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/R Cancelling
Z-cancelling is a rather clever adaptation of teching that was related to me by Isai, regarded by many as the best Smash 64 player in the world. I don’t know exactly who thought it up, but he told me about it, so he gets credit in my e-book. Anyway, the logic goes like this. When you perform an aerial and hit the ground before completing it, there is a cool-down time as you stand back up (this is most noticeable with Link’s dair). This time is of varying length between attacks, but it is always there to some extent. So, this smart person must have thought, if you can cancel your fall and immediately get up by pressing the Z-button at the precise moment that you land, shouldn’t you be able to instantaneously recover? And it works! Try it 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, so you should tap Z just when, or just before you hit the ground. You can’t roll out of this, but the instant standing up revitalizes attacks that were just too slow before, allowing for swift execution and recovery. This will be rather awkward at first, but once you get used to it, you won’t be able to imagine playing without it. Right here is where you will see the massive speed boost in your play, and players who haven’t mastered this simply won’t be able to keep up with you. You'll be able to jump into a dangerous spot, attack, and get out before your opponent can do diddlysquat. You will move like ninja. That is, once you get it right.
A special note - for certain attacks, like Pikachu’s and Kirby’s fair drills, if you land next to them after doing this attack while they’re on the ground, you can tap the R-button instead of the Z button, which will cancel and grab them immediately.
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 knowledge can be transferred to a blocking situation. While you have your block up, and your opponent is up next to you and attacking, there is normally no way to get him/her off of you. 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, the tables are turned, and you can throw them and get them the heck off of your back. This is another balancing technique that can keep your opponent from getting up close to you and spamming you until your shield breaks. Remember, though, that while grabbing, you can be hit by incoming attacks, so be careful.
F-Air Throwing
Can be you performing your forward A move in the air, and after hitting the opponent Z cancelling to throw them. Could be you getting hit by Samus' forward A aerial move and then throwing her right after because her AFA sucks. Could be you grabbing someone while they are in the air (and you are standing) and throwing them. Pikachu and Kirby can use their fair on an opponent on the ground and then tap Z then A the second Pikachu or Kirby reaches the ground for an immediate throw. This works even if your opponent has his/her shield up also.
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.</nowiki>
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.
- 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.