Marth (SSBB)

This article is about Marth's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For other uses, see Marth.

Marth
Marth
Universe	Fire Emblem
Appears in	SSBM SSBB
Availability	Unlockable
Tier	A (6)

Marth (マルス, Marusu) is a character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Despite being a "hidden" character, Marth appears in the game's opening video, standing back to back with Meta Knight. It is uncertain whether Marth has improved or been nerfed since Super Smash Bros. Melee (in which he was considered 2nd best on the tier list, and is 3rd best on Brawl's list if newcomers are excluded), as he has gained the ability to escape from most combos, Dolphin Slash improved, and Counter deals more damage, but his standard attack combo is slower, his standard special is harder to hit with, and the range of his sword and grabs is shorter. He ranks 6th on the current Brawl tier list due to great matchups, priority, range, speed, and power when he lands an attack on the tip of his sword.

How to unlock Marth

Complete one of the following:

• Play 10 matches in Brawl, then defeat Marth
• Finish Classic mode on any difficulty, then defeat Marth
• Get Marth to join your party in The Subspace Emissary

Attributes

Marth in SSBB is basically a reprise from SSBM. He retains status as a quick-footed, high priority (due to sword) lightweight, and tall for his weight class swordsman, with strong aerial moves. With a great aerial moveset and air defense, Marth is almost unparalleled in the air. Marth also retains certain qualities, such as increased power and hitlag at the tip of his blade, which defines a great part of his game. This tip is the basis for Marth's very potent down air meteor smash and for his down tilt edge guard. His attacks, when not tipped, are somewhat weak, and hitting with the sweetspot can be hard (although some attacks are easy to sweetspot like Uair and Dtilt). Most of Marth's attacks have little starting lag and great range, but his attacks can be easily punished when shielded (though his standard special has the ability to break shields). Marth himself lacks a projectile, but his high mobility allows him to avoid opponents' projectiles. Dolphin Slash allows Marth to escape from most chain grabs due to the invincibility frames it provides, and it can even KO if the opponent at high percentages. As a recovery move, it travels good vertical distance but poor horizontal distance. Dancing Blade does high damage and counts as four attacks in the refresh counter, making it great to refresh his other moves as well as inflict high damage on the opponent. Marth's Counter, the fastest in the game, can be used to punish opponent attacks and interrupt combos. Marth can also chain grab a number of characters using his forward and down throw, and has a grab release infinite on Lucas and Ness. On the downside, his throws are weak in terms of damage (usually doing only 4% per throw, with the exception of his down throw, which does 5%).

In the end, Marth can use his range, priority, and speed to overcome his weaknesses.

Changes from Melee to Brawl

As aforementioned, it is difficult to tell whether Marth has been buffed or nerfed from Melee to Brawl. His grabs and sword are shorter. On the upside, his dolphin slash now grants a bit more horizontal distance, and it is stronger as an offensive move when the non-tipped sweetspot hits. It also grants him invincibility frames, which allow him to escape most chaingrabs and be used as a second counter. His counter now deals 1.1x damage back with a minimum of 8% damage. On the downside, his standard attack combo is slower, and the tip of Marth's blade is harder to hit with. Marth's Dancing Blade is faster, and it is now easier to connect all four attacks. It also flashes different colors depending on which direction is chosen. The hitlag on his tipped forward smash, tipped down smash, and tipped down aerial are much longer. Marth's side smash is more powerful when tipped and less powerful when non-tipped. Marth's dash speed has decreased, although only slightly. Marth's tipped down smash has decreased in knockback. Marth's shield breaker is now a stab (straight angle, not an easier-to-hit-with vertical slash like in Melee). In addition, when it activates in it's own, it will move you in mid-air. It charges much faster, but it's no longer an effective edge-guard move and requires full charge to have high knockback. Other changes include drastically reduced falling speed, his tipped forward aerial and tipped dash attack have horizontal knockback instead of vertical, and his up smash has hitboxes to the sides that launch the enemy into the main hitbox (similar to Roy's up smash in melee).

