Social Back to the Ring: Little Mac Support Thread

[Champ Gold]

February 13th, 2014 was the introduction of our small underdog to the world of Smash and it's been a wild 4 years. From old faces to new challenges, Little Mac has stood tall against the rest


Now with a new game on the horizon with old and new faces coming through, Mac Nation must hold through together with hopefully some new changes.

Like from balance changes to maybe even new skins and remixes.


Join us in the ring as we "make the Switch" to the new Smash Bros.

Doc Lewis: "YOU MAKIN' MY EYES WATER, SON"

 

[Morbi]

Little Mac was probably my favorite newcomer, at least to play. That being said, he does leave a lot to be desired. I believe he would be much better if once he earned his KO punch, he could keep it as a pressure tool. Obviously they would have to nerf the generation rate. But I would rather have it for when I need it, rather than scrambling almost as much as my opponent just to hope that a stray tilt does not get rid of it. Either that, or make his neutral even stronger and nerf his aerial and recovery options further to compensate. It is already borderline useless. He might as well not have them with the caveat that you can utterly dominate from center.

If not, well, Spring Man will likely take over my boxing fix.

 

[Champ Gold]

Little Mac was probably my favorite newcomer, at least to play. That being said, he does leave a lot to be desired. I believe he would be much better if once he earned his KO punch, he could keep it as a pressure tool. Obviously they would have to nerf the generation rate. But I would rather have it for when I need it, rather than scrambling almost as much as my opponent just to hope that a stray tilt does not get rid of it. Either that, or make his neutral even stronger and nerf his aerial and recovery options further to compensate. It is already borderline useless. He might as well not have them with the caveat that you can utterly dominate from center.

If not, well, Spring Man will likely take over my boxing fix.

I've seen stranger cuts happen in Smash but I can't see Mac leaving aside from just a pure roster reset. Unless something crazy just happens, he probably won't leave.
Plus he's well loved in the West

 

[PF9]

Punch-out would make a good movie, be different from every other boxing movie out there. Liam Aiken as Little Mac and Laurence Fishbourne as Doc Louis.

 

[A Distant Demon]

Little Mac has a very low chance of being cut, and thank goodness for that.

I wouldnt mind some buffs, or at the very least reverts to before the unnecessary nerfs. Also, please keep his awesome jab and f tilt

 

[Champ Gold]

Little Mac has a very low chance of being cut, and thank goodness for that.

I wouldnt mind some buffs, or at the very least reverts to before the unnecessary nerfs. Also, please keep his awesome jab and f tilt

I would it if Jolt Haymaker could cancel into his rising uppercut as an recovery option.

It'll also stop his side-b suicide from scrubs and miss inputs

 

[Runic_SSB]

I absolutely love the Punch-Out series, and Punch-Out for the Wii is easily one of my favorite games ever. I was so pumped when Little Mac got in Smash 4, but I absolutely hated how he played. Having a character that's useless in the air in a game where almost every attack makes you airborne is asinine, and having a recovery that'd make Wolf look like ZSS didn't help. I think having him be a heavily ground-based fighter who's more susceptible to juggling and edgeguarding as a trade-off for high mobility, KO power and combo potential is a great idea. However, making all of his aerials useless and making him unable to get back to the stage without being edgeguarded is inexcusable and guarantees that he'll be a bad character. Hopefully he'll be better in Smash 4.

 

[RustyRemains]

Little Mac has to be one of my favourite characters in Smash ever, I've played him since day one and rooted for him ever since before his announcement

I would be fine if they brought him over the way he is right now (although buffs are always welcome) but if there is one thing I would change about Little Mac it would be the wireframe costumes.

I Always use wireframe Mac but I think it's a little weird that the wireframe stays green with all of the wireframe costumes, it just doesn't look as good as it could've looked if each wireframe costume had a seperate colour for the wireframe as well but that's just a nitpick since Little Mac probably has the best set of alternate costumes in Smash History with pretty much 3 different outfits with multiple colours.

Oh and the boxing ring needs to come back for sure, it's such a fun stage and also great looking as an Omega stage

 

[Opossum]

Little Mac was my most wanted newcomer for Smash 4, and man was I hyped when he was announced. I co-main him with Marth and he's just such an enjoyable character.

I definitely think he's coming back, but I just hope his confirmation happens sooner rather than later, just for peace of mind.

 

[Morbi]

Little Mac was my most wanted newcomer for Smash 4, and man was I hyped when he was announced. I co-main him with Marth and he's just such an enjoyable character.

I definitely think he's coming back, but I just hope his confirmation happens sooner rather than later, just for peace of mind.

If Takamaru got in, I really want them to visit that East vs West idea and have Little Mac featured in his trailer. That would be sick.

