Super Smash Bros./Advanced techniques

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* Shine / Reflector break - Using Fox's shine as close to the end of his jump to get it out fastest. Fox's shine cancels when he lands.

* Comboing - Hitting the opponent repeatedly in such a way that they cannot avoid the successive hits. The opponent will not hit the ground, and will not float in the air long enough to recover from the "hit" status. Try some things out in Training mode as it has a combo counter - though comboing into a throw resets the counter.

* Edge Guarding - After hitting the opponent off of the edge of the stage, you stand near the edge and do what you can to prevent him from getting back on. This could be standing on the stage and hitting him with a smash just as he is about to grab the edge, standing on the stage and throwing something at him as he tries to come back, this could be hitting him above the stage as he falls from his up-B recovery move, this could be running to the point where he will land from the up-B recovery move and hitting him when he lands, and this can be jumping off the stage to hit him before he gets to the edge.

* Shield Break - When the shield (Z button) breaks. Or a move or combo that will break a shield if blocked - using a Smash with a Fan, some combos (I think Ness has one).

* Tilt A - Lightly tilting the joystick in a direction (up, down, forward) and hitting A. This is a move different from "Neutral A" - just standing still and hitting A, and is different from "Smash" - a hard push of the joystick in a direction (up, down, forward) and hitting A.

* Z Recovery - Hitting Z just as you would hit the ground to pop back up right away.

* Z Cancel - During an aerial attack, it is hitting Z just as you would touch the ground. Try this with Link. Using Link in the air, do his down A to fall with a downward lunge. Link will normally hit the ground hard and take some time to pull the sword out of the ground. If you hit Z just as Link would hit the ground, he will just be standing there. Z Cancel works on all aerial moves to eliminate their lag. It is just less noticable (and harder to do) with faster aerial moves.

* Shorthopping - Pressing a C button lightly to jump to half your regular height. Try it in Hyrule under the wooden platforms you can jump through. If you press it too long you will jump too high and land on the platform, but if you do it right you will only peek through it. Keeps you low to allow you to use your aerial moves on standing opponents. Makes your jumps faster. Can be used to dodge some projectiles.

* Spiking - using a move that has a strong, nearly straight downward trajectory for the opponent. Or, using a move that has a strong, mostly downward trajectory for the opponent. For #1 we have Kirby's ADA, Samus' ADA, C. Falcon's ADA, Yoshi's AFA, Donkey Kong's AFA, Donkey Kong's ADA, Ness' ADA and maybe some others. For #2 there is Fox's Down A Smash, Fox's Shine, Throwing a Star Rod, some other characters' Down A Smash, and probably others. The Aerial Down A move for Fox, Mario, Luigi, and Jiggily Puff look like Kirby's spike, but just don't have the power to be one really.

Additions

* dair, fair, bair, uair, nair - (Down, Forward, Back, Up, Neutral) Air ... this is the same as the above, just doesn't say A because the A button is implied ... neutral is with no direction

* dsmash, fsmash, usmash - (Down, Forward, Up) Smash ... the three Smash attacks (A button of course)

* dtilt, ftilt, utilt - (Down, Forward, Up) Tilt ... the three tilt attacks (A button of course)

* Dash dancing - dashing back one step then forward one step to dodge an attack. To dash in the game, you just push the joystick hard and quick in one direction and your character will start running. But before he runs, he dashes out a step with a trail of dust behind him. If you hit the joystick in the opposite direction at the right time, he'll quickly turn around and dash in that direction. You can do this over and over, but doing so is worthless. What you want to do is wait for an attack, and as it comes out, you dash out of range of the attack, then dash back in with an attack of your own (you can usually do a running A or a forward smash out of a dashdance).

* Edge Hogging - Grabbing the edge yourself to kill the opponent. Any time that you grab on to the edge, you get a short invincibility. Also, only one person can hang on to the edge of the stage at a time. And so, if you know your opponent is aiming to catch the edge on his return to the stage, you can drop onto the edge yourself and hang there, watching him fall right through you. This is looked down upon by some, whereas others find it as natural and fair as edge guarding.

