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Guide How To Raise The Kutest Boozer

KevinM

TB12 TB12 TB12
BRoomer
Joined
Jan 30, 2007
Messages
13,625
Location
Sickboi in the 401
This Guide is the long-awaited boozer guide that everyone in the forums have been waiting for.. haha ok not really but I decided to write this for any sick twisted smasher who feels the need to play boozer and follow in the footsteps of me and like what 8 other smashers J.

Table Of Contents
- Why Play Bowser
- Pros And Cons
- Post From DecadentOne that sums up bowser written back in 04
- Current Tier Standings
- Movelist
- Ko’ing with Bowser
- Edgeguarding (indepth look at one of the best edgeguarders)
- Character Match-Ups
- Final Word
- Thanks And Acknowledgements


Why Play Bowser?

Bowser is currently ranked 23 of 26 in the current metagame’s tier list meaning well frankly, in the eyes of a smasher he isn’t all that good, but he has many redeeming qualities that make him a fun and possibly good pick to play anything from MM’s to Tournies. He has pretty good Shffl’d aerials and has one of the best moves in the game, his feared fortress (up-B) which comes out in four frames has KO ability and able to tack on thirty damage if done correctly, plus its edge cancelable. He has the ability to stay around for a long while, and many smashers aren’t experienced when fighting a good bowser. He also has one of the best edgeguarding options in the game with F-tilts and Bairs that pseudo spike if sweet spotted.

Pros
- The Fortress
- Good Shffl’d Aerials
- D-throw can lead into a techchasing game
- One of the best edgeguarding games in smash
- His Bair can send people at angles impossible to recover from if sweet spotted/

Cons
- He is very slow compared to, well pretty much every character
- A lot of his moves are either useless or too laggy
- He is big which means he can get hit by a lot
- He has really hard time dealing with any quick characters
- He gets combo’d a lot.
- A lot of people can Chaingrab a bowser

PLUS HE IS SO DARN CUTE

BOWSER IN SSBM

In SSBM, Bowser doesn't seem too fearful compared to his status as Nintendo's top bad guy. This is due to a few factors. First off, he's not using his full arsenal here. In the games, he's never relied solely on his immense physical capabilities. He's a potent black-magician. In SMB, he turned the Mushroom People into bricks and horse-hair plants. He's also shown various talents such as teleportation, levitation and homing-fireballs, as well as his cloned 'Koopalings'. He's also the creator of a large array of weapons, including his Koopa Clown Car, Mechakoopas, and the flying Doomships of SMB3. He's shown himself to be adept in the use of various weapons, like thrown hammers and spiked balls. As the Lord of the Koopas, he's a master of every discipline his subordinates show. However, in SSBM he utilises none of these things. As well as making him over-complicated, the inclusion of so many abilities would serve to make him unbalanced.

In addition, his very status of top bad-guy has been a factor in his diminished abilities. As such an individual, it's only right that he's unmatched in his areas of speciality. In Bowser's case, it's his power and mass. However, unless he's weakened in some way, he's just better. So, his other capabilities were reduced, and his weaknesses exaggerated. Unfortunately, there's a fine line between under-powered and broken. If it was even slightly easier to bring his phenomenal power to bear, or if he had less lag on his moves, he may quickly become too good. Mewtwo, and his immense psychic capabilities, suffer from the same problem, again because of his status as major bad-guy. Ganondorf side-stepped this problem by being a 'clone', and although his speed and agility are rock-bottom, his A button moves weren't affected by this speed reduction, leaving Ganon laughing at his two rivals.

All this leaves Bowser to be regarded as bottom tier by many. However, while he may have exaggerated weaknesses, he also has exaggerated strengths........


BOWSER'S ATTRIBUTES
There are many misconceptions about Bowser's statistics, so let's clarify these first.

Obviously, his strength is immense. His strikes cause high damage, and hurl the target back with incredible force. He can KO well on low damage, and racks up high damage very quickly. Then there's his weight. He's heavy. Very heavy. He needs to be on relatively high damage to be sent flying easily, and can always rely on needing less damage to KO than his opponent. His priority's good, too. His shell-based strikes in particular have a high chance of going straight through just about anything short of fire and explosions. He can even cancel out Marth's tipper attacks. So, as you can see, where he's good, he's excellent. But where he's bad......

The first thing anybody ever says to rag on Bowser, is about his speed. This is generally wrong. His movement speed is actually very good. And his attack speed is generally no worse than many characters. The likes of his forward smash may be slow, but he also has very fast attacks, like his up-tilt and the Whirling Fortress. So, overall, his speed is more-or-less average. It's the lag AFTER attacks that gives him problems. After most attacks, Bowser is left quite open, and can't follow up easily, meaning combo-ing with him is difficult at best. This is far and away Bowser's biggest problem, and the one that should be reduced as much as possible when playing as Bowser. But it's not his only failing.
His grab range is appaling. It's also very slow, to the point where shield-grabbing is relatively easily escaped. And if you do grab the enemy? His throws are average. Average damage, average force. Which is a bad thing; average just isn't good enough for Bowser. Then there's his dodge. It's slow, has lag afterwards, and doesn't go very far. Dodging can actually leave him more vulnerable than not dodging at all.

The rest of his stats are generally good for some things and bad for others. His size is definetely a factor in his game. On one hand, it gives his attacks a wider range. He can attack fairly indiscriminately, without as much need for precise aim as many characters. The enemy must move away completely to evade his full-body attacks. His size also tricks unassuming targets into thinking his range is poor. His reach may be small compared to his size, especially compared to DK's massive reach, but he still outranges most targets. However, the knife cuts both ways. His size allows him to strike targets with ease, but also makes him an easy target. Strikes that would otherwise miss smaller targets and render a gap in comboes will strike home against Bowser. Projectile attacks are also easy to land home against him, and spikes don't need as much precision as normal. Lastly, there's his recovery. The 'Fortress allows excellent horizontal recovery, but poor vertical recovery.

Overall, Bowser is a character of extremes, and must endeavor to ram his strengths home while keeping his weaknesses out of the equation. This means Bowser should keep the match on his terms, which is easier said than done....
Thanks to Decadent One back in the day he was a boozer god :)

Current Tier Standings


Top Tier:
Fox
Falco

High Tier:
Sheik
Marth
Peach

Middle Tier:
Captain Falcon
Ice Climbers
Samus
Doctor Mario
Jigglypuff
Mario
Ganondorf

Low Tier:
Link
Luigi
Donkey Kong
Roy
Young Link
Pikachu

Bottom Tier:
Yoshi
Zelda
Mr. Game and Watch
Ness
Bowser
Kirby
Pichu
Mewtwo

Bowser is currently coming in near the back of the pack at 23 of 26 so please go make sure you bring him some good Rep in any tournies you play in J.

Terms List


This section is dedicated to all the most commonly used terms used in SSBM. There are a lot of advanced techniques to learn and names to remember for even more terms, but in the long run it speeds up the process of talking about smash bros.

Air Dodge- L or R in the air results in an air dodge. Until a character lands after an air dodge, he cannot do any attacks or jump, like after most recovery attacks. You can also influence the direction of an air dodge with the control stick.

Attack- The A button, B button, Z button, and C-stick all make your character do an attack. The B button is for special moves, and the rest control standard attacks (C-stick can only be used in versus modes, and Z button only in the air.) Samus, Link, and Young Link do not do attacks with the Z button, instead they shoot their respective grappling items when in the air. Neither Donkey Kong nor Peach have aerial down B's.

Damage- Each character in a fight has a counter of his own at the bottom of the screen that tallies his health in points, displayed as a percentage. At the lowest percentage (0%) attacks will not send your character very far, and effects like Jigglypuff's sing are easy to shake off. Grabs become harder to get out of at higher damages, and attacks become much more powerful.

Dodge- A quick tap of down on the control stick while shielding will make a character dodge (C-stick works also). Dodge times for each character are different.

Friendly Fire- Another way of saying Team Attack. *You can attack your teammates too*

Grab/Throw- Every character can grab with Z or L/R + A/Z. Hit A or Z while holding an opponent to do a grab attack, and then tilt the control stick in a direction to hurl them in one of four directions.