 

[Runic_SSB]

I would it if Jolt Haymaker could cancel into his rising uppercut as an recovery option.

It'll also stop his side-b suicide from scrubs and miss inputs

Why not just give him a new, useful side b and turn Jolt Haymaker into his forward air?

 

[Guybrush20X6]

I'd tone down Little Mac's aerial problems down a tad or at least give him some better anti air options than UP-B and hope for the best.

 

[NintendoKnight]

I'd make a few changes to Mac:

1. Let his Neutral Special be a "Hold to charge, release to attack" move instead of a "press once to charge, press a second time to attack" move. Why does the move charge like DK's punch or Mewtwo's, Lucario's, and Samus' neutral b's yet you have to commit to it like Ganondorf and Captain Falcon? Makes no sense. This move could be good if you could use it immediately.

2. Double the aerial distance of his side b, like it was when Sm4sh 3DS was first released.

 

[Tollhouse]

I'm sure he'll return. I hope they adjust him a bit though. His lack of recovery and aerial moves really kills the fun in using him imo.

 

[AwesomeAussie27]

Mac is too good to cut. Let's be honest.

If anything, he needs some major buffs.

 

[CBO0tz]

Bringing him back with the pre-nerf Side B and a charge-storing Jolt Haymaker would be a great buff.

Making his Haymaker able to cancel into a rising uppercut would be an even greater buff.

Honestly though, for better recovery options, I'd be more than fine with letting them nerf Mac's overall power.

 

[DNeon]

Honestly I think being able to hold onto the KO punch at a significantly nerfed power would be excellent. Or maybe just have the power of it scale downwards the longer its held onto.

 

[Grizzexploder]

Strengthen his forward and back throws into finishers so he can do better against shields

 

[Pazzo.]

Let's see some support for the Champ, Little Mac!

Let's hope Sakurai reworks some of his toolset to the 1v1 Counter Puncher he deserves to be.

 

[Banjodorf]

Here to rep my boy Mac once again! There's really no reason for him to be cut, considering both Punch-Out's history and how unique and interesting he is. He also brings some much-needed Western flavor to the game.

Hoping for some buffs. Not being able to reliably combo moves into others as a boxer and being stuck with mostly heavy hits feels weird.

 

[Zodiacx10]

please make his grab good and combo into things. he's supposed to be really good on the ground right? so why does his his grab suck?

 

[NintendoKnight]

please make his grab good and combo into things. he's supposed to be really good on the ground right? so why does his his grab suck?

His grab sucks because he's a boxer. Boxers perform these grabs known as clinches. Clinches aren't known for their ability to cause major damage (because they don't), nor are they known for winning fights (which, outside of stalling for victory, they don't) and they aren't even encouraged all that much because it's a boxing match and the ref has to put a stop to it after a second or two. On a side note from this, clinches aren't even in Punch Out.

Mac doesn't need strong grabs (or a better recovery) as much as he needs more utility in unfavorable situations (such as being in the air, or facing a shielding opponent). If he could apply more shield pressure, he'd be a serious monster. And he doesn't need a better recovery as long as his aerials become more effective like Spinosaurus suggested. Once he has that, I'm certain he'll be golden.

 

[Zodiacx10]

His grab sucks because he's a boxer. Boxers perform these grabs known as clinches. Clinches aren't known for their ability to cause major damage (because they don't), nor are they known for winning fights (which, outside of stalling for victory, they don't) and they aren't even encouraged all that much because it's a boxing match and the ref has to put a stop to it after a second or two. On a side note from this, clinches aren't even in Punch Out.

Mac doesn't need strong grabs (or a better recovery) as much as he needs more utility in unfavorable situations (such as being in the air, or facing a shielding opponent). If he could apply more shield pressure, he'd be a serious monster. And he doesn't need a better recovery as long as his aerials become more effective like Spinosaurus suggested. Once he has that, I'm certain he'll be golden.

ya, more shield pressure would also work too.

 

[RustyRemains]

Breaking news everyone!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBM09wj8xwE&list=PLA1lIms2gwaB6ytzNm2IVd0JvnDXbLKTh&index=50
At 0:10 I noticed Little Mac doing an up-special out of his Jolt Haymaker, granted it was after he used it off of the ground but maybe he can do it in the air as well, which would be awesome for his recovery!

 

[DNeon]

You're missing the bigger deal which is apparently reversed neutral B while charging!

 

[Gimpyfish62]

don't defend bad mechanics and balance because of real life scenarios. Little mac's grabs could be great just by being punches after a clinch, a thing that also exists in real life.

not having a grab game and not being able to really pressure shields destroyed him in smash 4 (combined with his other very clear faults) and here's to hoping it isn't the same this time around.

