Smash was based off a Japanese game, which was similar to marbles. One ruleset involves trying to get the other "marbles" outside of an area. Really, it's easier to say it's like sumo wrestling.
In Smash, if you have more stage space, you have the advantage. From there, your aim is to knock the opponent out of the blast zone.
This, I think, is the summary of your goal during a match.
You might need to know these terms:
Note that this will mainly be from the point of view of SSB4, but it should apply to all games. tl;dr 's will be included at the end of each part, and will be made so you can go straight there instead of reading the paragraph.
The Neutral < link
The Neutral is the part of the match where neither player has the advantage. Even after a player gets the upper hand, the match can always go back to the Neutral at some point.
During the Neutral, your goal is to try to get the advantage. This doesn't mean starting the match right away with a dash attack; you do this by finding out the opponents habits, which is called reading. For example, what will the opponent do once you run up to them? If they roll when you do, which way do they roll?
Doing an action to get the opponent to react in a certain way is called baiting. Once you find out their habits, you can bait it out later in the match and punish them for it. Punishing is when you get an attack by exploiting the opponent's habits or mistakes. It can be on reaction, or by prediction.
For example, if the opponent has a habit of rolling towards you, punish it with a down smash. You'll be mostly aiming for the moves with the most prominent endlags, like rolls, airdodges, counters, whiffed attacks, blocked attacks.
The great thing about punishing is that it gives you a free attack. Baiting leads to punishes, so try to practice these!
If you don't know where to start, see if your character has any good OoS (out of shield) moves. These are moves that you use if you block an attack. Grabs are a universal OoS option, and are usually good since several characters can combo after grabbing. Try to explore (or just search up, lol) your own character's OoS options, especially since grabs only go forward. Here's an example of a shield into an OoS punish:
OoS options include:
- Rolling left or right (shielding, then inputting right or left)
- Spotdodging (shielding, then inputting down)
- Jumping (shielding, then pressing jump)
- Aerial (shielding, jumping then aerial)
- Shield grab (shielding, then pressing attack)
- Anything else requires you to drop your shield (i.e. let go of shield button), then do the attack or whatever you want.
If the opponent doesn't have any clear habits, most characters (AKA not
) have pokes, which are attacks that come out and back quickly, with little endlag. Examples would be jab, N-airs, etc. Projectiles can usually rack up extra damage from a safe distance away, too. Using any of these lets you miss an attack and still not get punished. There is also a list of moves safe on shield, which you could use as pokes, here. Otherwise, you can try shielding -- which is a very good option, by the way -- to bait, then punish with OoS stuff.
tl;dr
- Goal is to reach the advantage state
- Neutral = parts of match where neither player has the advantage. Described in more detail here.
- Pokes = safe attacks with little starting or endlag (list of moves that are safe on shield here)
- During the Neutral, use pokes, and try to find the opponent's bad habits. Try to find out what causes the bad habits to happen, do that action, and hit the opponent for it.
- Reading = finding opponent's habits
- Baiting = getting opponent to do action
- Punishing = hitting opponent for bad action
- OoS = type of punish done while shielding, e.g. grab
- Try shielding to bait, then punish using OoS moves.
tl;dr
If you have stage control (i.e. have more of the stage) or if you hit the opponent and have potential followups, then you're in the advantage state.
Advantage State < not a link
This actually has several names, but I totally forgot the other ones.
As the name suggests, this is when you have the advantage, and the opponent has the disadvantage. Your goal during this state is to make your advantage even bigger.
This can mean pushing the opponent off the stage to lead into an edge guard, or making a combo that should build up damage until you can:
(unless you're; then there's no choice but to use a strong move )
Pressure is also helpful during the advantage state. When you pressure the opponent, you're stringing attacks together (i.e. using several attacks in a row) to force the opponent to be on the defensive. It doesn't necessarily have to be a combo, and it can make the opponent mess up or panic, which you can use to lengthen your pressure even more. You've probably seen pressure before, especially withandplayers, but I don't have any videos with them, so here's Kirby:
Do not, however, pressure blindly. Messing up in your opponent's face will end up really badly. While you pressure, you'll have to use baits, punishes and pokes combined. Use pokes to make sure you don't lose your lead, baits and punishes to continue the pressure.
tl;dr
- Increase your advantage until you get a kill.