Moveset

Ground Attacks

Normal

• Neutral Attack - Swings upward, back and forth. Can be chained continuously. First two can be faster chained if well timed. Can jab lock. The first hit has the same appearance and animation as the his up tilt. The only difference is that his up tilt has a bit more visual range. 4% base. 6% tip.
• Dash Attack - A quick upward diagonal slash with medium lag. Extremely high priority. 10% base. 13% tip
• Strong Side - Much like the dash attack with less lag and higher angle. 9% base. 12% tip
• Strong Up - Swings his sword in a large arc above his head, front to back. Non-tipped is a good KO move. Can also spike if hit at the back of Marth. It has the same appearance and animation as the first hit of his neutral attack. The only difference is that his up tilt has has a bit more visual range. 9% base. 12% tip
• Strong Down - A quick crouching sword poke. Good for ground edge guard because it semi-spikes and usually it makes the opponent waste their mid-air jump while Marth can then edge guard. It can also be used to Pseudo Crawl. 9% base. 10% tip

Smash

• Side Smash - Rotates body counter-clockwise with a strong arc-like swing from his head to the ground, similar to the animation of his neutral special from Melee. Very fast and long ranged. The tip is on top knockback. 14-19% base. 20%-27% tip.
• Up Smash - A powerful upward thrust. 17% base and tip. 21% when done to adjacent opponent. 18% to foes on ground.
• Down Smash - Sweeps his sword on the ground towards front then towards back. Front: 14% base, 17% tip. Back: 13% base, 16% tip.

Other

• Ledge Attack - Flips onto ledge with a quick downward diagonal slash from left to right. 6% base. 8% tip.
• 100% Ledge Attack - Quick, low, horizontal slash with medium lag. Less range than normal ledge attack. 10% base and tip.
• Floor Attack(From back) - Quick stab to the left followed by horizontal slash to the right. 6% base and tip.
• Floor Attack(From stomach) - Sweeps the tip of his sword on the ground front to back. Less range than floor attack from back. 6% base and tip.

Aerial Attacks

• Neutral Aerial - Two horizontal slashes around himself. Both hits connect easily. 14% damage. Tipped 18%. Enough priority to go through Meta Knight's mach tornado. Highly useful.
• Forward Aerial - Forward vertical slash (up to down). 10% damage base, 13% damage tip. High priority.
• Back Aerial - Bottom to top sword slash behind him. This back aerial and Zelda's back aerial are the only ones which turn the character around. 11% damage base, 14% damage tip. Kills well if tipped right at the beginning of the hitbox. Same priority as forward aerial.
• Up Aerial - A forward to back upward sword slash. Hit from close is as powerful as the tip, but from medium distance it is quite weak. 14% damage.
• Down Aerial - A forward to back downward sword slash. Very fast. When tipped, it is a very good meteor smash, with a starting kill percent of 40%+ around the edge of Final Destination. The end of the swing is a slightly easier hitbox to tip with, so it works well with RAR. 12% standard, 14% damage tipped.

Grabs & Throws

• Pummel - repeatedly knees opponent 2% damage.
• Forward Throw - Grabs and pushes forward, tripping with the leg. 4% damage.
• Down Throw - Hooks arm and drags to the floor sending the opponent backwards. Set ups tipper forward smash at low percentages. 5% damage.
• Back Throw - Pulls and extends leg simultaneously. 4% damage.
• Up Throw - Powerful upward throw with one arm. 4% damage.

In competitive play

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Character Matchups

Avg.

Role in the Subspace Emissary

Two R.O.B.s are seen activating a Subspace Bomb in a barren battlefield. Marth is seen at the top of a castle watching helplessly as the robots detonate the bomb. He stands and shines his sword, then hundreds of Primids are shown going to the castle. The gameplay starts with him confronting the Primids and descending through the building until he reaches the grounds. A video sequence starts again and he is ambushed by Meta Knight. During the duel (in the same video sequence), they are attacked from behind by the Primids, but they both manage to repel them. Realizing that the other is not an enemy, they join forces to defeat the Primids. After fighting against the Primids, both Meta Knight and Marth aim their attacks at the Ancient Minister, who is carrying another Subspace Bomb. It would appear that Marth uses his Dolphin Slash, and misses, while Meta Knight simply gets shot in the wing by the Ancient Minister. Luckily Ike shows up and attacks the Ancient Minister with his trusted Aether move. With the Subspace Bomb destroyed, the trio storm the castle once more.

