Roy has a unique position in Melee's low tier, because he is a clone of a top-tier character, Marth. A discussion of Roy's strengths and weaknesses usually compares the two, having a similar character design with tweaked properties that cause wildly different outcomes for their competitive viability and frequency of use.





Roy has a handful of useful tools and advantages in Melee. Movement-wise he is a relatively fast character on the ground and can dash-dance well, and has a high falling speed in the air.





As with other fast-faller characters, this means that Roy can move faster in the air and perform SHFFL'd (Short Hop Fast Fall L-Cancel) moves that help with his approaches, being able to use aerial moves on grounded opponents.





However, being a fast-faller also means that Roy has less time to recover in the air and is susceptible to chain grabs much like Fox or Falco. A higher falling speed and a low traction on the ground also gives a Roy a sizable wavedash. Movement is not a particular problem for Roy, at least in the perspective of the entire game's roster.

Roy has a handful of powerful moves, particularly his f-smash that acts as his main combo finisher and most effective knockback. His up-smash has multiple hits on the blade with good knockback, and his down smash has decent knockback as well, though it leaves him vulnerable.





As for his tilts, Roy's downtilt is his most useful, sending his opponent upward and opening them up for a combo.

Finally, Roy has a great grab game like Marth. Although the range of his grabs are shorter, they still have a low knockback that allows for repeated grabs and tech chasing.





However, the advantages that come with these tools lose much of their potential because of Roy's disadvantages. A number of his moves have missing hitboxes, meaning that a move that should connect can miss completely. Even when they do hit, most of his moves with the exception of f-smash have such low knockback that some can count as a jab reset.





Roy is also infamous for being unable to do anything against crouch-cancelling, as the technique lowers knockback even further, making Roy's moves completely ineffective against his opponents even at high percentages.

While Marth's sweetspot is at the tip of his blade, thus creating a monster of a character because his long range and mobility allow him to effectively space for this sweetspot, Roy's sweetspot is closer to the hilt of his blade, and thus spacing for the sweetspot leaves Roy vulnerable and is more difficult to land in general. Other characters with good grab range, or even powerful short-range attacks make Roy's built-in mechanics very difficult to use.





The main problem with Roy is not that he lacks strengths, but that his weaknesses render those strengths fairly useless. Down-tilt is a combo starter and f-smash is a combo finisher, but all of the steps in between are compromised by weaknesses like low knockback/hitstun and crouch-cancelling.





As a result, Roy mains have had to develop a less effective playstyle that uses only parts of his kit. Roy mains tend to centralize on grabs and tech chasing on the ground, using down tilt frequently and almost always having to end a combo with an f-smash.





Roy mains also tend to use B moves as replacements for these missing options. Roy simply cannot use his full moveset as a result of its poor sour spots, and fluidity.





In earlier years of Melee, Nathaniel "NEO" Owen was famous for maining Roy, with Marth and Sheik as his secondaries, while still earning high tournament placings that no other Roy main has since accomplished.





At MLG DC 2005, NEO took a strong fourth place just under top players like Ken "Ken" Huong and Joel "Isai" Alvarado; ​here, he defeated Ken in a Roy ditto after the tournament. He also took second at MLG Chicago 2005, just one spot under Ken.





​This match shows NEO taking on Kevin "Husband" Dassing's Marth; note the reliance on down-tilt and B moves in comparison to Marth's up-air and f-air usage.



In competitive play, the person who undoubtedly took Roy to his most competitive limits is Alexander "Sethlon" Maguire. He is most notable for ​his combo video, Ashes to Ashes, which arguably shows Roy at the very top of his game. Although Sethlon has since retired, his Roy remains the most well-known in Melee.





Several top Marth players also sandbag with Roy against players to disrespect them. Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman is infamous for ​pulling out Roy in pools, still destroying his opponents in the process.





For players like Mew2King, picking Roy in a competitive environment is about the same as picking Pichu or Mewtwo. Against Michael "MikeHaze" Pulido, Mew2King's Roy is still capable of taking on Melee's highest tier character, Fox.

Kevin "PewPewU" Toy is also known for making Roy his low-tier character of choice, most likely because of his proficiency with Marth. ​At Smash Summit, he pulled out his Roy in a low-tier challenge against Adam "Armada" Lingren's Kirby (he lost, but the commentary provides a good view of how professional players view Roy's in-game issues.)





Perhaps if Roy had a few properties changed about him, he could become a more viable character. Before the meta developed to this level, Roy saw some play in old school Melee tournaments.





However, as the current state of Roy at the competitive level stands, he struggles too much to string combos and find KOs, and top players use him as a test of strength. Melee Roy will be stuck in Melee Marth's shadow forever.

Photos courtesy of Shoryuken, Smashpedia, SDRemix