Rebel581
Smash Champion
Roy FAQ version 1.2
GameFAQs version (which XiF added some stuff and it's easier to read) is here:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/gamecube/game/516492.html
GameFAQs doesn't allow direct linking so go to the Roy FAQ with Contributors XiF/MookieRah.
Contents:
1: Introduction
2: Terminology (AKA the Newb FAQ)
3: Roy's Moveset
4: DED
5: Blazer
6: Combos and Setups
7: Edge guarding
8: Mind Games
9: Closing Thoughts
10: Credits/Special Thanks
Introduction
Heyas all. Since I haven't been around the smashboards for ages like a lot of people here, it is safe to assume that I need an introduction. I am Jason Smith aka MookieRah. I am far from the best Roy player out there, and far from the most knowledgeable person to make this guide, but as it stands there hasn't been a Roy guide in over 2 years O_o. So someone has to do it eh? I would like to mention, that this is a guide to help people who are new to Roy to have a general idea as to how to use him. Don't expect to read this guide and become an awesome Roy player overnight. Like pretty much everything in this world, practice makes perfect. Hopefully though, this guide will help you as you practice with Roy. Please note, that in this guide I will outline how I play him as well as provide insightful tips from expert Roy players. Please don't let my guide discourage you from experimenting on your own though, and be sure to post your thoughts about certain moves/techniques so I can make this guide a great source of info.
This is Rebel581 from Smash World Forums and GameFAQs. I've learned a lot about Roy in the past 5-6 months and this guide helped me when I started playing him. I felt it would be a shame for this guide to go out of date with MookieRah now playing Mewtwo. So I'm here to keep this FAQ updated.
Smash World Forums
http://www.smashboards.com/
Terminology (AKA the Newb FAQ)
Super Smash Bros Melee Newb FAQ by mastersword118, cubedude189, and NintendoAddict7
Cubedude189 did a great job with his newb faq, and a lot of the stuff in here came from him, I am just redoing it and adding stuff to it now that we can sticky it. So, without any further ado, I will get started.
USEFUL TERMS
Air Dodge- L or R in the air results in an air dodge. Until a character lands after an air dodge, he cannot do any attacks or jump, like after most recovery attacks. You can also influence the direction of an air dodge with the control stick.
Attack- The A button, B button, Z button, and C-stick all make your character do an attack. The B button is for special moves, and the rest control standard attacks (C-stick can only be used in versus modes, and Z button only in the air.) Samus, Link, and Young Link do not do attacks with the Z button, instead they shoot their respective grappling items when in the air. Neither Donkey Kong nor Peach have aerial down B's.
Damage- Each character in a fight has a counter of his own at the bottom of the screen that tallies his health in points, displayed as a percentage. At the lowest percentage (0%) attacks will not send your character very far, and effects like Jigglypuff's sing are easy to shake off. Grabs become harder to get out of at higher damages, and attacks become much more powerful.
Dodge- A quick tap of down on the control stick while shielding will make a character dodge (C-stick works also). Dodge times for each character are different.
Friendly Fire- Another way of saying Team Attack. *You can attack your teammates too*
Grab/Throw- Every character can grab with Z or L/R + A/Z. Hit A or Z while holding an opponent to do a grab attack, and then tilt the control stick in a direction to hurl them in one of four directions.
Smash charging- After initiating a smash attack, you can hold A to hold the attack, thus increasing it in power. It is automatically released after a set amount of time, if not manually released.
Taunt- ^ on the directional pad will yield a taunt. Some characters (Pichu, Captain Falcon) have 2. Fox and Falco can hit <, >, <, > on the d-pad to call their buddies on either of the StarFox stages.
Teching- When you are tumbling in the air after being hit, you can press L, R, or Z near the ground or a wall/ceiling, with or without a direction, to recover faster than usual. Holding left or right on a ground tech will result in a roll in the direction.
Tilt attack- Holding any one of the four control stick directions, and hitting A. Some <, > tilt attacks can be aimed to the diagonal.
?air- refers to aerial attacks in the four directions and neutral. Replace ? with n, u, a, b, or d to signify which.
ADVANCED TACTICS
Bat drop- Z dropping the bat, followed by an attack that prevents it from flying off the platform, most often a spike attack. Does a lot of damage in a short amount of time. Used to get high scores in Home Run Contest
Bat drop combo: Technique used in HRC to rack up damage quickly. It is performed by dropping the at above the bag, then hitting it with another attack which will cancel the knockback from the bat and keep it on the platform. It can also be used to finish the strat. Ex: BD Rest or BD Judgement 9.
Camping- A method of delaying a kill, most often in an effort to stall out a match. Projectiles are usually used to help keep the opponent from landing attacks.
Chain-throw- Continually throwing another character in such a manner as to prevent them from landing.
Combo- A combo can be either natural or improvisational; a true combo is two or more hits that register a 'Combo' reading in training mode. In a looser term, a combo is any set of attacks that is difficult to escape from, and may do a lot of damage in a short amount of time.
Crouch-cancelling- Holding down on the control stick when hit by an enemy attack. Up to a certain damage percentage, this will prevent you from being sent flying, though you will slide back. Also, a crouch cancel counter (ccc) is crouch cancelling using a character's down-A attack.
C-Sticking- Used to describe the act of using the c-stick to do aerials, smash attacks, and other things in multiplayer mode.
Dash-cancelling- During a run, pressing down will stop the run.
Dash-Dancing- Quickly alternating left and right on the control stick, so the character only does the opening animation of the run.
Dash-Dashing- Jamming the control stick repeatedly in the same left or right direction, so the character only does the opening animation of the run. For some characters, this will result in a form of movement faster than conventional running. Some people refer to this as the "Foxtrot."
