7. Dash-dancing
What it is: Constantly turning around in the start-up animation of your dash,
allowing you to quickly jet in either direction at any time you choose.
How to do it: Quickly tap the control stick back and forth; you should see Fox
as if he is split between running in two separate directions, his head
appearing in one direction and then disappearing quickly only to reappear
facing the other.
Uses: Dash-dancing functions in mind games for the most part but can also add
fluidity and a certain sense of preparedness to your game. Since dash-dancing
allows you to jet off in any direction at any time, you can frequently use it
to fake out the opponent or prepare yourself for the direction of your foe's
directional influence if you knock them to a certain height.
Nothing in the world is funnier than the look on someone's face when they first
see you dash-dancing. To them, it will appear as though you are just randomly
hitting towards and away on the control stick and creating a screwed-up
animation. Little do they know that you have something else up your sleeve. You
can slightly vary the lengths of your individual dash-dance animations and
allow yourself to essentially dash-dance across the level. The value of this
technique is that you are slowly advancing on the opponent, pushing them back,
while simultaneously opening up the dual options of fight or flight. The fight
component comes in when you can make them blink and think that you are going to
charge at them. More often than not, they will unleash some random attack,
trying to catch you off guard. If your eye can catch the start-up frames of
their attack, you can immediately judge the type and length of the attack and
whether it has any lag time for you to take advantage of. If it does, plow in
with a shuffled neutral-aerial and string together an improvised combo, one
that hopefully includes plenty of juggling via fast-fallen up-aerials and per-
haps some air time courtesy of the up-tilt. If the attack is a decently fast
one (meaning there is not much lag time for you to leech off of) you can im-
mediately dash-dance away and continue your charade until they either come
after you, in which case your quick speed should prevail more often than not,
or they flinch again, hopefully with a higher-lag move. If you sense your
opponent losing his concentration, see if you can perform a Fox Illusion
toward him for a little innovation that could lead to a back- or up-aerial.
You can also combine dash-dancing with the wavedash and triangle jumping in yet
more of the vulpine's mind games. These tricks take into account three things,
all of which depend on the type of attack being used and who is using it. These
criteria are priority of the enemy attack, its speed, and, of course, its lag
time. As mentioned before, dash-dancing can psych the opponent out into
thinking you are going to do something that you really will not do. Instead,
you will do something seemingly random that will throw them for a loop if it
succeeds. The trick is yet again to get your foe to blink, this time using a
combination of sudden reverse wavedashing and dash-dancing. Use the
dash-dancing to get your foe on his toes, and when you see an opening, charge
forward. Your enemy should be ready with a retaliatory attack; otherwise, they
have fallen entirely for your ruse, and you can dash-grab them or whatever
else you deem necessary. If they let loose with an attack, wavedash backwards
(make sure you still end up in decent range of them, however), and soar in with
a powerful jump-canceled up-smash (at medium to high percentages) or the
ubiquitous shuffled neutral-aerial. If you want to control your range from them
on a finer level, try delaying your diagonal dodge into the ground for the
wavedash; the result is a triangle jump, a spin-off of the wavedash that will
move you in smaller, more controllable increments while still allowing you your
attacks. You can also make use of differing angles of the control stick to
adjust the length of your wavedash as you see fit.
The fluidity of motion that dash-dancing grants you comes in handy for quick
repositioning (to dodge attacks and then quickly weave back in to make the best
use of any possible lag) as well as fast spacing (for when you would like that
shuffled neutral- or down-aerial approach to have the most range as possible,
or you would like to readjust so as to land behind your opponent and pressure
him or her with up-tilts or shines against the shield, for example). Dash-
dancing while an opponent is lying on the floor or while he or she is flying
low-altitude through the air can give you the reaction time you need to respond
to their choice of wake-up or tech, allowing you to follow it and punish accor-
dingly with a jump-canceled up-smash or a jump-canceled grab to whatever fits
the situation, whether it be chain throws, an up-smash, or up-aerial juggling
(preceded as appropriate by up-tilts, of course).
