I'm not positive, I know I've seen this before in my own games as well a few times, both my regular opponent and I are very attentive and competative so he'll just yell something about it being the game doing something impractical and dumb and well for this particular double hit DSmash theres not much you can say against it other than its an oddity in the programming, same as the dsmash occasionally knocking your opponent the opposite direction that would be expected. Obviously theres a reason it happens, its programmed so it could be learned recreated and in theory even used, he just feels its illogical so whether its the game or not isn't a fan. Hes a good complainer, but also very good player so... Anyway back on topic...
In my own fuzzy recollections as well as the comments posted above I would suggest as a starting place for exploring this that people look closely at elemental attack pikmin (R,Y,W) as they seemingly have been involved in each case. I don't feel that both must be elemental (they may though) but I would be very surprised if this is not true. In general the elemental pikmin have seemingly presented a slightly larger hit box than expected body size, this is the reason some people are certain Yellow has the best range in a number of moves. Just as in the USmash perhaps there is varying hit box sizes per pikmin in the DSmash attack. I highly doubt there would be any noticeable difference in maximum range of DSmash, as I tested that thoroughly. However if the Hit Box was larger that would mean it would extend further back towards Olimar, which would allow at the start of a DSmash for the attack hit boxes to be very near each other. What I would suggest for the phenomena experienced is this:
As pointed out, the combined % was higher than should be expected from Echo's damage table, not to mention 2 hits by the same attack would still in this case I believe experience diminishing returns even though its the same attack (see below question on this subject). So what I believe must happen is actually 3 attacks connecting due to the extended hitboxes of some Pikmin. In theory however, these hit boxes may not even be extended. Consider the following: Pikmin 1 attacks left in this example, pikmin 2 attacks right. The opponent is standing ever so near/on olimar, but slightly to the left. The attack happens, pikmin 1's hitbox actually does not mostly cover olimars body (speculative) so preforms a glancing hit on the opponent, just moving him ever so slightly to the right of olimar. Here pikmin 2's hitbox fully connects while the pikmin is still near olimar (I would expect these first two frames to happen in honestly 4 or so frames max). Then the knockback from Pikmin 2 would send the opponent reverse typical direction back left due to being hit on the inside of the hit box. The opponent would again cross over olimar and catch the extending Pikmin 1 hitbox as it is moving away from olimar, connecting causing a 3rd hit, the large damage, and giving the situation encountered.
How in God's name you'd test that is beyond me. It works out however, so I offer it here. If somethings wrong with my idea, or you've got your own idea whatever it may be put it here. Were off topic but were discussing something awesome, this is what I wish this thread was all about =)
@ Gazelle: Thanks, I was a little afraid of that, however I'm also not sure how to fix it, I'll see what I can do though.
@ The NZA: I'm still working on some of your suggestions, of most interest is your suggestion about stutter stepping. If I have in fact simply majorly underestimated that technique much thanks. Also I'd love to add the details you suggest, I simply don't have the experience nor unfortunately time yet to work on that. Saddly much of my best Olimar work is theoretical, simply because I don't have a good pool of opponents to gain experience or idea or anything else from near me. Once classes wrap up hopefully I'll be able to put a little more time into finding good live opponents, get in the car and see who i find, but for now I can only really add theoretical stuff which I'm trying largely to avoid, and take from what people offer in posts across the boards, leaving me largely unable to meet those requests yet. Keep posting here though, though challenging your posts have been awesome, hope you stick around.
@Dr. Hyde: I've known you through these boards long enough that I'm sure you've got more to say than you've been saying here =) Wheres the ideas opinions thoughts and beliefs of old that seemed to touch every thread? Hope to hear from you soon.
@Sikarios: Your post is basically exactly what I'm looking for concerning matchups. Who it is, how you think the match up falls, what you do effectively, why it works... Awesome, hope you keep it up.
@ Cpt EJ: You've facilitated a lot of what discussion we've had here, keep up the interest enthusiasm and questions. Your reasoning for why some matchups are hard was nice, you could go into a bit more blunt detail about whats causing trouble, and what you personally have tried against it effective or not, but importantly why it was effective or not =)
@ Keeper: Thanks again for doing that, any other stages you feel so inclined... would be awesome =P You seem more interested in the facts than the beliefs, a very useful poster to have around. Look forward to whatever you have to offer down the line.
@ Holla: Just keep doing what you do, you don't need me to tell you that =P Still waiting on our game some day =P
-True
Olimar's down-smash has a sweet spot! Opponents can be damaged by BOTH of Olimar's Pikmin, simultaneously, for potentially massive damage! In this video, Shrink did a whopping 27% damage with a single down-smash.
