Light Labs: Mega Man Advance Techniques Discovery Thread

[SSGuy]

I've been playing the game since it's release friday almost nonstop. Megaman is definitely better than people give him credit for, his playstyle just takes time to get used to. I didn't read everything posted here so sorry if i just bring up information that has already been stated.

One thing I love is that you can double jump after his upb (assuming you haven't used a double jump already) this gives him a really good recovery option as you can upb to recover high, and then use any of your items to cover your descent. His pivot fsmash is great to catch landings especially bad airdodges( this is kind of hard to do on a 3ds however..I tend to pivot ftilt a lot by accident trying to get a fsmash out). I'll post a vid of me playing a match so you guys can get an idea of how I've been using him. I'm looking to make this character one of my mains for sure he's a lot of fun!

Just finished watching the match. You used Metal Blades way more than I was anticipating. I can see why. Especially at that angle. Mega Man seems like that character in the air you just want to go up and Fair as hard as you can. They seem to be much safer for him.

Your follow ups and your Dair are on point. Mega Man is a character who has to capitalize on reads to get really hard hits. Similar to Brawl Wario.

I will be going to play some matches at the end of the week and I will be requesting my videos to share with this page. With more Full Build gameplay, we can finally start figuring out ways to approach match ups. (Even though I'm am 85% sure they all will involve distance and heavy projectile play.)

I was also trying to glide toss Metal Blade but Mega Man has an almost non existing Glide Toss.


Also a heads up guys. Expect a video thread as well as a match up discussion thread to be created in the near future. As for now, private message me any replays of Mega Man you can find.

 

[Opana]

I'm starting to think he has all those buster shots for a reason. They're great for mind games, differing how you shoot and the amount, and they're a better shield than Leaf Shield seeing as they cancel out anything they touch from my experience.

Also, I don't recall if I said this, but I think dthrow->fsmash might work. If they airdodge, they're pretty much trapped, although I'm sure a human would handle this better. Done at 0%

Last thing, I'm not sure if this is considered an AT or something, but dtliting the enemies shield at the ledge makes you go off the stage. You can then quickly follow up with a bair, or even a metal blade to grab when you reach the stage.

I've given up playing him as a combo-ish character, and that's worked out great. I wouldn't even say he's campy, just a keep away character. Once people learn to adapt, he really isn't as bad.

 

[Opana]

Just finished watching the match. You used Metal Blades way more than I was anticipating. I can see why. Especially at that angle. Mega Man seems like that character in the air you just want to go up and Fair as hard as you can. They seem to be much safer for him.

Your follow ups and your Dair are on point. Mega Man is a character who has to capitalize on reads to get really hard hits. Similar to Brawl Wario.

I will be going to play some matches at the end of the week and I will be requesting my videos to share with this page. With more Full Build gameplay, we can finally start figuring out ways to approach match ups. (Even though I'm am 85% sure they all will involve distance and heavy projectile play.)

I was also trying to glide toss Metal Blade but Mega Man has an almost non existing Glide Toss.


Also a heads up guys. Expect a video thread as well as a match up discussion thread to be created in the near future. As for now, private message me any replays of Mega Man you can find.

Try jump cancel glide tossing, it's still not too far but it's something. I just foxtrot->A+X(Default Controls)

 

[Mayday]

I'm starting to think he has all those buster shots for a reason. They're great for mind games, differing how you shoot and the amount, and they're a better shield than Leaf Shield seeing as they cancel out anything they touch from my experience.

Also, I don't recall if I said this, but I think dthrow->fsmash might work. If they airdodge, they're pretty much trapped, although I'm sure a human would handle this better. Done at 0%

Last thing, I'm not sure if this is considered an AT or something, but dtliting the enemies shield at the ledge makes you go off the stage. You can then quickly follow up with a bair, or even a metal blade to grab when you reach the stage.

I've given up playing him as a combo-ish character, and that's worked out great. I wouldn't even say he's campy, just a keep away character. Once people learn to adapt, he really isn't as bad.

Yeah, that's what I have been using the buster for. It irritates opponents. It interrupts their moves and screws up their timing. Great for mind games.

What do you guys think of Mega Man's dash attack? Seems horribly unsafe on shield and only really usable when you know it's going to hit.

