Marth (SSBB)

Marth in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Universe	Fire Emblem
Other playable appearances	in Melee in SSB4 in Ultimate
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Critical Hit
Tier	A- (5)

Marth (マルス, Marth) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He was confirmed to be a playable character on the Smash Bros. DOJO on February 5, 2008. Despite being a "hidden" character, Marth appears in the game's opening video, standing back to back with Meta Knight and running with Meta Knight and Ike.

Marth is the only Brawl character that only speaks Japanese in all of its regional versions. Hikaru Midorikawa voices him in all regions, with the voice clips being re-purposed from the recording sessions for Melee, combining recycled voice lines with previously unused ones.

Marth ranks 5th out of 38 on the Brawl tier list, in the A- tier. This is a slight drop from his position in Melee where he was ranked 2nd out of 26. Marth's solid mobility, frame data, and far-reaching sword attacks are impressive on their own, and make for a variety of additional selling points, such as granting him strong edgeguarding and spacing tools, a slew of low-risk kill moves, and a dominant aerial presence over most fighters, while making Marth one of the biggest obstacles for short-ranged fighters. Marth is also notable for being one of the few fighters who can challenge Meta Knight in the air.

However, Marth has his flaws. His recovery move, Dolphin Slash, provides decent vertical and horizontal distance, but is predictable and rather easily edgehogged. Even Marth's strongest attacks have difficulty KOing if he fails to land their sweetspots. In addition, his options when directly above the opponent are fairly poor because none of his moves reach very far below him. He is also often forced to approach due to his lack of a projectile.

Regardless, Marth has among the strongest matchup spreads, usage rates, and results in the game, with Mikeneko, Mike Haze, and many others proving him to be a formidable fighter even at the highest level of play.

How to unlock

Players can unlock Marth by doing one of the methods listed below. With the exception of the third method, Marth must then be defeated on Castle Siege.

• Play 10 VS. matches to completion. If Marth is skipped for fighters with higher VS. match quotas, he will not be accessible until those other fighters are unlocked.
• Complete Classic Mode. If the player fails to defeat Marth, they can re-fight him by completing Classic Mode again. If this method is used and Sonic's Classic Mode condition is met, then he must be unlocked before Marth can be fought.
• Have Marth join the player's party in The Subspace Emissary by clearing The Battlefield Fortress.

Attributes

Marth in Brawl is essentially a reprise from Melee. He retains his status as a quick-footed, far ranged lightweight; tall (for his weight class), with stronger aerial attacks. With a great aerial moveset and air defense, Marth is almost unparalleled in the air. Marth also retains certain qualities, such as increased power and hitlag at the tip of his blade, which defines a great part of his playstyle. This tipper mechanic is the basis for Marth's very potent down aerial meteor smash and for his down tilt edgeguard. His attacks, when not tippered, are relatively weak, and hitting with the sweetspot can be difficult (although some attacks are rather easy to sweetspot like his up aerial and down tilt). Most of Marth's attacks have quick startup and good reach, but his attacks can be easily punished if blocked and not spaced well due to often having noticeable ending lag (though his standard special has incredible Shield damage). Marth himself lacks a projectile, but his impressive mobility allows him to avoid opponents' projectiles. Dolphin Slash, which grants Marth invincibility in its first five frames, allows Marth to escape chain grabs and gives him access to a powerful out of shield option that can KO at higher percentages, though it leaves Marth helpless and vulnerable until he lands, making it a high-risk high reward move. As a recovery, the move travels a decent vertical distance, slightly higher than the distance between the main body of Battlefield and its highest platform. Though it can be aimed to travel farther horizontally, Dolphin Slash only provides average horizontal distance and suffers from the landing lag glitch, though Marth can augment his horizontal recovery by charging Shield Breaker. The latter attack has the most horizontal reach out of Marth's moveset, and true to its name, deals high shield damage. Marth players often follow up a shield break with another fully charged, tippered Shield Breaker for a KO. Dancing Blade does high damage and counts as four attacks in the refresh counter, making it great to refresh his other moves as well as inflict high damage on the opponent, and the last hit tilted upwards can KO at higher percentages. As such, Marth is arguably one of the characters least affected by stale-move negation and it is also a good out-of-shield option as it has almost nonexistent startup lag, though like many of Marth's moves, it is easily punished if shielded. Marth's Counter, the fastest counter in the game, can be used to punish opponent attacks and interrupt combos. Marth has good standing grab reach and a very long reaching pivot grab which is combined with the fact that he can chain grab a number of characters using his forward throw (if only for a couple of throws). He also has a grab release infinite on Lucas and Ness (making him a hard counter against those two characters), a chain grab-release to a down air meteor smash (or a slight step followed by a forward smash) on Squirtle, and grab release to down air, forward air, or Dolphin Slash on Meta Knight (although the latter is still considered a hard matchup for Marth). On the downside, his throws are extremely weak in terms of damage and knockback (usually doing only 4% per throw, with the exception of his down throw, which does 5% and his up throw is the only throw that KOs in Sudden Death), although their weak knockback also means they can link into his other moves fairly reliably for racking damage.

Overall, Marth is a fast character whose attack range gives him very potent offensive and defensive options, especially in the air. Thanks to the safety of his moves and their ability to aggressively pressure opponents, he is one of the best offensive characters in the game. His strengths are tempered by his lack of a projectile and his light weight relative to his height, though he is heavy enough to make him vulnerable to King Dedede's down throw chaingrab. Marth also has difficulty KOing the heavier characters, especially those with good momentum canceling, due to his tipped attacks having high base knockback but low knockback scaling, which forces him to rely on edgeguarding to KO. While he has great options below 100% (best regular ledge climb in the game and a ledge jump which gives him up to +10 invincibility, allowing him to ledge jump into invincible any aerial), those options are replaced with laggy ledge get-ups above 100% (with ledge jump no longer providing invincible aerials) which can be abused by several characters, especially when he has RCO lag. On the upper side, Marth himself has excellent options both juggling and racking damage on opponents who are trying to climb from the ledge thanks to his quick and safe zoning tools.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Melee

While he was considered a top-tier in Melee, Marth has received a mix of buffs and nerfs in transition to Brawl, but was objectively nerfed overall.

Marth's incredible ground movement is less effective than in Melee, due to the weakening of dash dancing and the removal of wavedashing. Additionally, Marth's grab range is also much shorter, making it harder to set up follow-ups out of his throws. While Marth's individual hitboxes on most of his moves are slightly bigger with more absolute range, they are less disjointed overall due to alterations to his attack animations and hitbox placements, making his effective range generally smaller and his tipper hitboxes more difficult to land. Thus, Marth's neutral game as a whole is weaker, due to less safe movement, and Brawl's more defensive-minded metagame, hindering his approach. Additionally, Marth's large combo potential and phenomenal edgeguarding ability were also toned down, as he can no longer create extended, near zero-to-death juggles with the aid of platforms and can also no longer close out stocks consistently when edgeguarding due to the loss of consistency in his down aerial as well as the altered physics and universally improved recoveries in Brawl.