Smash charging- After initiating a smash attack, you can hold A to hold the attack, thus increasing it in power. It is automatically released after a set amount of time, if not manually released.

Taunt- ^ on the directional pad will yield a taunt. Some characters (Pichu, Captain Falcon) have 2. Fox and Falco can hit <, >, <, > on the d-pad to call their buddies on either of the StarFox stages.

Teching- When you are tumbling in the air after being hit, you can press L, R, or Z near the ground or a wall/ceiling, with or without a direction, to recover faster than usual. Holding left or right on a ground tech will result in a roll in the direction.

Tilt attack- Holding any one of the four control stick directions, and hitting A. Some <, > tilt attacks can be aimed to the diagonal.

?air- refers to aerial attacks in the four directions and neutral. Replace ? with n, u, a, b, or d to signify which.

ADVANCED TACTICS

Bat drop- Z dropping the bat, followed by an attack that prevents it from flying off the platform, most often a spike attack. Does a lot of damage in a short amount of time. Used to get high scores in Home Run Contest

Bat drop combo: Technique used in HRC to rack up damage quickly. It is performed by dropping the at above the bag, then hitting it with another attack which will cancel the knockback from the bat and keep it on the platform. It can also be used to finish the strat. Ex: BD Rest or BD Judgement 9.

Camping- A method of delaying a kill, most often in an effort to stall out a match. Projectiles are usually used to help keep the opponent from landing attacks.

Chain-throw- Continually throwing another character in such a manner as to prevent them from landing.

Combo- A combo can be either natural or improvisational; a true combo is two or more hits that register a 'Combo' reading in training mode. In a looser term, a combo is any set of attacks that is difficult to escape from, and may do a lot of damage in a short amount of time.

Crouch-cancelling- Holding down on the control stick when hit by an enemy attack. Up to a certain damage percentage, this will prevent you from being sent flying, though you will slide back. Also, a crouch cancel counter (ccc) is crouch cancelling using a character's down-A attack.

C-Sticking- Used to describe the act of using the c-stick to do aerials, smash attacks, and other things in multiplayer mode.

Dash-cancelling- During a run, pressing down will stop the run.

Dash-Dancing- Quickly alternating left and right on the control stick, so the character only does the opening animation of the run.

Dash-Dashing- Jamming the control stick repeatedly in the same left or right direction, so the character only does the opening animation of the run. For some characters, this will result in a form of movement faster than conventional running. Some people refer to this as the "Foxtrot."

Dash-jump- Jumping out of a dash, often with a short jump. The character will usually move faster forward in the air than if it were a non-dash-jump. The three characters that don't move any faster either way are Jigglypuff, Bowser and Zelda. Thanks to MaskedMarth for this term.

Directional Influence- The trajectory of an-air character can be influenced by a control stick direction. The most helpful uses of this technique are escaping combos and juggles, and for recovery.

Double dash attack- Requires a super scope, ray gun, or fire flower, as these items do not have a running attack. Do a dash attack holding one of the items, and while you're doing the attack, hit Z. Your character will attack, then throw the item.

Double Jump cancel- To stop the upward motion of Mewtwo, Ness, Peach, or Yoshi's second jump with an aerial attack. This can be demonstrated by having Ness do two jumps in short succession, followed by a quick aerial attack. Ness should be VERY low to the ground if you do this quickly enough. Thanks to MaskedSheik for this term. Double Jump cancel is abbreviated "DJC."

Edge-guarding- Using attacks to prevent the enemy from recovering to the stage.

Edge-hogging- A character holding onto an edge will not permit another character to do the same. This is useful in preventing an enemy's recovery. The best way to edge-hog is to either wavedash or short-jump backwards onto the ledge.

Edge-hop- A jump quickly following a press of down from an edge-hang will let characters do a short edge-hop. Most, if not all characters can do attacks out of this.

Fast-falling- Pressing down while in the air will make your character fall faster than usual. You can fast-fall out of aerial attacks, air dodges, and failed ^B attacks. Young Link, however, is nearly unaffected by this.

Hyper/Power Shielding- Shielding at the exact instant an attack or item hits your character. Will result in a white flash and the attack not hitting. Projectiles will be reflected.

Ice Climbers' infinite grab- This technique differs from the infinite grab in that you can do it in a 1-on-1 match. Grab with the main character (default=Popo) and hold down on the control stick as you're doing the grab. Keep hitting the A button, so that Popo does his grab attack, and Nana does her down tilt. You can keep this up forever. This can be combined with other Ice Climber grab combos, and because of this fact, it is essentially an instant-KO grab combo.

L-cancel- When L, R, or Z is pressed before you hit the ground, you circumvent the normal recovery time after an aerial attack. Link's aerial down-A L-cancelled will result in his pulling the sword out of the ground faster.

Light Shield- Holding L or R lightly, to prevent shield-stab, or to guard against weak attacks. When used by holding the Z button, light shielding is called Z-shielding.

Juggle- Keeping the opponent up in the air, using ground attacks or air attacks that send the opponent on an upwards trajectory.

Jump-cancel- Jumping out of a dash; can be linked to a grab or an attack. Also used to describe jumping out of Falco/Fox's reflector to bypass the usual lag after the attack is stopped.

Jump-cancel (alternate meaning)- Jumping out of the shield. Yoshi cannot do this. You can then cancel your jump with an attack, such as an up-B or a smash attack.

Meteor Jump- Jumping out of a meteor smash. The key indicator between spikes and meteor smashes is that you cannot meteor jump out of a non-meteor-spike.

Natural combo- Any combo that is built into the game, such as the variations of Marth and Roy's >B attacks, and also the A, A, A... combo that many characters have.

No-ping hit- Hitting with the handle of a home-run bat, so that it does not make the distinctive "ping" sound. Sends the target a higher trajectory than than a tip-hit. Thanks to Smashnuke for this term.

Running smash- Dash-cancel, then hit a c-stick direction. You can also grab out of a DC, by hitting Z.

Running smash (alternate)- Only works for up/down smashes. While running, roll to either of these positions, while hitting A. Works best with characters that slide when they stop running.

Shffl'd- This is an acronym meaning "Short-hopped, Fast-falled, L-cancelled." It is basically the most effective way certain aerial attacks can be pulled off, and is a must in competitive play.

Shield dash- Wavedashing out of a shield. Can be followed by anything a regular wavedash can be followed by.

Shield grab- Hitting A or Z while L or R shielding.

Shield shifting- Using the control stick to angle the shield to prevent shield-stab, or provide extra protection in a given direction.

Shield-stab- Attacking a shielded opponent where the shield's leaving a part of the character vulnerable, allowing them to bypass the shield's defense. Thanks to NJE789 for this term

Short jump- While running or standing, pressing the jump button more lightly than usual will result in a shorter first jump. In adjectival form, short jump becomes short hop or short-hopped.

Spike attack- Any attack that sends an enemy at an acute downward angle (less than 45 degrees away from straight down). Many, but not all spike attacks are considered meteor smashes.

Tip-hit- Also called a "tipper." Hitting with the tip of the home-run bat. Sends target much farther horizontally than a non-tipper.

Tipper- In addition to the meaning mentioned above, "tipper" is used as another name for hitting with the optimal range of any of Marth's attacks, said range being any range where there is distinct damage and knockback (the tip). Thanks to MaskedMarth for additional information on this term

Tumble-recover- When a character is in the air from an attack, he/she/it might be spinning around. A tumble-recover is alternating left/right on the control stick while this spinning is going on. This allows stability without wasting a jump.

Turret Fighting- Tactic that is used by mainly projectile characters in which the player spams his/her weapon to its fullest, while staying in the same spot. Falco, Samus, Fox, and Shiek users are known for this annoying tactic, and can be very effective when in the hands of an expert. Thanks to xxxxThe_GoaTxxxx for this term.

Vertkill- Jumping and spiking at the same time, usually by a character already in the air. Some useful ones are Captain Falcon's, Ganondorf's, Marth's down aerial.

Wallbombing- Using the Peach Bomber attack (forward+B) as a smash attack makes Peach pop up a little bit, allowing her to use it repeatedly without losing height. If kept up for long enough, this can be used to stall out time matches. Discovered by RyokoYaksa.

