is this, you ask? It's the fastest way to
perform an aerial attack. This technique is much like an attack with very
little start up time and virtually no lag-time and high priority (as it's an
aerial attack), making this absolutely necessary in close-range combat. This
technique, however, is very hard to learn and takes a lot of practice. To
perform a shuffle, begin by short hopping. During your hop, press the 'A'
button and hold any direction on the control stick you like, or don't even press
the control stick. After this, perform a fast fall and as you touch the ground,
l-cancel the lag. It sounds complex, but soon it becomes one motion, much like
the wavedash. Once you learn how to shffl an aerial attack, you can perform
instant combos. You can do aerial attacks repeatedly with very little lag time
in the middle. You can wavedash after l-cancelling to catch up with your
opponent for more combos. To use shuffling effectively in battle, you should
perform a short-hopped aerial into the opponent, and as soon as you make contact
with him/her, immediately fast-fall and l-cancel. Now, you can catch up with
the opponent and continue your combo-ing. The shuffle is mainly used for
combos. One of the most important skills, it's not something to give up on.
Moving on, here is an offensive technique that can grant you a K.O while your
opponent is at a fairly low percentage. Edge hogging, they call it, is a way to
hog the edge so that the opponent, attempting to recover, misses the edge and
falls to their death below. Two people can't hang on an edge, so if you hog the
edge, how will the other person get on? It seems like a simple technique to
learn, but this, like all the others, will take some practice to get down.
You'll see why in a moment. First, let's discuss the easiest edge hogging
situation. If you hit your opponent off the edge and they are attempting to
recover, and they are above the edge (they are away from edge only in horizontal
distance), they will have to use an Up + B or other recovery move at some point
after their double jump. When they do, they will begin to fall towards the edge
in a disabled state, unable to attack. After using Up + B attack, examine your
falling animation. This is the disabled state where you can't do anything. If
you're hanging on the edge at the time in which they are in their disabled
state, they will simply fall to their deaths. This first situation is very easy
to edge hog in. The second situation requires good judgment and timing. First
you will most likely have spiked them downwards. A spike is a term used to
describe an attack that, in the air, sends the opponent flying downwards e.g.
Fox's Down + B, Ganon's Down + A, Falco's Down + A ... you should know your
character's spike attacks. Anyway, if they fall underneath the ledge, and they
are trying to get back up with a vertical recovery move, this vertical recovery
move will most likely be a damaging one e.g. Mario's Up + B. If they hit you
with this move while you're edge hogging, they will replace the edge and you
will get damaged. To avoid this from happening, as soon as they come within
range of your feet, press 'R' to roll back on to the stage. The few
invincibility frames of you getting up will protect you from the incoming attack
and will edge hog at the same time. An alternative in this situation is to
wavedash backwards onto the ledge. Don't hold down as you fall otherwise you
will not hang on to the edge. When you grab onto the ledge for the first time,
you will have a few invincibility frames as well. You can also use both these
techniques to have a longer invincibility. Wavedash back onto the ledge and
immediately press R to get back up. This extended period of invincibility will
edge hog superbly. One more note on edge hogging; if you have at least 100
damage, the invincibility frames of your character getting up will be extended,
allowing you to have more leeway when timing your press of the 'R' button. So
when at high percentages, make full use of this.
To conclude this section on offense, I'll describe to you an incredible edge
play tactic that can be used on both offense, as a means of attack, and defense,
as a safe way to get back up. The Ledge Hop is a jump from the ledge performed
by pressing Down + X. You will fly straight upwards and can perform any attack
you normally can in mid-air. It's good to fast fall an aerial attack from the
mid-air position and l-cancel as you hit the ground. The high priority of your
aerial attack will most likely keep the opponent off your back. It's by far the
safest way to get up from a ledge. To make this more of an offensive skill, you
can use it to do what is called a Ledge Wavedash. The ledge wavedash is a
wavedash from the ledge and is essentially the fastest, not necessarily the
safest, means by which you can get back up. You can link this type of wavedash
to a grab or smash or anything you can think of. To perform this move, you need
to first master ledge hopping. Once you can ledge hop consistently, try to
ledge hop so that when you jump, you jump diagonally in the direction you are
facing. In other words, after you press Down + X, immediately move the control
stick a little bit in the direction you are facing. If you are facing right,
the control stick should be facing a downwards right direction. Like the normal
wavedash, you should press the 'R' button as soon as you ledge hop. The timing
comes after a lot of practice. Once you get it however, you may or may not use
this technique because of the danger of incorrectly timing your dodge and
committing suicide. While you are wavedashing, you can use any standing
position move you like, so grab, smash, and do whatever.
