Should I learn a Space Animal?

[Sixdegrees]

So I'm extremely new to Smash and the only character I was ever interested in Marth. However my buddy suggests that Marth is a crutch and that I should learn a character that requires more technical skill first ala Fox/Falco/C.Falcon.

Just looking for a second opinion on how much truth there is to what he says.

 

[Landry]

You should learn multiple characters if you can, even if you choose to only main Marth. Getting better certain aspects of your game with specific characters will make you a better player across the board (with any character).

 

[Stride]

What does he mean by "crutch" exactly?

Marth is interesting in that he can basically be played well without a great deal of technical skill (he's easy to pick up), but requires extreme precision and spacing ability to do well at a high level (similarly to Jigglypuff; it could be thought of as a different type of techskill). He does still have lots of necessary and unique tech to learn (as does every character); check the Marth boards. Also watch this video for demonstrations and tutorials on Marth tech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IACW5mltqY

Marth is also often recommended as a character for beginners to learn the game with; he will teach you fundamentals exceptionally well, even for a top-tier, nor will he harm your ability to learn any other characters at all. Learning spacies will improve your finger-speed though; you will be forced to learn to execute faster, though not necessarily play any faster. In a similar vein, it could be argued that playing Marth will force you to space better.

I would recommend you just do whatever feels right, since the value of how learning other characters helps your game overall relative to the time that could have been spent on your main is debatable. Personally, I'd experiment a lot, especially if you're new, until you feel right about settling; you seem to have already done that with Marth, which is fine. Anyway, you're not locked into the character forever; lots of high level players have changed mains, with examples from both before and after they were good enough to be noteworthy. On that note, Mango started off maining Jigglypuff (the least technical character in the game), and now he successfully plays a highly technical Fox and Falco (amongst the most technical charcters in the game).

I would also recommend watching lots of videos of your potential characters being played as technically as you can find. For example, the combo videos that come to mind for Fox and Marth are:
"Perfect Dark" (Dark)
"Version 2.0: A Mew2King Combo Video - Marth Edition" (Mew2King)
They are what you should aspire to in terms of tech. Also I should mention that Perfect Dark is the only combo video I've ever seen that starts with a techskill demonstration.

 

[Elyssa Xey Hexen]

So I'm extremely new to Smash and the only character I was ever interested in Marth. However my buddy suggests that Marth is a crutch and that I should learn a character that requires more technical skill first ala Fox/Falco/C.Falcon.

Just looking for a second opinion on how much truth there is to what he says.

Eh... I do not really agree with any of this. I think you should just pick up the character right away and stick with them. You will probably just turn into another Fox/Falco/C.Falcon otherwise lol

The only use I thought of playing other characters was to get a better understanding of what it is like from there vantage point. I never really understood what options were available to them early on until I started playing the character slightly. However, even this is not necessary. Once you understand your character and a little bit about the opposing one you can generally improvise well in unfamiliar situations.

In my opinion, just stick with Marth.

 

[Foot - Rabidjokester]

What does he mean by "crutch" exactly?

Marth is interesting in that he can basically be played well without a great deal of technical skill (he's easy to pick up), but requires extreme precision and spacing ability to do well at a high level (similarly to Jigglypuff; it could be thought of as a different type of techskill). He does still have lots of necessary and unique tech to learn (as does every character); check the Marth boards. Also watch this video for demonstrations and tutorials on Marth tech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IACW5mltqY

Marth is also often recommended as a character for beginners to learn the game with; he will teach you fundamentals exceptionally well, even for a top-tier, nor will he harm your ability to learn any other characters at all. Learning spacies will improve your finger-speed though; you will be forced to learn to execute faster, though not necessarily play any faster. In a similar vein, it could be argued that playing Marth will force you to space better.

I would recommend you just do whatever feels right, since the value of how learning other characters helps your game overall relative to the time that could have been spent on your main is debatable. Personally, I'd experiment a lot, especially if you're new, until you feel right about settling; you seem to have already done that with Marth, which is fine. Anyway, you're not locked into the character forever; lots of high level players have changed mains, with examples from both before and after they were good enough to be noteworthy. On that note, Mango started off maining Jigglypuff (the least technical character in the game), and now he successfully plays a highly technical Fox and Falco (amongst the most technical charcters in the game).

I would also recommend watching lots of videos of your potential characters being played as technically as you can find. For example, the combo videos that come to mind for Fox and Marth are:
"Perfect Dark" (Dark)
"Version 2.0: A Mew2King Combo Video - Marth Edition" (Mew2King)
They are what you should aspire to in terms of tech. Also I should mention that Perfect Dark is the only combo video I've ever seen that starts with a techskill demonstration.

I agree with some of what you say, but there is a lot of which I don't agree with. You pretty much describe why Marth is a "crutch" in your statement. He needs to learn a variety of characters to learn how to play in different situations. If you have ever played against a very new player that plays just Marth, and has no tournament experience, you will notice that even with months of play they don't learn how to play against certain situations, because they are always use to the safety of using Marth's spacing (Which is great to learn but can be learned on other characters as well.) , which you will not always get the chance to play your spacing on a tournament level. Learning other characters will teach you their mechanics and how to play against them.

Last note: Don't just learn spacies, all characters bring something to the table. Ex: Doc/Mario can teach you a lot about combo'ing. Taste everything until you start taking games of decent people, then focus on one character IMO.

You should learn multiple characters if you can, even if you choose to only main Marth. Getting better certain aspects of your game with specific characters will make you a better player across the board (with any character).

^This