Despite this, his nerfed combo and edgeguarding prowess still remain among the best relative to the cast, and the new mechanics of Brawl with his slower falling speed and faster air speed help alleviate one of his critical flaws in his poor recovery. While Marth's overall attack range is smaller than in Melee, it is still relatively long relative to the cast. Combined with the universal nerf of mobility options, this helps Marth zone out his opponents somewhat better than before. His defensive tools, another one of his main weaknesses in Melee, were also improved, with his spot dodge having less ending lag with a longer duration, and Dolphin Slash gaining more intangibility frames on start-up significantly improving his out-of-shield game, combined with the universally reduced shieldstun. The removal of crouch canceling also removes one of his weaknesses in Melee, where many of his non-tipper moves were crouch-cancelable at low percents. His moves are also relatively stronger when tippered, notably all of his aerials, giving him more KO potential. Dancing Blade was also substantially sped up, and the hits link into each other much more effectively, improving his grounded offensive options without relying on his throws or juggling his opponents.

As such, while Marth has more potential KO options at high percents, he can only secure such KOs by fishing for them in neutral, which requires incredible reads and thus cannot be done consistently at high-level play. Despite this, Marth is still a very favorable character at high level play, and, like Fox and Falco, has fared much better in the transition from Melee to Brawl than other top-tier veterans, such as Captain Falcon and Jigglypuff.

Aesthetics

• Marth's clothing and armor have less intricate designs adorning them, and his hair appears thinner.
• All of Marth's sword attacks now make a high-pitched "whoosh" sound that varies depending on the attack's strength.
• Marth no longer vocalizes during his first jump.
• As on-screen appearances were not present in Melee, Marth now receives one.
• Marth has a new shield break animation.
• Marth has a new alternate blue costume. It is also used for the blue team instead of his default costume.
• Marth's victory poses have swapped quotes with each other.

Attributes

• Marth walks slower (1.6 → 1.5), though he still has the fastest walk speed in the game.
• Marth dashes slightly slower (1.8 → 1.7).
• Marth's air speed is faster (0.9 → 1.034).
• As with all returning veterans, Marth's falling speed (2.2 → 1.5) and gravity (0.085 → 0.06715) have been significantly decreased. However, relative to the cast, Marth's falling speed and gravity are both slightly higher.
• Marth's fast falling speed is lower (2.5 → 2.1), hindering his defence against juggling.
  • However, it is higher relative to both his normal falling speed (13.6% increase → 40%) and the cast going from the 11th highest out of 26 characters to the 12th highest out of 39.
• Marth's traction is lower (0.06 → 0.055), going from the 15th highest in Melee to the 20th highest. Relative to the cast, however, Marth's traction is slightly higher, making it easier for him to punish out of shield.
• Marth jump force is weaker (2.4 → 2.16). However, this does not fully compensate for his lower gravity, making him jump higher.
• Marth's jumpsquat is longer (4 frames → 5).
• Marth's soft landing is 1 frame faster (4 frames → 3).
• Marth's lower sword-arm hurtbox is now ungrabbable, making it harder to grab him while he is attacking.
• Marth's shin hurtboxes are now grabbable, making it easier to grab him from below him.
• Marth's spot dodge has a longer duration (frames 2-18 → 2-20), and has less ending lag (FAF 28 → 25), now being faster than most spot dodges.
• Marth's air dodge has more startup lag (frame 4 → 5) now being the slowest in the game.
• From the introduction to hitlag modifiers, Marth's sourspotted attacks now have low hitlag modifiers (≈0.7x), and his tippered moves now have high hitlag modifiers (≈1.25x/1.3x/1.5x). This makes his sourspotted moves safer on shield and harder to DI, but makes his tippered moves less safe on shield and easier to DI..
• The weakening of dash dancing hinders Marth's ability to mix up his positioning, heavily nerfing his ground movement and neutral game.
• The removal of wavedashing significantly hinders Marth's mobility and approach.
• Marth's backwards glide toss covers much more distance.
• Due to slightly altered animations to the majority of his sword swings where Marth does not hold his sword as far out, Marth has less reach overall.
  • However, as a result of the universal changes to the physics in Brawl nerfing characters' movement and approach options, Marth has relatively better zoning abilities overall.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • Both hits of neutral attack have altered animations where Marth steps forward less and swings his sword tilted at an angle rather than straight out, decreasing their ranges overall.
    • However, this improves the second hit's upwards range.
  • Neutral attack's first hit transitions into the second hit slower (frame 20 → 21).
    • Additionally, neutral attack's transition can no longer be buffered for an extended period of time, making it much harder to perform, and making the move connect worse against opponents on average overall without precise timing.
    • The second hit has less start-up lag to compensate (frame 5 → 4).
  • Both hits have more ending lag (FAF 26 (both) → 28).
  • The tipper hitbox on both hits has increased knockback scaling (60 → 70).
  • The hitboxes of both hits are marginally larger (3.91u/3.12u/2.34u/3.91u → 4u/3.5u/2.5u/4u).
  • The outermost sourspot hitbox is positioned further out on both hits (z offset: -0.78u → 2.5u), making the tipper much harder to land.
• Forward tilt:
  • Marth does not lean forward as far during forward tilt, decreasing its horizontal reach.
  • Forward tilt has more start-up lag (frame 7 → 8).
    • However, its hitbox duration and animation speed were unchanged. As a result, the move covers a more favorable attack arc overall, with the hitboxes now ending once the swing arc reaches directly above Marth, giving it noticeably more range above him, and allowing it to hit opponents on platforms more easily.
    • Additionally, its animation length was unchanged, giving it relatively less ending lag.
  • Tippered forward tilt deals less damage (13% → 12%) without full compensation on its knockback (60 (base), 70 (scaling) → 40/80).
  • The hitboxes along Marth's sword and arm are larger (3.91u/2.73u/3.91u → 4u/3.5u/4u).
  • The hitbox on Marth's shoulder is smaller (2.73u → 2.5u).
