[MU] Little Mac

[YoMalkeezy]

Hey everyone, I'm having the hardest time playing against my friend who mains Little Mac. I believe we're both pretty decent players. I utilize Link's toss cancel AT and short hop Nairs, but it's hard for me to deal with him because he's just so fast. I try to play a keep away game with Link, but he closes in on me in no time. Zairing to space isn't really effective because of Little Mac's height. His super armor is also a pain to deal with. My friend also isn't a noob with Little Mac, he isn't prone to getting knocked off the stage and gimped easily. Do you guys have any advice or tips for me?

 

[Elessar]

I know you said that he's prone to getting knocked off the stage and gimped, but I'll still say, knock him off and gimp him. It's really easy with Mac since he HAS to approach. So essentially you can just go stand near a ledge, wait for him to approach (which he has to do), and bait a grab. Thing with Mac is that when he does his dash attack or smash close enough and you shield, he'll always end up behind you. Just do a dsmash then. The second hit of the dmash has a horizontal knockback, so you'll send him off stage low and horizontally. Depending on his %; he's dead. Assuming that didn't happen and he spaces right, after he tosses a smash just grab out of shield and bthrow or dthrow, depending on %. Then gimp by following off stage with either a nair, bair, or even zair. if you connect, you won.

Keep in mind though that this isn't some magical formula. If he isn't bad he'll read and adapt and space well. This is just a rushy strat which will work on most people who are bad with spacing and reading. It sounds cheap, but it isn't since you're exploting his weakness which is what everybody did in Brawl to every char with bad recovery. Shield and rolls are very powerful in this game, use them. Don't try to engage Mac in close quarters because you will lose. He's faster and stronger on the ground. So space, get him into the air and offstage as much as possible, and abuse that shield.

Edit: It'll be a lot easier to help you and better for you if you post a vid of your matches. Just record one or tow matches in which you felt powerless or frustrated and upload them.

 

[Nat Goméz]

In this match up i think you shouldn't be charging arrows too much, Mac can dash under them (full charged). Also don't spam grabs because depending on his skill level he could just spot dodge and punish you for it, do it in right times.

Bombs and Boomerangs, i think he has nothing to do against them besides shield.

When you get him in the air try to keep him there or punish his landing, if he likes to counter when landing then go for a grab.
Don't let him get too close, try punish his approaches with boomerang, don't try to fight him up close unless he's in a bad position, and be patient.

 

[DavemanCozy]

Your jabs have better range than Mac's. If he gets too close to you, instead of SH nair, use your jabs to throw him off balance.

Jab 1 can lead into all sorts of things too:
http://smashboards.com/threads/jab-confirm-other-moves.376608/

As for Mac's super armor: Link has the range to avoid some of Mac's moves. If Mac starts doing smash attacks or Side-B's (ie, the moves that have armor), just avoid them and start tossing your projectiles.

IMO, this is an even matchup, arguably favorable for Link. Mac beats Link in ground speed, attack speed, and speed overall. Link beats Mac in recovery, range and spacing game. If Link keeps Mac away from him (Link's Boomerang, land-cancelled arrows -> bomb throw cover a lot of ground), he can keep building damage on Mac. If Mac gets close, it's not all lost: although Link has slower ground attacks, he has better range in them. Space those jabs, also grabbing him does wonders.

 

[Ryu_Ken]

Link is good on the ground and air while Mac is awesome on the ground but terrible in the air. You gotta take advantage of that weakness. Throw boomerangs and bombs, block his attacks and counter them, and try to uthrow him when you can since he is very vulnerable in the air. You can do an empty jump or dash to bait a counter, which can be punished. Once you get him off the ledge, there's nothing in the world that will save Little Mac from getting gimped or stage spiked (if you're feeling gutsy).

The hard part's just getting Mac in the air since he is really aggressive, but if you play smart, you can get all kinds of ridiculous kills off of him.

 

[MugenLord]

My problem is dealing with his KO punch. Most Mac's I play won't come to the edge much and when I finally work hard on him and build his % up to go for a Kill, his KO meter is ready and no matter how much I try to mind game him to use his KO, I get caught every time. Its like he gets rewarded for being damaged and its frustrating trying to fight him with Link.

