Marth

## How Marth joined the Tourney

The first game in what would become the long-running tactical role-playing medieval high fantasy series Fire Emblem, released on the Famicom (Japanese NES) and titled Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragons and the Blade of Light), introduced Marth as the main character. His design was noticeably different from his modern-day incarnation. The second game in the series, Fire Emblem Gaiden, took place on the same fictional world but on a different continent and was only tangentially related to the first and did not feature Marth. The third game however, titled Fire Emblem: Monsho no Nazo ("Secret of the Crest") and released on Super Famicom (Super NES) early in 1994, was both a remake of the original game and a continuation of that game's story. Marth underwent a character redesign to resemble the more "bishounen" prince he is portrayed as in today's modern image of him, and he became the only FE -series main character to feature in a starring role from the start of the game in more than one FE title. In both these games, his in-game unit is the only one that belongs to the Lord character class, and that became tradition with all main starring characters of subsequent FE titles, being units that must be kept alive and start out weak but become very powerful over the course of each game.

## Character Select Screen Animation

Marth does Sophitia's Soul Calibur II character select screen animation saying "There's no need to go after those who fled!"

## Special Attacks

### Shield Breaker (Neutal)

Shield Breaker does not deliver as much damage and knockback and lacks an explosion effect, but charges much faster and does not deal any recoil to Marth when released at full charge. True to its name, it deals high shield damage, and will break any shield when fully charged. Like in *Brawl*, the animation of this move is a single poweful stab.

### Dancing Blade (Side)

This is a unique special move, as it consists of four different attacks chained together; a variety of combos can be performed depending on one's tilt on the control stick or d-pad for each attack. This makes it one of exceptionally few attacks in the *Super Smash Bros.* series which relies on this type of input - most attacks require only one direction.

### Dolphin Slash (Up)

Dolphin Slash's damage and knockback is strongest in its first few frames of attack. The longer the attack is out, the weaker it gets. It's best used point blank if it's meant to be used as an attack, since the later frames of the attack are weaker than the beginning frames. It can be slightly angled forward.

### Counter (Down)

Marth will strike a pose and a small, metallic "chink" sound will be heard. For about a second, any attack other than a grab which the character using Counter is struck by will turn them invincible for the duration of their retaliating swing. Marth's Counter deals up to 7% damage, regardless of the attack.

### Hyper Shield Breaker (Hyper Smash)

Same as Shield Breaker, except much stronger.

### Critical Hit (Final Smash)

Marth launches himself sideways, attacking the first character he meets with a OHKO

## Victory Animations

1. Marth sheaths his sword and says "Today, I have survived.".
2. Marth turns with pride, spins his sword then clashes it to the ground, and says "This time it's my victory, isn't it?".
3. Marth [oses with his sword sheathed and his right arm out and says "There's no way I can lose!".

## On-Screen Appearance

Marth warps onto the stage using warp magic with a twirl and unsheathes his sword saying "My soldiers are tired, many have not slept since we left Tallis.".

## Trivia

* This is the second time Marth speaks English, the first was the English dub of the Fire Emblem anime.
* Marth shares his Japanese voice actor with Mitsuhide and Tyler Archer.
* Like Young Link, should the player select Japanese language, Marth uses recycled voice clips from *Melee*.
* Stargirl is Marth's rival.