They say a move is only as good as the player behind it. Wait a minute. I don’t think anyone says that. But it brings up a good point. Even a good move can turn into a weakness if it’s overused. If Marths only used their forward smashes to attack the world would be a much safer place. But when it comes to discussing how a move is used the issue becomes instantly more complicated. Everyone has their on play styles and preferences. Some people can use moves that other people won’t even touch. So for the purposes of discussion, I’ll attempt to measure the power of a move by five factors that are independent of how the move can be used.
The five points are… Speed. Strength. Priority. Range. and Duration.
<!--more--><strong>Speed </strong>refers to how quickly a move activates and reaches it’s maximum range. For projectiles, speed refers to how quickly the projectile travels.
<strong>Strength </strong>refers to how much displacement or knock back a move has an a target at a given percentage. It also refers to how many points of damage the attack inflicts.
<strong>Priority </strong>refers to whether a move wins, loses, or ties when colliding against another move. This isn’t as easy to determine as it seems. Some moves have variable priority at different moments throughout the attack. However, this stat is the average of the moves priority.
<strong>Range </strong>refers to the distance of a move’s hit box from the character’s nearest inactive hit box. If you stick your leg out with a forward tilt, the range is the distance from the toes to the part of your character’s body that is vulnerable to attack. This may also be variable.
<strong>Duration </strong>refers to how long the hit box stays active after activation. Also, any lag at the beginning or end of the move detracts from this factor. Neutral airs have much more duration than neutral punches on the ground.
Every point is measured on a five point scale. For now, we shouldn’t worry about being technically specific about the numbers. The goal is to start thinking about moves in a more complete way.
Here’s a small list I threw together of what very well may be the games <strong>5 worst moves.</strong> Worst meaning they’re too powerful. Though every entry in my list can clearly be argued, I hope they’ll be argued using the same scale and system.
1) Peach’s Down Smash 4-5-5-4-4
<a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/power-chart-2.jpg" title="power-chart-2.jpg"><img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/power-chart-2.jpg" alt="power-chart-2.jpg" /></a>
2) Fox/Falco shine 5-2-2-1-5
3) All of the iceclimbers double attacks ?4-?5-?5-?3-?5
4) Fox/Falco Lasers 4-1-5-5-5
5) Falco’s Down air 4-5-4-3-5
The five points are… Speed. Strength. Priority. Range. and Duration.
<!--more--><strong>Speed </strong>refers to how quickly a move activates and reaches it’s maximum range. For projectiles, speed refers to how quickly the projectile travels.
<strong>Strength </strong>refers to how much displacement or knock back a move has an a target at a given percentage. It also refers to how many points of damage the attack inflicts.
<strong>Priority </strong>refers to whether a move wins, loses, or ties when colliding against another move. This isn’t as easy to determine as it seems. Some moves have variable priority at different moments throughout the attack. However, this stat is the average of the moves priority.
<strong>Range </strong>refers to the distance of a move’s hit box from the character’s nearest inactive hit box. If you stick your leg out with a forward tilt, the range is the distance from the toes to the part of your character’s body that is vulnerable to attack. This may also be variable.
<strong>Duration </strong>refers to how long the hit box stays active after activation. Also, any lag at the beginning or end of the move detracts from this factor. Neutral airs have much more duration than neutral punches on the ground.
Every point is measured on a five point scale. For now, we shouldn’t worry about being technically specific about the numbers. The goal is to start thinking about moves in a more complete way.
Here’s a small list I threw together of what very well may be the games <strong>5 worst moves.</strong> Worst meaning they’re too powerful. Though every entry in my list can clearly be argued, I hope they’ll be argued using the same scale and system.
1) Peach’s Down Smash 4-5-5-4-4
<a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/power-chart-2.jpg" title="power-chart-2.jpg"><img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/power-chart-2.jpg" alt="power-chart-2.jpg" /></a>
2) Fox/Falco shine 5-2-2-1-5
3) All of the iceclimbers double attacks ?4-?5-?5-?3-?5
4) Fox/Falco Lasers 4-1-5-5-5
5) Falco’s Down air 4-5-4-3-5