So you've learned some useful offensive tactics that should improve your
offensive style of play, but the game is not all about offense. When you focus
on both offense and defense, you'll have a higher winning rate then a player who
only focuses on offense. So what are you waiting for ... let's move on to
defense!
=================V================
====Advanced Defensive Tactics====
=================V================
Defense is the art of preventing the opponent from inflicting damage on your
character. By resisting or driving back an enemy attack, we can immediately put
them into a combo-ing position and switch to offensive mode. With good
defensive skills, the damage you take and the lives you lose will be much less
within a given time. Developing a good defense is critical.
When someone hits you so that you fly upwards, they'll most likely try to keep
you in the air. They'll try to juggle you. You can make it much harder on them
if you use a technique called Directional Influence in combination with the fast
fall. When you push the control stick in any given direction, it influences the
direction of your character. Pushing the control stick right moves your
character right whereas pushing it left will move your character left. When you
go flying up in the air, you can become very tricky by fast falling and
influencing your direction one way, and when you are a few feet above your
opponent, moving the other way. Whatever move they were planning to attack you
with will lag (assuming they attempted it) and you will safely fast fall onto
the ground ready to battle. This is the safest way to fall from an attack as it
makes it a burden for the opponent to position him/herself beneath you. It can
make the difference between life and death.
Other defensive techniques that help you when you are in the air include the Air
Recovery (or Air Tech) and The Tech. Normally, when you get thrown a few feet
above the ground, you'll be disabled (unable to attack) for a certain amount of
time. Usually, to save ourselves, we simply use our second jump or some sort of
attack. However, this isn't exactly the best method. When you're high in the
air, and your opponent remains on the ground, it puts you in a vulnerable
position. The opponent has a major advantage over you. Although it may seem
safer high up in the air, what you actually you need to do is stay closer to the
ground. When you are sent in the air from an attack, it's best to use
directional influence to reach the ground, and tech when you hit. Teching is an
elementary skill, and only requires little practice.
To tech, press the L or R button just as you hit the ground, maybe slightly
before. The timing comes after a few tries. To practice this skill when you're
alone, set yourself up against a level 9 computer on Final Destination. When
you get smashed or get thrown up into the air, fall towards the ground and
attempt to tech. If you teched properly, you'll notice it, as you will recover
significantly faster than normal. However, the type of tech you're doing right
now is most likely the Standing Tech, which is far less useful than the Tech
Roll. To tech roll, simply hold the left or right direction while you tech.
You will do an abnormally long roll on the ground and will appear evasive to
your opponent. To use the tech roll in battle, you should know how far your
character usually rolls when performing it. If, from a fall, you hit the ground
a little to the right of the approaching opponent, then it's not a good idea to
tech further to the right. Because of the minute lag of the tech, you'll again
be put into the defensive position, which is obviously not what you want.
Instead, consider teching 'through' your opponent. In other words, in a
situation where you've landed a little to the right or left of the opponent,
tech roll towards the opponent. This will get you out of the combo-ing position
and get you ready for battle again. Next, there is the Wall Tech. You'll
notice when you hit a wall after getting knocked back, you'll bounce around and
not recover as fast as you would like. The good news is that you can tech while
hitting a wall as well. In a place like Hyrule Temple, such a technique helps
quite a bit. You can even do something that closely resembles a wall jump after
you are hit. Simply hold an upwards direction on the control stick while you
wall tech, and voila, you did a wall jump right after getting attacked. Also,
if someone is edge guarding against you when you are directly beneath the ledge,
and they are charging up a down-smash, it might seem dangerous to try and
recover. However, if you are close enough to the ledge, you can perform a wall
tech, OFF the ledge! Just press L right when he/she smashes you. Then, you can
use another recovery move to make it back onto the stage. Overall, teching is
one of the most useful defensive skills and should be learned well.
