More Advanced Moves in SSMB
Counter:
The counter move is a difficult one to pull off. Basically, the second an attack or projectile hits you, press L or R. Rather than put up a shield, you character will just cross their arms over their face, and a white flash comes from the contact point. This cancels the opponent's attack, but unlike a regular shield, you don't lag as you put your shield down, meaning if you can successfully counter, you're free to start attacking straight away. There isn't really an easy way to train yourself to use this move, your best bet would be to go to training mode and have a friend throw items at you. When you are successfully able to counter projectiles, move on to blocking attacks. It's tough to do on unpredictable human opponents, but when you do pull it off, it works wonders. For those of you wondering, yes, the computer is very good at countering, and does it all the time.
Air Moves:
A-button aerial attacks, combined with a direction: Nair, Fair, Dair, Bair and Uair. These are simply shortened versions of Neutral air (Nair), Forward Air (Fair), Downward Air (Dair), Backward Air (Bair), and Upward Air (Uair). You'll find that a lot of people who talk about SSBM shorten these terms down. The terms, obviously, refer to the 5 different aerial moves available to all characters.
L Cancel:
This is a great way to reduce lag from airborne attacks. To see this move at its best, select Link. Jump into the air, and perform his Dair (Downward Aerial). Just watch how long it takes Link to pull his sword from the ground. Now, jump again, and perform his Dair. But this time, as Link hits the ground, hit L or R. Link's sword-pulling animation will be at double-speed. This can be used for any aerial move that produces lag when you hit the ground. It's essential for fast-paced matches.
The 'Shffl':
Shffl. Short-hop, fast fall, L-Cancel. To perform this, tap X or Y quickly, and your character should do a hop that barely leaves the ground. Now, at the peak of the hop, press down to make your character fall faster. Finally, L-Cancel when you hit the ground to reduce any lag. The first question is, 'Why Shffl?' The answer is, by shuffling, you can perform your aerials, even when you have barely left the ground. For characters like Sheik, who's Fair is godly, shhfling is a god-send. It is also a lot less predictable than a running attack, or throwing an item from a distance. If you ever hear a term like 'Shffl'd Fair', then the process would be Short hop, Forward A, Fast Fall, L Cancel. 'Shffl' is just the general term.
WaveDash:
To WaveDash, jump, but before you have visibly left the ground, air dodge diagonally into the ground and your character will slide along it, leaving a trail of smoke. If you are not sure if you are WaveDashing correctly, do it with Luigi, as he has the best and most obvious WaveDash.
Chances are, when you first learn how to WaveDash, you'll think 'Useless.' But its not. At least, not when you can perform it fluently. Practice on Final Destination, until you can successfully WaveDash from one side of the stage to the other, quickly and fluently. It is also possible to WaveDash backwards, by doing the air dodge backwards rather than forwards. Learn how to do that fluently too. Now the WaveDash comes into its own. SSBM WaveDash backwards and forwards on the spot to keep your opponent guessing, then at an opportune moment, WaveDash towards them and strike. WaveDash up to an opponent, then just when you get within their reach, WaveDash back, then forward again then strike while they are still suffering lag from their attack. Use it as a get-away tactic. In some cases WaveDashing is a better choice of movement than a regular run. In short, the WaveDash owns!
Quick Ledge Grab
In SSBM game is a used for the backwards WaveDash. First you need to know edge-hogging. Basically, two people cannot hold onto the ledge at the same time. If you have knocked your opponent far out, and their only hope is to grab the ledge, edge-hog them and they just won't grab on, and will fall to their death. You may have realized that, when you grab an edge, you are invincible for a short period of time. Usually, you would grab onto the edge while you opponent is far away, so you have plenty of time to jump down to the ledge. This creates a problem when facing someone like Bowser, whose recovery move is damaging the whole time. If your half-second of invincibility has run out when Bowser reaches the edge, his Whirling Fortress will knock you off, and he will grab the ledge. So we need to grab the ledge at the last moment to make use of the invincibility. We can't jump down to the ledge, as that leaves us open and is too slow. So here is what you do. Stand slightly away from the edge, facing away from the edge as well. WaveDash backwards. As your character slides backwards, they should go off the edge at a downward angle, grabbing it almost instantaneously. Nothing feels better than snatching a ledge when your opponent's only hope was to grab onto it. Try it out someday, you'll love it.