* 0% to KO combo - A combo that, when executed properly and fully, will KO the opponent. Look for some videos of these as they are kind of fun to watch and try. Lots of Z cancelling required for most, if not all. -->

Teching
The mastery of teching, also known as Z-recovering, is often what separates the master from the talented amateur. Essentially, this technique cuts out the recovery time necessary your character hits the ground. After being knocked into the air (or out of it), your character flops to the ground, and you must get up as described in the Getting Back Up section of this guide. However, what teching does is allow you to remove all of that tedious recovery time and get right back up out of your fall instantaneously. To do this, just tap the Z button at the exact moment that you hit the ground, and your character will immediately snap back to their feet, with a recovery time measured in milliseconds. And, as an added bonus, tapping Z and left or right on the stick will cause your character to immediately roll in that direction upon landing. Adding this to the tactics mentioned above will make you very difficult to camp upon landing, and will also allow you to escape previously inevitable combos. Master this first, then move on.

Z-Canceling
Z-canceling is another technique that can immensely speed up your game. The easiest way to see this technique in action is with Link. Do his dair, and at the precise moment that you land, tap Z. He should stand right up, no shield flash or long cool-down time. This is applicable with all characters - on all aerial A attacks, tap Z just before your character hits the ground. Unlike teching, you can't roll out of a Z-cancel, but this method of removing cool-down lag revitalizes attacks that are too slow without it, allowing for swift execution and recovery. This will feel rather awkward at first, but once you get used to it, you won’t be able to imagine playing without it.

Shield Grabbing
If you have been reading this guide from top to bottom, you will remember that pressing the R button has the same effect as simultaneously pressing the Z and A buttons. This fact leads to a very useful technique. While you have your shield up and your opponent is attacking at point-blank, there is little you can do to escape. However, if you hit the A-button while holding Z, your character will reach out and grab, dropping the shield just for the moment it takes to do so. If your character misses, the shield will pop back up. However, if you grab them, not only have you escaped but you have the opportunity to combo them in return. This is another balancing technique that can keep your opponent from getting up close to you and spamming attacks until your shield breaks. Be warned, though, that your shield drops while grabbing, so you can be hit by incoming attacks.

Short Hopping
A short hop is something that can only be done by jumping with the C-button. The easiest way to visualize this is to stand under a platform (I learned under the platforms on Dreamland, but nearly any level will work) and press the C-button. Observe how you jump up and either land on the platform or fly high above it. Well, by tapping the C-button gently, see if you can make your character barely peek through the platform. Practice this, as it is a short-hop. You're simply jumping faster. Granted, this gives you less time to perform aerial attacks, but if you've learned Z-cancelling as you should have, this shouldn't be a problem. What short-hopping does for you is give you a nice quick jump that allows you to use your aerial attacks on opponents standing on the ground, and to be in the air in case they try to grab you. It also gives you a preferable option when jumping over projectiles/attacks. You have to time your jump a lot more accurately, but you are back on the ground and mobile again quite a bit sooner than if you had full-jumped. Once you get good at short-hopping, you can bounce across the stage, very hard to hit because of your low trajectory and near-constant attacking. I'll let you play with this a bit, as it is semi-new to me as well, and I haven't yet plumbed all of the depths of its usage as of yet.

Tilts
Although I treated these attacks just like other attacks earlier, I think that it's important to add a section on them to emphasize their use. Many smashers simply use smashes on the ground, completely forgoing their tilts or maybe using one. However, it is important to learn and use all of your attacks, including your tilts. They are fast attacks that are good for continuing a combo or stopping an opponent's advance when a smash won't connect in time. They are for those situations when you just don't have enough time to hit your opponent as hard as you want to, so you tilt them to get them stunned, and THEN smack the crap out of them. Remember that you have tilts, and they are meant to be used - they are not just that annoying thing that happens when you mess up your smash. Master them, and they will be very good to you. Thus ends my tirade.

Dash Dancing
Dashing back one step then forward one step to dodge an attack. To dash in the game, you just tap the stick left or right and your character will start running. But before he runs, he dashes out a step with a trail of dust behind him. There is a distinct difference between this dash and a full run. Try this. Select Fox or Falcon on the Great Fox (they have the best dash-dances). Run in a direction so that your character's running animation is unchanging. Now, release the stick to stop running. Your character will slide to a stop, taking precious time to do so. Now, simply tap the stick in a direction to dash. You'll note that tapping and releasing creates a dash that stops as soon as it starts, giving you freedom to do anything at the end of it, for example, dashing back in the other direction. If you can master this, you can do over and over, but doing so is only useful to confuse and/or annoy your opponent. What you want to do is wait for an attack, and as it comes out, you dash out of range of the attack, then dash back in with an attack of your own. You can do smashes out of the dash, if you release the stick and then smash, you will actually slide a small distance while smashing, giving you a bit more range.

