A Compliment to Kirby

[T-nuts]

Hey Smashboards! its been a while...I'm sure most of you don't even remember me haha. I noticed recently that I have trouble against characters that force ME to approach. Mainly, Snake, Toon Link, ZSS come to mind.

imo kirby does not have an amazing approach, and his lack of a good projectile make this even more obvious sometimes (at least he has that little cutter wave lol).

So, to cover Kirby's weaknesses I have decided to pick up a second main. Kirby will still be my go to guy, but I'd like to have another character that I can play as well as kirby if I know a certain character is coming or if the first match of a set goes sour. I have secondaries (ROB and Lucario) but I've never really dedicated myself to learning them that much. besides, I feel like lucario doesnt cover kirby's weaknesses that well, and I just dont really want to use ROB, even if he is a great character.

So, kirby mains, who do you recommend for a second main? do any of you guys have alternate characters that you use to cover kirby's weaknesses?

The main thing I want in my character is a great approach, but I wouldn't mind a viable projectile on the side. Also, I dont want to use Snake or MK (because i hate them lol) and I also don't want to use DK. i know DK is good against Snake and MK but...id prefer someone else.

So far I'm leaning toward either falco, fox, pit, ZSS, or shiek...any recommendations? I'll probably try them all but I just wanna know what you guys think.

and, thanks for your help!

 

[Asdioh]

It's up to you. Personally, Toon Link is my second he's the man!

 

[CaliburChamp]

I play Kirby as my main, my secondary is either MK or Lucario. Lucario is a good secondary choice. In a ranked match against R.O.B. As Kirby, ROB is my toughest matchup, but when I choose Lucario it seems easier. Snake is also really hard for Kirby to beat, but the match up is a bit easier for Lucario. Lucario's uptilt works so well against those 2 characters. Dash attack + 3-4 uptilts = lots of damage. But they'll have to be under 35% for that combo to work.

 

[Dpete]

I agree with CaliburChamp, Lucario seems like he could cover Kirby's trouble matchups pretty easily, and you said you already used him so it shouldn't be nearly as hard picking him up. As far as the characters you listed, I think Falco would probably be your best bet. Being a Kirby main, you should have developed a pretty good grab game, which will carry over nicely for Falco's CG. Also similar to Kirby, one of his strengths is his aerial game.

 

[T-nuts]

hmm ok thanks for the advice everyone, well i looked into the chars a little more and played around with them and I had it narrowed down to falco or pit. i guess i could keep trying lucario though, i do consider my lucario to be decent...is he really a good matchup for the likes of snake or toon link? i guess i could see the utilt being pretty useful against snake, and his range being good against tlink...hmm well at least its down to 3.

any other suggestions, anyone?

 

[psykoplympton]

falco is a good secondary with lots of potentail for high teir. his awesome CG and ridiculouse laser makes for a good char. his up-b sucks but f-b is awesome. he has a nice spike and great combos. so id go with falco.

 

[Dpete]

I did some digging and couldn't find any good information on the Lucario/Snake matchup, but I know in tier list discussion I've heard people arguing Lucario for high tier say he has at least a neutral matchup against Snake. And considering its Snake, that's a good thing.

I don't know much about the Lucario vs. TL, but I will say you shouldn't be having a lot of trouble with this matchup as Kirby.

 

[T-nuts]

thanks again for the advice everyone. i think i'm gonna try falco first. although all this lucario info really makes me want to play a snake with him.

also, yea TL is def one of my hardest matchups with kirby Dr. Peterson. either i just dont know how to play against him or i am playing some ridiculously good toon links haha. i struggle when i approach because of his beastly projectiles, and his gay bair makes coming from the air difficult as well. which is why im looking for a char with a great approach, or at least some way to fight projectiles.

i've seen your matchup thread and i think you had a 60 40 advantage for kirby over tlink? i guess i could use some advice haha

 

[Nokon]

shield and advance slowly when attacked by projectiles, well, thats what i do. I dont know if i have that much authority since i just started.

I'm pretty sure that TL has a lower air game compared to Kirby, and kirby excels there anyways.

 

[TwilightKirby]

You should just find a really good player to practice with for the characters that you do poorly against, and eventually they will be easy. My main practice has always been against a good snake player, and I have yet to lose to a snake in a tourney match. This is great because you play a character they never play against but you have played their character a lot and know tons of ways they will react to situations and they won't have a clue about you.

