Princess Peach (SSBM)

Overview
Princess Toadstool (Peach) had her first appearance in Super Mario Bros. for the Famicon System (Nintendo Entertainment System) in 1985 created by Shigeru Miyamoto, but was not playable. She did not even appear until the very last level. She was not playable until Super Mario Bros. 2, and has appeared playable in primarily the Mario sports games. She recieved her first true game 2006, Super Princess Peach, for the Nintendo DS.

This is Peach's first time into the fray, and like many of the new characters, she is very good for tournament play. Peach is a very unique character to play as, so if you plan on using her well, prepare to practice alot with her very character specific moves, most notably float cancels, and her turnip game. Both make her unique and formidable, and are neccessary to play at a high level.

Peach is available at the start of the game.

Pros

 * Amazing horizontal and vertical recovery
 * Has some of the highest priority attacks in the game
 * Down smash has insane priority, strength, and damage building abilities
 * No lag for aerials with float cancels
 * Decent combos against most and insane against others
 * Amazing edgeguarder
 * Turnips excellent for camping, lead ins, and edgeguarding

Cons

 * All around super slow
 * Dies too easily off the top
 * Out ranged by a number of characters, making it hard to get inside range.

A-Attacks

 * A 1-3%
 * A (Second) 1-2%
 * Dash A 3-12%
 * F-Tilt 3-13%
 * Up Tilt 6-12%
 * D-Tilt 6-12%
 * Down Smash 6-19%
 * Up Smash 8-25%

Aerial-Attacks

 * Aerial A 4-14%
 * Aerial Forward A 8-15%
 * Aerial Back A 5-14%
 * Aerial Up A 7-14%
 * Aerial Down A 1-11%

Grab and Throws

 * Forward Throw 1-10%
 * Back Throw 6-11%
 * Up Throw 4-9%
 * Down Throw 3-7%

B attacks

 * B 3-19%
 * Forward B 8-28%
 * Up B 1-12%

Forward Smash

 * Frying Pan 17-23%
 * Tennis Racket 12-16%
 * Golf Club 13-17%

Turnips

 * Normal 6%
 * Circle eyes 6%
 * Line eyes 6%
 * Carrot eyes 6%
 * Eyebrow eyes 6%
 * Wink 10%
 * Dot eyes 16%
 * Stitch face 34%
 * (Peach can also pull out a bomb-omb, beam sword or Mr. Saturn)

Bat Drop Down+A
Stand right next to the Sandbag. Jump above the Sandbag. Wait until you are at the peak of your jump, then drop the bat. Immediately after you drop the bat, press down+A. The combo will do 25% damage max.

Beginner

 * Grab the bat, dash to the Sandbag
 * 1 Up+A smash (15%)
 * Charge 4 up+A smashes and release when the Sandbag hits the ground (72%)
 * Face backwards and hit bag with handle has it falls down (80% after)
 * Bull's-eye: 1250+ feet (380+ m.)

Easy
(Strategy created by Jesse R.)
 * Grab the bat
 * Jump once over to the right side and in the middle of your jump, do a bat drop up+A
 * Jump and catch the bat in mid-air and do another bat drop down+A
 * Throw the bat at the bag (to make it go toward the wall)
 * Pick up bat, move a little bit to the left and do 3 bat drop down+As
 * Neutral+A, grab the bat, tipper
 * Bull's-eye: 1700+ feet (520+ m.)

Medium
(Strategy created by Ice Mario)
 * Grab the bat
 * Small jump to the right, back+A(land on the right side)
 * Up+A smash
 * Do 5 fastfall bat drop down+As (26%ers)
 * Neutral+A, tipper
 * Bull's-eye: 2300+ feet (700+ m.)

Advanced
(Strategy created by Ice Mario)
 * Grab the bat
 * Small jump to the right, back+A(land on the right side)
 * Up+A smash
 * 6 Single jump fastfall bat drop down+As
 * Neutral+A, catch the bat, tipper
 * Bull's-eye: 2600+ feet (800+ m.)

Hard
(Strategy created by Ice Mario)
 * Run towards the Sandbag and have a space in front of you
 * Throw the bat up so it hits the Sandbag, do a neutral+A right after that
 * Repeat this trick again
 * 6 bat drop down+As with fastfall (26%ers)
 * Neutral+A, tipper
 * Bull's-eye: 3100+ feet (940+ m.)

