Compendium of Smash Knowledge

ooh, i have an idea! we could add little character analyses into the guide! nothing major, of course, but introductions to the advanced styles of play for every character would be exceedingly useful for most newbies, who usually come with emotionally-attached favorites and insist on strategies for the said characters.

for instance, an intro to (who else?) captain falcon (actually the introductory essay to the captain falcon topic, but be quiet :p. also a little muddy in writing style and rather "kiddy" as well. this also obviously has a topic-starting edge that would certainly not be present in the newb faq):

[] - sections to be taken out

[Hi guys! I'm Mask-o-Sheik, and despite my name I'm a Captain Falcon player. This is a topic to discuss all things Captain Falcon: woes and worries, trials and triumphs, matchup analyses, strategies, anything! Do you need help beating that nasty Peach player with Captain Falcon? Do you want to share with the world your wonderful Captain Falcon strategies against the likes of Marth and Sheik? Then this is for you!]

[I'll start us off with a little essay on] basic techniques every Falcon player should know. This will help familiarize you with just how famed Falcon players Isai and Darkrain work their magic . [Before I begin, I should note that this post assumes that you can utilize and recognize the so-called "advanced techniques" - techniques practically nobody learns about on his or her own, because they use the game's mechanics so cleverly. If the terms wave-dash, l-cancel and short hop are not in your standard Melee vocabulary, you really ought to learn what they are, because they can elevate your game to a much higher level of play! Read all about them in the Newbie Guide, which has been posted here, I think.]

[Anyways, onto Falcon!] Even an inexperienced player knows two things about Falcon: he's strong and he's speedy. Think with those terms when you play as Captain Falcon - if you lack confidence in his strengths, you're already lost. Falcon runs the fastest in the game and moves very quickly in mid-air after a dash jump, making the sheer speed of his approach absolutely deadly. Combine this with his lethal short hop aerial attacks, and you?ve got an approach to be proud of! Of course, dash short hop aerials aren?t going to win you the match, and you?ve got to play to your situation, but they are an approach option essential to playing Captain Falcon. Remember, don?t doubt your speed - you can reach those faraway foes much quicker than you think!

Summarizing Captain Falcon?s approach (or anybody?s approach) is difficult, but I?ll try. You have several aerial attacks you can fly in with (via a dash short hop): forward aerial, known as the knee, is the most killer and often the best choice of attack when the opponent is at fairly high damages (this can be as early as 50%!); neutral aerial hits twice, thwarting enemy sidesteps, and launches non fast-fallers (anybody besides Fox, Falco or Falcon himself) forwards and slightly upwards, in position to be attacked again; down aerial launches pretty much anyone wonderfully, straight upwards; up aerial is quick to come out and launches in about the same direction as neutral aerial; back aerial is hard to fly in with but also sends in a similar direction. That was a mouthful! If you aren?t familiar with Falcon, don?t worry about knowing the stuff in this paragraph too thoroughly just yet - just know that you?ll always want to use the aerial best suited for the situation. I?ll discuss launchers and such a little further on. Of course, as I said earlier, there are many ways to come in with aerials - don?t always muscle your way at your foe with dash short hop aerials! Coming in from above and using platforms to help aim attacks are just two ways to throw a little variety into your game, which is important when you don?t have any projectiles to come in behind.

Another important aspect in Falcon?s approach is his limited but useful ground game. Most of his ground attacks are fairly slow, exploitable and useless for most situations, but he does have several attacks usable in your everyday approach. For instance, Falcon?s jab (neutral a) is a very quick attack usually used to interrupt an oncoming opponent and possibly land a grab (watch out for crouch-cancellers - those meanies can eat your jab and hit you before you can respond!). Speaking of which, Falcon?s grab and throws are very dangerous weapons too. Grab an opponent, and you can probably deal them quite a bit of damage before they can even react! I?ll deal with his options from grab a little later as well. Another nice attack from the ground is Falcon?s down tilt attack. It isn?t terribly fast, but it isn?t slow enough to be exploited if used correctly (usually). Down tilt has a lot of range, so hit foes with the tip of your feet! The attack sends enemies upward as well, which is very useful. Forward B, Raptor Boost, is a great launcher if you connect with it - use a few a match for good measure. One last attack - down smash can be used in some cases to punish side-steps and rolls, but don?t use it too often, or your opponent will punish your lag!

Of course, hitting the opponent isn?t enough - you need to rack up your foe?s damage. That?s what combos are for. If you?re looking for the promised information on launchers and grabs, it?s here. Captain Falcon doesn?t have too much variation in his combos, but that?s all right, because all you need is a bunch of good launchers and attacks to perpetuate the combo and you?re set!

