In Super Smash Bros. Melee, the Marth vs. Fox matchup has been one of the most heavily debated ones for years now. Lately, the prevailing opinion has been that Marth beats Fox, but it is by no means a matchup that Fox cannot win and there are many advantages he has over Marth. One big advantage is Fox’s ability to chase Marth down with a combination of his quick moves and fast running speed. For that reason, Marth’s must be prepared to use zoning against Fox at any given moment.

The goal of this article will be to go over how to use Marth’s moves to wall Fox out and protect yourself in the neutral. Since Fox is a character with such a good full hop and movement speed, he is easily able to attack from any angle. As such it is vital to be able to protect yourself in a variety of ways. That being said though the biggest thing isn’t necessarily going to be having a variety of moves to use in each situation, but instead having a variety of ways to use those moves.

Now, let’s look at the breakdown of how this article will look. I will be going over the most important moves to use to wall Fox out and how to use them to best defend yourself against Fox’s offense. I will be breaking this down between three different moves. The first move is down-tilt, the second move is neutral aerial, and the last move is forward aerial. The sections for down-tilt and neutral aerial will be relatively straight forward as I will only be discussing one advantage that each has. As for forward aerial though, that will be broken down into using forward aerial to stop grounded approaches, using forward aerial to stop short hop approaches, and using forward aerial to stop full hop approaches. Finally, as a bonus, we’ll look at the use of approaching grab to protect yourself from certain approaches,

For various reasons, all of the previously mentioned moves from Marth are necessary. Some of the tools are useful more often than others, but I truly believe all of these tools are necessary to protect yourself against Fox. Without any one of these tools, you leave yourself consistently susceptible to certain strategies depending on the situation.

So, we’re about ready to move on, but there is an important note to keep in mind. Although when done correctly Marth’s zoning can stop all of Fox’s direct approaches, these are still mix-ups and you can just get outplayed sometimes. In addition, there are things that zoning with aerials and tilts will not beat. The biggest ones being close up movement and shielding. With that all in mind though, let’s get to defending by attacking.

Protecting Yourself with Down-Tilt

Marth’s down-tilt is one of his best tools for quickly covering the ground in front of him without having to commit too hard. Often, you’ll see Marth approach with down-tilt by running or wavedashing forward. This can easily allow Marth to safely move forward and potentially gain frame advantage. The ability to protect yourself with down-tilt though, especially after whiffing an attack, makes it a powerful tool on the defensive end as well.

For this article, we’re going to be looking at down-tilt specifically as the tool to use against Fox trying to use a direct grounded approach. This will be broken down into two parts. The first part is protecting yourself with down-tilt after whiffing, and the second part is reacting to movement forward in order to preemptively protect yourself with down-tilt.

First off, we have the use of down-tilt after whiffing. Oftentimes Fox is looking to whiff punish Marth with a grounded approach like grab or running shine. Fox will be looking for Marth to whiff an attack as his cue to come in. Because of this though, many Foxes will move in without much regard to the distance between you and your opponent after you whiff or the lag of the move you just used. By using down-tilt after whiffing in these spots you can easily intercept Fox for trying to punish you. A common example that happens is use an in-place aerial such as neutral aerial as Marth and the opposing Fox responds by trying to punish by using something like a running shine, so by using down-tilt you prevent that opening.

Second, we have the use of down-tilt to preemptively protect yourself in the neutral. Fox will often look to chase Marth down with running down-tilt or running shine since those tools are great for catching movement away which Marth excels at using. Often times if you read the situation correctly there are moves that are better to use than down-tilt to wall your opponent out when reacting in neutral, but down-tilt being a move with ridiculous forward reach and incredibly low lag gives it enough advantages to be an important tool in these situations. One example of a situation that could easily occur is Fox preemptively comes in with a running shine to try to read you moving away, so in response to him forward you use down-tilt as Marth which will stuff out his forward movement before he even has the chance to get shine out.

Protecting Yourself with Forward Aerial

Forward aerial is what I would argue is Marth’s best tool for zoning, especially against Fox. This move’s ability to protect Marth from any type of approach while also potentially leading to bigger punishes is something that very few characters can match with a single move. This tool isn’t perfect, especially because of the short amount of time it has a hitbox out, but it really can do it all when used correctly. Really, the biggest thing to note before moving on is that you can’t just throw this move out randomly and expect to protect yourself consistently.

For this next section, we’re going to be looking at forward aerial’s ability to stop three different types of direct approaches from Fox. The first type of approach is a grounded approach, the second type of approach is a short hop approach, and the third and final type of approach is a full hop approach.