Dash-jump- Jumping out of a dash, often with a short jump. The character will usually move faster forward in the air than if it were a non-dash-jump. The three characters that don't move any faster either way are Jigglypuff, Bowser and Zelda. Thanks to MaskedMarth for this term.
Directional Influence- The trajectory of an-air character can be influenced by a control stick direction. The most helpful uses of this technique are escaping combos and juggles, and for recovery.
Double dash attack- Requires a super scope, ray gun, or fire flower, as these items do not have a running attack. Do a dash attack holding one of the items, and while you're doing the attack, hit Z. Your character will attack, then throw the item.
Double Jump cancel- To stop the upward motion of Mewtwo, Ness, Peach, or Yoshi's second jump with an aerial attack. This can be demonstrated by having Ness do two jumps in short succession, followed by a quick aerial attack. Ness should be VERY low to the ground if you do this quickly enough. Thanks to MaskedSheik for this term. Double Jump cancel is abbreviated "DJC."
Edge-guarding- Using attacks to prevent the enemy from recovering to the stage.
Edge-hogging- A character holding onto an edge will not permit another character to do the same. This is useful in preventing an enemy's recovery. The best way to edge-hog is to either wavedash or short-jump backwards onto the ledge.
Edge-hop- A jump quickly following a press of down from an edge-hang will let characters do a short edge-hop. Most, if not all characters can do attacks out of this.
Fast-falling- Pressing down while in the air will make your character fall faster than usual. You can fast-fall out of aerial attacks, air dodges, and failed ^B attacks. Young Link, however, is nearly unaffected by this.
Hyper/Power Shielding- Shielding at the exact instant an attack or item hits your character. Will result in a white flash and the attack not hitting. Projectiles will be reflected.
Ice Climbers' infinite grab- This technique differs from the infinite grab in that you can do it in a 1-on-1 match. Grab with the main character (default=Popo) and hold down on the control stick as you're doing the grab. Keep hitting the A button, so that Popo does his grab attack, and Nana does her down tilt. You can keep this up forever. This can be combined with other Ice Climber grab combos, and because of this fact, it is essentially an instant-KO grab combo.
L-cancel- When L, R, or Z is pressed before you hit the ground, you circumvent the normal recovery time after an aerial attack. Link's aerial down-A L-cancelled will result in his pulling the sword out of the ground faster.
Light Shield- Holding L or R lightly, to prevent shield-stab, or to guard against weak attacks. When used by holding the Z button, light shielding is called Z-shielding.
Juggle- Keeping the opponent up in the air, using ground attacks or air attacks that send the opponent on an upwards trajectory.
Jump-cancel- Jumping out of a dash; can be linked to a grab or an attack. Also used to describe jumping out of Falco/Fox's reflector to bypass the usual lag after the attack is stopped.
Jump-cancel (alternate meaning)- Jumping out of the shield. Yoshi cannot do this. You can then cancel your jump with an attack, such as an up-B or a smash attack.
Meteor Jump- Jumping out of a meteor smash. The key indicator between spikes and meteor smashes is that you cannot meteor jump out of a non-meteor-spike.
Natural combo- Any combo that is built into the game, such as the variations of Marth and Roy's >B attacks, and also the A, A, A... combo that many characters have.
No-ping hit- Hitting with the handle of a home-run bat, so that it does not make the distinctive "ping" sound. Sends the target a higher trajectory than than a tip-hit. Thanks to Smashnuke for this term.
Running smash- Dash-cancel, then hit a c-stick direction. You can also grab out of a DC, by hitting Z.
Running smash (alternate)- Only works for up/down smashes. While running, roll to either of these positions, while hitting A. Works best with characters that slide when they stop running.
Shffl'd- This is an acronym meaning "Short-hopped, Fast-falled, L-cancelled." It is basically the most effective way certain aerial attacks can be pulled off, and is a must in competitive play.
Shield dash- Wavedashing out of a shield. Can be followed by anything a regular wavedash can be followed by.
Shield grab- Hitting A or Z while L or R shielding.
Shield shifting- Using the control stick to angle the shield to prevent shield-stab, or provide extra protection in a given direction.
Shield-stab- Attacking a shielded opponent where the shield's leaving a part of the character vulnerable, allowing them to bypass the shield's defense. Thanks to NJE789 for this term
Short jump- While running or standing, pressing the jump button more lightly than usual will result in a shorter first jump. In adjectival form, short jump becomes short hop or short-hopped.
Spike attack- Any attack that sends an enemy at an acute downward angle (less than 45 degrees away from straight down). Many, but not all spike attacks are considered meteor smashes.
Tip-hit- Also called a "tipper." Hitting with the tip of the home-run bat. Sends target much farther horizontally than a non-tipper.
Tipper- In addition to the meaning mentioned above, "tipper" is used as another name for hitting with the optimal range of any of Marth's attacks, said range being any range where there is distinct damage and knockback (the tip). Thanks to MaskedMarth for additional information on this term
Tumble-recover- When a character is in the air from an attack, he/she/it might be spinning around. A tumble-recover is alternating left/right on the control stick while this spinning is going on. This allows stability without wasting a jump.
Turret Fighting- Tactic that is used by mainly projectile characters in which the player spams his/her weapon to its fullest, while staying in the same spot. Falco, Samus, Fox, and Shiek users are known for this annoying tactic, and can be very effective when in the hands of an expert. Thanks to xxxxThe_GoaTxxxx for this term.
Vertkill- Jumping and spiking at the same time, usually by a character already in the air. Some useful ones are Captain Falcon's, Ganondorf's, Marth's down aerial.