Intense
(Strategy created by Freezard)
 * Small jump to the right, back+A
 * Small jump to the left, back+A, fastfall
 * Grab the bat, smash throw it up
 * Fully charged down+A
 * 1 25% bat drop down+A on the left side of the Sandbag
 * 2 26% bat drop down+As
 * Tilt down+A
 * Pull a bob-omb, turn around, smash throw it down (189% before)
 * Bull's-eye: 4700+ feet (1440+ m.)

Intense/Expert
(Strategy created by Ice Mario2003/TreborSelbon)
 * Run towards the Sandbag and have a space in front of you
 * Throw the bat up so it hits the Sandbag, do 2 neutral+As immediately after: one for stopping the Sandbag and one for picking up the bat
 * Repeat step 2
 * 3 slowfall bat drop down+As (29%ers)
 * 2 fastfall Bat drop down+As (26%ers)
 * Spike with down+A
 * Pull a bob-omb, turn around, smash throw it down (196-198% before)
 * Bull's-eye: 5200+ feet (1580+ m.)

Expert (No Bomb)
(Strategy created by marth1)
 * Run towards the Sandbag and have a space in front of you
 * Throw the bat up so it hits the Sandbag, do a neutral+A right after that
 * Repeat this trick again
 * 1 bat drop down+A with slow fall (29%er)
 * 5 bat drop down+As with fastfalls (26%ers)
 * Tilt down a to spike the bag, close hit
 * Bull's-eye: 3300+ feet (1010+ m.)

Expert
(Strategy created by marth1)
 * Run towards the Sandbag and have a space in front of you
 * Throw the bat up so it hits the Sandbag, do 2 neutral+As immediately after: one for stopping the Sandbag and one for picking up the bat
 * Repeat step 2
 * 6 fastfall bat drop down+As (26%ers)
 * Spike the bag with a tilt down+A
 * Pull a bob-omb, turn around, smash throw it down (208-209% before)
 * Bull's-eye: 6000+ feet (1800+ m.)

Beginner



 * Dash forward and up B the 2 targets on the left, fast fall and land.
 * Dash jump forward and aerial forward A target through the wall, fast fall, and float at a level below your starting area.
 * Float to the right and aerial back A the corner target, float back left, and up B to starting area.
 * Dash forward, jump, and aerial neutral A the target just above, fast fall and land back onto starting* area.
 * Now double jump and up B the top left target, and drift to the right and hit the target with your open parasol through the wall.
 * Fast fall and land on the far right and bottom.
 * Pull a turnip, throw it out to the right to hit the moving target, and turn around to slap the target behind you. Now just jump left, float, and aerial neutral A the final target.
 * It should get around 15 seconds.

Intermediate



 * Jump backwards and aerial back A the upper target next to you.
 * Drift left, and near the target past the small corner wall, rejump and aerial back A, and then fall and float just under the level of your starting area.
 * Float right and aerial forward the corner target, float back, and up B back to the starting area.
 * Immediately pull a turnip and dash right, jump, throw the turnip right to the target just above, double jump, let go of jump and press Z to catch the turnip, and then up B the top left target, all in a quick succession.
 * Drift right and allow the open parasol to hit the top right target through the wall, and fast fall to the tiniest, most right platform underneath the next target.
 * With the turnip still in hand, smash throw it right to hit the outer moving target, and slap the target right next to you.
 * Now just jump backwards and aerial back A the last target.
 * It should get around 12 seconds.

Professional



 * Pull a turnip while holding Y or X ASAP.
 * While still holding Y or X, dash right until you're in the air, and aerial forward A the target through the wall.
 * Float right a little, stop floating, and throw a turnip to the corner target at the right, and double jump to the left IMMEDIATELY after the turnip throw, and up B the two targets at the starting point, and land back where you started (Make sure you fastfall before landing).
 * Immediately pull a turnip and dash right, jump, throw the turnip right to the target just above, double jump, let go of jump and press Z to catch the turnip, and then up B the top left target, all in a quick succession.
 * Drift right and allow the open parasol to hit the top right target through the wall, and fast fall to the tiniest, most right platform underneath the next target.
 * With the turnip still in hand, smash throw it right to hit the outer moving target, and slap the target right next to you.
 * Now just jump backwards and aerial back A the last target.
 * It should get around 10 seconds.

