MrPhox
Tamed Beast
If you dash to the right, and then hold backward towards the left, your character will enter a skidding or pivot animation. During this animation in previous installments the player could only perform five actions:
1. Jump cancel the skid animation.
2. Perform a side-special attack.
3. Continue to dash attack in the original direction of the dash.
4. Pivot grab (although not certain)
5. TRIP!
Getting caught in this skidding animation is often the result of a failed dash-dancing attempt.
Now forward tilt attacks may be performed while in the pivot animation. They must be performed in the direction you are trying to turn towards.
You may dash away from your opponent and then return fire with a quick tilt. This can help with intercepting aggressors. It is an addition that gives the spacing game on the ground more depth. It isn't a wave dash, but at least it's not technically difficult to perform. It expands the niche of forward tilt, giving it a contextual application.
Dash-dancing seems to exist. During a small window early in the dash you can cancel into the other direction. Doesn't seem as easy as it was in melee, then again I AM using a circle pad on a 3DS to judge this. It's hardly as easy as flicking a gamecube stick around.
Fox-trotting is still valid, and thanks to tripping being taken out, safer than in brawl.
This is a small change that helps remedy what was missing in smash. In street fighter and many other fighting games, the characters are always facing eachother. Since smash bros' design allows for multiple players and doesn't use some kind of "lock-on targeting system" it allows players to face whichever direction at will. This creates an obstacle for developing tight spacing and "footsies." Pressing away from the opponent in smash will give them your back, while in street fighter it will just step back a bit while still facing the enemy, allowing you to realign your attacks.
Since brawl lacked wave-dashing, players didn't have a quick way to adjust their spacing backward setting up for a counter hit. This meant that when breaking down the gap between the opponent, attack choices became predictable because players only had a small window during their approach. They could not back up while keeping the pressure on, and so couldn't dance back and forth realigning their moves and faking the enemy out. In brawl, dashing away is often times a reset, while in SSB4 dashing away gets one more option.
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