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, and the main protagonist of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light and its sequel Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem. The wielder of the Falchion, Marth's kingdom was betrayed by their allies and invaded by the Dolhr Empire, and he was forced to flee for several years. However, he would eventually return, gathering an army to take the kingdom back. He is one of the playable characters from the Fire Emblem series to appear in the Super Smash Bros. series, along with Roy, Ike, Robin, Lucina and Corrin.

Super Smash Bros. Melee


Marth first appears in the Super Smash Bros. series in Super Smash Bros. Melee as an unlockable character. His design in this title is based upon the one used in Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem. While Marth was a heavily-requested character in Japan, he and his series were unknown to Western audiences before Super Smash Bros. Melee. As such, he and Roy were originally planned to be Japan-exclusive characters, but were included in international versions due to insistence from Nintendo of America, helping to introduce Fire Emblem to the West. Marth can be unlocked by playing as every default character in a Melee match, clearing Classic with all of the default characters, or by playing 400 Melee matches, and then defeating Marth when he challenges the player. Reflecting the series' Japan-only status at the time, Marth keeps his Japanese voice clips in all versions of the game; Marth is voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa, reprising his role from the Japanese release of the Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem OVA.

Marth is a fast, average power character of below-average weight. However, all of his attacks are stronger when hitting opponents closer to the tip of his sword. His neutral special is Shield Breaker, a slash that can be charged to be more powerful that can also instantly break an opponent's shield when charged fully. His side special is Dancing Blade, a series of sword slashes that can be altered depending on the direction inputted on the control stick. His up special is Dolphin Slash, an upward slash that has Marth leaping into the air. Finally, his down special is Counter, in which Marth delivers a counterattack when hit.

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 Brawl matches, clearing 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.

Although Marth's moveset is unchanged, his Shield Breaker has been changed to a stabbing attack. He is also given a Final Smash: Critical Hit, a single powerful hit that almost always instantly KOs whoever it hits. In addition, the sweetspot on his sword has been made smaller, and his grab has a shorter 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, it tries to get away, but ends up falling into The Ruined Hall. It 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, every character comes together to track down the evil source at Subspace, discovering Tabuu as the one behind the Subspace Army. Everyone, including Marth, gets hit by Tabuu'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.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U
Marth is also a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U. He is one of the several unlockable characters from Super Smash Bros. Brawl who was made a starter for this game, with the others being Luigi, Toon Link, Lucario, Sonic, Captain Falcon, Ness (Wii U version only), Ganondorf (Wii U version only), and Jigglypuff (Wii U version only). Marth's appearance has been updated, incorporating elements from Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem and later games. Aside from this, his moveset is unchanged from the previous game, though most of his sword swinging attacks now feature a trail that glows brighter at the end to make the sweetspot more visible.

Super Mario Maker
Marth appears as a playable character in Super Mario Maker, as one of the Mystery Suits that are part of Costume Mario. He can be unlocked via amiibo, or as a randomly unlocked costume by clearing 100 Mario Challenge on Normal difficulty or higher. Marth's sprite in this game uses the basic structure of the Small Mario sprite while designed after his Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U appearance.

Snake's codec

 * 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.

Palutena's Guidance

 * Pit: Get a load of Mr. Fancy Pants here.
 * Viridi: Is that jealousy I detect in your voice, Pit?
 * Pit: Why would I be jealous of Marth?
 * Viridi: Well, he's a prince, for starters. A handsome prince. And you're just—
 * Palutena: Anyway, Prince Marth's most dangerous attack comes from the tip of his sword. Avoid his blade when you're at midrange.
 * Pit: So I should either attack him from a distance, or get up close and personal.
 * Palutena: He's got a counter as well, so be on guard when you go hand to hand. If you're attacking from afar, use items to improve your chances.

Trivia

 * Marth is the only character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl whose back is turned at the camera when he faces right and his front faces the camera when he faces left. All other characters do the opposite.
 * This is perhaps in reference to how the player characters are oriented in Marth's game series, with the players facing left during the normal fight scenes.