Wall-climbing- After an Mario hits a wall with up-B, he can wall jump. This can be continued until the wall ends.

Wavedance- Wavedashing back and forth.

Wavedash- Air-dodging diagonally toward the ground, as close to the ground as possible, will result in a movement that abuses the games physics by allowing a player to make themself slide across the ground. Most obvious with Luigi, Marth, Roy, Mewtwo, and Ice Climbers. You can turn around more quickly by wavedashing in the opposite direction of your run, then picking up on the momentum.

Wavesmash- A wavedash, then a c-stick direction.


MISCELLANEOUS TERMS

Disjointed Hitbox- When a hitbox is not attached to the character, such as in Marth/Roy/Link/Young Link's sword attacks and Ness's bat smash. A sword and a leg (such as Captain Falcon's) are going to be affected differently by fire. The character whose knee comes in contact with the fire is going to get hit, but the character with the sword is not, since damage to the weapon (a disjointed hitbox) does not affect the character.

High jump glitch- If a character, moving upwards from a manual jump (and maybe a screw ball thrown at them) gets hit by either Mario's or Dr. Mario's cape attack, they will go almost twice as high as normal.

Hitbox- When a character does an attack, the hitbox is what determines how wide a range the attack covers. It's called a hitbox despite not being shaped like a box for most attacks. Also see: Disjointed hitbox.

Infinite grab- Have 3 characters. One should grab another, and the third should use an infinite natural combo, such as Fox's repeated A, or Mewtwo's B attack (close). The second character should not be able to escape the grab. This is easier on teams.

Lag (also called recovery time) - When a character executes an attack, there is a certain amount of time after the attack is over in which that the character cannot move. This is called lag time. Moves that are "laggy" carry an large amount of lag time. Some examples are Ganondorf's ground forward-B when it misses, and Link's aerial down-A not L-cancelled. Related term: L-cancel

Knockback- Refers to how far a character is sent after being hit by an attack.

Peach Bomber stall- Using Peach's forward-B attack over and over again between the buildings of Fourside. This can go on for an unlimited amount of time, if you don't mess up. This is useful on timed stock matches, when you get ahead by a life and want to stall out the clock. Might not work too well against Peach, Link, or Young Link, because they all have projectiles that can be thrown straight down. Also Pikachu/Pichu might give her trouble with their respective B attacks. This tactic is the reason why Fourside is banned in tournaments. Also see: Wallbombing

Phantom Hit- When an attack hits, but it doesn't move the opponent, and does half of the damage. A sure-fire way to do this is to go to Ganondorf's Japanese HRC, do a full jump, and hit B. (Even though this is sorta common knowledge, credit to snex for the example)

Priority- What the chances are of an attack taking precedence over another attack if they collide with each other.

Roy Zone- Different from phantom hits in that the attack doesn't even do damage, though it hits. Named for the character it most affects, Roy.

Spamming- Continuously and persistently using an attack. Usually used in reference to projectile attacks.

Startup- How long an attack takes to start. Attacks with high startup time include Falcon Punch (C. Falcon's B) and Ganondorf's Warlock Punch (B) / Volcano Kick (tilt up-A). Attacks with low startup time include Fox/Falco's reflector (down-B), Mewtwo's aerial forward-A, and Mr. Game&Watch's up-B.

Stun- When a character is hit, there is a certain amount of time in which the player can do nothing. If a character is hit during stun, it's considered a combo.

Super Jump- Catching Link's or Young Link's boomerang while hanging from a hookshot (See wall-grapple) will result in a very high jump. Note that this supposedly works only on certain versions of the game (I think 1.0, and 1.1), but try it anyways if you aren't sure.

Sweet Spot- Any part of an attack that does more damage, or has a better effect than other parts of the same attack. Unconditional examples are: Marth (very tip of sword), Roy (large center portion of sword), the home run bat (the very tip), and Mr. G&W (the edge of his body). Conditional ones include: Captain Falcon's aerial forward A, Ness's aerial back A, Zelda's aerial back and forward A's, and the tip of Ness's smash forward A (bat).

Tiers- A ranking of how formidable each character is at the peak of the current metagame.


Wavedancing - Wavedashing back and forth. Like dashdancing, this allows quick
movement in either direction without your movements being revealed to your opponent.

Wavedashing - Air dodging into the ground at an angle in order to slide forward
quickly. Generally done immediately after jumping. Often abbreviated as WD.

Waveshielding - Holding down the L/R button as you wavedash, so that you slide
forward while shielding. Often used to shield-grab, or advance on attacking
opponents.

Wavesmashing - Wavedashing while smash-attacking. Use the Cstick to smash, as use of the Control Stick will stop the wavedash.


Movelist

Frame Date Thanks to SuperDoodleMan
http://www.angelfire.com/games5/superdoodleman/Bowser_frames_11.6.05.txt

Ground Moves
Note: Total= Total Number of Frames and Hit is on what frames the hit boxes are extended.
Neutral Jab
Claw 1
Damage: 3-5 percent
Total: 24
Hit: 7-9
Window of the second claw: 3-25
Second claw starts: 14

One of the slower jabs coming out in seven frames it is still a good one-two punch combination to gain some breathing room if your opponent is on you with mid to higher percentages. This can serve to knock them back a distance if used in conjunction with your second Jab.

Claw 2
Damage 4-6 percent
Total: 30
Hit: 9-11

The Second in the A-A series comes out fairly quick and knocks them backwards at mid to higher percentages to I can’t see any reason not to use this one if your going to be using the jab.

F Tilt
Damage: 7-10 percent
Total: 47
Hit: 12-16
IASA: 37

Bowser’s Main edgeguarding move as it is able to be angled up and down depending on where the person is recovering from and the ability to knock them back fairly well coupled with a fast come out time. This is used as almost a wall to stop most recoveries meaning that if you get good with this, most characters are not coming back to the level. It comes out fairly quick however and can be used if you need to gain some space from a character that won’t seem to leave you alone and attacks aggressively.

U Tilt
Damage: 8 to 12 percent
Total: 54
Hit: 7-10
IASA: 50

This is the bane of floaty characters and can kill a character like GAW at around 70 percent, it has an extremely fast come out time and can catch people on a platform above you by surprise. This move may seem difficult because of its small hit boxes but with a platform or a well placed U-Throw this move comes almost second nature to his someone with. Learn it to deal with floaty characters and slap those buggers out of the sky J

D Tilt
Damage: 1 hit 8-11 2 hit 18-22
Total: 59
Hit: 14-18, 27-30

D-tilt at first seems like it can be a good move for its ability to rack up damage, but the fact that it comes out so slow and it doesn’t knock an opponent back as far as you might like makes it an entirely situational move. If you can catch an opponent with it while trying to sweet spot you might knock them back some but the F-tilt is better used for that just angle it downwards.. all in all Bowsers worst tilt easily.

Dash attack
Damage: 7-11 percent
Total: 59
Hit: 10-17
IASA: 56

Don’t use this move please, it makes Bowser fall over and flat on his face leaving him completely vulnerable for about half a second. If for some reason your running full speed at an opponent. It would be much better to just hope for a grab and D-throw him. Please god don’t use this for me J

Note- All Fully Charged Smashes take exactly 60 more frames to pull off (1 second)

U Smash
Damage Charged 22-27 percent
Uncharged 15-18 percent
Total: 59
Hit: 16-21, 30
Invincible: 16-17
Charge frame: 10
IASA: 53

This move comes out relatively quick uncharged so I might recommend using it to intercept someone coming down from directly above you, a quick smash upwards might take on some free percentages and make them worry about doing that again. The only problem is the cool down time but since it knocks them up if you pull it at mid percentages you won’t have to worry about that. It can also kill floaty’s lower then the u-tilt but I would recommend just putting some more damage on them then U-tilting them to their death.

