SSBM/Marth

Introduction

Marth is a mid range monster. Being rewarded for proper spacing like no other character with his tipper mechanic, where he receives additional damage, knockback, and even move properties for hitting his opponent with just the tip of his massive sword, an obscenely large grab range which can convert into touch of death combos, and the best grounded movement option in the game by far in his dash, there's a reason Marth has been a consistent sight at the highest levels of play throughout Melee's history.

When Marth dashes, he leans forward dramatically. This causes a pseudo-teleportation effect wherein everything besides his ankles instantly move out of the way of any attack or grab that might be coming his way. This along with by far the best disjoint and grab of any top tier, and the ability to instantly threaten these all in conjunction with each other mid dash, combine to make him feel almost impossible to open up in neutral

Furthermore, due to his gigantic sword, there are few character that can hope to contest Marth when he's at the advantage. Being below the other character, or juggling them, is always good in Melee. For Marth, it's checkmate.

However, Marth is nearly as easily juggled as he is potent at keeping you above him. Think of Marth as a porcupine, if you're under him there are no spikes protecting him. There is also the infamous "Marthritis", where if a Marth player misses an edge guard or drops a combo, finishing his opponent's stock will be much harder than you might initially suspect. This is because he doesn't have great stray hit kill moves to throw out to minimize his losses. Finally, tricky movement from his opponents can cause him to misspace, a potential death sentence for a Marth.

In summary, Marth elegantly dances around his opponents, striking from far outside of their range and seeming to remain virtually untouchable in neutral. However, once he's hit or grabbed things can go from bad to worse very quickly

Strengths	Weaknesses
A Big Sword Strong advantage state: Marth can keep someone in the air or in the corner for a long time and is able to edgeguard most of the cast very effectively Movement: A low dashdance that makes Marth very hard to hit Grab: Probably the best one in the game. High range and reward, excellent out of asdi down. What more could you want?	Difficulty At Ledge: A max 4 Galint ledgedash and few invincible options out of it lets characters challenge Marth safely and keep him in the corner. Moderate Weakness To CC: Even spaced Marth’s main neutral tools can be favourably called out with fast movement out of CC or by moving inside of sourspot range.

"A" Moves Analysis

Note that all of Marth's attacks (save his grabs and Counter) have a sweetspot at the tip of his blade. Because of this, the term "tipper" refers to the sweetspotted version of the attack.

Ground attacks

Normal

Neutral attack - Swings upward, back and forth, with the first hit resembling his up-tilt. Can be chained continuously. If Marth is wearing a Bunny Hood, this attack can be chained twice as fast.
Dash attack - A quick upward diagonal slash with medium lag with extremely high priority. 10% base, 13% tip
side Tilt - A fast forward sword swipe, much like the dash attack with less lag and a higher angle.
up Tilt - Swings his sword in a large arc above his head, front to back. Good for setting up a Ken Combo. Non-tipped is a good KO move. Looks like the first hit of his neutral attack, though aims a bit higher. It also bears resemblance to his forward tilt. 9% base. 12% tip
down Tilt - A quick crouching sword poke. Good for ground edge guard because it semi-spikes and usually it makes the opponent waste their midair jump while Marth can then edge guard. 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. Very fast and long ranged. The tip is on top knockback.
Up smash - A powerful upward thrust.
Down smash - Sweeps his sword on the ground toward the front then toward the back. If tipped it sends opponents upward with high vertical knockback, star KOing opponents at high percentage, and its one of the strongest down smash in the game. If hit at the base, it sends opponents with low horizontal knockback, but it can still KO at high percentage.

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, can follow up into each other.
Forward aerial - Forward vertical slash (up to down). This attack sends opponents upward if tipped.
Back aerial - Bottom to top sword slash behind him.
Up aerial - A forward to back upward sword slash. Hit from close is as powerful as the tip but from medium distance is still weak.
Down aerial - A forward to back downward sword slash. A great spike when 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 backward. 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, though does not kill until damages higher than 150%. 4% damage.

"B" Moves List

B-Shield Breaker. A downward slash with Falchion, mainly used to break a shield. Can be charged for more damage and shield damage. Mainly used to edgeguard or in situations when a Fair or Dair is inapplicable. Use carefully though, as the lag after the move is quite long.

6B-Dancing Blade. A slash with Falchion to the front of Marth. Tilting the control stick up or down while performing it will lead to different attacks. Further inputs result in more sword slashes, with a maximum of four.

2B-Counter. A counter-attack move. If the opponent attacks during this duration, a counterattack starts. Don't spam this move as it is highly punishable.

UpB- Dolphin Slash. A jumping slash. Mainly used for recovery. Can slightly angle to increase vertical or horizontal reach. Grants intangibility. Can also be used when edgeguarding especially, when reversed.

Move Analysis

Combos

Frame Data

Strategies

Dancing Blade Meteor

When using Marth's B-side attack (the Dancing Blade), after the initial B-side, the player can do up to 3 more swings in one sequence with Marth’s sword. There are multiple combinations of this attack, after the initial B-over to start the attack; the player can use B-up, B-over, or B-down. The third swing in the sequence is a very useful spike if B-down is pressed. It can be used to get kills at low percentages, by knocking the opponent off the ledge; make sure Marth is close to the edge, or on the edge as the opponent makes their way back toward the ledge, the player should start the B-over sequence. Time it so by the time the opponent is right back at the ledge, the player should be on the third swing, press b-down for the meteor smash.

Reverse Dolphin Slash

By starting Marth's up special attack, Dolphin Slash, and immediately pressing the opposite direction to which the player is currently facing, Marth will begin the first frame of his attack but change directions to finish the attack as if you were facing the other way. This variation has significantly increased knockback, but must be done at close range. The reason for this is that when Marth does his Dolphin Slash, he holds his sword behind him for a second. Given that Marth's attack are more powerful at the tip of the sword, as well as earlier into the Dolphin Slash, turning around at the start allows him to hit when the conditions are the best. This technique is also commonly performed out of a shield, by jump-canceling.

Reverse Counter

Oddly enough, Marth's counter attack has a second hit box which is much more powerful than the first. This hitbox is located in the first few pixels behind him and even more behind and above him. The blow is about as powerful as his f-smash (untippered) and serves as a flashy kill move in FFAs or 2v2s. However, it may only be used when one enemy (or teammate) is attacking from the front while the other approached from behind making the move extremely situational.

Ken Combo

Probably the most famous Marth combo of all is the Ken Combo. To do it, the player has to use multiple forward aerials (make sure they hit at close range or else the opponent will go up so the player can't combo anymore) and then once opponent is near the edge or trying to recover, the player uses a down aerial (spike in regular versions and meteor smash in PAL (make sure they hit with the tip or else it won't spike or meteor smash)) and then the opponent will be knocked downward and lose a life.