 

[Elessar]

His KO punch won't kill you until you're near 40% iirc, and if he won't come just keep spamming. Eventually he'll come or he'll have enough dmg that one arrow will make him fly off stage further than he can recover from.

Finally, if you keep spamming, his KO power goes away. Once he gets KO he loses it over a period of time or when damaged, so just keep hitting him.

 

[MugenLord]

His KO punch won't kill you until you're near 40% iirc, and if he won't come just keep spamming. Eventually he'll come or he'll have enough dmg that one arrow will make him fly off stage further than he can recover from.

Finally, if you keep spamming, his KO power goes away. Once he gets KO he loses it over a period of time or when damaged, so just keep hitting him.

Hmmm, ill give it a try. He moves so fast, by the time it takes for me to pull a bomb or fire and arrow he is already in my face.

 

[Elessar]

The read him. If you know that he's fast, and you know that he will try to approach, keep it in mind at all times. As soon as you see him start moving, react to it. The only way you'll be fast enough to react though is if you know that he is going to come and plan accordingly. He can't approach through the air, so you know that he will come running, his options are limited.

Try shielding, if he does a dash attack he'll end behind you, between you and the ledge. It do an upB and he's off stage already. Play with your option, try new things, die while trying. Try to learn and improve from the match. See if he has a pattern and then react to it. Most players do.

 

[MugenLord]

The read him. If you know that he's fast, and you know that he will try to approach, keep it in mind at all times. As soon as you see him start moving, react to it. The only way you'll be fast enough to react though is if you know that he is going to come and plan accordingly. He can't approach through the air, so you know that he will come running, his options are limited.

Try shielding, if he does a dash attack he'll end behind you, between you and the ledge. It do an upB and he's off stage already. Play with your option, try new things, die while trying. Try to learn and improve from the match. See if he has a pattern and then react to it. Most players do.

You're right, its once he gets in on me. Its hard trying to keep him off with all the rushdown pressure. Most of the time I win against Mac's is when they gimp themselves by playing stupid after beating me 10 games straight, they seem to not care playing seriously after that.

 

[A_Phoenix_Down]

I'm starting to have trouble with Mac too. Whats worse is he's getting popular. I went up against 4 different Little Mac players within an hour. One thing I can say from what I've seen... They ALL play the same! Dash, dash attack, fsmash, roll, dash, roll, dash attack, roll x4, fsmash, and so on.

It's definitely not easy to space Mac since he's so fast. Spamming projectiles can be tough with him on you but I had one match where all I did was spam arrows, bombs, and rolls and he had trouble getting me. He won however.

What I have noticed is that all my Little Mac kills have been around 70%. How? Zero recovery. He's all ground. He needs to rely on the spammy players to dash and attack like crazy to own the field. Unfortunately because he caters to that, it makes people even better with him... probably why he's so popular now

My advice against Mac after what I went through tonight? Stay at the ledge and wait for an attack and grab him as fast as possible then back throw him and try to keep hitting him in the air. A small distance away from the ledge will still kill him.

 

[Demacrez]

You know what Little Mac players don't seem to understand either? Grabs. If you try to rush a Little Mac they'll try one of two things; dash/smash attack or shield. Very rare do they roll away/around when you come charging at them so use an opportune chance at grabbing. This will force them to change their strategy which will open up more for you.

Once you get a Little Mac in the air, KEEP THEM THERE. They have little to no aerial superiority thus they'll rely on the counter special when landing. If they do counter a lot, bait it out by pretending you're gonna attack or throw lots of bombs their way. Keep it from being a slug fest since he'll out trade you.

Another strategy is to lure him to the ledge and knock him off. One good gimp will keep him from getting back since his U-Special is terrible at recovering. But the main strategy still stands, once he's up in the air, just keep him from touching down.

 

[Seannu]

Well imo just projectile camp.. It makes the game so much easier.. Shield Grabs(Let him come to you all the time) and Projectile spam are the main two things against LM imo, but also punish with smashes when necessary. Honestly I don't think this is a relatively challenging match up for Link.