- Combo to get an edge guard or smash attack/U-air/etc. kill.
- Safe moves will let you keep the advantage longer.
- Pressure the opponent (i.e. use several attacks in a row) with baits, punishes and pokes to make the opponent panic and be on the defensive; but don't do it blindly!
tl;dr
Having less stage control or getting hit by an opponent (which can lead to potential follow-ups) will get you in the disadvantage state.
Disadvantage State
The disadvantage state is a little bit different than the other two. Even though you're still supposed to aim for the advantage state, your main goal during this state is to get to the neutral first, then the advantage state.
What this means is that you should try to get an equal amount of stage space and to get to an area where you won't get hit. You will need reads again to find out what the opponent does to escape pressure. Does the opponent do a F-air after a U-air? Is this escapable with a jump, or an air dodge? Knowing the opponents bread-and-butter combos (i.e. main combos) might help, since most can be escaped with either D.I. (you will sometimes have to mix it up), jumps, air dodges. Alternatively, you could just mash a move that's really fast, like Yoshi's N-air.
There's true combos, or inescapable combos, which you'll have to watch out for, too.
Once you escape a combo (or just a string of attacks) and are able to shield, you are at the neutral again. From here, you try to get to the advantage state again.
Read the Neutral section for more information.
tl;dr
- Reach the neutral
- Use reads to find holes in pressure
- Exploit holes with D.I., air dodges, jumps, and quick moves
- Learning opponent's combos by learning about their character can help, too
tl;dr
Conclusion
Mastering the Neutral state and everything else is extremely important. This stuff and other fundamentals is what you should learn first, before techniques. B-reversing is great and everything, but vocabulary is useless without grammar, if you want a metaphor. While practicing the Neutral, choosing a main is especially important so that you can focus on the Neutral instead of your character.
From there, learn about your character. Learn what they do in the neutral (how to approach, helpful safe moves), learn what they do in the advantage state (combos, edgeguarding), learn what they do in the disadvantage state (how to get out of combos, how to get to the stage safely).
....because honestly, I've joked about heavies twice not knowing how their neutral is.
tl;dr
- Go for the advantage state during the neutral
- KO the opponent during the advantage state
- Go for the neutral in the disadvantage state.
- Choose a main
- Master the Neutral
- Master your character
- Good luck!
tl;dr
I also recommend you read some of the other guides on the Neutral; there's a lot.
Feedback and constructive criticism is appreciated!
In Smash, if you have more stage space, you have the advantage. From there, your aim is to knock the opponent out of the blast zone.
This, I think, is the summary of your goal during a match.
You might need to know these terms:
Jab - normal attack with no direction, on Gamecube controller (GC)
Tilt - normal attack with direction, and respective direction at the same time on GC. Includes upward tilt (called U-Tilt), downward tilt (D-tilt), and forward tilt (F-tilt).
Smash attack - direction pressed (and/or held down) at the same time as the button. Hard to explain. Includes U-smash, D-smash, F-smash.
Aerial - normal attack in the air, done with button with or without direction. Includes U-air, D-air, F-air (front aerial), B-air (back aerial), and N-air (neutral air, has no direction). Z-air is a move that characters with a tether throw can do (etc.) by pressing the grab button, on GC. Pressing shield in the air is an 'airdodge'.
Special - special attack, done by pressing. Called special whether it's on the ground or air. Includes Up-B, Down-B, Side-B, Neutral-B.
Shield - button on GC. Blocks attacks, but breaks once it shrinks all the way. Pressing left or right while shielding will make you dodgeroll (called 'roll'), while pressing down will make you sidestep. Both will make you temporarily invincible. You can jump while shielding, called "jumping out of shield".
Grab - button on GC. Ignores shields. After grabbing, press to pummel, and/or a direction to throw them that way (is a bit different!). Includes U-throw, D-throw, F-throw, B-throw.
Lag - refers to ending or starting animation, usually long ones. Ex: F-smashes has a lot of ending lag.
D.I. - stands for 'directional input'. Refers to how you can angle the way you get launched after attacks, throws, etc.
