SmashMac
Smash Lord
Doctor Mario vs. the World (of Nintendo)
This is Version 5 of this Guide. It is complete.
P.S. - Updates will happen frequently ...
Note: Even though the guide has been finalized and is said complete, I will still update it over time and will add things that I believe are generally helpful to the Doc./Smash community
!Last Update!
07/04/2011:
1.) Corrected some typos
2.) Updated the Marth explanation on matchup
3.) Explained the uniqueness of Doc.'s nair in a Tip and General tip
4.) Added Tips 11, 12 and 13 and also General tip 10
5.) Fixed a typo in Tip 10 regarding Doc.'s PTP recovery from above the stage
!Last Update!
11/05/2010:
1.) Added more tips
2.) Corrected some typos
3.) Covered more information on PTP usage
4.) Updated the Jigglypuff explanation on matchup
Attention: This Guide is for Smashboards, and for Smashboards ONLY!
If you are going to use any part of this guide, word for word, in any part of smashboards, you must have a reference to this guide somewhere in your post indicating that this guide was your source of information.
For a link to my Doctor Mario tutorial, "The Doctor's Checkup", click the
previous link above for the thread.
For a Combo video by me entitled, "The Medic Man", click
the previous link for the thread.
Links to some Guides that have personally helped me and that have good information:
AlphaZealot's - "Wavedashing, L-Cancelling, All the Terms!"
Mew2King's Statistics Listings
MookieRah's - "Observation"
Wobbles the Phoenix - "The Four Aspects of Melee"
Doraki's Guide to DI, CC, and Teching
Dates of Updates:
08/30/07 - Guide was created.
08/31/07 - Rough Captain Falcon entry.
08/31/07 - Rough Jigglypuff entry.
09/01/07 - Rough Ice Climbers entry.
09/01/07 - Rough Ganondorf entry.
09/03/07 - Rough Samus entry.
09/03/07 - Rough Mario entry.
09/03/07 - Rough Pikachu entry.
09/15/07 - Rough Doctor Mario entry.
09/15/07 - Rough Luigi entry.
10/02/07 - Rough Link entry.
10/03/07 - Rough Bowser entry.
12/04/07 - Rough Ness entry.
02/01/08 - Rough Young Link entry.
02/01/08 - Rough Zelda entry.
02/25/08 - Rough MewTwo entry.
06/02/08 - Rough Donkey Kong entry.
06/02/08 - Rough Roy entry.
06/03/08 - Rough Mr. Game and Watch entry.
06/03/08 - Rough Kirby entry.
06/03/08 - Rough Yoshi entry.
06/03/08 - Rough Pichu entry.
06/03/08 - Rough Entries Complete!
06/03/08 - 07/30/08 - Finalized Guide
Assistance (as of 06/03/08):
DogySamich (right-hand man) - Unfamiliar matchups.
*Link - 30% of the information*
*Bowser - 90% of the information*
*Donkey Kong - 60% of the information*
*Roy - 80% of the information*
*Mr. Game and Watch - 90% of the information*
*Kirby - 60% of the information*
*Yoshi - 50% of the information*
*Pichu - 30% of the information*
Kashakunaki - Counterpicks, Character Matchups.
Cyphus - Counterpicks, Character Matchups.
Eighteen Spikes - Information on Doc's game as a whole.
Bob$ - Information on Doc's game as a whole, Counterpicks, Character Matchups.
Ihavespaceballs - Most Samus entry information.
DAlegendary Samus (DAWes) - Some Samus entry information.
Green_Mario - Most Mario entry information.
Pika -Chad- - Pikachu entry information.
N64 - Most of Pikachu entry information.
SheikSSBM - Some Luigi and Sheik information.
KeepSpeedN - Some information against Sheik.
DaShizWiz - Some information against Falco.
Simna ibn Sind - ALL Ness information.
TheBuzzSaw - Most Young Link information.
Doadrin - Some Young Link information.
theMeleeGuy - All Zelda information.
Dguy - All MewTwo information.
Hey all. This thread is basically something that I've been wanting to do for a while but I never felt like I knew enough about Doc. Since I've been actually maining Doc. though for the past year and 2 months and have been doing some studying, I think I'll just do it now and offer my two-sense for help. Let me add that this thread is pretty much my knowledge base of Doc. and his matchups. I will be getting info from other players on character matchups to help me out.
Biography :
My full name is Barry Valentino Layton. I'm 25 years old and I'm the oldest of my two other siblings. I have 2 younger brothers, Bronson and Benito, who are quite known throughout the smash community as DaShizWiz and KeepSpeedN, respectively. I live in Naples, Florida and my brothers and I have been playing Smash competitively for almost 7 years. Our first tournament was a tournament in Fort Myers, called FORT1, where we met later crew mates who would be involved in training us, RockCrock and QueenDVS, for the first time. Later after that my brothers and I established a crew called "Smash Veterans Crew" (SVC). Shortly after that, the developed SVC fused with Team FORT and made the "South West Florida Crew" (SWFL Crew). Since then, we've been to about 30 - 35 tournaments in all, and some that have had us travel all around the country. Around summer time in 2006, I saw Bob$'s Combo Vid. "Overdose" and was immediately attached to Doctor Mario. After that I read Cyphus' Guide on Doctor Mario and learned a lot of Doc's tricks and was determined to find out his potential. I contributed to the smash community for the first time with my tutorial vid. "The Doctor's Checkup", commonly known as "The Checkup". Since a little before then and after that, I secondaried Doctor Mario until December when I finally decided to change my main from Falco to Doctor Mario. I've been maining Doc. (seriously) since December 2006. I like to help people and share my knowledge of stuff, so I figured I'd put my effort into one last thing for the smash community. That "one last thing" is this character match up guide. I hope you all enjoy it and learn from it. Thanks.
Playing the Doc:
Ok. Now for everyone playing Doc. and aspiring to becoming a great Doc. player ... let me explain a few things here. First off, when you're fighting against somebody, it's not about how technical you are, it's about how technical they are. You shouldn't base you're style off of your own technicality, but off of your opponents technicality. Playing Doc. is much like playing the observer, you sit there and observe (both in studying your opponent playing them or not playing them) what your opponent does until you finally learn their movement chart. You use your mindgames to judge based on their constant movements what the next thing they'll do is by pushing them into doing it, then you attack with the most effective move, run them into a combo using your own technical skill, and then, once they're vulnerable to a finish, depending on the situation you use your smarts to end them. Playing Doc. is more of an art than a character strategy. It isn't about what you can do, how skilled you are, and how well of a smasher you are, but more of how much you know about your character, what he can do, and how much you can take advantage of your opponents bad habits, lack of strategically used mindgames, and technicality. The key with playing Doc. is to use your mindgames to push your opponent so that with your own technicality you can outsmart them into a combo that leads to death. When you play Doc., never be impatient. You have to be patient, observe, and constantly pick up on what they like to do. Once you do this you can move all you want, so as long as you don't mess up with an unintended move, you'll be able to completely take advantage of your opponent.
You never know who you're fighting and what they're capable of, but regardless of who it is whether it be a professional/amateur/aspiring player, or anything, everyone does something that can be taken advantage of. A primitive example of this would be about 80% of all Fox players getting back on the stage with a phantasm. If you knew he/she was going to recover onto the stage with a phantasm ahead of time, you would already be sitting back there waiting with a fully charged fsmash, wouldn't you? That's the way you play, you play on the defense with offense.
I'll start this guide by giving you some tips about Doc.
All in all - Play Doc. smart. When you play against people, practice your mindgames. When you want to practice your technicality, do it against a level 4 CPU and then put it to test in battle against a real opponent and attempt mindgames in conjunction. Mindgames are key with Doc. Be a smart player, and don't move faster than you have to unless you have complete control over Doc. and know how to incorporate mindgames and read your opponent while moving fast.
Your regular recovery:
1.) Make sure to DI. DI (Directional Influence) is key with Doc. The control-stick should be Upwards and towards the stage and the C-stick should be Downwards and towards the stage.
2.) PTP to gain height and get some DI towards the stage.
3.) Throw pills or Jump depending on your height.
4.) Depending on your opponents position, air-dodge, sweet-spot, or grab the edge.
Second option of recovery depending on the situation:
1.) Make sure to DI. DI (Directional Influence) is key with Doc. The control-stick should be Upwards and towards the stage and the C-stick should be Downwards and towards the stage.
2.) PTP to gain height and get some DI towards the stage.
3.) Jump towards the stage while reverse pilling.
4.) Bair towards the stage as a way of protecting yourself (the bair does increase DI towards the stage)
5.) Depending on your opponents position, air-dodge, or sweet-spot.
Recovery after you've already attempted your recovery but have been hit back off the stage (when you've lost your PTP):
1.) Make sure to DI. DI (Directional Influence) is key with Doc. The control-stick should be Upwards and towards the stage and the C-stick should be Downwards and towards the stage.
2.) Fair to gain neutrality.
3.) Throw pills or Jump depending on your height.
4.) Depending on your opponents position, air-dodge, sweet-spot, or grab the edge.
Tip 1:
Jabbing defines Doc.'s game. This is one of the most important thing that you have to learn how to do efficiently. Jabbing can be used to connect your combos smoothly, reset your opponent's "get-up" animation from being on the ground, not allow your opponent to grab the ledge, and so many other things. Learn how to jab, and you'll get twice as good at least. Both jabbing once and jabbing twice "One - Two". Those are the key to Doc's game.
Tip 2:
If you're going to spam pills, spam them correctly. You should be throwing pills to create a wall of defense that makes your opponent have a hard time just getting to you.
Tip 3:
Approach with the nair and full-jumped dair. Don't approach with a fair unless you can shffl it perfectly and avoid getting punished.
Tip 4:
C-stick rolling is the best way to roll, with ANY character. It's so much safer. You roll on the first frame you're allowed to. An example would be coming from the ledge with a dair, and holding the L button and the C-stick in the position you want to roll. When you land on the floor after the animation of the dair is done, you will roll on the first frame possible.
Tip 5:
Observing your opponent is key in every match. Always figure out their patterns and take advantage of them.
Tip 6:
If you DI and Smash DI (Ctrl-stick and C-stick .. respectively) Sheik/Ganon/Falcon's fair within a 5 frame time-frame, you'll last a whole lot longer.
Tip 7 (added 11/05/10):
Another approach to learn is the SHBAWD approach. You can't always approach the same way against the multitude of characters that is SSBM. It's good to know different approaches for different situations. The SHBAWD is a very good way to play it safe while approaching, since the bair's hitbox is pretty well extended.
Tip 8 (added 11/05/10):
Also learn different ways of mind-gaming your recovery. Recovery is hard against characters like Jiggs + Peach who have a great edge-guarding game and can easily gimp.
Tip 9 (added 11/05/10):
Master the Perfect Tornado Press (PTP). Doing so will help your recovery game extremely. You can make it back to the stage in situations your opponent and you would've never expected you to recover from. You can tell a successful PTP when you can successfully double-jump after performing the tornado on stage, or if you land on the middle platform on Yoshi's Story from starting your tornado on the ground.
Tip 10 (added 11/05/10):
NEVER PTP from below the stage unless you're already recovering from below the stage to begin with (for example, being dsmashed from Fox at the edge off of the stage). PTPing next-to or below the stage is the easiest way to set yourself up for an easy gimp. PTP should always be the first thing you do when initiating a recovery.
Tip 11 (added 07/04/11):
Shield-spacing with Doctor Mario is helpful. What I mean by this is when you are spacing through your opponent's shield with moves like Doc.'s nair, bair. It is very helpful, especially in the process of zoning. This can also apply to any character.
Tip 12 (added 07/04/11):
Doctor Mario is the only character in the game with a sex-kick a.k.a. nair that gets stronger while it is out. This means that at the very end of the sex-kick, it will deal more damage and the knock-back is increase by at least 3 times it's initial knock-back. This make's Doc.'s sex-kick highly distinguishable amongst all other characters in SSBM, even from Mario's, his said 'clone'. Use this to your advantage at all times (edge-guarding, approaching, shield-spacing, spacing, etc.). It's effectiveness and usefulness is primitive in all matches, even more especially on floaty type characters.
Tip 13 (added 07/04/11):
Understand what zoning is. This applies to all characters in smash and all fighting games. Zoning is a way of positioning yourself against your opponent or using moves to make them do what you want them to do because they are feeling under pressure, simply because of your control of 'space'. The term 'space' is determined by the playing field of the level and how well you can manipulate your opponent. It's not as much how well you can manipulate the space around you, but more so, how you can use the space around you to manipulate your opponent. What it all boils down to the in long run is pressure. Think of it this way: spacing is really a subcategory of Zoning. Spacing is to Zoning what Di is to Recovery.
General tips:
1.) Ftilt is a good spacing move that comes out fast against everyone
2.) Utilt is a good priority move to use against characters that attack from above
3.) You can cape about 90% of the characters in this games recovery "easily"
4.) You can Chain grab 37% of the characters in the game
5.) Nair gets stronger as it's out longer.
6.) Doc. is the only character in the game that can cancel his up+B from his shield. I suggest learning this, even though it isn't an absolute necessity.
7.) Light-shielding against attacks that will **** your shield is a very good idea for auto-spacing. An example of this would be if you're fighting against a Falco. While he's wrecking your shield with dairs, just light-shield. If you do it right you can grab right out of it, or WD to anything out of it.