 

[Deleted member]

I'm (currently) not a competitive gamer, but I will be keeping an eye on this thread. I can't wait to see what he has and I do want to get good as him. This is definitely a good thread and I can't wait to see where we go with this.

 

[fromundaman]

One thing I've found useful has been putting the metal blade diagonal down forward in front of me pretty much all the time. The reason I do this is because while it's not the easiest thing to time, you can do pellets to lock down the opponent/stuff their approach, then jump cancel Fair and if you time it right the Fair will come out and pick up the metal blades. I'm still messing with this but afterwards jumping over them and Z-dropping the blade and following it up with a Bair seems effective and ***** shields.
If the saw hits it appears to combo into Usmash, Bair and Dsmash*.

*I have not had a chance to test against human players, only on CPU and sandbag, but it seems pretty dirty so far.


More things you can do with metal blades:

- Z-drop them above a ledge to stop the opponent from recovering straight to the ledge. The advantage to this is it locks off one path to the ledge while you can go cover the other with Fair/Bair.

- Shoot them into the ledge while recovering them Z-grab them as you go to the ledge.

 

[Metal B]

I'm starting to think he has all those buster shots for a reason. They're great for mind games, differing how you shoot and the amount, and they're a better shield than Leaf Shield seeing as they cancel out anything they touch from my experience.

That's is the main way, i using them (besides edge-guarding and as a neutral combo up close). We all know, Sakurai designed Mega Man very close to his original games. Which also includes the mechanic to spam his buster in the face of any enemy. Your opponent should feel the same annoyance of those. Force them to act and then use your other move against them.

 

[SSGuy]

With the buster being the more potent weapon in his move set, I think D-Tilt and Rush will also be incredibly important for ejecting out of combos and following up against opponents who try to challenge your next move.

Also now that we have an understanding of his moves and his limits, let's begin to break down each of his moves individually and discuss ways to implement them. Let us start with a staple, Jab.

Keep paying attention to the second post of this thread. I will continue to update the current discussion for what our topic will be.

 

[BestTeaMaker]

Jab/F-tilt is a great move for interrupting the opponent. It seems to be an instant attack, so it can mess with moves that have even the slightest of startup time. I personally use it to gauge the defenses of the enemy.

• If they're shielding or spot-dodging the shots, then I keep away and continue with a salvo of Metal Blade and Crash Bomb.

• However, if I'm connecting the shots, then I immediately follow up with d-tilt (Sliding Dash), which has a really good range for a d-tilt attack and has fairly good knockback (I can speak more about d-tilt when we get to that topic).

• A third, but maybe riskier option, is to use the knockback of the jab in response to teching. Connecting with the Mega Buster up close gives it a fairly good knockback.

It's not a move in of itself, but it's good for giving yourself some space or to gauge enemy reactions. And I'd rather Villagers pocket lemons rather than a full Mega Buster blast.

 

[Pazzo.]

I just picked up the Demo today. One thing that I've been using with Mega Man is using Metal Blade at a downward angle in the air, so that it falls with Mega Man. If the enemy rushes in, the CPU gets hit by the blade, and if the CPu stays back, I pick it up and throw.

 

[yoyowoodchuckguy]

A couple things I've noticed from playing the demo:
- If you initiate a dash attack near a buried metal blade, you'll pick it up.
- Lemons can be used as a combo breaker at lower percentages. I've used it as such to get out of Link's U-smash

 

[Cook]

Soooo, I probably don't know what I'm talking about but I think his down tilt and dash attack are faaaaaabulous, lol.

 

[Cook]

But I'm playing against the CPU, so we'll see when the game comes out...

 

[Opana]

How I intend to use Jab competitively, is pretty much how I summed it up earlier. I'll mix up the amount of shots, and punish the mistakes they make due to the unpredictability. They'll also be my shield, seeing as Lead Shield's best uses aren't defensive.

When you think about it, the jab can punish nearly every person who launches a projectile at you from the right distance, as after it cancels their projectile the other two hit. I think it cancels out physical attacks too, and if it does it truly is an amazing defense, counter, AND damage racking tool. Definitely one of his better moves; I think all Mega Men should be using it extensively.

