How to Play Super Smash Bros. Crusade

Smash Flash 2 is a fantastic fan game, and not only because it's a faithful recreation of Smash Bros. It's unique enough that it has a ton of techniques that are only found in this game - and not only that, but some of these are keyboard-only techniques! This already sets it apart from other PC fighting games, where keyboard is generally seen as suboptimal. Let's take a look at some of the basics, then get into the advanced techniques.

1. Basic Controls

The first thing you should do when you boot up the game is to go to the options and check your controls. There are a few extra options compared to a normal smash game. For instance, there's A-Smash, Smash Type and Walk Type. A-smash lets you set if you want the basic attack button to input smash attacks just like the normal smash games or not. Walk Type lets you choose how you want to start dashing. Double Tap, for instance, won't let you dash unless you double tap the walk button. And Smash Type lets you pick from a number of inputs to input  smash attacks.

Every single player has different preferences for controls, so set what personally feels good.

2. Basic Gameplay

Each character has the same amount of attacks. Six ground attacks, four smash attacks, five aerial attacks, four special moves, and a grab, complete with a pummel and four direction throws. Each character's normals and specials are unique and have different knockback and different hitboxes. 

On the ground, here are your six attacks: A dash attack, an attack that will always come out when you attack during a dash, a neutral jab, which is attacking while standing still, and four tilt attacks, which is inputted while tilting your stick in a certain direction.

You also have four smash attacks, inputted by either flicking the c stick in a certain direction or by smashing your directional stick (controller only) in a direction and inputting a normal attack at the same time.

You also have a grab, which has two versions - a dash grab, which is generally slower but has more range, and a standing grab. After you grab, if you input a normal attack, you will pummel your enemy - just don't pummel too long, because the enemy can escape your grab after a while. When you input a direction while grabbing your opponent, you will throw them generally in that direction.

Aerial attacks are inputted by jumping and then hitting the attack button. You have a Neutral Aerial, which is inputted while you're in the air and not inputting a direction. Then you have your directional aerials, which are inputted by inputting a direction and an attack. 

Lastly, each character has four special attacks. These are inputted by picking a direction and hitting the special attack or just hitting the special attack for a neutral one.

As for your defensive options, you have a shield and a dodge. To shield, hit the shield button. To dodge, input a direction while you're shielding. If you press down while shielding, you'll spot dodge, which makes you temporarily invincible and lets you punish moves quickly. If you press shield while in midair, you'll initiate an aerial dodge.

3. Advanced Techniques

Here are a few techniques for when you want to get better.

L-Cancelling: By pressing the shield or grab right before you hit the ground, you'll reduce the length of landing lag.

Double Jump Cancelling: Quickly attack after a double jump to cancel its upward acceleration. This only applies to characters with a special double jump like Yoshi, ness, Mewtwo, and more.

All in all, there's a ton of depth to this game! Take a look and you may be impressed.