For fighter info, seeMarth (SSBM),Marth (SSBB),Marth (SSB4), andMarth (SSBU).

Marth
Official artwork of Marth fromFire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem and theFire Emblem Trading Card Game.
Universe	Fire Emblem
Debut	Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light (1990)
Smash Bros. appearances	Melee Brawl SSB4 Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance	WarioWare: Move It! (2023, cameo)
Console/platform of origin	Famicom
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Place of origin	Altea
Created by	Shouzou Kaga
Voice actor	Hikaru Midorikawa (SSBM/SSBB/SSB4)
Englishvoice actor	Yuri Lowenthal (Ultimate)
Japanesevoice actor	Hikaru Midorikawa (Ultimate)
Article on Fire Emblem Wiki	Marth

Marth (マルス,Marth; formerly translated asMars prior toSuper Smash Bros. Melee) is the main protagonist of four games in theFire Emblem series of tactical role-playing games. He debuted in the first and third games,Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light andFire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, and later reprised his role in the Nintendo DS remakes of these two games. He made his first appearance in theSuper Smash Bros. series as a playable character inSuper Smash Bros. Melee and has appeared in every proceeding game since. At the time, noFire Emblem games had ever been released outside Japan, but his popularity inMelee (along with that of his counterpartRoy) is believed to have influenced Nintendo's decision to release almost all subsequentFire Emblem games internationally.

Origin[edit]

Marth was introduced in the firstFire Emblem game,Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light for the Famicom, which was later remade for Nintendo DS asFire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. While he was absent from the tangentially-related second game in the series,Fire Emblem Gaiden, Marth's role and place in the story of Archanea was later expanded on in the third game,Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, released on the Super Famicom in early 1994.Mystery of the Emblem featured both a remake of the original game and a continuation of that game's story, and the continued story was itself later remade for Nintendo DS asFire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem: Heroes of Light and Shadow.Mystery of the Emblem was adapted into adirect-to-video anime, which was released in Japan in 1996. It starredHikaru Midorikawa as the voice of Marth, and he would reprise the role inSuper Smash Bros. Melee. The anime was dubbed in English and released in the U.S. in 1998, and it starredSpike Spencer as the voice of Marth. Marth's name is translated as "Mars" in the anime's English release; it is an alternate reading of his Japanese name.

Marth is the prince ofAltea, one of the Seven Kingdoms of the continent ofArchanea. He is descended from the family of a legendary hero,Anri, who once used the "blade of light",Falchion, to defeat the sinister dragon-emperorMedeus. Marth is characterized as a courageous, good-natured, and honorable man. He takes his royal responsibilities to his people very seriously, always putting their needs first, no matter how troubled he is by developments in his own personal life. As a leader, he not only cares deeply about his friends and comrades but believes that he could not have achieved anything himself without their support. Later appearances tend to emphasize Marth's determination to save as many people as possible and ensure that none of his comrades die, even in seemingly hopeless situations.

In Marth's first adventure, told inShadow Dragon and the Blade of Light and its remakes, Medeus has been revived by the sorcererGharnef and has conquered almost all of Archanea, and by the time that the games begin Marth has spent two years in exile in the remote island kingdom ofTalys with his future wife, PrincessCaeda. The games follow his quest in theWar of Shadows, in which he forms a coalition with PrincessNyna of theHoly Kingdom of Archanea and PrinceHardin ofAurelis to fight back against Medeus and his dragon empire,Dolhr, and gain the power to fight Gharnef so that he can retrieve Falchion and rescue his abducted sister,Elice.

The second story inMystery of the Emblem begins three years after the first game's events and follows Marth as he is confronted by Hardin, now the Emperor of Archanea and corrupted by Gharnef. After Hardin conquers Altea and declares Marth a traitor, Marth and his allies embark on a journey through Archanea's northern wilderness and follow the legendary path once taken by Anri, where he learns the true history of the dragons and their role in shaping the history of Archanea. Marth is given the task of repairing the titularFire Emblem shield to restore its ability to seal away theearth dragons, a malevolent species of a dragon to which Medeus belongs. The game ends with Marth defeating Medeus for the final time, uniting all seven of Archanea's kingdoms into one with himself as its king, and his marriage to Caeda. Later generations would remember him as the legendary "Hero-King".

