Marth: Difference between revisions

Marth is the prince of {{s|fireemblem|Altea}}, one of the Seven Kingdoms of the continent of {{iw|fireemblemwiki|Archanea|continent}}. He is descended from the family of a legendary hero, {{s|fireemblem|Anri}}, who once used the "blade of light", [[List of swords#Falchion|Falchion]]<!--In Fire Emblem, it has always been "Falchion", not "THE Falchion"-->, to defeat the sinister dragon-emperor {{s|fireemblem|Medeus}}. Marth is characterized as a courageous, good-natured and honorable man. He takes his royal responsibilities to his people very seriously, always putting their needs first, no matter how troubled he is by developments in his own personal life. As a leader, he not only cares deeply about his friends and comrades but believes that he could not have achieved anything himself without their support. Later appearances tend to emphasize Marth's determination to save as many people as possible and ensure that none of his comrades die, even in seemingly hopeless situations.

The second story in ''Mystery of the Emblem'' begins three years after the events of the first game, and follows Marth as he is confronted by Hardin, now the Emperor of Archanea and corrupted by Gharnef. After Hardin conquers Altea and declares Marth a traitor, Marth and his allies embark on a journey through Archanea's northern wilderness and follow the legendary path once taken by Anri, where he learns the true history of the dragons and their role in shaping the history of Archanea. Marth is given the task of repairing the titular {{iw|fireemblemwiki|Fire Emblem|Archanean item}} shield to restore its ability to seal away the [[fireemblemwiki:Earth Dragon|earth dragons]], a malevolent species of a dragon to which Medeus belongs. The game ends with Marth defeating Medeus for the final time, uniting all seven of Archanea's kingdoms into one with himself as its king, and his marriage Caeda. Later generations would remember him as the legendary "Hero-King".

In his starring games, Marth is given the unique {{s|fireemblem|lord}} [[fireemblemwiki:Class|character class]]: as the commander of his army, it is necessary for him to [[fireemblemwiki:Objectives#Seize|seize castles and thrones]] held by enemy armies to complete chapters and progress in his quest, but if he is defeated in battle, the game is over and the player must restart from their last save point. He is also the only unit who is able to visit villages to receive the items, money or new recruits that they offer. In battle, he plays as a jack-of-all-trades who lacks the greater statistical advantages of other classes, but has a unique advantage in his relatively powerful exclusive weapons, including {{s|fireemblemwiki|rapier}}s (lightweight and effective against both heavy armor and cavalry) and Falchion (effective against dragons and cannot be broken, among various other abilities in specific games).

Neither Marth nor any ''Fire Emblem'' content appears in the first ''Smash'' game. However, according to an interview from ''Making of Fire Emblem: 25 Years of Development Secrets'', [[Masahiro Sakurai]] wanted to include Marth as a playable character in that game, but was unable to do so due to time constraints. <ref>[http://www.sourcegaming.info/2015/12/13/sakurai-fe25/ Source Gaming: "Sakurai Interview: Fire Emblem 25th Anniversary"]</ref>

Marth makes his ''Smash'' debut (and by extension, his international debut, excluding the ''Mystery of the Emblem'' anime adaption, which was released in North America) as an [[unlockable character]] in ''Melee''. His design is based on his appearance from ''Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem''. He can be unlocked one of three ways: using all fourteen starter characters at least once each in Vs. Mode matches, beating or failing Classic mode with all fourteen starter characters on any difficulty, or playing 400 Vs. mode matches. In each of these cases, after fulfilling the conditions Marth must be battled one-on-one to be unlocked.

Marth is one of the game's most effective fighters, currently ranking 2nd on the ''Melee'' [[tier list]]. His strengths include the long [[reach]] and fast [[startup]] of his sword attacks, the excellent damage and [[knockback]]  the [[sweetspot]] on the tip of his blade deals, his moderately fast dash, long grab, useful floaty [[wavedash]], excellent [[edgeguarding]] capabilities, easy and efficient combos, and great [[SHFFL]], with his drawbacks being his lack of a projectile, high [[endlag]] on his moves, and a laggy up special. Marth's "[[clone]]", {{SSBM|Roy}}, has attacks that are almost identical in animation, and many "Marth vs. Roy" debates ensued in the years following ''Melee''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s release, but professional analysis places Marth in a higher tier than Roy because he lacks Marth's subtle but vital advantages.

Marth returns as an unlockable playable character. Like ''Melee'', his appearance is based on his design from ''Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem''. Marth has a superior reach to most characters in the game and relies on the length of his sword to effectively zone against his opponents. While his changes are mixed, he was somewhat nerfed from ''Melee'' like a lot of other higher tier characters. He is currently in the A- tier according to the official SBR tier list.

::{{Flag|Europe}} ''Marth, the prince of Altea, is the hero of the first ever Fire Emblem game and its remake, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. In this game, his graceful sword skills are what set him apart. Strike with the tip of his blade to deal extra damage, and use his Counter skill to defend yourself, no matter which directions you're being attacked from.''

As Marth was a high or top tier character in all of his previous appearances, he received a mix of buffs and nerfs in the transition from ''Smash 4'' to ''Ultimate'', but was nerfed overall. While he received buffs both directly and from some universal changes, the faster pace of ''Ultimate'' combined with the removal of micro spacing techniques like [[perfect pivot]]ing makes it much more difficult to land his tipper sweetspots. He also received several direct nerfs: his jab is no longer an effective combo starter, and his sourspots are much weaker. Some buffs were tweaked a bit for Marth as an instance, they've made his tippers a bit bigger or easier to hit, but this didn't really improve Marth very much. As a result of these nerfs, Marth sees little representation in tournaments, with many players considering him outclassed by Lucina.