FishkeeperTimmay!
Smash Ace
Introduction
To start, I'd like to explain the importance of psychology in Smash. Your opponent's mind IS fundamentally, your only challenge. His character, the inputs he puts in, and the movements on screen are all merely an extension of his mind. The game is merely the interface you are challenging him through. Your goal, in every match, is essentially to overcome your opponent's mind. Because his mind is the root of his gameplay, working that to your advantage should be a goal. In this article, I'll explain how you can use Marth's various moves and tactics to warp or "condition" your opponent into disadvantageous positions.
The Pillars of Psychological Gaming
Fear, Failure and Arrogance are the three most important traits you can use against an opponent. Each have very negative effects on gameplay and are usually trained to be removed from players mindsets. However, careful and intelligent use of moves can cause these traits to surface with a powerful effect.
Fear deals with the aspects of intimidation and superiority. If your opponent is afraid, he is more likely to act predictably and with less careful thought. Shaking at the roots of gameplay that are normally unexplored and not understood are what cause fear. This includes doing "flashy" things, or merely causing early kills. Also, having a good "rep" causes fear, but this is an aspect that one merely aquires, but does not truly build in a match.
Failure deal with the aspects of security and confidence. When your opponent is filled with failure, he is less likely to experiment and branch of into new territory, making him predictable. Denying basic techniques and advances cause failure. Not allowing your opponent to hit you, or constantly recovering from devastating blows are good ways to cause this feeling.
Arrogance deals with confidence and superiority. An overconfident opponent will be more predictable because he believes his current strategy is made of pure win. Feigning signs of Fear and Failure in your own actions will cause arrogance. This is an extremely delicate and hard mindgame to pull off, because it requires good acting and sacrifice on your behalf.
Based on these three pillars, one can analyze Marth's moveset and create strategies that don't just attack your opponents character, but his very moral and psychology as well. By doing this, you can cause your opponent to act in a manner that you can counter with greater effectiveness and hopefully give you an edge.
Fear: Panic is a Poor Muse
Striking fear into your opponent is something that is rather easy to do. On a low level, fear can merely manifest into cautious or careful play. On the other extreme, fear can cause outright panic and cause your opponent to do inexplicable things. Thats good for you!
Well induced fear requires denying a basic instinct that your opponent is doing, and making that action taboo, either by countering it completely, or making it completely ineffective. Basic things, like shielding are a good place to start, but even the most basic concept -staying on stage- is the best place to attack.
Primary Fear Inducers:
Shieldbreaker
Forward Smash
These moves are your best tools for inducing fear because of the devastating effect they cause. Shieldbreaker destroys shields. People feel SAFE in shields, but when you deny them that safety, you start messing with the very base of their defensive game. Once you have established the fear of shielding, your opponent's defensive actions become far more predictable and more importantly, punishable.
Forward Smash is devastating because it kills at low %'s when tippered. Even the big boys like DDD and Bowzer can die under 100% due to this move. Many people in the community ALREADY fear this move because of Melee, and continue to do so in this game. Throwing out a F-Smash whenever it can connect will not be effective in this game, however. This move require delicate usage. If you DON'T hit with the tip, a LOT of it fear presence is diminished. Landing this move early, like right after a early grab, will remind your opponent that you can kill early, and thus make him worried about laggy attacks and getting close. That fear will cause him to play with less risk and aggression and make him easier to manage.
Secondary Fear Inducers:
Dancing Blade
Down Tilt
Both of these techniques punish defensive play, poking into your opponents "safe zone". The more you can poke at that safe zone, the more fear will be induced into your opponent. D-tilt weary shields, and Dancing Blade spot dodging opponents to making him almost completely terrified of doing any defensive maneuvering. You'd be surprised how effective this is.
Failure: The Depressing Teacher
Failure is a powerful way to make your opponent frustrated. By denying success, you can convince your opponent that his effort are futile and ineffective, forcing him into newer, less experienced territory that is unfamiliar to him.
Failure is created by throwing up "Brick Walls"; impossible obstacles that have no apparent weaknesses. You, of course, KNOW that there is a weakness, but the trick is making sure your opponent doesn't know that. Marth is easily the best character for doing this, with several moves that will completely deny your opponent the ability to land a hit when played properly.