In his starring games, Marth has given the uniquelordcharacter class: as the commander of his army, it is necessary for him toseize castles and thrones held by enemy armies to complete chapters and progress in his quest, but if he is defeated in battle, the game is over and the player must restart from their last save point. He is also the only unit who is able to visit villages to receive the items, money, or new recruits that they offer. In battle, he plays as a jack-of-all-trades who lacks the greater statistical advantages of other classes, but has a unique advantage in his relatively powerful exclusive weapons, includingrapiers (lightweight and effective against both heavy armor and cavalry) and Falchion (effective against dragons and cannot be broken, among various other abilities in specific games).

As the first lord in theFire Emblem series, Marth established many trends in both narrative and gameplay roles that later series protagonists, such asRoy andChrom, would closely follow. The majority ofFire Emblem protagonists share the lord class with Marth, with only a few notable exceptions, such asIke andCorrin. Despite only being the star of four out of the series' sixteen games, Marth is treated by Intelligent Systems as the face of the entireFire Emblem series.

Outside of his own games, Marth is also a minor part of the backstory ofFire Emblem: Awakening, and two of its protagonists,Chrom andLucina, are his distant descendants. He has made frequent appearances as an optional bonus character, unrelated to the main story, in manyFire Emblem games fromAwakening onward; he is available inAwakening via SpotPass and DLC,Fire Emblem Fates viaamiibo as a recruitable unit, andFire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia via amiibo as an illusory unit. He features prominently inFire Emblem crossover media, including the video gamesFire Emblem Heroes, andFire Emblem Warriors as one of their many playable characters, and the series' two trading card games. Most recently,Fire Emblem Engage features Marth as one of the game's numerous Emblems, ethereal clones of protagonists from various otherFire Emblem games who dwell within special rings.

InSuper Smash Bros.[edit]

Neither Marth nor anyFire Emblem content appears in the original game. However, according to an interview fromThe Making of Fire Emblem – 25th Anniversary Development Secrets, Awakening and Fates,Masahiro Sakurai wanted to include Marth as a playable character in that game but was unable to do so due to time constraints.^[1]

In an official poll held onSmabura-Ken (the game's official Japanese website) regarding characters for a potential sequel to the first game, Marth placed 11th with 21 votes.^[2]

InSuper Smash Bros. Melee[edit]

As a playable character[edit]

Marth as he appears inSuper Smash Bros. Melee.

Marth makes hisSmash debut as anunlockable character inMelee. His design is loosely based on his appearance fromFire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, except his hair, cape, and shoes being a darker blue, along with his shoulder pads having silver rims instead of yellow. He can be unlocked in one of the three ways: using all fourteen starter characters at least once each in Vs. Mode matches, beat or fail Classic mode with all fourteen starter characters on any difficulty, or play 400 Vs. mode matches. In each of these cases, Marth must be battled one-on-one to be unlocked.

Fire Emblem games were Japan-exclusive whenMelee was being developed, and the developers' decision to add Marth toMelee was made knowing he could be cut from its non-Japanese versions.^[3] He was ultimately kept in all versions after positive reception from their non-Japanese partners;^[3] this even extended to his Japanese dialogue. Marth is one of two characters inMelee that only speak Japanese in every version, with the other being fellowFire Emblem fighterRoy.

Marth is one of the game's most effective fighters, currently ranking 2nd on theMeleetier list. His strengths include the longreach and faststartup of his sword attacks, the excellent damage andknockback thesweetspot on the tip of his blade deals, his moderately fast dash, long grab, useful floatywavedash, excellentedgeguarding capabilities, easy and efficient combos, and greatSHFFL, with his drawbacks being his lack of a projectile, highendlag on his moves and a laggy up special. Marth's "clone",Roy, has attacks that are almost identical in animation, and many "Marth vs. Roy" debates ensued in the years followingMelee's release, but professional analysis places Marth in a higher tier than Roy because he lacks Marth's subtle but vital advantages.

All of Marth's standard and special attacks involve him using his sword, theFalchion.

Trophies[edit]

As with the other playable characters inMelee, Marth has three trophies which are obtained by defeating the single-player modes - a normal trophy fromClassic Mode and two "Smash" trophies fromAdventure andAll-Star Modes respectively.

Marth's Classic Mode trophy inMelee

Marth

The betrayed prince of the Kingdom of Altea, the blood of the hero Anri flows in Marth's veins. He was forced into exile when the kingdom of Dolua invaded Altea. Then, wielding his divine sword Falchion, he led a revolt and defeated the dark dragon Medeus. Afterwards, Altea was annihilated by King Hardin of Akanea.

Fire Emblem (Japan Only)

Marth's Adventure Mode trophy inMelee

MarthSMASH

Marth is a magnificent swordsman. While his swordplay is faster than that of Link, he lacks power, and his quickness is offset by a marginal endurance. His Shield Breaker gains power the longer it's held. The Dancing Blade combination uses both the Control Stick and the B Button to produce a series of up to four attacks.