 

[TingleZC]

Anyone know if short hop double n-air is any good? I know it's possible, but it's very hard to pull off consistently.

I may just be utilizing it incorrectly.

 

[Opana]

Anyone know if short hop double n-air is any good? I know it's possible, but it's very hard to pull off consistently.

I may just be utilizing it incorrectly.

For opponents expecting one sh shot, I think it'd be great for catching them in the next two his of the buster. I wouldn't do that all the time though, as if they expect it, it could back fire.

 

[F-ric]

I found something interesting, if you do a full jump fair immediately you can get a uair out before you land, I only have the demo but this can combo and works off of down throws on some characters.

 

[SSGuy]

Jab/F-Tilt to D-Tilt is a very nice situational follow up. It drives me nuts how often the AI perfect shield so putting it to practice against a human player might give out more reasonable results. The more I play him, the more I am starting to figure that you have to be extremely patient and realize that you could be heading to time with most of your matches. One I turn this stupid tap jump off, I will be fishing hard with Up-Tilt at around 80%-90%. Along with B-air, they give him some pretty crazy kill potential. When we begin to see options with his Smashes open up, he will only get better.

Also, keep in mind that if things are not connecting, you probably are not doing it fast enough. I feel like I have to buffer every one of Mega Man's moves just to effectively follow up with them. (At first I was wondering why I was the only one not connecting D-Throw to U-Air)

 

[Zaprong]

Probably worth noting that Metal Blade works wonders as an item against ground-based characters since you can hop above them and throw the metal blade down and pick it again for a second use if it didn't hit.

Also, playing defensively with the pellets is amazing, I just took 18% from a lvl 9 CPU and KO'd him just by keeping my space.

The only downside is that it takes up a lot of time, but it's still worth it.

But I donno, maybe playing Really offensivelly might work as well?

Using Metal Blade + Crash bomb to land a Crash bomb to then make a pursuit and grab the oponent to deal enough damage, then grab and throw out of the stage and edgeguard. doing some dashes to punish the oponent works wonders as well if you are far, Down Tilt if you are close

I could take up to 3 stocks in 2 minutes doing that, but I definitely don't know if this would work with real players.

 

[ADAPT Chance]

Like others have said you have to use jab/f-tilt (pellets) to apply pressure as well as force your opponent to make mistakes.

Right now it's just difficult testing everything out in the demo.

 

[BestTeaMaker]

Another really useful thing about Jab/F-tilt is its edgeguarding abilities. Basically, if you time it right, you can cause considerable knockback against opponents if you fire right on the blaster. It does require some precision, but it was fun KO-ing CPUs at 20% because of this.

 

[ChopperDave]

Demo user here, so YMMV. Need to test this stuff against a non-Lv. 9 AI to see if my observations are correct when I get the full game.

Anyway:

I find that pivot jab is really useful as a spacing tool. Usually after using a dtilt or dash attack, it's useful to dash away to maximum lemon distance, pivot, and shoot. For me it has been quicker and more effective than shield rolling or short hopping away. I use this over shield rolling whenever I can help it.

I've also noticed that there seems to be some differences in hitstun. It appears that if your lemons hit towards the end of their range, they get slightly more hitstun then at close range. (This needs confirmation; I say this because the AI appears to be able occasionally to get attacks/shields off between lemons when I'm close, but never when I'm far away.) You also seem to get slightly more hitstun out of ftilt than you do out of jab or nair (again, needs confirmation), which has made ftilt one of my better approach options.

Speaking of approaches, this one works like a charm for me:

Once at maximum jab distance, fire one lemon, them begin ftilt approach. By the time your third lemon goes off you should be within grabbing distance. Immediately grab.

This seems to be a combo, at least against all the AIs in the demo. Whether they shield (even the bs AI perfect shields), jump, or get hit by the lemons, they'll be stunlocked long enough for you to grab them before they can attack again. This may also combo into dtilt and/or utilt and/or usmash if they don't have a shield up, but throw always works.

Again, will have to see if this actually works against a human, but against the AI it has been an extremely reliable approach combo for me.