  • The sword and tipper hitboxes are positioned slightly further (z offset: 0u/4.69u → 2u/6.5u). However, the sword hitbox overlaps the tipper hitbox more, making the tipper harder to land, while not substantially increasing its range, due to Marth not leaning forward as far.
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt no longer has interruptable frames, noticeably increasing its ending lag (FAF 32 → 40), removing much of its ability to cover tech options on platforms, and drastically worsening the move's combo potential, combined with the universally decreased falling speeds and introduction of hitstun canceling.
  • Tippered up tilt deals less damage (13% → 12%) and knockback (50 (base), 100 (scaling) → 40/90), hindering its KO potential.
  • The hitboxes along Marth's sword and arm are larger (4u/3.2u (clean), 4u/2.8u (late) → 5u/3.5u (both)).
  • The tipper hitbox is smaller (3.91u → 3.5u).
  • Marth's shoulder has a smaller hitbox during the clean hit (3.12u → 2.5u).
    • However, the late hit's shoulder hitbox is larger (2.32u → 2.5u).
  • The sword and tipper hitboxes are positioned slightly further (z offset: 0.39u/3.91u → 1.1u/5.1u). However, as a result of this and the sword hitbox's increased size, it overlaps the tipper hitbox more, making the tipper significantly harder to land, while not substantially increasing its range, due to Marth not holding his sword as far out.
• Down tilt:
  • Marth does not hold his sword or lean forward as far during down tilt, noticeably decreasing its horizontal reach despite its larger hitboxes.
  • Down tilt now moves Marth forward slightly when buffered into itself, allowing it to be used as a pseudo-crawl.
  • Down tilt has more ending lag (FAF 20 → 22).
    • However, down tilt can now be interrupted with shield or a special move, allowing him to perform those actions significantly sooner without having to walk or jump (FAF 50 → 22).
  • Down tilt has larger hitboxes (4u/2.8u/3.12u/4u → 4.8u/3.36u/3.74u/4.8u).
• Dash attack:
  • Marth does not hold his sword as far or slide forward as far during dash attack, noticeably decreasing its horizontal reach.
  • Dash attack has more start-up lag (frame 12-15 → 13-16).
    • However, its hitbox duration and animation speed were unchanged. As a result, the move covers a more favorable attack arc overall, with the hitboxes now ending once the swing arc reaches directly above Marth, giving it noticeably more range above him, and allowing it to hit opponents on platforms more easily.
  • Dash attack has more ending lag (FAF 40 → 50).
  • Tippered dash attack has more base knockback (70 → 80).
  • Dash attack's sword hitbox deals slightly less damage (11% → 10%).
  • Dash attack's sword hitboxes now send opponents horizontally (110° → 45°), improving its KO potential but removing its combo potential.
  • Dash attack has marginally larger hitboxes (3.91u/3.12u/2.34u/3.91u → 4u/3.5u/2.5u/4u).
  • The outermost sourspot hitbox is positioned further out (z offset: -0.39u → 1.5u), making the tipper much harder to land.
• Forward smash:
  • The introduction of SDI multipliers has benefited tippered forward smash, as it has a multiplier of 0x, meaning it can no longer be SDI'd.
  • Forward smash has more ending lag (FAF 48 → 50).
  • Forward smash has a slightly altered animation where Marth steps forward less and swings his sword tilted at an angle rather than straight out, decreasing its range overall, and making platform tippers less common and much harder to perform.
  • Forward smash has smaller hitboxes (4u/3.2u/3.6u/4u → 3u/3u/4u/3u/3u), futher hindering its range.
    • Additionally, forward smash has gained an additional hitbox placed in between the tipper and outermost sourspot hitboxes. The new hitbox, however, takes priority over the tipper, making the tipper hitbox much harder to connect, especially above Marth, while not substantially improving its range due to its hitbox placement and the move's altered animation and smaller hitboxes.
  • Tippered forward smash deals less damage (20% → 19%).
• Up smash:
  • Up smash has less start-up lag with a longer duration (frame 13-16 → 12-18), with the hitbox now coming out before Marth fully strikes his sword up, due to its animation speed being unchanged.
    • This change additionally makes it possible for the tipper to hit grounded opponents directly next to Marth.
  • Up smash has more ending lag (FAF 46 → 50).
  • The body sourspot hitboxes have increased set knockback (100 → 155) and now launch the opponent into the sword (70° → 125°), akin to Roy's up smash in Melee, increasing its maximum damage potential (18% → 21%), and greatly improving its utility against grounded opponents.
  • The body sourspots deal less damage (8% → 4%).
  • The sword's sourspot deals less damage (15% → 14%),
  • The sword's sourspot has increased base knockback (30 → 45), improving its KO potential despite its lower damage.
  • The tipper deals less damage (18% → 17%) and knockback (60 (base), 80 (scaling) → 40/70).
  • The tipper hitbox now takes priority over the sourspots, and has been moved up (z offset: 2u → 6u), now properly covering the entire tip of the sword, making the tipper much easier to land.
  • Up smash has larger hitboxes (4.3u/4.3u/4.7u/4.3u → 4.9u/4.9u/4.9u/5u/5u).
    • Additionally, Up smash has gained an additional sword sourspot hitbox placed in between the tipper and uppermost sourspot hitboxes. Unlike with forward smash, the new hitbox does not take priority over the tipper hitbox, making its addition not a hindrance.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash's front hit has more start-up lag (frame 5 (front), 20 (back) → 6/21) and ending lag (FAF 62 → 65).
    • However, its hitbox durations and animation speed were unchanged. As a result, the move covers a more favorable attack arc overall, with the hitboxes now being active farther in front of Marth, especially the back hit.
  • The sourspots deal more damage (11% → 14% (front)/13% (back)).
    • The sword's knockback scaling on both hits was not fully compensated (72 → 70).
    • The front hit's body hit's knockback was not fully compensated (20/16 (base), 100 (scaling) → 50/80).
    • However, the back hit's body hit's knockback was decreased enough to hinder the move's KO potential despite its increased damage (30/15 (base), 100 (scaling) → 50/70).
  • The front tipper deals more damage (16% → 17%).
  • The tippers deal much less knockback (70 (base), 100 (scaling) → 50/80), hindering their KO potential despite the front hit's higher damage, no longer being the strongest down smash in the game when tippered.

