How to Wavedash in Super Smash Bros. Melee

Wavedashing is a technique in Super Smash Bros. Melee that is considered fundamental necessary to competitive play at all levels. Wavedashing has a plethora of applications and opens up the game to an entirely new level as it allows new approach options as well as offensive and defensive options such as wavedashing out of shield and waveshining as well as being a great tool for spacing or getting into a proper spot to attack without putting yourself in danger.

• Gamecube Controller or any controller that can be plugged into a computer
• Gamecube or Gamecube Emulator (Dolphin/Slippi)

• A copy of Super Smash Bros. Melee

All of these can be found at blippi.gg a resource for learning how to play SSBM on the computer.

Tap jump with either X/Y/Control Stick most people use X and Y as it is easier to input a short hop rather than a full hop as a full hop would carry your character too far away from the ground which would make the next step almost impossible. It also helps to understand jumpsquat which is the time in between the initial jump input and the jump animation coming out all 25 characters of Super Smash Bros. Melee have a jumpsquat between 3-6 frames long. A frame is 1/60 of a second since the game runs at 60 frames per secondm, the shorter the jumpsquat is the harder it is to wavedash as it requires a faster input as opposed to characters with longer jumpsquats.

Almost immediately after inputting the short hop hit the R or L shoulder buttons to airdodge and at the same time you hit the shoulder buttons push the Control stick ( the gray stick) into a downward angle. Eventually to lengthen the wavedash you can make the control more horizontal, something else that changes wavedashing is something character specific which is traction. Traction is how much a character slides after moving characters with lower traction e.g. Luigi, Ice Climbers, and Marth all have longer wavedashes since they slide further than most character.

At first your wavedashes will be choppy but as you learn the proper timing they will progressively become faster and more smooth. Keep in mind something that could be troublesome is mistiming your inputs this could be due to jumpsquat or not inputting the airdodge quick enough or too quickly. Eventually you'll be able to implement them into gameplay and use it in other ways such as...

Waveshining: waveshining is an advanced technique where you jump out of Falco or Foxes Down Special and perform a wavedash it is usually used as an offensive technique to either deal damage or deal shield pressure (attacking a person's shield to make them move or to break their shield).

Ledgedashing: Dropping from ledge and performing a wavedash back onto stage in order to maintain ledge invincibility allowing a player to return from ledge safely without taking damage.

Wavelanding: Basically ledgedashing but on platforms and the stage typically done from a fall to reduce landing lag or as a method to reach platforms quickly.