Red Arremer
Smash Legend
So. Bowser is hardly played at all. And therefore, his boards are just as lively as a ghost town. I was thinking about what the reasons are that Bowser is very disliked among other players and how we could solve these problems to bring life into our very lonely character boards. Funny enough, the DK boards suffer a similar problem, but no other boards than the Bowser boards have less views, threads and postings.
Reason 1: Mid-Tier Position
Unlike in Melee, where Bowser was a Low-Tier and liked for that mere reason, Bowser is Mid-Tier in Brawl. Hand in hand with this comes something I will adress next. Now, Bowser is neither High nor Low Tier, but Mid Tier this time around. Mid Tier is huge in Brawl (almost as hueg liek an XBox), so that means he's not really noticed that much.
Generally you may have noticed that many Mid-Tier characters don't recieve as much attention than the Low- and High Tiers. I mean, the Ganondorf boards are far more active than we are. That's almost sad, if you ask me. What people don't realize, though, is that a mid-tier as secondary is not a bad idea, especially when they cover your character's worst matchup. Seeing how Bowser goes even with MK, he is one of the few characters who can prevail in a match vs. Meta Knight without being Meta Knight.
Bowser is without a doubt a good character, but very people don't realize his potential because they never faced a competent Bowser or never faced one at all.
Solution to Problem 1: Make Bowser's strengths and his even matchup with MK more public. People need to realize that Bowser is worth playing despite his many 40:60-MUs and despite the fact his big - which I will adress, as well...
Reason 2: No Famous Players
As dumb as it sounds, it's true. MK has Mew2King, Kirby has ChuDat, Diddy has NinjaLink. The list goes on. Bowser lost his most famous player, Gimpyfish, with the change from Melee to Brawl. Now left are Sliq and Vex - both without a doubt great and respected players - but unfortunately they aren't famous. And aren't as present on tournaments. The Bowser boards have noone who represents them and wins tournaments or at least places high regularly. We have no famous name, which is one of the reasons that the Smash community doesn't see Bowser's potential.
Solution to Problem 2: There is no real solution for this, other than that we try to get famous players interested in Bowser. I have no idea how that would work, but meh. The other thing is of course going to more tournament and placing regularly. I know easier said than done. <_<
Reason 3: Assumptions of Non-Bowser Players
"Bowser is heavy, so he lives long, but he is slow, fat and his recovery sucks. He's easy to beat."
As we all know, outside of the Bowser boards, this is the common opinion of people to the King of Koopas. One of the reasons for that is probably Melee Bowser's spirit still lingering around in the seasoned players' memories, and noone showing what Bowser really can do.
People also have to realize and see that Bowser is in fact neither slow nor that his recovery is bad. Many don't even know of the Klaw Hop or worse - the invincibility frames on the Fortress. It's sad that we have to say the same things over and over again because noone knows Bowser.
The fact Dedede has an infinite on us doesn't make it easier - maybe you may have noticed how the 5 characters suffering from that are among the least played except for Luigi.
Solution to Problem 3: I guess it's the same as the solution to Problem 1... We have to make people realize that Bowser isn't Bottom Tier and has even Match Ups with MK, and 40:60 ones with almost every other character.
So... overall, our problem is a circle of doom: We need more players representing him to fill out our lack of players. That's pretty bad. All we can do is advertise Bowser's even MU with MK and hope more people come into our boards... that's all.
I know this doesn't help at all, but I felt like putting down what I think our boards suffer from.
Reason 1: Mid-Tier Position
Unlike in Melee, where Bowser was a Low-Tier and liked for that mere reason, Bowser is Mid-Tier in Brawl. Hand in hand with this comes something I will adress next. Now, Bowser is neither High nor Low Tier, but Mid Tier this time around. Mid Tier is huge in Brawl (almost as hueg liek an XBox), so that means he's not really noticed that much.
Generally you may have noticed that many Mid-Tier characters don't recieve as much attention than the Low- and High Tiers. I mean, the Ganondorf boards are far more active than we are. That's almost sad, if you ask me. What people don't realize, though, is that a mid-tier as secondary is not a bad idea, especially when they cover your character's worst matchup. Seeing how Bowser goes even with MK, he is one of the few characters who can prevail in a match vs. Meta Knight without being Meta Knight.
Bowser is without a doubt a good character, but very people don't realize his potential because they never faced a competent Bowser or never faced one at all.
Solution to Problem 1: Make Bowser's strengths and his even matchup with MK more public. People need to realize that Bowser is worth playing despite his many 40:60-MUs and despite the fact his big - which I will adress, as well...
Reason 2: No Famous Players
As dumb as it sounds, it's true. MK has Mew2King, Kirby has ChuDat, Diddy has NinjaLink. The list goes on. Bowser lost his most famous player, Gimpyfish, with the change from Melee to Brawl. Now left are Sliq and Vex - both without a doubt great and respected players - but unfortunately they aren't famous. And aren't as present on tournaments. The Bowser boards have noone who represents them and wins tournaments or at least places high regularly. We have no famous name, which is one of the reasons that the Smash community doesn't see Bowser's potential.
Solution to Problem 2: There is no real solution for this, other than that we try to get famous players interested in Bowser. I have no idea how that would work, but meh. The other thing is of course going to more tournament and placing regularly. I know easier said than done. <_<
Reason 3: Assumptions of Non-Bowser Players
"Bowser is heavy, so he lives long, but he is slow, fat and his recovery sucks. He's easy to beat."
As we all know, outside of the Bowser boards, this is the common opinion of people to the King of Koopas. One of the reasons for that is probably Melee Bowser's spirit still lingering around in the seasoned players' memories, and noone showing what Bowser really can do.
People also have to realize and see that Bowser is in fact neither slow nor that his recovery is bad. Many don't even know of the Klaw Hop or worse - the invincibility frames on the Fortress. It's sad that we have to say the same things over and over again because noone knows Bowser.
The fact Dedede has an infinite on us doesn't make it easier - maybe you may have noticed how the 5 characters suffering from that are among the least played except for Luigi.
Solution to Problem 3: I guess it's the same as the solution to Problem 1... We have to make people realize that Bowser isn't Bottom Tier and has even Match Ups with MK, and 40:60 ones with almost every other character.
So... overall, our problem is a circle of doom: We need more players representing him to fill out our lack of players. That's pretty bad. All we can do is advertise Bowser's even MU with MK and hope more people come into our boards... that's all.
I know this doesn't help at all, but I felt like putting down what I think our boards suffer from.