Albert.
Smash Master
Yo what's up?
Use Dtilt more. It’s a great poke/pressure tool and it spaces perfectly for Fair/DB/Fsmash. If you use the IASA frames, you can often jump straight from a dtilt back into a more neutral position. The old knowledge of “Can’t dtilt without tilting/ It puts your DI really bad-if you get hit” is bull****.
In either friendlies or seriousies, you should try reserving either Nair or Fair for your 4-frame go-to kill move. Either stop using Nair/Fair to wrack up damage, and then rely on the other move for damage wracking and then use the “fresh one” when they’re at 120 + If it tippers, You’ll be surprised at how early it kills (across the the entire weight classes) At the very least it will put them in a very bad position, and marth CAN ledge-trap/edge guard the entire cast. Learn how to trap each character.
You should try to use Marth’s aerial speed wisely for everything from Zoning, to camping, to baiting. Go from just passive-aggressive general annoyance (“haha, I’m like wario, you can’t hit me!”) to full on Agro Neo-mode (“haha I’m ****** you but I’m too fast for you to do anything about it”) Marth CAN play like a walking little bundle of impenetrable sword space, if you were to try doing that.
Practice your perfect shielding/ timed SH-Airdodges/ Shield pressure/ advantageous spot-dodges. Marth is actually a really, really great character for defense, if you think about it. He has the tools to approach you (when he wants to), he has the tools to camp you (when he wants to) and he has the tools to force you to do something stupid and get ***** for it. Marth is a VERY cerebral character, and it’s no coincidence that every single one of the best Marth players in brawl’s history have also been very intelligent people (across the rest of their lives)
SH or FH DB1 Isn’t a gimmick, It’s a situational frame trap/positioning tool. Sh DB1 through their air-dodge and then punish with what you want to. DB1 can also be useful when trying to get back to the ground, the random time-delay that it causes can force an opponent to over-commit to a landing-lag punishment whiff.
UAir’s duration sometimes goes through air-dodges. Remember that?? Practice your timing/spacing for hours on end!
You should practice Perfect shielding one-hits on predicting-reacting like Snake Ftilt, MK dash-attack Dair, Falco lasers and pokes, etc etc. Try Fsmash/Dsmash/ Dash Usmash/UpB (out of PS) on reaction for ridiculously low kills and/or pract
Jab can be useful as an annoyance. Some Marth players will do Jab 1, wait for the reaction, and then pressure with SH Fair, DB, Dtilt, Ftilt, or something. Improvise that s***.
Marth as a character can go entire matches with just Fair, Dtilt, Nair, and Dancing Blade, and grab. Those are the bread and butter moves, and d*** you for ever forgetting that s***. But, in seriouslys, try alternating using Just ONE of the Bread/butter moves and forcing yourself to figure out how to zone/pressure/bait/punish with Marth’s other versaitile moves/tactics., like tilts, smashes, specials, jumps, sliding shield, feints, etc etc etc.
You should try going for that Tipper Fsmash. It can turn the tables of the match in one move if you nail it. As long as you hold UP though (for DI) if/after you miss the move, you shouldn’t get ***** too badly by their punishment thing. Gretzsky or somebody said something like “You miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take” You should be constantly spacing for the Fsmash, ANYWAY, it’s roughly the same spacing as Fair/Nair (which you should be spacing for, CONSTANTLY, for better damage from tippers from when you get in. )
Dojo said that the way that he 3-0’d M2k in a set at WHOBO1 was “because I really really wanted it”
The imposter Proffessor Moody said it well: Constant vigilance!! You should be aware of all of the forms /zoning tools from every Marth player from every era. Consider these ideas your “bag of tricks” that you should pull from in order to adapt and compete in an ever-changing meta-game/set. Sometimes sets are decided more by the victor’s ability to adapt, rather than any of the more discernible quantitative differences in player skill
You should learn at least 15 characters at a competetent. Learn MK and Snake. Each character has something to offer about how to play the game for each other player. MK can kind of teach “annoying fast unstoppable pressure,” while maybe Lucario can teach you how to make your last stock count the most (not that the other stocks don’t matter just as much
) DDD teaches how to get that grab and the follow up from the throw. Ike teaches you how to make that hard read to get a solid smash attack. Having really strong secondaries can also help you deal with certain match-ups that you might never be able to figure out (for whatever reason)
Learn from your mistakes. I’m sure that a lot of top players have figured out totally random tricksies… just by f***ng up and then trying to salvage their f*** up
You should try and be content (or figure out how to be) about the other areas of your life. It’s no coincidence that every top player in Brawl’s history has had a very strong/stubborn/charishmatic/ and-or obsessive personality. Oh, and if you’re fat, lose the weight. It’s not that hard. If I can do it then so can you.