Finally, there's a sweetspot to both the jab and the ftilt that gives you some knockback if you're close up. This can be useful for pushing away opponents who are up in your grill.This sweet spot is much more pronounced (and useful) on the nair, but we can talk about that when we begin to discuss that move.

 

[Brendan Stepladder]

Not sure if his counts as an advanced technique but whenever I want to rack up damage as Mega Man and still keep my distance, I will start by tossing a Metal Blade at the floor. Then I will pick it up, and essentially use it as a fourth buster shot. It's nice, but I cant think of when this would be terribly useful.

 

[SSGuy]

The thing about the AI is that they are ridiculously good at perfect shielding everything. Your entire play can be as unpredictable as you like, and they still defend themselves like nothing happened.

I feel like it will be applied better against a real person who is prone to makong mistakes/overthinking. Play your friends and let me know if anything changes.

I have been throwing metal blades at my feet and mixing it up with crash bombs as well. The more time you keep them in shield the easier your life becomes. You can approach better and read for a grab/up-tilt.

 

[Ryutto]

Hey guys, fellow Mega Man enthusiast and I'm here to add my two cents. Sorry if any of this has already been stated. With my work on the demo I've realized you can get very early kills by using your metal blade and crash bomb to play keep away until your enemy draws close. Try your best to get them off the edge even if its a very low percent. One way to do this is attempting to use the jab and following up with a dtilt before the jab combo is over. It will pop them off. Another way is to pivot grab while dashing away and throwing them. Proceed to use your ftilt and walk off the edge. Don't use your jumps! The nair will knock them back, and if they try to recover from the knock back use your bair. If they are under you use the dair. Hope this helps at least a little bit.

 

[Brendan Stepladder]

Also, have I been the only one using f-tilt/slide follow-ups? Does its job against CPU's, but I'm curious to see if humans will fall for it.

 

[BestTeaMaker]

Also, have I been the only one using f-tilt/slide follow-ups? Does its job against CPU's, but I'm curious to see if humans will fall for it.

F-tilt -> Slide or F-tilt -> Dash are both great followup because they cover a good range and confer great knockback.

Probably the biggest thing Mega Man players will need to get used is the concept that Mega Man doesn't have traditional combos like the other smashers have. Instead, treat this as if you were playing the original Mega Man games. The point of those games was to strategically shoot incoming enemies, learning their timing and finding their opening. In the same way, you need to employ some patience with the Jab/F-tilt, using it to bait out enemy behaviors and patterns.

This is how I figured out that when you approach CPUs while they are shielding, they will almost always try to roll behind you.

 

[iiGGYxD]

I've been working on a combo with megaman. You can "jab reset" a missed tech with his jab / f-tilt. A basic combo is dash attack (if they miss the tech after dash attack) f-tilt which causes the getup animation, from here you can either charge up an upsmash, fsmash, dsmash and this will get you around 30%(I'd recomend upsmash as downsmash at low percent wont send then far and you'll get punished with the moves cooldown).


What I'm trying to mess with is hitting their get up with a double jump dair > autocancel land> footstool while they're in stun into another dair. I believe you can loop the footstool dair footstool but it is really tricky to pull off. I'll try to have a video of this up later today when im off work. Also, the combo starter > dash attack to f-tilt only works on medium to heavy weight characters. Lighter characters dont hit the ground and are able to double jump after being hit by dash attack.

 

[XakYm]

I think one of Mega Man's best skills is in edgeguarding going off edge with Fair Bair or Dair is great and you can even walk off the edge with f tilt and Nair and it can combo off stage. Another great tool is if you ledge trump immediately ledge jump back air and you can get some nice edge guards. I think Mega Man needs to utilize his metal blade and crash bomb regularly as they both have fast startup and good range. Leaf Shield is probably the most useless attack he has but you can grab while using it and all the leaves will land.

Using Dsmash on the edge is the best time to use it against recovering opponents, the flame pit "spawns" in mid air and sends them upwards finish off with an Uair.

 

[XakYm]

has anyone found a good use for his lemons?

Yeah, you shoot at people with it. On a serious note, I found that shooting 3 lemons on the ground makes you vulnerable because of the animation lag you have after so I now shoot 1 lemon on the ground while approaching my opponent or stand still. You can also short hop back while shooting lemons for spacing, its a little tough to perform but doable. shooting 2 to 3 lemons in the air works well.