D Smash
Damage Charged 23-27 percent damage
Uncharged 16-21 percent
Total: 69
Hit: 14-15, 17-18, 20-21, 23-24
26-27, 29-30, 32
Charge frame: 8
IASA: 68

The D-Smash is also a very situational move with bowser it traps an opponent in and hits up to seven times knocking them upwards a fair distance. However the lag afterwards is hard to deal with and by the time the finish if they are at lower percentages they will come back to get you before you recover… I have found a good use for this move however… If a space animal does not properly sweetspot an edge using his phantasm use your d-smash to tack on an extra 20 damage and knock him straight up. All in all though this move needs to be worked in sparingly…

F Smash
Damage Charged 27-32 percent
Uncharged- 22-25 percent
Total: 69
Hit: 29-33
Charge frame: 10
IASA: 66

This is Gimpy’s favorite way of locking a thread hehe but it doesn’t seem to have too many good uses unless your Gojira on a stage change… *sighs in memory* That was too funny… right back to the move itself… Laggy but powerful and entirely situational, mainly I see it used as a funny way to edgeguard someone who fails to sweetspot… they just die from it pretty much.. powerful but to slow to be used in anything but a screw up.

N-Air
Damage 9-13 percent
Total: 49
Hit: 8-23
IASA: 48
Auto cancel: <7 40>
Landlag: 30
Lcanceled: 15

A pretty good N-air except for the fact that it has no real knockback, it does however have a fast come out time and its pretty easy to L-cancel out of. It is good for a quick shorthopped attack from underneath the opponent. But if they are out in front of you I would much rather recommend you use the Fair which knocks them back really well.

U-Air
Damage- 14-18 percent
Total: 47
Hit: 22-25
IASA: 45
Auto cancel: <9 40>
Landlag: 30
Lcanceled: 15

A wonderful attack and one of Bowsers main ways to kill upwards. It seems to have a high amount of lag but its deceptive since he winds up so long to hit the person. For an aerial the hit lag is horrendous but the knockback and power make up for it, and when l-canceled you can juggle a person at lower percentages with it. I like this move to kill upwards when any character gets to around 90 percent or higher.

B-Air
Damage- 10-14 percent
Total: 49
Hit: 9-17
Auto cancel: <8 45>
Landlag: 35
Lcanceled: 17

Another of bowsers fierce edgeguarding moves a sweet spotted (edge of the spikes ) Bair sends an opponent at a low trajectory at a rapid rate. This is good to deal with someone coming in low because it sends them lower then the stage and even further out then before. This can single handedly stop a marth from recovering if you time it to knock them back out each time. This move is another reason Bowser is a scary Edgeguarding Machine.

Gimpyfish62 said:
Bowser's bair is even more deadly than the fair because of its semi-spiking properties. again, it has HUGE range. while not fast compared to his fair, it is still plenty quick. some people complain about the lag, an l cancelled bair doesn't have very much lag, perhaps compared to a few moves it could be called 'laggy' but other characters deal with this kind of lag all the time and they get off fine, as does bowser. after an arial i fyou think your in danger you have VERY VERY fast options as well. Bowsers nair is faster than his fair, hits all around him, has great knockback, can be used against spotdodgers because it lasts so long, and has very little lag. a useful 'get off me' move in the air, as well as a nice tech chasing tactic. do not underestimate this move
D-Air
Damage 15- 18 percent
Total: 79
Hit: 14-15, 17-18, 20-21, 23-24,
26-27, 29-30, 32-33, 35-36, 38-39
IASA: 78
hits for 4 frames upon landing
Auto cancel: <13 70>
Landlag: 40
Lcanceled: 20

Don’t know what it is about bowser and his down moves but most of them are all situational this one not even up there though. This move isn’t that good for to many things, if your Using this move IMO your much better off spacing a little better and Shffl the Fair. It does so-so damage is extremely laggy and you never seem to hit with all of them. The only time I see this being a good move is if you get underneath a person and then nail them from underneath jumping into them so that you get every hit down.

F-Air
Damage: 10-14 percent
Total: 45
Hit: 8-11
IASA: 42
Auto cancel: <7 31>
Landlag: 30
Lcanceled: 15

Bowser’s best aerial and (almost) his entire shffl game comes from this move… Fast come out time and decent knockback. It takes three hits to knock someone off of final destination from zero and then you can intercept them in the air and fortress back on for a quick stock.. granted it wouldn’t happen that way but its possible J. This is Bowsers best aerial by far and his second or third best move in his moveset.. Love it Learn it Use it Fear it…

Gimpyfish62 said:
bowser's bread and butter, as everyone knows, is his fair. HUGE range, HUGE knockback, great damage, VERY fast, low lag. (yes i said low) some people may suggest that you can simply shieldgrab any attempt at a fair bowser does. This is simply untrue, if spaced correctly (most) chars cannot reach far enough with their grab fast enough to get a hold of him. bowser's fair is great in that its basically doing a VERY fast SMASH ATTACK in the air. Bowser can do two FULL JUMPS off the stage, fair somebody, and still return
Some Miscellaneous frame data.

Ledge stand <100%

Total: 32
Invincible: 1-30

-------------------------------------
Ledge stand 100%>

Total: 59
Invincible: 1-55

-------------------------------------
Ledge roll <100%

Total: 49
Invincible: 1-33

-------------------------------------
Ledge roll 100%>

Total: 79
Invincible: 1-59

-------------------------------------
Ledge attack <100%

Total: 54
Hit: 7-34
Invincible: 1-34

-------------------------------------
Ledge attack 100%>

Total: 69
Hit: 44-48
Invincible: 1-40

-------------------------------------
Ledge jump <100%

Total: 37
Invincible: 1-3
Soonest FF: 22

-------------------------------------
Ledge jump 100%>

Total: 47
Invincible: 1-17
Soonest FF: 36

-------------------------------------
Grab

Total: 40
Grab: 9-10

-------------------------------------
Running Grab

Total: 50
Grab: 10-12

Special Moves

Whirling Fortress

Hit: 5-46 (several hits)

--ON THE GROUND--
Damage 10-15 percent
Total: 79
Invincible: 1-4

--IN THE AIR--
Damage 23-27 percent
Total: 49
Landfallspeciallag: 10
Can grab edge as early as: 36
OR if you started on the ground and
fell off, you can grab sooner

The reason bowser is even playable is this move.. The Fortress. It comes out in four frames and hits with really good knockback and good damage. In the air you can trap an opponent for up to 27 percent. (on average)

The Fortress is cancelable off a ledge by timing it so that the ending animation makes you fall of the edge to grab it and it has almost zero land lag from the air.

This move makes bowser playable, it can be used as a kill move, awesome vertical recovery it can come out of the shield and racks on huge damage.. Literally when all else seems to not work Fortress your opponent this move is great.

Fortressing out of the shield is a great way to deal with approaching Shffl’ers and knocks them up for maybe some Shffl’s of your own at higher percentages. It also kills floaties around 90 percent and heavier people around 120 percent. This move is scary good.

Here is another quote used from Gimpy's Bowser is not T3h suck essay
Gimpyfish62 said:
bowser's up b is THE BEST up b in the game, as well as the 2nd best move in the game. it is theone of the fastest moves in the game at 4 frames. it has HUGE damage (30% in the air), gets low % kills, breaks combos, is highly mobile, has an INITIAL RANGE that is larger than the hitbox for link's upb IIRC. it also has invincibliity frames and high priority. htis move will 'ting' with a lot of other moves, and at 4 frames, you can get off anotehr one faster than they can get their move off again. this move, simply put, is amazing. nobody can deny shieldfortressing has got to be one of the best tactics there is. Now if we include the edge cancelled fortressing it gets EVEN BETTER. When you think of all of the positives of the fortress then add the words ZERO LAG to the end of it, its a whole new level of awesome. you can edge cancel a fortress on any stage, great for comboing, escape, edgehogs you name it, it does it pretty much. once you've edge canceled your open to do any number of things, ledgehopped arials, klaw, firebreath, you can do your <100% ledge attack to give yourself some space... its just unreal.
Fire Breath

Total (min): 92
Fire emits: 23, 26, 29, 32, 35, 38,
41, 44, 47, 50, 53, 56, 59, 62 (etc)
Fire bits last: 21 frames to start
Fire lasts shorter as time goes on,
eventually lasting only 1 frame
14 fires from B tap

When releasing, 30 frames of lag

--NOTE!--
In version 1.0, if you start this in
the air and land before the flames
start coming out, when he lands, he
will skip right to when they do. This
is called "Flame cancelling"

This is a very situational move and I recommend using it a lot less unless your playing on a version where you can flame cancel, you can tack on some serious damage against a sweet spotter but why not just angle an F-tilt and kill him instead.. Pretty much don’t use this move unless you need to rack up some quick damage and for some reason can’t tilt the controller Up haha.

