User blog:Plasmaster/Smash Study Hall: Edge Game

Hey there Smashers and welcome to the fifth post of Smash Study Hall, the blog series for strategies on Smash Bros. fighters and gameplay. Plasmaster here.

I will be putting a twist on my usual content; rather than covering strategies for a character, I will be going over some good strategies to use at the edge of the stage, both when guarding and recovering.

Let's take a look at edge-guarding first. When guarding the edge, there are lots of options for you to pick, all of them effective when used correctly. Here are the options you have on the edge:

1) Attacking On Edge: If your opponent is recovering high or parallel to that of the edge, you can attack from the edge by using an up tilt (Captain Falcon, Ganondorf, and Samus), down tilt (Link and Peach), down smash (Little Mac and characters that have one-side down smashes such as Mewtwo, Lucas, and Zero Suit Samus), and just about any forward smash. Villager's forward smash is incredibly useful when your opponent is just at the edge or recovering low and close to the edge. Take note that Ganondorf's up tilt is very slow, so you want to start his early if you want it to hit. If they are recovering, jumping and using forward air, back air, or down air are good ways to keep them off-stage. Down air will usually spike the opponent, resulting in a K.O.

2) Projectile Guarding: If your character has a projectile, you can use this to take care of opponents recovering parallel or below the edge. It is not as useful above the edge. Characters with great projectile guarding are Link, Toon Link, Ryu, Mega Man, Falco, and R.O.B. This method works well on characters with poor vertical recovery and/or lateral aerial movement such as Ness, Luigi, Dr. Mario, Ganondorf, Yoshi, Lucas, and Little Mac.

3) Edge-Trump: This method involves jumping off-stage and grabbing the edge. When your opponent nears the edge, release the edge and do a back air or down air to keep them away and maybe even K.O. them.

4) Pushboxes/Grabs: Possibly the second most evil and disrespectful method of edge-guarding is that of the pushboxes. When the opponent gets close to the stage, use the pushbox move on the edge or just off the edge. Characters with excellent pushboxes are Mario (Cape), Dr. Mario (Sheet), Greninja (Hydro Pump), Palutena (forward smash), and Pac-Man (Fire Hydrant). Another useful method is grabs. Moves like King DeDeDe and Kirby's Inhale, Robin's Nosferatu, Wario's Chomp, any extended grab like Samus, Link, and Yoshi, and Lucario's Force Palm are all good ways to get kills. With the extended grabs, Inhale, Nosferatu, and Force Palm, you want to stay on the edge when you use them and only use them when the opponent nears the ledge. Chomp is unique; though you could use it on the ledge, it is more effective to jump just off stage (far enough away that you don't grab the edge, but still within range of it) and use the move to grab the opponent and carry them downwards with Wario as he falls. This maneuver is risky and only a skilled Wario should use this.

5) Meteors/Gimping/Footstools: The most disrespectful way to guard the edge is with these. I already went over meteors briefly in section one, but I'll go over this again anyway. Meteors will often secure a K.O. when used off-stage. Though they can be used over the edge, you can be more certain the opponent will be killed if you use it off-stage during their recovery attempt. Other moves like back air and forward air can be used as well; this is known as gimping. However, gimping and meteoring off-stage can be riskier since there is no way of being sure you'll make it back to the stage yourself. It is important not to overuse this method of edge-guarding since it poses such a great risk. Footstooling is a safer alternative to these two. Going off stage and tapping up or pressing jump right when you are above the opponent will send them into a tumbling animation for a brief time. They will often have time to recover again once they are out of the tumble, but unless they are Villager or Pit they aren't going to make it back; footstooling also gives your fighter a little boost into the air, meaning you aren't risking being unable to get back to the edge as much as with meteoring and gimping.

These are all the different options you have; they will change up depending on what character you're using, what character the opponent is using, the opponent's recovery, and the current positioning of your opponent in correlation with the edge of the stage. Use whichever one you feel works best for the character you're using and for the situation you and your opponent are currently in.

Now to go on to recovering. In the words of Mr. Sakurai, 'You must recover!'. Recovering is pretty straight forwards. Use whatever moves you can in order to get closer to the stage and to the edge after being launched.

You can recover high to get over your opponent. This could be safer if your opponent has a poor jump (Little Mac and Ganondorf) or if you are recovering high enough that your opponent would really be able to reach you anyway.

Recovering low limits some of your opponents options, but also has some high risks itself. If the opponent has good projectiles or decides to footstool or meteor you, you are dead unless you can dodge it. You must also make sure that your character is able to recover high enough. Recovering low with Little Mac, Bowser, and Donkey Kong is a bad idea.

Recovering parallel to the edge leaves your opponent with the most options for edge-guarding, However, if you are able to read your opponents edge-guard tactics, you can reflect a projectile if your character is able to, counter an attempt at a forward air or meteor, or just air dodge. You can also tether onto the edge if your character has a tether (Zero Suit Samus, Samus, Link, Lucas, and Toon Link).

If your character is far away from and above the edge, and they don't have a horizontal recovery, keep moving towards the stage as you fall; you will most likely be below the edge by the time your get close enough; this is when you should vertically recover. If you do it too early, you'll get K.O.'d for sure.

Once you have grabbed the edge, you have a few options.

1) Climb: Simply inputting towards the stage will make your character climb up onto the stage. A poor choice if the opponent is right there at the edge. If your opponent expects you to edge roll and is more inwards of the edge, this is a good and safe option.

2) Roll: Press the shield or grab button to roll inwards to the stage. If your opponent is right there at the edge, this will get you behind them and put some distance so you can recuperate briefly. If your opponent is inwards to the edge, don't roll. You'll end up right in front of them and will be grabbed or attacked.

3) Ledge Attack: This can be useful if your opponent isn't expecting it. It will deal some damage and knock your opponent a short distance away from the edge to give you some breathing room. Press any attack button to use this. If your opponent catches onto it though, they will shield the ledge attack and then grab you; don't overuse it. Also, don't use it if they are expecting a roll, or the lag on the attack will give them time to dash in and attack you.

4) Ledge Hop: Press jump or tap up to hop upwards on the ledge. This is a good way to get over your opponent if they are at the ledge and can catch them off guard if they are expecting a roll. One of the safest options for the ledge.

5) Off-Ledge Attack: This once can be tricky and is only possible with some characters. Jump off or drop off the ledge and then set yourself parallel to the edge; then, use your side special to attack the opponent on the edge. This only works with character that have laterally-moving side special like Wario, Pit, Dark Pit, Fox, Falco, Charizard, and Captain Falcon. You can also use it with Ganondorf, but it will often result in a death for Ganondorf as well as the opponent.

There are lots of options on the edge; just like with edge-guarding, take some factors into account before deciding what to do on the edge, and make sure you do it fast or the invincibility frames on the edge will end. These factors are the position of your opponent, the character you're using, and the character your opponent is using. Also, be sure to mix it up. If you roll onto the edge every time, your opponent will catch on and will punish you for it. Mix it up to keep your opponent on their toes.

I hope you enjoyed my guide on the edge-game! I also hope it helped you to improve your edge-game!

If you have any questions for me, please let me know in the comments below. While you're at it, tell me: did you like this guide, and if so, would you like me to do more guides like this one in the future? It would be a big help for me if you told me your thoughts.

The next guide will be on Ike, so get ready to learn how to fight for your friends!

Until next time Smashers, keep on smashing and leave it to Heropon!