Primary Failure Inducers:
Counter
Dolphin Slash
Counter is the failure inducing machine. If you can successfully Counter every offense that your opponent throws at you, not only are you a god, but probably should be playing in the MLG.
On a serious note though, consistently Countering a specific strategy is extremely potent. Often, players have one or two "pillars" or play, that become predictable. When you recognize these pillars, Counter can shut them down consistently. By denying these tried and true methods of your opponents play, you can make them feel like their strategy is ineffective, filling them with doubt. That doubt often translates into sloppy play, which you can punish and gain advantages from.
Dolphin Slash is amazingly awesome in its ability to deny and frustrate an opponent. With invincibility's frames, killer knockback and crazy fast activation, you can essentially break almost any combo. You can also punish any predicted action. This is a huge boon to you as a player. If you can predict the action, this move can punish it. Essentially, with smart play and this move, you CAN be untouchable. Against aggressive foes, you can merely stand on one spot and consistently halt advances, filling your opponent with frustration, doubt and failure, compounding his sloppy play and intensifying mistakes.
Secondary Failure Inducers:
Forward Air
Forward Tilt
These moves can deny your opponent approaches and can create walls of priority that your opponent will have an interesting time trying to surpass. Also, these moves allow you can prevent your opponent from using projectiles against you, bolstering your "untouchable" appearance, increasing the feeling of failure in your opponent. Use them.
Arrogance: Letting them Win (Or so they think...)
We've all met that player, the one that think he is the King of Smash and is practically untouchable. And, we all have probably met one that is arrogant AND refuses to realize he is NOT the King, regardless of how many times he has lost. Even yet, we've probably all played one that is arrogant AND better than us. The key to playing these players is not to cure them of there arrogance, but to use it against them as a tool of victory.
I bring this emotion into play, because arrogant players are common AND they happen to be immune to fear and failure. That's what being arrogant is all about. Because I like to wage psychological warfare against my foes, I had to learn how to use this against them. And it proved to be simple enough. Arrogant players love to win, be int he process of winning, and thinking of winning. So what do you do to take this to your advantage? Let them win (or let them think they are...)
Primary Arrogance Inducers:
Whiffed Jabs and Tilts
Dancing Blade
This is the truly conniving part of psychological warfare, faking. Making yourself LOOK vulnerable when you really aren't is a hard thing to do. Marth happens to be blessed with techniques RICH in IASA frames and variable timings. Jabs and tilts both can be released at varying rates. Because of this, you can condition an opponent to believe you don't know of these IASA frame, baiting him into attack hastily to take advantage of the lag frames. However, in that hasty attack, you can counter with an IASA'd tilt, Smash or Dolphin Slash. This will only work once or twice a match, but the techniques you can land; mainly tippered F-Smashes, are too powerful to ignore. Faking lag is an amazingly powerful mind-game.
Dancing Blade is the best move in the game. Seriously. The move itself is a mind-game. Feigning poor Dancing Blade control is PURE EVIL. Try making it look like you can only pull two off. Your opponent will realize this, and try to take advantage of the lag, where you can surprisingly pull off the last two hits of the combo. Obviously, this only works once, maybe twice. But Dancing Blade can also be timed differently so that aggressive opponent may drop shields and flub dodges in order to attack you. Against arrogant opponents, this is often easy to bait, and surprisingly effective.
Secondary Arrogance Inducers:
Whiffed Forward Airs/Neutral Airs
Retreating Backward Airs
Make no mistake, Marth can fake out in the air too. We all know the speed of N-air and F-air, and most opponents do to. However, arrogant opponents are quite willing to drop shields to hit you if they think they can. Fool them with odd spacing and provoke an attack. Make them THINK you won't attack. I often whiff N-airs, shield or spot dodge when I hit the ground. Opponent read this, think your predictable, when really, my shield is hiding a Dolphin Slash to the face to the potential grabber. Bait with them. ^^
Conclusions
Psychology is a POWERFUL weapon in this game, or any game for that manner. Being able to utilize these techniques in your matches can give you an advantage that is rarely discussed or practiced. I hope that this guide will compel you to explore this interesting and deep aspect of mind-gaming.