B: Shield Breaker

Smash B: Dancing Blade

Marth's All-Star Mode trophy inMelee

MarthSMASH

The tip of Marth's blade causes the most damage, so you should try to create adequate distance between you and your enemy to gracefully strike with that point. Marth's Dolphin Slash is fast and powerful, but it leaves him vulnerable upon landing. Marth uses Counter to block a foe's attack and deal a return strike. If you're fighting a Counter-happy Marth, grab him.

Up & B: Dolphin Slash

Down & B: Counter

InSuper Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]

As a playable character[edit]

Marth as he appears inSuper Smash Bros. Brawl.

Marth returns as an unlockable playable character. His appearance is still based on his design fromFire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, and he is the only character that only speaks Japanese in every version. Marth's voice actor fromMelee mentioned in his "Target Lockon!!" column in Dengeki Playstation Vol. 414 that he was not actually called back to record new lines forBrawl.^[4] Marth has a superior reach to most characters in the game and relies on the length of his sword to effectively zone against his opponents. While his changes are mixed, he was somewhat nerfed fromMelee like many other higher-tier characters. He is currently in the A- tier according to the official SBR tier list.

Trophy[edit]

Marth's trophy inBrawl

Marth

The prince of Altea, in whose veins the blood of heroes runs. He and a small group of stalwarts fought to free Altea after it was invaded by the kingdom of Doluna and the dark dragon, Medeus. With his divine sword, Falchion, he fought and defeated Medeus. However, Altea was then invaded by King Hardin of Akaneia and eventually destroyed.

The Prince of Altea, in whose veins the blood of heroes runs. He and a small group of stalwarts fought to free Altea after it was invaded by the kingdom of Doluna and the dark dragon, Medeus. With his divine sword, Falchion, he fought and defeated Medeus. However, Altea was then invaded by King Hardin of Akaneia and eventually destroyed.

:Fire Emblem (Japan Only)

Sticker[edit]

Name	Game	Effect	Fighter(s)
Marth	Fire Emblem: Monshō no Nazo	Attack +19	Marth Ike

Marth (Fire Emblem Monsho no Nazo)

InSuper Smash Bros. 4[edit]

As a playable character[edit]

Marth as he appears inSuper Smash Bros. 4.

Marth returns as a playable character inSuper Smash Bros. 4. Marth is now a starter character, as opposed to being an unlockable character as he was inMelee andBrawl. He has been visually updated to closely match his design fromFire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem: Heroes of Light and Shadow, although Falchion retains its design from the originalFire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem. He is one of five characters that only speak Japanese in every version; the others areTakamaru, thePrince of Sablé, Roy, andCloud.

During the initial release ofSSB4, Marth was considerably nerfed, with few noteworthy buffs. These nerfs left him with less mobility and range relative to the cast (though his own range had been improved from Brawl), weakening his neutral game and depriving him of his potent comboing and punishing capabilities from previous games. Because of this, he had previously seen a huge drop in his tier placement. However, he has since received multiple buffs in update patches, with the most notable patch,1.1.4, granting him improvements to his aerial combos and juggling game, as well as granting bigger tipperhitboxes, and higher damage output on several attacks. As a result, Marth is reasonably better than he was during the initial release ofSSB4, and has since seen significantly improved tournament results. Overall, although he's still considered fairly nerfed fromBrawl, he ranks highly on theSSB4 tier list, ranking 11th out of 54 characters (tying withRyu).

Trophies[edit]

Marth's trophy inSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

Marth's trophy inSuper Smash Bros. for Wii U

Marth

The first hero from the Fire Emblem series, Marth is the prince of Altea and descendant of the hero Anri. In Smash Bros., he's known as an exceptional swordfighter, swinging his blade with grace. Striking with the tip will maximize the damage dealt. Teach aggressive foes a lesson with his strong Counter move.

:Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light (Japan)

:Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem (Japan)

Marth, the prince of Altea, is the hero of the first ever Fire Emblem game and its remake, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon. In this game, his graceful sword skills are what set him apart. Strike with the tip of his blade to deal extra damage, and use his Counter skill to defend yourself, no matter which direction you're being attacked from.

:Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light (1990 (JP))

:Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem (1994 (JP))

Marth (Alt.)'s trophy inSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

Marth (Alt.)'s trophy inSuper Smash Bros. for Wii U

Marth (Alt.)