 

[MugenLord]

You know what Little Mac players don't seem to understand either? Grabs. If you try to rush a Little Mac they'll try one of two things; dash/smash attack or shield. Very rare do they roll away/around when you come charging at them so use an opportune chance at grabbing. This will force them to change their strategy which will open up more for you.

Once you get a Little Mac in the air, KEEP THEM THERE. They have little to no aerial superiority thus they'll rely on the counter special when landing. If they do counter a lot, bait it out by pretending you're gonna attack or throw lots of bombs their way. Keep it from being a slug fest since he'll out trade you.

Another strategy is to lure him to the ledge and knock him off. One good gimp will keep him from getting back since his U-Special is terrible at recovering. But the main strategy still stands, once he's up in the air, just keep him from touching down.

My problem is, he recovers from his attacks so fast especially when he makes a mistake. I go for the grab and he recovers right into a dodge and we all know how long it takes for Link to throw out his hook shot. Most Mac's I play are expecting grabs and I try to bait them and they just recover too fast for me to react in time. I just played a few Mac's last night and gotten a bit better, I am spamming projectiles but he is still too fast to continue to keep him off me enough to continue the strategy.

 

[A_Phoenix_Down]

Its alright. Ledge camped the heck outta one today and he was absolutely powerless. Two-stocked him with 37% damage. Grab->B-Throw at the ledge destroys him. One KO I got on him was at 60-something%. At one point he tried waiting for me to come to him but I think he didn't realize Link has an arsenal of projectiles lol. Ledge camping works wonders. As soon as he dash attacks you (since that's 90% of his moveset) throw out the grab. Like I said, stay at the ledge!

Just don't let him control the ground with his spammy dashing, smashing, and rolling since that's all he's really good for (and by good I mean excellent).

But honestly he's so overly used right now that he will be completely exploited by the end of the year and be almost useless against people.

 

[Drunken_Master]

Once you get a Little Mac in the air, KEEP THEM THERE. They have little to no aerial superiority thus they'll rely on the counter special when landing. If they do counter a lot, bait it out by pretending you're gonna attack or throw lots of bombs their way.

This doesn't really work because of his counter. If you don't hit him and he makes it to the ground close to you the gap's closed and he's where he wants to be. If you get countered you may actually die. I've stopped bothering chasing him into the air because of how easy it is for them to just lolvB, I give 'em the backthrow any time they're over 50%-ish and try to gimp.

 

[DJ Arcatek]

This doesn't really work because of his counter. If you don't hit him and he makes it to the ground close to you the gap's closed and he's where he wants to be. If you get countered you may actually die. I've stopped bothering chasing him into the air because of how easy it is for them to just lolvB, I give 'em the backthrow any time they're over 50%-ish and try to gimp.

If your opponent starts spamming counter while in the air, just bait it out and punish it accordingly. This MU can be tricky if you don't know what you're doing, but if you play it safe and keep yourself covered with your projectiles, it won't be too bad.

 

[Ryu_Ken]

Little Mac is completely vulnerable to your jabs. Most players I've seen always run into them. If you see him dashing towards you, start pressing A. That's all you gotta do.

 

[Demacrez]

This doesn't really work because of his counter. If you don't hit him and he makes it to the ground close to you the gap's closed and he's where he wants to be. If you get countered you may actually die. I've stopped bothering chasing him into the air because of how easy it is for them to just lolvB, I give 'em the backthrow any time they're over 50%-ish and try to gimp.

Hence why I say bait it if they're counter happy.

I usually don't do jump chasing unless they're low percentages but if they're counter characters, I don't chase as hard. You want them to start throwing that out so you can understand when they'll be doing it so you can bait them. The only time I let a LM land is if connection is so bad, one little misstep can lead to destruction.

 

[MugenLord]

Here is my match with SmashBoard player Viewtifulduck82. His Mac always give me a hard time and he keeps me on my game, I am finally nailing wins on him but its not consistant. Check it out and please critique my Link!

