Marth (Super Smash Bros. Melee)

Marth (Japanese:, Marusu/Mars) debuted in the first game of the Fire Emblem series, "Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Tsurugi" (which translates to "Dragon of Darkness and the Sword of Light".) Marth, like Roy, was a relatively obscure character because the games he was in were never distributed outside of Japan. He was placed in Super Smash Bros. Melee by popular demand. Marth currently ranks 4th place on the tier list.

There are three ways to unlock him:
 * By playing 400 vs. matches.
 * By clearing Classic mode with all 14 starter characters.
 * By using all 14 starter characters as a human player in VS. Mode.

Overview
Marth is known for his comboing, grab-game, good match-ups, priority, excellent wavedash (fourth longest), and edgeguarding abilities, as well as his powerful Side Smash, known to be the best side smash in the game. He also has a disjointed hitbox, which allows him to attack characters from a good range while not being able to be easily hit. His forward aerial is used in advanced play because of its ability to combo. Chaining his fairs to any of his other aerial attacks, such as his spike, is an especially dangerous combo. For a prime example of Marth's comboing ability, watch videos of Ken Hoang, AKA Sephirothken, one of the best players in the world.

All of Marth's attacks have a sweet spot at the tip of his blade, except up-smash and neutral b (up-smashes is just below the tip), including his down aerial, which spikes only when Marth hits with the tip of his sword. Marth's forward smash is extremely powerful when tipped.

Pros

 * Excellent range due to a disjointed hitbox [his sword]
 * Fast running speed
 * High priority attacks
 * Very good combos against both fastfallers and floaties
 * Long wavedash
 * Excellent at edgeguarding
 * Great dashdance
 * Great SHFFL
 * All his tilts are useful and have long range
 * Has the best non-extended grab in the game
 * Has a chaingrab on Spacies
 * Can string many utilts on certain chars (especially if they waste their jump)
 * Can string aerial attacks into ground attacks and vice versa, resulting in long, adaptive combos.

Cons

 * Very few killing moves and combos at high percents, mostly relies on edgeguard kills
 * Lag after Up+B recovery is large and is often taken advantage of

Reverse Dolphin Slash
By starting Marth's up-B attack, Dolphin Slash, and immediately pressing the opposite direction to which you are currently facing, Marth will begin the first frame of his attack but change directions to finish the attack as if you were facing the other way. This variation has significantly increased knockback, but must be done at close range. The reason for this is that when Marth does his Dolphin Slash, he holds his sword behind him for a second. Given that Marth's attack are more powerful at the tip of the sword, as well as earlier into the Dolphin Slash, turning around at the start allows him to hit when the conditions are the best.

Shorthop double fair
Marth also possesses a rare ability to perform two attacks in a single short hop. This is extremely useful in comboing his opponents.

Uses

As stated above, the double fair comes out so fast that often the opponent is stunned for the duration of both hits. Against floaty opponents, several double fairs can be strung together such that you juggle them just above the ground. Against medium - fastfallers, it combos well into forward smash, grabs, uptilt, and other marth combo moves.

Alternate

Note also that using the same technique for a double fair, you can combo the Fair into an Uair. You'll notice that Brazilian smasher Kizzu makes good use of this technique. It allows for combo opportunities at lower percentages, when the opponent comes too close to hit with another Fair.

How To Do it

Naturally, it takes a bit of technical skill to perform this attack. Short hop as usual, and immediately release a fair. As soon as the animation for the attack ends, immediately input another fair. This might take some practice, but it is not too hard. Some people use the c-stick for the latter attack. Note also that the Z button can be used to attack in the air. As such, it is often helpful to jump with x/y, and immediately fair using Z. This may sometimes result in a jump-cancelled grab, however. Once mastered this is a very useful technique.

Ken Combo
Discovered by Ken Hoang who is widely recognized as the "inventor" of Marth's metagame, the Ken Combo is known for its effectiveness and flashiness. The Ken Combo is performed by stringing together several Short Hop Double Fairs (see above) to get the opponent off the edge and then following up a fair into a jump and then a dair spike. In order to spike, the dair must be sweetspotted. Often, the Fair preceding the Dair is tipped as well.

