Bowser's Keep - Bowser Video Archive

[Maister]

bowser has some pretty sick spike shenanigans: Stage or nah. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTjXUvoFTfw

 

[Jerodak]

I'm getting a friend of mine to upload some videos for me, nothing too special really, just some FG footage. Some of them have a bit of nonsense in them, but I guess that's kinda how I play. Overall, I think I performed quite terribly but there were some good moments too. It seems like I'm pretty good at recovering and avoiding a good deal of offstage shenanigans, and it seems I don't have much trouble racking up damage either but my punish game needs optimizing, I'm too buttonsy, too many dodges (both on the ground and in the air) and my spacing might need some work. Probably a little too grab-happy as well, if there's a moment where I do an inappropriate up b or aerial for the situation I'm in, it could be either a bad read or a mis-input. I have trouble being precise on the 3ds when it comes to left/right vs up/down so sometimes I'll do an up b when i'm trying to side b and so on. There are probably a load of other mistakes that I haven't mentioned, feel free to point those out. Or, if you feel so inclined, I also wouldn't mind if anyone felt the need to elaborate further on any of the mistakes I've already mentioned.

I'll edit the links into this post once they're up, just wanted to type all this out while I still had access to a computer.

EDIT: Watch me Jero it up on some for glory!
https://youtu.be/Y59N3Ikx0B8
https://youtu.be/4l4tZJpH6dA
https://youtu.be/zj5pRFU2ldo
https://youtu.be/5MpBvjYN1VA
https://youtu.be/zLImTud0VZw
https://youtu.be/JRj8hQcKZD8

Enjoy

 

[Corgian]

Dude, all of those videos are from a tournament in May.

Shoutouts to VGBC to uploading tournament matches 3 months after they happen. It's my fault too for not reading the description, but god damn.

 

[S_B]

Alright Bowser finally won a tournament! It was a low tier tournament, but you know we take those. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9CfYBeXmAc

Looks like many of us have been playing Bowser incorrectly. You only need two moves to win:

• Klaw
• Bair

(kappa)

But...But...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L4BFIv6F0I&feature=youtu.be

Greward was winning tournaments with Bowser BEFORE it was cool...

 

[Jerodak]

Big deal, I've losing FG matches before it was cool.

 

[Calm_Animal]

What's up chat!! CalmAnimal here! i'm in need of help so if yall can give me some feedback on some matches pls. it would be great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyQI9IuC454
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjG_NcVvIPk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5m1fFK6L5k

 

[EarthenPillar]

Thanks for sharing Calm Animal! Always a pleasure to watch your plays.

https://youtu.be/g5m1fFK6L5k?t=118


look at what happens between 2:00-2:02 timeframe. Luigi's collision box swaps from bowser's right to left

it also happens occasionally for bowser's bair/ftilt and when people roll/perfect pivot into bowser.

 

[a stray cat]

What's up chat!! CalmAnimal here! i'm in need of help so if yall can give me some feedback on some matches pls. it would be great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyQI9IuC454
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjG_NcVvIPk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5m1fFK6L5k

I noticed you never use grounded Bowser Bomb to punish laggy attacks. It's an 11-frame killing punish with fairly decent range! Against Gibbus game 3 you could have closed out his stocks both times you dash-grabbed his recovery-on-the-stage lag with Bowser Bombs instead.

You do a lot of landing Flying Slam grabs which is awesome, but you never try to Bowsercide with it, does Bowser not win Bowsercides in your region? Also, you don't punish shielding on platforms with Flying Slam; there were some missed opportunities in your game vs Ally.

Against Denti, there were several times you grabbed him but then threw him towards the stage. Luigi's biggest weakness is his predictable and punishable recovery -- it's almost always a side-b to (tornado then) up-b. Fairing the end-lag of the side-b will outright kill at higher percents, and can gimp at lower percents. You do have to be ready to tech on a missfire though. If they go really low and have to tornado to get back, the end-lag on tornado is fairly long and punishable -- just be sure to shield the end of it if he rises above the ledge. You also got several jab confirms then rolled -- were those just botched dash grabs? If so, are you using a button to grab, or shield+attack? I used to flub a lot of dash grabs as rolls until I switched to using a button for grab (as a bonus matchups where items come into play got easier as well).