Marth's side special Dancing Blade is a four-stage attack. Aim and time your strikes carefully! The tip of his sword does the most damage. For his up smash, Justice Sword, he thrusts his blade into the air. You can use it to block attacks from above and launch nearby foes.

:Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light (Japan)

:Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem (Japan)

Marth's side special, Dancing Blade, is a four-stage attack. Aim and time your strikes carefully! As usual, the tip of his sword does the most damage. For his up smash, Justice Sword, he thrusts his blade into the air. You can use it to block attacks from above, and even to launch nearby enemies off the ground.

:Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light (1990 (JP))

:Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem (1994 (JP))

InSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]

As a playable character[edit]

Marth as he appears inSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Marth returns as a playable character inSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate, as with all previous characters. He uses a more detailed version of theNew Mystery of the Emblem design fromSSB4, and now has a different hairstyle to match his more recent appearances in titles such asFire Emblem Heroes. Like inMelee andBrawl, Marth is an unlockable character.

Ultimate is the firstSuper Smash Bros. game in which Marth is voiced in English in overseas versions, along with fellowFire Emblem fighter Roy. Marth specifically is voiced in English byYuri Lowenthal, his English voice actor in all appearances fromCode Name: S.T.E.A.M. onwards. In Japanese, Hikaru Midorikawa returns to voice Marth with new voice clips for the first time sinceMelee.^[4][1][5]

As Marth was a high or top tier character in all of his previous appearances, he received a mix of buffs and nerfs in the transition fromSmash 4 toUltimate, but was nerfed overall. While he received buffs both directly and from some universal changes, the faster pace ofUltimate combined with the removal of micro spacing techniques likeperfect pivoting makes it more difficult to land his tipper sweet spots, which paired with his jab no longer being an effective combo starter, makes his KO ability less consistent. While Marth received buffs in updates that made some of his tippers easier to hit, he still sees little representation in tournaments, with many players considering him outclassed by Lucina. As a result of this, Marth currently ranks 55th out of 82 on the current tier list, placing him in the C+ tier.

Spirit[edit]

Names in other languages[edit]

Language	Name
Japanese	マルス,Marth
English	Marth
French	Marth
German	Marth
Spanish	Marth
Italian	Marth
Chinese (Simplified)	马尔斯,Marth
Chinese (Traditional)	馬爾斯,Marth
Korean	마르스,Marth
Dutch	Marth
Russian	Марс
Portuguese	Marth

Trivia[edit]

• Marth andMario are the only characters in theSuper Smash Bros. series to have two different clones, Marth's beingRoy inMelee andLucina inSSB4.
  • InSuper Smash Bros. 4, both Marth and Mario each have one full clone (Lucina andDr. Mario, respectively) and one semi-clone (Roy andLuigi, respectively).
  • CountingChrom as an indirect semi-clone, Marth has the most combined clones and semi-clones of any character at three.
• Marth is the only playableFire Emblem character:
  • To debut in the 20th century.
  • To appear in everySuper Smash Bros. game since the debut of his universe inMelee, as Roy was cut fromBrawl.
  • Created by Shouzou Kaga, who stopped working onFire Emblem games in 1999.
• Despite wearing armor, Marth has always been somewhat light since his debut, being tied with Lucina for the lightestweight among all of theFire Emblem fighters.
• Not countingFinal Smash transformations, Marth has the fastestwalking speed in every game: he is tied withFox inMelee, and Lucina inSSB4 andUltimate.

References[edit]

v • d • e Fire Emblem universe
Fighters	Marth (SSBM ·SSBB ·SSB4 ·SSBU) ·Roy (SSBM ·SSB4 ·SSBU) ·Ike (SSBB ·SSB4 ·SSBU) ·Lucina (SSB4 ·SSBU) ·Robin (SSB4 ·SSBU) ·Corrin (SSB4 ·SSBU) ·Chrom (SSBU) ·Byleth (SSBU)
Assist Trophies	Lyn ·Black Knight ·Tiki
Stages	Castle Siege ·Arena Ferox ·Coliseum ·Garreg Mach Monastery
Item	Killing Edge
Other	Sothis
Trophies,Stickers andSpirits	Trophies (SSBM ·SSBB ·SSB4) ·Stickers ·Spirits
Music	Brawl ·SSB4 ·Ultimate
Masterpieces	Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light ·Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem

• Characters
• Fire Emblem universe
• Marth
• Trophies (SSBM)
• Trophies (SSBB)
• Trophies (SSB4-3DS)
• Trophies (SSB4-Wii U)
• Stickers
• Spirits

• Featured articles