 

[XakYm]

Oh and btw guys, Megaman can wall jump, so not only Megaman can double jump after using Rush coil, you can use any wall to recover some more.

 

[ChopperDave]

Yeah, you shoot at people with it. On a serious note, I found that shooting 3 lemons on the ground makes you vulnerable because of the animation lag you have after so I now shoot 1 lemon on the ground while approaching my opponent or stand still. You can also short hop back while shooting lemons for spacing, its a little tough to perform but doable. shooting 2 to 3 lemons in the air works well.

I find that dash pivot generally works best for achieving optimal spacing with the jab, while short hopping is good for mind games and stuffing incoming short hopped aerials/ranged attacks.

It may just be me imagining it, but it seems that you get more hitstun the farther away your initial shot is.

I've noticed that whenever I jab or begin an ftilt from maximum lemon range, I recover from the animation lag faster than the AI recovers from the hitstun, allowing me to chain into a dtilt or throw. But when I jab or begin an ftilt from mid or close range, the AI seems to recover faster than I do, to the point that it can sometimes even get off a smash or dash attack between lemons.

I can't personally test this for real until I get access to training mode, but maybe someone else can.

 

[mereshadows]

I have a small discovery if it hasn't been discussed yet.
If you use Up-B then immediately re-use your old Up-B you can then use Up-B again to get twice the vertical. Not amazingly useful from what I can tell, but still good to know.

 

[Opana]

Jump canceled glide toss->grab or dsmash might work at close range, I can't test atm but I've been playing around wth glide tossing.

When standing at the very edge of the stage, you can throw the metal blade straight down by the side of the stage, it's pretty cool.

Also, a nice recovery idea: When at the ledge, throw your metal blade into the stage, then grab it with an aerial as you can back to the stage. I think it's pretty safe, and allows you to follow up with the blade.

 

[Mayday]

Played a bit of the full version and found out that Metal Blades destroy DHD. They go through almost every projectile DHD has.

 

[ChopperDave]

I've done something similar with Crash Bomb. While recovering, you can fire it so that it sticks to the ledge. The explosion has a wide enough radius that it will hit opponents who are standing or in the air near the ledge, making it tougher for them to edge guard you.

Meanwhile, by the time you edge grab your invincibility frames protect you from the explosion, so the bomb can give you some nice cover to get back on the stage. It seems that when the Crash Bomb is stuck to the stage like this it doesn't transfer to players who grab the ledge, so no need to worry about that either.

 

[XakYm]

I find that dash pivot generally works best for achieving optimal spacing with the jab, while short hopping is good for mind games and stuffing incoming short hopped aerials/ranged attacks.

It may just be me imagining it, but it seems that you get more hitstun the farther away your initial shot is.

I've noticed that whenever I jab or begin an ftilt from maximum lemon range, I recover from the animation lag faster than the AI recovers from the hitstun, allowing me to chain into a dtilt or throw. But when I jab or begin an ftilt from mid or close range, the AI seems to recover faster than I do, to the point that it can sometimes even get off a smash or dash attack between lemons.

I can't personally test this for real until I get access to training mode, but maybe someone else can.

I set the AI at lvl 1, I don't know if you do this but they actually just walk around and rarely throw projectiles.

 

[Red Scarf]

Hello, new member here, but anyway here's one good technique that I've been using with the leaf shield. Once you've knocked your opponent of the stage activate your leaf shield and stand at the edge while guarding. The shield can hit through the stage and will hit your opponent, since the amount of invincibility frames one gets when hanging on an edge is relatively short, this will prompt them to use their up special leaving them vulnerable.
However, there's still some work that I have to do to perfect it.

 

[XakYm]

I have a small discovery if it hasn't been discussed yet.
If you use Up-B then immediately re-use your old Up-B you can then use Up-B again to get twice the vertical. Not amazingly useful from what I can tell, but still good to know.

Yeah I noticed that as well pretty cool but not useful enough.

 

[Mayday]

I wonder if you grab the ledge with Leaf Shield if it will prevent the opponent from ledge snapping and stealing the ledge