This guide will cover the smash 4 basics. It will provide controls, and will give a basic guide to Mario, the best starter character.
How To Play
A Basic attack is done by pressing A. To do a different standard attack, try pressing up, down, and side A.
A special attack is done by Pressing B. To do a different special attack, press up, down, or side. An up special (When done in the air) typically moves you upwards and possibly also horizontal. The way you want to "recover", depends on which way you input on the controller.
A smash attack is done by either pushing the C stick in any direction (Up, down, or side). These moves can be charged by holding the C stick in that direction, or can be uncharged by not holding the C stick there.
Aerial attacks are attacks done in midair. These differ from character to character (Just like all moves) and, and can be changed up by inputting a direction ad attacking at the same time. To not move and do a directional aerial attack (such as a forward moving aerial attack, called a forward air, or fair), just press the c stick in that direction in the air so you don’t have to move to do that attack.
To move, use the circle pad, or the left joystick. To dash, quickly move the circle pad or left joystick. To jump, you can either tap up on the circle pad, or press X or Y. If you do not want to be able to jump by using the control pad, you may turn tap jumping off in the controls menu. To do a short jump, quickly flick the control pad up or lightly press Y or X. To fast fall (Fall faster), press and hold down while in midair.
Grabs are done by Pressing L. Grabs are moves that every character has that allow you to grab a character. When a character is grabbed, you can either throw them in any direction, or pummel them (which you can do multiple times) with the attack button. Grabs can go through shields.
Shielding is done by pressing R. Shields protect you from all forms of attack, except grab. Some characters have moves that can break your shield, which will leave you dazed, and very vulnerable for quite a long time. Holding shield or taking too much damage when shielding will also break your shield. You cannot shield midair. That will become an airdodge, which we will talk about in a second.
Rolling is done by pressing R and inputting either left or right. Rolling cannot be grabbed. Dodging is done by pressing shield and down, which is essentially a roll without moving any direction. You can also dodge upwards when you input up while shielding.
That is all of the totally basic moves. Now, let’s get to characters! (just a hint before we strt, try all of this stuff out in training, a mode where you are facing an unmoving dummy and can die as many times as you want. Even great players practice in training sometimes)
Mario
Ah, Mario, one of the easiest characters to learn, and is still a very good character. Great for beginners. Start by practicing all of Mario’s moves.
His Neutral special is a fireball, which is a long range attack that is good for hitting characters that are far away.
His side special is a cape, which, when used against a projectile or opponent, flips it backwards. This move is good for hitting characters with their own projectiles, and good for avoiding enemy attacks.
His Up special is a solid recovery that is good for getting back on stage when you are hit off. Remember all characters have a jump that they can use, even when they are offstage. Remember to use this jump too when you are knocked off stage.
His Down Special is a tank of water that you can charge. Hold down and b to charge it, and press down and b again to release it, knocking opponents away from you but not doing any damage.
His neutral attack is a punch. Hold this attack to rapidly punch. When you hit an enemy with this, press it 2 more times to land a total of three hits on your opponent.
His side tilt (A walking side A, or a barely inputted side attack A) is a kick. This attack deals a solid 7 damage.
His down tilt is a leg sweeping move that deals 5-7 damage (5 when hitting with foot, 7 when hitting with leg) that is solid because it is fast and has good ledge protection.
His up tilt is a quick upwards punch that deals around 5 damage. This move is good because it is fast and does not knock the opponent far away, letting you get another up tilt on them.
His dash attack (Done by pressing A while attacking) is a slide on the ground that hits low for about 8 damage. This is good if you are dashing and don’t want to slow down to do another move.
His Nair (Or neutral air) is a kick that does about 8 damage. This move is good when approaching a character and short hopping.
His Fair (Or Forward air) is a punch that has some bad start lag, but spikes opponents and does about 14 damage. The end lag on this move is fair.
His dair (down air) is a spin attack that does about 10 damage when the entirety of the move connects. This move has little start lag and is quick.
His Up air is a backflip that does about 7 damage and knocks opponents upwards, where they are less likely to hit you and you are in control. This move has good range and ok ending lag with little start lag.
His Bair (Back air) is a kick that hits for about 10 damage, is quick, and has long range. A good move with little start and end lag.
His smash attacks are all powerful, with his down smash covering both sides, and being quick. His up smash has invincibility on the head, meaning any attacks that hit his head will do no damage.
His grab is average, with normal range, but with powerful throws, and solid combos. His pummel deals 3-4 damage, his back throw deals about 10, his f throw deals 7ish, his up throw also deals 7ish, and his down throw does 5.
The most famous combo is Smash 4, is the down throw uptilt, where at lower percents, Mario can grab, do a down throw, and uptilt, which potentially leads into more uptilts.
Another combo, is the down throw, up air, nair, which can be done at medium damage percents.
Practice these 2 basic combos, perfect them, and then use them on CPUs until you are ready to learn / try other combos that you have or will discover. Going online will show you tons of other Mario Combos.
Best of luck, and I hope this guide helped you out!