First, the launchers (before I say anything else, let me make it clear that this paragraph applies only to non-fast-fallers.) Falcon has two types of launchers - those that send mostly horizontally, and those that send mostly vertically. The latter are down aerial (on a grounded foe), raptor boost, up throw and down tilt - the attacks that don?t require Falcon to move too far horizontally to continue comboing. The others are pretty much any of his aerials (besides the knee, usually) and down throw - attacks that send the opponent away from Falcon so he must move quickly to keep up. But that?s no problem for the fastest character in the game, now is it? What?s really nice about these attacks is that they combo with themselves! Falcon can combo multiple dash short hop up aerials or chain throw enemies with his down throw. If you want to combo like the greats, it?s important to learn how to use these launchers and perpetuators to your advantage! What?s even nicer about these attacks, by the way, is that they all combo into the deadly knee, Falcon?s forward aerial and remarkable killer, which makes 0% to death combos very feasible.

Watch out though, because these combos only work on foes besides Falco, Fox and Captain Falcon himself! Fate would have it that a good Fox or Falco is a real nightmare to Falcon, but you can?t combo them conventionally. You aren?t hopeless here, though. Fox and Falco are susceptible to tech chasing, and Captain Falcon?s up and down throws are perfect tools to put those fast-fallers in their place. For those of you in the dark on tech chasing, basically it goes like this: Falcon uses up throw, sees the enemy DI and predicts where and how the opponent will react upon hitting the ground. When the opponent lands, Falcon should have ready an attack or attacks that punish the enemy on many of his or her possible options. For instance, if the enemy does not DI your up throw, you could try using down smash, an attack that would crush him or her if s/he techs in place or backwards (or not at all), but doesn?t cover a forward tech (none of your options will be perfect - this one is very good because it covers many of the opponent?s defensive options). Jabs (quick enough for you to dash grab the enemy should s/he tech backwards or forwards) can lead to a grab, but that isn?t foolproof. If the enemy does DI, you can try a short hop aerial to cover several of the opponent?s options, or down tilt to lead to another grab. Speaking of which - you can just go for the grab after your up throw to perpetuate the tech chasing game. This is Falcon?s best damage-racking tactic against Fox, Falco and Falcon, so it is very important to know if you want to survive competitively.

Of course, you aren?t going to be the only one doing the combos. Your opponent should have some nasty combos in store for you, and they should be doubly nasty because Captain Falcon is a fast-faller, and most characters have pretty big combos on fast-fallers like you. Falcon and his fast-falling brethren are most bothered by attacks that send upwards, so the best way to prevent a great combo at your expense is to DI to the side, so that you?re harder to reach. With some characters, even this measure won?t do, but in the long run it?ll greatly reduce the amount of damage you eat.

Another one of Captain Falcon?s annoying weaknesses is that he is very easily edge-guarded. Falcon Dive, his up B attack, leaves him wide open to all kinds of edge-guarding attacks and is nearly impossible to sweet-spot the ledge with. There are a few things (but a few?) you can do to elude edge-guarders. One is using the flexibility of your up B - you can move horizontally pretty quickly and you can do little fake-outs to get the opponent to expect you?re going for the edge when you?re not, or vice-verse. Another is using forward B above the stage or a plat former to fake out foes. Be very, very careful when doing this though, because if you hit the enemy with this attack while recovering, you?ll pay with your life!

On the upside, Falcon isn?t really too bad when he is the one edge-guarding. Of course, you can always edge-hog - I won?t explain that. His main edge-guarding asset is being able to jump a long ways away and hit the enemy with an aerial attack. You can venture off the edge very far, and if you?re familiar with Falcon?s recovery possibilities you can make daring edge-guards that are quite impressive. If the foe is too close to the edge for such a maneuver to be feasible, he can also use his up tilt attack to push enemies away, or use the up aerial (facing the opponent or facing away - both have different uses). As fake-out options, you can hang onto the edge, fall off, double jump and use back aerial, or pretend to be going for that back aerial and instead get the ledge again. Edge-guarding is simple and not very character-specific, so I won?t dwell on it long.

The nice thing about Captain Falcon is that he can get the enemy off the edge are such low damages (after a knee) that very quick KO?s can be delivered if you play a good stock. This can only be done, of course, if you are fluent in approaching, comboing and KOing , and you can defend against an opponent fluent in each of these aspects. [This essay, hopefully, has improved your knowledge on how Captain Falcon should be used, and if he isn?t already, I recommend you use him as a primary or secondary character, because he?s a lot of fun to use. I?ve used him as my main character for over a year, and I can tell you that he really is the bee?s knees .]

