Princess Peach Toadstool - "Damsel in distress"
This is a basic coverage on Peach and her arsenal in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. The video of this guide was made on version 1.0.6 of the game, within a few days after the patch that added Mewtwo into the game.
Overall Peach is a relatively defensive character. Depending on the circumstances that can change, for example if you have a turnip in hand or depending on the matchup. She's slow and floaty, but has a very good recovery and is able to punish very well. She also has some interesting mechanics and is capable of following up into some cool combos under different circumstances.
Here are a few things that I didn't mention in the video (Video link below) that I think are important to bare in mind while using Peach.
Throwing and catching items
In all Smash titles, any character can pick up an item if there is around, either in the air or while you're stood on the ground. Assuming Nintendo GameCube controls:
-If on the ground, press Attack (A) to pick up an item
-If in the air, press Grab (Z) to catch an item in mid-air
-If in the air and NOT floating, pressing Grab (Z) will make you drop your currently held item
As stated in the video, you cannot throw a turnip while floating, you will just throw out aerial attacks so make sure you're aware of this.
I recommend practicing this, it might take some time to get used to timing it. If you time a mid-air catch incorrectly, you'll airdodge, which means you could potentially get hit by something on the first frame of your vulnerability afterwards.
With an item in Peach's hand, there are actually multiple choices you have to throw the item.
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Standard throw - You can throw a turnip with Attack (A) either with A alone to throw it in the direction you are facing, up and Attack to throw it in the air, or down and Attack to throw it below.
-Smash throw - There is a more powerful method of throwing an item at someone. If you hit a direction on the C-stick (Or your controller alternative) as if you were about to do a Smash attack, Peach will throw with a little flash, the item will go further and it will do more damage. Use the C-stick correlating to what direction you wish the turnip to go.
The damage increases are minor, but with smaller turnips such as the common smiley turnip, the fact that a Smash throw does 2-3% more damage than a standard throw can be useful. The same effect applies when throwing everything else, even a bomb, stitched, or Mr Saturn, although the damage varies more, it's more in the 2-4% range.
Mr Saturn
As I completely forgot to mention in my video, Mr Saturn has a lot more use than him just being able to roam the stage and be airborne for a lot longer than turnips before disappearing. Mr Saturn can actually
Break people's shields. You don't need to do a Smash throw to break shields, it just needs any active hitbox and the shield needs to be active for it to break a shield. In fact, here's a video of me showing it work on a full power shield -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfLCdzKBW1A
What to do if you get a rare pull, and how to play with a turnip
You are quite rarely able to pull a turnip out during a game anyway, but depending on the character there are opportunities that can come up where you are able to pull a turnip, such as between opponent stocks, at the start of a game, if your opponent starts stalling, if you have time before your opponent is coming back to the stage (If you're not confident with ledge guarding), etc. however when you have a turnip pulled, the neutral play becomes a lot easier and you are at more of an advantage.
When you have a turnip pulled, the general idea is to stick close to your opponent and apply pressure. If they keep blocking your attacks, you can use "poking" but make sure that you moves you are using aren't heavily punishable (Mentioned in the video). A turnip helps massively in multiple situations, and particularly in neutral play as they can leave openings in the hit stuns. You can also throw them off stage and possibly get a lucky (Or amazingly timed) hit. Even if they airdodge it, it means they have to delay any recovery attempt, and of course there are vulnerability frames after an airdodge, so you could throw a turnip off stage, and catch them with a Fair right at the end of their airdodge.
Of course, should you ever pull something rare such as a Bomb or Mr Saturn, your play style can change to your advantage too. If you're playing against someone at a high level then they're probably going to worry quite a bit about the item you have in your hand. REMEMBER: As stated earlier, items can be caught and thrown again. Be careful that if you throw a bomb or turnip, the opponent can pick the item back up and throw it back to use it against you, or certain characters can reflect it back at you (Mario's side B, Fox/ Falco's reflector).
Mr Saturn
If you pull a Mr Saturn, remember that he can be used to break a shield. If your opponent uses their shield a lot, then use it at your own will, however take into consideration that it can be caught and used against you, and once it's been used it can roam the stage for anyone to pick up and use. Keep in mind that if you're opponent is worried about a projectile, they might not be expecting other approaches or attacks, they will probably try to keep their distance if you have a Mr Saturn pulled. Other characters have the shield breaker, Peach has Mr Saturn.
Bomb
Again, be careful your opponent doesn't use this to their advantage. Your opponent will probably try to retreat/ block so move around quickly, stick close and potentially get a hit on them and catch them off guard (Not too close, as of course it has a blast range). Also remember that there is a timer for your bomb so don't hold it in your hand for too long.
The time you can hold the bomb in your hands for is roughly 10 seconds before it explodes.
Video Link - Peach basics tutorial/ guide/ analysis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPX6gS7_iMY
I will add to this guide over time, maybe add patch notes if they affect anything that I've mentioned in this guide. This may also be applicable to 3DS but I'm not entirely sure, I only briefly owned the 3DS version and had it before the game was ever patched, so I wouldn't know.
I decided to pick up Peach as a main because her matchups aren't known as well as others. Locally where I live, it's hard to practice against a decent Peach player, but easier to practice against other characters such as Sheik, Diddy, Rosalina, etc because they are more common mains.
I hope this guide is of some help, I just wanted to make a video giving my views of how I can use Peach to my advantage in matches I play. Peach is an awesome character and I think has a lot of potential.
If you have any questions and I haven't come back to you on Smashboards (I check Twitter more regularly), feel free to ask me on Twitter
https://twitter.com/TheBattleRifle and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