Wallbombing- Using the Peach Bomber attack (forward+B) as a smash attack makes Peach pop up a little bit, allowing her to use it repeatedly without losing height. If kept up for long enough, this can be used to stall out time matches. Discovered by RyokoYaksa.
Wall-climbing- After an Mario hits a wall with up-B, he can wall jump. This can be continued until the wall ends.
Wavedance- Wavedashing back and forth.
Wavedash- Air-dodging diagonally toward the ground, as close to the ground as possible, will result in a movement that abuses the games physics by allowing a player to make themself slide across the ground. Most obvious with Luigi, Marth, Roy, Mewtwo, and Ice Climbers. You can turn around more quickly by wavedashing in the opposite direction of your run, then picking up on the momentum.
Wavesmash- A wavedash, then a c-stick direction.
MISCELLANEOUS TERMS
Disjointed Hitbox- When a hitbox is not attached to the character, such as in Marth/Roy/Link/Young Link's sword attacks and Ness's bat smash. A sword and a leg (such as Captain Falcon's) are going to be affected differently by fire. The character whose knee comes in contact with the fire is going to get hit, but the character with the sword is not, since damage to the weapon (a disjointed hitbox) does not affect the character.
High jump glitch- If a character, moving upwards from a manual jump (and maybe a screw ball thrown at them) gets hit by either Mario's or Dr. Mario's cape attack, they will go almost twice as high as normal.
Hitbox- When a character does an attack, the hitbox is what determines how wide a range the attack covers. It's called a hitbox despite not being shaped like a box for most attacks. Also see: Disjointed hitbox.
Infinite grab- Have 3 characters. One should grab another, and the third should use an infinite natural combo, such as Fox's repeated A, or Mewtwo's B attack (close). The second character should not be able to escape the grab. This is easier on teams.
Lag (also called recovery time) - When a character executes an attack, there is a certain amount of time after the attack is over in which that the character cannot move. This is called lag time. Moves that are "laggy" carry an large amount of lag time. Some examples are Ganondorf's ground forward-B when it misses, and Link's aerial down-A not L-cancelled. Related term: L-cancel
Knockback- Refers to how far a character is sent after being hit by an attack.
Peach Bomber stall- Using Peach's forward-B attack over and over again between the buildings of Fourside. This can go on for an unlimited amount of time, if you don't mess up. This is useful on timed stock matches, when you get ahead by a life and want to stall out the clock. Might not work too well against Peach, Link, or Young Link, because they all have projectiles that can be thrown straight down. Also Pikachu/Pichu might give her trouble with their respective B attacks. This tactic is the reason why Fourside is banned in tournaments. Also see: Wallbombing
Phantom Hit- When an attack hits, but it doesn't move the opponent, and does half of the damage. A sure-fire way to do this is to go to Ganondorf's Japanese HRC, do a full jump, and hit B. (Even though this is sorta common knowledge, credit to snex for the example)
Priority- What the chances are of an attack taking precedence over another attack if they collide with each other.
Roy Zone- Different from phantom hits in that the attack doesn't even do damage, though it hits. Named for the character it most affects, Roy.
Spamming- Continuously and persistently using an attack. Usually used in reference to projectile attacks.
Startup- How long an attack takes to start. Attacks with high startup time include Falcon Punch (C. Falcon's B) and Ganondorf's Warlock Punch (B) / Volcano Kick (tilt up-A). Attacks with low startup time include Fox/Falco's reflector (down-B), Mewtwo's aerial forward-A, and Mr. Game&Watch's up-B.
Stun- When a character is hit, there is a certain amount of time in which the player can do nothing. If a character is hit during stun, it's considered a combo.
Super Jump- Catching Link's or Young Link's boomerang while hanging from a hookshot (See wall-grapple) will result in a very high jump. Note that this supposedly works only on certain versions of the game (I think 1.0, and 1.1), but try it anyways if you aren't sure.
Sweet Spot- Any part of an attack that does more damage, or has a better effect than other parts of the same attack. Unconditional examples are: Marth (very tip of sword), Roy (large center portion of sword), the home run bat (the very tip), and Mr. G&W (the edge of his body). Conditional ones include: Captain Falcon's aerial forward A, Ness's aerial back A, Zelda's aerial back and forward A's, and the tip of Ness's smash forward A (bat).
Tiers- A ranking of how formidable each character is at the peak of the current metagame.
The terms came from http://ee.1asphost.com/thephoenixrealm/ssbmterms.html
WAVEDASHING AND ALL THAT STUFF
Wavedancing - Wavedashing back and forth. Like dashdancing, this allows quick
movement in either direction without your movements being revealed to your opponent.
Wavedashing - Air dodging into the ground at an angle in order to slide forward
quickly. Generally done immediately after jumping. Often abbreviated as WD.
Waveshielding - Holding down the L/R button as you wavedash, so that you slide
forward while shielding. Often used to shield-grab, or advance on attacking
opponents.
Wavesmashing - Wavedashing while smash-attacking. Use the Cstick to smash, as use of the Control Stick will stop the wavedash.
Above terms from Decadent One's Bowser FAQ.
Below explanations from cubedude189’s NewB Faq.