 

[Elessar]

I'm going to write this as I watch the video and so my comments will be "In real time" (be forewarned, lot's of theorycrafting)

0:40 - I like how you started, really strong and overpowered him. You spam game was precise and on point tot he point where you completely shut him down, that is brilliant. Now he's at 91%, he's already within kill % in that if you throw him off stage he won't be coming back if you gimp him. This is the first problem I've noticed. You're not following him off stage nor to the ledge. Mac is horrible in the air and when off stage at the angle he was after your Bthrow and your upB the only thing he can do is use his double to try to make it to the ledge. In both occasions you could have gimped him easily if you had either followed him offstage or just used your projectiles more efficiently. For example, after the Bthrow instead of doing a SH backwards into Gale you could've thrown the gale from there or even jumped off stage and galed him. You would've killed his momentum and he would've been either dead or forced to do a side B. In this case, expect a side B and use an arrow (since the gale might be on cooldown) or even zair to stop him. He is dead already considering that he has no second jump, no momentum, you're off stage ready to follow up, and all his recovery options are gone. Remember that Link can make it back tot he ledge from almost extreme conditions now, Little mac can't make it back is he counters at ledge level. That is the other recommendation I was going to give. Simply stand ont he ledge and bait a counter. Many Little Macs use the counter as a recovery option, if you bait it they won't be able to recover since Mac can't do UpB fast enough to regrab the ledge from an empty counter.

In synthesis, don't stay int he middle of the stage waiting for him to recover, chase him and gimp him.

0:47 - He just landed a KO punch on you. The problem I saw in these 7 seconds is that you became either complacent or scared. You lost that momentum that gave you the upper hand at the beginning of the match, and it started with what I said before, when you stopped your offense to spam from the stage and allowed him to recover. At 0:40 you chose a dmash rather than a fsmash, I'd say that's a wrong call. A fsmash in this case would've given you his stock since you were at tip distance and he was within kill % for tipped fsmash. Also, after your dmash launched him in the air again you didn't chase him. You stayed put and threw out a bomb straightly ahead of you, not even directed at him, and after he jumped over it you were too slow in that usmash because (i'm guessing here) you were expecting him to be hit by that bomb, so him jumping caught you by surprised. My advise, again, is to chase him or at least throw the bomb at him to either force a jump you expect or an air dodge you can punish. The important thing to remember is to always have a back up plan in case your action failed, try to always know what will he do next (i.e. reading him). Remember that Link's projectiles aren't only to rack up damage, but also to force situations.

Finally, right before the KO punch, you didn't cover your landing. It was obvious that he was going to go for it due to the landing lag. You tried to usmash upon landing and that's too late (as you experienced first hand). Better options would've been to either go for the ledge via a tether recovery (that way you avoid getting hit from the ledge), use a projectile to cover your landing or even land with a FF nair. You would've either hit him or forced him to shield and thus given you a couple more secs to dodge the incoming KO punch. At 91% dmg a fresh nair would've reset the fight entire since it would've sent him to the other ledge.

1:07 - Your game changed entirely now. You're not as aggressive and are trying to play more conservatively. This is understandable but it's also hurting your game. You are spamming while still, and that makes your projectiles predictable. Predictable translates into easily avoidable which leads to punishes. Keep moving, jumping backwards, keep him guessing. Also, again, remember to chase him more. Yes he can counter you, but you knowing that he can means you can bait for the counter and then punish. Link has a really strong air game with dair and uair that Mac just can't compete against.

1:24 - You're retreating towards the center of the stage. That's Mac's territory, he owns it. You should be retreating and staying near the ledges sot hat you can capitalize on any opening to send him off stage.

1:28 - That usmash was completely unnecessary. Something I've noticed about most Link mains now a days is that you guys don't grab anymore. You are afraid of missing and the resulting punish so your reaction is to almost never grab. An appropiate reaction would be to grab smarter. This is a prime example. Due to where he landed Mac only had 3 options: Get up where he was, roll backwards into the ledge, or roll forwards, which he did. He started rolling as you were still running, so you knew where he was going to be. You should've gone for a grab. Link's tether grab means that if spaced correctly, this scenario should always result in a grab, always, and then he'd be off stage again. Try to grab more, don't be afraid of missing. Friendlies are there for lulz, experimentation and to learn. Don't try to win everytime, try to learn and improve. Miss, fail, get punished, note what happened and adjust accordingly. Basically, start incorporating more grabs into your game. Right here in your match, that should've been a grab and Mac's first stock.