8.) The bair has a hit-box in the front as well. Situational bairs from the front may be helpful in gimping.
9.) Usmash out of shield is very helpful. Great way to get pressure off of you and set up for a fair on some characters.
10.) Doctor Mario's sex-kick a.k.a. nair is the only nair in the game that gets stronger as it is out. This can be very helpful vs. floaties at high %s, especially since they might not expect to DI it so immediately as to not die from it.
Things-to-know that I use that have personally helped me:
*Cloud Timing*
In the minutes is where you look to determine the clouds location. The clock goes downwards from 60 - 0 for each minute, and the cloud moves counter clock-wise starting going towards the bottom right, because at 60 when you begin the match, the cloud is coming from the bottom left towards the bottom right.
*Cloud Movements:*
Bottom Right - Cloud is coming out.
Top Right - Cloud is coming in.
Top Left - Cloud is coming out.
Bottom Left - Cloud is coming in.
Bottom Right:-----Top Right:------Top Left:-----Bottom Left:
-----:55-----------------:50-------------:45--------------:40
-----:35-----------------:30-------------:25--------------:20
-----:15-----------------:10-------------:05--------------:00
So, as you can see, there are a few ways to go about the patterns here and feel free to incorporate your own ways of determining the clouds placing. However, the best way I know is noticing that if the minutes tens place is in the odds (5, 3, 1), the cloud is somewhere on the right side or will be coming out on the right side at the bottom, and if the minutes tens place is in the evens (4, 2, 0) , the cloud is somewhere on the left side or will be coming out on the left side at the top. Just remember that at any given point where the cloud comes out, there is a 20 second difference that the cloud will be coming out at that same spot again.
*Reverse-caping*
A while ago after I released my combo video there was a thread discussing reverse-caping. To me it feels smoother, but after actually studying the hit-boxes, nothing is entirely different except the hit-box on the last frame. On the first frame, the hit-box covers most of Doc's body, on the second frame, it covers most of his body and outwards towards his front, and on the last frame, it covers most of his body and a lot outwards towards his back. So my theory is, caping or reverse caping should be used depending on how you feel the hit-box should be used at that particular moment in that given situation.
You can chain-grab all of these characters:
! = Hard to execute
* = Guaranteed next grab
|Direction to Throw|
Pikachu |DTHROW| !0 *25* - 55%
Link |DTHROW| *27 - 68%*
Y Link |DTHROW| *19* - 58%
DK |DTHROW| !20 *40 - 60%*
Bowser |DTHROW| *32 - 70%*
Sheik |DTHROW| !0 *20 - 60%*
Falco |UTHROW| !0 *30 - 60%* |DTHROW| (130 - 180%)
Fox |UTHROW| !0 *35 - 60%* |DTHROW| (100 - 150%)
Ganon |DTHROW| !0 *25* - 65%
Roy |DTHROW| *50* - 85%
Yoshi |DTHROW| !0 *30* - 50%
CF |UTHROW| !0 *30* - 78% |DTHROW| (110 - 160%)
Important Doc. terms:
Ledgeteching - Within 20 frames before getting hit, press L/R to tech an attack.
Broken 'Sweetspot' - Grabbing the edge by the millimeter. Practice this since it's key to survival, especially with Doc. since his sweetspot is so broken that no one expects it except you.
Megavitamin tricks = (A very big category of pill tactics that you should read about in Cyphus' Doc. guide and if you want you can see them in action in my Doctor Mario tutorial video, "The Doctor's Checkup".)
Up+B Cancel - The entire sequence of this move is 4 frames. The operations for each frame are as follows:
Frame 1 - Hit the initial direction you want the hitbox to appear in.
Frame 2 - Cancel that direction with the exact opposite direction.
Frame 3 - The hitbox of the initial direction shows up.
Frame 4 - The last part of the hitbox dissapears.
This move is primarily useful out of your shield. It is useful, trust me.
SHBAWD - Short-hop, back-aerial (bair), wave-land. A great compilation of moves to use against most characters (CF, Marth, Peach, Ganon .. etc.)
PTP (Perfect Tornado Press) - The sequence of pressing B repetitively after pressing Down B to gradually increase you're hight while aerial. Usually used as part of your recovery during the beginning of it.
Ledge-canceled-aerials - All aerials (with the exception of fair) can be ledge-canceled. You jump off the ledge, perform the aerial, and then land back on it.
Chain-Grabbing (CG) - The act of continuously grabbing your opponent due to his/her weight/% vulnerabilities.
Now, back to what this thread is really all about, we'll go from top-tier to bottom tier on character matchups. Here's how the guide is written:
Color Key:
Blue = Space Animal
Sienna = Fast Faller
Orange = Floater
Sea Green = Weighted Floater
Red = Weighted
(Strength, Priority, Spacing, Effectiveness) rates of uses:
0 - Terrible
1 - Rare
2 - Some Potential
3 - Potential
4 - Decent
5 - Average
6 - Above average
7 - Pretty useful
8 - Useful
9 - Great
10 - Insane
Note: EVERY one of these values changes depending on which character they are used on.
Format: Move name - (Strength - Value, Priority - Value, Spacing - Value, Effectiveness - Value).
P.S. - Remember, the values may alter according to the character (stressed point).
*Color Distinguished* Character name (Tier #):
Pros - What Doc. has over this character.
Cons - What Doc. doesn't have over this character.
Primary effective moves:
Move name (rates of uses) - Description
Effective moves:
Move name (rates of uses) - Description
Kill moves:
Move name - % of kill frame.
Bad moves:
Move name - Description
Explanation (on Matchup):
Beware of:
Move - Description
Best Stages:
Stage - Description
Decent Stages:
Stage - Description
Counterpicks:
Stage - Description
Bad Stages:
Stage - Description
Possibility of encounter - %age of encounter (Basically, this is my opinion of a percentage at which you may run into this character during a tournament)
Attention!
First post = Top - High Tier list
Second post = Middle - Low Tier list
Third post = Bottom Tier list
-The Doctor's Matchups-
-Top Tier-
Fox McCloud (1):
Pros:
1.) Easily caped
2.) Can be Chain grabbed
3.) Can be thrown to a kill move
4.) Easily baired
Cons:
1.) Incredible Speed
3.) Can't tech his Shine Spike
3.) Can camp you terribly
4.) Strong upsmash that can destroy you once you hit 90%.
5.) Combo speed is intense
Primarily Effective Moves:
Grab (3, 9, 2, 8) - You can chain-grab a Fox with uthrow from 0 - 60%, but 20 - 60% guaranteed. Also from 100 - 150% dthrow.
U-throw (3, 9, 2, 7) - Once the Fox is at 95 -115%, you can uthrow him to a full jump fair for the kill.
Sex-kick (nair) (6, 6, 5, 7) - Shffling nairs is the best attack to approach a Fox with safely.
Fair (9, 7, 7, 9) - A primary killer. Can also eat up his shield.
Cape (3, 9, 8, 10) - You can cape his recovery with relative ease.
Bair (6, 8, 9, 9) - A great spacing move to avoid being grabbed. Also, bairing his recovery is simple.
Ftilt (5, 7, 9, 8) - A fine alternative when countering Fox's recovery. It comes out fast and nudges him right off of the stage quickly.
Utilt (6, 9, 6, 7) - A link between combos. Another great move to use when Fox is coming down from above you. It comes out quick, lasts longer than expected and it's priority works well.
Fsmash (10, 8, 3, 9) - If you know the Fox is going to move in an area that you're already in, charge up your F-smash and send him flying.
Dsmash (8, 8, 6, 8) - This is a fast, strong smash attack that gets people in a 360' area around you.
Effective moves:
Uair (4, 5, 5, 7) - Can be used as a link between grabs. Juggling Fox is possible at 85- 90%+.
Dair (9, 9, 7, 8) - When you're thrown up, use this move. Should be used when recovering onto stage while Fox is there as well.
Dtilt (4, 5, 4, 7) - Depending on his %, he may go further behind you. Also does some weird things when sweetspotting Fox's recovery.
Usmash (7, 4, 4, 6) - For some reason or another, when you land this move on a Fox at around 100 damage, you can usually jump up with a fair.
Kill moves:
Fair - 103%+ (if they DI perfectly, they can last until 115%)
Bair - Any % once they're off the stage (Bob$)
Cape - Any %
Nair - Near the ending of the animation when the sex is stronger, you can destroy him at around 110%
Dsmash - Tends to usually kill Fox at 130% or so.
Fsmash - This is the best kill move if you land it. If Fox is caught in this one at around 105%, he should be sent completely off of the stage. Even if he does survive, it should
be an easy edge-hog/edge-guard.
Bad moves:
Fthrow - This leads to nothing unless you're on a stage where this throw leads to a predicament that you'll suspect him to do in which case you can take advantage of.
Explanation:
When you're fighting against Fox players, rely on their technicality. They love to approach with sex-kicks since it stays out so long and the hitbox is insane. You should be able to hold your own against a Fox player, but if you and the Fox player are at the same skill level, you're going to have twice as hard of a time trying to beat him. Remember, the key things to remember in this matchup is that a.) He can be chaingrabbed b.) You can cape and bair his recovery easily and c.) Once you grab him at around 100%, you can uthrow to full jump fair and destroy him. Foxs love to move fast, shine spike, and laser camp you. When they Laser camp you, throw pills at him and remain away from him while avoiding his lasers. You can do this by going on the edge and infinitely jumping up and down on it to aviod at all costs his lasers, or you can find an alternative. In this situation you should remain centre stage, wait for him to come to you, and use your pills to create a defense wall against him. If the Fox gets a grab on you and throws you up, you can come down with a dair and that usually goes right through his predicted uairs. Another note for this matchup is to use the ftilt as an alternative in defeating his recovery. If you tip him with your ftilt while he's in his Firefox, he will be sent back and the effect will take place, but you wont get hurt.
Be Aware of:
Shine Spike - You can't tech it. This is the biggest gimp vs. you.
Uair - He can kill you once you hit 95% with this (unless you're on Dreamland).
Grab - Fox's love to grab. If he throws you up you should be able to escape with a DJ though.
Usmash - His primarily effective move against you. If you're at about 93%, you're probably toast (if you DI it perfectly you may survive).
Lasers - Fox players camp. They do this because they can. Beware of his lasers.
Best Stages to use:
Final Destination - Chain grab world. The only down-side to this is that the Fox may camp you.
Fountain of Dreams - This stage will sort of mess up Fox's short-hop game because of the moving platforms.
Decent Stages:
Battlefield - You can use the platforms to keep up your speed and be a bit more flexible. You can also easily cape his recover since he has to rely on going straight towards the edge.
Yoshi's Story - The platforms offer some flexibility to keep up with him. The small level grants you easier kills vs. him with bair/fsmash/fair/dsmash.
Counterpicks:
Mute City - Flat surface with rare chance of you dieing form a shine-spike.
Fountain of Dreams - The random-rotating platforms can somewhat mess up his fast short hop game.
Bad Stages:
Corneria - Fox can camp you too easily on this stage and the stage is large so edgeguards/edgehogs are hard and it's hard to get fox off the stage.
Possibility of Encounter - 70%
Falco Lombardi (2):
Pros:
1.) Easily caped
2.) Can be chain grabbed
3.) Can be thrown to a kill move
4.) Easily baired
Cons:
1.) Combo speed is amazing
2.) Lasers halt your movement
3.) Fsmash kills you
Primarily Effective moves:
Grab (3, 9, 2, 8) - If you could manage a grab against Falco, you can chain-grab him from 30 - 60% uthrow (0 is hard) or 130 - 180%.
Uthrow (3, 9, 2, 7) - Once you grab a Falco at around 95 - 106%, you can uthrow him, full jump a fair and pretty much destroy him.
Sex-kick (nair) (6, 6, 5, 7) - Shffling nairs is the best attack to approach a Falco with safety.
Fair (9, 7, 7, 9) - A primary killer. Can also eat up his shield. But watch out for the shine that may come out of it.
Cape (3, 9, 8, 10) - You can cape his recovery with relative ease.
Bair (6, 8, 9, 10) - A great spacing move to avoid being grabbed. Also, bairing his recovery is simple.
Ftilt (5, 7, 9, 9) - A fine alternative when countering Falco's recovery. It comes out fast and nudges him right off of the stage quickly.
Utilt (6, 9, 6, 7) - A link between combos. Another great move to use when Falco is coming down from above you. It comes out quick, lasts longer than expected and it's priority works well.
Fsmash (10, 8, 3, 9) - If you know the Falco is going to move in an area that you're already in, charge up your F-smash and send him flying.
Dsmash (8, 8, 6, 8) - This is a fast, strong smash attack that gets people in a 360' area around you.
Effective moves:
Uair (4, 5, 5, 7) - Can be used as a link between grabs. Juggling Falco is possible at 80 - 90%+.
Dair (9, 9, 7, 7) - When you're thrown up, use this move. Should be used when recovering onto stage while Falco is there as well.
Dtilt (4, 5, 4, 7) - Depending on his %, he may go further behind you. Also does some weird things when sweetspotting Falco's recovery.
Usmash (7, 4, 4, 6) - For some reason or another, when you land this move on a Falco at around 105 damage, you can usually jump up with a fair.
Kill moves:
Fair - 103%+ (if they DI perfectly, they can last until 115%)
Bair - Any % once they're off the stage (Bob$)
Cape - Any %
Nair - Near the ending of the animation when the sex is stronger, you can destroy him at around 110%
Dsmash - Tends to usually kill Falco at 130% or so.