Jumping is still called jumping, so I don't need to go over things like that.
I define the rest of the terms in the article. If I accidentally miss it, please tell me!
on Gamecube controller (GC)Tilt - normal attack with direction,
and respective direction at the same time on GC. Includes upward tilt (called U-Tilt), downward tilt (D-tilt), and forward tilt (F-tilt).Smash attack - direction pressed (and/or held down) at the same time as the
button. Hard to explain. Includes U-smash, D-smash, F-smash.Aerial - normal attack in the air, done with
button with or without direction. Includes U-air, D-air, F-air (front aerial), B-air (back aerial), and N-air (neutral air, has no direction). Z-air is a move that characters with a tether throw can do (etc.) by pressing the grab button, on GC. Pressing shield in the air is an 'airdodge'.Special - special attack, done by pressing
. Called special whether it's on the ground or air. Includes Up-B, Down-B, Side-B, Neutral-B.Shield -
button on GC. Blocks attacks, but breaks once it shrinks all the way. Pressing left or right while shielding will make you dodgeroll (called 'roll'), while pressing down will make you sidestep. Both will make you temporarily invincible. You can jump while shielding, called "jumping out of shield".Grab -
button on GC. Ignores shields. After grabbing, press to pummel, and/or a direction to throw them that way (is a bit different!). Includes U-throw, D-throw, F-throw, B-throw.Lag - refers to ending or starting animation, usually long ones. Ex: F-smashes has a lot of ending lag.
D.I. - stands for 'directional input'. Refers to how you can angle the way you get launched after attacks, throws, etc.
Jumping is still called jumping, so I don't need to go over things like that.
I define the rest of the terms in the article. If I accidentally miss it, please tell me!
Note that this will mainly be from the point of view of SSB4, but it should apply to all games. tl;dr 's will be included at the end of each part, and will be made so you can go straight there instead of reading the paragraph.
The Neutral < link
The Neutral is the part of the match where neither player has the advantage. Even after a player gets the upper hand, the match can always go back to the Neutral at some point.
During the Neutral, your goal is to try to get the advantage. This doesn't mean starting the match right away with a dash attack; you do this by finding out the opponents habits, which is called reading. For example, what will the opponent do once you run up to them? If they roll when you do, which way do they roll?
Doing an action to get the opponent to react in a certain way is called baiting. Once you find out their habits, you can bait it out later in the match and punish them for it. Punishing is when you get an attack by exploiting the opponent's habits or mistakes. It can be on reaction, or by prediction.
For example, if the opponent has a habit of rolling towards you, punish it with a down smash. You'll be mostly aiming for the moves with the most prominent endlags, like rolls, airdodges, counters, whiffed attacks, blocked attacks.
The great thing about punishing is that it gives you a free attack. Baiting leads to punishes, so try to practice these!
If you don't know where to start, see if your character has any good OoS (out of shield) moves. These are moves that you use if you block an attack. Grabs are a universal OoS option, and are usually good since several characters can combo after grabbing. Try to explore (or just search up, lol) your own character's OoS options, especially since grabs only go forward. Here's an example of a shield into an OoS punish:
OoS options include:
- Rolling left or right (shielding, then inputting right or left)
- Spotdodging (shielding, then inputting down)
- Jumping (shielding, then pressing jump)
- Aerial (shielding, jumping then aerial)
- Shield grab (shielding, then pressing attack)
- Anything else requires you to drop your shield (i.e. let go of shield button), then do the attack or whatever you want.
If the opponent doesn't have any clear habits, most characters (AKA not
) have pokes, which are attacks that come out and back quickly, with little endlag. Examples would be jab, N-airs, etc. Projectiles can usually rack up extra damage from a safe distance away, too. Using any of these lets you miss an attack and still not get punished. There is also a list of moves safe on shield, which you could use as pokes, here. Otherwise, you can try shielding -- which is a very good option, by the way -- to bait, then punish with OoS stuff.tl;dr
- Goal is to reach the advantage state
- Neutral = parts of match where neither player has the advantage. Described in more detail here.
