Marth

"Boku wa makeru wake-ni wa ikanai n da! (There's no way I can lose!)"

- Marth

Marth is the Prince of Altea, from the Fire Emblem series. He is also a playable character in the Super Smash Bros. series, along with Roy and Ike, other characters from the Fire Emblem series.

Super Smash Bros. Melee


Marth appears in Super Smash Bros. Melee as an unlockable character. He may be unlocked by using the 14 default characters to beat Classic or Adventure or fight in Vs. Mode, and then defeating Marth when he challenges the player. Marth is a fast, average power character of below-average weight, despite his armor. Marth's moves are strongest at the tip of his sword, in contrast to the attacks of his "clone," Roy.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Marth also appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, alongside fellow Fire Emblem character, Ike. He is unlocked by either playing 10 Brawls, beating Classic Mode on any difficulty, or by meeting him in The Subspace Emissary. For the first two methods, he will be fought afterwards, and must be defeated to be unlocked. Marth's Final Smash is Critical Hit, a single hit that almost always instantly KOs whoever it hits.

Marth has not been changed much since Melee, but a couple changes include a smaller sweet-spot for his sword, and a shorter grab range.

The Subspace Emissary
Marth is seen standing over a castle watching down at the desert. Marth sees the Subspace Bomb exploding in the distance and creating a large hole in space that remains in the middle of the desert. Marth takes out his sword and walks over to it to inspect it, while defeating some Primids along the way. He finally is in front of the hole in space. Suddenly, Meta Knight comes out of the sky and attacks Marth, thinking that he is an enemy. The two fight, until abruptly, Primids are sent out. Marth and Meta Knight both cut the Primids in half.

Marth and Meta Knight look at each other surprised and realize that they are in the same team. Primids keep emerging as the two stand back to back seeing them grow. They then charge at the Primids and attack them. Later, Ike gets to join the party by managing to take a Subspace Bomb away from the Ancient Minister. The three warriors chase him until he manages to get away.

Later, Marth and the others discover a strange tank in the middle of the Wilds. After a bit of hesitation, Marth follows the others to the tank, which then reveals itself to be Galleom. After Galleom's initial defeat, he tries to get away, but ends up falling into the Ruined Hall. He eventually emerges carrying Lucas and the Pokémon Trainer into a sky while detonating a Subspace Bomb. While Lucas manages to free himself and the Pokémon Trainer from Galleom's grasp, they are rescued from a fall by Meta Knight, and thus tag along with Marth's team as well.

Marth and his companions eventually arrive at the foot of the Glacial Peak, finding Meta Knight's ship, the Halberd, attacking the Great Fox. Meta Knight leaves Marth's team to scale the mountain in an attempt to board the Halberd. After a while, the Ice Climbers fall to where Marth and his team are, and are faced with more Primids until Mario, Link, Yoshi, Kirby, and Pit intervene.

Eventually, all heroic teams come together to track down the evil source at Subspace, discovering Tabuu as the one behind the Subspace Army. Everyone, including Marth, gets hit by Tabbu's Off Waves and turned into trophies. However, King Dedede had foreseen this happening, and created badges that revive whoever was wearing them. Reviving Luigi and Ness this way, King Dedede heads off with his companions to rescue a majority of the others, Marth included, before settling the score on Tabuu.

Shield Breaker
Shield Breaker is a special move used by Marth in Super Smash Bros. Melee. It is his neutral special move. Marth will continue on to hold his sword behind his head, and charge up for a sword slash. If the move is not charged up, it will not be capable of breaking shields in a single hit, but it will cause the shields to shrink considerably. He will only charge the move if the B Button is held. If not held, then Marth will use the attack without charging it up. This can be good if the foe is too close to Marth. Marth can not move while charging this attack, which can leave him open for attack.

If the attack is charged up to its limit, Marth will use the attack by himself, instead of waiting for the special button to be released. The move can sometimes have enough power for an instant KO. Also, when fully charged, the Shield Breaker can break shields quite easily. However, the move can be perfect shielded.

A similar move is Roy's Flare Blade attack. The only difference is that Flare Blade does more damage, and will hurt Roy if he charges the attack too far. Kirby is able to use this attack when he sucks up Marth. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Ike uses Eruption, a move that is similar to Marth's Shield Breaker.

Also in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Marth's Shield Breaker's appearance has slightly changed. It is now a stab instead of a vertical slice.

Dancing Blade
Dancing Blade is the name of a special move in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which is used by Marth. The attack works by pushing the Control Stick to the side, and then pressing the B Button. It has a very useful and unique effect to it. Once used, Marth will push his sword forward, hitting other players from afar. But, he can follow the move up with another one of his attacks, acting as a combo. He will be able to do combo of four attacks, and can severely damage the foe in the process. However, the timing has to be perfect, as the player can not rush the attack combo, nor wait too long, or else the attack will fail. A similar move is Roy's Double-Edge Dance.