Fsmash - This is the best kill move if you land it. If Falco is caught in this one at around 105%, he should be sent completely off of the stage. Even if he does survive, it should
be an easy edge-hog/edge-guard.
Bad moves:
Fthrow - This leads to nothing unless you're on a stage where this throw leads to a predicament that you'll suspect him to do in which case you can take advantage of.
Explanation:
This isn't an easy matchup. With constantly spammed lasers coming at you and a fast comboing character with pillaring combos, this match can be somewhat annoying. During this match, your primary focus should be to just play it safe. Powershield Falco's lasers, or cape them. Approach the Falco with sex-kicks, and keep up with him. Don't try to just shield-grab, that's pretty much a "nono" in this matchup. Once you grab Falco, however, you can chain grab him. Never forget, also, that when you grab him at 90% or so, you can always hit him twice, throw him up and then fair him. Falco's can seem to overwhelm you during this matchup. They best way that I find to get around this is spacing moves like ftilt, bair and utilt. If you do this you'll surely be able to execute some type of "hit and run" game. It's all about playing it safe. Falco players usually approach with Dairs or Nairs. If you know it's coming, powershield his move. If you ever get a powershield on Falco, be sure to shield-grab right afterwards. This is the only exception since after a powershield you can react the exact next frame. Once the Falco is off of the stage, don't be afraid to cape him. When they phantasm back to the stage, ftilt them. The ftilt comes out very fast and will hit him through his phantasm. Sometimes when the Falco player is right under the edge, he'll go straight up because he's expecting you to cape him, in which case he's expecting to just go straight up and get even more height. Don't do it. Ftilt him with the tip of your shoe. He'll be shocked, and sent back. After this it should be an easy edge-guard since the only way for him to get back to the ledge is by going diagonally up with his Firebird.
Be Aware of:
Fsmash - Falco's spam F-smash once you hit 100% or so. It's one of the only kill moves that they have.
Dtilt - You are a character that dies easily vertically. If you're hit by this one at around 95%, you're probably going to die.
ShineShineShine - You can get gimped by Falcos on stages like Pokemon Stadium, Pokefloats, or Green Greens that have a high platform with Falco's triple shines. You'll be sent out of the stage vertically at easily 20% if he lands all shines on you. This is Falco's answer to Fox's shinespike, the only difference is that you're going upwards instead of downwards.
Bair - If Falco lands a bair on you and the tip hits you, unless you DI'ed it right, you're probably going to be done at 115% or so. Be ready to DI this one. This is also a spacing move that some Falco's use so be careful and never doubt the spacing on this move.
Dair - ALL Falco players will approach you with a dair. The only answer to this is an Up+B cancel right after his suspected shine. This is also a spike so be sooo careful. Ledge-tech it (20 frames before the hit press L/R) upon sweetspotting the ledge.
Nair (Sex-kick) - This is the alternative approaching move for Falco players, primarily against Floaters. If you're hit by this move, expect a utilt or shine combo coming from this one.
Best stages:
Final Destination - This is all about chain-grabbing and defense. Remember not to shield-grab unless after powershielding his attack first.
Pokemon Stadium - If you stay on lower ground and take advantage of the random moving of this stage, you should be fine in this level. Just don't get ShineShineShine'd at the highest platform this level has during it's rocky transformation.
Battlefield - His Up+B will be forced to go up straight-towards the edge, hence allowing an easier cape. Only bad side is it's hard for you to grind the stage to ledge-tech his dair, so learn how to sweetspot!
Fountain of Dreams - Falco's don't really like this level because it messes up their short-hop game (including short-hop-laser).
Decent Stages:
Yoshi's Story - Platforms allow some flexibility for you vs. Falco. Small stages allows easier kills on Falco.
Counterpicks:
Mute City - Flat surface with rare chance of you dieing form a shine-spike.
Corneria - Infinite wing with the up+B.
Fountain of Dreams - The random-rotating platforms can somewhat mess up his fast short hop game. His SHL (Short-hop lasers) are especially ruined in this level.
Bad stages:
Poke Floats - ShineShineShine will gay you terribly. Matter-of-fact, ShineShine is bad enough. If they pick this level against you, stay on lower ground. In general, any level with a high platform that will allow you to be ShineShineShine'd isn't the best idea to go to if you're fighting against a Falco player that knows what they're doing*
Possibility of Encounter - 75%
-High Tier-
Sheik (3):
Pros:
1.) Can be chain grabbed
2.) Can be throw to a kill move
3.) Can be juggled
4.) Is pretty easy to edgeguard/edgehog if you know how to do it right
Cons:
1.) Hard to cape
2.) Not easily baired
3.) Automatic spacing eats your offense
4.) Tilt combos are hard to escape
5.) Once grabbed at 100%, expected fair or uair is hard to escape
6.) Once grabbed, guaranteed another hit
Primarily Effective moves
Grab (3, 9, 2, 7) - If you could manage a grab against Sheik, you can chain-grab her from 20 - 60% dthrow (0 is hard).
Dthrow (3, 9, 2, 9) - Once you grab a Sheik at around 90% and you throw down, you should be able to connect a fair.
Sex-kick (nair) (7, 6, 5, 7) - Shffling nairs is the best attack to approach a Sheik with safety. Try to go more through her shield so you can avoid the grab.
Fair (10, 7, 7, 10) - A primary killer. Can also eat up her shield. Do your best to go through her, unless you're a master at SHFFLC'ing and you can escape from her upcoming grab.
Cape (3, 9, 8, 6) - You can cape her recovery. It's not easy, but if she's in the animation right before she's about to disappear when coming back to the ledge, you can cape that.
Bair (6, 8, 9, 9) - A great spacing move to avoid being grabbed. Really, this is one of the moves that should be spammed in this match to kind of create a type of "Wall of Pain" against her.
Ftilt (5, 7, 9, 8) - A fine alternative when countering Sheik's recovery. It comes out fast and should be used to space against sheiks during this match. Keep her away from you and don't get grabbed.
Utilt (6, 9, 6, 8) - A link between combos. Another great move to use when Sheik is coming down from above you. It comes out quick, lasts longer than expected and it's priority works well. You can sort of juggle her for a while as well with this.
Fsmash (10, 8, 3, 10) - If you know the Sheik is going to move in an area that you're already in, charge up your F-smash and send her flying.
Dsmash (10, 8, 6, 10) - This is a fast, strong smash attack that gets people in a 360' area around you.
Effective moves:
Uair (4, 5, 5, 7) - Can be used as a link between grabs. Juggling Sheik is possible at 65 - 85%.
Dair (9, 9, 7, 8) - When you're thrown up, use this move. Should be used when recovering onto stage while Sheik is there as well.
Usmash (7, 4, 4, 6) - For some reason or another, when you land this move on a Sheik at around 100 damage, you can usually jump up with a fair.
Kill moves:
Fair - 100%+ (if they DI perfectly, they can last until 115%)
Bair - Any % once they're off the stage (Bob$)
Cape - Any %
Nair - Near the ending of the animation when the sex is stronger, you can destroy her at around 110%
Dsmash - Tends to usually kill Sheik at 110% or so.
Fsmash - This is the best kill move if you land it. If Sheik is caught in this one at around 105%, she should be sent completely off of the stage.
Bad moves:
Dtilt - The uses with this move are very slim. The only great use is to send her behind you, especially while you're near the edge and you send her behind you off the edge, you could get some bairs in to kill her recovery.
Explanation:
Fighting Sheik is like fighting the inevitable. This is the only match that ever gets me frustrated. It seems like no matter how hard you try, unless you can out technicalize her, chain grab perfectly, or space her out, you barely stand a fighting chance. Her grab is broken. Once you're grabbed, no matter the %, they can always just throw you down and either ftilt to fair you, or just fair you. This match is possibly your only counter match. It's really hard, and unless you can out space her with your ftilt and bair and avoid being grabbed, you'll be able to beat her. Just stay away from her, space pills correctly against her, and never go in the line of offense against her unless you've throw pills that will eliminate her insane potential of combo speed against you. She's got pretty much automatic spacing with her ftilt/utitl/dtilt, so unless you've approached her with pills before, or you're only going to approach her with a nair, stay away from her and throw pills. Pills are key in this matchup. Don't EVER be afraid to spam her, and make sure that you're spamming pills so that it's creating a defensive barrier against her freakish ground combo potential. Once you get a grab on her, you can CG her from 20 - 60%, guaranteed. You can also start at 0, but that's really hard so if you're not good at chain-grabbing and you happen to get a grab on her at 0%, throw her up and do a uair or utilt to rack up some damage. On the other, more logical hand, if YOU'RE grabbed, DI behind her. It's your best bet. If you're ever grabbed by a sheik player that knows what they're doing at 100+% and you're thrown down, you can expect one of two attack: fair or uair. If they uair you, smash DI it downwards and towards the stage and DI it the exact opposite side. Usually if they uair you at above 100%, you're probably going to die so HOPE for the fair. If they fair you, Smash DI downwards and towards the stage, and DI straight up with a tad towards the stage. If you DI'ed it within the 5 frame time frame and managed to DI correctly, a slap won't kill you until around 140%
. Another thing to watch out for is her needle game. Her needle game is ridiculous. Watch out for her charged needles at all times and don't forget about them. When you're recovering, watch out for her needles. They can really mess up your recovery so be careful. Ok, now the best way to edgeguard Sheik is this: When she's off the stage and trying to up+B back onto the stage, if you see she's about to land on the stage, just press towards the stage to do a neutral "get-up" animation, then fsmash her back off the stage. The rising fair from the ledge works well too, but fsmash works better and has more of a probability of killing. If it doesn't kill, she's far enough from the stage from an easy edgeguard (assuming she's high %). If she's not high %, just continue this until she is and until she's gone. Now, the other situation that could happen is she might just go straight above the ledge (if she thinks you might do the neutral edge get-up to a smash attack like everyone else does that knows how to edgeguard Sheik) and wait for you to get on the stage so she can then grab the ledge. In that case just stay on the edge and she's gone. Those are best ways to edgeguard/edgehog Sheik. I wouldn't really ever try to cape Sheik unless she's already above the ledge in the falling animation from her up+B. Also, if you're on the edge and she's not quite ready to up+B towards the stage because she's jumping towards it, make sure she's close enough and go out for a bair gimp. It always works because there are actually a few frames during the startup animation of Sheik's up+B that she's vulnerable to be in hit anyways so either way it will hit her, thereby setting up a very easy edgeguard/edgehog.
Be Aware of:
Fair - Sheik's fair is your worst enemy. Since most of her tilts lead to this, expect it most of the match. It has a way of sending you diagonally and towards the floor and the knockback is nuts so be sure to DI and Smash DI this one upwards and towards the stage (primarily upwards) and downwards and towards the stage, respectively, as soon as physically possible.
Dsmash - The move that never ends. Sheiks use this as both a killer move and a tech-following move. DI this one upwards as normal.
Uair - Sheik's Uair can destroy you once you hit a bit over 100% so be sure to DI behind her when she dthrows you.
Usmash - Sheik's Usmash is very strong. She probably won't be able to land this one but it's still a killer.
^Tilt Combos^ - Sheik's tilt game is amazing. They all come out so fast and the spacing behind them is so hard to escape. Tilt combos usually come from a dtilt or grab so be sure to DI behind her dthrow and DI away from her dtilt.
Best Stages:
Final Destination - Chain grab world.
Pokemon Stadium - You can pill-camp her better here with rotating platforms and level changes.
Battlefield - Battlefield will force her up+B to always aim up, hence allowing an easy cape.
Decent Stages:
Yoshi's Story - Platforms allow flexibility, and small level allows you to kill her easier with fair/fsmash/dsmash.
Mute City - Chain grab world for you against her as well. She also has as bad a recovery on this level as you do.
Counterpicks:
Corneria - Up+B to wing. You can also continuously bair her under the wing, sort of creating a type of WoP (Wall of Pain) that's hard for her to escape if you do it correctly.
Bad Stages:
Green Greens - This level is too random. Just be very careful and try not to get his by the random projectiles.
Fountain of Dreams - Edges are pretty awkward with the random rotating platforms above, and Sheik can tilt right through the platforms and combo you so it's just .. bad.
Possibility of Encounter - 45%
Marth (4):
Pros:
1.) Caping isn't hard
2.) Bairing is very useful, especially when he's recovering
3.) Can juggle him
4.) Not difficult in close combat
5.) Can be throw to a kill move
6.) Pills nullify his sword skills
Cons:
1.) His spacing is hard to get around
2.) His grab range is broken
3.) Has a tip
4.) Ken combos
Primarily Effective moves:
Grab (3, 9, 2, 8) - If you could manage a grab against Marth, you can seriously deal some damage on him. Combo him with utilts and uairs.
Dthrow (3, 9, 2, 9) - Once you grab a Marth at around 90% and you throw down, you should be able to connect a fair.
Sex-kick (nair) (7, 6, 5, 7) - Shffling nairs is the best attack to approach a Marth with safety. Try to go more through his shield so you can avoid the grab.
Fair (10, 7, 7, 10) - A primary killer. Can also eat up his shield. Do your best to go through him, unless you're a master at SHFFLC'ing and you can escape from his upcoming grab.
Cape (3, 9, 8, 6) - You can cape his recovery pretty easily. Don't jump off the stage to cape though, wait for him to sweetspot the edge since that's what they love to do.