Bowser Bomb
Damage 15-19 percent
--From ground--
Total (even ground): 106
Hit: 42-47 (47 = landing hit)

--From air--
Hit: 32-landing
Recovery from landing: 60 (includes
landing frame)

can grab edges on front side

This move has terrible lag and low knockback making you a sitting duck if you use it in a one on one. It is fun to drop on people in an FFA to mix things up or Luke Grabfest Bowser was known to use it during team matches to break things up a little.

It has one redeeming quality and that is that you can grab the ledge from it, SO when recovering I recommend using this because you will knock an opponent away and also instantly grab the ledge and then can ledge-hop from it, one of the fastest things bowser can pull off.

Koopa Klaw

Total: 59
Hit: 16-18
Grab: 16-18

Successful grab causes auto-bite

--Biting--
Damage- 2 per bite
Total: 32
Hit: 19-23
You may throw any time except 20-22

--Throwing--

-BACK-
Damage- 7-9 percent damage
Total: 40
Release: 14

-FORWARD-
6-8 percent damage
Total: 43
Hit: 18-22
Release: 24
This move is a great edgehop it surprises the crap out of people for some reason. The back throw has great knockback and the forward throw puts them in range for a Fair. If you don’t get the grab cause your too far out it knocks them upwards for around 8 percent damage. I recommend using this move a lot because it’s a good way to control the game and can do decent damage with the bites to the throw.

This includes hit stun from biting


More Random Frame Data’s

-------------------------------------
Taunt

Total: 140
Screech: 13
-------------------------------------

Jump
airborne on frame 9

Air time: 47
Earliest FF: 24
FF air time: 37

SH air time: 27
Earliest FF: 15
SH FF air time: 19

2nd jump earliest FF: 23
-------------------------------------

air dodge
invulnerable 3-29 out of 49

ground dodge
invulnerable 4-24 out of 42

roll
invulnerable 4-19 out of 39

landing lag: 6 frames

Dash becomes run at frame 14
Turn-Jump threshold: 26
Run turnaround: 45

Ko'ing With Bowser.

Bowser is an interesting character in the fact that he has some of the most insane kill options of any character in the game. The fact is with his edgeguarding if you get a falco more then say five feet off the stage, he is completely done if your a decent bowser... I'm going to break this up into a couple of stages so you completely realize how you can kill with a bowser.

Smash Attacks- Your rarely going to land your smashes as a bowser lets face it their slow and punishable but with the ability to not throw them out randomly you add a very feared set of moves to a bowser. To build up damage against someone who spotdodges a consistent amount simply throw a D-Smash down as he does it to make your opponent take like 15% and knock them up. Plus i think they will think twice about spot dodging. Forward smashes are good for instant KO's while edgeguarding or again if your Gojira and can nail a sheik during a stage change go for it :chuckle:. Mainly though this move is used in friendlies as an edgeguard that literally blows your opponent away to his death. Up Smashes can kill floaty characters at lower percentages and out-priortize air moves coming down if timed correctly. Their moves have high killability and seem to do well agaisnt people like falco who spam dair.

Aerial Kills- Well like gimpy and i have said the Fair is one of Bowsers most potent moves and has the best abilty to kill an opponent. They are able to knock them back a fair distance and you can use both your jumps and then fair them off the stage and still come back with the fortress. few other (if any characters can use it) Shffl'd Fairs rack up the damage real quick and its one of the main moves that bowser will use to knock an opponent off the edge for good. Bairs are another great move for bowser because of its semi-spiking properties and high priority. It's a good move to knock opponents away from the edge and keep them low and probably in a posistion where they cannot recover. Its one of the easier kills a bowser can get. Bowsers last killable aerial is is U-air against characters at higher percentages. This move is an amazing move to hit with because its one of the slower aerials in the game but its so dang powerful that the lag is worth every frame. This move absolutely smashes an opponent up and can kill a floaty like marth at a measly 70 percent on FD.. ZOMG!!

Tilts- Bowser has to main ways to kill with his tilts... U-tilting at upper percentages to knock them off the stage is a great possibility with floatier characters. Bowser (very cutely might i add) slaps the floaty character away obviously annoyed and making sure that they won't do it again. It kills characters at percentages around 90% which is unheard of in this game for a tilt, unless i guess your marth or falco. Especially since it kills vertically. His other easy kill is his angled F-Tilt which is used to knock away any opponent that tries to get back to the stage. When you get an opponent off the stage he is done with this move end of story. You can angle it to attack an opponent at any direction and knock them further and further back away from the stage. Truth be told if you get good with your F-tilt and get them off the edge. Thats a stock kiddo!!!

Specials- Fortress.. i think i've stated everything i can about this move haha you can't preach it enough... but remember that fortress hogging is a very easy way to beat some people with a fast and simple edgehog. A newer Bowser Ohpistachios gave a small list of Easy Fortresshogging stages IE. one's where you don't have to time the ending animation to the ledge, you can just go right off of it.
ohpistachios said:
Anyway, I was messing around with stages today and I thought it would be nice to have a compilation of all the stages Bowser can do easy fortresshogs on. Here's what I've come up with.

Unless otherwise stated, the fortresshog is executed by fortressing from the platform of the mentioned edge at any distance.

Standard Fortresshogging Stages (Where you can fortresshog just the two main downwards slanted edges at opposite ends of the stage):
Peach's Castle
Yoshi's Story
Corneria
Venom

Other Funny Fortresshogging Stages (Static):
Kongo Jungle: Both main edges, The little rock on the right side, The logs that appear once in a while, AND you can fortress from the rock to the log that appears next to it
Fourside: Left Edge of the leftmost building, Right Edge of the leftmost building, Lower left edge of the central building
Mushroom Kingdom I: Any of the four edges
Mushroom Kingdom II: Two Edges of the center stage
Yoshi's Island: Two Edges in the center, through the spin blocks
Onett: Left edge on the leftmost house
Jungle Japes: Inside Edges of either outer platform (from the center stage)
Green Greens: Two Edges of center stage (from outer platforms)
Great Bay: Either Edge of bottom left floating rock platform (but not if you start too far away), Right Edge of right stationary rock platform (from turtle when it is facing screen)
Hyrule Castle: Edge at bottom right area of cave, Edge just entering into cave from right side

More Funny Fortresshogging Stages (Non-Static):
Rainbow Cruise: Edge at the front of the ship
Big Blue: Both Edges of falcon's limo (the black ufo lookin' thing), Edge at front of initial yellow ship, Edge at back of initial yellow ship (when the back is tilted downwards)
Pokemon Stadium: Edge on leftward cliff of Rock Mode of the stage
Thanks for the extra info man this can help some people have an interesting advantage if they don't feel like learning the frame stops :)

The Klaw is also a good kill at higher percentages with a back throw around 120 percent and above is almost a guaranteed kill. This is an especially interesting move when you edgehop the Klaw into an instant kill your opponent might yell WTF but its still a stock :).

Edgeguarding With Bowser

Bowsers main bread and butter system is his crazy edgeguarding game, a lot of the times if you get a heavier character off the stage, its a done deal and thats a stock... With them its pretty self explanatory, you knock them away with the F-Tilt if they try to sweet spot and if they come up a little higher, knock them back with the Bair or Fair, preferably the Bair since it spikes them.

You can also go out and intercept a recovery with your F-air and just return to the stage with your fortress. That really screws people up really well and since like Gimpy has said its literally an aerial smash, their going to die. End of story.

If its a floatier character thats not trying to sweet spot it depends on percentages to see what you want to do.

>30%
If your opponent is less then 30% i recommend backing off to wait for them to come out at you and then when they get close Using your F-air to slap them back off the edge and repeat until they die its a lot harder to kill them at this percentage then a heavier character. You can also try and Bair them back down to below the stage. Making it mauch harder for them to return.

<60%

At this percentage i recommend running out there with your F-air and looking for the quick kill which you will most likely get. F-air them at this point to take them out quickly, if you don't get them fortress back and get ready to repeat it till they die.