EDIT: Woah, sorry bout that. Didn't notice that there was a second page there, and I thought that the last message on the first page was the actual last message.

Yeah, I think that that's a pretty good idea. But they'd have to be done by someone who knows what they are talking about AND can convey it in a newb/n00b way.

i'd say we take out the clone damage list cause that's just a bit stupid.. and put in what he was tlakinga bout. Introudctions to the way competitive players play characters..


hm....... yeah....

No, I disagree with taking out the clone damage lists. People do ask for them (not all the time, mind you), and they are informative. Although I do think that if we create character specific mini-faqs and include those in there the damage lists should be separated and put in their individual sections.

take out the "ganon wins" or "roy wins" business though - that gives the wrong impression.

You forgot CunningKitsune's Fox guide,and ssbmon396's falco guide, and also, wtf is a "boomerang bonus" the definition is not true, for Y. Link, from what ever angle you throw it from for the first time since you get killed or when a battle starts is 18% (Has to be up close). Also, mention alternative character faqs that aren't on gamefaqs can usually be found on smashboards.

I usually never go to SWF, so you'd have to post the links yourself. I'll add the other faqs you mentioned to the list; I knew there were more good ones, I just forgot to add those in.

Notes on the Smash Compendium's Terms:

All entries in parentheses are ones I think should be added. All other terms mentioned are ones I think should be revised or removed.

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(Advanced Techniques: techniques that utilize the game design so cleverly that nobody has discovered and developed all of them in isolation of the online competitive community. Includes wave-dashing, short hopping and l-cancelling.)

(Approach: the process of commencing attack against the opponent)

Attack Cancel
Ness's Foot Cancel refers to landing from Ness's down aerial before he performs the attack.
Also, "no lag" is imprecise. There is a small amount of lag for laser cancelling, float cancelling, etc.

(Barrel: aside from its definition as an item, Barrel also refers to the barrel underneath Kongo Jungle and DK64 that players can inhabit for a period of time and shoot themselves out of.)

Crouch Cancel
A character must be on the ground to crouch cancel. Also, ccc can be done with c-stick smashes and forward tilt tilted downwards.

Dash-Dashing
This term is never used. Create an entry for "Foxtrot", which is the proper name for the technique. Also, the description is incorrect - dash-cancelling never takes place. It's a repetition of the first part of the dash animation.

Directional Influence
Define the terms - the use of a mini-guide here is confusing. Also, not very objective.

No DI
Not a term

Disjointed Hitbox
Note that not all attacks that involve arms, legs, etc. are not disjointed. There are some body parts, especially tails, that cause a disjointed hitbox. Also, almost every attack has a disjointed hitbox to some extent - just some have it more than others.

Doctor Mario's Up-B Cancel
Shouldn't have any directional bias.

(Edge-game: the guessing games [if you insist, use the term "mind games"] that occur between an edge-guarder and somebody trying to recover)

Edge-guarding: should be "edge-guard")

Edge-hogging
Possibly note that since most characters' up B moves are damaging, most edge-hoggers roll on-stage while the opponent approaches the edge, remaining safe while preventing him/her from getting on. Also, the entry should be "edge-hog," being the root of the word edge-hogging.

Extended Grapple Beam
Find the exact d-pad input. I suspect it is down for one frame, like Fox and Falco's secret taunts, but I'm not certain.

(Fast-faller: a character that falls very fast. Usually refers to Falco, Fox and Captain Falcon, although sometimes used to describe Roy or Donkey Kong. Never refers to Marth, the next fastest-falling character, because he is falsely labelled as a floaty character because of his slow acceleration.)

(Floaty: the property of falling slowly in mid-air. Does not define a specific range of characters, but usually refers to characters that fall as slow or slower than Ness.)

(Foxtrot: reiteration of the first part of the dash animation, where stopping lag is low. Can be mixed with dash-dancing and Ken-dashing)

Freezing Glitch
Define before giving examples. A freezing glitch is a glitch that freezes a character in mid-air.

(Grampa Turnip: a name for the powerful turnip Peach can pull with a stitched mouth and double lines for eyes. Also known as Death Veggie, among other names)

Hitbox
Almost all attacks have disjointed hitboxes to some extent. Remove the last sentence.

Juggle
"Them" can't refer to the opponent, because it isn't a singular pronoun.

Jump-cancel
Note that an attack that is jump-cancelled from jump-cancel from a shield can be referred to with only one mention of the term: "Marth used a jump-cancelled up B from his shield."

