chaos_Leader
Smash Lord
Introduction
This is not a strategic or tactical guide for use in matches.
When looking at ways for a player to improve their Fox technique, I've seen a lot of "learn the character" and "go to training mode" and "master the moves" sort of guff flying around the boards, but I haven't seen many (if any) practical methods for someone to go about approaching these things. From what I can tell, there appears to be a stark disconnect among Fox players who know all about tech-skill goodies, and those who aren't so familiar with them. As far as guides have thus-far gone, it's either been helplessly vague, or so tangled up in minute technical details that execution and practical implementation gets lost.
The purpose of this thread is to bridge this chasm; to provide the aspiring Fox player with tools that can be used to condition their fingers, mind, and muscle-memory for the lighting-fast moves, quick thinking, and pinpoint precision that's all but required for a solid and well-rounded Fox game. Fox's greatest strength is the ferocious, almost mind-boggling speed that he can be played at. Incidentally, getting one's Fox to that level of play is also one of the greatest challenges facing a Smash Bros player. It is this uphill challenge of mastering Fox's furiously fast technical game that this guide strives to confront.
The Real Part of the Guide
For now, this guide will be a list of drills and exercises, as well as an in-depth procedural breakdown of Fox's valuable maneuvers and techniques.
This guide assumes the player is familiar with basic Smash vocabulary.
Dash-Dancing
This is a fairly simple technique that most anyone should be able to accomplish with little trouble. Simply click the controls stick back and forth in quick succession, and Fox should quickly move from side to side in the dash startup animation. As simple as it is though, the dash-dance a good starter for drill sessions to get the fingers moving for more complicated procedures.
Aerials (And Autocanceling Them)
Fox has a solid aerial game with good tools that can be utilized in-game. That is not what this is about though. This is about making you the player comfortable with your aerial techniques so they can be woven seamlessly into a greater overall game. This requires the player to be smooth, precise, and above all: quick.
Autocanceling aerials is hyped and fawned over throughout the entire smash game; there's a reason for that. Every air move in Smash has a landing animation that runs if you hit the ground before the move is done. Autocanceling an aerial move is simply finishing the move completely while still airborne, and then landing normally. Autocanceling simply allows you to hit the ground running, and so play into the smooth, quick, fluid precision of higher-level gameplay.
Fox has a number of moves that benefit from the autocanceling mechanics, namely:
- U-air
- F-air
and to lesser extents:
- B-air
- D-air
Note:
for all intents and purposes, N-air does not benefit from autocanceling. it is a sex-kick that stays out for a while, and the landing lag it does have is essentially negligible.
The most iconic Fox autocanceled (AC) aerial move is an AC SH U-air. It is performed thusly:
Command Input: Jump (short) -> up control stick + A attack
The only trick to getting off the autocanceled SH U-air is to be quick; input the attack fast enough after jump that the entire move will be complete before Fox hits the ground.
Do Not Fast-Fall! Fastfalling will result in Fox landing on his head, which I daresay is not an ideal position to find your character in. Also, do not jump the gun on inputting the attack, wait until Fox's feet leave the ground, or instead of an AC U-air, you'll get a U-smash.
Once you get this down, practice stringing several U-airs together in a smooth, unbroken chain. Doing so is excellent for finger conditioning and muscle-memory training.
An autocanceled SH F-air is essentially the same as AC SH U-air, the inputs are almost exactly the same; be quick getting the attack out, and don't fastfall it. What you need to remember though is that the F-air will still have the iconic Fox-Copter hover effect. Instead of returning quickly to the ground, Fox will hang out about a foot above the ground while he does his seven-strike tornado-kick before a lagless landing. This gives Fox a rare opportunity for lateral aerial movement similar to Jigglypuff and Wario, since the hovering SH F-air can be used while retreating and advancing.
Practice this technique too. Hovering, retreating, and advancing AC SH F-air is a good thing for your fingers to know how to do.
B-air can also be autocanceled much the same as U-air.
D-air is, at best, difficult to autocancel, and it cannot be done from a Short Hop. A Full Jump can conceivably autocancel the D-air, even onto some platforms. The best use I can think of for an autocanceled D-air is coming in very high, likely after being knocked away. Experienced players know how to exploit the landing lag of Fox's D-air, and will punish you every time you use it willy-nilly. By coming in high and starting the D-air early, Fox will finish the move before he hits the ground, and so land lagless and ready to act, instantly.