Character Match-Ups (Many quotes from Gimpy alert) :)

Mario
I haven't had a fair amount of experience with a Mario and so i have to hand this one to Gimpy's description.
Gimpyfish62 said:
anyways spacing is very very key in this matchup, his down air will go through pretty much everything you have if you dont space properly so make sure you keep yourself spaced enough away where you can exploit his lack of range. this isn't a "let him attack then punish him in the air" type of character, his arials are nice and quick and vs a good mario blindly jumping at him will lead to a SERIOUSLY painful combo. Also his up tilt CAN GO THROUGH YOUR FAIR if you dont space it perfectly and his up smash can stop the klaw because of the invincibilty, just be careful when you approach him and from what angles.

mario combos the crap out of bowser (but what doesn't) up b doesn't kill him to early, fair doesn't kill him to early... if he uses his fireballs right he is hard to edgeguard, getup attack edgeguard i personally think is a dumb idea vs most chars, but vs mario its especially stupid. go for the antisweetspot back air edgeguard over the down angled ftilt, that will never hit mario if he sweestpots correctly because of his amazing warp, and in the lag time after your ftilt expect a dair in your face and a combo to happen after, unless you are at high %, then expect dair -> fsmash/dsmash. most chars with bowser i'd prefer to just bthrow into edgeguard, i'm not sure i like that as much vs mario because he's got some random tricky stuff, its probably better to dthrow tech chase to try and get a smash attack eventually. you can exploit mario's stubby arms and legs with fsmash occasionally, its not to hard to tell when he is spacing arials.

Shieldgrabbing mario tends to not work at all if you are playing a good mario, most of his moves have low lag and fairly high shield stun, try to shield grab and get jabbed or he will spotdodge or he will simply grab you (if you mess up a bit lol) just be careful, up b > shieldgrab in this matchup for sure.

when mario is falling out of the sky theres a lot to keep in mind, first off your up airs are most often timed anyways so that you will hit him if he jumps OR if he capes to stall. keep in mind he can jump, cape, airdodge, or just down air, and basically nothin you have goes through the dair, a well spaced uair will knock him out of the sky though, so keep that in mind. if you go for the spaced uair vs his dair he can simply jump or cape to avoid then down air into combo town...

all in all mario can be a really really painful matchup for bowser, spacing is absolutely essential in this matchup (though thats how i approach almost every matchup i suppose)

dont just go rushing him and getting owned for it, hit him a couple times then back up, if he starts to fireball spam then just avoid the fireballs dont stand there shielding because he can fireball rush.

DONT FORGET TO AIRDODGE if you run out of jumps, its really important to NOT LET HIM TOUCH YOU, dont do it obviously or mario will just land into grab. and mario's grab = mario combo, so does most everything else of his.

i'd say this matchup is in mario's favor for SURE, but its not unwinnable by any means...
Another One of Boozers Plumbing Rivals Luigi is a fearsome opponent for sure but non unwinnable by any means

From Gimpyfish62 of course, i would quote it but it seems to break up the flow of the thread (thanks again gimpy)

Bowser vs Luigi

If you space properly your airs should be able to be beating luigi’s. Luigi does have a lot of priority and ground speed so it can be difficult at first, but after enough times playing luigi you get used to it and you can adjust accordingly Double SH airs shouldn’t be a HUGE problem, depending on the set of airs you can up smash out of shield after the first air. Again depending on the first air you generally should NOT fortress until after the 2nd air hits your shield. Most luigi’s double air to pressure your shield and that obviously doesn’t really work on bowser…

Once you get luigi in the air he should be more or less done, he is in an EXTREMELY bad position vs somebody with good range on his arials, recognize his arial limitations and punish accordingly, his fast fall wont really do much, just position yourself according to where he will be. Uairs are incredibly easy to land on luigi due to his falling speed and the monstrous range you have on the up air, luigi will die off the top from that at fairly low % but not so much that he dies “easy”.

Luigi’s recovery isn’t quite as predictable as you think (if they are any good at tornado recovery that is) its incredibly easy to bair the missile over and over again, and when he recovers high try and fair him. It’s a free smash if he missiles onto the stage and you are in position to punish, if you aren’t quite in the right position you should still be able to get a grab and bthrow him off the stage so you are in edgeuarding position again. If you manage to grab the ledge when he has no jumps, no down b, and has to up b back to the ledge, a getup attack WILL KILL HIM. Just do a getup attack when he would sweetspot it’ll knock him back to far and he is dead.
When luigi is on the edge he does have options so space accordingly, give him a little bit of room. First he can double fair off the ledge, if you were pretty close to the ledge and he is approaching with the first fair you can up smash out of shield to punish that. He can also just do a quick falling uair, theres not much to do but avoid it, but if you do he is officially being edgegaurded, and that puts you in a good position (though it’s a trixy guard to say the least if you were in the right position) a good edgeguard at that point is to try and down air right on the ledge when his double jump would sweetspot, he isn’t going to be pulling back away from the stage to get on there properly because that could get him killed very easily, if you down air right on the ledge it’ll push him back JUST ENOUGH (like the getup attack) to get you a kill. He can also ledgedash dsmash, if you shield it you cant really punish it if he does it correctly, but if you’ve jumped or something to avoid it you can always get a free klaw on the end of his dsmash, if he does the ledgehop down b its harder to punish than the ledgehop downsmash just because it goes farther, not a TON you can do, you could probably up b after the first hit hits your shield though and get him with that if you are quick enough.

Luigi’s edgeguards/combos can kill you pretty quick, so you’ve gotta be on your game at all times, recover high often, his down air off the ledge will wreck your sweetspot attempts.

I dunno, luigi does really well vs bowser, garbage kills require consistency vs him so they are a bit harder. The match isn’t horrendous, but its pretty hard.

Oh yeah, tilts.
Don’t ftilt edgeguard luigi’s up b ever ever ever. It’ll get you punished more often than not, up tilt is decent but I don’t do it much (unless right out of my laggy arials) because of its general lag. Mid stage ftilts are generally good (but that’s true vs most everyone) but don’t abuse it because luigi is quick enough on the ground to punish you pretty bad after mises.

Also an Interested Bowser player who mains Link and Y. Link gave some really good tips for Boozer's match-up against them.. Besides what he said the best advice i can give... Avoid it :) Thanks to Darknight for all of this incredibly accurate information

Bowser Vs Link/Young Link.

So here is probably the match up you really want to avoid if you are Boozer. Really really want to avoid.

Who has the advatage?

Boozer: -Has more power.
-Fair Has less lag.
-Up-B might bettter. (Really debatable)
-Bair a lot better.
Unfortunately that all he has, Boozer has a lot trouble with Link than probably with Fox. Fox maybe fast but those projectiles kill Boozer like hell.

Link/Young Link:-A lot faster.
-Nair and Bair easier to Shhfl
-Up-b Might be better (Debatable)
-Projectile Sapm.
-Link's Up-B has semi spike at the end.
-Young Link down-A semi spike as well. Also with Link.

So how do you want to approach this? Well..

1.Boozer needs to Shffl his Fair otherwise you wouldn't stance a chance. Reason why is simple, you need to Link/Y. Link not to use their Projectiles or keep them limited. Use your shield often and as fortress. Also use your grab game as well. Link lags when he uses his grabs so use yours to counter it. Y. Link is rather easier, Y. Link floats a lot more than Link so use the Uair any time when there is an opening.

2. Link's Up-B not easy to counter. In fact it might be the best Up-B. It can be use offensively or defensively so be careful. Y. Link is more defensive that Link's because the semi-spike doesn't really apply to his blade so it is much easier to counter than Link's. If you are recovering because you got knocked out of the stage. DO NOT go horizontally using the Fortress move you will get semi-spike if Link hits the edge of the blade at the end of the final spin. You might as well either Fortress up or even Airdodge to get back on the stage. This is hard for most characters when they fall because I believe at 60% or more you will get spiked down. Y. Link Dtilt may have a spike too, but the Fortress automatically cancels it out but...Be safe.

