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Data Bowser's Moveset Data & Discussion

D

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It definitely can, but its finicky hitbox is the bane of most of our existences and the liability of someone potentially using it to kill YOU just sucks in general.

There's a reason most people swear by dash slash instead.

I'd just like to see some other kind of utility added to it, and SA (or at least heavy armor) would give it just that.
Well, for one, we don't play with Customs over here. And second, I still feel I'd take the original over the other one (despite it's mobility advantage, and I'm quite a fan of mobility...). It's just insane at killing...just don't get predictable with it. It's reasonably quick, so it takes a tiny bit of read at something like 100 (your opponent just KNOWS you're going to want that).

Also, I didn't pay too much attention to customs in general. Does that thing grab when you're closer? And does it kill just as well?

PS: Did I mention I once killed a Sheik at 60% (Halberd) with that thing?
 
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MagiusNecros

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Thing is Klaw needs consistency. I shouldn't be punished for punishing a shield because I didn't space my command grab far enough by one millimeter.

And if we run the risk of the game deciding whether we both die or we die first Bowser should have full control no questions asked.

But if you use customs you get rid of the risk by running Dash Slash where if you make a mistake it's on you.

I love Klaw but the risk of having your own move used against you when you are on top of your foe and you have the biggest muscles in the game is silly and ridiculous.

-------------------

They won't fix Klaw though. Because of Magicant and it's dumb gimmicks.
 
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Cassius.

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you know that we were given more control over the move a patch ago, right?

I haven't been driven offstage by that move unintentionally in a while. It's obviously still possible, and the Bowsercide mechanic is still bugged out...so I'm not disagreeing with you, but it's nowhere near as serious as it was around APEX-time.
 
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UltimaLuminaire

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Telling a Bowser player from Brawl era not to Bowsercide is like telling the sun not to rise.
But yeah, any command grab you can't mash out of is pretty great. I've had a consistent string of players that are mash masters and it saddens me whenever I go for a 40% head butt on a standard grab, or a Kirby inhale -> jump off-stage, only to lose the grab right away.
 
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Cassius.

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if it were that easy, we wouldn't have had hundreds of posts about it. come on now
 
D

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I'm a Brawl Bowser, and the only reason I use it is to either kill or rack up damage. And by "kill" I don't mean "kill myself along with the other guy"...! :awesome:
 
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S_B

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Super armor on a grab is stupid, since EX versions of moves don't really exist in this game. Super armor (on Bowser) in general is a really, REALLY bad idea. You have to be very careful with that or you will end up breaking a character.
Project M's Bowser says hello. ;) (unless you mean for the sake of casual play)

Though, I'm far from married to the suggestion (I'd much rather Klaw at least connected at point blank and behaved consistently when it went off stage), I don't think a 5 frame SA window would be game breaking.

For comparison, Marth's counter window is 22 frames and Olimar's whistle is 10 frames of SA. 5 frames would require IMMACULATE timing to get any mileage out of it.

The changes I'd rather see for Bowser would be changes that give him more subtle utility and functionality. One of the reasons many of the high tiers are where they are is because they have multiple moves that provide incredible utility (also frame data, but still).

Hell, they could COMBINE klaw and dash slash into the same move: hit toward+B once, Bowser klaws. Hit it again while he's klawing and he'd dash slash. If Diddy gets both with his monkey flip, I don't see why we can't...

Just don't Bowsercide, lol.
If Bowser is sufficiently higher in % (as he very often will be), it will be extremely easy for an opponent to use the move against you to kill you, making it a liability to use.
 
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Cassius.

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...Aren't you the same guy that suggested you'd like to see him get a Down-B cancel? Of course SA on a command grab doesn't seem ridiculous to you. Half of the **** Bowser has in PM doesn't make sense. The game blows lol. They tried to give him some gimmick and he's still garbage with that now.

What are you trying to illustrate by telling me that a counter lasts for 22 frames? It's designed to do what it's supposed to do, right? I'm not really understanding what point that was supposed to make. A counter and a grab are really two different things...I'm assuming you were saying since it's a 22 frame counter, 5 frames of armor on a grab is nbd, yes?

Olimar's whistle having SA made sense back in the day for how Olimar worked. Why they kept it in this game is beyond me, but it seems like they just ported most specials from Brawl anyway.