Read up on “conditioning” your opponents. Conditioning is a broad science that is used in a lot of sports, not just Brawl. Somebody could even argue that the Dallas Mavericks let the Heat win Game 1 in the recent finals, as a way of conditioning them into complacency. Let them think that they’re better than they actually are, or that your tipper spacing is actually worse than it is. It’ll come in handy when you start surprising them. In other words, It ain’t over till it’s over.
Whatever you do, play sexily, please. It’s much more interesting to watch.
If you’re gonna camp with marth, at least put passion into your camping. Force them to play at your pace/speed.
You should play with honor. That being said, there’s no honor among thieves, and in Brawl you’re thieving away each others lives, one chip at a time. So really, the only honor to be had is to yourself. You paid your entry fee, you decide how much you want to win. Brawl is a slower game.
Mike said it really well back in 2009, during the MK ban debate in the Marth discussion.: (paraphrase) “I don’t know about you, but I’ve never once felt like I was playing up to my full potential. Dealing with MK helps force me get there, and it makes other match-ups easier”
Marth has some really weird frame traps V a lot of the cast when they’re trying to get down to the ground in a linear motion., while you have frame advantage from both doing the pressuring and being than them. My thoughts on this are… “laggy aerial to force Air-dodge” (UAir, Nair, Bair, Dair in some situations, Fair in some situations. Then “relatively faster punish” Fair/nair/grab to punish their lag.
Do the “Mr. R” and play faster than you can actually think. Play fast enough until your mind catches up.
Marth is moderately light but he’s not as light as MK or a few other characters. If you’re at 110 you should try and force Snake to hit you with his Ftilt, instead of say, Utilt, because, depending on your area/proximity of the stage/which stage, Ftilt won’t be killing you, but Utilt will. You should also know which tippers on which attacks kill which characters at which angles. At some points you might want to risk and go for that perfect earliest-kill because it will noticeably take the stresser off you.
Watch your opponent before you watch yourself. Marth is flashy enough that his sword/the godly tipper should always be in your perferal vision whilst you focus on your opponent with your primary vision. Remember- He is your enemy. You must kill him.
Shield breaker and Fsmash have so much intimidation factor that you can sometimes get away with them on block (when, frame-wise, you shouldn’t be able to) Abuse that **** for funsies. Shieldbreaker also has a lot less lag than it “should”… Try buffering a jump-away-reset or buffering upB. Even if it doesn’t always work, it still causes that frustration factor.
Walk more, It reduces the chance of tripping. Marth’s walk is beastly.
Something that comforts me when I’m playing is that I often get hit… purely by my OWN mistakes. They aren’t really doing anything impressive, I’m just messing up. So over the course of each match/set, you should be putting yourself through the mill to erase the bad habits (as you see them) and make up new ones
Something that not enough people talk about is Isai’s line “Don’t get hit” While Brawl doesn’t have as many 0-deaths as 64/Melee does, Not getting hit is still JUST as important, because 10 points from a nudge here or there could be the difference between Marth successfully ledge trap ****** an opponent and marth NOT trapping said opponent.
Try charging Dsmash. The move is fast enough that you can snuff airdodges/spot-dodges on predicting-reaction
Marth isn’t that bad in doubles. That Inui guy has always been a big fan of doubles because it takes a certain amount of skill in a very weird skill: selflessness. If You can deal with two different opposing forces trying to hit you, And if you’ve got your partner’s back, whilst also putting out your own opposing forces: This will make you better in singles because the stress of helping your friend/ dealing with Two bad guys is reduced, instead, to, protecting (just) yourself and dealing with (only one) opposing character.
Having good reflexes is very important. You should do what you can to make your reflexes faster.
Listen to “The Fire” by The Roots.
Go for the crazy ****. Go for the mix-up. BE CLUTCH. You should take inspiration from the way that MikeHaze plays: If you’re doing random ****, they will not be prepared for it, and you can adapt to their adapting of you. Marth’s Risk/reward ratio is actually pretty awesome some times. There are also many different ways to play Marth, and you should know all of these different “forms” and know how to smoothly transition from one to the other to adapt to the match-ups/players that you have to deal with.
Anyway, thanks for reading.
TL:DR: what are you, 15? Shut up, nobody (legitimate) cares.