Good stuff though; I'm definitely going to practice that landing side-b.

 

[Big Sean]

What's up chat!! CalmAnimal here! i'm in need of help so if yall can give me some feedback on some matches pls. it would be great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyQI9IuC454
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjG_NcVvIPk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5m1fFK6L5k

Game 1:

1:37 - you rolled away when you you had a bowser bomb punish. My guess as to what happened here was that you went for fortress OOS but because you were in shield stun it flubbed into this. Fortress OOS of shield is good but when you had a guaranteed 24% punish and threw it away it becomes one more reason not to use that move on reaction.

1:42 - here you landed with the klaw and your opponent intelligently didn't take the bait. Still I think there was opportunity here for more than an empty hop towards Gibus. A fair or another side b might have been a way to get back stage control.

2:07 - the option here to wait till he grabbed the ledge then fortress was genius. Because of his high percentage his invulnerability would have run out almost immediately so he needed to get up. Because you were at rage it was a guaranteed kill. If these two things weren't true though I would have gone for the dashing trump to bair.

2:15 - while getting off the ledge you committed to a YOLO bair. This means that you will have to suffer the full non-autocancelled lag. The risk/reward here doesn't make sense. If you get the hit you get 19%. The problem is that since they are at 0% they might have enough frame advantage to hit you anyway. If you whiff at that high of percentage, the likelihood of you dying is super high. I think the better move here would have been going for a Klaw. That way you get absolutely no end lag on landing, and you punish for 18% and possibly a bowsercide closing out the match.

2:33 - I think you know you messed up when you didn't the follow up to the dtilt . I would have personally gone for a bowser bomb, but I think an almost guaranteed punish would have been fortress. I think what you were doing was like a "safety approach" where you fingers instinctually end dashes with shield. Another thing you might have been trying to go for was to shield, reading a get up attack and punish with up smash OOS. That's fine, especially considering you got the the get up attack read. but there's definitely no reason to drop your shield in that situation. If they roll behind you or do a straight get up, you get a free fortess OOS. If they attack you get up smash OOS. If they roll away you drop shield and take stage control.

2:37 - I notice that space a lot with jab 1 -> pivot something. This is generally fine and safe and awesome, but what you are trying to bait with that is your opponent going for some option between jab 1 and jab 2, which gibus never showed you he would do. In fact he always shielded. The problem with jab 1 to pivot is that you give up stage control for almost no reason. In that situation you had a guaranteed 6 % with jab 2 and enough knockback that he might have gone off stage. Instead what you traded for it was lost stage control. The risk reward here wasn't too great either because the best situation would have been you got an ftilt which is 7% more than jab 2, and probably not enough knockback to push Gibus offstage. Jab 2, dash grab, dash klaw, even bowser bomb were probably better here than pivot ftilt.

3:44 - This was a heartbreaker. This was a game winning moment because you had a guaranteed bowser bomb but just like at 1:42 you likely chose to do a up + b OOS but forgot about the endlag causing you to roll. I think the bowser bomb would have clinched it here because of rage

Game 2

5:05 - this whole sequence is just immaculate reminder of why we play Bowser :D

5:52 - You got lucky that he dropped shield and you got the fair. If you were thinking that he might drop and that fair will cover many options then it was the correct move. If you thought he was going to stay on top of the platform, I think the correct thing would have been klaw, possibly bowserciding for the win.

5:56 - When someone is that high up on your shield when they hit you, you should try experimenting with up smash OOS instead of fortress.

6:00 - Again on platforms, klaw is what you want to go for. In this particular case I think maybe you were hoping to out prioritize a jumping fair or something, in which case up air is acceptable.