Spiking
Everyone is familiar with dying through the KO ceiling or one of the walls. These are good, clean deaths, full of honor and all that. However, spiking is a tactic used to kill your opponent at relatively low damage. Certain characters' moves have a downward component, or simply launch the opponent straight down. These moves include:


 * Ness: Dair
 * Samus: Dair
 * Yoshi: Fair
 * Kirby: Dair, B+up (downward slash)
 * DK: Dair, Fair
 * Captain Falcon: Dair

Other characters have spikes that are weaker, usually dairs as well, but these listed above are the most powerful. If you have your opponent at about 50%-60% damage, get your opponent off of the edge and then use your spike to send them into oblivion. However, make sure you have enough jumps/recovery time to get back to the edge, or you will follow them down, which is simply unacceptable.

Edgeguarding
Edgeguarding is a tactic which is used to keep your opponent off of the edge. If they can't return to the stage, they are destined to die, so you edgeguard them to make sure that they don't make it back. Though it is rather simple concept, the edgeguarding game can make or break a player at a competetive level, so it's something to learn well. Best edgeguarding moves for each character include (assume these are all done on the very edge and facing it, unless otherwise noted):


 * Mario/Luigi: [1] Dsmash [2] Downward-tilted fsmash [3] Fireballs as they're coming back (careful not to interrupt their B-up with them, though, as they will get another chance)
 * Fox: [1] Dsmash [2] Downward-tilted ftilt [3] Laser to mess up recovery
 * Captain Falcon: [1] Downward-tilted fsmash
 * Pikachu: [1] Fsmash (this hangs in the air for a while, and will hit them even below the edge, so start it a bit early rather then late) [2] Lightning ball (will stun them for a moment coming back)
 * DK: [1] Dtilt [2] DK Punch (only second because it has to be charged)
 * Ness: [1] Dsmash (don't forget that the yo-yo goes behind him first) [2] Short-hop to PK fire (this may need to be followed up by a dsmash or fsmash)
 * Jigglypuff: [1] Dsmash [2] Downward tilted fsmash
 * Samus: [1] Downward-tilted fsmash [2] Charged shot (don't miss)
 * Kirby: [1] Downward-tilted fsmash [2] Dtilt (this one is brutal) [3] Dsmash
 * Yoshi: [1] Downward-tilted fsmash (who called that one?) [2] Dtilt [3] Dsmash [4] Eggs (don't forget, these have shrapnel)
 * Link: [1] Fsmash (no need to tilt this bad boy) [2] Dsmash (try to connect with the very tip to send them horizontally) [3] Boomerang and bomb (bounce em around out there)

NOTE: All characters with a spike can use that as an edgeguard if their spike is executed directly onto the top of the edge itself just before the opponent grabs it.

ALSO NOTE: The downward tilts on the smashes are not always necessary, but increase the chance of a hit.

Edgehogging
This technique plays on the fact that only one character may be grabbing the edge at any given time. It involves nothing more then grabbing the edge just before your opponent tries to. The best way to do this is to shorthop backwards off of the edge and catch said edge. Just as your opponent is coming up to grab, tap Z to roll back up onto the stage, denying your opponent the edge while using the invincibility of your roll to avoid damage from their recovery. Devious, eh? Only use this when you really want to win, because it has been known to tick people off in friendly games.

Juggling
The difference between this and comboing is blurred in the minds of some, but I will do my best to set the record straight. Juggling is the practice of using one move to bounce your opponent into the air or against a wall so that they cannot recover. This usually takes nothing more than basic timing, so the low-skill necessary component makes these juggles slightly cheap (although with higher damage on the opponent, they get harder to pull off), especially because players who juggle invariably repeat it over and over again. Juggles rarely kill, but they can get you up to some fantastic damage if done right. Some juggles are harder than others, and therefore more acceptable, but if you must juggle in competetive play, do it and win instead of abstaining and losing.