Bair (6, 8, 9, 9) - A great spacing move to avoid being grabbed. Really, this is one of the moves that should be spammed in this match to kind of create a type of "Wall of Pain" against him.
Ftilt (5, 7, 9, 8) - A fine alternative when countering Marth's recovery. It comes out fast and should be used to space against Marths during this match. Don't let him grab you.
Utilt (6, 9, 6, 8) - A link between combos. It comes out quick, lasts longer than expected and it's priority works well. You can sort of juggle him for a while as well with this.
Fsmash (10, 8, 3, 10) - If you know the Marth is going to move in an area that you're already in, charge up your F-smash and send him flying.
Dsmash (10, 8, 6, 10) - This is a fast, strong smash attack that gets people in a 360' area around you.
Uair (4, 5, 5, 7) - SHFFLC'ing juggled uairs is a great way to combo Marth after a successful dthrow at around 40%.
Dair (9, 9, 7, 8) - When you're thrown up, use this move. Should be used when recovering onto stage while Marth is there as well.
Effective moves:
Usmash (7, 4, 4, 6) - For some reason or another, when you land this move on a Marth at around 90 damage, you can usually jump up with a fair.
Kill moves:
Fair - 95%+ (if they DI perfectly, they can last until 110%)
Bair - Any % once they're off the stage (Bob$)
Cape - Any %
Nair - Near the ending of the animation when the sex is stronger, you can destroy him at around 110%
Dsmash - Tends to usually kill Marth at 110% or so.
Fsmash - This is the best kill move if you land it. If Marth is caught in this one at around 110%, he should be sent completely off of the stage.
Bad moves:
Dtilt - The uses with this move are very slim. The only great use is to send him behind you, expecially while you're near the edge and you send him behind you off the edge, you could get some bairs in to kill his recovery.
Explanation:
In this matchup, you want to be very careful. Marth's range is insane, and that tip that he has is so, frustrating at times. This is why I always say, "Spam pill CORRECTLY". This is the time that I'll explain exactly what I mean by "CORRECTLY". When I say correctly, I mean, spam them so they neutralize his range. For every pill that you throw, each one neutralizes his attack. All of his attacks can be neutralized by a pill, all except for his fair. When you spam them correctly, you dig through his defenses and range, so you can get "inside". When you get inside and next to him, that's where his game falls. Once you're inside, you out game him with hand - to - hand combat. You can jab combo him, grab him to dthrow, utilt, uair combo .. you can pretty much take complete advantage of him in hand - to - hand combat once you get next to him. This match is very annoying, since most of the time you're spamming pills "CORRECTLY" to get next to him and get a grab in, but once you do, you should be able to take him on. Can I point something very important out? GRAB A LOT (once you're inside, ofcourse). Grab combos are your best buddy in this matchup. Once he's at around 95%, you can dthrow him and full-jump a fair on him ... which will most likely kill him since he'll be at around 115% by this time. You can also easily cape his recovery when he's coming up to sweetspot the stage while recovering. When you're caping him, however, don't jump off the stage to cape him, unless you're gonna do it backwards (caping him him behind). I wouldn't take the risk though, so I'd say just stay on the stage and wait for him to sweetspot it. Another alternative to caping would be the ftilt. Ftilt is a very useful move vs. Marth not only in disabling his recovery with sweetspotting, but also as a spacing technique. Remember to never get grabbed by him. Once you're grabbed, you're in his domain. Marth's love to "gay" and take advantage of their long range, so they grab a lot. Usually at low %s, Marth will attempt to grab you a few times in quick succession. What I mean by this is after the first grab they will fthrow you a few times, in a row, and then fsmash after they've noticed they can't connect another. DI the first fthrow away, but not if you're being thrown off the stage because they could connect an fsmash with the tip which will be hard to recover from (unless you can expect the fsmash and DI it for a situational reason or if you're just good at it). If they dthrow off the stage you and you're at low %, you must DI away. Usually they can connect an fsmash but it'd be better than getting spiked if you had DI'd towards the stage. Just expect the fsmash and DI towards the stage if it connects. Another thing to be aware of are the Ken combos. Ken combos are a sequence of short-hopped fairs and sometimes full-hopped fairs which lead to the inevitable dair-spike to death. Ken combos are highly frustrating, so don't find yourself in the predicament of taking place in one. If the situation permits and you see the Ken combo coming, once you are hit by that first fair, DI away so they can not chain that next fair. Marth's fair is the only attack that he has that goes through your pills. If you ever find yourself trying to cut through his defences with correctly spammed pills, but he's just neutralizing them back with fairs, wait until you see the opportunity to waveland towards him and ftilt. Another thing that Marth's do is they like to spam f-smash. This is mainly for Marth players that are beginner - good, but even the Pros tend to lean towards it sometimes as well because of their spacing techniques. If they've sweet-spotted the move, they will hit you with the infamous "TIP", which has probably twice the knock-back and multiplies his regular fmash damage by about 1.5 (non-charged). One way I've found around this is just utilting. Utilt in general is very good against all characters because of how quick it comes out, but against Marth, it actually will cancel his fsmash if you've expected it. The hit-lag is very low so you can usually, if you're quick enough, WD out of the utilt in for a grab right before Marth reacts to what just happened. Just be very, very careful in this matchup.
Be Aware Of:
Fsmash - Marth's fsmash is always spammed. Be careful of the tip, however. It catches you unexpectedly.
Fair - This is the only move that isn't neutralized by a pill. This is also the move that they combo with (Ken Combos).
Dtilt - If you're ever off of the stage and trying to recover, sweetspot the edge. If you don't, you're going to be either dtilted or fsmashed. Hope for the fsmash, it's about 20X easier to ledgetech than the dtilt is.
Utilt - This move comes out fast, and it send you straight up. The use this one when you're coming from above, so watch out.
Best Stages:
Final Destination - The level is yours. Feel free to uair juggle combo.
Pokemon Stadium - Another good level for you.
Battlefield - Battlefield will force his up+B to always aim up and sweetspot, hence allowing an easy cape.
Decent Stages:
Fountain of Dreams - This level is pretty good for you.
Counterpicks:
Corneria - Up+B to wing. You can also continously bair her under the wing, sort of creating a type of WoP (Wall of Pain) that's hard for her to escape if you do it correctly.
Counterpicks:
Bad Stages:
Yoshi's Story - If you're on a platform and the Marth player is below you, he can tip you easily. Also, this level's frame is too small so if you find yourself here against a Marth, make sure you're an expert DIest XD.
Possibility of encounter - 40%
Peach (5):
Pros:
1.) Can be juggled
2.) Ftilt get's around her range
3.) Once grabbed you can take advantage
4.) Can be throw to a kill move
5.) Dies easily vertically
Cons:
1.) Dsmash *****
2.) Crazy recovery
3.) Hard to recover against her
4.) Random turnips
5.) Random moves
6.) Crouch cancel
Primarily Effective moves
Grab (3, 9, 2, 8) - If you could manage a grab against Peach, throw down ... only. Combo her with utilts and uair.
Dthrow (3, 9, 2, 9) - Once you grab a Peach at around 90% and you throw down, you should be able to connect a fair and eliminate her.
Sex-kick (nair) (7, 6, 5, 7) - Shffling nairs is the best attack to approach a Peach with safety. Try to go more through her shield so you can avoid the grab.
Fair (10, 7, 7, 10) - A primary killer. Can also eat up her shield. Do your best to go through her, unless you're a master at SHFFLC'ing and you can escape from her upcoming grab.
Cape (3, 9, 8, 6) - Only Cape her when she's trying to recover. Even though it won't kill her, it will stun her and deal good damage on her.
Bair (6, 8, 9, 9) - Space with this move a lot against her. This is one of the only moves that can cut through her CC. Bairing her recovery is ok as well.
Ftilt (5, 7, 9, 10) - Use this move a lot during this matchup. Spacing is key against her to avoid her broken dsmash.
Utilt (6, 9, 6, 8) - A link between combos. It comes out quick, lasts longer than expected and it's priority works well. You can sort of juggle her for a while as well with this.
Fsmash (10, 8, 3, 10) - If you somehow land this move against her, it should destroy her at above 100% (unless you're on Dream Land).
Dsmash (10, 8, 6, 10) - Even though this is a fast smash attack it could lead to you being grabbed or dsmashed if you miss so use it wisely.
Dair (9, 9, 9, 10) - This is the move that you will use to rack up damage on her while aerial.
Uair (4, 5, 5, 7) - SHFFLC'ing juggled uairs is a great way to combo Peach after a successful dthrow at around 40%.
Effective moves:
Usmash (7, 4, 4, 6) - For some reason or another, when you land this move on a Peach at around 80 damage, you can usually jump up with a fair.
Bad moves:
Dtilt - The uses with this move are very slim. The only great use is to send her behind you, expecially while you're near the edge and you send her behind you off the edge, you could get some bairs in to kill her recovery.
Kill moves:
Fair - 95%+ (if they DI perfectly, they can last until 110%)
Bair - Any % once they're off the stage (Bob$)
Nair - Near the ending of the animation when the sex is stronger, you can destroy her at around 110%
Dsmash - Tends to usually kill Peach at 120% or so.
Fsmash - This is the best kill move if you land it. If Peach is caught in this one at around 110%, she should be sent completely off of the stage.
Explanation:
Peach is hard. With basically all of her moves leading to a Dsmash, and her amazing recovery in comparison to yours, she really makes it harder for you to live! She's definitely a very intense fight for you. Luckily for you, you have pills, and your grabs lead to uair juggles, and your fair will destroy her. What you have to do in this fight is use your pills to get inside and grab her. Once you land the grab, dthrow. Always dthrow. I won't stress that anymore, just make sure you dthrow. When you dthrow at 0%, utilt. If you grab her at 40%, this is where the fun begins. Dthrow her and full jump a uair, and then fastfall a uair. After this you should be able to uair juggle her easily, since her second jump makes it so much harder for her to get out since her second jump (mid-air) starts off by going down first. After the successful uairs, you can usually end the combo with a fair. If you land a grab on her at 85%, hit her about 3 times, dthrow and full jump a fair. Your primary advantage against her in this match is the fact that once you land a grab, you basically should get free combos on her. Your primary disadvantage is her dsmash and her recovery. Not to mention, once you're off the stage, she usually has no problem getting rid of you. Another thing you'll have to do is space. I don't mean this lightly. Spacing is really your only way of hand-to-hand combat against her. Use ftilt a lot against her. It comes out quick and takes her out dsmash out of game. Utilt her when she's above you. That's another move that comes out fast, and you can juggle her with utilts too! Peach players pretty much always approach floating towards you with their dair so they can either fastfall to the floor and dsmash or nair you. You can't escape with a roll out of her dair unless you c-stick roll out. C-stick roll should really be the only way that you roll anyways. In this match though, spam pills correctly to get inside for a grab, and space. It's sort of like fighting Marth. Sometimes, however, since she's so random (literally), you'll have to always watch out for the turnips that she pulls to check and see if one is the stichface. If it is, just camp her and when she throws it, dodge it or cape it. You might also want to catch a few of her turnips when you see the opportunity. When you're on a stage with platforms and you see the Peach camping on a platform, don't go near her. She's up there for one reason, and one reason only ... to spam her dsmash. The hitbox on the dsmash is so broken that it usually covers the entier platform. If you go near her and she dsmashes, chances are that you're going to be caught up in it and get about 35% damage done. Remember, most Peach players love dsmashing because of it's hitbox and the amount of damage it is capable of (80+). Peach players can also easily crouch-cancel almost all of your aerial moves except bair, so bair against her a lot and space with it so usually the tip hits her. When you're recovering, make sure to sweetspot the edge. If you don't, you're going to either be dsmashed or daired to a nair. If she dsmashes you, ledge-tech it and then immediately after up+B onto the stage. If she dairs you and then nairs you, DI it upwards and towards the stage and Smash DI it downwards and towards the stage.
Be Aware Of:
Fair - This move is strong so be sure to DI it very well.
Dair - Peach players always approach with this move while floating to eat up your shield so c-stick roll out of it. It's your only way of escaping. They also use this against your recovery
so they can follow it up with a nair.
Dtilt - If you're dtilted at certain high %s, you're stunned for a while so they can usually full jump a dair or fair.
Dsmash - All Peach players spam this move and it deals some intense damage so stay away from her and spam them pills to create a wall of defense for yourself.
Fthrow - If you're ever grabbed at above 100%, the Peach will most likely fthrow you. Hold straight up to live a lot longer.
Dthrow - Sometimes when you're grabbed at above 100%, the Peach player with dthrow you. DI behind her because she's probably going to usmash you and if it hits, you're most likely dead.
Best Stages:
Final Destination - You can combo her like crazy and Pill camp nicely.
Decent Stages:
Pokemon Stadium - A pretty good level with rotating platforms that give you flexibility with combos.
Battlefield - A good level to use against her with neutral platforms. The edges force her Up+B to go above the edge for easily caped up damage.
Fountain of Dreams - Even though you must remain careful of her dsmash platform game, you can use the rotating platforms for flexible combos.
Counterpicks:
Yoshi's Story - Easy vertical kills and horizontal kills.
Bad stages:
Mute City - Her recovery is insane on this level and yours is terrible.
Dream Land 64 - She never dies on this stage and she'll camp ontop of platforms to spam dsmash.
