Super Smash Bros. Melee/Intermediate Techniques

These techniques are fairly easy to learn and implement.

Stealing a life
In a team multiplayer stock game if you lose all your lives, and your team-mate has more than one life left, press the to steal one of his lives. This will not work if your team-mate has one life.

Dash-canceling
You can "cancel" your dash by crouching (down on the joystick). This works well as a fake out tactic or if you don't want to attack with the dash attack. Dash-cancel to get your opponent to shield (in an attempt for a shield-grab) and then dash-grab. It also works for quickly picking up items from the ground and then continuing on running.

Dash-dancing (DD)
A technique that involves quickly tapping the joystick back and forth. When successfully executed, it results in the character rapidly turning around in the opening dash animation. Dash-dancing is used as a fake-out tactic because you can dash in either direction at any time.

Edge/Ledge Hogging
Holding onto the edge of the stage, preventing an opponent from doing the same, as only one player can hold a ledge at a time. The fastest way to do this is to wavedash backwards into the Edge/Ledge hog position.

Shorthop
The shorthop is just what it sounds like: a hop that is shorter than a normal jump. It is performed simply by tapping the jump button very quickly and lightly. This is easier with certain characters, such as Falco, and very difficult with others. It is very useful as it can be used to pump out aerial attacks more efficiently, and is also used in many advanced techniques.

Fast Falling
At the peak of any jump, press, and you will fall faster than usual. This helps quicken your pace.

Wall Jump
Not everyone can wall jump. Samus, Captain Falcon, Mario, Sheik, Link, Young Link, Pichu, Fox, and Falco are characters who can. The wall jump is performed by tapping the stick in the opposite direction of a wall just as you make contact with the wall. You will bounce off the wall. This can be repeated as much as you wish. It can be used as a recovery, or to surprise an enemy with an aerial attack. However, if done in rapid succession, such as between buildings in the Foursides level, the height gained with each jump will slowly diminish until you can no longer gain height on a wall jump. Returning to the stage will reset this.

L canceling
L canceling is a staple of advanced play. All characters can benefit from it. It involves pressing, or  immediately before hitting the ground after executing an aerial attack. This effectively halves the lag time after said attack, and is essential for many advanced techniques. It also gives you a competitive edge over players who do not L cancel. Try to press as late as you possibly can before hitting the ground; the timing is no more complex than that. Link's aerial down and Bowser's aerial back  are good test moves, since the lag reduction is very noticeable. Note that only aerial attacks can be L-canceled. aerial moves do not benefit from L-canceling.

Teching
When your character is knocked to the ground, there is a recovery time where you must press to get up, or  to perform a rising attack.

However, by pressing or  just before you hit the ground, wall, ceiling, and even the ledge off the side of the stage (20 frames before impact), your character's knockback will be reduced to nothing.

If you press or  while teching the floor, you will roll the direction you chose instead of getting up in place.

Meteor Smash
Many characters have a Meteor Smash. This is basically a smash that sends your opponent downward and is designated by the game as a special move. Meteor Smashes, while powerful, can be meteor recovered. The term most people use to refer to an attack that sends your opponent straight or close to straight down, allowing you to get kills at a very low percent if your opponent is off of the edge, is a spike (note, "spike" only refers to downward attacks where the knockback CANNOT be meteor canceled).

Meteor Recovery
If you use your midair jump or an up- recovery move at the exact moment someone is Meteor Smashing you, you will recover quickly and jump and there will be a little flashy graphic. It only works on official "Meteor Smashes" though. See Spikes for "unofficial" Meteor Smashes.