10 Man Melee Strategies
Pull out a turnip and turn around.


 * Jump and drop the turnip onto the bottom frame. Drift left a little and Up-B, hitting the top left frame. The one hit by the turnip will be knocked into the up-B. Land on the top platform.
 * Tilt Forward-A the frame.
 * Fall through and Up-B left, killing the bottom and top left frames. If you did this well you should land on the top and edge-cancel.
 * If you didn't land on top, fastfall and down-smash frame 6. If you landed on top, dash off fastfall aerial neutral-A.
 * Small jump right when the bottom one moves and Up-B left to get the last 4.

This is one of the harder sub-7 10-Man Melee strategies, but this is also very difficult to get a good time with. In the beginning, make sure frame 1 gets stuck in your up-B right when you hit frame 2. If it dies too late, you can't kill frame 5 quickly. At the end, try to be kind of far to the left before you kill frame 6. This makes frames 8 and 9 come closer to the left before you KO them, increasing the chances of getting a good score.

Unfortunately there aren’t really any alternative Peach strategies that are used. Usually if you mess up at the end, you can quickly regain control and up-B again to kill the last frames and get something like 7.50. You could also improvise. Using Peach’s most powerful ground moves (stuff like up-smash), use the Zelda formation and make up your own strategy. Just make sure to KO frames 2, 5, and 10 the best way possible and you should get under 8 seconds.

Float and Float-Cancel
In order to float on command, and at any height, you need to jump, and at the desired height, press down while holding Y or X (jump). You do not need to hold down, and if you want to float just above the ground, hold down before pressing jump and let go once you do. Floating at different heights have all of their own different uses, but you'll generally find your self floating at full jump height or just above the ground. If you simply hold Y or X you'll also float, but begin it much later than you can at the height of her jump. If you are falling down and you haven't used your float, you can press down and Y simultaneously, but MAKE SURE its at the same time, or else you'll waste your double jump and just float, which could be disasterous when edge guarding. Look for either the double blue circle from a double jump or the sound effect of her double jump, which is quite noticeable, and it will give you a notice so you can either wall bomb or up B.

Float Cancelling is perhaps the most important aspect of Peach's versus game. It allows her to combo from almost any aerial at low percents, and makes it almost impossible to sheild grab Peach out of her aerials. It makes all of her aerials useful at all times.

The execution is simple, but mastery of it for tournament level is not so easy. You simply float, attack while float, and land on the ground at any time during the attack, when you land on the ground, instead of going into your aerial landing animation, its replaced with your normal landing animation. This makes the lag of her aerials go down from 8 to 13 frames down to 4 frames, which is actually fairly significant.

The uses for the full jump float cancel are as follows:


 * Avoid most grabs
 * Out of range of most attacks
 * Allows better set ups for Aerial Down A, and utilizes its priority
 * Can be used after jumping out of your sheild into an aerial attack if it missed or to attack again.

The uses for the just above the ground float cancel are as follows.


 * Can be used for a faster execution of aerials
 * Leads into combo's more so than other heights
 * Better for on stage edge guarding
 * Pretty much only good use of aerial neutral A if your opponent is on the ground.
 * Allows you to run to opponents and then float cancel, instead of floating at them, which is fairly slow.
 * Mind games if you're fast enough with float cancel aerial neutral A

At full jump height, you can abuse alot of Peach's priority on her aerial attacks (especially the spacing on her aerial forward A and her aerial down A bottom priority. Full Jump height can also be used to punish players who like to jump the gun and attack too early, or are too agressive.  Falco's who are just constantly short hop blastering, or characters busy shffl'ing can be punished with a falling Float Cancelled aerial.  Just above the ground should be used against opponents who are simply sticking to the air, or for following their DI from one of your launcher attacks.

General
Turnips are one of the most versatile projectiles in the game, and can be used in almost any situation, ranging from edge guards, to leads ins, even out of your sheild. Turnips very rarely dont have a useful spot, you should be pulling turnips at any free moment you have when you have the space, time, and nothing useful to do (like continuing a combo or another form of edge guarding).