Possibility of Encounter: 15%
This is Version 5 of this Guide. It is complete.
P.S. - Updates will happen frequently ...
Note: Even though the guide has been finalized and is said complete, I will still update it over time and will add things that I believe are generally helpful to the Doc./Smash community
!Last Update!
07/04/2011:
1.) Corrected some typos
2.) Updated the Marth explanation on matchup
3.) Explained the uniqueness of Doc.'s nair in a Tip and General tip
4.) Added Tips 11, 12 and 13 and also General tip 10
5.) Fixed a typo in Tip 10 regarding Doc.'s PTP recovery from above the stage
!Last Update!
11/05/2010:
1.) Added more tips
2.) Corrected some typos
3.) Covered more information on PTP usage
4.) Updated the Jigglypuff explanation on matchup
Attention: This Guide is for Smashboards, and for Smashboards ONLY!
If you are going to use any part of this guide, word for word, in any part of smashboards, you must have a reference to this guide somewhere in your post indicating that this guide was your source of information.
For a link to my Doctor Mario tutorial, "The Doctor's Checkup", click the
previous link above for the thread.
For a Combo video by me entitled, "The Medic Man", click
the previous link for the thread.
Links to some Guides that have personally helped me and that have good information:
AlphaZealot's - "Wavedashing, L-Cancelling, All the Terms!"
Mew2King's Statistics Listings
MookieRah's - "Observation"
Wobbles the Phoenix - "The Four Aspects of Melee"
Doraki's Guide to DI, CC, and Teching
Dates of Updates:
08/30/07 - Guide was created.
08/31/07 - Rough Captain Falcon entry.
08/31/07 - Rough Jigglypuff entry.
09/01/07 - Rough Ice Climbers entry.
09/01/07 - Rough Ganondorf entry.
09/03/07 - Rough Samus entry.
09/03/07 - Rough Mario entry.
09/03/07 - Rough Pikachu entry.
09/15/07 - Rough Doctor Mario entry.
09/15/07 - Rough Luigi entry.
10/02/07 - Rough Link entry.
10/03/07 - Rough Bowser entry.
12/04/07 - Rough Ness entry.
02/01/08 - Rough Young Link entry.
02/01/08 - Rough Zelda entry.
02/25/08 - Rough MewTwo entry.
06/02/08 - Rough Donkey Kong entry.
06/02/08 - Rough Roy entry.
06/03/08 - Rough Mr. Game and Watch entry.
06/03/08 - Rough Kirby entry.
06/03/08 - Rough Yoshi entry.
06/03/08 - Rough Pichu entry.
06/03/08 - Rough Entries Complete!
06/03/08 - 07/30/08 - Finalized Guide
Assistance (as of 06/03/08):
DogySamich (right-hand man) - Unfamiliar matchups.
*Link - 30% of the information*
*Bowser - 90% of the information*
*Donkey Kong - 60% of the information*
*Roy - 80% of the information*
*Mr. Game and Watch - 90% of the information*
*Kirby - 60% of the information*
*Yoshi - 50% of the information*
*Pichu - 30% of the information*
Kashakunaki - Counterpicks, Character Matchups.
Cyphus - Counterpicks, Character Matchups.
Eighteen Spikes - Information on Doc's game as a whole.
Bob$ - Information on Doc's game as a whole, Counterpicks, Character Matchups.
Ihavespaceballs - Most Samus entry information.
DAlegendary Samus (DAWes) - Some Samus entry information.
Green_Mario - Most Mario entry information.
Pika -Chad- - Pikachu entry information.
N64 - Most of Pikachu entry information.
SheikSSBM - Some Luigi and Sheik information.
KeepSpeedN - Some information against Sheik.
DaShizWiz - Some information against Falco.
Simna ibn Sind - ALL Ness information.
TheBuzzSaw - Most Young Link information.
Doadrin - Some Young Link information.
theMeleeGuy - All Zelda information.
Dguy - All MewTwo information.
Hey all. This thread is basically something that I've been wanting to do for a while but I never felt like I knew enough about Doc. Since I've been actually maining Doc. though for the past year and 2 months and have been doing some studying, I think I'll just do it now and offer my two-sense for help. Let me add that this thread is pretty much my knowledge base of Doc. and his matchups. I will be getting info from other players on character matchups to help me out.
Biography :
My full name is Barry Valentino Layton. I'm 25 years old and I'm the oldest of my two other siblings. I have 2 younger brothers, Bronson and Benito, who are quite known throughout the smash community as DaShizWiz and KeepSpeedN, respectively. I live in Naples, Florida and my brothers and I have been playing Smash competitively for almost 7 years. Our first tournament was a tournament in Fort Myers, called FORT1, where we met later crew mates who would be involved in training us, RockCrock and QueenDVS, for the first time. Later after that my brothers and I established a crew called "Smash Veterans Crew" (SVC). Shortly after that, the developed SVC fused with Team FORT and made the "South West Florida Crew" (SWFL Crew). Since then, we've been to about 30 - 35 tournaments in all, and some that have had us travel all around the country. Around summer time in 2006, I saw Bob$'s Combo Vid. "Overdose" and was immediately attached to Doctor Mario. After that I read Cyphus' Guide on Doctor Mario and learned a lot of Doc's tricks and was determined to find out his potential. I contributed to the smash community for the first time with my tutorial vid. "The Doctor's Checkup", commonly known as "The Checkup". Since a little before then and after that, I secondaried Doctor Mario until December when I finally decided to change my main from Falco to Doctor Mario. I've been maining Doc. (seriously) since December 2006. I like to help people and share my knowledge of stuff, so I figured I'd put my effort into one last thing for the smash community. That "one last thing" is this character match up guide. I hope you all enjoy it and learn from it. Thanks.
Playing the Doc:
Ok. Now for everyone playing Doc. and aspiring to becoming a great Doc. player ... let me explain a few things here. First off, when you're fighting against somebody, it's not about how technical you are, it's about how technical they are. You shouldn't base you're style off of your own technicality, but off of your opponents technicality. Playing Doc. is much like playing the observer, you sit there and observe (both in studying your opponent playing them or not playing them) what your opponent does until you finally learn their movement chart. You use your mindgames to judge based on their constant movements what the next thing they'll do is by pushing them into doing it, then you attack with the most effective move, run them into a combo using your own technical skill, and then, once they're vulnerable to a finish, depending on the situation you use your smarts to end them. Playing Doc. is more of an art than a character strategy. It isn't about what you can do, how skilled you are, and how well of a smasher you are, but more of how much you know about your character, what he can do, and how much you can take advantage of your opponents bad habits, lack of strategically used mindgames, and technicality. The key with playing Doc. is to use your mindgames to push your opponent so that with your own technicality you can outsmart them into a combo that leads to death. When you play Doc., never be impatient. You have to be patient, observe, and constantly pick up on what they like to do. Once you do this you can move all you want, so as long as you don't mess up with an unintended move, you'll be able to completely take advantage of your opponent.
You never know who you're fighting and what they're capable of, but regardless of who it is whether it be a professional/amateur/aspiring player, or anything, everyone does something that can be taken advantage of. A primitive example of this would be about 80% of all Fox players getting back on the stage with a phantasm. If you knew he/she was going to recover onto the stage with a phantasm ahead of time, you would already be sitting back there waiting with a fully charged fsmash, wouldn't you? That's the way you play, you play on the defense with offense.
I'll start this guide by giving you some tips about Doc.
All in all - Play Doc. smart. When you play against people, practice your mindgames. When you want to practice your technicality, do it against a level 4 CPU and then put it to test in battle against a real opponent and attempt mindgames in conjunction. Mindgames are key with Doc. Be a smart player, and don't move faster than you have to unless you have complete control over Doc. and know how to incorporate mindgames and read your opponent while moving fast.
Your regular recovery:
1.) Make sure to DI. DI (Directional Influence) is key with Doc. The control-stick should be Upwards and towards the stage and the C-stick should be Downwards and towards the stage.
2.) PTP to gain height and get some DI towards the stage.
3.) Throw pills or Jump depending on your height.
4.) Depending on your opponents position, air-dodge, sweet-spot, or grab the edge.
Second option of recovery depending on the situation:
1.) Make sure to DI. DI (Directional Influence) is key with Doc. The control-stick should be Upwards and towards the stage and the C-stick should be Downwards and towards the stage.
2.) PTP to gain height and get some DI towards the stage.
3.) Jump towards the stage while reverse pilling.
4.) Bair towards the stage as a way of protecting yourself (the bair does increase DI towards the stage)
5.) Depending on your opponents position, air-dodge, or sweet-spot.
Recovery after you've already attempted your recovery but have been hit back off the stage (when you've lost your PTP):
1.) Make sure to DI. DI (Directional Influence) is key with Doc. The control-stick should be Upwards and towards the stage and the C-stick should be Downwards and towards the stage.
2.) Fair to gain neutrality.
3.) Throw pills or Jump depending on your height.
4.) Depending on your opponents position, air-dodge, sweet-spot, or grab the edge.
Tip 1:
Jabbing defines Doc.'s game. This is one of the most important thing that you have to learn how to do efficiently. Jabbing can be used to connect your combos smoothly, reset your opponent's "get-up" animation from being on the ground, not allow your opponent to grab the ledge, and so many other things. Learn how to jab, and you'll get twice as good at least. Both jabbing once and jabbing twice "One - Two". Those are the key to Doc's game.
Tip 2:
If you're going to spam pills, spam them correctly. You should be throwing pills to create a wall of defense that makes your opponent have a hard time just getting to you.
Tip 3:
Approach with the nair and full-jumped dair. Don't approach with a fair unless you can shffl it perfectly and avoid getting punished.
Tip 4:
C-stick rolling is the best way to roll, with ANY character. It's so much safer. You roll on the first frame you're allowed to. An example would be coming from the ledge with a dair, and holding the L button and the C-stick in the position you want to roll. When you land on the floor after the animation of the dair is done, you will roll on the first frame possible.
Tip 5:
Observing your opponent is key in every match. Always figure out their patterns and take advantage of them.
Tip 6:
If you DI and Smash DI (Ctrl-stick and C-stick .. respectively) Sheik/Ganon/Falcon's fair within a 5 frame time-frame, you'll last a whole lot longer.
Tip 7 (added 11/05/10):
Another approach to learn is the SHBAWD approach. You can't always approach the same way against the multitude of characters that is SSBM. It's good to know different approaches for different situations. The SHBAWD is a very good way to play it safe while approaching, since the bair's hitbox is pretty well extended.
Tip 8 (added 11/05/10):
Also learn different ways of mind-gaming your recovery. Recovery is hard against characters like Jiggs + Peach who have a great edge-guarding game and can easily gimp.
Tip 9 (added 11/05/10):
Master the Perfect Tornado Press (PTP). Doing so will help your recovery game extremely. You can make it back to the stage in situations your opponent and you would've never expected you to recover from. You can tell a successful PTP when you can successfully double-jump after performing the tornado on stage, or if you land on the middle platform on Yoshi's Story from starting your tornado on the ground.
Tip 10 (added 11/05/10):
NEVER PTP from below the stage unless you're already recovering from below the stage to begin with (for example, being dsmashed from Fox at the edge off of the stage). PTPing next-to or below the stage is the easiest way to set yourself up for an easy gimp. PTP should always be the first thing you do when initiating a recovery.
Tip 11 (added 07/04/11):
Shield-spacing with Doctor Mario is helpful. What I mean by this is when you are spacing through your opponent's shield with moves like Doc.'s nair, bair. It is very helpful, especially in the process of zoning. This can also apply to any character.
Tip 12 (added 07/04/11):
Doctor Mario is the only character in the game with a sex-kick a.k.a. nair that gets stronger while it is out. This means that at the very end of the sex-kick, it will deal more damage and the knock-back is increase by at least 3 times it's initial knock-back. This make's Doc.'s sex-kick highly distinguishable amongst all other characters in SSBM, even from Mario's, his said 'clone'. Use this to your advantage at all times (edge-guarding, approaching, shield-spacing, spacing, etc.). It's effectiveness and usefulness is primitive in all matches, even more especially on floaty type characters.
Tip 13 (added 07/04/11):
Understand what zoning is. This applies to all characters in smash and all fighting games. Zoning is a way of positioning yourself against your opponent or using moves to make them do what you want them to do because they are feeling under pressure, simply because of your control of 'space'. The term 'space' is determined by the playing field of the level and how well you can manipulate your opponent. It's not as much how well you can manipulate the space around you, but more so, how you can use the space around you to manipulate your opponent. What it all boils down to the in long run is pressure. Think of it this way: spacing is really a subcategory of Zoning. Spacing is to Zoning what Di is to Recovery.
General tips:
1.) Ftilt is a good spacing move that comes out fast against everyone
2.) Utilt is a good priority move to use against characters that attack from above
3.) You can cape about 90% of the characters in this games recovery "easily"
4.) You can Chain grab 37% of the characters in the game
5.) Nair gets stronger as it's out longer.
6.) Doc. is the only character in the game that can cancel his up+B from his shield. I suggest learning this, even though it isn't an absolute necessity.
7.) Light-shielding against attacks that will **** your shield is a very good idea for auto-spacing. An example of this would be if you're fighting against a Falco. While he's wrecking your shield with dairs, just light-shield. If you do it right you can grab right out of it, or WD to anything out of it.
8.) The bair has a hit-box in the front as well. Situational bairs from the front may be helpful in gimping.
