With only twenty-six characters in the game, it's hard to believe that the competitive gameplay for the same character would differ. Luckily, personality and playstyle play a massive part in the entertainment value for spectators of Super Smash Bros. Melee. When a game offers the ability to unleash creativity on your combo game, it's difficult to not have favourite moves and techniques that make your character your own. To make a character personal to you is important, so we asked Joey "Lucky" Aldama what his favourite moves are and how they are useful!

Shine

Shine is a frame one move that makes Fox invincible for that one frame then can stay out as long as you'd like it to. After frame one, the shine can reflect projectiles such as Falco's lasers and Samus' charge shots. The move is a huge tool in so many match-ups. With lighter characters such as Peach and Marth, waveshining is a great tool to use in the match-up. More often than not, Marth will be waveshined to the edge in which he must fast fall; this forces him to play his game from the ledge. If Marth fails the fast fall to ledge, Fox can jump out and use shine again and take the stock very quickly. Peach is usually waveshined into an up-smash as her floatiness can make it difficult to combo her in any other way. In the Ice Climbers match-up, it's a great tool to use to split up the Ice Climbers which drastically lowers your chance of being wobbled. The list goes on! It has endless uses for each match-up. The versatility of this move is so great, from edgeguarding to combo game, reflection to shield pressure, the possibilities make this move one of the most powerful moves in the game.

Lucky: The fact that you can jump cancel shine means that there are pretty much infinite ways that shine can be useful. Waveshining will be a timeless tool in Melee since you can combo characters that slide from it with grab, up-smash, up-tilt, aerial attacks, and more. Characters that fall over can be forced to stand up with a jab reset, or even combo'd with a down-tilt. Personally, using double shine into neutral-air or grab on someone's shield is easily my favorite way to use the move. It's pretty hard for shine to be used in a bad way but using it after teching is probably the worst way to use it. You are essentially hoping your opponent will mistime or space their tech chase and run into the shine.

Down-Air

This seven hit move does 2-3% with each hit and is great on shield, providing it is done safely. Down air is amazing for shine combos, especially against characters that slide along the ground when hit by shine. This is because down-air is the only aerial that holds them in place and helps set up for waveshine. Depending on how it connects, you can combo into moves such as grab, up-smash, and up-tilt. This specifically will work if you hit the last drill just before you hit the floor, as they will still be in hit stun, and you can act and follow up with the aforementioned moves. It takes five frames for the first hit to come out, stays for two frames, and disappears for one. This continues until the move has finished on its seventh hit.

Lucky: Down-air is amazing for destroying crouch canceling where moves like neutral-air at low percent can be crouch canceled into grab or other fast moves. It's also amazing for forcing characters to stand up on a platform if you can catch them missing a tech, or even hit, confirming into grab and up-tilt. Ledgehop down-air is a common panic option for Fox players when they're forced onto the ledge with their opponent nearby. Obviously, if it works, you can get a very good pay out but it's also very easy to outspace.

First Hit Up-Air

First hit up-air is a great combo extender. It keeps them in place for just an extra moment so that you can set up your next move. It's like an aerial jab in the sense that they don't move far away from you, so it sets you up for your next move, which is usually a hard hitting move to finish the combo. Sometimes, if they're not too far from the floor, you can catch them with a first hit up-air and follow up with an up-tilt or an up-smash to start your combo instead of ending it. It comes out on the eighth frame of Fox's up-air animation and is followed by the second hit two frames later.

Lucky: First hit up-air is one of my favorite moves just because of the style it can add to your combo game. There will most likely always be a better option you can go for since your opponent can smash DI the attack, making follow-ups very hard. I've thought of a follow-up for almost every type of Smash DI, but since it's so fast you have to guess with your follow-up instead of reacting. My favorites are easily up-tilt or grab though!

Back-Air

Back-air is one of the most common kill moves that Fox has, alongside up-air and up-smash. It's relatively fast, as it comes out on the fourth frame and stays out for a further fifteen frames. When spaced well, it's hard for opponents to get close to Fox in neutral. Soft back-air is very useful for continuing combos in mid percent situations. It's useful for edgeguarding, neutral and combo game so it's an all-round great move that covers Fox's hurtbox really well.

Lucky: Back-air is a pretty straight forward move and does a decent amount of damage. The hitbox is amazing and it even extends a little past Fox's foot, which is absolutely amazing for outspacing out of shield moves and crouch cancel options. Although, if you hit with anything from his shin or higher, you'll be in real danger of being punished by those options."

Jab

Jab is a super fast move, coming out on the second frame and extending out in front of Fox on the third frame. After the third frame, the hitbox immediately disappears and it takes Fox a further fifteen frames for his recovery animation to play out. It's great for stunning an opponent in place so you can set up for an up-smash kill. It can also be great for shield pressure. Jab reset is a fantastic technique too as it forces your opponent to stand up, which limits their options; they no longer have the ability to wait for a reaction nor are they able to roll or get up attack.

Lucky: Jab being able to reset an opponent, into standing up, after a waveshine or hit, confirms to up-smash at high percents literally completes the move. It also looks really cool in my opinion.

Fox is arguably the best character in the game and his moveset is so strong, that it can be hard to debate otherwise. Though these are just some of Lucky's favourite moves, Fox still has a range of moves that are really strong tools in competitive gameplay. These are just some of Lucky's favourites, but what are yours?

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