I'm obviously not opposed to Bowser's grab hypothetically having SA because anything Bowser gets is welcome, but it just is a really weird suggestion. That would be breaking the RPS mechanic (Attack>Grab>Shield>Attack) entirely. And tbch, as ****ed up as this game is, Smash 4 RPS is about as pure as it has been in years now that there really is no grab armor in this game. You can't just-frame through every attack now. Which does kind of suck, but I really think it would be a nightmare for Smash 4 if it was still in. The meta would flush down the toilet.
 
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S_B

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Never had that problem! ),:
Let's hope you never do.

I think a lot of players (even at the high level) don't really keep track of what will happen to them or to Bowser if they go offstage with you. Basically, there are a number of characters that should want to take us offstage every single time because we die first and then they can recover.

...Aren't you the same guy that suggested you'd like to see him get a Down-B cancel? Of course SA on a command grab doesn't seem ridiculous to you. Half of the **** Bowser has in PM doesn't make sense. The game blows lol. They tried to give him some gimmick and he's still garbage with that now.
That's your opinion and you're entitled to it, but I've seen some PM Bowsers that are poetry in motion (especially Calm Animal) and the only reason I seldom suggest SA for SSB4 is because it would horribly unbalance the game in casual play.

What are you trying to illustrate by telling me that a counter lasts for 22 frames? It's designed to do what it's supposed to do, right?
That it's a situation where timing is crucial and the window of 22 frames is already fairly small (and easy to bait out).

If an opponent is about to hit you and you attempted to rely upon the 5 frames of SA during klaw, you'd need to be ridiculously on point or you'd get nailed for it.

Olimar's whistle having SA made sense back in the day for how Olimar worked. Why they kept it in this game is beyond me, but it seems like they just ported most specials from Brawl anyway.
Well, yeah, but Villager's pocket also grants invincibility frames so Sakurai clearly isn't against the idea of moves having dual functionality and allowing players an extra way of returning to the stage.

And really, THAT'S what I'd like to see more of for Bowser: moves that do multiple things. Cancelling grounded down+B at the height of the jump in PM gives Bowser a quick mix up to rapidly ascend and surprise opponents. I know you don't like it, but it gives him OPTIONS. Just like the oft-suggested idea of tap B to shoot a slow moving fireball, hold B for firebreath.

One of the reasons why most of Diddy's customs suck is because he has moves like monkey flip which have triple functionality already: it's a recovery tool that can be reversed with popgun, it's a command grab that can beat shields AND it can be an attack with some pretty decent priority, all in one ability.

Had brawl's version not already been that way, that would've been three different specials: one that travels a good distance, one that command grabs and one that kicks.

Hell, they could put ALL of Bowser's side+Bs into one move: side+B = klaw, hold side+B = dash klaw, side B+B = dash slash.

At one point, we discussed Dsmash having additional properties, like a windbox that pushes players away from the ledge, or if it reflected projectiles while Bowser was spinning. It's not hard to bake additional tools into existing moves, even without requiring additional button presses.

Which does kind of suck, but I really think it would be a nightmare for Smash 4 if it was still in. The meta would flush down the toilet.
I think if any grab deserved grab armor, it'd be klaw, given how nerfed it has been from Brawl to Melee in everything but knockback.

But again, OPTIONS are what Bowser (and most characters) need more of. One of the reasons I like dash slash is because it gives Bowser an option to recover high instead of risking an edgeguard (and doing so without eating an Fsmash to the face).

FWIW, I expect we'd be more likely to see small tweaks like 5 frames of SA on klaw or invincibility on fortress startup because those are relatively easy changes to make whereas retooling a special entirely is very unlikely.

And really, I'm just spinning theories here. You can ignore them if you like. ;)

I'm just eternally miffed that some characters get 2-3 moves baked into one for no apparent reason while characters that could use them a whole hell of a lot more don't..

EDIT: Speaking of keeping track of things, I just tested and Kirby, D3 and Wario ALL die first when taking a player off the bottom (or side) of the stage in their various command grabs. I believe Ganoncide is the only TRUE suicide win left...
 
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MagiusNecros

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Bowser just needs armor during the Flying Slam. I've had Klaw be completely worthless in FFA friendlies or 2v2 because my AoE physical attack was negated by any attack ever.

And I lose my 18% damage too!