- Pokes = safe attacks with little starting or endlag (list of moves that are safe on shield here)
- During the Neutral, use pokes, and try to find the opponent's bad habits. Try to find out what causes the bad habits to happen, do that action, and hit the opponent for it.
- Reading = finding opponent's habits
- Baiting = getting opponent to do action
- Punishing = hitting opponent for bad action
- OoS = type of punish done while shielding, e.g. grab
- Try shielding to bait, then punish using OoS moves.
tl;dr
If you have stage control (i.e. have more of the stage) or if you hit the opponent and have potential followups, then you're in the advantage state.
Advantage State < not a link
This actually has several names, but I totally forgot the other ones.
As the name suggests, this is when you have the advantage, and the opponent has the disadvantage. Your goal during this state is to make your advantage even bigger.
This can mean pushing the opponent off the stage to lead into an edge guard, or making a combo that should build up damage until you can:
- Lead into a strong move (e.g. smash attack) and kill the opponent either off the side or top
- Knock the opponent off the edge to lead into an edge guard
(unless you're
; then there's no choice but to use a strong move )Pressure is also helpful during the advantage state. When you pressure the opponent, you're stringing attacks together (i.e. using several attacks in a row) to force the opponent to be on the defensive. It doesn't necessarily have to be a combo, and it can make the opponent mess up or panic, which you can use to lengthen your pressure even more. You've probably seen pressure before, especially with
andplayers, but I don't have any videos with them, so here's Kirby:Do not, however, pressure blindly. Messing up in your opponent's face will end up really badly. While you pressure, you'll have to use baits, punishes and pokes combined. Use pokes to make sure you don't lose your lead, baits and punishes to continue the pressure.
tl;dr
- Increase your advantage until you get a kill.
- Combo to get an edge guard or smash attack/U-air/etc. kill.
- Safe moves will let you keep the advantage longer.
- Pressure the opponent (i.e. use several attacks in a row) with baits, punishes and pokes to make the opponent panic and be on the defensive; but don't do it blindly!
tl;dr
Having less stage control or getting hit by an opponent (which can lead to potential follow-ups) will get you in the disadvantage state.
Disadvantage State
The disadvantage state is a little bit different than the other two. Even though you're still supposed to aim for the advantage state, your main goal during this state is to get to the neutral first, then the advantage state.
What this means is that you should try to get an equal amount of stage space and to get to an area where you won't get hit. You will need reads again to find out what the opponent does to escape pressure. Does the opponent do a F-air after a U-air? Is this escapable with a jump, or an air dodge? Knowing the opponents bread-and-butter combos (i.e. main combos) might help, since most can be escaped with either D.I. (you will sometimes have to mix it up), jumps, air dodges. Alternatively, you could just mash a move that's really fast, like Yoshi's N-air.
There's true combos, or inescapable combos, which you'll have to watch out for, too.
Once you escape a combo (or just a string of attacks) and are able to shield, you are at the neutral again. From here, you try to get to the advantage state again.
Read the Neutral section for more information.
tl;dr
- Reach the neutral
- Use reads to find holes in pressure
- Exploit holes with D.I., air dodges, jumps, and quick moves
- Learning opponent's combos by learning about their character can help, too
tl;dr
Conclusion
Mastering the Neutral state and everything else is extremely important. This stuff and other fundamentals is what you should learn first, before techniques. B-reversing is great and everything, but vocabulary is useless without grammar, if you want a metaphor. While practicing the Neutral, choosing a main is especially important so that you can focus on the Neutral instead of your character.
From there, learn about your character. Learn what they do in the neutral (how to approach, helpful safe moves), learn what they do in the advantage state (combos, edgeguarding), learn what they do in the disadvantage state (how to get out of combos, how to get to the stage safely).
....because honestly, I've joked about heavies twice not knowing how their neutral is.
tl;dr
- Go for the advantage state during the neutral
- KO the opponent during the advantage state
- Go for the neutral in the disadvantage state.
- Choose a main
- Master the Neutral
- Master your character
- Good luck!
tl;dr
I also recommend you read some of the other guides on the Neutral; there's a lot.
Feedback and constructive criticism is appreciated!
- Applicable Games
- Smash 64, Melee, Brawl, Project M, Smash 3DS, Smash Wii U
