Considering switching to Marth

[SCf3]

Back story: I've been playing/learning competitive Melee for a month or two, and I started out with Jigglypuff because I think she's fun to play and I had a decent understanding of some of her matchups coming in. I have most of the fundamentals down, but I'm starting to hit a point where I feel like I'm not improving with her. I

'm the kind of person that will sit down and grind tech skill/fundamentals for an hour-ish, and then go on Netplay all day. But obviously with Puff, you're not using a lot of those skills as compared to other characters, a lot of it is reading/matchup based. (at least from what I can tell, it's more mindgames/predictions)

I want to try out Marth and want to know what tips you guys have. I don't want to completely switch mains, but I'm debating if I should main Puff or Marth, and keep the other as a secondary. I know it's not good trying out two characters starting out in Melee because it can stunt your growth, but I want to try Marth and see if I like it or not. I've already started messing around with Marth and have some simple combos/skills down.

Any advice is appreciated! Thanks. o7

 

[PlamZ]

It seems weird, but I found that taking one of the spacies and then grind a week with them made me understand a lot of things about the game. It also revived the love that I had for my original main.

It could be just me though.

 

[SCf3]

It seems weird, but I found that taking one of the spacies and then grind a week with them made me understand a lot of things about the game. It also revived the love that I had for my original main.

It could be just me though.

I've messed around with Falco too, I like him but I don't think I have the time/skill to put into him to get decent. It helped me get my mind off Puff and when I came back to Puff, it did give me a better understanding of the game. I completely get what you mean.

 

[Xyzz]

Just. Do. It.

If you think that there's a high probability that you might prefer character X over your main, give it a shot. Make it a serious one though. Constantly switching between characters is sub-optimal if your goal is to get good as quickly as you can. But if it's more of a one-time thing, it should be fine.
Also, if you're more interested in having fun, play whatever characters you want. Just don't expect to get good quickly.

 

[SCf3]

Just. Do. It.

If you think that there's a high probability that you might prefer character X over your main, give it a shot. Make it a serious one though. Constantly switching between characters is sub-optimal if your goal is to get good as quickly as you can. But if it's more of a one-time thing, it should be fine.
Also, if you're more interested in having fun, play whatever characters you want. Just don't expect to get good quickly.

I definitely want to give it a serious shot. And if I end up sticking with Marth, I obviously want to get better and better with him. I feel like I'll see more results by putting the time in, where in the past I've gotten frustrated with Jigglypuff regardless of the hours I put in. There's only so much you can do with her.

And I do want to play to get good, but you should definitely enjoy/have fun with the character to some extent, instead of blindly picking someone. At least that's what I think. Pick a character you enjoy, understand the game the best with, and what feels right. I guess being a month-ish into playing competitive, I'm still trying to figure it out.

Maybe playing Marth is my calling because I played Marth a bunch as a kid LOL.

 

[Dandy_here]

I definitely want to give it a serious shot. And if I end up sticking with Marth, I obviously want to get better and better with him. I feel like I'll see more results by putting the time in, where in the past I've gotten frustrated with Jigglypuff regardless of the hours I put in. There's only so much you can do with her.

And I do want to play to get good, but you should definitely enjoy/have fun with the character to some extent, instead of blindly picking someone. At least that's what I think. Pick a character you enjoy, understand the game the best with, and what feels right. I guess being a month-ish into playing competitive, I'm still trying to figure it out.

Maybe playing Marth is my calling because I played Marth a bunch as a kid LOL.

I switched from falco to marth simply because I felt better. I don't enjoy floaties and I am not as good with spacies, but my pocket fox tho. Always have a pocket fox

 

[AirFair]

To answer your question:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuHfVn_cfHU

at least try it.

 

[MarthZ]

try marth because I also have a little back pocket jigglypuff and from what i can tell jigs is heavily based off of aerials and not so with any wave dashing grabs tech chasing or anything like marth is plus I don't really think you should be asking here but more in melee discussion because people could be biased. oh and a tip i have is to practice on stages that are other than Yoshi's Story so your whole week could be Sunday:Yoshi story Monday:fountain Tuesday: Pokemon stadium Wednesday: BF Thursday: FD Friday:Dreamland Saturday:Your favorite of the stages

 

[The Young Izzy Iz]

This video will be relevant to my comment.