First off, we have grounded approaches from Fox. There are four main grounded approaches that Fox has against Marth. Those are dash in grab, running down tilt, running shine, and dash attack. In the situation where you read a grounded approach, you’re going to want to use a short hop backward late forward aerial. Because of dash attack’s ability to scoop underneath Marth if he does an early aerial late forward aerial is a necessary addition to beat grounded approaches from Fox. A common situation that will occur is Fox approaches with dash attack reading either movement away or an early aerial, so to beat that Marth uses a short hop backwards to move ever so slightly out of the way of the dash attack and then wall Fox out with a late forward aerial.

Next, we have short hop approaches from Fox. There are two main short hop approaches that Fox has against Marth. Those approaches are short hop neutral aerial and short hop down aerial. In the situation where you read a grounded approach, you’re going to want to use an in-place early short hop forward aerial. Against a short hop down aerial from Fox, the type of forward aerial used doesn’t really matter, but because of the ability of Fox’s short hop neutral aerial approach to beat out delayed aerials before they come out, it’s necessary to have early forward aerials to beat those short hop approaches out. A common situation that will occur is Fox approaches with short hop neutral aerial in an attempt to read movement forward or a late aerial from Marth, so to beat that Marth uses an in-place short hop into an early forward aerial which will wall out Fox.

Finally, we have full hop approaches from Fox. This type of approach is very tricky to deal with due to its ability to get over zoning completely. There are two main full hop approaches that Fox has against Marth. Those approaches are full hop neutral aerial and full hop down aerial. You can also argue that full hop aerial is an important one to consider, but the main two are definitely neutral aerial and down aerial. Because of the ability of full hop approaches to easily get around early short hop aerial attempts from Marth, it is often necessary to use something like a full hop forward aerial or a slightly delayed in place short hop forward aerial in order to wall Fox out. A common situation that will occur is Fox approaches with a full hop down aerial in an attempt to get around an in place early aerial or an in-place grounded move, so to beat that Marth will use an in-place short hop into a slightly delayed forward aerial to catch Fox as he’s falling.

Protecting Yourself with Neutral Aerial

Of the three main defensive moves that Marth has, I would argue neutral aerial is the least important but, even with that being said, it is still a necessary tool to have. This move may not cover as far horizontally as down-tilt and may not above and in front like forward aerial, but the big thing it does have is the ability to knock down at earlier percents.

Short hop neutral aerial can be used to stuff out grounded or short hop approaches based on how it’s used. Also, as I stated before it will knock down at early percents than either of your other main defensive moves. This is a very important thing to note due to the prevalence of ASDI down in the modern Melee meta. This means that getting away with openings that really shouldn’t work is much harder nowadays. Because of this, you need enough tools to make your zoning threatening at all times, which is why neutral aerial is the final piece of the puzzle. A common situation that will occur is Fox will approach with a running shine while he’s at relatively low percents and due to going for a running shine he’s going to be using ASDI down. By using an in-place short hop neutral aerial, you can wall Fox out and force a knockdown against the use of ASDI down at lower percents than you would with other tools and not have to worry about getting the tipper hit because of how neutral aerials hitbox works.

Protecting Yourself with Grab

Approaching grab isn’t really zoning, but it can defend you against certain approaches with a much bigger reward than any of your other tools. Due to Marth’s large grab range, approaching with grab can be used to beat out any of Fox’s direct grounded approach and can even be used to beat out short hop approaches before Fox leaves the ground if he is attempting to overshoot. In fact, Marth is the only top tier that can reliably outrange Fox’s down-tilt with a grab. A common situation is Fox will attempt to use a running down-tilt to read movement away from Marth, so by approaching with a grab as Marth you can beat out that grounded approach and get your most rewarding opening,

A Conclusion to Marth vs. Fox

As you’ve seen above, Marth is a character with the ability to protect himself from any of Fox’s direct approaches. The key here though is keeping your rotation of options simple. Deviating from neutral aerial, down-tilt, or forward aerial can be useful, but deviating should be thought of as an exception and not the rule. Furthermore, it’s important to note again that zoning can’t beat everything and will lose to things like aggressive movement. For that reason, it’s important to have an understanding of all your tools as Marth. Those other tools are for a discussion another time though. With that all in mind though, it’s time to get to defending by attacking.

Check out the Energy Pro Dignitas gaming chair for a whole new realm of design and comfort!