Sonic makes me feel like being sheik. But sheik has way more combos.
And much less versatility.
Besides... combos in Brawl? hehe...
anyway, let me see if I can do a rewrite on the Sonic/Marth MU. Chis please C&P this over GS's old/outdated version of his WU at your earliest convenience (as in do it or I'll keep bringing it up until you go insane or you do it, whichever comes first.)
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Martha.
Introduction: Marth's history as a character is quite impressive. If you do research/have heard of any tales of the legendary warrior, you'll know that he has succeeded in the most grim of situations, with almost nothing from start to leading the biggest army his land has ever seen. As a fighter in Brawl, his skills are not to be trifled with.
Behavior: Marth attacks with precision and agility, his power comes from his sword, the Falchion. With eloquence and grace, fighting him is like being brought down to your simplest form down to the atom if we're making scientific comparisons. While his sword grants him speed, power comes at a cost - He will have to hit you with the tip of his blade to get you flying off the screen.
Commonly Used Moves: With Marth, there is no part of his moveset he will not use, with the slight exception of Counter, Dair, & Shield-Breaker for reasons I'll state specifically later on.
Let's start with his standard A ground moveset:
Jab - Nothing really special, makes for a simple GTFO move.
FTilt - Much like FSmash but without the power and lag.
DTilt - Bends down and pokes you at foot. Can shieldstab. Fairly quick and safe on his part.
UTilt - Won't be seeing much use unless you're silly to use things like HA or happen to be on a platform. I suppose it's powerful but not enough to outright kill you unless maybe it's tippered and some other junk, like you being at a high percent and/or on a stage with a low ceiling blastzone... meh. Can hit on his sides if you're close enough. makes for a nice well-timed anti-aerial move.
FSmash - His strongest killer... Also his riskiest. You'd think for sure a balanced fighter he wouldn't commit to such kind of an attack, but I guess with it's tipper power, it might be somewhat justified. Will kill you if tippered/close to the blastline, comes with a lot of ending lag for you to punish with. Can set up you for an edgeguard if it doesn't outright kill you, in which case his aerial combat will unless you somehow slip past by that.
DSmash - The tipper sends you flying
UP. Used as an OoS option if for whatever reason Dolphin Slash doesn't work... I don't know, this is just what some other people say, I personally never see this move in action unless it was a mistake or punishing predictable rolls.
USmash - UTilt but with more power, a hitbox on the side that can shove you into his sweetspot/tipper which can be painful, some considerable lag, and compared to the range on UTilt... I forgot, sorry. :X
Fair - His BnB (Bread N' Butter) move, fast, powerful if fresh/tippered, and covers his front body pretty nicely.
Bair - A downgraded version of Fair. Will also turn him the opposite way, just something to note.
Nair - Covers more horizontal range than Fair and with less lag at the cost of less vertical range... as for kill power, it's slightly less I'd assume, and I'm pretty sure that's accurate. Used sporadically.
Uair - Only sees use if you're above him, and unless he is way up in the air will not see use as there are better options to punish landing.
Dair - You
SHOULD not be seeing this against you if you play Sonic, due to its ending lag and being easily punished if whiffed. It has spiking properties but you should never be killed on the south blastline, ti will mostly be your left/right flanks to which you'll be losing stocks too.
Specials:
Side-B (Dancing Blade(s?) - This move is used quite a lot since it lasts for some time, lag varying depending on the input(s), racks up damage, and refreshes his other moves very quickly.
Up to a maximum of 4 inputs may be initiated, but Marth can change it up by using anywhere between 1-4 inputs to throw you off. There are different strikes Marth can do with DB, they are the Red, Blue, and Green strikes. Blue is used to get you up in the air and kill you off the top, Red is suppose to send you sideways and away from him, and Green is suppose to keep you trapped in the blade storm and after the ordeal is done send you away, but at a least distance than the Red strikes.
You won't have to worry about being killed by any of the DB inputs because they decay very quickly with the more inputs initiated, however Marth will also have refreshed his moveset at the cost of his DB, meaning moves that didn't kill you before will now be even more of a threat since you have some damage racked up on you. Shield the barrage if you can see it coming and punish Marth after he is finished with whatever inputs he has done.... be quick about it though, if he decides to end the barrage early and either continue from the beginning or do another attack to throw you off all-together, it will be worse than having taken the first barrage.
Marth can use the first Dancing Blade input after a jump to gain a slight boost in recovery... he may also use it to stall his fall, so don't think he won't make it back if he has his 2nd jump/is close to the ledge with you trying to fend him off.