The only time you should consider using another character is when you know the matchup well and still lose to a player that you know you are better than. (i am semi taking this from edrees a peach main who at first picked a few secondaries up to counter snakes etc. then realized he did much better just knowing the matchups with peach. He said he sorta regretted wasting time with those characters he didn't even like when he could have just been developing his peach.)

Feel free to have a secondary and all, I'm just saying you shouldn't play a character for the sole purpose of countering even if you don't like their playstyle etc.

 

[Colbert]

Out of all the ones you listed I suggest Pit. Pit seems the most like Kirby with a strong and fast fsmash, nice aerials, multiple jumps/ good recovery, and more versatility. Also, he seems easier to control than Falco (especially compared to Kirby) and is, IMO, much more fun.

 

[Nokon]

Out of all the ones you listed I suggest Pit. Pit seems the most like Kirby with a strong and fast fsmash, nice aerials, multiple jumps/ good recovery, and more versatility. Also, he seems easier to control than Falco (especially compared to Kirby) and is, IMO, much more fun.

Plus you'll be used to the multiple jumps , i cant make a transition sometimes also.

 

[T-nuts]

yea, i mean, im not just giving up against the characters I do poorly against with kirby. I'll continue to practice with kirby against them and if I get to the point that they don't give me trouble anymore, that's great. choosing a counter character may not even be all that its cracked up to be, but I intend to at least try it; I'm just exploring some options here and searching for ways to win. and i've played kirby for so long now that I really doubt practicing with another character will hurt my kirby game.

also thanks again for the suggestions. i think i'm gonna try falco first and if I don't do well with him I'll give pit a shot.

 

[Asdioh]

You won't even consider Toon Link? I don't know how popular he is, or where he ranks on this so-called "tier list", but I'd say he's pretty easy to pick up, and with a little practice you can get very good with him. Especially if you've been playing since the N64, his playstyle (link) has been around since back then.

What everyone else said holds true, but still, it's up to what YOU want -_-

 

[T-nuts]

actually i think im gonna go with pit. and btw, toon link is very high on the tier list, top 5 probably. i considered him, but...theres just a lot of interesting chars out there ya know? its tough to pick but i gotta narrow it down to just one somehow.

 

[Asdioh]

That's depressing, I like playing the characters that aren't recognized as "top tier." It's too bad I played Melee all those years, and never had anyone to play with. I was quite good, but I never checked this website or found any good people to play, so I never learned about these "advanced techniques" and stuff. And it seems that kirby is at the bottom of this "tier list" in melee. If you told me back then I would have been shocked o_O

But he's so much better in brawl!

And he was overpowered in n64 XD imo

 

[T-nuts]

haha yea kirby was ridiculous in 64. well, i say just use who you like. who cares if hes top tier, bottom tier, w/e. i picked kirby because i like him and so far i like pit too.

 

[Dpete]

Toon Link isn't being looked at as a Top5 character any more. Bad tourny outings really affected his perceived tier placement. A lot of people, including myself, still believe he is high tier though.

And if you want to play Pit, play Pit. He's definitely a viable tourney option, and I think he has a decent matchup with Snake as well. I think the major difference between him and Kirby will be killing options; I've always heard people complaining about how hard it is to kill with Pit.

 

[CompassTosser]

I think whatever character's moveset resembles Kirby's the most will be the easiest to pick up.

 

[DarKirby92]

i find Mario a great secondary, with his fast B-air, and great combo potential with his U-tilts and U-airs. This resembles Kirby alot imo. And that crazy cape!

If he doesnt appeal to u that much, i suggest G&W. He's pretty strong, and has minimal lag on alot of his attacks. Not to mention his amazing priority.

 

[T-nuts]

well, i figured out that i only need a character that can camp when he has to. the only reason ive been losing to toon links and zss is because i play them on FD, and they dont approach me once. on a stage like battlefield i can handle them. so i want a character that can camp well in order to force them to come to me if they pick FD. this is why falco and pit seem like good choices. I know this makes me seem like an annoying spammer, but i'm only gonna do it to them if i know theyre gonna do it to me. seriously, i played a toon link today and when he counterpicked FD all he did was run away and throw projectiles all game. pit and falco can deal with that easily. next time a toonlink counterpicks FD on me im changing to pit or falco immediately if im allowed to.

im not just looking for a character that i like to use, if i was just gonna mess around lucario would be my secondary. thanks for all the help though. anyone have any advice, based on the description above? i cant decide on pit or falco.