Kirby, D3, and Wario make sense since they hit the zone first but they have 100% control and it is consistent across all stages. Bowser is based on a coin flip.
 

S_B

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Crap, I was wrong...

If Kirby OR D3 is FACING the blast zone when a platform takes him off stage, it goes to SD. However, if they're facing AWAY from the blast zone, they die first.

That's why THIS was possible:
https://youtu.be/Kyh9wTTMuGc?t=8m32s
...and hasn't changed since the patch.

Now to test if this behaves differently on different stages like it does for Bowsercide...

EDIT: Or maybe not because I don't have any means to test it right now...
 
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MrEh

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Regular command grabs having super armor doesn't even make sense to me. The reason why command grabs are dangerous in most fighting games is because they are either fast, or are fast and have huge range. Bowser's current Klaw is neither of these things, so it's terrible, regardless how much damage or knockback the move has. It does not threaten up close because your opponent can mash buttons and Klaw will lose. This is very different than now command grabs operate in most fighting games.

Armor on Klaw actually doesn't help as much as you'd think. Klaw is so horrendously short ranged that even if you armor through something, you probably won't reach your opponent anyway. I would much prefer that they increase the range or speed of the move to make it usable. Either one would change the dynamics of the move entirely, making it usable again.

Lunging command grabs oftentimes have armor in fighting games, so Dash Slam getting armor makes more sense to me. It wouldn't really be broken with armor anyway. You can spot dodge it on reaction since it's the slowest Klaw. (armor would make it usable though, for sure)


In the case of Down B cancels, would it make Bowser a better character? Of course, but that's not the point. The issue is that the buff doesn't make sense for Bowser to even get in the first place. An all-in fast kill move that destroys shields and has bogus priority shouldn't be cancellable in a slower game like Smash 4. It's not even that Bowser Bomb would be broken with such a cancel: it's just bad gameplay design. In a superfast game like Project M? Sure whatever go nuts.

It's like if we arbitrarily decided to give Bowser 5 jumps. Would that make him better? Of course. He would be freaking awesome! That doesn't mean it's a good idea though. There are better ways to buff him that make more sense.
 

S_B

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I would much prefer that they increase the range or speed of the move to make it usable. Either one would change the dynamics of the move entirely, making it usable again.
I'd prefer this as well. I'm just always trying to think of ways Bowser could have new tools built into his existing moves, since more options are always a good thing.

It's like if we arbitrarily decided to give Bowser 5 jumps. Would that make him better? Of course. He would be freaking awesome! That doesn't mean it's a good idea though. There are better ways to buff him that make more sense.
True, and honestly, I don't know why I do it, but sometimes, I just think things like, "Gee, wouldn't it be neat if Bowser had ____..."

I should probably just knock it off. We can't even get Sakurai to give us a klaw that works consistently across all levels when we go off the edge. What are the odds that Sakurai is going to give us new functionality on a move?
 

MrEh

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Considering the buffs we've seen thus far with other characters, best we can hope for is frame data changes.

That's not necessarily a bad thing either. Subtle changes to frame data can make moves much better, and give characters combos that didn't exist before. (See: Ike, Falco, Zard etc)
 

S_B

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Considering the buffs we've seen thus far with other characters, best we can hope for is frame data changes.

That's not necessarily a bad thing either. Subtle changes to frame data can make moves much better, and give characters combos that didn't exist before. (See: Ike, Falco, Zard etc)
Yeah, I think a grab followup alone would be a godsend, and Zard and Robin now BOTH have those so MAYBE there's hope...
 

Jerodak

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Considering the buffs we've seen thus far with other characters, best we can hope for is frame data changes.

That's not necessarily a bad thing either. Subtle changes to frame data can make moves much better, and give characters combos that didn't exist before. (See: Ike, Falco, Zard etc)
There have been a few hitbox buffs, so air klaw range coming back isn't entirely out of the question either. However, in the case of frame data alone, how fast should Klaw be?
 

Zapp Branniglenn

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Half of the **** Bowser has in PM doesn't make sense. The game blows lol. They tried to give him some gimmick and he's still garbage with that now.
Haven't played PM since 3.0, but what I do remember of Bowser in that game makes me want to throw up. It was like "how do we add depth to a character that's never been good in either Smash game?" "Oh, just put varying degrees of armor on everything. Done." That Bowser had armor on his charging animation for Usmash. Just, what? Maybe he's way better designed in current PM, but I dunno how they screwed him up that bad while still having good designs for DK, Charizard, Dedede, etc.

