Welcome to the fourth installment of Super Smash Fighter! This week, we’ll be discussing the nature of projectiles in Super Smash Bros. Melee, and how they compare to projectiles in traditional fighters.
Projectiles in Street Fighter
One thing that almost every fighting game has is projectiles. Whether it be a spacing based character, a character who uses projectiles for approaching or okizeme, or just one of many tools that a single character has, projectiles tend to be incorporated into most fighting games in some way. The ways in which projectiles are incorporated tend to be very different from game to game, so let’s start by looking at projectiles in the Street Fighter series.
When someone mentions a projectile in a fighting game, the first thing that comes to mind is usually Street Fighter’s famous “Hadouken”. It’s an attack shared across several characters in every game in the series, and it always has the same purpose. When someone throws a hadouken from a safe distance, the opponent is forced to either block, jump over it or throw their own projectile to trade with it. It forces the opponent to commit to a jump, increase the space between the two players, or answer back with their own projectile.
In this scenario, the projectile is mainly used in the spacing game, which you can read more about in our article on spacing. It’s clear that the character who throws the hadouken has the advantage, as they can safely use a full screen attack without getting punished. If you’ve ever watched a match between two “shotos” (Ryu, Ken, Akuma, etc…), then you’d probably know how important this spacing advantage is. Often times, two shotos will throw hadoukens at each other, with the result either resulting in a trade or an EX hadouken that goes through the opponents.
Projectiles in Marvel Vs. Capcom
Now that we’ve established projectiles in Street Fighter to be mainly used as a spacing tool, what about other fighting games? At the risk of making a bit of an extreme example, let’s take a look at Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 (UMVC3). Projectiles in UMVC3 are often times blamed for the game’s fall in popularity, specifically the projectiles offered by the team “Morridoom” (Morrigan, Dr. Doom, and usually Vergil).
Although the idea the Morridoom is responsible for the fall of UMVC3’s popularity is a bit extreme, it’s clear to see why people don’t enjoy playing against it. The goal of Morridoom is essentially to prevent the other player from playing the game by forcing them to block projectiles. This is done with Morrigan’s “Soul Fist” attack combined with her Astral Vision super that creates a mirrored version of herself on the other side of the screen. The only way an opponent can escape the onslaught of Soul Fists is by jumping above them, but Dr. Doom’s “Hidden Missiles” assist often prevents them from doing so.
In this case, the projectiles are still used as a spacing tool, but they don’t really force your opponent to do much other than block. The chip damage from this forced blocking builds up fast, and Morridoom can take out an entire character without actually “hitting” them.
Of course, there’s other examples of projectiles in UMVC3 that share a different function. In fact, if you were to take a look at Dr. Doom’s Hidden Missiles again, they can be used as much more than just a spacing tool. If a team has a rushdown character, such as Wolverine, a good strategy is to use Hidden Missiles to force the opponent to block to ensure a safe approach. “Beam assists” (Dr. Doom’s “Plasma Beam”, Magneto’s “Magnetic Disruptor”, etc…) can be used in the same way, or as another spacing tool.
Projectiles in Guilty Gear
Finally, let’s take a look at projectiles in one more game: Guilty Gear Xrd: Revelator. In Guilty Gear, projectiles are used for a plethora of reasons, most of which we’ve already talked about. But there is one more use I’d like to bring talk about: Okizeme. As we talked about in our article on offense, okizeme is the “wake-up game”, and involves setting up to continue pressure on a downed opponent. One of the things Guilty Gear is known for is the importance of okizeme, as it’s incorporated into many characters’ playstyle.
One of the most prominent examples of okizeme with a projectile in Guilty Gear is Raven’s “Scharf Kugel”. This move creates a large, slow moving, short distance projectile that has three hits until it disappears. Raven players often use this on a downed opponent in order to lock them into blocking, giving Raven the perfect opportunity to go for high low mixups.
Although Raven’s Scharf Kugel is made for okizeme, there are other projectiles in Guilty Gear that can act as spacing, approach, and okizeme tools. For example, May’s “Applause for the Victim” lets her summon a dolphin to jump through a hoop. This dolphin has different angles it will jump based on where May places the hoop, but what makes this move interesting is that the dolphin won’t jump until the May player lets go of the button used to summon it. This lets the moved be used as a spacing tool by using it as a normal projectile, an approach tool by using it as a delayed projectile while May approaches, and an okizeme tool by delaying the dolphin while an opponent is downed, only to let it jump when they get back up.