Happy Smashing
To start, I'd like to explain the importance of psychology in Smash. Your opponent's mind IS fundamentally, your only challenge. His character, the inputs he puts in, and the movements on screen are all merely an extension of his mind. The game is merely the interface you are challenging him through. Your goal, in every match, is essentially to overcome your opponent's mind. Because his mind is the root of his gameplay, working that to your advantage should be a goal. In this article, I'll explain how you can use Marth's various moves and tactics to warp or "condition" your opponent into disadvantageous positions.
The Pillars of Psychological Gaming
Fear, Failure and Arrogance are the three most important traits you can use against an opponent. Each have very negative effects on gameplay and are usually trained to be removed from players mindsets. However, careful and intelligent use of moves can cause these traits to surface with a powerful effect.
Fear deals with the aspects of intimidation and superiority. If your opponent is afraid, he is more likely to act predictably and with less careful thought. Shaking at the roots of gameplay that are normally unexplored and not understood are what cause fear. This includes doing "flashy" things, or merely causing early kills. Also, having a good "rep" causes fear, but this is an aspect that one merely aquires, but does not truly build in a match.
Failure deal with the aspects of security and confidence. When your opponent is filled with failure, he is less likely to experiment and branch of into new territory, making him predictable. Denying basic techniques and advances cause failure. Not allowing your opponent to hit you, or constantly recovering from devastating blows are good ways to cause this feeling.
Arrogance deals with confidence and superiority. An overconfident opponent will be more predictable because he believes his current strategy is made of pure win. Feigning signs of Fear and Failure in your own actions will cause arrogance. This is an extremely delicate and hard mindgame to pull off, because it requires good acting and sacrifice on your behalf.
Based on these three pillars, one can analyze Marth's moveset and create strategies that don't just attack your opponents character, but his very moral and psychology as well. By doing this, you can cause your opponent to act in a manner that you can counter with greater effectiveness and hopefully give you an edge.
Fear: Panic is a Poor Muse
Striking fear into your opponent is something that is rather easy to do. On a low level, fear can merely manifest into cautious or careful play. On the other extreme, fear can cause outright panic and cause your opponent to do inexplicable things. Thats good for you!
Well induced fear requires denying a basic instinct that your opponent is doing, and making that action taboo, either by countering it completely, or making it completely ineffective. Basic things, like shielding are a good place to start, but even the most basic concept -staying on stage- is the best place to attack.
Primary Fear Inducers:
Shieldbreaker
Forward Smash
These moves are your best tools for inducing fear because of the devastating effect they cause. Shieldbreaker destroys shields. People feel SAFE in shields, but when you deny them that safety, you start messing with the very base of their defensive game. Once you have established the fear of shielding, your opponent's defensive actions become far more predictable and more importantly, punishable.
Forward Smash is devastating because it kills at low %'s when tippered. Even the big boys like DDD and Bowzer can die under 100% due to this move. Many people in the community ALREADY fear this move because of Melee, and continue to do so in this game. Throwing out a F-Smash whenever it can connect will not be effective in this game, however. This move require delicate usage. If you DON'T hit with the tip, a LOT of it fear presence is diminished. Landing this move early, like right after a early grab, will remind your opponent that you can kill early, and thus make him worried about laggy attacks and getting close. That fear will cause him to play with less risk and aggression and make him easier to manage.
Secondary Fear Inducers:
Dancing Blade
Down Tilt
Both of these techniques punish defensive play, poking into your opponents "safe zone". The more you can poke at that safe zone, the more fear will be induced into your opponent. D-tilt weary shields, and Dancing Blade spot dodging opponents to making him almost completely terrified of doing any defensive maneuvering. You'd be surprised how effective this is.
Failure: The Depressing Teacher
Failure is a powerful way to make your opponent frustrated. By denying success, you can convince your opponent that his effort are futile and ineffective, forcing him into newer, less experienced territory that is unfamiliar to him.
Failure is created by throwing up "Brick Walls"; impossible obstacles that have no apparent weaknesses. You, of course, KNOW that there is a weakness, but the trick is making sure your opponent doesn't know that. Marth is easily the best character for doing this, with several moves that will completely deny your opponent the ability to land a hit when played properly.