One of the attacks that Marth uses with this move has Meteor Smash properties, which is the third attack when it is angled downwards.

Marth changes colors when using Dancing Blade, apparently showing the different types of combos that he is using (blue meaning up, red meaning neutral, and green meaning down). Roy will do the same if he is using Double-Edge Dance.

Dolphin Slash
Dolphin Slash is a recovery special move that Marth is able to use in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It is executed by pressing the B Button and tilting the Control Stick upwards. Marth should then swiftly jump high into the air, with his sword facing upwards. Dolphin Slash acts as Marth's third jump. If it happens to hit anyone on the way up, then they will be damaged. Roy has a similar attack called Blazer. Unlike Blazer, Dolphin Slash does not have a set knockback, as this attack can KO at high percentage. The move is also slightly similar to Mario's Super Jump Punch.

Counter
Counter is a special attack that can be used by both Marth and Roy in Super Smash Bros. Melee, as well as a special move in Super Smash Bros. Brawl used by Marth and Ike. The attack is performed by tilting the Control Stick downwards, and then pressing the B Button. Marth or Roy or Ike will crouch down, and hold their sword at the side of their head. Once an opponent comes to attack, they will miss, and Marth or Roy or Ike will automatically attack the foe. Marth's counter reacts quicker to the enemy's attack than Ike's but is not as powerful. The attack must be used quickly, as it won't work if it is kept out for too long. This is the main reason the attack is hard to master, let alone use. However, the attack is very useful once done right.

In Melee, Marth's Counter does up to 7% damage, regardless of the attack that he blocked. In Brawl, however, the damage that this move does is 1.1x the damage that Marth would have taken from the blocked attack.

When Marth uses Counter, he will say "Soko da", which translates to "There it is".

Lucario's move, Double Team, is very similar to this move, the difference being the damage dealt is affected by Lucario's damage percentage.

Critical Hit


Critical Hit is the name of Marth's Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. After Marth breaks open the Smash Ball, he charges up with power, and when the attack button is used, he swipes forward with his sword, hitting anyone with incredible force. He only hits once, unlike Ike, but anyone hit will almost always be KO'd, assuming there is not an obstacle in the way.

It could be considered one of the most useful Final Smashes in the game, assuming that Marth positions his opponents well. However, Critical Hit is also quite predictable, since the Final Smash takes time to execute, which gives opponents some time to evade the attack. The move also does not negate launch resistance, so it would not be able to KO any fighters who are in the invincibility frame portion of their attacks (Ex.: Ike's Aether). A Life Gauge similar to ones shown in Fire Emblem games appears when Marth uses Critical Hit.

One must be careful when using this move, for if Marth is in the air when it is activated, and there are no enemies or obstacles in the way, Marth will fly across the screen, usually killing himself unless on a bigger stage. This, however, can be avoided by pressing the "B" button (or the button used to activated the Final Smash), which will stop Marth's linear trajectory (and attack), and, if timed well, will ultimately result in avoiding his impending doom.

The Final Smash's usual one hit KO is a tribute to the Fire Emblem games. The reason the attack does 60% damage is because that was generally the max HP any character in the Fire Emblem games could attain. The attack itself is also like the "critical attack" motion in Fire Emblem games. Finally, the two bars (which seems to be exactly 60) shown on Marth's opponents when he does his Final Smash represent the 2 HP bars from the Fire Emblem games.

Solid Snake Codec Conversation

 * Mei Ling: Snake, have you heard the saying "Politics makes strange bedfellows"?
 * Snake: Don't tell me that's a Chinese proverb.
 * Mei Ling: Err, no... It means that when the going gets tough, you might need unexpected partnerships in order to succeed. Marth was a prince whose kingdom was usurped. He didn't even have an army to fight with him. But as he battled his way forward, he found new allies to fight at his side, and in the end, he was able to reunite the war-torn land of Altea.
 * Snake: So he built his army from the ranks of his defeated enemies...
 * Mei Ling: Marth did his share of fighting, too. Even when he had an army, he was always alongside his men in the thick of battle. Then he was betrayed by one of his most trusted friends. I can't even imagine how that feels...
 * Snake: I can.

Trivia

 * Marth only speaks Japanese in all versions of Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. This is because his only previous appearances were in Japan, until his starring role in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon for Nintendo DS in 2008. Marth is voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa, who also voiced him in a two-episode OVA simply titled Fire Emblem.
 * Marth was originally meant to only be in the Japanese version of Super Smash Bros. Melee, but he, along with Roy, received a lot of attention from Nintendo of America, so they were kept in. As a result, Western fans also became interested in Fire Emblem because of Super Smash Bros. Melee, and it helped Fire Emblem see releases outside of Japan.
 * Marth is the only character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl in which his back faces the camera when he faces right and his front faces the camera when he faces left. With all other characters, their front faces the camera when they face right, and vice versa.
 * Marth's name was originally translated as Mars, sharing his name with Mars, the Roman god of war.