Turnips generally dont have a use when you are on the ground, and Peach already has an amazing aerial game, so you should try to be in the air at all times. Short hop turnip throws are nice for short range, grounded opponent lead ins, while full jump is useful for getting in from further away and occupying your opponent with the oncoming turnip. They are both useful for distractions and for combo starters. Turnips are also primarily used with Float Cancelled aerials, but note that you cannot throw turnips while floating, so when you jump with the intention of leading in with a turnip, remember the following:


 * Jump
 * Hold the button
 * Throw with Z
 * Press Down to float
 * Continue with any one of your aerials.

While you can always use aerials and throw a turnip afterwards to hit them, it isnt as useful since you are basically throwing away your ability to lead in with an attack which cannot really be punished. But sometimes you want that extra damage and its easier to lead in with an aerial, and a prime example would be Mario, whose cape effectively shuts down nearly all turnips, but poor range and decent priority loses to Peach's aerials.

Edge Guarding
Turnips are also extremely useful in edge guarding against any character. Sometimes throwing turnips outwards while characters are far away but recovering works wonders, but generally your best bet is to wait until they come to the stage, and jump out a little bit and throw the turnip down. For alot of characters its ruins their recovery, but make sure it hits them away from the stage. Hitting towards the stage can make them rebound downwards, but often times your opponent will tech wall jump and recover normally. While it generally works, watch out because some people have gotten fairly good at simply catching the turnips in mid-air, and against Samus, they can catch turnips and bomb off of them to recovery even more! And as already stated before, other characters are simply really good at just reflecting them back, such as Doctor Mario and Mario.

Turnips out of Sheild
Turnips also have some great uses from your sheild, mainly because you can sheild cancel with a jump or turnip throw. If you press A with a turnip in hand and your sheild up, you'll simply throw your turnip, which is generally only useful when someone has you trapped in your sheild and you cant seem to get out and rid yourself of your turnip and simply attack. But an interesting tactic is when you sheild, jump, and press Z without any direction to drop your turnip on the opponent which is pressuring you. The beauty of this is that the drop basically has no animation, and the stun from the hit allows you to follow up with a float cancelled down air into basically any attack or grab. Its a nice variation from simply a sheild grab, and can result in some nice damage building.

Turnip Throw Cancel
This is a nice little trick with some limited use but its fairly cool anyway. The idea is that you throw your arm backwards to begin your turnip throw animation, but it never leaves your hands. There are probably ways to to this in other situations, but there is only one known, sure fire, 100% way to do this, and its fairly easy. Once you grab a turnip, short hop with Peach, and at the peak of her jump, or just as she starts to descend, fast fall and throw the turnip down at the same time (just slam down and Z together) and she'll land on the ground, begin her throw animation, but keep the turnip in hand. Once again, its mostly for show, but there are times where you can mindgame someone.

Reverse Turnip Throw Edge Hog
This is a tactic of my own invention, and is fairly useful. Its along the same lines as how some characters have different ways to mind game into a ledge hog. Such as Falco walking towards the ledge and turning around last second to grab, or Yoshi walking off and double jumping to grab the ledge immediately. The advantage is that you can grab the ledge quickly and gain the ledge grab invincibility, so you dont get knocked off by the up B hit box, and can easily get back on the stage to attack them in the chance that they do make it back. Execution is simple but the timing to get it right is difficult. With a turnip in hand, dash off the stage. The second you begin to fall, double jump and throw a turnip towards the stage, and if timed right, you should grab the ledge fairly quickly. The hard part comes in timing the double jump, because if you throw your turnip too early, you wont grab the ledge, but too late and you wont grab the ledge quick enough for it to be useful. If your turnip barely clears over the ledge you should be in the right area for timing.

Turnip Pull Cancel
This is a tactic thats useful for moving away while pulling a turnip, which is useful for obvious reasons. There are two ways to do it. The first, you dash towards the ledge, and the moment before you start to fall off, pull a turnip. The limited amount of slide Peach has should tip her over the edge while in her turnip pulling animation. This works with any platform. The other is done while floating, and then while floating backwards, landing on the edge of a platform or stage while facing away from it, and pull a turnip. The limited sliding from the landing should tip you over and continue your pull animation. This doesnt work if you face the ledge, because generally when you land from the float when facing the ledge, you'll simply be stopped by the "falling over" animation. But I think it also works when facing forward.

External Links and Credits
IGN, for the Break the Targets pictures Nintendorks' Page on Peach (and the picture at the top)

Sskeeto for Home Run Contest strategies Nintendude for 10 Man Melee Strategy