‘Zero has a bad monkey flip habit’
This narrative needs to be shutdown... but I guess it won’t if people keep only paying attention to the game defining moments.
Zero simply has two options in principle.
1. Monkey flip inwards which is the best option to escape the corner and if successful stops the opponents momentum
2. Go to the ledge, or try land with a aerial (usually FF fair), both which keep him in the corner if succesful so let’s opponent control momentum.
Zero simply chose the former option as he valued reversing the momentum over the possible consequences. Not necessarily a bad habit but a decision that can be punished harder immediately. When you play a character with diddys air speed you are forced to make these decisions, it isn’t consequently a bad habit.
This.
Diddy is very fragile offstage, unless he's far away/high up.
If he's far away he can charge his barrels kinda freely and it's unlikely you'll guess right and get him gimped, but it's still a bit of a risk for the Diddy. If the opponent guesses the correct way Diddy tries to recover and uses a correct move/timing Diddy could get gimped/kept offstage. If Diddy is far up he could also just use his monkey flip momentum to get back far and fast.
He has to be far enough away from the opponent so he has enough time to charge his barrels safely, otherwise the opponent could attack him and force him to let go or get gimped (and if Diddy stops charging it might not reach).
If he is kinda close to the opponent and does not have a doublejump it's dangerous for Diddy, because then it doesn't really matter what you hit him with - if he is getting hit, he will very likely not make it back because of the momentum the upB gets when you try charging it right after being able to act again after hitstun.
This is an extremely scary situation for Diddy and he has to be very cautios. If he still has his 2nd jump then he can probably save himself, though. If he uses the 2nd jump and gets hit before landing/grabbing the ledge he'll be in a bad spot too, though.
And even if he makes it back to the ledge.. he'll have to get back from ledgepressure safely as well, and Smash4 players should know by now that being in such a position can be very annoying.
Getting back onto the stage (or the ledge) is much easier by just using Diddys monkey flip. If you get hit you didn't lose a jump and can use it again, and you won't get gimped from getting hit out of your barrels. It's a very attractive option, but it can be read and punished. What makes the option even better is that he's also able to use a pretty disjointed attack (the kick) during it to cover himself, which needs good spacing/timing from the opponent to hit through.
Of course Diddys will use this option. If they don't opponents will have an easier time following them offstage and trying to gimp them. It can be risky, but it's also risky to not do it (and can be very rewarding if the Diddy manages to not get hit, maybe even hit the opponent away), and if you do it sometimes you at least keep your opponent guessing because they usually need to predict it and stay in good positions for these options to be able to punish them.
So mixing up the timing of sideB and sometimes not using it at all will keep the opponent guessing and forces them in specific positions for these punishes, because if you aren't positioned perfectly and completely ready for the move it's likely you won't be able to punish it. Even if you are ready you somtimes still get hit by the kick while trying to challenge it. You see this all the time, and if you have experience in the MU you will probably know this.
Diddys other option to defend himself if you're close to him is fair. A meaty, good range, easy to hit with, long lasting hitbox, but without the autocancel from landing it will take some time to finish, so he can't just throw that out freely while being offstage. If he doesn't hit the opponent with it he'll probably have to recover from below the ledge (or get punished out of shield), which is risky.