Okay. Wavedashing. Jump and immediately (just as you leave the ground) airdodge at an angle into the ground. If done correctly, your character should slide for a bit in his/her landing position and you'll see white smoke. Try it with Luigi on FD, since he has the lowest traction and, therefore, the most noticeable wavedash. Marth and the Ice Climbers also have good wavedashes. Peach and Zelda have the worst. An easier way to WD is directly out of a crouch, but you won't want to rely on being able to crouch and align yourself every time. I suggest only doing it this way perhaps once, simply to see what it looks like. Wavedashing out of a crouch cancel (crouching while you're hit by a smash attack so that you don't get knocked back) can be useful in some instances though... Anyways, for the crouch->WD, tilt the joystick down and to one side. Hold that there, and hit X/Y and L/R at almost the exact same time. You should WD. Bah. Note that the timing for the airdodge is different for each individual character, based on the number of frames in their jump. Fox, who has a 4 frame jump, can WD by pressing X/Y and L/R at **** near the same time. Luigi has 5 frame jump, I believe, so his is rather easy as well. Ganondorf has a 7 frame jump, and there needs to be a tiny but noticeable pause between the jump and the airdodge. Bowser's 9 frame jump takes some SERIOUS work to WD with. Also know that WDing is not just a substitute for a roll. WDing has its separate uses.
Like I said, Wavedashing has many uses... They are for the most part character-dependent, but some general uses are as follows: wavesmashing, waveshielding, edge-hogging, quicker movement for some characters, linking attacks and combos, and mind games. Wavedashing is almost essential to Samus' and Yoshi's games, due to those crappy rolls that they are cursed with. It is also a big part of Fox's infinite combo (Waveshining - Wavedashing out of a shine. Shine, immediately jump up to cancel it, and wavedash). You can also WD backwards or straight down. Also know that a short hop is not necessary for WDing, because the air dodge cancels the jump, anyways... Sometimes you'll need to shorten the distance of the wavedash depending on the situation. I often have to do this with Luigi. If you place the airdodge a few 60ths of a second later than you normally would, your character will visibly jump and then slide for a shorter distance than a perfect wavedash. It's known as triangle jumping.
Along with his ability to completely charge up and down smashes during the WD. This is usually an advanced Samus' main form of movement. Samus has arguably the best WD as it's fast, not too short, not too long, and dead useful. Yoshi and Samus replace their rolls with a backwards wavedash or a single wavedance. WD backwards as an opponent tries to smash you, and immediately WD forwards and punish them.
Recovery: If you WD as you recover from being knocked away from the stage, you'll get some distance and be able to pass through an edge-guarder. You're not invincible when you WD, but it still works a lot of the time. You can also WD straight from the ledge by pressing down to drop from the ledge and immediately jumping and Airdodging at an angle onto the stage. This can surprise people running up to edgeguard and if you use it to pass through an edgeguarder, an attack that hits backwards will put them off the stage. This won’t work very often, but against lesser experienced players, it’s quite nice to use. Even against experienced players, you can occasionally catch them off guard with it. It’s not something to rely on, just something to throw out there to mix things up.
Wavesmashing: Since you can attack directly out of a wavedash, you have alternatives that you will probably prefer over the standard dash attack. For instance, with Luigi, I prefer an up or down smash to his dash attack. Ergo, WD+Up/Down smash. This way, you get the better attack, and there's pretty much a zero percent chance of you accidentally doing the dash attack. You can also tilt, grab, jump, etc out of a WD, so you have your entire moveset of alternatives.
Waveshielding: When you first learn to WD, you will likely end the dash with the shield up, due to holding the trigger for too long. You will probably want to try and work past this so that it doesn't happen all the time. However, waveshielding will allow you to advance on characters without inhibitions or threat. Decadent's
Bowser, as he says, uses waveshielding against Marth to get close enough to attack without becoming a victim to Marth's range.
Edge-hogging: If you are hanging onto the edge of the stage, no other character can grab onto it. So if a recovering opponent has used all 3 jumps and is hoping to grab the edge and you're already there...they're screwed. If you WD backwards off the edge of the stage, you will automatically hang from the edge. Once you can WD consistently, this is much safer than jumping or SHing backwards off the edge. If you roll from the edge after edge-hogging, you gain a few frames of invincibility, and the ledge is still considered occupied, so this can help evade certain up+b attacks while still causing them to miss the ledge.
Mind games: Simply put, mind games are the game. You want your opponent to do what you want them to. Whether in high-level or just regular play without advanced tactics, you still want your opponent to be tricked into a position where you can attack them. Dash forward, your opponent is probably going to attack, right? You get hit. Dash forward, WD back... your opponent attacked before you WDed back and now suffers from the lag of their failed attack. Punish them. That's a really simple and generic example, but it gets the point across. Mind games. Another one that's really unpredictable is dashdancing. To do this, simply tap the control stick back and forth so that your character does the beginning of the dash animation left and right repeatedly. It's a scary mindgame, as you can do anything out of it, and your opponent will have to be really cautious. Know that a WD out of a dashdance is deadly, unexpected, and immensely useful.
You can do practically anything out of a wavedash. Roll. Tilt. Smash. Jump. Shield. Grab. Wavedash. Short hop. Crouch. It makes for a very helpful part of your game with almost any character, because of its versatility and the many ways improvisation with WDing can lead to mind games and other things. You can also WD upon landing from an aerial attack that finishes in the air. With a floaty character like Luigi whose air attacks finish quickly, this can be dead useful in linking together aerials and juggles.
With some practice, wavedashing becomes second nature. Most who do it, get to the point where they can accomplish it 100% of the time with no problem. I personally use it quite a bit with my 3 mains in many different ways. WDing is not always necessary to your game, as there are some pros that don't WD, however it is very useful. It is also not a glitch, or in any way cheap. It is an aspect of the physics in the game, and is referred to in the actual game as the "super dash technique". It's the most versatile of the advanced techniques and can help ANY character's game. It's not necessary, but it sure as hell isn't useless. It's moving while standing still!
Shuffling (also called Shfflc or shffl'ing)- A short hopped, fastfalled, and L-cancelled aerial. It's often the most efficient way to use an aerial attack.