9.) Usmash out of shield is very helpful. Great way to get pressure off of you and set up for a fair on some characters.
10.) Doctor Mario's sex-kick a.k.a. nair is the only nair in the game that gets stronger as it is out. This can be very helpful vs. floaties at high %s, especially since they might not expect to DI it so immediately as to not die from it.
Things-to-know that I use that have personally helped me:
*Cloud Timing*
In the minutes is where you look to determine the clouds location. The clock goes downwards from 60 - 0 for each minute, and the cloud moves counter clock-wise starting going towards the bottom right, because at 60 when you begin the match, the cloud is coming from the bottom left towards the bottom right.
*Cloud Movements:*
Bottom Right - Cloud is coming out.
Top Right - Cloud is coming in.
Top Left - Cloud is coming out.
Bottom Left - Cloud is coming in.
Bottom Right:-----Top Right:------Top Left:-----Bottom Left:
-----:55-----------------:50-------------:45--------------:40
-----:35-----------------:30-------------:25--------------:20
-----:15-----------------:10-------------:05--------------:00
So, as you can see, there are a few ways to go about the patterns here and feel free to incorporate your own ways of determining the clouds placing. However, the best way I know is noticing that if the minutes tens place is in the odds (5, 3, 1), the cloud is somewhere on the right side or will be coming out on the right side at the bottom, and if the minutes tens place is in the evens (4, 2, 0) , the cloud is somewhere on the left side or will be coming out on the left side at the top. Just remember that at any given point where the cloud comes out, there is a 20 second difference that the cloud will be coming out at that same spot again.
*Reverse-caping*
A while ago after I released my combo video there was a thread discussing reverse-caping. To me it feels smoother, but after actually studying the hit-boxes, nothing is entirely different except the hit-box on the last frame. On the first frame, the hit-box covers most of Doc's body, on the second frame, it covers most of his body and outwards towards his front, and on the last frame, it covers most of his body and a lot outwards towards his back. So my theory is, caping or reverse caping should be used depending on how you feel the hit-box should be used at that particular moment in that given situation.
You can chain-grab all of these characters:
! = Hard to execute
* = Guaranteed next grab
|Direction to Throw|
Pikachu |DTHROW| !0 *25* - 55%
Link |DTHROW| *27 - 68%*
Y Link |DTHROW| *19* - 58%
DK |DTHROW| !20 *40 - 60%*
Bowser |DTHROW| *32 - 70%*
Sheik |DTHROW| !0 *20 - 60%*
Falco |UTHROW| !0 *30 - 60%* |DTHROW| (130 - 180%)
Fox |UTHROW| !0 *35 - 60%* |DTHROW| (100 - 150%)
Ganon |DTHROW| !0 *25* - 65%
Roy |DTHROW| *50* - 85%
Yoshi |DTHROW| !0 *30* - 50%
CF |UTHROW| !0 *30* - 78% |DTHROW| (110 - 160%)
Important Doc. terms:
Ledgeteching - Within 20 frames before getting hit, press L/R to tech an attack.
Broken 'Sweetspot' - Grabbing the edge by the millimeter. Practice this since it's key to survival, especially with Doc. since his sweetspot is so broken that no one expects it except you.
Megavitamin tricks = (A very big category of pill tactics that you should read about in Cyphus' Doc. guide and if you want you can see them in action in my Doctor Mario tutorial video, "The Doctor's Checkup".)
Up+B Cancel - The entire sequence of this move is 4 frames. The operations for each frame are as follows:
Frame 1 - Hit the initial direction you want the hitbox to appear in.
Frame 2 - Cancel that direction with the exact opposite direction.
Frame 3 - The hitbox of the initial direction shows up.
Frame 4 - The last part of the hitbox dissapears.
This move is primarily useful out of your shield. It is useful, trust me.
SHBAWD - Short-hop, back-aerial (bair), wave-land. A great compilation of moves to use against most characters (CF, Marth, Peach, Ganon .. etc.)
PTP (Perfect Tornado Press) - The sequence of pressing B repetitively after pressing Down B to gradually increase you're hight while aerial. Usually used as part of your recovery during the beginning of it.
Ledge-canceled-aerials - All aerials (with the exception of fair) can be ledge-canceled. You jump off the ledge, perform the aerial, and then land back on it.
Chain-Grabbing (CG) - The act of continuously grabbing your opponent due to his/her weight/% vulnerabilities.
Now, back to what this thread is really all about, we'll go from top-tier to bottom tier on character matchups. Here's how the guide is written:
Color Key:
Blue = Space Animal
Sienna = Fast Faller
Orange = Floater
Sea Green = Weighted Floater
Red = Weighted
(Strength, Priority, Spacing, Effectiveness) rates of uses:
0 - Terrible
1 - Rare
2 - Some Potential
3 - Potential
4 - Decent
5 - Average
6 - Above average
7 - Pretty useful
8 - Useful
9 - Great
10 - Insane
Note: EVERY one of these values changes depending on which character they are used on.
Format: Move name - (Strength - Value, Priority - Value, Spacing - Value, Effectiveness - Value).
P.S. - Remember, the values may alter according to the character (stressed point).
*Color Distinguished* Character name (Tier #):
Pros - What Doc. has over this character.
Cons - What Doc. doesn't have over this character.
Primary effective moves:
Move name (rates of uses) - Description
Effective moves:
Move name (rates of uses) - Description
Kill moves:
Move name - % of kill frame.
Bad moves:
Move name - Description
Explanation (on Matchup):
Beware of:
Move - Description
Best Stages:
Stage - Description
Decent Stages:
Stage - Description
Counterpicks:
Stage - Description
Bad Stages:
Stage - Description
Possibility of encounter - %age of encounter (Basically, this is my opinion of a percentage at which you may run into this character during a tournament)
Attention!
First post = Top - High Tier list
Second post = Middle - Low Tier list
Third post = Bottom Tier list
-The Doctor's Matchups-
-Top Tier-
Fox McCloud (1):
Pros:
1.) Easily caped
2.) Can be Chain grabbed
3.) Can be thrown to a kill move
4.) Easily baired
Cons:
1.) Incredible Speed
3.) Can't tech his Shine Spike
3.) Can camp you terribly
4.) Strong upsmash that can destroy you once you hit 90%.
5.) Combo speed is intense
Primarily Effective Moves:
Grab (3, 9, 2, 8) - You can chain-grab a Fox with uthrow from 0 - 60%, but 20 - 60% guaranteed. Also from 100 - 150% dthrow.
U-throw (3, 9, 2, 7) - Once the Fox is at 95 -115%, you can uthrow him to a full jump fair for the kill.
Sex-kick (nair) (6, 6, 5, 7) - Shffling nairs is the best attack to approach a Fox with safely.
Fair (9, 7, 7, 9) - A primary killer. Can also eat up his shield.
Cape (3, 9, 8, 10) - You can cape his recovery with relative ease.
Bair (6, 8, 9, 9) - A great spacing move to avoid being grabbed. Also, bairing his recovery is simple.
Ftilt (5, 7, 9, 8) - A fine alternative when countering Fox's recovery. It comes out fast and nudges him right off of the stage quickly.
Utilt (6, 9, 6, 7) - A link between combos. Another great move to use when Fox is coming down from above you. It comes out quick, lasts longer than expected and it's priority works well.
Fsmash (10, 8, 3, 9) - If you know the Fox is going to move in an area that you're already in, charge up your F-smash and send him flying.
Dsmash (8, 8, 6, 8) - This is a fast, strong smash attack that gets people in a 360' area around you.
Effective moves:
Uair (4, 5, 5, 7) - Can be used as a link between grabs. Juggling Fox is possible at 85- 90%+.
Dair (9, 9, 7, 8) - When you're thrown up, use this move. Should be used when recovering onto stage while Fox is there as well.
Dtilt (4, 5, 4, 7) - Depending on his %, he may go further behind you. Also does some weird things when sweetspotting Fox's recovery.
Usmash (7, 4, 4, 6) - For some reason or another, when you land this move on a Fox at around 100 damage, you can usually jump up with a fair.
Kill moves:
Fair - 103%+ (if they DI perfectly, they can last until 115%)
Bair - Any % once they're off the stage (Bob$)
Cape - Any %
Nair - Near the ending of the animation when the sex is stronger, you can destroy him at around 110%
Dsmash - Tends to usually kill Fox at 130% or so.
Fsmash - This is the best kill move if you land it. If Fox is caught in this one at around 105%, he should be sent completely off of the stage. Even if he does survive, it should
be an easy edge-hog/edge-guard.
Bad moves:
Fthrow - This leads to nothing unless you're on a stage where this throw leads to a predicament that you'll suspect him to do in which case you can take advantage of.
Explanation:
When you're fighting against Fox players, rely on their technicality. They love to approach with sex-kicks since it stays out so long and the hitbox is insane. You should be able to hold your own against a Fox player, but if you and the Fox player are at the same skill level, you're going to have twice as hard of a time trying to beat him. Remember, the key things to remember in this matchup is that a.) He can be chaingrabbed b.) You can cape and bair his recovery easily and c.) Once you grab him at around 100%, you can uthrow to full jump fair and destroy him. Foxs love to move fast, shine spike, and laser camp you. When they Laser camp you, throw pills at him and remain away from him while avoiding his lasers. You can do this by going on the edge and infinitely jumping up and down on it to aviod at all costs his lasers, or you can find an alternative. In this situation you should remain centre stage, wait for him to come to you, and use your pills to create a defense wall against him. If the Fox gets a grab on you and throws you up, you can come down with a dair and that usually goes right through his predicted uairs. Another note for this matchup is to use the ftilt as an alternative in defeating his recovery. If you tip him with your ftilt while he's in his Firefox, he will be sent back and the effect will take place, but you wont get hurt.
Be Aware of:
Shine Spike - You can't tech it. This is the biggest gimp vs. you.
Uair - He can kill you once you hit 95% with this (unless you're on Dreamland).
Grab - Fox's love to grab. If he throws you up you should be able to escape with a DJ though.
Usmash - His primarily effective move against you. If you're at about 93%, you're probably toast (if you DI it perfectly you may survive).
Lasers - Fox players camp. They do this because they can. Beware of his lasers.
Best Stages to use:
Final Destination - Chain grab world. The only down-side to this is that the Fox may camp you.
Fountain of Dreams - This stage will sort of mess up Fox's short-hop game because of the moving platforms.
Decent Stages:
Battlefield - You can use the platforms to keep up your speed and be a bit more flexible. You can also easily cape his recover since he has to rely on going straight towards the edge.
Yoshi's Story - The platforms offer some flexibility to keep up with him. The small level grants you easier kills vs. him with bair/fsmash/fair/dsmash.
Counterpicks:
Mute City - Flat surface with rare chance of you dieing form a shine-spike.
Fountain of Dreams - The random-rotating platforms can somewhat mess up his fast short hop game.
Bad Stages:
Corneria - Fox can camp you too easily on this stage and the stage is large so edgeguards/edgehogs are hard and it's hard to get fox off the stage.
Possibility of Encounter - 70%
Falco Lombardi (2):
Pros:
1.) Easily caped
2.) Can be chain grabbed
3.) Can be thrown to a kill move
4.) Easily baired
Cons:
1.) Combo speed is amazing
2.) Lasers halt your movement
3.) Fsmash kills you
Primarily Effective moves:
Grab (3, 9, 2, 8) - If you could manage a grab against Falco, you can chain-grab him from 30 - 60% uthrow (0 is hard) or 130 - 180%.
Uthrow (3, 9, 2, 7) - Once you grab a Falco at around 95 - 106%, you can uthrow him, full jump a fair and pretty much destroy him.
Sex-kick (nair) (6, 6, 5, 7) - Shffling nairs is the best attack to approach a Falco with safety.
Fair (9, 7, 7, 9) - A primary killer. Can also eat up his shield. But watch out for the shine that may come out of it.
Cape (3, 9, 8, 10) - You can cape his recovery with relative ease.
Bair (6, 8, 9, 10) - A great spacing move to avoid being grabbed. Also, bairing his recovery is simple.
Ftilt (5, 7, 9, 9) - A fine alternative when countering Falco's recovery. It comes out fast and nudges him right off of the stage quickly.
Utilt (6, 9, 6, 7) - A link between combos. Another great move to use when Falco is coming down from above you. It comes out quick, lasts longer than expected and it's priority works well.
Fsmash (10, 8, 3, 9) - If you know the Falco is going to move in an area that you're already in, charge up your F-smash and send him flying.
Dsmash (8, 8, 6, 8) - This is a fast, strong smash attack that gets people in a 360' area around you.
Effective moves:
Uair (4, 5, 5, 7) - Can be used as a link between grabs. Juggling Falco is possible at 80 - 90%+.
Dair (9, 9, 7, 7) - When you're thrown up, use this move. Should be used when recovering onto stage while Falco is there as well.
Dtilt (4, 5, 4, 7) - Depending on his %, he may go further behind you. Also does some weird things when sweetspotting Falco's recovery.
Usmash (7, 4, 4, 6) - For some reason or another, when you land this move on a Falco at around 105 damage, you can usually jump up with a fair.
Kill moves:
Fair - 103%+ (if they DI perfectly, they can last until 115%)
Bair - Any % once they're off the stage (Bob$)
Cape - Any %
Nair - Near the ending of the animation when the sex is stronger, you can destroy him at around 110%
Dsmash - Tends to usually kill Falco at 130% or so.