Some often-seen juggles include:
 * Ness: Repeated utilt, Spike Bounce (a difficult maneuver in which you use your powerful dair to alternately spike your opponent to the ground and bounce them back into the air. Gratuitous use of the double-jump cancel is necessary for proper execution).
 * Fox: Repeated uair (this juggle is great on heavier characters, as they don't fly as far, allowing you to reach them with another attack before they can recover).
 * Falcon: Repeated uair (see Fox's uair juggle), Spike Bounce (much harder to do than with Ness, but it is possible, and can link into other attacks)
 * Pikachu: Repeated utilt
 * DK: Repeated throws (when up against a wall, as on Hyrule or on Saffron, DK can grab an opponent, bounce them off of a wall with his throw, then grab them as they fly off of it - he can repeat this until the opponent clears the wall), DK grab repeat (I don't know if this even classifies as a juggle, but it IS cheap - Isai pulled this off in one of his videos, grabbing the opponent and putting them on his back to carry them, so that when they wriggle free, you can dash forward and grab them again and repeat)
 * Link: Repeated utilt (you'll have to move slightly in your opponent's direction between utilts)

Combos
Link:Up+A,Up+B..Sword Swipe and Spin Attack
 * Down+B,Forward+A..Bomb and Boomerang

Ness:Down+A,Up+A..Stomp and Upward Yo-yo

Mario:Down+B,Up+A..Mario Tornado and Super Jump Punch

Kirby:Up+A,Up+A(in air)High Kick and Spinning Cartwheel

Jigglypuff: Down+A(air), Down+B.. downward spinning kick and Sleeping Attack
 * (If enemy damage is around 80% - 100%):
 * Down+A(air), Up+A, Jump, Down+B.. Downward spinning kick, normal Up A attack, Jump to the enemy
 * Sleeping Attack in the air for a KO.

Wall Traps
This technique consists of backing the opposing player up against a wall and then tapping A repetitively to keep them trapped and taking damage. The fire flower is also very powerful in this situation, which has a simmilar effect and allows the user to do massive damage.


 * Kirby, Fox, Pikachu, Falcon, and Link all have flurry attacks, which lends them to being the strongest wall trapping characters.

Countering a wall trap is very difficult. One way to counter the attack is using Directional Influence (DI) to move or pass through the attack. To do this, simply push the stick rapidly in the direction the attack is coming from. After a couple of seconds, the character will move through the opponent and end up on the other side.

Shield Stunning
Shield Stunning is a penalty that results from holding one's shield up for too long. When penalized, the shield will break and the player remaining stunned until "awakened" with an attack. If left alone, the stun will wear off in several seconds and the sheild will return.

Notes on Shield Stunning


 * Shields can be broken most easily with a Fan or with Jigglypuff's Rising Pound (Neutral B). However, the shield can be reduced to nothing with enough time and enough hits by any character.


 * If Jigglypuff's shield is broken, it result in an automatic KO no matter what amount of damage it has taken. The only exception to this is if the stun occurs under a ceiling, in which case Jigglypuff will spin at the ceiling level for the duration of a normal stun and then fall back down to the ground.


 * On Sector Z, if a character's shield is destroyed at the right time, the character will teleport upward and land on a passing Arwing to be carried away for a KO. This takes more luck than actual skill.

Dropping Through
You'll notice that most platforms that are not the main stage are selectively non-existent (you can come up through the bottom of them and stand on them). Well, you probably know that by tapping down on your control stick, you can drop through said platform and fall down to the level below. There are a few combat applications for this.

First of all, after the B-up move of most characters (excluding Link and Kirby at the moment), there will be a time where your character cannot do anything but DI about with the control stick. During this time, most characters can hold down to fall straight through a platform. Try it with Samus, for example. Go to Peach's Castle and do your B-up, and then hold down on the control stick. You should fall right through the upper platform and onto the bottom. This is good if you miss your attack (like Luigi's Fire Punch, for example) and want to get to cover quickly so that you can regain control. Simply drop through a platform or two and land, then go attack your opponent again.

Secondly, dropping through provides an opportunity for a quick dodge and return of attack. For example, you're on Mushroom Kingdom, fighting Link. You're standing on the platform to the right of the tube on the left side of the screen. Link, from above, tries to dair you. What do you do? Well, I would wait until the last second, and then drop below the level (thus making his attack miss), then pop back up and attack while he's in his lag. Play with it, as it gives you another level of mindgames to play with your poor opponent.