GameFAQs version (which XiF added some stuff and it's easier to read) is here:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/gamecube/game/516492.html
GameFAQs doesn't allow direct linking so go to the Roy FAQ with Contributors XiF/MookieRah.
Contents:
1: Introduction
2: Terminology (AKA the Newb FAQ)
3: Roy's Moveset
4: DED
5: Blazer
6: Combos and Setups
7: Edge guarding
8: Mind Games
9: Closing Thoughts
10: Credits/Special Thanks
Introduction
Heyas all. Since I haven't been around the smashboards for ages like a lot of people here, it is safe to assume that I need an introduction. I am Jason Smith aka MookieRah. I am far from the best Roy player out there, and far from the most knowledgeable person to make this guide, but as it stands there hasn't been a Roy guide in over 2 years O_o. So someone has to do it eh? I would like to mention, that this is a guide to help people who are new to Roy to have a general idea as to how to use him. Don't expect to read this guide and become an awesome Roy player overnight. Like pretty much everything in this world, practice makes perfect. Hopefully though, this guide will help you as you practice with Roy. Please note, that in this guide I will outline how I play him as well as provide insightful tips from expert Roy players. Please don't let my guide discourage you from experimenting on your own though, and be sure to post your thoughts about certain moves/techniques so I can make this guide a great source of info.
This is Rebel581 from Smash World Forums and GameFAQs. I've learned a lot about Roy in the past 5-6 months and this guide helped me when I started playing him. I felt it would be a shame for this guide to go out of date with MookieRah now playing Mewtwo. So I'm here to keep this FAQ updated.
Smash World Forums
http://www.smashboards.com/
Terminology (AKA the Newb FAQ)
Super Smash Bros Melee Newb FAQ by mastersword118, cubedude189, and NintendoAddict7
Cubedude189 did a great job with his newb faq, and a lot of the stuff in here came from him, I am just redoing it and adding stuff to it now that we can sticky it. So, without any further ado, I will get started.
USEFUL TERMS
Air Dodge- L or R in the air results in an air dodge. Until a character lands after an air dodge, he cannot do any attacks or jump, like after most recovery attacks. You can also influence the direction of an air dodge with the control stick.
Attack- The A button, B button, Z button, and C-stick all make your character do an attack. The B button is for special moves, and the rest control standard attacks (C-stick can only be used in versus modes, and Z button only in the air.) Samus, Link, and Young Link do not do attacks with the Z button, instead they shoot their respective grappling items when in the air. Neither Donkey Kong nor Peach have aerial down B's.
Damage- Each character in a fight has a counter of his own at the bottom of the screen that tallies his health in points, displayed as a percentage. At the lowest percentage (0%) attacks will not send your character very far, and effects like Jigglypuff's sing are easy to shake off. Grabs become harder to get out of at higher damages, and attacks become much more powerful.
Dodge- A quick tap of down on the control stick while shielding will make a character dodge (C-stick works also). Dodge times for each character are different.
Friendly Fire- Another way of saying Team Attack. *You can attack your teammates too*
Grab/Throw- Every character can grab with Z or L/R + A/Z. Hit A or Z while holding an opponent to do a grab attack, and then tilt the control stick in a direction to hurl them in one of four directions.
Smash charging- After initiating a smash attack, you can hold A to hold the attack, thus increasing it in power. It is automatically released after a set amount of time, if not manually released.
Taunt- ^ on the directional pad will yield a taunt. Some characters (Pichu, Captain Falcon) have 2. Fox and Falco can hit <, >, <, > on the d-pad to call their buddies on either of the StarFox stages.
Teching- When you are tumbling in the air after being hit, you can press L, R, or Z near the ground or a wall/ceiling, with or without a direction, to recover faster than usual. Holding left or right on a ground tech will result in a roll in the direction.
Tilt attack- Holding any one of the four control stick directions, and hitting A. Some <, > tilt attacks can be aimed to the diagonal.
?air- refers to aerial attacks in the four directions and neutral. Replace ? with n, u, a, b, or d to signify which.
ADVANCED TACTICS
Bat drop- Z dropping the bat, followed by an attack that prevents it from flying off the platform, most often a spike attack. Does a lot of damage in a short amount of time. Used to get high scores in Home Run Contest
Bat drop combo: Technique used in HRC to rack up damage quickly. It is performed by dropping the at above the bag, then hitting it with another attack which will cancel the knockback from the bat and keep it on the platform. It can also be used to finish the strat. Ex: BD Rest or BD Judgement 9.
Camping- A method of delaying a kill, most often in an effort to stall out a match. Projectiles are usually used to help keep the opponent from landing attacks.
Chain-throw- Continually throwing another character in such a manner as to prevent them from landing.
Combo- A combo can be either natural or improvisational; a true combo is two or more hits that register a 'Combo' reading in training mode. In a looser term, a combo is any set of attacks that is difficult to escape from, and may do a lot of damage in a short amount of time.
Crouch-cancelling- Holding down on the control stick when hit by an enemy attack. Up to a certain damage percentage, this will prevent you from being sent flying, though you will slide back. Also, a crouch cancel counter (ccc) is crouch cancelling using a character's down-A attack.
C-Sticking- Used to describe the act of using the c-stick to do aerials, smash attacks, and other things in multiplayer mode.
Dash-cancelling- During a run, pressing down will stop the run.
Dash-Dancing- Quickly alternating left and right on the control stick, so the character only does the opening animation of the run.
Dash-Dashing- Jamming the control stick repeatedly in the same left or right direction, so the character only does the opening animation of the run. For some characters, this will result in a form of movement faster than conventional running. Some people refer to this as the "Foxtrot."