Aerial attacks

• All aerials except down aerial have less landing lag (15/7 frames → 9 (neutral/forward/up), 24/12 frames → 21 (back)). Due to the removal of L-canceling, however, their landing lag is not fully compensated, with back aerial and the aforementioned down aerial being notably affected by this.
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial has an altered animation where Marth does not hold his sword as far out, hindering the move's range.
  • Neutral aerial now functions like the rest of Marth's moveset where the tipper is stronger than the rest of its hitboxes.
    • The non-tipper hitboxes deal less damage (first hit; 4% → 3%, second hit: 10% → 9%), although the knockback scaling on the second hit's sword and body hitboxes has been compensated (80 → 90).
    • The new tipper hitboxes deal more damage (4% → 6% (hit 1), 10% → 12% (hit 2)) and the second hit's tipper has increased knockback scaling (80 → 100), increasing its maximum damage output (13.91% → 18%), and greatly improving its KO potential, now being the strongest neutral aerial in the game when tippered.
  • Neutral aerial has larger hitboxes overall on both hits (3.91u/3.91u/3.91u → 4.8u/4.8u/4.8u).
    • The hitbox on Marth's shoulder is smaller (3.91u → 3u).
  • The sword hitbox is positioned further forward (x offset: 2.34u → -2.4u), making it harder to land the tipper hitbox combined with its altered animation.
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial has an altered animation where Marth does not extend his arm as far out and holds his sword tilted at an angle rather than straight out, noticeably hindering the move's range.
    • Additionally, this animation is also slightly longer (33 frames → 40). This slightly increases the amount of time Marth cannot grab the ledge after using forward aerial.
  • Forward aerial has more ending lag (FAF 30 → 34).
  • It is easier for Marth to perform two forward aerials in a short hop due to his lower fall speed and the introduction of buffering despite its increased ending lag.
  • Sourspotted forward aerial deals consistent damage (10%/9% → 10%) and deals more base knockback (30/20 → 40).
  • Tippered forward aerial has increased knockback (42 (base), 70 (scaling) → 40/80) and now sends opponents horizontally (67° → 361°). This improves its KO and edgeguarding potential, but hinders its combo ability; particularly, this removes its ability to perform a true Ken Combo, combined with the changes to down aerial.
  • Forward aerial has larger hitboxes (3.91u/3.91u/3.91u/3.91u → 4u/4u/4u).
    • However, it no longer has a hitbox on Marth's shoulder, decreasing its range behind Marth.
  • The sword hitbox is positioned further forward (z offset: 0u → 1u), making it harder to land the tipper hitbox combined with its altered animation.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial has an altered animation where Marth does not extend his arm as far out and holds his sword tilted at an angle rather than straight out, noticeably hindering the move's range, especially above and behind Marth.
    • Additionally, this animation is also slightly longer (39 frames → 44). This slightly increases the amount of time Marth cannot grab the ledge after using back aerial.
  • Back aerial has more ending lag (FAF 35 → 40).
  • Back aerial now causes Marth to be considered facing the opposite direction much earlier (frame 32 → frame 6), now taking place just before the hitboxes are activated, ensuring that he will land facing the opposite direction after hitting an opponent.
  • Back aerial deals more damage (10%/9%/13% → 11%/14%), and knockback (30/25/10/30 (base), 70 (scaling) → 30/(85/90)), improving its KO potential, especially the tipper.
  • Back aerial has larger hitboxes (3.91u/3.91u/3.91u/3.91u → 4.6u/4.8u/4.8u).
    • However, it no longer has a hitbox on Marth's shoulder, decreasing its range behind Marth.
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial has an altered animation where Marth holds his sword tilted at an angle rather than straight out, somewhat hindering the move's horizontal and diagonally upwards range, but improving its downward range, making it easier to land up aerial on grounded opponents.
    • The animation is also longer (45 frames → 55). This slightly increases the amount of time Marth cannot grab the ledge after using up aerial.
  • Up aerial has a longer duration (frames 5-8 → 5-9).
  • The sourspots now deal consistent damage (10%/9% → 10%), as well as having more base knockback (30/20/18 → 40).
  • The tipper has increased knockback scaling (70 → 80), improving its KO potential.
  • Up aerial has larger hitboxes (3.91u/3.91u/3.91u/3.91u → 4.8u/4.8u/4.8u/4.8u).
  • The sword hitbox is positioned further forward (z offset: 0u → 1u). However, due to the tipper hitbox still taking priority over it, this has no substantial effect.
  • The changes to DI and the addition of hitstun canceling and universally decreased falling speeds make up aerial overall much worse for combos, although it still has true combo potential at low percents, and it remains a powerful juggling tool.
• Down aerial:
  • The removal of L-canceling has significantly hampered down aerial moreso than the rest of Marth's aerials, as unlike them, its high landing lag was unchanged. This significantly hurts down aerial's safety and combo potential, especially when combined with the changes to DI and addition of hitstun canceling and universally decreased falling speeds.
  • The introduction of Footstooling benefits down aerial, as Marth can now land a sweetspotted down aerial out of a footstool against most characters.
  • Down aerial has an altered animation where Marth does not hold his sword as far out, hindering the move's range, especially in front of and behind Marth.
    • This new animation is also longer (59 frames → 63), increasing the amount of time Marth cannot grab the ledge after using down aerial.
  • Down aerial deals more damage (13%/10%/9% → 14%/12%), and the tippered hitbox has more knockback scaling (70 → 80). These changes significantly improve its KO potential.
  • Down aerial's sweetspots are now meteor smashes instead of a spike (290° → 280°/270°), hindering its reliability compared to its NTSC Melee counterpart (although it is still much more effective than its PAL counterpart due to its increased strength combined with the changes to meteor canceling).
  • Down aerial's meteor hitboxes no longer take priority over the sourspots (ID# 0 → 2/3), making the tipper significantly harder to land.
  • Down aerial has larger hitboxes (3.6u/3.6u/3.6u/3.6u → 4.32u/4.32u/4.32u).
    • However, it no longer has a hitbox on Marth's shoulder, decreasing its range above Marth.
  • Down aerial has received a new meteor hitbox on frame 7 positioned directly below Marth. Although this hitbox is large (6u), it only lasts for one frame and has the lowest priority of all of down aerial's hitboxes (ID# 3), while being majorly overlapped by them while it is active, making its addition somewhat negligible.

Throws/other attacks

• Grabs:
  • Standing grab has an altered animation where Marth does not lean forward or stretch his forearm as far out, significantly hindering its previously notoriously long range.
  • Standing grab has less start-up lag (frame 7 → 6) and ending lag (FAF 31 → 30).
  • Standing grab has marginally larger grabboxes (3.91u/3.91u/3.91u → 4u/4u). However, its furthest grabbox has been removed, and its remaining grabboxes are positioned closer to Marth (z offset: 9.76u/7.03u → 8u/4u). When coupled with its altered animation, this further hinders its range.
    • The remaining grabboxes are positioned slightly higher to compensate for their marginally larger sizes (7.81u/7.42u → 8u (both)).
  • Dash grab has an altered animation where Marth stretches his forearm tilted downward rather than straight out. This decreases its horizontal and upward range, but makes the move no longer able to whiff against low-profiling or smaller characters.
  • Dash grab has less start-up lag (frame 10 → 9) and less ending lag (FAF 41 → 40).
  • Dash grab has marginally larger grabboxes (3.91u/3.91u/3.91u/3.91u → 4u/4u/4u). However, it has lost its innermost grabbox, and its remaining grabboxes are positioned closer to Marth (z offset: 9.77u/5.47u/1.56u → 9u/5u/1u). When coupled with its altered animation, this further hinders its range.
  • The removal of jump-canceled grabbing is a particularly harsh nerf for Marth; coupled with the poorer range of his grabs and weakening of dash dancing, it is significantly harder to land grabs.
• Pummel:
  • Pummel is faster (FAF 25 → 16).
  • Pummel deals less damage (3% → 2%).
• The changes to grab releases benefit Marth more than most characters as he now has multiple follow ups out of a grab release, both aerial and grounded, on various characters while he himself isn't vulnerable to aerial grab release combos.
• Forward throw:
  • Forward throw releases the opponent later (frame 14 → 15), reducing its ending lag, as while its total animation length was increased (31 frames → 39), it was given interruptable frames starting on frame 32, leaving its effective duration unchanged.
  • Forward throw has more consistent follow-up potential at extremely low percents due to the removal of DI for moves which do not put opponents into tumble.
    • However, the changes to hitstun hinder its combo potential beyond very low percents.
• Back throw:
  • Back throw releases the opponent later (frame 7 → 8), reducing its ending lag, as while its total animation length was increased (44 frames → 49), it was given interruptable frames starting on frame 45, leaving its effective duration unchanged.
  • Back throw has less base knockback (70 → 50) and sends opponents at a lower angle (117° → 140°), making it better for follow-ups.
• Up throw:
  • Up throw releases the opponent later (frame 12 → 13), reducing its ending lag as its total duration was unchanged.
  • Up throw has less knockback scaling (130 → 120) and can no longer chaingrab fastfallers or combo reliably due to the universally decreased falling speeds and addition of hitstun canceling.
    • Despite this, up throw has more KO potential due to the aforementioned universally decreased falling speeds.
• Down throw:
  • Down throw releases the opponent later (frame 14 → 16), reducing its ending lag as its total duration was unchanged.
  • Down throw no longer puts opponents into tumble at very low percents, which, when combined with it releasing opponents later, allows it to benefit from the changes to DI.
    • However, like forward throw, the changes to hitstun hinder its combo potential beyond very low percents.