Use Dtilt more. It’s a great poke/pressure tool and it spaces perfectly for Fair/DB/Fsmash. If you use the IASA frames, you can often jump straight from a dtilt back into a more neutral position. The old knowledge of “Can’t dtilt without tilting/ It puts your DI really bad-if you get hit” is bull****.
In either friendlies or seriousies, you should try reserving either Nair or Fair for your 4-frame go-to kill move. Either stop using Nair/Fair to wrack up damage, and then rely on the other move for damage wracking and then use the “fresh one” when they’re at 120 + If it tippers, You’ll be surprised at how early it kills (across the the entire weight classes) At the very least it will put them in a very bad position, and marth CAN ledge-trap/edge guard the entire cast. Learn how to trap each character.
You should try to use Marth’s aerial speed wisely for everything from Zoning, to camping, to baiting. Go from just passive-aggressive general annoyance (“haha, I’m like wario, you can’t hit me!”) to full on Agro Neo-mode (“haha I’m ****** you but I’m too fast for you to do anything about it”) Marth CAN play like a walking little bundle of impenetrable sword space, if you were to try doing that.
Practice your perfect shielding/ timed SH-Airdodges/ Shield pressure/ advantageous spot-dodges. Marth is actually a really, really great character for defense, if you think about it. He has the tools to approach you (when he wants to), he has the tools to camp you (when he wants to) and he has the tools to force you to do something stupid and get ***** for it. Marth is a VERY cerebral character, and it’s no coincidence that every single one of the best Marth players in brawl’s history have also been very intelligent people (across the rest of their lives)
SH or FH DB1 Isn’t a gimmick, It’s a situational frame trap/positioning tool. Sh DB1 through their air-dodge and then punish with what you want to. DB1 can also be useful when trying to get back to the ground, the random time-delay that it causes can force an opponent to over-commit to a landing-lag punishment whiff.
UAir’s duration sometimes goes through air-dodges. Remember that?? Practice your timing/spacing for hours on end!
You should practice Perfect shielding one-hits on predicting-reacting like Snake Ftilt, MK dash-attack Dair, Falco lasers and pokes, etc etc. Try Fsmash/Dsmash/ Dash Usmash/UpB (out of PS) on reaction for ridiculously low kills and/or pract
Jab can be useful as an annoyance. Some Marth players will do Jab 1, wait for the reaction, and then pressure with SH Fair, DB, Dtilt, Ftilt, or something. Improvise that s***.
Marth as a character can go entire matches with just Fair, Dtilt, Nair, and Dancing Blade, and grab. Those are the bread and butter moves, and d*** you for ever forgetting that s***. But, in seriouslys, try alternating using Just ONE of the Bread/butter moves and forcing yourself to figure out how to zone/pressure/bait/punish with Marth’s other versaitile moves/tactics., like tilts, smashes, specials, jumps, sliding shield, feints, etc etc etc.
You should try going for that Tipper Fsmash. It can turn the tables of the match in one move if you nail it. As long as you hold UP though (for DI) if/after you miss the move, you shouldn’t get ***** too badly by their punishment thing. Gretzsky or somebody said something like “You miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take” You should be constantly spacing for the Fsmash, ANYWAY, it’s roughly the same spacing as Fair/Nair (which you should be spacing for, CONSTANTLY, for better damage from tippers from when you get in. )
Dojo said that the way that he 3-0’d M2k in a set at WHOBO1 was “because I really really wanted it”
The imposter Proffessor Moody said it well: Constant vigilance!! You should be aware of all of the forms /zoning tools from every Marth player from every era. Consider these ideas your “bag of tricks” that you should pull from in order to adapt and compete in an ever-changing meta-game/set. Sometimes sets are decided more by the victor’s ability to adapt, rather than any of the more discernible quantitative differences in player skill
You should learn at least 15 characters at a competetent. Learn MK and Snake. Each character has something to offer about how to play the game for each other player. MK can kind of teach “annoying fast unstoppable pressure,” while maybe Lucario can teach you how to make your last stock count the most (not that the other stocks don’t matter just as much
) DDD teaches how to get that grab and the follow up from the throw. Ike teaches you how to make that hard read to get a solid smash attack. Having really strong secondaries can also help you deal with certain match-ups that you might never be able to figure out (for whatever reason) Learn from your mistakes. I’m sure that a lot of top players have figured out totally random tricksies… just by f***ng up and then trying to salvage their f*** up
You should try and be content (or figure out how to be) about the other areas of your life. It’s no coincidence that every top player in Brawl’s history has had a very strong/stubborn/charishmatic/ and-or obsessive personality. Oh, and if you’re fat, lose the weight. It’s not that hard. If I can do it then so can you.