Fsmash - This is the best kill move if you land it. If Falco is caught in this one at around 105%, he should be sent completely off of the stage. Even if he does survive, it should
be an easy edge-hog/edge-guard.
Bad moves:
Fthrow - This leads to nothing unless you're on a stage where this throw leads to a predicament that you'll suspect him to do in which case you can take advantage of.
Explanation:
This isn't an easy matchup. With constantly spammed lasers coming at you and a fast comboing character with pillaring combos, this match can be somewhat annoying. During this match, your primary focus should be to just play it safe. Powershield Falco's lasers, or cape them. Approach the Falco with sex-kicks, and keep up with him. Don't try to just shield-grab, that's pretty much a "nono" in this matchup. Once you grab Falco, however, you can chain grab him. Never forget, also, that when you grab him at 90% or so, you can always hit him twice, throw him up and then fair him. Falco's can seem to overwhelm you during this matchup. They best way that I find to get around this is spacing moves like ftilt, bair and utilt. If you do this you'll surely be able to execute some type of "hit and run" game. It's all about playing it safe. Falco players usually approach with Dairs or Nairs. If you know it's coming, powershield his move. If you ever get a powershield on Falco, be sure to shield-grab right afterwards. This is the only exception since after a powershield you can react the exact next frame. Once the Falco is off of the stage, don't be afraid to cape him. When they phantasm back to the stage, ftilt them. The ftilt comes out very fast and will hit him through his phantasm. Sometimes when the Falco player is right under the edge, he'll go straight up because he's expecting you to cape him, in which case he's expecting to just go straight up and get even more height. Don't do it. Ftilt him with the tip of your shoe. He'll be shocked, and sent back. After this it should be an easy edge-guard since the only way for him to get back to the ledge is by going diagonally up with his Firebird.
Be Aware of:
Fsmash - Falco's spam F-smash once you hit 100% or so. It's one of the only kill moves that they have.
Dtilt - You are a character that dies easily vertically. If you're hit by this one at around 95%, you're probably going to die.
ShineShineShine - You can get gimped by Falcos on stages like Pokemon Stadium, Pokefloats, or Green Greens that have a high platform with Falco's triple shines. You'll be sent out of the stage vertically at easily 20% if he lands all shines on you. This is Falco's answer to Fox's shinespike, the only difference is that you're going upwards instead of downwards.
Bair - If Falco lands a bair on you and the tip hits you, unless you DI'ed it right, you're probably going to be done at 115% or so. Be ready to DI this one. This is also a spacing move that some Falco's use so be careful and never doubt the spacing on this move.
Dair - ALL Falco players will approach you with a dair. The only answer to this is an Up+B cancel right after his suspected shine. This is also a spike so be sooo careful. Ledge-tech it (20 frames before the hit press L/R) upon sweetspotting the ledge.
Nair (Sex-kick) - This is the alternative approaching move for Falco players, primarily against Floaters. If you're hit by this move, expect a utilt or shine combo coming from this one.
Best stages:
Final Destination - This is all about chain-grabbing and defense. Remember not to shield-grab unless after powershielding his attack first.
Pokemon Stadium - If you stay on lower ground and take advantage of the random moving of this stage, you should be fine in this level. Just don't get ShineShineShine'd at the highest platform this level has during it's rocky transformation.
Battlefield - His Up+B will be forced to go up straight-towards the edge, hence allowing an easier cape. Only bad side is it's hard for you to grind the stage to ledge-tech his dair, so learn how to sweetspot!
Fountain of Dreams - Falco's don't really like this level because it messes up their short-hop game (including short-hop-laser).
Decent Stages:
Yoshi's Story - Platforms allow some flexibility for you vs. Falco. Small stages allows easier kills on Falco.
Counterpicks:
Mute City - Flat surface with rare chance of you dieing form a shine-spike.
Corneria - Infinite wing with the up+B.
Fountain of Dreams - The random-rotating platforms can somewhat mess up his fast short hop game. His SHL (Short-hop lasers) are especially ruined in this level.
Bad stages:
Poke Floats - ShineShineShine will gay you terribly. Matter-of-fact, ShineShine is bad enough. If they pick this level against you, stay on lower ground. In general, any level with a high platform that will allow you to be ShineShineShine'd isn't the best idea to go to if you're fighting against a Falco player that knows what they're doing*
Possibility of Encounter - 75%
-High Tier-
Sheik (3):
Pros:
1.) Can be chain grabbed
2.) Can be throw to a kill move
3.) Can be juggled
4.) Is pretty easy to edgeguard/edgehog if you know how to do it right
Cons:
1.) Hard to cape
2.) Not easily baired
3.) Automatic spacing eats your offense
4.) Tilt combos are hard to escape
5.) Once grabbed at 100%, expected fair or uair is hard to escape
6.) Once grabbed, guaranteed another hit
Primarily Effective moves
Grab (3, 9, 2, 7) - If you could manage a grab against Sheik, you can chain-grab her from 20 - 60% dthrow (0 is hard).
Dthrow (3, 9, 2, 9) - Once you grab a Sheik at around 90% and you throw down, you should be able to connect a fair.
Sex-kick (nair) (7, 6, 5, 7) - Shffling nairs is the best attack to approach a Sheik with safety. Try to go more through her shield so you can avoid the grab.
Fair (10, 7, 7, 10) - A primary killer. Can also eat up her shield. Do your best to go through her, unless you're a master at SHFFLC'ing and you can escape from her upcoming grab.
Cape (3, 9, 8, 6) - You can cape her recovery. It's not easy, but if she's in the animation right before she's about to disappear when coming back to the ledge, you can cape that.
Bair (6, 8, 9, 9) - A great spacing move to avoid being grabbed. Really, this is one of the moves that should be spammed in this match to kind of create a type of "Wall of Pain" against her.
Ftilt (5, 7, 9, 8) - A fine alternative when countering Sheik's recovery. It comes out fast and should be used to space against sheiks during this match. Keep her away from you and don't get grabbed.
Utilt (6, 9, 6, 8) - A link between combos. Another great move to use when Sheik is coming down from above you. It comes out quick, lasts longer than expected and it's priority works well. You can sort of juggle her for a while as well with this.
Fsmash (10, 8, 3, 10) - If you know the Sheik is going to move in an area that you're already in, charge up your F-smash and send her flying.
Dsmash (10, 8, 6, 10) - This is a fast, strong smash attack that gets people in a 360' area around you.
Effective moves:
Uair (4, 5, 5, 7) - Can be used as a link between grabs. Juggling Sheik is possible at 65 - 85%.
Dair (9, 9, 7, 8) - When you're thrown up, use this move. Should be used when recovering onto stage while Sheik is there as well.
Usmash (7, 4, 4, 6) - For some reason or another, when you land this move on a Sheik at around 100 damage, you can usually jump up with a fair.
Kill moves:
Fair - 100%+ (if they DI perfectly, they can last until 115%)
Bair - Any % once they're off the stage (Bob$)
Cape - Any %
Nair - Near the ending of the animation when the sex is stronger, you can destroy her at around 110%
Dsmash - Tends to usually kill Sheik at 110% or so.
Fsmash - This is the best kill move if you land it. If Sheik is caught in this one at around 105%, she should be sent completely off of the stage.
Bad moves:
Dtilt - The uses with this move are very slim. The only great use is to send her behind you, especially while you're near the edge and you send her behind you off the edge, you could get some bairs in to kill her recovery.
Explanation:
Fighting Sheik is like fighting the inevitable. This is the only match that ever gets me frustrated. It seems like no matter how hard you try, unless you can out technicalize her, chain grab perfectly, or space her out, you barely stand a fighting chance. Her grab is broken. Once you're grabbed, no matter the %, they can always just throw you down and either ftilt to fair you, or just fair you. This match is possibly your only counter match. It's really hard, and unless you can out space her with your ftilt and bair and avoid being grabbed, you'll be able to beat her. Just stay away from her, space pills correctly against her, and never go in the line of offense against her unless you've throw pills that will eliminate her insane potential of combo speed against you. She's got pretty much automatic spacing with her ftilt/utitl/dtilt, so unless you've approached her with pills before, or you're only going to approach her with a nair, stay away from her and throw pills. Pills are key in this matchup. Don't EVER be afraid to spam her, and make sure that you're spamming pills so that it's creating a defensive barrier against her freakish ground combo potential. Once you get a grab on her, you can CG her from 20 - 60%, guaranteed. You can also start at 0, but that's really hard so if you're not good at chain-grabbing and you happen to get a grab on her at 0%, throw her up and do a uair or utilt to rack up some damage. On the other, more logical hand, if YOU'RE grabbed, DI behind her. It's your best bet. If you're ever grabbed by a sheik player that knows what they're doing at 100+% and you're thrown down, you can expect one of two attack: fair or uair. If they uair you, smash DI it downwards and towards the stage and DI it the exact opposite side. Usually if they uair you at above 100%, you're probably going to die so HOPE for the fair. If they fair you, Smash DI downwards and towards the stage, and DI straight up with a tad towards the stage. If you DI'ed it within the 5 frame time frame and managed to DI correctly, a slap won't kill you until around 140%
. Another thing to watch out for is her needle game. Her needle game is ridiculous. Watch out for her charged needles at all times and don't forget about them. When you're recovering, watch out for her needles. They can really mess up your recovery so be careful. Ok, now the best way to edgeguard Sheik is this: When she's off the stage and trying to up+B back onto the stage, if you see she's about to land on the stage, just press towards the stage to do a neutral "get-up" animation, then fsmash her back off the stage. The rising fair from the ledge works well too, but fsmash works better and has more of a probability of killing. If it doesn't kill, she's far enough from the stage from an easy edgeguard (assuming she's high %). If she's not high %, just continue this until she is and until she's gone. Now, the other situation that could happen is she might just go straight above the ledge (if she thinks you might do the neutral edge get-up to a smash attack like everyone else does that knows how to edgeguard Sheik) and wait for you to get on the stage so she can then grab the ledge. In that case just stay on the edge and she's gone. Those are best ways to edgeguard/edgehog Sheik. I wouldn't really ever try to cape Sheik unless she's already above the ledge in the falling animation from her up+B. Also, if you're on the edge and she's not quite ready to up+B towards the stage because she's jumping towards it, make sure she's close enough and go out for a bair gimp. It always works because there are actually a few frames during the startup animation of Sheik's up+B that she's vulnerable to be in hit anyways so either way it will hit her, thereby setting up a very easy edgeguard/edgehog.Be Aware of:
Fair - Sheik's fair is your worst enemy. Since most of her tilts lead to this, expect it most of the match. It has a way of sending you diagonally and towards the floor and the knockback is nuts so be sure to DI and Smash DI this one upwards and towards the stage (primarily upwards) and downwards and towards the stage, respectively, as soon as physically possible.
Dsmash - The move that never ends. Sheiks use this as both a killer move and a tech-following move. DI this one upwards as normal.
Uair - Sheik's Uair can destroy you once you hit a bit over 100% so be sure to DI behind her when she dthrows you.
Usmash - Sheik's Usmash is very strong. She probably won't be able to land this one but it's still a killer.
^Tilt Combos^ - Sheik's tilt game is amazing. They all come out so fast and the spacing behind them is so hard to escape. Tilt combos usually come from a dtilt or grab so be sure to DI behind her dthrow and DI away from her dtilt.
Best Stages:
Final Destination - Chain grab world.
Pokemon Stadium - You can pill-camp her better here with rotating platforms and level changes.
Battlefield - Battlefield will force her up+B to always aim up, hence allowing an easy cape.
Decent Stages:
Yoshi's Story - Platforms allow flexibility, and small level allows you to kill her easier with fair/fsmash/dsmash.
Mute City - Chain grab world for you against her as well. She also has as bad a recovery on this level as you do.
Counterpicks:
Corneria - Up+B to wing. You can also continuously bair her under the wing, sort of creating a type of WoP (Wall of Pain) that's hard for her to escape if you do it correctly.
Bad Stages:
Green Greens - This level is too random. Just be very careful and try not to get his by the random projectiles.
Fountain of Dreams - Edges are pretty awkward with the random rotating platforms above, and Sheik can tilt right through the platforms and combo you so it's just .. bad.
Possibility of Encounter - 45%
Marth (4):
Pros:
1.) Caping isn't hard
2.) Bairing is very useful, especially when he's recovering
3.) Can juggle him
4.) Not difficult in close combat
5.) Can be throw to a kill move
6.) Pills nullify his sword skills
Cons:
1.) His spacing is hard to get around
2.) His grab range is broken
3.) Has a tip
4.) Ken combos
Primarily Effective moves:
Grab (3, 9, 2, 8) - If you could manage a grab against Marth, you can seriously deal some damage on him. Combo him with utilts and uairs.
Dthrow (3, 9, 2, 9) - Once you grab a Marth at around 90% and you throw down, you should be able to connect a fair.
Sex-kick (nair) (7, 6, 5, 7) - Shffling nairs is the best attack to approach a Marth with safety. Try to go more through his shield so you can avoid the grab.
Fair (10, 7, 7, 10) - A primary killer. Can also eat up his shield. Do your best to go through him, unless you're a master at SHFFLC'ing and you can escape from his upcoming grab.
Cape (3, 9, 8, 6) - You can cape his recovery pretty easily. Don't jump off the stage to cape though, wait for him to sweetspot the edge since that's what they love to do.