Special moves

• Shield Breaker:
  • Shield Breaker has a new animation, where Marth assumes a readying stance and charges the Falchion at chest level before thrusting it forward, instead of performing an overhead slash. This increases its horizontal reach but decreases its vertical reach as well as extending Marth's hurtbox further. Marth also only vocalizes when the move is fully charged.
  • Shield Breaker now gives Marth a horizontal boost when used in the air (0 → 0.5 (uncharged), 2 (charged)) giving Marth an additional recovery option.
  • An uncharged Shield Breaker deals more damage (7% → 8%) making it stronger despite its consistent base knockback (30/34 → 40) and deals more shield damage (38/30 → 42).
    • The uncharged version's tipper deals more damage (7% → 9%) and has higher base knockback (40 → 50) along with having increased shield damage (38 → 42).
  • Shield Breaker charges much faster (121 frames (2.02 seconds) → 78 frames (1.3 seconds)).
  • Shield Breaker has more start-up with a shorter duration (frame 16-21 → 19-22).
  • Shield Breaker has noticeably smaller hitboxes (4u/3.12u/3.2u/2.8u/4.4u → 2.5u/3u/3u/2.75u/2.5u) which along with its new animation, reduces its vertical range.
    • As a result, the move has significantly less edgeguarding potential.
  • A fully charged Shield Breaker also deals less damage (28% → 22%/20%/18%/24%), making it weaker despite its increased base knockback (30/34/40 → 50).
  • Fully charged Shield Breaker deals less shield damage (60 → 40) no longer guaranteeing a shield break.
• Dancing Blade:
  • Dancing Blade has been heavily reworked.
  • Dancing Blade no longer causes Marth to glow. Instead, the sword trail glows according to the direction inputted (red → side, blue → up, green → down).
  • The first three hits have gained a low hitlag multiplier (1x → 0.3x) making the move significantly more difficult to escape from.
• Hit 1:
  • The first hit has an altered animation timing, where the hitbox does not come while Marth is holding his sword upwards, noticeably decreasing its range above Marth.
  • The first hit has less start-up lag (frame 6 → 4).
    • However, its total duration remains unchanged giving it more ending lag.
  • The first hit has decreased base knockback (55 → 35/50) and its angles have been altered (85°/96°/80°/76° → 75°/88°/20°) allowing it to link into the second hit more reliably.
    • However, this hinders its set-up potential into Marth's other moves at higher percents, no longer having a KO confirm into up tilt.
  • The first hit no longer deals consistent damage (4% → 3%/4%).
    • However, this further aids the move to connect properly.
  • The first hit gives Marth a greater vertical boost which can now be combined with wavebouncing for recovery mix ups or to escape juggles.
  • The first hit can also only stall Marth in the air when used after a jump rather than continuously.
• Hit 2:
  • Both variants of the second hit have less startup lag (frame 12 (up)/14 (down) → 7/9).
    • However, their total duration remains unchanged giving them more ending lag.
  • The upwards second hit deals less knockback (30/60/70/85 (base), 40 (scaling) → 20/30) and its angles have been altered (90°/85°/79° → 70°/80°/60°/40°) making it link into the third hit more reliably.
  • The downwards second hit deals less knockback (16 (base), 100 (scaling) → 22/30) and its angles have been altered (105°/80°/70°/50° → 75°/90°/40°/10°) making it link into the third hit more reliably.
  • Both variants of the second hit deal less damage (5% → 3%/4%).
    • However, this further aids them to connect properly with the third hit.
• Hit 3:
  • All variants of the third hit have less startup lag (frame 13 (up)/11 (forward)/15 (down) → 8/6/8).
    • However, their total duration remains unchanged giving them more ending lag.
  • The upwards third hit has decreased base knockback (60 → 30) and the body hitboxes have had their angles altered (60° → 50°/30°) making it link into the fourth hit more reliably.
  • The upwards third hit deals less damage (6% → 4%/5%).
    • However, this further aids it to connect properly with the fourth hit.
  • The forwards third hit's angles have been altered (361° → 30°/25°/20°) now being a semi-spike.
  • The forwards third hit now has set knockback (0 (base), 160 (scaling) → 55/60 (set)/100). This allows the move to link into the fourth hit drastically more reliably but removes its KO potential.
  • The forwards third hit deals less damage (10% → 4%/5%) which provides no benefit whatsoever due to the move now possessing set knockback.
  • The downward third hit no longer consistently meteor smashes (270° → 361°/270°) and has decreased knockback (50 (base), 100 (scaling) → 30/80). This allows the move to link into the fourth hit more reliably but hinders the move's edgeguarding potential.
  • The downwards third hit deals much less damage (12% → 4%/5%) which along with the previous change, immensely hinders its edgeguarding potential.
    • However, this significantly aids it to connect properly with the fourth hit.
    • Altogether, the alterations to the variations of the third hit make it much more reliable but hinders its KO, edgeguarding and tech-chasing potential.
• Hit 4:
  • The upwards fourth hit now has a brand new animation, where Marth does an upward launching slash in a recovering turn, as opposed to a forward hopping more pronounced version of his forward fourth hit.
  • The upwards fourth hit has less startup lag (frame 20 → 11).
    • However, its total duration remains unchanged giving it more ending lag.
  • The upwards fourth hits deals less damage (10% → 6%/8%) without full compensation on its base knockback (40 → 60).
  • The forwards fourth hit has less startup lag (frame 23 → 13).
  • The forwards fourth hit deals more shield damage (2 → 5).
  • The forwards fourth hit deals much less damage (14% → 6%/8%) and its knockback was not fully compensated (15 (base), 120 (scaling) → 50/125).
  • The forwards fourth hit has more ending lag (FAF 51 → 56).
  • The downwards fourth hit's loop hits have a reduced hitlag multiplier (1x → 0.5x) making them more difficult to escape from.
  • The downwards fourth hit's loop hits deal less damage (3% → 2%).
    • However, this allows them to connect more reliably.
  • The downwards fourth hit's loop hits have a shorter duration (3 frames → 2).
  • The downwards fourth hit's final hit no longer deals consistent damage (5% → 3%/5%).
  • The downwards fourth hit’s final hit deals more knockback (20 (base), 130 (scaling) → 60/120) improving its tipper's KO potential.
  • The downwards fourth hit has more ending lag (FAF 61 → 66).
    • Altogether, these changes make Dancing Blade much more reliable and useful as the hits are faster requiring less precision to use, and they have reduced knockback making them link into each other more quickly, reliably and easily while also being more difficult to escape, combined with the removal of crouch canceling.
• Dolphin Slash:
  • Dolphin Slash covers more horizontal distance.
  • The changes to shielding improves Dolphin Slash as it no longer makes Marth killer possible to perform due to the removal of light shielding.
  • Marth plummets later after using it due to his lower gravity and falling speed.
  • Due to his higher air speed and air acceleration, Marth has slightly more control over his trajectory once he is in free fall.
    • This notably allows Marth to drift to the edge if he uses it near an edge, improving its safety on stage.
  • Marth can now grab ledges while rising from Dolphin Slash if he is facing the ledge.
  • Marth no longer loses his double jump if he is hit out of Dolphin Slash.
    • Altogether, these changes improve Dolphin Slash's recovery potential.
  • Dolphin Slash has more intangibility (frame 5 → 1-5), improving its use as a defensive attack, an escape option or as a panic tool.
  • Dolphin Slash has larger hitboxes (3.903u/3.903u/3.903u → 6.5u/6.5u (clean), 4u/4u/3.2u → 5u/5u/4u (late)) giving it more range.
    • Additionally, Marth now moves forwards during the aerial version's startup, significantly improving its range.
  • The clean hit has a longer duration (frame 5 → 5-6) although the late hit retains its duration.
  • The clean hit's sourspot deals more damage (10% → 13%) and knockback (60 (base), 70 (scaling) → 70/68).
  • The clean hit has a lower hitlag multiplier (1x → 0.5x).
  • The late hit's far hitbox has been moved slightly further along Marth's sword (z offset: 3.5154 → 4.5), which along with its larger hitbox, improves its range.
  • Marth no longer grunts when using Dolphin Slash.
  • Marth turns around earlier when using a reversed Dolphin Slash (frame 6 → 4).
    • This allows Marth to hit opponents behind him with the clean hit, improving its effectiveness against opponents behind Marth.
    • This also allows Marth to angle the move backwards at a steeper angle if he does not reverse it.
    • However, this also makes it drastically more difficult for Marth to hit opponents in front of him with the clean hit's tipper, hindering its edgeguarding potential.
  • The clean hit now uses static hitboxes positioned higher up rather than hitboxes attached to Marth's sword.
  • The clean hit's body hitbox has been removed, although the previous middle hit's larger hitbox compensates for this.
  • The clean hit's sweetspot deals less knockback (80 (base), 70 (scaling) → 70/68).
  • Dolphin Slash now suffers from RCO lag. This is especially harmful to Marth relative to the cast, due to it being his only viable recovery option forcing frequent usage of the move, combined with his relatively poor ledge get-up options, making Marth even more exploitable at getting off the ledge, which was already one of his main weaknesses in Melee.
  • Dolphin Slash has slightly more landing lag (34 frames → 35).
    • When combined with Marth's slower descent and the fact that it can no longer be edge canceled, this makes the move more punishable if Marth misses it, although Marth's greater aerial mobility during free fall does partially compensate for this.
• Counter:
  • Marth is now intangible during the first two frames of counter's counter period.
  • Counter has more start-up lag with a shorter duration (frame 3-9 → 5-9) and has more ending lag (FAF 36 → 37).
  • Counter's attack has increased intangibility (frames 1-5 → 1-8).
  • Counter now deals 1.1x damage of the countered move's damage back with a minimum of 8% instead of 7%.
  • Counter has increased knockback scaling (35 → 40).
  • Counter has larger hitboxes (3.12u/2.8u/4.4u/4u → 5u/5u/5u/6u/5u), and has gained an additional hitbox at the tip of the sword, improving its coverage.
• Critical Hit:
  • Marth now has a Final Smash: Critical Hit. Marth points his sword to the sky and charges forward at lightning speeds. If Marth comes in contact with anyone, he will strike them with the Falchion. The strike has immense knockback, and will usually one-hit KO any character. An HP Gauge from Fire Emblem that starts at full health and quickly drops to zero will appear the head of whoever got hit by the move. However, the HP gauge is purely aesthetic and has no effect on gameplay.

