Sycorax
Smash Ace
Introduction:
Marth's up-b can be angled, not just horizontally like we all know, but also vertically. The general method for controlling it is described here. Doctor Mario and Mario can also similarly control the angle of their up-b as described by Schmooblidon here. It turns out that Marth's control of the angle of his up-b is slightly different. Here are the specifics I discovered while playing with it in Magus's physics mod.
Whether Marth does a regular or reverse dolphin slash is decided by the position of the analog stick on frame 5 of his up-b. The angling of his up-b is decided by some combination of the positions of the analog stick on the frames before that. It does not act like Doc's or Mario's up-b, which depend on the position of the analog stick on a certain frame (as described in Schmooblidon's post.)
Methods:
To do my tests, I recorded the X-Y position of Marth on frame 22 of his up-b from the ground with various analog inputs before frame 5. The directions North, West, East, NW, WNW, and NNW were held on frames 1 through 4 (with Marth facing right, i.e. east). On frame 5, the stick was returned to neutral position. WNW is as close to 17 degrees above horizontal as I could get on a controller. NNW is as close to 17 degrees to the left of up that I could get. I did not test aerial up-b because I do not know a way to get a consistent aerial location to measure positions from. I chose frame 22 because that is the frame before which Marth will grab the ledge from his up-b (usually).
Results:
+-----+----------+----------+
| ... | X(22) .. | Y(22) .. |
+-----+----------+----------+
| . N | 10.40299 | 47.22958 |
| . W | 14.98440 | 46.84405 |
| . E | 26.12216 | 41.91854 |
| .NW | 09.66135 | 47.77207 |
| WNW | 12.32334 | 47.48393 |
| NNW | 09.46704 | 47.76539 |
+-----+----------+----------+
Discussion:
The farthest upward distance was achieved by holding the stick up and back before frame 5. Holding all the way back actually increased horizontal distance and lowered vertical distance covered. Holding WNW or NNW seemed to only achieve fractional results of holding up and back. Mixing directions, for example holding WNW for a frame or two then moving to NNW for the subsequent frames, also gave fractional results. It seemed to be more effective to hold one direction for one or all of the frames before frame 5.
Let it be noted that the height gained by this technique is only about .54 Mm. That is about the width of Marth's sword. It's about one third of the distance Marth slides when he pivots. Because of this, I do not think the technique is worth learning. The distance is so small to rarely be useful, and one risks doing a reverse up-b.
Another interesting phenomenon is that when Marth angles his up-b regularly, he grabs the ledge after frame 22. If he angles it horizontally, he can grab the ledge 1 frame sooner, that is, after frame 21. If he angles his up-b upwards with the technique described here, he grabs the ledge one frame later, after frame 23. The difference in height between frame 22 and 23 of the NW angled up-b is less than one hundredth of a Mm.
One final thing to note: a fully side angled up-b increases the horizontal distance covered by a factor of 2.5.
Marth's up-b can be angled, not just horizontally like we all know, but also vertically. The general method for controlling it is described here. Doctor Mario and Mario can also similarly control the angle of their up-b as described by Schmooblidon here. It turns out that Marth's control of the angle of his up-b is slightly different. Here are the specifics I discovered while playing with it in Magus's physics mod.
Whether Marth does a regular or reverse dolphin slash is decided by the position of the analog stick on frame 5 of his up-b. The angling of his up-b is decided by some combination of the positions of the analog stick on the frames before that. It does not act like Doc's or Mario's up-b, which depend on the position of the analog stick on a certain frame (as described in Schmooblidon's post.)
Methods:
To do my tests, I recorded the X-Y position of Marth on frame 22 of his up-b from the ground with various analog inputs before frame 5. The directions North, West, East, NW, WNW, and NNW were held on frames 1 through 4 (with Marth facing right, i.e. east). On frame 5, the stick was returned to neutral position. WNW is as close to 17 degrees above horizontal as I could get on a controller. NNW is as close to 17 degrees to the left of up that I could get. I did not test aerial up-b because I do not know a way to get a consistent aerial location to measure positions from. I chose frame 22 because that is the frame before which Marth will grab the ledge from his up-b (usually).
Results:
+-----+----------+----------+
| ... | X(22) .. | Y(22) .. |
+-----+----------+----------+
| . N | 10.40299 | 47.22958 |
| . W | 14.98440 | 46.84405 |
| . E | 26.12216 | 41.91854 |
| .NW | 09.66135 | 47.77207 |
| WNW | 12.32334 | 47.48393 |
| NNW | 09.46704 | 47.76539 |
+-----+----------+----------+
Discussion:
The farthest upward distance was achieved by holding the stick up and back before frame 5. Holding all the way back actually increased horizontal distance and lowered vertical distance covered. Holding WNW or NNW seemed to only achieve fractional results of holding up and back. Mixing directions, for example holding WNW for a frame or two then moving to NNW for the subsequent frames, also gave fractional results. It seemed to be more effective to hold one direction for one or all of the frames before frame 5.
Let it be noted that the height gained by this technique is only about .54 Mm. That is about the width of Marth's sword. It's about one third of the distance Marth slides when he pivots. Because of this, I do not think the technique is worth learning. The distance is so small to rarely be useful, and one risks doing a reverse up-b.
Another interesting phenomenon is that when Marth angles his up-b regularly, he grabs the ledge after frame 22. If he angles it horizontally, he can grab the ledge 1 frame sooner, that is, after frame 21. If he angles his up-b upwards with the technique described here, he grabs the ledge one frame later, after frame 23. The difference in height between frame 22 and 23 of the NW angled up-b is less than one hundredth of a Mm.
One final thing to note: a fully side angled up-b increases the horizontal distance covered by a factor of 2.5.
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