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Weekly Character Showcase: Greninja


Welcome back to another edition of Weekly Character Showcase! This is a series where we analyze the playable characters in Smash 4 and what they can do with both general and character-specific advanced techniques.

Like Mewtwo last week, we have another top-tier threat!* Greninja arrives this week at full power, and while he may not have much, the Ninja Pokemon will use everything to his advantage. To help us with this article we got Drystan from the Greninja Discord.

General ATs

Unlike Mewtwo, Greninja gets a lot from Perfect Pivots. A lot of the best combo follow ups are possible thanks to that technique. Neutral air into PP Up tilt is a basic combo starter. "Then you can also use bair to PP ftilt jab lock, obviously only if they miss the tech," says Drystan.

From there, Greninja gets to abuse one of the most overlooked techs in the whole game: footstools. "The basic Greninja footstool combo goes nair -> footstool -> dair -> shuriken stall x2, then nair to up smash." And while it my seem like a lot, it's actually pretty standard play.

With iStudying's recent success at Beast 6, we got the opportunity to appreciate some of Greninja's combos and tricks. Shown below is his Grand Finals match against Mr. R.


Character-specific

In this department, Greninja doesn't have much, but one of the things tat is worth mentioning is Shadow Sneak Hitstun Canceling. By using side-b in the middle of a multihit attack (usally rapid jabs), Greninja can get out. Unfortunately, he usually gets hit by the finisher anyways. We could explain more, but in Drystan's words "We arent really sure exactly how SSHC works".

Also, both Hydro Pump and Water Shuriken are two useful moves Greninja has. Hydro Pump, while a bit slow, can be used for tricky recoveries and to edguard some character who have predictable Up-bs, like Ness/Lucas or Fox/Falco. On the other hand, Water Shuriken is a decent projectile that sometimes acts as a combo starter. "On fast fallers, if you land a fully charged water shuriken, you can footstool after the last hit of it and dair, which proceeds to further footstool combos ."

Well, that's all for today! If you enjoyed this week's showcase, be sure to stay tuned. Also, if you wanna know more about Greninja, be sure to head over to the character boards.
And of course, special thanks to Drystan and the Greninja discord for the info.

*refering to Greninja being tiered Uber in the Pokemon Gen VI Metagame

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Did you like the article? Let us know in the comments below! The series will take a break next week, but it'll be back for more soon!
 
Alberto "RedNova" Vásquez

Comments

It feels as if you guys were lazy doing your research
Shadow sneak canceling basically works on any move that doesnt put you in tumble animation
You're welcome
 
Greninja is only mid to low tier in Doubles, though*

I'm surprised that there was no mention to Substitute, probably the most unique counter in Smash in that you can pick your direction of attack after landing it.

*Referring to competitive Pokemon, specifically VGC/BattleSpot. Hey if the article can reference competitive Pokemon, so can I ;)
 
I'm surprised that there was no mention to Substitute, probably the most unique counter in Smash in that you can pick your direction of attack after landing it.
Because it's also the worst counter frame data-wise, making it practically obsolete compared to Shadow Sneak.
 
Yeah M2's pp is pretty darn good too.

Why must everyone compare the two pokemon? ;-;

:150:
Duh, because Greninja stole Mewtwo's place in Smash 4 prior to his announcement just like Lucario did in Brawl.

Remember also when everyone thought that either Lucario and/or Greninja had to go in order to get Mewtwo back? Yet Mewtwo made it in while those were still in the game and the world didn't blow up. Go figure.

Also, regarding Perfect Pivot, it's a shame that there is a lot of mileage to gain from that technique because I am unable to do it during a match. 3DS user btw, I can somehow do it frequently towards the right but to the left is just incredibly difficult.
 
D
Next do Mewtwo, and I'm not talking about that lazy 2-second article, I mean a legit one this time ;)
 
Ok, so Mewtwo, then Greninja...

If you are staying with a Pokémon theme, is it finally time for some :4lucario: love please?
 
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By the by, some people who advocated against Greninja claimed that it was because it's moveset was redundant. To whom, may I ask. And how?
I bet they say it because of Sheik's presence but she and Greninja have nothing in common despite sharing a ninja motif, although Sheik is more akin to a medieval assassin while Greninja adheres to traditional japanese ninjutsu.
 
dual main along with Link whom I have a long history with.

And yes Greninja is VERY hard to master. I honestly don't think there is a single person, even at the highest levels of play, who can say they have mastered Greninja, Just that they've gotten really good with him.
 
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