Advice for beating defensive players/characters?

[Lowerfuzzball]

Hey guys, I'm a decent player and can usual adapt to other's play styles but the the most difficult for me to beat are passive/defensive styles. For example, always shielding+shield grab, running and poking, and people that just generally wait for you to come to them. Also, spacing characters/defensive such as link give me lots of problems.

I like to play very aggressive and offensively, and I'm constantly getting punished for it. Any advice? Is aggressive play style just not viable? I also play mainly as Yoshi, Ness, and Kirby if that helps.

 

[Kneutronic]

Hmm... That's difficult. I too am an aggressive player, but I do like to keep my distance at times. I use Dedede almost every battle, and I like to space myself with Gordo, always trying to shield just in case the Gordo comes back to be.

As for your characters, I would say Ness is best as a more defensive character. He does have a decent arsenal of projectiles you can pressure people with, and his grab game's also good. Yoshi and Kirby are more offensive characters, so I don't really know how to help with that.

 

[Steelballray]

When I saw the topic I assumed you couldn't deal with the more scrubby type of projectile spammers but then its this.. Try to take a deep breath and think rationally. Defensive players tend to have more appearent habits than offensive ones so take note of that and take advantage of their predictability. Learn to space your attacks and especially aerials so that they aren't punishable. I'm sure Yoshi's fair for example can't be shield grabbed or punished if it was spaced well. My last piece of advice for you is to adapt and not fall into any kind of trap. I know close quarter combat is what you like but if they so badly want to take the fight somewhere far away then do just that and give them a piece of mind. Two of the characters you mentioned are ones with nice projectiles that can zone people in their own right. Kirby too if you manage to swallow them early.
Anyway, no matter how "decent" you are. I believe the next level of play will be based around how well or bad you can read your opponets. If you're too offensive you'll find difficulty doing that, or at least that's what I think.

 

[Lowerfuzzball]

Thanks for the advice! @ Steelballray , yes you're right they do become predicable, and I almost always end up beating them but I plan on playing competitively, so I want to learn how to fight someone round 1 who is defense better. Maybe it's my mindset while I play them, but I'll definitely try what you guys suggested.

Spammers I don't have a problem with, really. It's easy to learn what they're doing and how to beat it. I think it's just the omega form on 1v1 that gets to me sometimes.