Up-B (Dolphin Slash) - Marth's main recovery move. Quick and powerful with the right hit. It activates of the first frame and Marth will remain invincible throughout frames 1-5, so it can be used to punish any laggy attack you might've tried to hit his shield with. It has the most knockback from the bottom and loses it's power at the apex of the jump. If you happen to shield the attack onstage Marth is left wide open for counterattack as he can't do anything until he gets back on the ground. If he tries to sweetspot for the ledge you better hope you timed your ledge invincibility frames correctly so he plummets to his fall and you don't end up being on the receiving end of his newly-found edgeguarding abilities. If he aimed for the stage expect an easy get-up attack punish.
Neutral-B (Shield-Breaker) - As the name suggest, does major damage to your shield. Unless you have a full shield your shield will crack and you will be left wide open for an attack. This move is quick enough to act as a mix-up from things like Dancing Blade, but to know about the attack itself, it has many hitboxes, the most powerful being the very tip/point of the Falchion as the attack is performed... that would be about a G&W distance away from his body. If you intend on punishing this OoS make sure you do it fast and with a full shield, the lag on the attack is surprisingly quick (but not fast enough to allow him to spam it every other ground attack), otherwise make use of your speed if he happens to use this hoping you'd be impatient enough fall into his sword as he releases... Don't be that guy to fall for it. Another little tidbit about this attack is that it helps his recovery, but by the time he could be charging up a fully charged Shield-Breaker offstage he could've naturally drifted back onto the stage, and if he decides to end it short he will have only reduced his chances of making it back onto the stage. Won't really be used offstage is what I'm trying to tell you.
Down-B (Counter) - If you come onto Marth recklessly he can try and read your attack pattern and reflect your attack back onto you. If however he messes up you're free to attack him with whatever, as the counter stance (he gets a purple tint) doesn't last for long and the lag is very punishable. Look before you leap.
How To Win: Marth's above average attack speed combined with his range and mobility allow for him to be safe on most attack excluding the smash attacks and leaving Sonic with only his superior movement Speed. Marth also happens to have some decent kill-power on his tippered attacks. How do you get around this you ask? Learn the habits of your opponent, trick him into doing attacks and punish him from there, and learn how much of a frame advantage you are given when you see him use an attack that didn't connect on you.
His Fair for example if it hits your shield on the landing leaves him open for a dash attack, however if he's just attacking air and you tried to punish him on the landing without him hitting your shield you'll be vehemently sent away. Apply to the same to Bair but everything on your part easier. Nair can be intercepted from the bottom, or the less likely vulnerable above him position, otherwise this move covers a lot of horizontal range... to much for you to try and safely attack from that point. Don't try to challenge his Uair if you're in the air, focus on getting a safe landing and not being set-up for a FSmash after being so focused on avoiding that Uair. Get him above you in the air as much as you can, he can't reliably fend you off from under him.
His Smash attacks are all laggy and even moreso if they fail to hit you, go for the throat then. Also feel assured that unless he tippers you that you won't be dying to any of his attacks until way past due %age.
If you're on a platform above him, try not to be directly above him as to avoid UTilt/USmash, and instead get him up there on that platform. For DTilt if untippered feel free to hit him with a tilt if your own. If otherwise then see if you can run up to him and shield an untippered DTilt to apply the above situation... if only he's deliberately spamming DTilt though, don't end up getting read and run up to him only to get grabbed out of your shield. Jabs can be dealt with with most any quick attack.
If you happen to have him recovering, go after him, the worst that is to happen is that you fail to cut him short of the ledge and you have only a minor % increase to your total. Leaving a Spring projectile has a high success rate much like dropping a Spring in the path of Ike's Aether, but not t
THAT high of a success rate, still I hope you get the picture. Spring projectiles are for those unwilling to go out but still want to leave some kind of obstacle in the way of his recovery, this is the best thing to do since Marth cannot quickly punish you by the time you get back on the ground from your Spring Jump.
Don't get careless/reckless/predictable with the kill, let it come to you, or you'll regret it.
Specials explained in the above section, however for DB if you're in the middle of the barrage SDI towards Marth's back, if you're quick/good enough you might be able to get behind him and punish his barrage while he is unable to end it short.
Recommended Stages: If there is any stage(s) to avoid, it would be those with Water, like Delfino Plaza/Pirate Ship if it happens to be legal in your area, save yourself the hassle of being a sitting duck for easy Dair-spiking. Other stages like Frigate Orpheon, Lylat Cruise, and Jungle Japes leave you vulnerable to getting attacked on the way back from recovery, but with those stages they work as a double-edged sword and can work towards your favor, otherwise it's mostly personal preference and you have the Green light. For wherever you decide you want to go to.
Matchup Summary: Depending on who you ask, Marth clocks at either at 6:4 or 65:35 his favor... many will tell you as of August 6th, 2009 however that it's only sever enough to a 6:4 disadvantage. Punish his every attack, intercept his lacking recovery (compared to say the likes of MK/R.O.B./Pit/Etc.), and make him panic and feel like he is helpless ,and you should be able to claim victory. Make him approach you if possible, you'll be in the favorable position then.
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