5 frames would require IMMACULATE timing to get any mileage out of it.
Little Mac main here. 5 frames super armor on moves can be the single most frightening thing on a character's moveset. Make any move to attack Mac with something slower than a jab, and he can challenge it with a smash attack. But those smash attacks are still attacks. If I throw them out without a thought and you pull up shield appropriately, I'm eating a punish. Command grabs eat shields. Like I said earlier, a move that beats both shields and incoming attacks leaves no room for counterplay. Broken. And unfun.

Yeah, I think a grab followup alone would be a godsend, and Zard and Robin now BOTH have those so MAYBE there's hope...
Yeah really. I mean, I kind of miss being the new king of heavy characters for Smash 4. Now that Charizard and DK have fantastic grab games, we're falling behind fast. We can get grabs guaranteed off of jab confirms, but there never feels like a reason to use grab over Flying Slam besides having taken way too much damage. I would love if they toned down our Uthrow's base knockback like they did Robin's Dthrow.
 

Jerodak

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The main thing I'd like from down throw is if it did more damage than the other throws like it did in Brawl.
 

KuroganeHammer

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It should probably do 15% or something. I reckon a 1 tonne turtle falling on you would hurt more than him throwing you behind him.
 
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ImaClubYou

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Buff fire to make it last longer.

Fire breath using bowser main here.
 

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I wouldn't mind if the very last hitbox of firebreath had slightly more knockback than the others. For purpose of making it safer on on hit. Sometimes it still feels a little unsafe to be honest.
 
D

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Buff fire to make it Mario's little fire balls. Maybe then, I'd actually use the B-button for once.

So, uhhhhh, U-Tilt!
 

ImaClubYou

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Yeah, give it more wear down on shield, too! Also give him the chomp that PM gave Bowser using fire! Give it push back and a slight windbox at the end hitbox!

Tapping b shoots fireballs, holding does normal fire!

Utilt! Needs buffs! Idk what kind! More shield damage to make it unsafe with shield approach! More hitstun to link into aerials or up smash! Give it a lingering hitbox on the start and end but not on the arc in between the attack!

Nair! Make it useful! Less start up! Make the attack have a vacuum effect sucking in opponents! Reduce damage to account for how ridiculous the damage is if all hits connect! Have the last hit still pop your opponent in the same angle and give it less end lag for a follow up! Not a combo! A follow up! The damage output would be ridiculous with nair being that good! 40 damage from 2 hits what?!

Give bowser a way to get down from juggles. He can take a punish but not getting down is no fun for bowser! He pretty much dies like jiggs just taking 200% more from up airs! Let him angle fire breath perfectly straight down or allow him to even turn around if done in the air! Change down air! It's pretty much as useless as using bowsers forward throw in the middle of the stage! Give down air the sonic treatment and give it an angle similar! Allow it to cancel quickly from high up! To make it useful offensively. Let bowser do it off stage and still recover if he keeps his double jump!

Side b! Make it faster! Also match the grab box with the animation. I feel like half of bowsers hand does nothing and his arm is what actually grabs you!

Tough guy armor! Give bowser an infinite threshold on what his tough guy already does! So luigi fireballs can stay unsafe! Allow tough guy armor to apply to all grounded moves as well. Hello Fsmash through a jab!

Ftilt! Make the hitbox just a tad bit longer to match his knuckles!

Up air! Give it a bit box around bowsers body as well instead of just on top of him! Sweets
 

KuroganeHammer

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Yeah, give it more wear down on shield, too! Also give him the chomp that PM gave Bowser using fire! Give it push back and a slight windbox at the end hitbox!

Tapping b shoots fireballs, holding does normal fire!

Utilt! Needs buffs! Idk what kind! More shield damage to make it unsafe with shield approach! More hitstun to link into aerials or up smash! Give it a lingering hitbox on the start and end but not on the arc in between the attack!

Nair! Make it useful! Less start up! Make the attack have a vacuum effect sucking in opponents! Reduce damage to account for how ridiculous the damage is if all hits connect! Have the last hit still pop your opponent in the same angle and give it less end lag for a follow up! Not a combo! A follow up! The damage output would be ridiculous with nair being that good! 40 damage from 2 hits what?!