And this thread.

In the video Tafokints talks about the pros and cons of picking up and playing more than one character at a highly competetive level. Dual maining is helpful for covering bad matchups and providing yourself with an unpredictable counterpick that's going to play in a manner that is directly opposite to that of your original main. Although I usually main Marth I recently picked up Fox just for the floatie matchups that my Marth struggles against. If you think you're going to have fun picking up another main / switching mains I think you should really go for it, just understand though that switching mains over and over again isn't an excuse for refusing to master your fundamentals / saying your character can't compete.

 

[FE_Hector]

Well, if you do end up switching to Marth, let me cover one of the things that I didn't see anybody really cover: general tips.

1. In general, Marth has really laggy smash attacks. His fsmash can be used quite effectively, but only if it's c-sticked and you know you've got a low-risk, high-reward situation.
2. Tilt and grab a lot. Ftilt has excellent range and can force a rapidly approaching opponent back; utilt has guaranteed tipper range behind him and is a really versatile move if your opponent is above you in anyway; and dtilt (poking) is a super useful approach.
3. Remember that Marth's DD puts a lot of other Dash Dances to shame. He's got a ton of options out of it, and can go way further than most characters without entering that dumb dash status.
4. Marth has a sword that's the most powerful at the tip. Abuse it

 

[Smashing Turnips]

Puff and Marth have pretty similar fundamentals. They have a strong poking/punish game, and are hindered by not being and to "approach". They get a lot of mileage off of being able to put pressure on their opponent by a threatening position and strong poke moves (bair for Puff/D-tilt for Marth).

Marth's movement is the move fun to utilize and being able to weave in and out of an opponent's approaches is amazing.
As for general tips:

-Marth, like Puff, gets a lot off of playing patient. Impatience will end up with you getting combo'd hard.
-Spacing is VERY important. A badly spaced aerial on shield will get you shield grabbed every time.
-Offstage game is pretty important, and it's something that I see new Marth players not utilize very often. Dropzone fairs are great for covering forward throws and down throws against fast fallers.
-Don't overcomplicate things. Sometimes the best punish is a simple f-smash after weak u-air. Sure you could get more damage, but Marth's edgegaurd game is good enough to take the stock. Stocks > Percent.

 

[FE_Hector]

Puff and Marth have pretty similar fundamentals. They have a strong poking/punish game, and are hindered by not being and to "approach". They get a lot of mileage off of being able to put pressure on their opponent by a threatening position and strong poke moves (bair for Puff/D-tilt for Marth).

Marth's movement is the move fun to utilize and being able to weave in and out of an opponent's approaches is amazing.
As for general tips:

-Marth, like Puff, gets a lot off of playing patient. Impatience will end up with you getting combo'd hard.
-Spacing is VERY important. A badly spaced aerial on shield will get you shield grabbed every time.
-Offstage game is pretty important, and it's something that I see new Marth players not utilize very often. Dropzone fairs are great for covering forward throws and down throws against fast fallers.
-Don't overcomplicate things. Sometimes the best punish is a simple f-smash after weak u-air. Sure you could get more damage, but Marth's edgegaurd game is good enough to take the stock. Stocks > Percent.

Good enough to take the stock? Marth has, imo, one of the best edgeguarding games out of everybody. Pokes can handle a lot of options, Counter can handle several others (like a badly placed Firefox/bird), and WD off -> roll up gives him the edge for a ridiculously long amount of time. On top of that, if you elect to just miss the sweetspot on the Dolphin Slash back up, you can knock your opponent off of the ledge if they badly time their recovery. Very fun

 

[Smashing Turnips]

Good enough to take the stock? Marth has, imo, one of the best edgeguarding games out of everybody.

I was understating for simplicity. Why opt for more damage when you can just kill them, ya know?