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Adjusting from Brawl (Character Specific)

WT!

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Jan 5, 2014
Messages
254
NNID
WT_Smash
3DS FC
4597-0015-7814
Switch FC
SW-3650-7945-8401
I started my competitive smash journey as a Brawl player. I grew up playing it, and I still love it and defend it. I swear it's better than Smash 4, but that's a story for another day. I've also played competitive Project M and I like it a lot. Smash 4, however, I have basically no experience in. I played some tournaments when the game first came out on 3DS but I didn't like it and I quit pretty soon after the Wii U version was released. Smash Ultimate has given me some hope, however. There are lots of things in the game that really annoy me, such as the huge buffer widow, massive hitlag, increased ledge lag, rage, weakened SDI, weakened projectiles (like Falco's laser is useless now). Other things in Ultimate are just plain unintuitive from my perspective, such as certain recoveries randomly having a ton of priority (ex. Ness), unintuitive damage/priority in general, super armor on way too many moves (I feel that super armor is bad design period, with a few exceptions such as Yoshi's jump), cookie-cutter combos and setups, "oops you die" moments, and the complete inability to hit short characters with rising short-hop aerials. BUT...I think it's got a lot going for it and is probably still the best smash game, or at least the most inclusive. TLDR; Melee/PM = Good, Brawl = Good, Smash 4 = Bad. Ultimate = Good so far.

Getting to the point, in Brawl I mained Snake, Marth, and Meta Knight. I played them all in tournaments to success at locals. When I transitioned to PM, I found that I still liked all of them (although I didn't ever play Snake in a tournament, I did play Marth and Meta Knight, and Snake was still fun in friendlies). But when I started playing Ultimate, there were some complications. I was drawn to Lucina pretty quickly, but she did take some adjustment. You can't fair twice in a single short hop anymore. and fair has a lot more lag in general. It's really hard to hit grounded opponents with the strong hit of nair. Dair doesn't confirm off of footstools, and getting the tipper isn't hard but for some reason you have to be directly above them. Also, side-b is the second best it's ever been, but it still sucks compared to Brawl's, where the first hit was safe on shield and led to some cool strings, and the upward angle was actually useful. Up-b is still a great move but its kill power feels worse. But hey, at least neutral-b does something now! I ended up playing Lucina in Ultimate (in addition to Palutena, my other current main), and did well with her at my first local. The adjustment was tough but I did it, I think.

However, Snake has been much more challenging. He can't dacus anymore, which was his only way to traverse the stage, he loses his mines and can't control space as well, and darn it—it was hard enough to land in Brawl, never mind now with the weakened airdodge. People keep saying "Snake is top 10" and "Snake is better than he was in Brawl" but I don't see it. I'm having no success with him at the tournament level, or online. Meta Knight is even worse. In Brawl, Meta Knight was obviously the best character, but in all seriousness the thing that separated a good MK from one who would be successful at tournaments was how well you played the offstage game. Meta Knight was already the best edgeguarder and was the hardest to edgeguard himself, but the farther you pushed this, the better you were, and that suited me really well. (In every title, including Ultimate, I can show you dozens of film/replays of me getting outplayed thoroughly onstage, but capitalizing on my edgeguard opportunities better and recovering smarter, leading to a "cheesy" win). Ultimate Meta Knight though, feels like he can't do anything! He can't do a fading fair on sheild, and his down throw doesn't deal as much damage. They nerfed tornado but yeah that was necessary. And supposedly he's still a top tier edgeguarder, but his aerials all have so much less priority now, I just don't see it. And I definitely can't figure out his neutral.

Basically, I'd really appreciate some help with Ultimate Snake and Meta Knight, ideally from the perspective of people who played Brawl. I hope this thread is in the right place.
 
Last edited:

Justin Allen Goldschmidt

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Sep 20, 2015
Messages
309
I played me some mean Brawl, and while I don't personally have much to say on Snake, Meta Knight has caused me some frustration as well. The main thing that hurts my memories of Brawl and even Smash 4 and PM Meta Knight, is that his neutral game is below average now. Like, almost Brawl Ice Climbers bad. He can still do some dangerous stuff to opponents that he gets the jump on, but he can't really just space anybody out anymore. Stuck somewhere between a brawler and a swordfighter, but with an incredible recovery. Honestly, I think his best potential may end up lying in just going for offstage shenanigans literally every single chance he gets, along with tech chases when possible. Sort of like Melee Sheik, except nothing is really guaranteed into anything else at this stage of his meta development, aside from some short strings. Longer strings fall apart to good DI, but mixing things up sometimes (instead of more up airs, go straight to a nair or bair and hope they DI that poorly) has gotten me some neat plays. Right now though, I personally recommend not taking him too seriously unless you're willing to be a pioneer for a while.
 
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