6:03 - You were a stock ahead, had only 10% above gibus and were offstage. Even if he had enough control to go back on stage he probably couldn't go that deep unless you were also going towards the center. You have to at least TRY to bowsercide

6:31 - He's at really high percentage which means invincibility is almost gone. A dashing fortress, while not killing should be almost guaranteed.



I'll do more later. Good games though, super inspiring stuff!

 

[Hitman JT]

What's up chat!! CalmAnimal here! i'm in need of help so if yall can give me some feedback on some matches pls. it would be great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyQI9IuC454
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjG_NcVvIPk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5m1fFK6L5k

Don't jab Luigi's fireballs...the lag from the clank just gives him an opening for a free grab
You're better off powershielding them until he commits to an approach

 

[Calm_Animal]

thx you guys the advice helped alot, and showed me alot big habit, and yea i should bowsercide more, if i have the chance, and yea i do need to get my punish alot better, rewatching my matches, show me that.

 

[Big Sean]

Don't jab Luigi's fireballs...the lag from the clank just gives him an opening for a free grab
You're better off powershielding them until he commits to an approach

To add to that, definitely abuse tough guy while you can against luigi. My number one move vs. a luigi is dash -> tough guy fireball -> bowser bomb. In fact until you get to 40% this works on reaction. If you dash and they don't fireball, just shield. Once you've shut down their one safe move, the neutral becomes a lot easier.

 

[Cassius.]

I would go *really* in depth with the videos because there are things that haven't been addressed yet, but I won't have the time this weekend since I have to get ready for college again.

These are the two most important things I think you need to know, and work on:

You (double) jump way too much, and you aren't relying on reactionary play enough (I'm referring to situations where you have the opponent on the ledge or in the corner).

Almost every pivot forward tilt you did could have been a pivot grab instead and would have been a more serviceable option, and honestly that's what I was assuming those forward tilts were...just messed up pivot grabs, because in half of the instances where you did FTilts, a pivot grab would've gotten you a throw. So in essence, I am suggesting that you pivot grab (a lot) more. But let me get back to those two points.

You really should not leave the ground unless you have a really good reason to do so, or if it's out of your control, i.e., you've been hit. Unfortunately, we aren't playing Brawl anymore where Bowser pretty much always had to be airborne to exploit Klaw. Believe me, if I could make it so that it was disjointed again, I would. But double jumping randomly and giving up stage presence isn't the way to go.

When your opponent is on the ledge, you have to do your best to either react to the option they choose, or alternatively cover as many options as possible. Bowser doesn't have a foolproof option like Sheik's retreating NAir that covers everything at the cost of nothing, so we have to get a little more creative.

It doesn't do you a lot of service waiting and attempting to guess at what option they're going to pick, and committing hard to smash attacks can have heavy consequences if you make an incorrect guess. If you stand about half of a Bowser away from the ledge, you'll be in prime position to cover any option chosen (if your reaction time is good), and be in position to punish any defensive option they make after the ledge option is chosen as well. You don't have to punish your opponent immediately after they get off of the ledge, either. A lot of players tend to sit on a defensive option after using a normal getup off of the ledge, so waiting and picking them off for that is something to consider as well.

Pay close attention to your opponent's habits, especially what they choose while in a pressure or disadvantaged situation. Even something insignificant can be re-created again to close out a stock.

 

[S_B]

thx you guys the advice helped alot, and showed me alot big habit, and yea i should bowsercide more, if i have the chance, and yea i do need to get my punish alot better, rewatching my matches, show me that.

Be careful about doing this on characters that have great recoveries (like Lucario with high aura). If you're on a stage where Bowser dies first, the opponent pops out and can recover.

The spoiler in the first post here lists all of the stages where Bowser dies first vs. both players dying at the same time:
http://smashboards.com/threads/bowser-and-the-suicide-clause.392566/

Nothing to really add that others haven't already mentioned: grounded bomb against laggier move endgings, beware Lucario's command grab because it's obscenely powerful, etc.