Dash-jump- Jumping out of a dash, often with a short jump. The character will usually move faster forward in the air than if it were a non-dash-jump. The three characters that don't move any faster either way are Jigglypuff, Bowser and Zelda. Thanks to MaskedMarth for this term.
Directional Influence- The trajectory of an-air character can be influenced by a control stick direction. The most helpful uses of this technique are escaping combos and juggles, and for recovery.
Double dash attack- Requires a super scope, ray gun, or fire flower, as these items do not have a running attack. Do a dash attack holding one of the items, and while you're doing the attack, hit Z. Your character will attack, then throw the item.
Double Jump cancel- To stop the upward motion of Mewtwo, Ness, Peach, or Yoshi's second jump with an aerial attack. This can be demonstrated by having Ness do two jumps in short succession, followed by a quick aerial attack. Ness should be VERY low to the ground if you do this quickly enough. Thanks to MaskedSheik for this term. Double Jump cancel is abbreviated "DJC."
Edge-guarding- Using attacks to prevent the enemy from recovering to the stage.
Edge-hogging- A character holding onto an edge will not permit another character to do the same. This is useful in preventing an enemy's recovery. The best way to edge-hog is to either wavedash or short-jump backwards onto the ledge.
Edge-hop- A jump quickly following a press of down from an edge-hang will let characters do a short edge-hop. Most, if not all characters can do attacks out of this.
Fast-falling- Pressing down while in the air will make your character fall faster than usual. You can fast-fall out of aerial attacks, air dodges, and failed ^B attacks. Young Link, however, is nearly unaffected by this.
Hyper/Power Shielding- Shielding at the exact instant an attack or item hits your character. Will result in a white flash and the attack not hitting. Projectiles will be reflected.
Ice Climbers' infinite grab- This technique differs from the infinite grab in that you can do it in a 1-on-1 match. Grab with the main character (default=Popo) and hold down on the control stick as you're doing the grab. Keep hitting the A button, so that Popo does his grab attack, and Nana does her down tilt. You can keep this up forever. This can be combined with other Ice Climber grab combos, and because of this fact, it is essentially an instant-KO grab combo.
L-cancel- When L, R, or Z is pressed before you hit the ground, you circumvent the normal recovery time after an aerial attack. Link's aerial down-A L-cancelled will result in his pulling the sword out of the ground faster.
Light Shield- Holding L or R lightly, to prevent shield-stab, or to guard against weak attacks. When used by holding the Z button, light shielding is called Z-shielding.
Juggle- Keeping the opponent up in the air, using ground attacks or air attacks that send the opponent on an upwards trajectory.
Jump-cancel- Jumping out of a dash; can be linked to a grab or an attack. Also used to describe jumping out of Falco/Fox's reflector to bypass the usual lag after the attack is stopped.
Jump-cancel (alternate meaning)- Jumping out of the shield. Yoshi cannot do this. You can then cancel your jump with an attack, such as an up-B or a smash attack.
Meteor Jump- Jumping out of a meteor smash. The key indicator between spikes and meteor smashes is that you cannot meteor jump out of a non-meteor-spike.
Natural combo- Any combo that is built into the game, such as the variations of Marth and Roy's >B attacks, and also the A, A, A... combo that many characters have.
No-ping hit- Hitting with the handle of a home-run bat, so that it does not make the distinctive "ping" sound. Sends the target a higher trajectory than than a tip-hit. Thanks to Smashnuke for this term.
Running smash- Dash-cancel, then hit a c-stick direction. You can also grab out of a DC, by hitting Z.
Running smash (alternate)- Only works for up/down smashes. While running, roll to either of these positions, while hitting A. Works best with characters that slide when they stop running.
Shffl'd- This is an acronym meaning "Short-hopped, Fast-falled, L-cancelled." It is basically the most effective way certain aerial attacks can be pulled off, and is a must in competitive play.
Shield dash- Wavedashing out of a shield. Can be followed by anything a regular wavedash can be followed by.
Shield grab- Hitting A or Z while L or R shielding.
Shield shifting- Using the control stick to angle the shield to prevent shield-stab, or provide extra protection in a given direction.
Shield-stab- Attacking a shielded opponent where the shield's leaving a part of the character vulnerable, allowing them to bypass the shield's defense. Thanks to NJE789 for this term
Short jump- While running or standing, pressing the jump button more lightly than usual will result in a shorter first jump. In adjectival form, short jump becomes short hop or short-hopped.
Spike attack- Any attack that sends an enemy at an acute downward angle (less than 45 degrees away from straight down). Many, but not all spike attacks are considered meteor smashes.
Tip-hit- Also called a "tipper." Hitting with the tip of the home-run bat. Sends target much farther horizontally than a non-tipper.
Tipper- In addition to the meaning mentioned above, "tipper" is used as another name for hitting with the optimal range of any of Marth's attacks, said range being any range where there is distinct damage and knockback (the tip). Thanks to MaskedMarth for additional information on this term
Tumble-recover- When a character is in the air from an attack, he/she/it might be spinning around. A tumble-recover is alternating left/right on the control stick while this spinning is going on. This allows stability without wasting a jump.
Turret Fighting- Tactic that is used by mainly projectile characters in which the player spams his/her weapon to its fullest, while staying in the same spot. Falco, Samus, Fox, and Shiek users are known for this annoying tactic, and can be very effective when in the hands of an expert. Thanks to xxxxThe_GoaTxxxx for this term.
Vertkill- Jumping and spiking at the same time, usually by a character already in the air. Some useful ones are Captain Falcon's, Ganondorf's, Marth's down aerial.