3. Now when Link is recovering things can't get hasty. As noted Link's Up-B is really good. However doesn't mean it is perfect. You can edge guard it pretty easily with Boozer. However there are some things to remember. Don't try to go after him meaning if he is coming to the stage back and he is below the stage you might get hit from the Up-B. As well suffer a KO when he hits the last slash. Y. Link is weaker but he recover much easier because he is well lighter. Use the Fair as soon as possible Link will either use the hookshot or even Bomb tech. If Link bomb techs the best bet is to use Ftilt to shoo him out. Always use Fair and never Bair when facing Link.

If on FoD with Y. Link it's going to hell and lot tougher. Since Y. Link knows the wall jump he can use the FoD recovery move to get back on the stage. But the rules still apply. Use the Ftilt when needed, aslo angle it down so that Y. Link cannot do it again. Use Fair too, you can use Bair because Y. Link is less powerful than Link. Y. Link cannot use Bomb Jump so you are safe there.

Boozer may have the disadvantage but not impossible to beat him. As well apply mindgames with Link and Y. Link. They might use Wave dash in order to separate from you. But don't let them use their projectiles exclusively to control the game (which unfortunately against bowser they most like will) because they will use the projectiles to set you up for Shhfl'd Nairs and pretty much knock you off the edge to your death. As well use Fair most of the time and a grab game works well on them.

Falco

Ok now first things first because your bowser and because he's falco your going to be dealing with one of two things.. Projectile spamming and being comboed like crazy.. however you have somethings that you can do to a falco that will have him shaking his head in disgust... Like we've mentioned before, flawless edgeguarding is the deciding factor in this game and even with that your going to have trouble..

First of all counter pick a level with platforms.. most likely again Yoshi's Story or i like FoD in this one because it helps out by maximizing Falcos wicked bad recovery. Or so now that you've got your level picked (if its FD i'm sorry) you begin your play against the falco.

Falco's SHL is a bane against bowser.. because if they do it well enough since your jump lag is terrible you might not be able to jump out of it sometimes... Screw lag ya know.. but the platforms can help and try and keep evasive and move on the different levels so he can't spam them as effectively and try and get as close to the falco as you can..

Getting in close to falco is a difficult game in which you use the ability to avoid him on the platforms while continuously getting closer trying to draw him into your game. Throwing out Fairs as you get closer in attempts to hit him is encouraged because approaching with the fair is as always a good move.

What your looking to do is get the falco off the ledge because once you do that you have him right where you want him.. you can do this in a number of ways.. shffl a fair at him and see if you can just chain it againt him across the level (don't worry you won't be able to, didn't want to get your hopes up) but at this point its just looking for the hit to shoot him off the ledge...

The fair is effective, if you can get him in a quick klaw grab the back throw usual has enough pop to get him off the ledge and of course you can fortress him into the air into a shffl'd bair to get him off the ledge.. from there its time to shine

When falco is off the edge, do what bowser does best and take the stock from him.. you have multiple ways to do this.. the f-tilt usually is sufficient but you can also bair him down away from the ledge or d-tilt him when he sweetspots..

One last thing, if you can't get in a good position when he is even with the stage.. surprise him with a d-smash you can suck him in for some damage knock him up and maybe even smack him off again

Spam the fortress in this match-up because you have to do it out of the shield to deal with his aerial game.. this will be the difference maker in this match, the ability to fortress efficiently, including canceling it

This match is not by any means unwinnable but unfortunately your gonna have to play **** near perfectly to pull it out

Game and Watch
A good GAW can be real trouble for a Boozer player just because unfortunately like most characters it has a good juggle game against him with his D-tilts and U-tilts and is quicker and has his Nair for killability.

The GAW is going to be (if decent) faster then you are, if their not well then obviously you wouldn't need help with this thread so here we go.

Your going to be able too spam a lot of Shffl'd Fairs at the GAW to knock him back and disrupt his rhythem. All it is, is timing, shield as they approach and as soon as you get the chance try and knock them back with the Shffl.

Up-B'ing out of the shield is going to be another god send for you in this match, he's floaty so you'll be able to pop him up to regroup, by getting him up in the air and disrupting his rhythem you'll be able to formulate some kind of plan.

His main concerns for you are his D-Tilt, for the oobvious reason that it leads to you getting the crap combo'd out of you with Nairs and Up-Tilts and also really takes your flow out. My advice for this is to shield into your up-B and pop him up and try and Up-tilt him for some cheap damage.

His Shffl game against bowser is really good mainly because like you stated his Fair has the disjointed hit box. However the interesting thing about this move is that if you hit at the edges of it, its a lot weaker. So look for a really quick and cheap shield grab. Lead into a downthrow and tech chase it with a Shffl'd Fair. The GAW should prolly realize he shouldn't shffl any more. If your not able to get the throw *gasp* Up-B out of your shield... you should realize by now that as a boozer player your Up-B is a savior

To get the GAW off the edge i recommend hitting him with a Bair that was sweetspotted so you send him at a low angle off the stage pretty far... this keeps him from being able to float all the way back to the stage without using a jump leading into....

Edge Game
(Quite the Segway i know)

So you managed to get the GAW off the stage good job but the good thing of him being a floaty character so its easy to knock him off also works against you in the fact that he can DI back to the stage sometimes before even needing a jump.

To edgeguard a GAW thats high up its usual good waiting near the edge and getting ready to Shffle an aerial to knock him back off preferably the Bair to knock him lower then the stage again. You can try and use the option of the tilt but because he's coming from so high and his floaty air control DI letting him pretty much float back to the stage without a jump makes it to unpredictable to just sit there and pray he lands in a good spot.

When you finally get him below or even with the stage the challenge is not over yet for he can still be a little bit of a bother but with boozers really good edgeguarding game he shouldn't be a problem for you at this point. It's business as usual really.

When the GAW is coming in you have to think of a couple of key points:

1. Is he going to try and sweetspot, or needs to sweetspot.
2. How high can he make it over the stage if possible
3. Does he have his second jump available?
4. What to say when i get the stock (once confident enough)

Ok here's how to deal with each of those options.

1. So the GAW is pretty low so his only option is to sweetspot.. this one is a fairly easy one to deal with. Roll to the edge if you have enough time or just stay far enough away to get ready for a fortresshog. The timing is fairly easy once you've seen it enough and just time it so that you get there with your invincibility frames on his way up.

2. If he's coming above the stage throw out a down angled f-tilt to intercept him on his way up and knock him further back.. from there its just predicting where he's coming and knocking him further and further away until he dies or you can comfortably edgehog him.

3. His second jump being available leaves it all up too predicting whether it will fall under one or two so from there follow that advice...

4. Go with something like... Wheres your bell now? idk i haven't perfected step four yet haha

Well thats what i have for you i hope that you go to smash some serious 2D character butt

And lets hope gimpy can post his thoughts as well.

Edit: Counter Stages
Yoshi's Story- Small Deathlines equal quick kills on the light GAW as well as the fact that he won't be able to sweet spot the ledge meaning a good Angled F-tilt will most likely knock him to his death.
FoD- Small horizontal deathlines meaning that you can kill him quickly with a sweet spotted Bair. Plus again platforms are good for a boozer.
Battlefield- Screws GAW SO BAD he will have a difficult time sweet spotting and so that means he will most likely flub a lot of recoverys. And the platforms are good for your manuverability.
 

KevinM

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This Guide should be finished by the end of the week for anyone eagerly awaiting this which is everyone i'm sure haha no but really by the end of the week i will finish this up and any help with character strategies would be lovely just PM them to me
 

Gkryptonite

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Wow, that's a good guide. Maybe you should add character match ups. Or do what Shiri did and put links to discussed Bowser character matchups.
 

KevinM

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Yep its going in there don't worry the guide isn't complete yet so go post in the bowser matchups guide cause i can use some responses :)
 

Deathcarter

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This looks awesome. As a smash player, multiple guides(THAT ARE NOT ON GAMESPOT!!!!!!!) are nessecary for maxamizing axcess of information. Also could you put the stages Bowser should pick to make certain character match-ups less one sided and also the stages a Bowser player should always ban?
 

