Have you ever noticed that when smashed around your character can fly away in a tumble, a spiral, or simply floating through the air appearing to be standing on nothing?
In Smash even though there are many different types of attacks, they can be categorized by how they affect opponents.
<!--more--><strong>Meteor:</strong> This attack sends the opponent straight down without stopping. Only a properly timed jump or an up+B can cancel the decent. (Kirby’s down air)
<strong>Spike: </strong>This attack sends the opponent down but the angle can be controlled by the opponents DI. The opponent will travel a minimum distance according to how much damage they have. The decent cannot be canceled. These hits are very dangerous. (Falco down air)
<strong>Marth/Roy Counter: </strong>When an attack is countered, this move sends opponents flying away in a triangle shape. The opponents trajectory seems to bounce off of nothing. This is a very unique type of hit. Sometimes the sharp change in the angle can save. Sometimes it kills. (Marth/Roy Down+B)
<strong>The Tip of Marth’s Sword: </strong>The tip of Marth’s sword is where Marth has a considerable amount of control and power. If you hit your opponent with the tip of Marth’s forward smash, the arc of the attack is converted to a straight line. This means, instead of flying out in an upsidedown “U” shape, the opponent travels the same distance in a straight line. This often positions the opponent closer to death.
<strong>Normal hit: </strong>The opponents fly away in an arc. The majority of the attacks in the game send opponents away in either a Normal hit or a spiral.
<strong>Spirals: </strong>Many moves send opponents spiraling away as if their bodies were corkscrews. I’m don’t know if there’s a major difference between Spirals and the normal hits.
<strong>Tumbling:</strong> After the spiral runs out of steam, the character then converts into a tumble. This looks like the character is lying down on a turn table and is rotating around.
<strong>Standing/Floating away:</strong> If you hit your opponent from when they’re lying on the ground (before they get up after being knocked down) there’s a chance they’ll be knocked away in control of their body position and free to use any air attack. When this happens it looks like the opponents are simply floating around in the air.
<strong>Falls:</strong> When using spikes or meteor attacks on opponents with low damage while standing on the stage, the opponents will fall in place instead of being knocked away. The best way to make this happen is to use the attack “on their feet” (hitting your opponents feet when they’re facing you). The opponent will cringe forward and either straighten back up or do a complete flip. The easiest way to see this is to use Fox’s reflector or shine on Peach.
<strong>Shield Breakers: </strong>Some attacks have extra shield killing abilities. Marth’s charge B attack is called the shield breaker after all. If you unleash this attack (even with a mild charge) on a light shielding character, their shield will break almost guaranteed. The only other attack that I know with this ability is a thrown Mr. Saturn. If you thought this little guy was useless, try throwing him repeatedly at a shield by standing close and hitting A over and over.
<strong>Sleepers:</strong> This one should be easy to understand. The attack puts you to sleep. Jigglypuff, Bellossom, and Mewtwo have attacks like this. Looks like someone thought the Pokemon needed to be unique.
<strong>Grounders:</strong> These attacks slam opponents into the ground. Donkey Kong’s side+B spikes in the air and plants opponents when on the ground. Clefairy can radomly do it too.
<strong>Diagonal Hits:</strong> These are like miniature meteor-spikes. Like meteos, they can’t be canceled. Like spikes, they send opponents at the same angle every time. Pikachu’s up+air sends opponents diagonally downward if you aim it correctly. Shiek’s forward+air sometimes falls into this category.
<strong>Fire:</strong> Like real fire, these hits in Melee are unruly. Some fire attacks are terrible. (Kirby’s dash attack) Some are unbelievably magical. (Fox’s Up B). Some look like they burn, but it’s really a harmless bluff. (Falco’s Up B while charging). Some fire gets launched. (Bowser’s B/Fire Flower). Some fire sucks you into a fiery void. (Roy’s up+smash) They can all burn characters from a block of ice in one hit though.
<strong>Ice:</strong> These attacks can freeze you in a block of ice at high damage. Perhaps the damage level for this is too high. (The Ice Climbers ice breath and Ice projectile)
<strong>PINGs:</strong> You might know these attacks by a different name, but we all know the sound. A clear distinct resonating sonorous sound. Jigglypuff’s Rest attack. Ness’s Forward+Smash. Luigi’s up+B at close range on the ground. Game&Watch’s number 9 Judgement attack. The home run bat. These attacks are supposed to be hard to land because they obliterate opponents.
<strong>Random Effect:</strong> Some attacks are so crazy, that they can send you flying in a variety of different ways. Samus’ up+B and Ness’s dash attack can produce some pretty crazy results.
<strong>Set Distance:</strong> Some throws don’t increase in power when the opponents are at increasing damage. They seem to send the opponent flying at the same distance every time. Try comparing Jigglypuff’s or Ness’ forward and back throws.
<strong>Flower hits:</strong> Lip’s Stick produces a small flower on opponents heads. This flower gradually increases their damage. The more times an opponent is hit, the bigger the flower and the more damage they take over time.
<strong>Explosion:</strong> When bombs explode, you explode. It’s like a strong fire hit.
<strong>Thrown Bodies:</strong> When a character is thrown, their body temporarily becomes a projectile. This projectile has a lot of priority. This projectile also has the ability to trade it’s moment with other players it collides with. This is always an interesting result of the game physics.
There are probably many more., but it’s hard to know about them all. What’s important is that the more unique each move is, the better the game is. When only a few characters can do what they do, there is an increased incentive to play them.
I hope Brawl increased the amount of hits and how varied their effects are. It doesn’t even have to be too drastic. What if fire attacks did more damage when used in succession like Flower hits.