1:38 - This is what I was talking about. You followed him and, while it wasn't necessary, give him extra pressure which will help you. Also, you went for an nair, and that's great, but try mixing bair as well to create stage spikes now and then.

1:41 - You went and waited for him int he center of the stage and held your shield. This is like asking to be punished by Mac. Keep to the ledges and spam him forcing him to approach in a predictable way.

1:50 - This is a criticism in general, not just for this MU. Don't do this of staying put and taking out a bomb when your openent is in the air. If you won't chase him, then retreat as you take out the bomb. Don't be a sitting duck since other chars withe better air game will punish you hard. Retreat and spam or tech chase, don't just stand there and take out a bomb which you then wasted. If you wanted that bomb you could've taken it out, dashed forward briefly and do a reverse JCthrow. That would've given you an opening for an utilt, another usmash or a tipped dash attack/fsmash that would've sent him off stage.

2:00 - You're making his life easier by falling towards him. If you will, then cover your landing, or else force him to follow you towards the ledge. you know that Mac won't go into air game, most he can do is wait for you to land or try to land an UpB on you (which would've killed you). Most Mac players will just wait for you to land, act accordingly.

2:04 - You took too long to go off stage, and when you did you did with a full hop which game Mac enough time to recover. You should've thrown out a rang from a SH immediately or done a SH and gimp him low. Link can recover this time around, certainly more than Mac, so don't be afraid of the off stage (which I get a feeling you are).

2:14 - That's exactly what I was talking about.

Here is my match with SmashBoard player Viewtifulduck82. His Mac always give me a hard time and he keeps me on my game, I am finally nailing wins on him but its not consistent. Check it out and please critique my Link!

The fact that you are starting to take games is important, it means you're improving. Don't give up and don't let loses deflate you. See every loss as a learning experience and grow from it. This was a good match but there are some critical problems in your game play, specifically your gimping game. I may be wrong, but it still seems that you are afraid of the off stage. Don't be, if you are it's because you don't feel confident/comfortable/safe. chances are you haven't experimented with it. Go to training and push your recovery. See how far you can go both horizontally and vertically (down) and make it back. See what what you do off stage from which angle and make it back. Do this in every stage until you know your recovery options inside and out. lose that fear of the off stage, specially now that we can actually recover.

Well, I hope this helps and makes sense. I never critique videos because it takes forever to do it right and I hate doing it wrong. Why do it if I'll do it half assedly right? Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that you caught me int he right mood and don't expect this to be the norm.

Your Link is good btw, but it can be better. Get to work on being a more dynamic spammer and on your ledge game.

 

[MugenLord]

I'm going to write this as I watch the video and so my comments will be "In real time" (be forewarned, lot's of theorycrafting)

0:40 - I like how you started, really strong and overpowered him. You spam game was precise and on point tot he point where you completely shut him down, that is brilliant. Now he's at 91%, he's already within kill % in that if you throw him off stage he won't be coming back if you gimp him. This is the first problem I've noticed. You're not following him off stage nor to the ledge. Mac is horrible in the air and when off stage at the angle he was after your Bthrow and your upB the only thing he can do is use his double to try to make it to the ledge. In both occasions you could have gimped him easily if you had either followed him offstage or just used your projectiles more efficiently. For example, after the Bthrow instead of doing a SH backwards into Gale you could've thrown the gale from there or even jumped off stage and galed him. You would've killed his momentum and he would've been either dead or forced to do a side B. In this case, expect a side B and use an arrow (since the gale might be on cooldown) or even zair to stop him. He is dead already considering that he has no second jump, no momentum, you're off stage ready to follow up, and all his recovery options are gone. Remember that Link can make it back tot he ledge from almost extreme conditions now, Little mac can't make it back is he counters at ledge level. That is the other recommendation I was going to give. Simply stand ont he ledge and bait a counter. Many Little Macs use the counter as a recovery option, if you bait it they won't be able to recover since Mac can't do UpB fast enough to regrab the ledge from an empty counter.