KevinM

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Yea thanks for the positive feedback everyone, make some posts in the match up threads i hope to finish this by friday so i want some feedback on character fights so i can put a couple opinions in. Like Gimpy's mario response might just be transported in full since its so indepth that i couldn't say it any better myself :)
 

KevinM

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Haha that is a hard question, it can be really answered with like a you are insane and he is too cute so that you have too haha :)

But yea i will hehe
 

1048576

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Looks great. Two things, though. Fortress is definitely not the second fastest move in the game. There's shine, rest, and lots of jabs which are faster. Also, I'm not sure but when I play Bowser I find f-smash especially useful. Often, when the opponent is spacing aerials against Bowser, when he rears back for the smash, they will miss, and the f-smash will hit them. Also, the hit box on f-smash is slightly bigger than Bowser's face, so those unexperienced against Bowser will think they are just out of range of F-Smash, and will get hit by it. Granted, the move doesn't connect *that* often, but when it does, it's a doozy.
 

Gimpyfish62

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first issue: you listed "PLUS HE IS SO DARN CUTE" under the con's section, i realize its spaced out so its not actually IN the category but come on now

you should at least say something like "oh yeah, i forgot one of the pros" or something

sheesh

second issue: all of my quotes besides the mario matchup quote are ancient and inaccurate, maybe i'll write up something to replace them soon

uhhh *sigh* i guess i'll write up more on matchups, i was in all honesty planning on writting a guide relatively soon haha
 

KevinM

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@ numbers guy

I didn't say it was worthless what i did say was that the move is entirely situational which it is so i don't see your problem with my description of that move

@Gimpy
Yea well i'll change that con's thing for you and thanks for the comments
As for the quotes they at least give the general idea of some of the moves, and please do post in match-ups and PM me with any information you want me including, I don't mind including anything you say

Sorry for beating you too it :)
 

DarkKnight077

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Anyways...

Bowser Vs Link/Young Link.

So here is probably the match up you really want to avoid if you are Boozer. Really really want to avoid.

Who has the advatage?

Boozer: -Has more power.
-Fair Has less lag.
-Up-B might bettter. (Really debatable)
-Bair a lot better.
Unfortunately that all he has, Boozer has a lot trouble with Link than probably with Fox. Fox maybe fast but those projectiles kill Boozer like hell.

Link/Young Link:-A lot faster.
-Nair and Bair easier to Shhfl
-Up-b Might be better (Debatable)
-Projectile Sapm.
-Link's Up-B has semi spike at the end.
-Young Link down-A semi spike as well. Also with Link.

So how do you want to approach this? Well..

1.Boozer needs to Shffl his Fair otherwise you wouldn't stance a chance. Reason why is simple, you need to Link/Y. Link not to use their Projectiles or keep them limited. Use your shield often and as fortress. Also use your grab game as well. Link lags when he uses his grabs so use yours to counter it. Y. Link is rather easier, Y. Link floats a lot more than Link so use the Uair any time when there is an opening.

2. Link's Up-B not easy to counter. In fact it might be the best Up-B. It can be use offensively or defensively so be careful. Y. Link is more defensive that Link's because the semi-spike doesn't really apply to his blade so it is much easier to counter than Link's. If you are recovering because you got knocked out of the stage. DO NOT go horizontally using the Fortress move you will get semi-spike if Link hits the edge of the blade at the end of the final spin. You might as well either Fortress up or even Airdodge to get back on the stage. This is hard for most characters when they fall because I believe at 60% or more you will get spiked down. Y. Link Dtilt may have a spike too, but the Fortress automatically cancels it out but...Be safe.

3. Now when Link is recovering things can't get hasty. As noted Link's Up-B is really good. However doesn't mean it is perfect. You can edge guard it pretty easily with Boozer. However there are some things to remember. Don't try to go after him meaning if he is coming to the stage back and he is below the stage you might get hit from the Up-B. As well suffer a KO when he hits the last slash. Y. Link is weaker but he recover much easier because he is well lighter. Use the Fair as soon as possible Link will either use the hookshot or even Bomb tech. If Link bomb techs the best bet is to use Ftilt to shoo him out. Always use Fair and never Bair when facing Link.

If on FoD with Y. Link it's going to hell and lot tougher. Since Y. Link knows the wall jump he can use the FoD recovery move to get back on the stage. But the rules still apply. Use the Ftilt when needed, aslo angle it down so that Y. Link cannot do it again. Use Fair too, you can use Bair because Y. Link is less powerful than Link. Y. Link cannot use Bomb Jump so you are safe there.

Boozer may have the disadvantage but not impossible to beat him. As well apply mindgames with Link and Y. Link. They might use Wave dash in order to separate from you. But don't let them use their projectiles because they will Shhfl you to death. As well use Fair most of the time an grab game works well on them.

Gimpy you can edit this, I'm going to In and Out. *Yawns*


GIMPY'S EDIT:​

RAWR I'M ABUSING MOD POWERS FOR NO REASON RAWR!!!
 

KevinM

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Thank you so much Dark, this will be a great help in the character match-ups for these two characters.. Very helpful indeed :)
 

Gimpyfish62

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bowser vs ylink

bowser gets hit by projectiles till 250%

ylink neutrals

bowser tries to catch ylink during invinciblity and if he does thats a loss of a stock

bowser gets hit by projectiles till 300%

ylink does any non projectile move

bowser gets owned. really really hard.

this is one of my least favorite matches actually
 

KevinM

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hey thanks for the input everyone and i'll start uploading character match-ups as soon as i get home from the Cape, having a small smasher thing over there wish me luck and maybe i can get some recordings of my boozer
 

Dogysamich

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This is a pretty kool lookin guide.

___

I do have a suggestion, though.

Although you mention it a few times, and you quote a few threads, you never specifically explain what fortresshogging it.

You have it in here in a "roundabout way" (gimpy's quote), but i think it might be worth having a short section to explain it and the different variations of it.

___


other than that, this guide is rockin.

 

Gimpyfish62

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But don't let them use their projectiles because they will Shhfl you to death
that sentance makes no sense... dont let them use projectiles, the reason being is that they will shffl you to death with arials.

uhh
what? lol
 

KevinM

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i think i fixed what he was trying to say their... yea i guess that didn't make much sense but since i skimmed it i didn't pay attention to the grammatical errors and such :)
 

KevinM

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you want to hear something completely sad... i didn't notice your edit on his post for a couple of seconds...

Oh and comment on people please make some comments on the guide please :)
 

Gkryptonite

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Gimpyfish, I give you permission to edit my post.

You put the bair and edgegaurding as seperate things in the pros section, shouldn't they be combined? Or is it so good that it deserves its own spot

EDIT: Nevermind, it is that good
 

KevinM

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Haha yes the B-air is that good

Recent Updates-
Updated the Term List to make it All-Inclusive
Fixed Up A lot of Grammatical Errors

Now we're just waiting for some help in the Character Match-up thread.. I'll start writing for a couple of characters that i'm more familiar with.

Happy Smashing
 

Zelda_Fan_

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Nice guide so far. But towards the end in the Link/Bowser character matchup you only adressed one of Link's recoveries. Using the hookshot recovery is a lot better in some situations, like when Link is far from the ledge horizontally, not vertically. If you don't know what it is, Link/Y. Link airdodges so that they are parallel to the sweetspot, and fires their hookshot into the edge. They will fall and the hookshot will keep them connected. So now they are hanging on with their hookshot directly below the stage. I imagine you know what this is, so you'd better add a way for bowser to counter it because it is a veru commonly used tactic.
 

DarkKnight077

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I get that point...but is easily countered. Very easily countered. I mean if your going to sweet spot using the hookshot at FD you might as well not even try to do it. Just drop down and use Fair or even the fire breath. I mean I don't even sweetspot because I might miss..or because I can get spike if I stay under the stage.
 

DarkKnight077

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That spike move that Falco has is really nasty. At 60% you are spiked down like that. Not only that it has great knockback range and little lag when L-canceled correctly. Not only that it is great for edge guarding and plus serves as Falco's primary moves when Shinning. That Dair that Falco has is probably the best thing he has other than the blasters and shine.
 

KevinM

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Yea i guess i could mention that but the fact is... i pretty much mentioned in the beginning your going to get comboed to hell.. i mean i guess i could put something in about Shine to Aerial and Dair spike.. but ahh alright what the hell the more info the merrier correct?
 
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