Now, you should know that you can only tech when you actually 'hit' the ground.
For this reason, if your opponent catches up to you BEFORE you reach the ground,
you'll most definitely get hurt. A better way of recovering in the air as
opposed to jumping is to use the Air Tech. You should use this recovery when
you get hit high enough so that normal ground teching is out of the question.
To use this recovery, repeatedly tilt the control stick from side to side until
you recover, being careful not to accidentally jump. Now, when you recover, you
are free to use any move you like. It is recommended that you use an aerial
attack rather than jumping or air dodging and disabling yourself. The whole
point of this recovery is so you can begin attacking sooner. You can jump
recover too, but it's not as effective as the basic air recovery. Use this
technique anytime you are sent flying and are under the threat of dying, or when
you would like to attack from the air, instead of falling and teching or tech
rolling. This technique is also very useful when you fly off the edge and can't
recover fast enough to jump back on to the stage. You can make your recovery
faster by tapping left and right and then jumping as soon as you see your
character recovered.
Now, say you get hit off the stage and our trying to recover with a standard
recovery move, such as Up + B. Chances are, if you're up against a strategic
opponent, he/she will be guarding the edge, ready with a sword (Marth, Roy) or
charging down smash (Falco, Fox). You need to be able to avoid these attacks
while you recover. This is a perfect example of a situation in which you need
to utilize the invincibility frames you have when you first grab the ledge. In
a technique known as 'sweetspotting', you either barely reach the edge, or you
reach the edge in time so that you are invincible by the time your opponent's
attack occurs. You'll notice that when you are off the stage and approach a
ledge, your character grabs the ledge before he touches it. Every character has
a different 'ledge grab range', as I call it. Ness has a considerable grab
range. To use sweetspotting, you need to be familiar with this range. When you
are knocked off the stage and are trying to make it back, you'll either be above
the edge, or below the edge. What you need to be able to do is position
yourself so that you can use a recovery move (most likely Up + B; Side + B in
some cases), and at the end of that recovery move, you'll barely be in range of
the ledge so that you can grab it. Since Fox is my primary character, I can
give you a good example. Say Roy is up on the ledge of Final Destination
waiting with his 'B' move, and Fox has been knocked off below the ledge and is
trying to get back up. What this Fox needs to do is to position himself
directly underneath the ledge, and then fall a bit and use his Firefox (Up + B)
move. If he has executed this correctly, he will fall short of the ledge by an
extremely small amount, but because of his grab range, will hang and attain
invincibility for a fraction of a second. From here, Fox can either wait for
the defender's move to end (if it occurred right when he reached the ledge), or
drop down (if the he's not going to be invincible when the defender's move takes
place). To practice this type of vertical sweetspotting, get a general idea of
the maximum height of your character's vertical recovery move (assuming he/she
has one) and then practice on any course with a ledge, preferably Final
Destination or Hyrule Temple. Drop down low enough so that you will just barely
make the edge, and then use the move. If you go higher than the edge, then you
are vulnerable to attack. Also, your character may or may not have a horizontal
recovery move. Fox, for example, has his (Side + B) move that can be used to
sweetspot the edge by instantly grabbing the ledge. Whoever your character may
be, experiment with his/her sweetspotting capabilities and you should have found
a technique that suits your usual match-ups best.
*****************************************************
As for now, this is all the guide is. But be sure to check back for updates. I
may add some other technique tutorials as well. So far, you've learned most of
the 'basic' advanced techniques that exist in the game. Hopefully, you enjoyed
learning them and are putting them to good use. There are many more to explore
though. One place to go if you want to learn more is
http://www.smashboards.com
which is probably the best website for smash out there! Speaking of
SmashBoards, I'd like to thank all the influential members on the site who
helped me learn a lot about my Fox and smash in general. I don't want to
mention names, because I'm afraid I'll forget one. There are so many of them.
Anyway, thanks to them and thanks to Nintendo and HAL for producing the most
awesome fighting game on the planet! Thanks to all my friends who smashed with
me, it was fun and without you I wouldn't have gotten any better. And finally,
thanks for reading this. Without you, there is no point in this guide. Thanks
and good luck with your smash! Oh and by the way, I've never made a guide
before like this before so excuse the weird ASCII text art logo if it's
unprofessional...