This is highly situational, and probably not something that needs continual practice in a conditioning/training regimen.
Reverse Aerial Rush (RAR)
You've seen lots of players do this before I'm sure: dash one way, then jump facing the opposite direction from a dash, often throwing a B-air "forward". This is reverse Aerial Rushing, RAR, and is a fairly rudimentary technique in the cornucopia of complicated smash acrobatics. RAR however is an excellent springboard into more challenging techniques.
The concept is simple: during a full dash, click back on the control stick to begin the turn-around animation, and jump. This jump, performed as a short hop and combined with B-air produces the RAR. Performing strings of RAR, and variations thereof (advancing, retreating, stationary), is an excellent conditioning exercise.
Note:
Other areals and other moves can be performed from a jump reversal and have tactical merits; but B-air, from a finger mashing standpoint, is the most pertinent for a conditioning situation.
The Laser
You've seen every Fox and their brother do it: laser spam until there's no tomorrow, usually while bouncing up and down across the stage. This is laser canceling, and the concept is simple: land Fox on the ground while shooting lasers, and then be free to act instantaneously. This is accomplished by Fox, while shooting the final laser the player wants to shoot, lands before the twirly put-away animation has a chance to begin. Otherwise, the twirly animation commences, and Fox is stuck for a second that often cannot afford to be wasted. Having a firm command of Fox's laser canceling mechanics is an invaluable tool that will reap gameplay benefits when used well.
The way laser canceling is most often utilized by Fox players is in the form of a Short Hop Double Laser, or "SH-2X Laser", or "SHDL".
Command Input: Jump (lightly for short hop) -> B -> B (lagless landing)
The main trick to performing the SH-2X Laser technique is to have a little patience. If you start firing off the laser too quickly, Fox will begin the twirly put-away animation before he hits the ground, and will impede your mobility. Oftentimes, Fox players will stagger the laser shots, so one goes out high and another goes out low, similar story with Falco. Not only is it more likely to hit your opponent, but firing the first laser at/near the apex (top) of the hop will make it far more likely for the second laser to come off at that key moment before the put-away animation begins when Fox lands.
practice this often, until your fingers can do this while you sleep. Muscle-memory is very helpful here.
Once you've mastered the basic SH 2X Laser mechanics, you can then move on, and combine the hop with a dash beforehand. From there, that dash+hop can be further combined with a reversal, so Fox shoots his lasers where he was coming from. The reversal is literally the same input used for Reverse Aerial Rushing "RAR" covered earlier, just the lasering input is used here instead of an aerial A attack.
Again, practice this often, until it gets boring, and even then you're only just at the beginning.
Fox also has the option to use a Short Hop Triple Laser/SH 3X Laser/"SHTL". The mechanics behind the SH 3X Laser is fundamentally the same as SH 2X Laser (and laser canceling in-general), the only significant difference is input timing. Instead of patiently waiting a half-second for Fox to reach the apex of his hop, the first laser has to come out the instant Fox's feet leave the ground. Inputted properly, this should produce two high lasers near the hop apex, and one silent low laser just as Fox lands. Other than that, it can be implemented in much the same way as SH 2X Laser.
Note:
If you have an unmodified or just tap-jump off control scheme, the SH 3X Laser technique is impossible or extremely difficult to perform. If you intend to make SH 3X Laser and integral aspect of your Fox game, it is highly recommended that you swap in/add an alternate button as your "Special" or "Jump" input. (On GameCube controllers) Many players use Z, L, or R as a jump, or special; I personally use X as another special and keep Y as jump. The bottom line for any non-standard control scheme is that you are comfortable with it.
Upon landing, with no annoying twirly put-away, the possibilities for Fox are quite literally endless. You could for example:
- String in another set of SH 2X Lasers
- Dash at the opponent for an attack
- Dash away to retreat
- Bring up the shield to defend
- Anything you can think of
The fact that Fox can do whatever he damn-well pleases after this is what makes the Laser canceling a viable tactical option: your opponent has no idea what you'll do next since you can do anything. Practice as many follow-up techniques and maneuvers as you please; the laser game is only one piece of a greater Fox game.
Reflector / Shine
Arguably Fox's most iconic move in all Smash Bros, and not without good reason. It is imperative that the Fox player knows all the mechanics associated with this little flashing hexagon, and how to put it to good use.
Note:
Work in progress. Will update ASAP.
Illusion Dash
Note:
Work in progress. Will update ASAP.