How To Play
A Basic attack is done by pressing A. To do a different standard attack, try pressing up, down, and side A.
A special attack is done by Pressing B. To do a different special attack, press up, down, or side. An up special (When done in the air) typically moves you upwards and possibly also horizontal. The way you want to "recover", depends on which way you input on the controller.
A smash attack is done by either pushing the C stick in any direction (Up, down, or side). These moves can be charged by holding the C stick in that direction, or can be uncharged by not holding the C stick there.
Aerial attacks are attacks done in midair. These differ from character to character (Just like all moves) and, and can be changed up by inputting a direction ad attacking at the same time. To not move and do a directional aerial attack (such as a forward moving aerial attack, called a forward air, or fair), just press the c stick in that direction in the air so you don’t have to move to do that attack.
To move, use the circle pad, or the left joystick. To dash, quickly move the circle pad or left joystick. To jump, you can either tap up on the circle pad, or press X or Y. If you do not want to be able to jump by using the control pad, you may turn tap jumping off in the controls menu. To do a short jump, quickly flick the control pad up or lightly press Y or X. To fast fall (Fall faster), press and hold down while in midair.
Grabs are done by Pressing L. Grabs are moves that every character has that allow you to grab a character. When a character is grabbed, you can either throw them in any direction, or pummel them (which you can do multiple times) with the attack button. Grabs can go through shields.
Shielding is done by pressing R. Shields protect you from all forms of attack, except grab. Some characters have moves that can break your shield, which will leave you dazed, and very vulnerable for quite a long time. Holding shield or taking too much damage when shielding will also break your shield. You cannot shield midair. That will become an airdodge, which we will talk about in a second.
Rolling is done by pressing R and inputting either left or right. Rolling cannot be grabbed. Dodging is done by pressing shield and down, which is essentially a roll without moving any direction. You can also dodge upwards when you input up while shielding.
That is all of the totally basic moves. Now, let’s get to characters! (just a hint before we strt, try all of this stuff out in training, a mode where you are facing an unmoving dummy and can die as many times as you want. Even great players practice in training sometimes)
Mario
Ah, Mario, one of the easiest characters to learn, and is still a very good character. Great for beginners. Start by practicing all of Mario’s moves.
His Neutral special is a fireball, which is a long range attack that is good for hitting characters that are far away.
His side special is a cape, which, when used against a projectile or opponent, flips it backwards. This move is good for hitting characters with their own projectiles, and good for avoiding enemy attacks.
His Up special is a solid recovery that is good for getting back on stage when you are hit off. Remember all characters have a jump that they can use, even when they are offstage. Remember to use this jump too when you are knocked off stage.
His Down Special is a tank of water that you can charge. Hold down and b to charge it, and press down and b again to release it, knocking opponents away from you but not doing any damage.
His neutral attack is a punch. Hold this attack to rapidly punch. When you hit an enemy with this, press it 2 more times to land a total of three hits on your opponent.
His side tilt (A walking side A, or a barely inputted side attack A) is a kick. This attack deals a solid 7 damage.
His down tilt is a leg sweeping move that deals 5-7 damage (5 when hitting with foot, 7 when hitting with leg) that is solid because it is fast and has good ledge protection.
His up tilt is a quick upwards punch that deals around 5 damage. This move is good because it is fast and does not knock the opponent far away, letting you get another up tilt on them.
His dash attack (Done by pressing A while attacking) is a slide on the ground that hits low for about 8 damage. This is good if you are dashing and don’t want to slow down to do another move.
His Nair (Or neutral air) is a kick that does about 8 damage. This move is good when approaching a character and short hopping.
His Fair (Or Forward air) is a punch that has some bad start lag, but spikes opponents and does about 14 damage. The end lag on this move is fair.
His dair (down air) is a spin attack that does about 10 damage when the entirety of the move connects. This move has little start lag and is quick.
His Up air is a backflip that does about 7 damage and knocks opponents upwards, where they are less likely to hit you and you are in control. This move has good range and ok ending lag with little start lag.
His Bair (Back air) is a kick that hits for about 10 damage, is quick, and has long range. A good move with little start and end lag.
His smash attacks are all powerful, with his down smash covering both sides, and being quick. His up smash has invincibility on the head, meaning any attacks that hit his head will do no damage.
His grab is average, with normal range, but with powerful throws, and solid combos. His pummel deals 3-4 damage, his back throw deals about 10, his f throw deals 7ish, his up throw also deals 7ish, and his down throw does 5.
The most famous combo is Smash 4, is the down throw uptilt, where at lower percents, Mario can grab, do a down throw, and uptilt, which potentially leads into more uptilts.
Another combo, is the down throw, up air, nair, which can be done at medium damage percents.
Practice these 2 basic combos, perfect them, and then use them on CPUs until you are ready to learn / try other combos that you have or will discover. Going online will show you tons of other Mario Combos.
Best of luck, and I hope this guide helped you out!
- Applicable Games
- Smash 3DS, Smash Wii U