Primary Failure Inducers:
Counter
Dolphin Slash
Counter is the failure inducing machine. If you can successfully Counter every offense that your opponent throws at you, not only are you a god, but probably should be playing in the MLG.
On a serious note though, consistently Countering a specific strategy is extremely potent. Often, players have one or two "pillars" or play, that become predictable. When you recognize these pillars, Counter can shut them down consistently. By denying these tried and true methods of your opponents play, you can make them feel like their strategy is ineffective, filling them with doubt. That doubt often translates into sloppy play, which you can punish and gain advantages from. Dolphin Slash is amazingly awesome in its ability to deny and frustrate an opponent. With invincibility's frames, killer knockback and crazy fast activation, you can essentially break almost any combo. You can also punish any predicted action. This is a huge boon to you as a player. If you can predict the action, this move can punish it. Essentially, with smart play and this move, you CAN be untouchable. Against aggressive foes, you can merely stand on one spot and consistently halt advances, filling your opponent with frustration, doubt and failure, compounding his sloppy play and intensifying mistakes.
Secondary Failure Inducers:
Forward Air
Forward Tilt
These moves can deny your opponent approaches and can create walls of priority that your opponent will have an interesting time trying to surpass. Also, these moves allow you can prevent your opponent from using projectiles against you, bolstering your "untouchable" appearance, increasing the feeling of failure in your opponent. Use them.
Arrogance: Letting them Win (Or so they think...)
We've all met that player, the one that think he is the King of Smash and is practically untouchable. And, we all have probably met one that is arrogant AND refuses to realize he is NOT the King, regardless of how many times he has lost. Even yet, we've probably all played one that is arrogant AND better than us. The key to playing these players is not to cure them of there arrogance, but to use it against them as a tool of victory.
I bring this emotion into play, because arrogant players are common AND they happen to be immune to fear and failure. That's what being arrogant is all about. Because I like to wage psychological warfare against my foes, I had to learn how to use this against them. And it proved to be simple enough. Arrogant players love to win, be int he process of winning, and thinking of winning. So what do you do to take this to your advantage? Let them win (or let them think they are...)
Primary Arrogance Inducers:
Whiffed Jabs and Tilts
Dancing Blade
This is the truly conniving part of psychological warfare, faking. Making yourself LOOK vulnerable when you really aren't is a hard thing to do. Marth happens to be blessed with techniques RICH in IASA frames and variable timings. Jabs and tilts both can be released at varying rates. Because of this, you can condition an opponent to believe you don't know of these IASA frame, baiting him into attack hastily to take advantage of the lag frames. However, in that hasty attack, you can counter with an IASA'd tilt, Smash or Dolphin Slash. This will only work once or twice a match, but the techniques you can land; mainly tippered F-Smashes, are too powerful to ignore. Faking lag is an amazingly powerful mind-game.
Dancing Blade is the best move in the game. Seriously. The move itself is a mind-game. Feigning poor Dancing Blade control is PURE EVIL. Try making it look like you can only pull two off. Your opponent will realize this, and try to take advantage of the lag, where you can surprisingly pull off the last two hits of the combo. Obviously, this only works once, maybe twice. But Dancing Blade can also be timed differently so that aggressive opponent may drop shields and flub dodges in order to attack you. Against arrogant opponents, this is often easy to bait, and surprisingly effective.
Secondary Arrogance Inducers:
Whiffed Forward Airs/Neutral Airs
Retreating Backward Airs
Make no mistake, Marth can fake out in the air too. We all know the speed of N-air and F-air, and most opponents do to. However, arrogant opponents are quite willing to drop shields to hit you if they think they can. Fool them with odd spacing and provoke an attack. Make them THINK you won't attack. I often whiff N-airs, shield or spot dodge when I hit the ground. Opponent read this, think your predictable, when really, my shield is hiding a Dolphin Slash to the face to the potential grabber. Bait with them. ^^
Conclusions
Psychology is a POWERFUL weapon in this game, or any game for that manner. Being able to utilize these techniques in your matches can give you an advantage that is rarely discussed or practiced. I hope that this guide will compel you to explore this interesting and deep aspect of mind-gaming.
Happy Smashing