Jump-Canceling
Jump-Canceling can be thought of as a kind of action override. The mechanics work roughly as follows: the character is in the middle of some action that can be interrupted by a jump. The classic example of course being the shield. Other than grabbing, there really isn't a whole lot anyone can do straight from a shield without letting it down first, thus wasting precious frames. The Jump basically cancels the shield, but if the player quickly inputs another command before the jump animation begins, the character will do that move instead; hence: jump-canceling.
For Fox, the classic example is to Jump-Cancel (JC) U-smash out of shield. Simple concept: hold down shield -> input jump -> input U-smash immediately after. Technically, Fox can do just about anything from a Jump-Cancel, including the Reflector/Shine.
Note:
It is not absolutely necessary to Jump Cancel from shield under all circumstances. the jump can be used straight from the shield as normal, sometimes to great tactical benefit as will be seen with items.
But, Jump-Canceling doesn't stop with the shield. There are a few other actions that can be interrupted by a jump and thus a Jump-Cancel, like the Dash. Normally there's a limited number of things Fox can do directly from a Dash: Dash Attack, running U-Smash, and maybe Shine if you get into the full Dash. Jump Canceling opens up a number of other options, like Reverse Running U-smash.
Reverse Running U-Smash is essentially a canceled RAR jump with a U-smash attached. The dash turnaround animation begins -> jump inputted, turning Fox around -> U-smash inputted during the Jump-Cancel time. I've heard weird things about "not letting the control stick hit the middle" and other such guff, but as far as I've seen with firsthand experience, there really isn't a whole lot of fancy things to it.
The Reverse Running U-smash actually makes an excellent conditioning tool because of its rapid inputs and necessary precision.
There's another move many don't think to JC: the Shine. Normally Fox in motion can only perform the Down-B shine while in a full dash. Jump-Canceling cuts through this barrier, and allows Fox to perform a JC Shine during the dash startup animation.
Command Input: Dash -> Jump -> Down-B Shine. All in quick, rapid succession.
The result should be Fox scooting a short distance and whipping out the reflector very quickly, stopping him in his tracks. A reversal can also be added to this technique if so chosen. I personally like to tag a JC shine at the end of a short Dash-Dance, to stop Fox quickly and move on to something else.
Double Jab Cancel
Note:
Work in progress. Will update ASAP.
Items and how to wield them
Sooner or later you are going to find yourself facing down a banana spamy Diddy Kong, a gyro happy R.O.B., a turnip loving Peach, or even a Z-Suit Samus who's not a afraid to pelt you with armor bits. Luckily, Fox has strong options when wielding items. These are the bare basics for catching, grabbing, and throwing items. Specific techniques will have to be found on your own, but are built on these foundations.
When grounded, a character can throw an item in one of four directions: up, down, forward and backward. Normally, the character stays rooted to the spot they threw from for some time, and doesn't really help the game move along. A lot of characters in Smash Bros Brawl benefit from their respective glide-toss mechanics. Fox does not. However, Fox has a different and arguably far more useful tool: Jump-Cancel Toss.
Jump-Canceling has been mentioned in this guide earlier. The mechanics for a JC Toss apply to the dash version. The same action override from the jump input, combined with a directed toss (as opposed to a dash toss), allows Fox to slide a short but not insignificant distance while hurling the item in his hand in one of the four cardinal directions.
Command Input (holding item): Dash (startup or full) -> input Jump -> input direction+Attack (to throw item) before the jump animation begins.
The item will leave Fox's hand, and Fox will still carry the momentum from his dash, thus sliding. The method I use for JC tossing is sliding my thumb from Y-jump to A-attack, with my toss direction already in the control stick.
Practice this often, in all four directions. Go into training mode, grab a few bananas, and have fun with it.
More to come soon on item acquisition.
Closing
I have several more things that I'd like to add to this list. Time and energy at this instant are so far constraining me, and I have to get something up for now. On my personal list of things not yet mentioned that I will soon add:
- JC-tossing and item familiarity
- Pivot wavegrab/boost pivot wavegrab
- Crossing under the stage.
- wall-jump of the stage's edge to recovery, probably some form of Illusion.
- Some way to practice teching off walls/ceilings.
By all means, if you have another handy technique or two that would benefit this training guide, post it up here and I'll practice it. If it's a good thing to have, then I'll put it right up here.
That's all for now, I'll be sure to get some more up soon.