In synthesis, don't stay int he middle of the stage waiting for him to recover, chase him and gimp him.

0:47 - He just landed a KO punch on you. The problem I saw in these 7 seconds is that you became either complacent or scared. You lost that momentum that gave you the upper hand at the beginning of the match, and it started with what I said before, when you stopped your offense to spam from the stage and allowed him to recover. At 0:40 you chose a dmash rather than a fsmash, I'd say that's a wrong call. A fsmash in this case would've given you his stock since you were at tip distance and he was within kill % for tipped fsmash. Also, after your dmash launched him in the air again you didn't chase him. You stayed put and threw out a bomb straightly ahead of you, not even directed at him, and after he jumped over it you were too slow in that usmash because (i'm guessing here) you were expecting him to be hit by that bomb, so him jumping caught you by surprised. My advise, again, is to chase him or at least throw the bomb at him to either force a jump you expect or an air dodge you can punish. The important thing to remember is to always have a back up plan in case your action failed, try to always know what will he do next (i.e. reading him). Remember that Link's projectiles aren't only to rack up damage, but also to force situations.

Finally, right before the KO punch, you didn't cover your landing. It was obvious that he was going to go for it due to the landing lag. You tried to usmash upon landing and that's too late (as you experienced first hand). Better options would've been to either go for the ledge via a tether recovery (that way you avoid getting hit from the ledge), use a projectile to cover your landing or even land with a FF nair. You would've either hit him or forced him to shield and thus given you a couple more secs to dodge the incoming KO punch. At 91% dmg a fresh nair would've reset the fight entire since it would've sent him to the other ledge.

1:07 - Your game changed entirely now. You're not as aggressive and are trying to play more conservatively. This is understandable but it's also hurting your game. You are spamming while still, and that makes your projectiles predictable. Predictable translates into easily avoidable which leads to punishes. Keep moving, jumping backwards, keep him guessing. Also, again, remember to chase him more. Yes he can counter you, but you knowing that he can means you can bait for the counter and then punish. Link has a really strong air game with dair and uair that Mac just can't compete against.

1:24 - You're retreating towards the center of the stage. That's Mac's territory, he owns it. You should be retreating and staying near the ledges sot hat you can capitalize on any opening to send him off stage.

1:28 - That usmash was completely unnecessary. Something I've noticed about most Link mains now a days is that you guys don't grab anymore. You are afraid of missing and the resulting punish so your reaction is to almost never grab. An appropiate reaction would be to grab smarter. This is a prime example. Due to where he landed Mac only had 3 options: Get up where he was, roll backwards into the ledge, or roll forwards, which he did. He started rolling as you were still running, so you knew where he was going to be. You should've gone for a grab. Link's tether grab means that if spaced correctly, this scenario should always result in a grab, always, and then he'd be off stage again. Try to grab more, don't be afraid of missing. Friendlies are there for lulz, experimentation and to learn. Don't try to win everytime, try to learn and improve. Miss, fail, get punished, note what happened and adjust accordingly. Basically, start incorporating more grabs into your game. Right here in your match, that should've been a grab and Mac's first stock.

1:38 - This is what I was talking about. You followed him and, while it wasn't necessary, give him extra pressure which will help you. Also, you went for an nair, and that's great, but try mixing bair as well to create stage spikes now and then.

1:41 - You went and waited for him int he center of the stage and held your shield. This is like asking to be punished by Mac. Keep to the ledges and spam him forcing him to approach in a predictable way.

1:50 - This is a criticism in general, not just for this MU. Don't do this of staying put and taking out a bomb when your openent is in the air. If you won't chase him, then retreat as you take out the bomb. Don't be a sitting duck since other chars withe better air game will punish you hard. Retreat and spam or tech chase, don't just stand there and take out a bomb which you then wasted. If you wanted that bomb you could've taken it out, dashed forward briefly and do a reverse JCthrow. That would've given you an opening for an utilt, another usmash or a tipped dash attack/fsmash that would've sent him off stage.