Wallbombing- Using the Peach Bomber attack (forward+B) as a smash attack makes Peach pop up a little bit, allowing her to use it repeatedly without losing height. If kept up for long enough, this can be used to stall out time matches. Discovered by RyokoYaksa.
Wall-climbing- After an Mario hits a wall with up-B, he can wall jump. This can be continued until the wall ends.
Wavedance- Wavedashing back and forth.
Wavedash- Air-dodging diagonally toward the ground, as close to the ground as possible, will result in a movement that abuses the games physics by allowing a player to make themself slide across the ground. Most obvious with Luigi, Marth, Roy, Mewtwo, and Ice Climbers. You can turn around more quickly by wavedashing in the opposite direction of your run, then picking up on the momentum.
Wavesmash- A wavedash, then a c-stick direction.
MISCELLANEOUS TERMS
Disjointed Hitbox- When a hitbox is not attached to the character, such as in Marth/Roy/Link/Young Link's sword attacks and Ness's bat smash. A sword and a leg (such as Captain Falcon's) are going to be affected differently by fire. The character whose knee comes in contact with the fire is going to get hit, but the character with the sword is not, since damage to the weapon (a disjointed hitbox) does not affect the character.
High jump glitch- If a character, moving upwards from a manual jump (and maybe a screw ball thrown at them) gets hit by either Mario's or Dr. Mario's cape attack, they will go almost twice as high as normal.
Hitbox- When a character does an attack, the hitbox is what determines how wide a range the attack covers. It's called a hitbox despite not being shaped like a box for most attacks. Also see: Disjointed hitbox.
Infinite grab- Have 3 characters. One should grab another, and the third should use an infinite natural combo, such as Fox's repeated A, or Mewtwo's B attack (close). The second character should not be able to escape the grab. This is easier on teams.
Lag (also called recovery time) - When a character executes an attack, there is a certain amount of time after the attack is over in which that the character cannot move. This is called lag time. Moves that are "laggy" carry an large amount of lag time. Some examples are Ganondorf's ground forward-B when it misses, and Link's aerial down-A not L-cancelled. Related term: L-cancel
Knockback- Refers to how far a character is sent after being hit by an attack.
Peach Bomber stall- Using Peach's forward-B attack over and over again between the buildings of Fourside. This can go on for an unlimited amount of time, if you don't mess up. This is useful on timed stock matches, when you get ahead by a life and want to stall out the clock. Might not work too well against Peach, Link, or Young Link, because they all have projectiles that can be thrown straight down. Also Pikachu/Pichu might give her trouble with their respective B attacks. This tactic is the reason why Fourside is banned in tournaments. Also see: Wallbombing
Phantom Hit- When an attack hits, but it doesn't move the opponent, and does half of the damage. A sure-fire way to do this is to go to Ganondorf's Japanese HRC, do a full jump, and hit B. (Even though this is sorta common knowledge, credit to snex for the example)
Priority- What the chances are of an attack taking precedence over another attack if they collide with each other.
Roy Zone- Different from phantom hits in that the attack doesn't even do damage, though it hits. Named for the character it most affects, Roy.
Spamming- Continuously and persistently using an attack. Usually used in reference to projectile attacks.
Startup- How long an attack takes to start. Attacks with high startup time include Falcon Punch (C. Falcon's B) and Ganondorf's Warlock Punch (B) / Volcano Kick (tilt up-A). Attacks with low startup time include Fox/Falco's reflector (down-B), Mewtwo's aerial forward-A, and Mr. Game&Watch's up-B.
Stun- When a character is hit, there is a certain amount of time in which the player can do nothing. If a character is hit during stun, it's considered a combo.
Super Jump- Catching Link's or Young Link's boomerang while hanging from a hookshot (See wall-grapple) will result in a very high jump. Note that this supposedly works only on certain versions of the game (I think 1.0, and 1.1), but try it anyways if you aren't sure.
Sweet Spot- Any part of an attack that does more damage, or has a better effect than other parts of the same attack. Unconditional examples are: Marth (very tip of sword), Roy (large center portion of sword), the home run bat (the very tip), and Mr. G&W (the edge of his body). Conditional ones include: Captain Falcon's aerial forward A, Ness's aerial back A, Zelda's aerial back and forward A's, and the tip of Ness's smash forward A (bat).
Tiers- A ranking of how formidable each character is at the peak of the current metagame.
The terms came from http://ee.1asphost.com/thephoenixrealm/ssbmterms.html
WAVEDASHING AND ALL THAT STUFF
Wavedancing - Wavedashing back and forth. Like dashdancing, this allows quick
movement in either direction without your movements being revealed to your opponent.
Wavedashing - Air dodging into the ground at an angle in order to slide forward
quickly. Generally done immediately after jumping. Often abbreviated as WD.
Waveshielding - Holding down the L/R button as you wavedash, so that you slide
forward while shielding. Often used to shield-grab, or advance on attacking
opponents.
Wavesmashing - Wavedashing while smash-attacking. Use the Cstick to smash, as use of the Control Stick will stop the wavedash.
Above terms from Decadent One's Bowser FAQ.
Below explanations from cubedude189’s NewB Faq.