Marth in the SSE

In the desert, they see a vehicle driving off in the distance. Ike immediately jumps off the cliff to pursue it, followed by Meta Knight. Marth merely scratches the back of his head in disbelief before following them. When they find the vehicle, it transforms into Galleom, and the three fight it. After battling Galleom, it jumps off the cliff and falls through the ground, where it encounters Lucas and Pokémon Trainer. When it gets defeated again, it grabs Lucas and the Trainer, and tries to detonate a Subspace Bomb, but Lucas manages to free them from Galleom, and Meta Knight grabs them as they fall. When the Halberd duels with the Great Fox, Meta Knight leaves the group in order to board the Halberd. After the Ice Climbers are knocked off the mountain by the Halberd, and join Marth's group, Mario's group comes to aid them in fighting off the Primids that were dropped. After the battle, the Halberd (now under Meta Knight's control) and the Falcon Flyer land to pick them up. After an assault on the Subspace Gunship, they enter Subspace and encounter Tabuu, who turns them all into trophies. Fortunately, he, and some of the others, are revived by King Dedede, Luigi, and Ness, while the rest are revived by Kirby, and Marth helps the heroes face Tabuu.

Exclusive Stickers

The following stickers can only be used by Marth or Ike:

• Ninian: [Arm, Leg] Attack + 6
• Lilina: [Leg] Attack + 5
• Mist: [Slash] Attack + 8
• Deke: [Slash] Attack + 9
• Eirika: [Slash] Attack +17
• Ike (Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn): [Slash] Attack +27
• Rutoga: [Slash] Resistance +12
• Ashnard: [Slash] Resistance +34
• Shiida: [Specials: Direct] Attack + 7
• Greil: [Throwing] Attack +14
• Marth: [Weapon] Attack +19
• Micaiah: [Weapon] Attack +21
• Ike:(Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance) [Weapon] Attack +23
• Eliwood: Flame Resistance +33

Taunts

Up: Raises his sword in the air, and it shines. Similar to his critical hit animation from the games.

Side: Slashes his sword twice in front of himself, then sheaths it.

Down: Twirls his sword once, and raises it in front of him saying "みんな、見ていてくれ!" "Minna, miteite kure!" which is Japanese for "Everyone, look at me!" (same as look at me!" (same in Melee.).

Costume Gallery

File:Alt-marth2.jpg

Marth's alternate costumes

Trivia

• Marth is the only speaking character to only speak in Japanese in both English and Japanese versions. This is probably because when Brawl came out, he had not been released in a Fire Emblem title outside of Japan. However, since Brawl's release, Marth has appeared in the Nintendo DS remake of the first Fire Emblem, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, available in North America. As such, the Japanese voice acting for Marth in (possible) future Super Smash Bros. games is left into question.
  • Marth is also the only character without an updated voice, instead using the same voice clips from Melee.
    • In addition, in Melee's Master Sound Test, there is one voice bit that has Marth saying "Let's dance!". It is unknown why said voice bit wasn't used for Brawl.
• In polls and the Prima's Offical Guide, Marth is considered one of the strongest characters in the game.
  • In addition to this, Marth's throws are rated as a 9/10, though they are actually pretty weak.
• Marth uses his sword in every attack except his pummels and throws.
• Marth overall rating is the best in the Prima game guide. 9/10. Only overall rating of 9/10.
• In his Fire Emblem games, he is actually mediocre having lower stats in speed, skill and strength, making him inferior to Ike in almost everyway because he does not promote into anything; he starts as a Lord, although he is able to reach Level 30. In spite of that he has very good speed in the Super Smash Bros. series.

External links

• Marth's Smash DOJO!! page
• The Fire Emblem Wiki article on Marth
• Marth Character Guide at SWF