Moveset

For a gallery of Marth's hitboxes, see here.
For simplicity, if, for example, Marth's blade does 4% damage while the tip does 6%, and the attack has no other hitboxes, it is written as 4%/6%.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		Slash (スラッシュ) Combination Slash (コンビネーションスラッシュ)	4%/6%	Slashes Falchion twice in front of himself. It has fast startup, great range and the ability to Jab lock until high percents, but the entire move dosen't connect reliably until high percents.
			4%/6%
Forward tilt		Hard Edge (ハードエッジ)	9%/12%	A fast swipe upwards with the Falchion while leaning forward. It has good horizontal reach and decent vertical reach.
Up tilt		Anti-Air Slash (アンチエアスラッシュ)	Clean: 9% (blade), 12% (tip), 8% (body) Late: 10% (blade), 12% (tip), 9% (body)	Swings his sword in a large arc above his head, front to back. It has good all around reach with fast startup with small ending lag.
Down tilt		Low Thrust (ロースラスト)	9% (blade), 10% (tip), 8% (body)	A quick crouching Falchion poke. Fairly reliable pressure tool against opponents on the ledge. Can also be used to pseudo-crawl.
Dash attack		Raid Chop (レイドチョップ)	10% (blade), 12% (tip), 9% (body)	A quick upward sweeping diagonal slash. Has slow startup compared to Marth's other attacks with high ending lag.
Forward smash		Dragon Killer (ドラゴンキラー)	14%/19%	Rotates his body clockwise with a strong arc-like swing from his head to the ground. Very fast and long ranged with the knockback of the move being stronger at the tip of the sword.
Up smash		Justice Sword (ジャスティスソード)	4% (ground), 14% (blade), 17% (tip)	A quick, direct upward thrust. The weak grounded hit can knock nearby opponents into the main attack. When Marth hits someone at low percentages with his running up smash, it sends his opponent on a bizarre horizontal trajectory with very high base knockback. This is very effective at setting up edgeguard situations at low percentages for an early KO.
Down smash		Whirlwind (ワールウインド)	14%/17% (front), 13%/16% (back)	Sweeps his sword on the ground towards front then towards the back. High vertical knockback if tippered, but its long duration makes it a seldom-used move.
Neutral aerial		Double Slash (ダブルスラッシュ)	3%/6% (hit 1), 9%/12% (hit 2)	Two horizontal slashes around himself. Both hits connect easily on an airborne opponent. The tip of the second strike has rather high knockback and can KO at high percentages.
Forward aerial		Flag Cut (フラッグカット)	10%/13%	Does a forward vertical slash downwards. Although it has fairly low knockback when not tippered, it is very fast in both startup and ending lag. Can easily be done twice in a short hop and is useful for edgeguarding as a wall of pain. It is considered Marth's best aerial and is arguably the best forward air in the game, if not the most versatile.
Back aerial		About Face (アッパースイング, Upper Swing)	11%/14%	Slashes the Falchion from bottom to top behind him in an inward swipe. The attack has the unusual property of turning Marth around when used in the air.
Up aerial		Luna Slash (ルナスラッシュ)	10%/13%	A forward to back upward Falchion slash in a delayed somersault. Hit from close is as powerful as the tip, being a reliable vertical finisher but from medium distance it is quite weak.
Down aerial		Half Moon (ハーフムーン)	12%/14%	A forward to back downward outward sword slash. It meteor smashes powerfully when the tip is connected, but launches opponents horizontally when the blade connects.
Grab		Grab (つかみ)	—
Pummel		Grab Kneebutt (つかみニーバット)	2%	Knees opponent.
Forward throw		Roll Over (ロールオーバー)	4%	Grabs and pushes forward, tripping with the leg. Great for tech-chasing and can chaingrab heavyweights or fast-fallers at 0% for up to usually four throws maximum and set up a guaranteed forward smash at 0% on most characters, on some characters it can hit with the tipper for more damage, and on certain characters this combo works up until mid percentages. Can also be used to set up a forward aerial combo.
Back throw		Leg Hooker (レッグフッカー)	4%	Turns around and pulls the enemy over his outstretched leg, tripping them. Similar to down throw, but even weaker knockback wise and is poor for setting up due to high ending lag.
Up throw		Casting (キャスティング)	4%	Powerful upward throw with one arm. This is Marth's only powerful throw and it can KO lighter characters under 200%.
Down throw		Grab Drop (グラブドロップ)	5%	Throws opponent to the ground. Has extremely low knockback with little KO potential.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			6%	Sweeps his sword on the ground, front to back.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			6%	A quick stab to the left followed by a horizontal slash to the right.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Gets up and stabs on one side followed by a horizontal slash on the other side.
Edge attack (fast) Edge getups (fast)			8% (blade), 6% (body)	Flips onto ledge with a quick downward diagonal slash.
Edge attack (slow) Edge getups (slow)			10%	Slowly gets up and performs a quick horizontal slice.
Neutral special		Shield Breaker	Uncharged: 8%/9%; Fully charged: 18% (arm) 20% (hilt), 22% (blade), 24% (tip)	Marth charges up Falchion at chest level before powerfully thrusting it forward. Deals high shield damage when fully charged.
Side special		Dancing Blade	Varies (see below)	A sequence of Falchion slashes with several variations based on control stick tilts.
Up special		Dolphin Slash	13% (clean), 7% (late sword), 6% (late body)	Marth performs a rapid jumping slash that can be reversed. Has a powerful sweetspot located in the first few frames.
Down special		Counter	1.1x (min 8%)	Marth assumes a defensive stance and retaliates against incoming attacks. The power of the counterattack scales with the strength of the attack blocked.
Final Smash		Critical Hit	60%	Marth lunges in one direction, attacking the first opponent. Immense knockback, enough to one-hit KO any character on any roofless stage.