Running tilts/jabs/smashes make a big difference off the bat, but I'm hoping for a decent throw.

 

[Caravan of Noobs]

Good job Little Mac. You've taken over the character discussion threads.

Spoiler

 

[Merfect]

Little Mac buffs combined with the universal changes have me super hyped. I was looking forward to playing as him when Smash 4 was coming out, but I was disappointed at the amount of grounded attack options out of a dash. Now we have like every option ever out of a dash and I love it

 

[RustyRemains]

Little Mac buffs combined with the universal changes have me super hyped. I was looking forward to playing as him when Smash 4 was coming out, but I was disappointed at the amount of grounded attack options out of a dash. Now we have like every option ever out of a dash and I love it

What exactly are some of the changes that seem to be there and what exactly are you talking about with out of dash options? I'm not too knowledgable on mechanics and whatnot so sorry if it's an obvious answer

 

[Merfect]

What exactly are some of the changes that seem to be there and what exactly are you talking about with out of dash options? I'm not too knowledgable on mechanics and whatnot so sorry if it's an obvious answer

It’s been demonstrated that we can now use our jab and tilt attacks during our running animation. We can even turn around and use them as seen in this video
https://youtu.be/lR9cGwyUypk
This combined with the fact that we can dash dance again gives us so many options with a fast, ground focused character like Little Mac. We can run at the opponent and immediately threaten them with any of our ground attacks, or we could dash dance to either fake out our approach or to retreat to bait and punish an option from the opponent. All of this combined with the fact that Haymaker doesn’t put him into free fall anymore gives Little Mac players a lot to be hyped for ^.^

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

It's sad knowing that Giga Mac is no longer playable, but I guess his ground game is considered too strong to let it last for 10+ seconds.

 

[Will]

The fact that Little Mac can reverse his lunge and won't die after doing a haymaker off the stage makes me happy. Now people can stop making For Glory memes about it.

 

[Gimpyfish62]

y'all realize the "buff" to mac's ground game (being able to jab/tilt/whatever out of dash) is just going to make people not want to be on the ground level with him even more than before right?

Without some sort of air pressure tool or approach option that way he's still gonna have MASSIVE problems.

Still really improved because of the side b buff even if there's nothing else, but there's big big holes in his general gameplan.

Either way, I'm gonna play him and I'm hype! Having KO punch is way scary when you can run -> dtilt on a whim hahaha

 

[Zodiacx10]

y'all realize the "buff" to mac's ground game (being able to jab/tilt/whatever out of dash) is just going to make people not want to be on the ground level with him even more than before right?

Without some sort of air pressure tool or approach option that way he's still gonna have MASSIVE problems.

Still really improved because of the side b buff even if there's nothing else, but there's big big holes in his general gameplan.

ya, this was my concern too.

 

[Will]

Any opinions for Mac's counter? It no longer sends you flying across the air, just the small distance given by the counterattack.

 

[vathekid]

A set distance for counter would definitely help in the long run of Mac buff's received already.
Not only do we already have a much better recovery mix up with jolt haymaker without free fall, a reversal charge punch, KO punch rising into the air for better reach as well, but even hearing word from other threads saying down throw has way much more combo potential lasting even up til 90% too!
Honestly im falling inlove with Mac baby all over again with this new installment.
The only thing worrying me would be the potential cut of most of his wire frame alts.
After all, i did main white gloved wire frame. Not much used wireframes in general, so i though i give em love. Tho hearing it may potentially cut to just 2 after the demo preview, i guess id have to weigh my options there.

 

[Will]

I'm pretty sure they're bumping the amount of alternate costumes in this game, because we have some alts. that were confirmed, but were never seen in the E3 build. Wireframe Mac is still in there, I reckon.

I just hope they don't restrict the amount of victory lines Doc gives you while using the Wireframe, that's a really really weird thing that I picked up on.

 

[vathekid]

Oh! You mean how the voice lines change depending on the alts? Yeah that was quite interesting to learn for sure!
And it is true some alts, like Meta Ridley, wasn't shown at E3 demo's, so here's to hoping my skin returns. Besides what we currently do know, the rise of the boxing champion is pretty strong for sure! Tho, even after all the info we were able to get, makes m wonder what these next 6 months have instore after what was shown to improve from thanks to the demo's.

 

[Deleted member]

Considering that Punch-Out might get more tracks, will we finally get those fighter-themed remixes from the Wii game?

 

[Will]

Considering that Punch-Out might get more tracks, will we finally get those fighter-themed remixes from the Wii game?

It depends on which ones they give them. If anything, I'd expect them to remix some of the Super-Punch Out songs.