Bair (6, 8, 9, 9) - A great spacing move to avoid being grabbed. Really, this is one of the moves that should be spammed in this match to kind of create a type of "Wall of Pain" against him.
Ftilt (5, 7, 9, 8) - A fine alternative when countering Marth's recovery. It comes out fast and should be used to space against Marths during this match. Don't let him grab you.
Utilt (6, 9, 6, 8) - A link between combos. It comes out quick, lasts longer than expected and it's priority works well. You can sort of juggle him for a while as well with this.
Fsmash (10, 8, 3, 10) - If you know the Marth is going to move in an area that you're already in, charge up your F-smash and send him flying.
Dsmash (10, 8, 6, 10) - This is a fast, strong smash attack that gets people in a 360' area around you.
Uair (4, 5, 5, 7) - SHFFLC'ing juggled uairs is a great way to combo Marth after a successful dthrow at around 40%.
Dair (9, 9, 7, 8) - When you're thrown up, use this move. Should be used when recovering onto stage while Marth is there as well.
Effective moves:
Usmash (7, 4, 4, 6) - For some reason or another, when you land this move on a Marth at around 90 damage, you can usually jump up with a fair.
Kill moves:
Fair - 95%+ (if they DI perfectly, they can last until 110%)
Bair - Any % once they're off the stage (Bob$)
Cape - Any %
Nair - Near the ending of the animation when the sex is stronger, you can destroy him at around 110%
Dsmash - Tends to usually kill Marth at 110% or so.
Fsmash - This is the best kill move if you land it. If Marth is caught in this one at around 110%, he should be sent completely off of the stage.
Bad moves:
Dtilt - The uses with this move are very slim. The only great use is to send him behind you, expecially while you're near the edge and you send him behind you off the edge, you could get some bairs in to kill his recovery.
Explanation:
In this matchup, you want to be very careful. Marth's range is insane, and that tip that he has is so, frustrating at times. This is why I always say, "Spam pill CORRECTLY". This is the time that I'll explain exactly what I mean by "CORRECTLY". When I say correctly, I mean, spam them so they neutralize his range. For every pill that you throw, each one neutralizes his attack. All of his attacks can be neutralized by a pill, all except for his fair. When you spam them correctly, you dig through his defenses and range, so you can get "inside". When you get inside and next to him, that's where his game falls. Once you're inside, you out game him with hand - to - hand combat. You can jab combo him, grab him to dthrow, utilt, uair combo .. you can pretty much take complete advantage of him in hand - to - hand combat once you get next to him. This match is very annoying, since most of the time you're spamming pills "CORRECTLY" to get next to him and get a grab in, but once you do, you should be able to take him on. Can I point something very important out? GRAB A LOT (once you're inside, ofcourse). Grab combos are your best buddy in this matchup. Once he's at around 95%, you can dthrow him and full-jump a fair on him ... which will most likely kill him since he'll be at around 115% by this time. You can also easily cape his recovery when he's coming up to sweetspot the stage while recovering. When you're caping him, however, don't jump off the stage to cape him, unless you're gonna do it backwards (caping him him behind). I wouldn't take the risk though, so I'd say just stay on the stage and wait for him to sweetspot it. Another alternative to caping would be the ftilt. Ftilt is a very useful move vs. Marth not only in disabling his recovery with sweetspotting, but also as a spacing technique. Remember to never get grabbed by him. Once you're grabbed, you're in his domain. Marth's love to "gay" and take advantage of their long range, so they grab a lot. Usually at low %s, Marth will attempt to grab you a few times in quick succession. What I mean by this is after the first grab they will fthrow you a few times, in a row, and then fsmash after they've noticed they can't connect another. DI the first fthrow away, but not if you're being thrown off the stage because they could connect an fsmash with the tip which will be hard to recover from (unless you can expect the fsmash and DI it for a situational reason or if you're just good at it). If they dthrow off the stage you and you're at low %, you must DI away. Usually they can connect an fsmash but it'd be better than getting spiked if you had DI'd towards the stage. Just expect the fsmash and DI towards the stage if it connects. Another thing to be aware of are the Ken combos. Ken combos are a sequence of short-hopped fairs and sometimes full-hopped fairs which lead to the inevitable dair-spike to death. Ken combos are highly frustrating, so don't find yourself in the predicament of taking place in one. If the situation permits and you see the Ken combo coming, once you are hit by that first fair, DI away so they can not chain that next fair. Marth's fair is the only attack that he has that goes through your pills. If you ever find yourself trying to cut through his defences with correctly spammed pills, but he's just neutralizing them back with fairs, wait until you see the opportunity to waveland towards him and ftilt. Another thing that Marth's do is they like to spam f-smash. This is mainly for Marth players that are beginner - good, but even the Pros tend to lean towards it sometimes as well because of their spacing techniques. If they've sweet-spotted the move, they will hit you with the infamous "TIP", which has probably twice the knock-back and multiplies his regular fmash damage by about 1.5 (non-charged). One way I've found around this is just utilting. Utilt in general is very good against all characters because of how quick it comes out, but against Marth, it actually will cancel his fsmash if you've expected it. The hit-lag is very low so you can usually, if you're quick enough, WD out of the utilt in for a grab right before Marth reacts to what just happened. Just be very, very careful in this matchup.
Be Aware Of:
Fsmash - Marth's fsmash is always spammed. Be careful of the tip, however. It catches you unexpectedly.
Fair - This is the only move that isn't neutralized by a pill. This is also the move that they combo with (Ken Combos).
Dtilt - If you're ever off of the stage and trying to recover, sweetspot the edge. If you don't, you're going to be either dtilted or fsmashed. Hope for the fsmash, it's about 20X easier to ledgetech than the dtilt is.
Utilt - This move comes out fast, and it send you straight up. The use this one when you're coming from above, so watch out.
Best Stages:
Final Destination - The level is yours. Feel free to uair juggle combo.
Pokemon Stadium - Another good level for you.
Battlefield - Battlefield will force his up+B to always aim up and sweetspot, hence allowing an easy cape.
Decent Stages:
Fountain of Dreams - This level is pretty good for you.
Counterpicks:
Corneria - Up+B to wing. You can also continously bair her under the wing, sort of creating a type of WoP (Wall of Pain) that's hard for her to escape if you do it correctly.
Counterpicks:
Bad Stages:
Yoshi's Story - If you're on a platform and the Marth player is below you, he can tip you easily. Also, this level's frame is too small so if you find yourself here against a Marth, make sure you're an expert DIest XD.
Possibility of encounter - 40%
Peach (5):
Pros:
1.) Can be juggled
2.) Ftilt get's around her range
3.) Once grabbed you can take advantage
4.) Can be throw to a kill move
5.) Dies easily vertically
Cons:
1.) Dsmash *****
2.) Crazy recovery
3.) Hard to recover against her
4.) Random turnips
5.) Random moves
6.) Crouch cancel
Primarily Effective moves
Grab (3, 9, 2, 8) - If you could manage a grab against Peach, throw down ... only. Combo her with utilts and uair.
Dthrow (3, 9, 2, 9) - Once you grab a Peach at around 90% and you throw down, you should be able to connect a fair and eliminate her.
Sex-kick (nair) (7, 6, 5, 7) - Shffling nairs is the best attack to approach a Peach with safety. Try to go more through her shield so you can avoid the grab.
Fair (10, 7, 7, 10) - A primary killer. Can also eat up her shield. Do your best to go through her, unless you're a master at SHFFLC'ing and you can escape from her upcoming grab.
Cape (3, 9, 8, 6) - Only Cape her when she's trying to recover. Even though it won't kill her, it will stun her and deal good damage on her.
Bair (6, 8, 9, 9) - Space with this move a lot against her. This is one of the only moves that can cut through her CC. Bairing her recovery is ok as well.
Ftilt (5, 7, 9, 10) - Use this move a lot during this matchup. Spacing is key against her to avoid her broken dsmash.
Utilt (6, 9, 6, 8) - A link between combos. It comes out quick, lasts longer than expected and it's priority works well. You can sort of juggle her for a while as well with this.
Fsmash (10, 8, 3, 10) - If you somehow land this move against her, it should destroy her at above 100% (unless you're on Dream Land).
Dsmash (10, 8, 6, 10) - Even though this is a fast smash attack it could lead to you being grabbed or dsmashed if you miss so use it wisely.
Dair (9, 9, 9, 10) - This is the move that you will use to rack up damage on her while aerial.
Uair (4, 5, 5, 7) - SHFFLC'ing juggled uairs is a great way to combo Peach after a successful dthrow at around 40%.
Effective moves:
Usmash (7, 4, 4, 6) - For some reason or another, when you land this move on a Peach at around 80 damage, you can usually jump up with a fair.
Bad moves:
Dtilt - The uses with this move are very slim. The only great use is to send her behind you, expecially while you're near the edge and you send her behind you off the edge, you could get some bairs in to kill her recovery.
Kill moves:
Fair - 95%+ (if they DI perfectly, they can last until 110%)
Bair - Any % once they're off the stage (Bob$)
Nair - Near the ending of the animation when the sex is stronger, you can destroy her at around 110%
Dsmash - Tends to usually kill Peach at 120% or so.
Fsmash - This is the best kill move if you land it. If Peach is caught in this one at around 110%, she should be sent completely off of the stage.
Explanation:
Peach is hard. With basically all of her moves leading to a Dsmash, and her amazing recovery in comparison to yours, she really makes it harder for you to live! She's definitely a very intense fight for you. Luckily for you, you have pills, and your grabs lead to uair juggles, and your fair will destroy her. What you have to do in this fight is use your pills to get inside and grab her. Once you land the grab, dthrow. Always dthrow. I won't stress that anymore, just make sure you dthrow. When you dthrow at 0%, utilt. If you grab her at 40%, this is where the fun begins. Dthrow her and full jump a uair, and then fastfall a uair. After this you should be able to uair juggle her easily, since her second jump makes it so much harder for her to get out since her second jump (mid-air) starts off by going down first. After the successful uairs, you can usually end the combo with a fair. If you land a grab on her at 85%, hit her about 3 times, dthrow and full jump a fair. Your primary advantage against her in this match is the fact that once you land a grab, you basically should get free combos on her. Your primary disadvantage is her dsmash and her recovery. Not to mention, once you're off the stage, she usually has no problem getting rid of you. Another thing you'll have to do is space. I don't mean this lightly. Spacing is really your only way of hand-to-hand combat against her. Use ftilt a lot against her. It comes out quick and takes her out dsmash out of game. Utilt her when she's above you. That's another move that comes out fast, and you can juggle her with utilts too! Peach players pretty much always approach floating towards you with their dair so they can either fastfall to the floor and dsmash or nair you. You can't escape with a roll out of her dair unless you c-stick roll out. C-stick roll should really be the only way that you roll anyways. In this match though, spam pills correctly to get inside for a grab, and space. It's sort of like fighting Marth. Sometimes, however, since she's so random (literally), you'll have to always watch out for the turnips that she pulls to check and see if one is the stichface. If it is, just camp her and when she throws it, dodge it or cape it. You might also want to catch a few of her turnips when you see the opportunity. When you're on a stage with platforms and you see the Peach camping on a platform, don't go near her. She's up there for one reason, and one reason only ... to spam her dsmash. The hitbox on the dsmash is so broken that it usually covers the entier platform. If you go near her and she dsmashes, chances are that you're going to be caught up in it and get about 35% damage done. Remember, most Peach players love dsmashing because of it's hitbox and the amount of damage it is capable of (80+). Peach players can also easily crouch-cancel almost all of your aerial moves except bair, so bair against her a lot and space with it so usually the tip hits her. When you're recovering, make sure to sweetspot the edge. If you don't, you're going to either be dsmashed or daired to a nair. If she dsmashes you, ledge-tech it and then immediately after up+B onto the stage. If she dairs you and then nairs you, DI it upwards and towards the stage and Smash DI it downwards and towards the stage.
Be Aware Of:
Fair - This move is strong so be sure to DI it very well.
Dair - Peach players always approach with this move while floating to eat up your shield so c-stick roll out of it. It's your only way of escaping. They also use this against your recovery
so they can follow it up with a nair.
Dtilt - If you're dtilted at certain high %s, you're stunned for a while so they can usually full jump a dair or fair.
Dsmash - All Peach players spam this move and it deals some intense damage so stay away from her and spam them pills to create a wall of defense for yourself.
Fthrow - If you're ever grabbed at above 100%, the Peach will most likely fthrow you. Hold straight up to live a lot longer.
Dthrow - Sometimes when you're grabbed at above 100%, the Peach player with dthrow you. DI behind her because she's probably going to usmash you and if it hits, you're most likely dead.
Best Stages:
Final Destination - You can combo her like crazy and Pill camp nicely.
Decent Stages:
Pokemon Stadium - A pretty good level with rotating platforms that give you flexibility with combos.
Battlefield - A good level to use against her with neutral platforms. The edges force her Up+B to go above the edge for easily caped up damage.
Fountain of Dreams - Even though you must remain careful of her dsmash platform game, you can use the rotating platforms for flexible combos.
Counterpicks:
Yoshi's Story - Easy vertical kills and horizontal kills.
Bad stages:
Mute City - Her recovery is insane on this level and yours is terrible.
Dream Land 64 - She never dies on this stage and she'll camp ontop of platforms to spam dsmash.
Possibility of Encounter: 15%
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