Give bowser a way to get down from juggles. He can take a punish but not getting down is no fun for bowser! He pretty much dies like jiggs just taking 200% more from up airs! Let him angle fire breath perfectly straight down or allow him to even turn around if done in the air! Change down air! It's pretty much as useless as using bowsers forward throw in the middle of the stage! Give down air the sonic treatment and give it an angle similar! Allow it to cancel quickly from high up! To make it useful offensively. Let bowser do it off stage and still recover if he keeps his double jump!

Side b! Make it faster! Also match the grab box with the animation. I feel like half of bowsers hand does nothing and his arm is what actually grabs you!

Tough guy armor! Give bowser an infinite threshold on what his tough guy already does! So luigi fireballs can stay unsafe! Allow tough guy armor to apply to all grounded moves as well. Hello Fsmash through a jab!

Ftilt! Make the hitbox just a tad bit longer to match his knuckles!

Up air! Give it a bit box around bowsers body as well instead of just on top of him! Sweets
Utilt is fine, it covers a lot of options when used properly and isn't as horribly unsafe as it was...

Nair is an easy fix, Brawl nair, frame 5 start up. lol

Side B could do with being faster in the air probs.

Tough Guy armor scales off KB received, it's nawt rly possible to make it "infinite" without breaking the game.
 

ImaClubYou

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Makes sense. I just never used utilt ever except on like battlefield!

With nair, I'm all for it but I'm not exactly sure what the criteria in changing characters is! It's more like frame data and damage nerds/buffs rather than complete animation changes. One can hope!

I feel side b needs to be buffed carefully because it looks like it can become completely op if it is buffed even a little!

Tough guy is something i actually don't like! I usually just end up taking more damage than I should because I walled something and got hit by something else instead if getting knocked away by the first attack!
 

Zapp Branniglenn

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!!!!!!!!!!!
Stop SHOUTING.

It's 3 in the goddamned MORNING

Actually, I wouldn't mind Brawl Nair. It's not like our current one gets much reliable use. Watch me regret saying that when we finally get our godly combo throw of some kind. Bowser's entry-level gymnastics courses will really pay off with that cartwheel of wobbly doom.
 

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To be honest, while I legit loved Brawl n-air (although, I also liked Brawl's d-air too)and was kinda sad when they revealed the new one. I have to admit that it's grown on me a little. I still have mixed feelings about but I really think it just needs more time. We just have to look for all the things it can do.
 

Zapp Branniglenn

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To be honest, while I legit loved Brawl n-air (although, I also liked Brawl's d-air too)and was kinda sad when they revealed the new one. I have to admit that it's grown on me a little. I still have mixed feelings about but I really think it just needs more time. We just have to look for all the things it can do.
Any move with a full damage potential of 20% is worth a second look. In fact, have you ever got both Bowser's legs to hit an opponent on the same frame before? The 5% hits combine for 10%. I wonder if that's enough hitstun for Bowser to true combo into Uair at low to mid percents?
 

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Not sure, but I feel like the new n-air might be a good tool for platform and ledge pressure when it's not being used to punish air dodging. I also kinda like it vs shields in situations where you won't be shield grabbed for it. I suppose, if you can manage to only land that whimpy first hit, it could also function as a gimping tool or for some tricky edge guarding or offstage set ups.
 
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I'd love for his Side B to have multiple options.
tap B or A for the biting pummel,
tap Down for headbutt(from PM)
tap Up for Flying Slam
tap left or right to toss opponent in the respective direction.(Melee)
 
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ImaClubYou

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It'd be cool if they made nair useful. Another aerial for another situation. It's ending hitboxes can potentially gimp characters like it used to. Plus having the best recovery bowser ever had is great for it(aside from not ledge snapping when backwards, should probably fix that). Having to side b to get a guaranteed ledge snap is pretty risky if your opponent knows what limitations bowser has.

I really want to know peoples thoughts on fire breath. Who uses it and who doesn't?

I use it quite often even as an approach sometimes. Especially on characters with recoveries that forces them to go low.