Dancing Blade

Hit	Damage	Description
First Hit (Neutral)	3%/4%	Does a vertical slash, has little knockback: incapable of KOing.
Second Hit (Up)	3%/4%	Does an upwards slash. Deals slightly more knockback than the upper slash.
Second Hit (Neutral)	3%/4%	Does a stab, has a little more knockback than the first slash.
Third Hit (Up)	4%/5%	Does a weak vertical slash.
Third Hit (Neutral)	4%/5%	Does a fairly powerful horizontal slash. KOs at around 120%.
Third Hit (Down)	4%/5%	Stabs at the ground. Can meteor smash airborne opponents.
Fourth Hit (Up)	6%/8%	Does a very powerful upper slash. KOs at around 100%
Fourth Hit (Neutral)	6%/8%	Does a very powerful vertical slash. KOs at around 100%
Fourth Hit (Down)	2% (hit 1-4), 3%/5% (hit 5)	Does a flurry of lower stabs. Hits 5 times.

Stats

This article or section may require additional technical data. The editor who added this tag elaborates: Needs short hop and double jump heights You can discuss this issue on the talk page or edit this page to improve it.

Stats	Weight	Dash speed	Walk speed	Traction	Air friction	Air speed	Air acceleration	Gravity	Falling speed	Jumpsquat	Jump height	Double jump height	Empty landing lag
Value	87	1.5 – Initial dash 1.7 – Run	1.5	0.055	0.00375	1.034	0.01 – Base 0.07 – Additional	0.06715	1.5 – Base 2.1 – Fast fall	5	33.66852778 - Base ? - Short hop	?	3

Announcer call

This article could use additional or higher-quality audio files. The editor who added this tag suggests: Needs announcer calls from other languages. Also please change the French announcer call (and its PAL variant) to the Brawl one. If you have a good audio file for this article, upload it here.

• English/Japanese

• French

• French (PAL)

Wii Remote selection sound

• Marth swings his sword and shouts.

Marth's selection sound

On-screen appearance

• Warps onto the stage using warp magic with a twirl and unsheathes his sword.

Taunts

• Up taunt: Points the Falchion in the air with a spark of light emitting from it. Similar to his stance before performing a critical hit in Fire Emblem and identical to his stance when he performs the "Lodestar" technique.
• Side taunt: Slashes his sword twice in front of himself, then sheathes it.
• Down taunt: Twirls his sword, then raises it in front of him saying "みんな、見ていてくれ！," which is Japanese for "Everyone, watch over me!"

Up taunt	Side taunt	Down taunt

Idle poses

• Closes his eyes, holds a hand to his chest, and silently takes a breath.
• Brushes his hair from his face.

Crowd cheer

	Cheer (English)	Cheer (Japanese)	Cheer (German)	Cheer (Korean)
Cheer
Description	Marth - Marth - Marth!	Mar - th!	Marth!
	Cheer (French)	Cheer (Italian)	Cheer (Spanish)
Cheer
Description	Marth ! Marth ! Marth !	Marth! Marth! Marth!	Marth! Marth! Marth!	Marth! - Marth!

Victory poses

A small orchestral cover from the title theme of the first Fire Emblem game.

• Up: Sheaths his sword and says "今日も生き延びることが出来た。", which translates to: "Today I have risen to survive."
• Left: Turns with pride, spins his sword, then clashes it to the ground and says "今回は僕の勝ちだね?", which translates to: "This time it's my victory isn't it?"
• Right: Poses with the sword in his sheath, stretches out his right arm and says "僕は負ける訳には行かないんだ!", which translates to: "There's no way for me to lose!"

Up	Left	Right

In competitive play

Notable players

This article or section may require a cleanup. The editor who added this tag believes this page should be cleaned up for the following reason: To fit these guidelines You can discuss this issue on the talk page or edit this page to improve it.

See also: Category:Marth players (SSBB)

•  Anaky
•  Leon - Known for his extremely aggressive playstyle. 22nd on 2014 SSBBRank.
•  Mike Haze - A consistent player during 2008-2014 and arguably the best Marth player in the United States. Formerly ranked 46th on the 2014 SSBBRank.
•  Mikeneko - Formerly the best Marth player in the world. Ranked 10th on the 2014 SSBBRank.
•  Mr. R - One of Europe's best players. 15th at 2014 SSBBRank.
•  NEO - Known for his calculated and patient playstyle. 96th on 2014 SSBBRank.
•  Zex

Tier placement and history

Similarly to Falco, Marth has remained a top tier character even after his transition from Melee. Throughout Brawl's history, Marth has always hovered around the 5th to 7th place positions due to his positive traits as well as his strong representation in tournaments. When Olimar and the Ice Climbers began to rise, Marth's position slipped back to 7th place, with some thinking he would fall further as professionals of characters below him, such as Zero Suit Samus, would discover new innovations in their metagames, while Marth's would remain mostly stagnant due to his simplistic playstyle. However, Marth still did rise back to 5th place for the current Brawl tier list. There are smashers who dispute this placement, stating that Marth is placed far too high; some (such as Keitaro and Mew2King) claim that Marth's nerfs going into Brawl overwhelmed his buffs, and that because his combo ability was completely compromised in the transition, he should only be a mid tier. Due to these factors, some argue that characters, such as Snake, should be placed higher than him. However, strong tournament results from Marth professionals such as Mr. R and Mikeneko in high-level tournaments such as Apex 2013 have influenced the Brawl Back Room to keep Marth at 5th.

In Solo Modes

Classic Mode

In Classic Mode, Marth can appear as an opponent or ally in Stage 4 if he has been unlocked along with Ike, Ness, and Lucas on Castle Siege or New Pork City. Marth can also appear as an opponent in Stage 11, but only if he hasn't appeared in Stage 4.

