Edgeguarding: Difference between revisions

In ''Brawl,'' recoveries are overall longer, and the larger ledge sweetspots, as well as the auto-sweetspot mechanic, make edgeguarding less effective. The meteor smash recognition window has been expanded, removing the spikes of the previous game. Meta Knight is infamous for his immunity to being edgeguarded, due to his plethora of recovery options, with his recovery being the best not only in ''Brawl,'' but arguably the entire series, and this grants him his powerful offstage game. ''Brawl''{{'}}s floatier physics, low hitstun, meteor cancelling, air dodges, and the aforementioned changes to ledge sweetspots arguably make edgeguarding in this game the least effective out of all five iterations, along with the ability to buffer wall techs being removed. In these three games, [[edgehogging]] is a commonly used tactic to stop opponents who aim their recoveries to the ledge.  

In ''Smash 4,'' recoveries on their own were generally buffed, and ledges were reworked to remove [[edgehogging]], reducing the effectiveness of onstage edgeguarding, and grabbing an edge without landing back on stage or taking histun will not give any intangibillity. However, [[meteor cancelling]] has been removed, rendering all moves that were meteor smashes as deadly as they were back in ''Smash 64'', and [[planking]] is practically impossible. The new ledge stealing mechanic can set up recovering opponents for an attack, most commonly a back aerial. The longer recoveries enforce and encourage more aggressive offstage play, as offstage edgeguarding carries much less risk than before, since an edgeguarder can no longer be edgehogged if their attempt is unsuccessful. Also, the improvements to recoveries are not consistent across the cast. {{SSB4|Marth}}'s recovery is largely unchanged from before; {{SSB4|Fox}}'s recovery is twice as long as in ''Brawl,'' as [[Fox Illusion]] and [[Fire Fox]] can now be used in tandem, Ganondorf's recovery is even worse due to his lowered [[air speed]] and the removal of [[grab armor]], and {{SSB4|Charizard}} suffers severely with the loss of [[gliding]] despite the addition of [[Flare Blitz]]. Most notably, ''Smash 4'' introduces {{SSB4|Little Mac}}, whose recovery is undoubtedly the worst in the entire series. Lastly, in ''Smash 4,'' [[teching]] cannot be performed during [[hitlag]], causing certain stage spikes to be untechable, and the new ledge mechanics make stage spikes more common than in past games. All these changes have contributed to more offstage battles in competitive play, as edgeguarding is much safer while still rewarding if successful. As in ''Brawl,'' Meta Knight is noteworthy for his edgeguarding ability, along with characters who possess useful meteor smashes, particularly {{SSB4|Captain Falcon}} and {{SSB4|Ganondorf}}.