Okay. Wavedashing. Jump and immediately (just as you leave the ground) airdodge at an angle into the ground. If done correctly, your character should slide for a bit in his/her landing position and you'll see white smoke. Try it with Luigi on FD, since he has the lowest traction and, therefore, the most noticeable wavedash. Marth and the Ice Climbers also have good wavedashes. Peach and Zelda have the worst. An easier way to WD is directly out of a crouch, but you won't want to rely on being able to crouch and align yourself every time. I suggest only doing it this way perhaps once, simply to see what it looks like. Wavedashing out of a crouch cancel (crouching while you're hit by a smash attack so that you don't get knocked back) can be useful in some instances though... Anyways, for the crouch->WD, tilt the joystick down and to one side. Hold that there, and hit X/Y and L/R at almost the exact same time. You should WD. Bah. Note that the timing for the airdodge is different for each individual character, based on the number of frames in their jump. Fox, who has a 4 frame jump, can WD by pressing X/Y and L/R at **** near the same time. Luigi has 5 frame jump, I believe, so his is rather easy as well. Ganondorf has a 7 frame jump, and there needs to be a tiny but noticeable pause between the jump and the airdodge. Bowser's 9 frame jump takes some SERIOUS work to WD with. Also know that WDing is not just a substitute for a roll. WDing has its separate uses.
Like I said, Wavedashing has many uses... They are for the most part character-dependent, but some general uses are as follows: wavesmashing, waveshielding, edge-hogging, quicker movement for some characters, linking attacks and combos, and mind games. Wavedashing is almost essential to Samus' and Yoshi's games, due to those crappy rolls that they are cursed with. It is also a big part of Fox's infinite combo (Waveshining - Wavedashing out of a shine. Shine, immediately jump up to cancel it, and wavedash). You can also WD backwards or straight down. Also know that a short hop is not necessary for WDing, because the air dodge cancels the jump, anyways... Sometimes you'll need to shorten the distance of the wavedash depending on the situation. I often have to do this with Luigi. If you place the airdodge a few 60ths of a second later than you normally would, your character will visibly jump and then slide for a shorter distance than a perfect wavedash. It's known as triangle jumping.
Along with his ability to completely charge up and down smashes during the WD. This is usually an advanced Samus' main form of movement. Samus has arguably the best WD as it's fast, not too short, not too long, and dead useful. Yoshi and Samus replace their rolls with a backwards wavedash or a single wavedance. WD backwards as an opponent tries to smash you, and immediately WD forwards and punish them.
Recovery: If you WD as you recover from being knocked away from the stage, you'll get some distance and be able to pass through an edge-guarder. You're not invincible when you WD, but it still works a lot of the time. You can also WD straight from the ledge by pressing down to drop from the ledge and immediately jumping and Airdodging at an angle onto the stage. This can surprise people running up to edgeguard and if you use it to pass through an edgeguarder, an attack that hits backwards will put them off the stage. This won’t work very often, but against lesser experienced players, it’s quite nice to use. Even against experienced players, you can occasionally catch them off guard with it. It’s not something to rely on, just something to throw out there to mix things up.
Wavesmashing: Since you can attack directly out of a wavedash, you have alternatives that you will probably prefer over the standard dash attack. For instance, with Luigi, I prefer an up or down smash to his dash attack. Ergo, WD+Up/Down smash. This way, you get the better attack, and there's pretty much a zero percent chance of you accidentally doing the dash attack. You can also tilt, grab, jump, etc out of a WD, so you have your entire moveset of alternatives.
Waveshielding: When you first learn to WD, you will likely end the dash with the shield up, due to holding the trigger for too long. You will probably want to try and work past this so that it doesn't happen all the time. However, waveshielding will allow you to advance on characters without inhibitions or threat. Decadent's
Bowser, as he says, uses waveshielding against Marth to get close enough to attack without becoming a victim to Marth's range.
Edge-hogging: If you are hanging onto the edge of the stage, no other character can grab onto it. So if a recovering opponent has used all 3 jumps and is hoping to grab the edge and you're already there...they're screwed. If you WD backwards off the edge of the stage, you will automatically hang from the edge. Once you can WD consistently, this is much safer than jumping or SHing backwards off the edge. If you roll from the edge after edge-hogging, you gain a few frames of invincibility, and the ledge is still considered occupied, so this can help evade certain up+b attacks while still causing them to miss the ledge.
Mind games: Simply put, mind games are the game. You want your opponent to do what you want them to. Whether in high-level or just regular play without advanced tactics, you still want your opponent to be tricked into a position where you can attack them. Dash forward, your opponent is probably going to attack, right? You get hit. Dash forward, WD back... your opponent attacked before you WDed back and now suffers from the lag of their failed attack. Punish them. That's a really simple and generic example, but it gets the point across. Mind games. Another one that's really unpredictable is dashdancing. To do this, simply tap the control stick back and forth so that your character does the beginning of the dash animation left and right repeatedly. It's a scary mindgame, as you can do anything out of it, and your opponent will have to be really cautious. Know that a WD out of a dashdance is deadly, unexpected, and immensely useful.
You can do practically anything out of a wavedash. Roll. Tilt. Smash. Jump. Shield. Grab. Wavedash. Short hop. Crouch. It makes for a very helpful part of your game with almost any character, because of its versatility and the many ways improvisation with WDing can lead to mind games and other things. You can also WD upon landing from an aerial attack that finishes in the air. With a floaty character like Luigi whose air attacks finish quickly, this can be dead useful in linking together aerials and juggles.
With some practice, wavedashing becomes second nature. Most who do it, get to the point where they can accomplish it 100% of the time with no problem. I personally use it quite a bit with my 3 mains in many different ways. WDing is not always necessary to your game, as there are some pros that don't WD, however it is very useful. It is also not a glitch, or in any way cheap. It is an aspect of the physics in the game, and is referred to in the actual game as the "super dash technique". It's the most versatile of the advanced techniques and can help ANY character's game. It's not necessary, but it sure as hell isn't useless. It's moving while standing still!
Shuffling (also called Shfflc or shffl'ing)- A short hopped, fastfalled, and L-cancelled aerial. It's often the most efficient way to use an aerial attack.