Teching
Teching is the name given to the move, where you press left or right when you get knocked into the ground. If you press left or right when you hit the ground, you'll do a huge roll left or right, which is great for dodging an attack when someone hoped to knock you back up.
Crouch Canceling :
A simple technique, CCing is crouching when you get hit. Even if you have around 100% damage, if you crouch before a smash attack hits you, instead of flying off-screen, you will instead be smashed into the ground. It's great for when you know you are going to get hit by a strong attack, but can't dodge it outright.
Priority:
Priority is how high 'ranked' an attack is. A high-priority attack will cancel and go through a low priority one, while equal priority attacks will cancel each other out. By using high-priority attacks, you have a better chance of damaging an opponent should your attacks collide. Keep in mind though, that if you keep using only high-priority attacks, you will become predictable. Don't base your attack patterns off priority, but keep it in mind when an opponent has one or two high-damage high-priority attacks in his or her arsenal.
CHARACTER SPECIFIC TECHNIQUES
These are special abilities available to certain characters only.
Dr. Mario's 'Pill Rush'
Dr. Mario's pills provide a great, hard to avoid barrier. It is simple enough to do, just jump, launch a pill, L-Cancel your landing and launch another pill. The two pills are very hard to avoid, as the most obvious escape from one pill is blocked by the other.
Bowser's 'Whirling Dodge':
Any Bowser player will tell you that Bowser's roll is useless. He goes little distance, barely worth the time it takes to do the roll. There is a way around this. While standing on the ground, press Up+B. Bowser will perform his 'Whirling Fortress' recovery technique. If you press left or right on the control stick while performing the attack, Bowser will slide in that direction. Not only does this attack give Bowser more distance than a roll, and leaves him open for less time, but it also does damage!
Samus' 'Bomb Jump':
This move gives Samus infinite recovery ability from any horizontal position, and it is simple to do. While in the air, perform your mid-air jump to get height. Height is pretty important to the technique. Press Down+B to perform Samus's bomb move. The second you are able to execute another attack (after the lag from the bomb move has ended), perform the move again. When the first bomb collides with Samus, hold the control stick in the direction of the stage. The second bomb move will suspend Samus in the air long enough for the first bomb to drop onto her. The explosion will propel Samus upwards, and if you are holding a direction, Samus will 'bounce' off the explosion in that direction. You can perform this several times, but remember to save your recovery Screw Attack until you are close to the edge, otherwise you will be unable to continue bomb jumping.
A good way to practice game moves is to go to final destination. Perform Samus's two jumps straight upwards from the edge of the stage. Now start bomb jumping away from the stage. Keep bomb jumping until Samus is seen through the magnifying glass (It should take around two bomb jumps). Now, perform another two bomb jumps to return to the screen, then finish with a screw attack to return to the stage. When you can do that consistently, you have perfected her bomb jump.
Link's 'Bomb Jump':
Ah, for the simple ways of Samus's bomb jump. Link's is harder to pull of and less effective, but it gives Link his best possible chance for recovering from being thrown far out.
To perform the move, when Link is smashed out, pull out a bomb. Use your mid-air jump to get as close to the stage as possible. While you are falling (not at the height of your jump), throw the bomb upwards. Now, perform Link's Up+B spin attack. When you perform the move, direct it first in the direction Link is facing. When you feel the time is right, change the attack's direction so Link spins back into the bomb. The explosion will count as Link being hit, and will therefore give him the ability to perform another Up+B. If you are still confused, take this example: You are smashed off the right side of the stage. You perform your mid-air jump towards the stage (to the left). Now, you throw your bomb upwards. You perform your Up+B, and direct it towards the stage (left). Usually around the mid-way point of the spin attack (the timing may vary depending on the bomb's position), direct the spin attack back, away from the stage, into the path of the bomb. It should hit you and explode, allowing you to perform another Up+B. When mastered, you can congratulate yourself on having learnt Link's most effective method of long-range recovery.
Jigglypuff;s 'Wall-of-Pain' :
Jiggs' Wall of Pain revolves around the high priority of Jigglypuff's attack, as well as her air-speed. WoP is Jiggly's Fair, Bairs and Forward-B moves, combined with jumps. WoP doesn't have a set pattern, it is just a lot of Jigglypuff's high-priority air attacks used one after the other to create a 'wall' of attack that is difficult to hit through. Mix up your fairs, bairs, etc if you want to use WoP effectively. Basically, all you have to do is use Jigglypuff's high-priority aerials to smack an opponent before they get a chance to smack you.
