| abstract
| - There are two main methods of edge-guarding. One is to run or jump off the stage and attack; this is often done by characters with great jumping ability, which includes multiple jumps and good recoveries, such as the Robo Burner. The other is to stay on the stage and attack the opponent when they recover, should they fail to sweetspot the ledge. This is mostly done with Down Smashes and Tilts, as they are often "sweep" moves, that tend hit low and cover more ground; some projectiles are also effective to edge-guard, such as Falco's Blaster and Samus' Charge Shot. Any character can edge-guard, although some are better at it than others. A character's ability to edgeguard offstage is determined by two factors: the length and safety of their recovery, and the utility of their aerial attacks. The most prominent example is Meta Knight, as his recovery is effectively immune to edgeguarding, and because his aerials are quick and send opponents on favorable trajectories. However, some characters are strong edgeguarders despite having sub-par recoveries; Ganondorf is the best example. His recovery is slow and short, but all of his aerials are deadly offstage. Certain characters are worse at defending themselves from edge-guards. These are generally characters with predictable recoveries (like Captain Falcon or Ike), slow recoveries (like Ness or Lucas), characters reliant on tether recoveries (like Olimar (Brawl only) or Ivysaur), or characters without a damaging recovery move (like Lucario (Brawl only) or Olimar (SSBWU/3DS only). Ness and Lucas fall on an even worse category since their recovery can be easily negated if the opponent manages to absorb/reflect/nullify their PK Thunder. In general, the recoveries of the cast have improved across the games. In Smash 64, aside from Pikachu and, to a smaller extent, Mario, all characters have predictable recoveries, leaving them vulnerable to edgeguards, which is further compounded by the game's high hitstun. Melee recoveries, while still rather predictable, are benefited by ledge-teching. Jigglypuff and Samus are well-known for their recovery ability, with the former having arguably the strongest edgeguarding ability in the game. Melee introduces meteor cancelling, which makes meteor smashes much less potent at securing offstage KO's. However, the increased falling speeds and gravity make semi-spikes more effective. Certain attacks, known as spikes, have downwards knockback that are not recognized as meteor smashes, and characters who posses these moves often utilize them in their edgeguarding, most notably Marth. In Brawl, recoveries are overall longer, and the larger ledge sweetspots, as well as the auto-sweetspot mechanic, make edgeguarding less effective. The meteor smash recognition window has been expanded, removing the spikes of the previous game. Meta Knight is infamous for his immunity to being edgeguarded, due to the his plethora of recovery options, with his recovery being the best not only in Brawl, but arguably the entire series, and this grants him his powerful offstage game. Brawl's floatier physics, low hitstun, meteor cancelling and the aforementioned changes to ledge sweetspots arguably make edge-guarding in this game the least effective out of all four iterations. In these three games, edgehogging is a commonly used tactic to stop opponents who aim their recoveries to the ledge. In Smash for 3DS/Wii U, recoveries on their own were generally buffed, and ledges were reworked to remove edgehogging, reducing the effectiveness of on-stage edge-guarding. However, meteor cancelling has been removed in Smash for 3DS/Wii U, making Meteor Smashes as deadly as they were in Smash 64, and planking is practically impossible since characters lose their ledge invincibility after re-grabbing the ledge repeatedly before getting up the stage. The new ledge-stealing mechanic (also known as Ledge Trumping) can set-up recovering opponents for an attack, most commonly a Back Aerial. The longer recoveries enforce and encourage more aggressive offstage play, as offstage edge-guarding carries much less risk than before, since an edge-guarder can no longer be edge-hogged if their attempt is unsuccessful. Also, the improvements to recoveries are not consistent across the cast. Marth's recovery is largely unchanged from before; Fox's recovery is twice as long as in Brawl, as Fox Illusion and Fire Fox can now be used in tandem; and Ganondorf's recovery is even worse due to his lowered air speed and the removal of grab-armor, and Charizard suffers severely with the loss of gliding. Most notably, the introduction of Little Mac marks him as the character whose recovery is undoubtedly the worst in the entire series. Lastly, in Smash for 3DS/Wii U, teching cannot be performed during hitlag, causing certain stage-spikes to be un-techable, and the new ledge mechanics make stage-spikes more common than in past games. All these changes have contributed to more offstage battles in competitive play, as edge-guarding is much safer while still rewarding if successful. As in Brawl, Meta Knight is noteworthy for his edge-guarding ability, along with characters who possess useful meteor smashes, particularly Captain Falcon and Ganondorf.
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