Read up on “conditioning” your opponents. Conditioning is a broad science that is used in a lot of sports, not just Brawl. Somebody could even argue that the Dallas Mavericks let the Heat win Game 1 in the recent finals, as a way of conditioning them into complacency. Let them think that they’re better than they actually are, or that your tipper spacing is actually worse than it is. It’ll come in handy when you start surprising them. In other words, It ain’t over till it’s over.
Whatever you do, play sexily, please. It’s much more interesting to watch.
If you’re gonna camp with marth, at least put passion into your camping. Force them to play at your pace/speed.
You should play with honor. That being said, there’s no honor among thieves, and in Brawl you’re thieving away each others lives, one chip at a time. So really, the only honor to be had is to yourself. You paid your entry fee, you decide how much you want to win. Brawl is a slower game.
Mike said it really well back in 2009, during the MK ban debate in the Marth discussion.: (paraphrase) “I don’t know about you, but I’ve never once felt like I was playing up to my full potential. Dealing with MK helps force me get there, and it makes other match-ups easier”
Marth has some really weird frame traps V a lot of the cast when they’re trying to get down to the ground in a linear motion., while you have frame advantage from both doing the pressuring and being than them. My thoughts on this are… “laggy aerial to force Air-dodge” (UAir, Nair, Bair, Dair in some situations, Fair in some situations. Then “relatively faster punish” Fair/nair/grab to punish their lag.
Do the “Mr. R” and play faster than you can actually think. Play fast enough until your mind catches up.
Marth is moderately light but he’s not as light as MK or a few other characters. If you’re at 110 you should try and force Snake to hit you with his Ftilt, instead of say, Utilt, because, depending on your area/proximity of the stage/which stage, Ftilt won’t be killing you, but Utilt will. You should also know which tippers on which attacks kill which characters at which angles. At some points you might want to risk and go for that perfect earliest-kill because it will noticeably take the stresser off you.
Watch your opponent before you watch yourself. Marth is flashy enough that his sword/the godly tipper should always be in your perferal vision whilst you focus on your opponent with your primary vision. Remember- He is your enemy. You must kill him.
Shield breaker and Fsmash have so much intimidation factor that you can sometimes get away with them on block (when, frame-wise, you shouldn’t be able to) Abuse that **** for funsies. Shieldbreaker also has a lot less lag than it “should”… Try buffering a jump-away-reset or buffering upB. Even if it doesn’t always work, it still causes that frustration factor.
Walk more, It reduces the chance of tripping. Marth’s walk is beastly.
Something that comforts me when I’m playing is that I often get hit… purely by my OWN mistakes. They aren’t really doing anything impressive, I’m just messing up. So over the course of each match/set, you should be putting yourself through the mill to erase the bad habits (as you see them) and make up new ones
Something that not enough people talk about is Isai’s line “Don’t get hit” While Brawl doesn’t have as many 0-deaths as 64/Melee does, Not getting hit is still JUST as important, because 10 points from a nudge here or there could be the difference between Marth successfully ledge trap ****** an opponent and marth NOT trapping said opponent.
Try charging Dsmash. The move is fast enough that you can snuff airdodges/spot-dodges on predicting-reaction
Marth isn’t that bad in doubles. That Inui guy has always been a big fan of doubles because it takes a certain amount of skill in a very weird skill: selflessness. If You can deal with two different opposing forces trying to hit you, And if you’ve got your partner’s back, whilst also putting out your own opposing forces: This will make you better in singles because the stress of helping your friend/ dealing with Two bad guys is reduced, instead, to, protecting (just) yourself and dealing with (only one) opposing character.
Having good reflexes is very important. You should do what you can to make your reflexes faster.
Listen to “The Fire” by The Roots.
Go for the crazy ****. Go for the mix-up. BE CLUTCH. You should take inspiration from the way that MikeHaze plays: If you’re doing random ****, they will not be prepared for it, and you can adapt to their adapting of you. Marth’s Risk/reward ratio is actually pretty awesome some times. There are also many different ways to play Marth, and you should know all of these different “forms” and know how to smoothly transition from one to the other to adapt to the match-ups/players that you have to deal with.
Anyway, thanks for reading.
TL:DR: what are you, 15? Shut up, nobody (legitimate) cares.