Kamikaze G&W
This term is never used - "bucket glitch" might be more on the mark.

(Ken-dash: [note: this term is rarely used, but is the only name for the technique] Using the full extent of the beginning animation of the dash when dash-dancing. Named after Ken, a top-level smasher who made the technique famous.)

(Knee: another name for Captain Falcon's forward aerial)

(Mind games: an oft-misused term that is synonymous with "guessing games.")

Missile Cancelling
Unclear. What lag is being removed? The lag of the missile, which, if done in mid-air or on the ground, would've been greater.

(Pressure: reduction of defensive approach options by an aggressive opponent. Usually applications of pressure are not directly damaging, but weakening to the victim's general defensive play and thus very dangerous and important to understand.)

Priority
Remove the first sentence, as that is a vague meaning that would confuse newcomers. Note that the use of the term "priority" refers to range and the safety of the character's defensive hitbox. Priority shouldn't entail spacing, timing, etc., but usually does due to sloppy usage.

PSI Spamming
This term is never used.

Roy Zone
This term is never used.

Shffl'
Link to the essay, but give a preliminary definition first. It's an aerial attack used after a short hop and followed by fast-falling and l-cancelling. Also, due to the lack of indentation, the glossary can be confusing at this point - consider indenting each new entry by inserting a dash, or through some other method.

(Sidestep: pressing down while shielding to dodge/side-step an attack. You can also use the C-stick to sidestep.)

(Slap: another name for Sheik's forward aerial)

Spike
"Down aerial" is better than "Aerial down A" and is more consistent with most player's jargon.

Spot Dodge
While valid, sidestep is the primary definition of this term.

Stale Move Effect
Usually known as damage depreciation, or something like that. Stale moves, while recognizable, is rarely if ever used in reference to this effect.

Stun
More precisely, and attack that connects in stun continues a combo.

(Sweet spot, alternate meaning: hitting and grabbing the ledge at the lowest/furthest possible point, to avoid being edge-guarded.)

Teching
The term is "tech."

Tilt
Some sources call it a "strong attack" - note the usage of both terms, and that the term "tilt" is much preferred.

Tipper
Also refers to Roy's attacks

(Toe: another name for Zelda's forward and backwards aerials, or Ness's back aerial)

Turret Fighting
This term is never used.

Upward Pound
Consider an entry for downward pound.

Vertkill
Falco's down aerial is the most notable use of this technique.

Wall-jump
Any character can wall-jump from a tech, and the term wall-jump is used in reference to this. Thus there should be a distinction made between two types of wall-jumping, not between wall-jumping and teching.

Wall of Pain
Can be imitated by other characters - however, wall of pain always refers to Jigglypuff's use. There have been several spoofs of the name, most notably Kirby's "fence of pain," but these terms haven't come into widespread use.

Aside from actual discoveries (such as with wall-bombing), credit seems to have been given and stripped randomly. Here are the terms I was accredited for in the original Newb FAQ:

Bomb Jump
Dash Jump
Double Jump Cancel
Mewtwo's Double Jump Boost
Ness's bat reflector
Tipper (partial)
Upward Pound
(Wall-hop: I coined the term, but it never got usage and was removed)

Except for tipper, this credit has been removed. I think that due credit should be given to contributors to the compendium, and my credit shouldn't have been erased. I hope my name comes back to those terms . It should, however, be made clear that the majority of terms were not coined by the contributors.

Marth should be at the top 4 wavedashing! NP said so

wave-dashing distance:
1. luigi
2. ice climbers
3. mewtwo
4. marth
5. yoshi
6. roy
7. mario/doc/gw, i think

Hell, Mewtwo sux so bad Wavedashing wouldn't matter in it's case...

That is one reeeally long list.... Before I change anything I'm going to wait for XiF's take on it.

Pinned.

Why is this pinned?

[color=8800aa]because it's information every smasher should know, albeit not the most organized compendium possible

omg teh colors.

But yea, in the event that someone has a question about tiers or advanced techs or anything, having this topic pinned makes it an easy reference.

Have you guys tried Mewtwo's Soul Stunner?

[color=8800aa]i think most of us gfaqers have. it's kinda cool, if a trapped character goes in a barrel cannon and the barrel rolls off stage, they just disappear - they stay alive forever.

(omg I'm here)

Good stuff sheik. And I don't see a reason to make a whole new version and all that since there is an edit button... *coughgamefaqscough*

btw I haven't read WoZ's sffhling essay in a while. Anyone have the link? Or just post it...


EDIT: ok maybe not all the stuff... I didn't really see the falcon post >_>