I have a feeling we’re all going to be in for quite a surprise this E3.
In Smash even though there are many different types of attacks, they can be categorized by how they affect opponents.
<!--more--><strong>Meteor:</strong> This attack sends the opponent straight down without stopping. Only a properly timed jump or an up+B can cancel the decent. (Kirby’s down air)
<strong>Spike: </strong>This attack sends the opponent down but the angle can be controlled by the opponents DI. The opponent will travel a minimum distance according to how much damage they have. The decent cannot be canceled. These hits are very dangerous. (Falco down air)
<strong>Marth/Roy Counter: </strong>When an attack is countered, this move sends opponents flying away in a triangle shape. The opponents trajectory seems to bounce off of nothing. This is a very unique type of hit. Sometimes the sharp change in the angle can save. Sometimes it kills. (Marth/Roy Down+B)
<strong>The Tip of Marth’s Sword: </strong>The tip of Marth’s sword is where Marth has a considerable amount of control and power. If you hit your opponent with the tip of Marth’s forward smash, the arc of the attack is converted to a straight line. This means, instead of flying out in an upsidedown “U” shape, the opponent travels the same distance in a straight line. This often positions the opponent closer to death.
<strong>Normal hit: </strong>The opponents fly away in an arc. The majority of the attacks in the game send opponents away in either a Normal hit or a spiral.
<strong>Spirals: </strong>Many moves send opponents spiraling away as if their bodies were corkscrews. I’m don’t know if there’s a major difference between Spirals and the normal hits.
<strong>Tumbling:</strong> After the spiral runs out of steam, the character then converts into a tumble. This looks like the character is lying down on a turn table and is rotating around.
<strong>Standing/Floating away:</strong> If you hit your opponent from when they’re lying on the ground (before they get up after being knocked down) there’s a chance they’ll be knocked away in control of their body position and free to use any air attack. When this happens it looks like the opponents are simply floating around in the air.
<strong>Falls:</strong> When using spikes or meteor attacks on opponents with low damage while standing on the stage, the opponents will fall in place instead of being knocked away. The best way to make this happen is to use the attack “on their feet” (hitting your opponents feet when they’re facing you). The opponent will cringe forward and either straighten back up or do a complete flip. The easiest way to see this is to use Fox’s reflector or shine on Peach.
<strong>Shield Breakers: </strong>Some attacks have extra shield killing abilities. Marth’s charge B attack is called the shield breaker after all. If you unleash this attack (even with a mild charge) on a light shielding character, their shield will break almost guaranteed. The only other attack that I know with this ability is a thrown Mr. Saturn. If you thought this little guy was useless, try throwing him repeatedly at a shield by standing close and hitting A over and over.
<strong>Sleepers:</strong> This one should be easy to understand. The attack puts you to sleep. Jigglypuff, Bellossom, and Mewtwo have attacks like this. Looks like someone thought the Pokemon needed to be unique.
<strong>Grounders:</strong> These attacks slam opponents into the ground. Donkey Kong’s side+B spikes in the air and plants opponents when on the ground. Clefairy can radomly do it too.
<strong>Diagonal Hits:</strong> These are like miniature meteor-spikes. Like meteos, they can’t be canceled. Like spikes, they send opponents at the same angle every time. Pikachu’s up+air sends opponents diagonally downward if you aim it correctly. Shiek’s forward+air sometimes falls into this category.
<strong>Fire:</strong> Like real fire, these hits in Melee are unruly. Some fire attacks are terrible. (Kirby’s dash attack) Some are unbelievably magical. (Fox’s Up B). Some look like they burn, but it’s really a harmless bluff. (Falco’s Up B while charging). Some fire gets launched. (Bowser’s B/Fire Flower). Some fire sucks you into a fiery void. (Roy’s up+smash) They can all burn characters from a block of ice in one hit though.
<strong>Ice:</strong> These attacks can freeze you in a block of ice at high damage. Perhaps the damage level for this is too high. (The Ice Climbers ice breath and Ice projectile)
<strong>PINGs:</strong> You might know these attacks by a different name, but we all know the sound. A clear distinct resonating sonorous sound. Jigglypuff’s Rest attack. Ness’s Forward+Smash. Luigi’s up+B at close range on the ground. Game&Watch’s number 9 Judgement attack. The home run bat. These attacks are supposed to be hard to land because they obliterate opponents.
<strong>Random Effect:</strong> Some attacks are so crazy, that they can send you flying in a variety of different ways. Samus’ up+B and Ness’s dash attack can produce some pretty crazy results.
<strong>Set Distance:</strong> Some throws don’t increase in power when the opponents are at increasing damage. They seem to send the opponent flying at the same distance every time. Try comparing Jigglypuff’s or Ness’ forward and back throws.
<strong>Flower hits:</strong> Lip’s Stick produces a small flower on opponents heads. This flower gradually increases their damage. The more times an opponent is hit, the bigger the flower and the more damage they take over time.
<strong>Explosion:</strong> When bombs explode, you explode. It’s like a strong fire hit.
<strong>Thrown Bodies:</strong> When a character is thrown, their body temporarily becomes a projectile. This projectile has a lot of priority. This projectile also has the ability to trade it’s moment with other players it collides with. This is always an interesting result of the game physics.
There are probably many more., but it’s hard to know about them all. What’s important is that the more unique each move is, the better the game is. When only a few characters can do what they do, there is an increased incentive to play them.
I hope Brawl increased the amount of hits and how varied their effects are. It doesn’t even have to be too drastic. What if fire attacks did more damage when used in succession like Flower hits.
I have a feeling we’re all going to be in for quite a surprise this E3.