2:00 - You're making his life easier by falling towards him. If you will, then cover your landing, or else force him to follow you towards the ledge. you know that Mac won't go into air game, most he can do is wait for you to land or try to land an UpB on you (which would've killed you). Most Mac players will just wait for you to land, act accordingly.

2:04 - You took too long to go off stage, and when you did you did with a full hop which game Mac enough time to recover. You should've thrown out a rang from a SH immediately or done a SH and gimp him low. Link can recover this time around, certainly more than Mac, so don't be afraid of the off stage (which I get a feeling you are).

2:14 - That's exactly what I was talking about.



The fact that you are starting to take games is important, it means you're improving. Don't give up and don't let loses deflate you. See every loss as a learning experience and grow from it. This was a good match but there are some critical problems in your game play, specifically your gimping game. I may be wrong, but it still seems that you are afraid of the off stage. Don't be, if you are it's because you don't feel confident/comfortable/safe. chances are you haven't experimented with it. Go to training and push your recovery. See how far you can go both horizontally and vertically (down) and make it back. See what what you do off stage from which angle and make it back. Do this in every stage until you know your recovery options inside and out. lose that fear of the off stage, specially now that we can actually recover.

Well, I hope this helps and makes sense. I never critique videos because it takes forever to do it right and I hate doing it wrong. Why do it if I'll do it half assedly right? Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that you caught me int he right mood and don't expect this to be the norm.

Your Link is good btw, but it can be better. Get to work on being a more dynamic spammer and on your ledge game.

Wow, I really needed this and yes I am always scared to gimp because I either end up killing the player and can't make it back or I ended up getting footstooled or reversed gimped. I will try to practice that more and you are also right about me getting scared to grab because I get punished too much for whiffing it. I want to try and incorporate my up B more to stop rolling behind me but I guess I can't get the timing just right yet and the range on it seemed nerfed in Smash 4. I have more Link vids and ill make a thread for critiquing, thanks I need more feedback like this no matter how harsh it is.

 

[Elessar]

Wow, I really needed this and yes I am always scared to gimp because I either end up killing the player and can't make it back or I ended up getting footstooled or reversed gimped. I will try to practice that more and you are also right about me getting scared to grab because I get punished too much for whiffing it. I want to try and incorporate my up B more to stop rolling behind me but I guess I can't get the timing just right yet and the range on it seemed nerfed in Smash 4. I have more Link vids and ill make a thread for critiquing, thanks I need more feedback like this no matter how harsh it is.

Don't create a new thread, use the video critique thread we have, it's stickied. You'll get critiques they're more often. As I said, I don't do many critiques but there you're bound to have the regular critics help you. But not me, so go ahead and feel special if you want .

 

[MugenLord]

Don't create a new thread, use the video critique thread we have, it's stickied. You'll get critiques they're more often. As I said, I don't do many critiques but there you're bound to have the regular critics help you. But not me, so go ahead and feel special if you want .

Oh didn't see the thread I'll go check.

 

[A_Phoenix_Down]

Great critique, that guy lol great job on the win though, even though he got the lead on you, you were still able to make the comeback and that says something.

 

[MugenLord]

Great critique, that guy lol great job on the win though, even though he got the lead on you, you were still able to make the comeback and that says something.

Thanks!

 

[Fastblade5035]

I just beat a pretty good Mac. He's what I did the most;

-GRAB. Mac can only recover horizontally with a predictable attack, so toss him off, shield, and grab him when he lands again and repeat.
-Boomerang. If you know how to throw the boomerang at the stage when offstage and make it reflect off, the gale effect pushes mac away, pretty much neutering any chance he had at recovering.
-Jab. I love Link's jab, so whenever a Mac uses a Smash attack, I shield and counter with a simple Jab combo. It works. it launches Mac horizontally, and it's pretty damn fast in startup.