All-Star Mode

In All-Star Mode, Marth is fought in Stage 11 alongside Ike on Castle Siege.

Event Matches

Solo Events

• Event 31: The Ultimate Bodyguard: Marth must defend Zelda and defeat two Ganondorfs on Castle Siege. Zelda remains in her crouching position until the third background change, where she'll transform into Sheik and assist Marth.
• Event 34: All-Star Battle Melee: Marth is one of the opponents fought in this event. All opponents are newcomers from Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Co-Op Events

• Co-Op Event 11: The Great Remodeling Battle: Luigi and Peach must fight Marth and Ike and collect 300 coins without destroying any of the breakable pillars on Luigi's Mansion.
• Co-Op Event 13: Blades of the Quick and Mighty: Marth and Ike must defeat Link, Meta Knight, and Ganondorf on Temple.
• Co-Op Event 21: The True All-Star Battle: Both players select a character and take on the entire roster on Battlefield.

Congratulations Screens

• 

  Classic Mode

• 

  All-Star Mode

Role in The Subspace Emissary

Marth in SSE.

Two R.O.B.s activate a Subspace Bomb in a barren battlefield. Marth is seen atop his castle watching helplessly as the robots detonate the bomb. He stands and shines Falchion, prepared to fend off the hundreds of Primids advancing toward the castle. Marth confronts the Primids, descending through the building until he reaches the grounds. There, he is ambushed by Meta Knight. During their duel (in the same video sequence), they are attacked from behind by a group of Primids, at which point they simultaneously jump into the air, slicing the Primids in two with their swords. Realizing that they share a common enemy, Marth and Meta Knight join forces to defeat the Primids. After fighting against the Primids, both Meta Knight and Marth aim their attacks at the Ancient Minister, who is carrying another Subspace Bomb. Marth misses with Dolphin Slash, while Meta Knight's wing is ignited by a laser shot from the fleeing Ancient Minister. Ike then shows up and dismantles the Ancient Minister's Subspace Bomb with his trusted Aether move. With the Subspace Bomb destroyed, the Ancient Minister flees while the trio storm the castle once more.

In the desert, they see a vehicle driving off in the distance. Ike immediately jumps off the cliff to pursue it, followed by Meta Knight. Marth merely scratches the back of his head in disbelief before following them. When they find the vehicle, it transforms into Galleom, and the three fight it. The defeated Galleom falls through unstable ground, where it encounters Lucas and Pokémon Trainer in the Ruined Hall. Now severely weakened after being fought again, it grabs Lucas and the Trainer in an attempt to detonate an emergency Subspace Bomb, but Lucas manages to free himself and Pokémon Trainer from Galleom using PK Thunder, commencing a headfirst freefall. Meta Knight catches Lucas and the unconscious Trainer right before they hit the ground and takes them to meet up with Marth and Ike. When the Halberd battles the Great Fox near the top of a mountain, Marth and the others watch as Meta Knight begins climbing the mountain. Later, the Ice Climbers fall down and befriend Marth, Ike, Lucas, and Pokémon Trainer, only to be rained on by Shadow Bugs from the Halberd above. Mario, Pit, Kirby, Link and Yoshi come to aid them in fighting off the Primids that were dropped. After the battle, the Halberd (now under control of Meta Knight, Snake, Lucario, Zelda, Peach, Fox, Mr. Game & Watch, and Falco) and the Falcon Flyer (carrying Captain Falcon, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Olimar, Samus, Pikachu and R.O.B.) land to pick them up.

Marth and friends destroy the Subspace Gunship (though the Halberd was downed in the process). They enter Subspace and encounter Tabuu, who turns them all into trophies. Fortunately he, and some of the others, are revived by King Dedede, Luigi, and Ness, while the rest are revived by Kirby. Marth helps the heroes in the showdown against Tabuu.

Playable appearances

• The Battlefield Fortress
• The Wilds (Part I)
• Entrance to Subspace
• The Great Maze - if he's rescued in Subspace (Part I)

Exclusive stickers

The following stickers can only be used by Marth or Ike:

• Ninian: [Arm, Leg] Attack +6
• Lilina: [Leg] Attack +5
• Mist: [Slash] Attack +8
• Deke: [Slash] Attack +9
• Eirika: [Slash] Attack +17
• Ike (Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn): [Slash] Attack +27
• Rutoga: [Slash] Resistance +12
• Ashnard: [Slash] Resistance +34
• Shiida: [Specials: Direct] Attack +7
• Greil: [Throwing] Power +14
• Marth: [Weapon] Attack +19
• Micaiah: [Weapon] Attack +21
• Ike:(Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance) [Weapon] Attack +23
• Eliwood: Flame Resistance +33

Trophies

Marth's main and Final Smash trophies can be obtained by clearing Classic Mode and All-Star mode respectively with Marth.

Classic Mode trophy

Marth

The prince of Altea, in whose veins the blood of heroes runs. He and a small group of stalwarts fought to free Altea after it was invaded by the kingdom of Doluna and the dark dragon, Medeus. With his divine sword, Falchion, he fought and defeated Medeus. However, Altea was then invaded by King Hardin of Akaneia and eventually destroyed.

The Prince of Altea, in whose veins the blood of heroes runs. He and a small group of stalwarts fought to free Altea after it was invaded by the kingdom of Doluna and the dark dragon, Medeus. With his divine sword, Falchion, he fought and defeated Medeus. However, Altea was then invaded by King Hardin of Akaneia and eventually destroyed.

: Fire Emblem (Japan Only)

Critical Hit trophy

Critical Hit

Marth's Final Smash. He thrusts his sword skyward, then rushes to meet his targeted enemy with furious speed. The blow he strikes is so powerful that his foe is instantly launched off the screen. As in Fire Emblem, a window appears that shows the character's hit points dropping rapidly to zero--but this is just for effect. Smash Bros. does not use a hit-point system.

: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Alternate costumes

Gallery

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  Official Artwork.

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  Idling on Castle Siege.

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  Using his forward smash on Samus on Castle Siege.

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  Next to Ike on Castle Siege.

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  Next to Ike in the beginning of Castle Siege.

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  Taunting on Bridge of Eldin.

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  Marth's Counter in Brawl.

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  Marth's Shield Breaker in Brawl.

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  Marth's Dolphin Slash in Brawl

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  Dancing Blade in Brawl.

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  The first strike of Dancing Blade in Brawl.

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  Critical Hit in Brawl.

Trivia

• On a custom stage, Marth's sword trail animations on his air attacks (except his up aerial) will only play if done around the peak of his jump and midair jump. When attacking after or before the peak of a jump, Marth's sword will simply glow and leave no trail. This also happens to Ike.
• Marth, Ike, Bowser, and Meta Knight can all perform the floor glitch.
• Brawl is the only Smash game where Marth cannot use his default costume in Team Battles.
• Marth, alongside Bowser, are the only two characters to have a Melee song for their Character Roll Call theme. In Marth's case, his theme is Fire Emblem (Melee).

External links

• Marth's Smash DOJO!! page
• Marth Character Guides on SmashBoards
• Marth's hitbox size of each of his moves
• Marth's Moves - History Behind Super Smash Bros. Brawl, by CrappyCaptureDevice