You have come very far, grasshoppa, but you are not a master of Smash-Fu yet, for you have yet to learn these powerful Secret Techniques!
Your Master, Manual of Instructions, has taught you well, but there are some moves that even he does not know of. And that is why you are here today… to learn of these techniques and complete your knowledge of Smash Mastery.
- Ukemi – Sort of a ground-rebound; pressing the shield button just before your face hits the pavement (wall, ceiling, or floor) will bound off the surface with a hop, and “cancel any excess momentum that would have otherwise kept you careening around wildly.”
Sakurai adds “Since midair move-based recoveries have become more fluid, I believe some will find this technique to be slightly less important than it was in the previous game.”
- Perfect Shield – After drawing in your opponent, shielding just before they strike will result in a Perfect Shield, which has almost no delay, leaving you in the perfect position for a counterattack.
- Stale-Move Negation – Overuse of a move will begin to decrease its effectiveness. “And so it should. Let’s face it, it takes more skill to use a character’s full move set than to rely on the same attack over and over.”
With damage decreasing if you “spam” a move too much, it is recommended that you mix up your attacks if you feel that they aren’t launching your opponents as far as they should.
- Glancing Blows – Less a technique, and more a simple bit of info: If you just barely graze the opponent, you’ll hear a “chik” sound, and your enemy will not likely even flinch.
- Swim – In Melee, landing in water meant instant defeat, but in Brawl, characters are able to swim briefly; the more damage you’ve taken, the less time you can remain afloat. (Which is interesting, since Smash physics usually dictate that the more damage you take, the lighter you become.)
- Small Jump – Like many platform games, it’s possible to perform a small hop rather than a full-blown leap by lightly tapping the Jump button, and so now it is here, too. It is with this technique that you can more easily dodge attacks and get in closer without seperating yourself from the fray, also setting you up to perform some down-Smash attacks.
- Pivot Grab – When dashing, press the opposite direction from that which you are headed along with the Grab button, and you will gain a longer, more sweeping reach.
- Eating While Reclining – Sometimes it is good to simply relax and enjoy the finer things in life, and so it is here, as a devastating hit can leave you sprawled out on the ground. But in spite of what has just happened, you find a tasty treat nearby. Why bother getting up? Eat from a reclining position and enjoy the moment. You can return to fighting when you are ready.
- Breaking Reflectors – Some characters are bestowed special techniques– Mario’s cape and Fox’s Reflector, to name but two– which are able to take an opponent’s attack and send it back at them. Only now, a returned attack will see its power increased. What’s more, if someone else sends back a returned shot, it gains more power, and so it goes, until the shot gains so much power that the projectile breaks through the reflecting device with devastating results.
And so it is that these new Smash-Fu techniques may change the landscape of Smash Brawling forever. Now go, my student, and use these techniques you have learned here today to earn yourself a trophy.
