Smash Advent Calendar - Day 29 - Marth

Marth is the star of Day 29 and this man made his Smash debut on the Gamecube in Melee, and has been a fan favourite ever since. Initially, Marth and his counterpart Roy were to be left out of Western releases of Smash Bros. as their game of origin, "Fire Emblem", had never seen release in America or Europe at the time. However, the characters made it through and this alone saw interest for a Western release for the game skyrocket. Now, "Fire Emblem" is an iconic Nintendo franchise, and so it is no surprise Marth is returning to Smash 4.

I think aesthetically, Marth is a wonderful character. He's very simple in design, a typical handsome and elegant swordsman with a slight Japanese anime flair to him. He moves with a grace that suits him well, attacks appear fluid and lightning fast, further enhanced in Brawl with additional air trails that exude from his sword. It looks like his look is updated in Smash 4, with a new set of armour and a slightly more cutesy face - much like Pit's changes from Brawl. I think these changes are refreshing and interesting, and I can't wait to see if there are any other visual changes to him in action.

Marth is one of the most solid competitors in both Brawl and Melee and thus needs relatively few changes. He possesses great speed, a high fall speed and incredible reach and so is often on top of matchups. Though he lacks a projectile, his long sword still allows him to approach opponents. This is augmented with the fact that his sword is at its most powerful at its tip, meaning that enemies being approached by Marth have a great pressure put upon them.

Damn, he's fabulous.

In Melee, Marth had a few tricks that he lacked in the sequel. or one, his Neutral+B has a much better range and its hitbox extends above him, making it much more versatile and a great counter to enemies that approach him. Also, compared to Brawl, the tip of his sword was much easier to hit with, meaning he racked up damage well. Adversely, though the sweetspot at the end of is sword is smaller in Brawl, the damage is higher on it. With many changes of a similar vein, it's hard to tell whether he got better or worse overall.

Marth also has an excellent grab game, particularly in Melee where the engine allowed them to be utilized fully. Most of his throws don't send the enemy far but disorientate the opponent, making devastating combos and tech chases possible and very effective. These grab games call for players to have to use great skill in order to KO opponents so the balance comes from a lack of grab that sends opponents flying to a certain KO like Mario's back throw.

Marth is not without weakness. He is a light character, certainly more so than his co-stars Roy and Ike. This means that fairly strong attacks will send Marth hurtling off of stages at lower percentages than normal. In addition, he lacks a reliable recovery move; Up+B sends Marth upwards with a strike of his sword that keeps opponents at bay but is fairly weak and the move lacks much horizontal gain. It's also very predictable despite its speed, so opponents can edgeguard him pretty easily.

Overall though, I think that Marth is a great character, perhaps with slightly more good points than bad. I think much of his place on the tier list is more to do with characters low down having a lac of tools to deal with faster opponents more than Marth being overpowered in himself, but he could maybe do with a touch down in the power department to ensure his range isn't off kilter. But all in all, I imagine Marth will continue to be a very popular character and I eagerly await to see what players do with him.

What do you think of Marth? A fun, fast fighter? Or too light and fluffy? Let me know below or on the facebook page.