Little Mac is easily gimped by it if he's not expecting it. If he upb's out of panic he's either dead or set up for dtilt or even jab lmao. If he side b's fire eats through it and he'll be taking 20-25 damage if he doesn't die first. And if he recovers high, bowsers fire ends fast enough to grab or even fmash him to the other side of the earth.

Link/toon link. Aside from the recovery it eats through boomerang and manipulates bomb movement. Only the arrow passes through but that's easily managed by just jumping next to links and angling fire down at them before they can act. Fires minor push back on its ending hitboxes can also move both links as they recover far enough to not make it back on stage.

Captain falcon. With falcon you can setup anything with fire but it will hit him if he recovers low. It's only used for damage racking off stage because falcon will make it back every time, though he takes 20% from fire. I don't know about others, but I have a hard time edge guarding falcon as bowser. This applies to ganon as well but you can actually edge guard him.

For both pits, they are screwed if the fire hits them below the stage. They are taking damage, or up b's weird ledge grab mechanics will screw them over.

Shulk, if you can bait out the second hit without getting hit he's forced to recover trying to sweet spot the ledge.

Diddly kong. If you hit him out of his up b he dies.

Sheik. Fire breath actually catches the vulnerable frames of sheiks up b. Take advantage of that.

Ness. Ness is fun. Do it sparingly to watch them attempt to heal off it. It also kills his up b so yah. Lucas too.

Luigi. It stops his side b, his down b, and his up b.

Villager. It pops his balloons potentially and scoops him if he's straight under the stage.

Any opinions?
 

Cassius.

you're deadMEAT.
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It's been known for years that firebreath is good for bullying characters' recoveries. Aside from that and just stunting approach options both on and off stage, and b reverse gimmicks, it's okay. Wouldn't use it as an approach option. It's meant to just cut off options. It just prevents progression on both players' ends. You have someone in the corner but are too far to capitalize? You can try to keep them there with fire. But it is *really* easy to get around and punish Bowser for, especially if you are playing against more mobile characters...which, coincidentally are seen more frequently in the current meta. That's why you probably do not see it being used often. Which is a good enough reason to not use it lol.

They need to make fire flinch at the tip of it again like it used to.

Again, as I said already...New DAir is fine. Experiment more and you will see.

It's starting to get to the point where you really won't be able to fix Bowser's landing problems without completely giving him something new, which from a dev standpoint may not happen. His air speed just isn't good enough sometimes, and everything involves a risk. Frame data improvements aren't completely unreasonable, but that's all we have to lean on. That's the problem with bowser's tool kit unfortunately.

improving Bowser's side b hitbox will just cause us to have to guess on 50/50s based on where our opponent will be. And it doesn't take much for them to just come up and clap us with an aerial (no grab armor? No problem. Now we just rely on disjoints and pray we grab them before anything else.) then we get stuck on having to rely on aerials to trade with overly aggressive, disrespectful players, and then we just end up back at square one.

I still wish we had old NAir. The new one has its uses but sometimes they're just not worth it. First 1-2 hits of NAir set up for really good pressure though, and it really does seem like they setup into F/B/UAir. Not sure if it's a true combo, though.

Also @ ImaClubYou ImaClubYou , forward throw in the middle of the stage is not "useless"...what are you talking about??
 
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S_B

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If they reduced the endlag on FB, it would actually be usable. Right now, if Luigi shields it when close to you, he has time to drop shield, run up to you and up+B you into oblivion, all in the time it takes for Bowser to just close his mouth.

What Bowser really needs is just a few more safe options (and maybe a hoo-haa). Things he can poke with without getting grabbed, down thrown, and comboed for 50% or more.

And really, all he needs to get those options is shaving a few frames of endlag off of some of his existing moves. It still won't make him OP in casual play, but competitive players will be able to run with it.

"Poke and punish" characters don't work if they get punished for every single time they try to poke.

And I want the Brawl Nair back, badly. Yes, there may be some funky combo potential in the current Nair, but the old Nair would break combos and that's what Bowser needs more than anything right now...

At the very least, make all of Bowser's arms come out near instantly and start spinning. Are those hitboxes intangible?
 
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ImaClubYou

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At 0% forward throw is pretty sub optimal. It reminds me of using melee fox's back throw to up air to mix up DI or something.

As for fire, you can use it off stage as a gimp as well. Not many people go for it but it's pretty safe if you space it right. Depends who you're gimping though.
 
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