Edgeguarding while grabbing the edge
Once familiar with the ledgehop, Marth has many options in keeping the opponent off the stage. His quick-release aerials are often deadly when striking an opponent already off the stage. A good example of this is the Bair edgeguard. Marth hangs on to the edge, drops towards opponent, and hits them with a quick back-air. This simple move is devastating especially to those with predictable recovery: Fox, Falco, CF, Ganondorf, and even other Marths.

Alternatively, a recovering opponent will often try to Up+B past the Marth. At this time a ledgehop Dair is very effective. Marth's dair is a spike, so upon contact, the opponent is usually dead. Mixing it up with other aerials keeps Marth unpredictable.

Home Run Contest Strategies
Source

Beginner
1. Jump to the right, dair(land on the Sandbag's left)

2. Face the Sandbag, 4 short hop Uairs(hit the Sandbag on the way up)

3. Fully-charged B toward the left wall

4. Grab the bat, dash to the right, no-ping hit

Bull's-eye: 1300+ feet (400+ m.)

Easy
(Strategy created by nismojoe) 1. Grab the bat, dash toward the Sandbag

2. 1 single jump bat drop up+A with l-cancel

3. 1 single jump bat drop down+A with l-cancel

4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 twice

5. Forward+B

6. Tipper

Bull's-eye: 2000+ feet (600+ m.)

Medium
1. Grab the bat

2. Up+A(2 hits)

3. 5 single jump bat drop down+A combos with L-cancels and air catches

4. Tipper(154%)

Bull's-eye: 2250+ feet (680+ m.)

Advanced
1. Grab the bat

2. Neutral+A (7%)

3. Two single jump bat drop up+As with air catches, fast falls, and L-cancels

4. Four single jump bat drop down+As with air catches and L-cancels

5. Grab the bat, tipper

Bull's-eye: 2600+ feet (800+ m.)

Hard
(Strategy submitted by Thomeyis)

1. Grab bat, run to bag, double jump bat drop up+A

2. Another double jump bat drop up+A

3. Single jump bat drop down+A

4. Single jump bat drop neutral+A

5. Single jump bat drop down+A

6. Single jump bat drop neutral+A

7. Single jump bat drop down+A

8. Walk forward a bit, catch, tipper

Bull's-eye: 2800+ feet (860+ m.)

Intense
(Strategy submitted by Thomeyis)

1. Grab bat, run to the bag, double jump bat drop up+A

2. Single jump bat drop down+A

3. Single jump bat drop neutral+A

4. Single jump bat drop down+A

5. 3 Single jump bat drop neutral+A

6. Single jump Bat drop down+A

7. Catch the bat, tipper

Bull's-eye: 3000+ feet (920+ m.)

Expert 
(Strategy created by kero) 1. Grab the bat and dash to the bag, double jump and do a bat drop up+A. (29%)

2. Do the following BD's ~ down+A, neutral+A, down+A, neutral+A, down+A ~ all the neutral A BD's move the bag left while the down A BD's move the bag right.

3. Jump to grab the bat and move right gently to the bag, when you get over the bag, do a neutral A BD, moving the bag left. (177%)

4. Catch the bat and jump left over the bag, doing a bat drop down+A to move the bag right. (204%)

5. Walk right to the bat, pick it up, and swing for a tipper.

Bull's-eye: 3150+ feet (960+ m.)

Expert 
(Strategy created by Sakura)

1. Grab the bat

2. 1 bat drop up+A

4. 7 bat drop down+As

5. Forward+B (218%)

6. Grab the bat, tipper

Bull's-eye: 3450+ feet (1060+ m.)

No Bat Drop
(Strategy submitted by PYh189)

1. Grab the bat

2. Jump and immediately Forward+A and it should hit strongly for 13%

3. Wait for the bag to stop moving and then do an air Up+A attack (you shouldn't have landed)

4. L-Cancel, then jump and Down+A the bag. The bag should have gone to the left

5. Face left, jump, throw the bat up over the bag and do an Up+A attack before landing

6. L-Cancel and then jump and do a Down+A attack on the bag, making sure that the bag goes to the left

7. Tipper

Bull's-eye: 1550+ feet (480+ m.)