Some things to watch out for:
-If Mac has you in the air, be careful. Down Air is easy to avoid and punish. and bombs, while more reliable, can also be avoided. I use fastfall+Nair. It catches them off-guard, and I then follow with a nearly always guaranteed Jab follow-up. Beware of Up Smash though. If you feel they will Upsmash, just go to the ledge. They avoid it like the plague.
-The K.O. Punch is dangerous, but luckily we can knock it out of him. If he's a good Mac and has the Punch, don't engage him. Use the Boomerang to keep him away, use Bombs, Arrows, etc. He will inevitably get hit by at least one, and after that most people get sloppy and easier to keep away. Eventually his Punch will go away.

 

[A_Phoenix_Down]

New kill record on this chump... 27%

 

[TheBuzzSaw]

Ha, I actually switch to Little Mac when people start trying to ditto my Link in For Glory. I hate when people mirror match me on purpose (switching away from their main to pick Link). A proper, aggressive Little Mac can wreck Link.

As Link, I have one major bit of advice: if you see Little Mac coming at you, throw out a short hop nair. It stops everything. XD

 

[MugenLord]

Ha, I actually switch to Little Mac when people start trying to ditto my Link in For Glory. I hate when people mirror match me on purpose (switching away from their main to pick Link). A proper, aggressive Little Mac can wreck Link.

As Link, I have one major bit of advice: if you see Little Mac coming at you, throw out a short hop nair. It stops everything. XD

I hate mirror matches, most people mirror match my Link because they think they are trying to prove a point that anyone can spam projectiles with Link to win, when they don't actually understand the premise behind what I am doing to them. I am starting to get a handle on how to take on Little Mac, because all I run up against are good Little Mac players.

 

[TheBuzzSaw]

Yup. They fail to grasp that projectiles are merely woven into the greater strategy. They think we use projectiles out of fear and that they're "cheap".

Generally, I only lose to Little Mac if the player is just overall better than me. (In other words, they beat me with multiple characters.) Otherwise, I just slowly approach with short hop aerials and projectiles. Link's 3-hit jab works wonders. Little Mac appears scary, but he has to commit to a lot of what he does. He can be punished pretty hard. 90% of Little Mac players are addicted to rolling.

 

[MugenLord]

Yup. They fail to grasp that projectiles are merely woven into the greater strategy. They think we use projectiles out of fear and that they're "cheap".

Generally, I only lose to Little Mac if the player is just overall better than me. (In other words, they beat me with multiple characters.) Otherwise, I just slowly approach with short hop aerials and projectiles. Link's 3-hit jab works wonders. Little Mac appears scary, but he has to commit to a lot of what he does. He can be punished pretty hard. 90% of Little Mac players are addicted to rolling.

One guy was seriously complaining to me on skype to pick another character because he felt as though Link was cheap. I was like Link? Cheap? I just hate the fact that almost all of Mac's moves has no lag, he can just mash one attack after other. I am trying to practice my gimping game, if I work on that more I think I should have little to no problem with Mac. I get annoyed when I start beating someone's main and then the next game they pull out a pocket Little Mac. He's like a bailout package to some of these players. Oh yea by the way, did you check out my above video in this thread of me facing a little mac player?

 

[A_Phoenix_Down]

Ha, I actually switch to Little Mac when people start trying to ditto my Link in For Glory. I hate when people mirror match me on purpose (switching away from their main to pick Link). A proper, aggressive Little Mac can wreck Link.

As Link, I have one major bit of advice: if you see Little Mac coming at you, throw out a short hop nair. It stops everything. XD

That's hilarious because that same Mac I killed at 27% switched to Gay... the poor fool didn't realize he was messing with a well intense fire.

And yes, Nair is almighty. Let it be known that I killed that scrub with a simple B-throw to N-air. There was absolutely no recovery options.

 

[Renegade TX2000]

If you want lil mac experience play mine, I actually main link and mac, and that's one of the match ups that I'm best at. If you want to learn how to beat lil mac with link, then you should play me.

 

[ShinTwist ScreamPaste]

If you want lil mac experience play mine, I actually main link and mac, and that's one of the match ups that I'm best at. If you want to learn how to beat lil mac with link, then you should play me.

Interesting.