Projectiles in Melee
We’ve seen how projectiles work in both Street Fighter and UMVC3, but what about Smash? Between the freedom of movement and the fairly unique nature of projectiles, Projectiles in Melee tend to act similarly to all the different types of projectiles we’ve discussed, depending on the projectile. For the sake of time, let’s take a look at Fox, Falco, Sheik, and Samus’ projectiles.
Starting with Fox, let’s take a look at his lasers and what they’re used for. Since lasers don’t have any hitstun or knocback, they’re best used as a spacing tool in neutral, as using them up close will usually result in you getting punished. They assert your presence on stage and force your opponent to approach you, if not avoid lasers by utilizing platforms or by simply jumping. This is most similar to Street Fighter’s Hadouken. Both are spacing tools that force your opponent into doing something you want them to do, which is to either dodge, block, or approach.
Now let’s take a look at Falco’s lasers. Unlike Fox’s lasers, Falco’s have hitstun, which turns them into a completely different and versatile tool. From a distance, they’re used as a spacing tool. Falco can use them to camp, but since Falco can’t perform a short-hop double laser, his lasers aren’t as effective as Fox’s when it comes to this. Falco’s lasers are best when he’s using them to approach. Similarly to projectiles in UMVC3, Falco’s lasers are used to force your opponent to shield, allowing you to approach safely. If they don’t shield, then the Falco can get a free combo off. To new players, this can even be similar to Morridoom, as they don’t know what to do besides shield, and they’re incredibly restricted in the neutral game because of it.
Moving on, we’ll take a quick look at Sheik’s needles. Although Sheik’s needles can be used as a great spacing tool, their long recovery and startup, on top of the fact that Sheik must charge them in order for them to do meaningful damage, make them fairly unsafe in most matchups. Needles can also be used as an approach tool, as aerial needles can lead into a grab, or even an aerial when platforms are involved. Needles are also fantastic at edge guarding, as the aerial version hits at a 45 degree angle, and can often stuff out low recoveries, or hit mid-height recoveries to allow for a follow up with an aerial. Overall, the diversity of Sheik’s needles makes them fairly similar to projectiles in Guilty Gear. They can be used in several situations, but they don’t dominate any of those scenarios. They’re simply a good tool for many options, but they’re not a great tool in these options. There’s not really any good examples on okizeme in Melee, but if you included jab resets as okizeme, then Sheik’s needles can also fill that role.
Finally, let’s take a look at Samus’ missiles and charge shot. Most commonly, you see Samus use her missiles as a spacing tool. With both super missiles and homing missiles, Samus can use her missiles to force the opponent to approach her while trying to avoid her wall of projectiles. On top of just a spacing tool, Samus can use them to start or end her combos, as well as to make a safe approach.Samus also shines with projectiles when it comes to edge guarding. Both her missiles and her charge shot can lead to a finished stock against a recovering character, especially when used in conjunction. Between all of the different types of projectiles from different games we’ve explored, it seems as though Samus’ projectiles falls into most of these categories. They’re a strong tool in many situations, but they’re not extreme. They can be used as a spacing tool like a Hadouken, they can be used as an approach tool like a beam assist, and they can be used to continue pressure off stage, almost like how projectiles in Guilty Gear can be used to continue pressure on a downed opponent. Samus’ charge shot can even be used to tech chase as okizeme.
Conclusion
In most fighting games, projectiles are an important part of the gameplay. Whether it be in neutral, to apply pressure, or just to prevent your opponent from even playing the game, projectiles can be the deciding factor in a match if the player utilizes them properly.
The same goes for Smash. Projectiles can be used to turn the neutral around, to apply pressure, edge guard, or even to tech chase. They’re an important part of any fighting game, and every player should know how to use them and how they can affect the match.
Of course, there’s other games we didn’t talk about in this article, and there’s even fighting games that are made to focus around projectiles. Exploring all of these games would be impossible, but each one offers a new look on this topic, and with the inclusion of other Smash games, this article could have been an entire novel. So for now, that’s all!
See you all next week!
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