 

[Big Sean]

Be careful about doing this on characters that have great recoveries (like Lucario with high aura). If you're on a stage where Bowser dies first, the opponent pops out and can recover.

The spoiler in the first post here lists all of the stages where Bowser dies first vs. both players dying at the same time:
http://smashboards.com/threads/bowser-and-the-suicide-clause.392566/.

Much of this doesn't matter depending on your region. In all of California right now, even if lucario makes it back to the stage, Bowser wins as long as it's the last stock.

 

[MagiusNecros]

Don't jump unless you have to. Use Fire Breath more FFS if only because it is a great opener and generally a give me space move. Also if you must go for the Jab 1 Bowser Bomb make sure Jab hits them first. That was a mistake you made against Luigi.

And if they shield go right for the Flying Slam.

Stay on the ground and don't chase characters that have a better air game then you do. That's everyone BTW. You are a turtle thing and they live on the ground and you should too.

 

[S_B]

Much of this doesn't matter depending on your region. In all of California right now, even if lucario makes it back to the stage, Bowser wins as long as it's the last stock.

Oh? I was under the impression that most tournaments were going with "the game screen decides". That's good news...

How do they handle it if Bowser dies first when both players have 2 stocks? Do they force the other player to SD?

 

[Big Sean]

@ S_B No the game just keeps going. If lucario makes it back to the stage then Bowser is just down a stock. The rule only applies if both players are at 1 stock.

 

[Hitman JT]

@ S_B No the game just keeps going. If lucario makes it back to the stage then Bowser is just down a stock. The rule only applies if both players are at 1 stock.

That's why I can't really get behind this rule. Making arbitrary rules to counter arbitrary game mechanics just makes everything an even bigger mess than it already is. I don't want to see another incident like Zigsta's Apex screwjob.

 

[MagiusNecros]

That's why I can't really get behind this rule. Making arbitrary rules to counter arbitrary game mechanics just makes everything an even bigger mess than it already is. I don't want to see another incident like Zigsta's Apex screwjob.

Well in that scenario they ****ed Zig over and opposing player mocked and laughed at him. Very dishonorable.

 

[Jerodak]

To add to that, definitely abuse tough guy while you can against luigi. My number one move vs. a luigi is dash -> tough guy fireball -> bowser bomb. In fact until you get to 40% this works on reaction. If you dash and they don't fireball, just shield. Once you've shut down their one safe move, the neutral becomes a lot easier.

Don't forget that just past 40 you can still crouch armor the fireballs as a mix-up. Use it to sneak in a surprise hitcheck.

@ Hitman JT I actually kinda agree with you, I'd rather the bug just get fixed so it'll stop being a problem, Bowser even has a guaranteed bowsercide set-up that ignores percent differences, but it only works near the ledge. It'd be nice to get more chances to use it.

@ Calm_Animal to supplement what @ Cassius. said about the ledge, here are some ledge option covers that you may want to consider. All of these have their own strengths and weaknesses so pick wisely based on the situation.

Run/walk up-> retreating F-air: Can catch jumping and rolling depending on your timing and can sometimes bait ledge attacks. Make sure to properly fast fall for maximum safety.


Run/walk up -> retreating Fortress: covers everything short of ledge drops and waiting. Retreating not only ensures you catch the roll if they go for that, it also helps to launch them back offstage. If you notice they like to wait do a ledge trump instead, both options work well in tandem because they each cover the options that beat the other, so you can sorta impose a 50/50 each time they ledge grab.

Space firebreath: fairly safe, will beat everything except waiting with good spacing and full fire. Low risk but low reward too.

Jab: This is a personal favorite but can be hard to use because it relies on anticipating when they decide to get up except on some characters that can be jabbed right off the ledge. (zard, yoshi, pikachu, ect) this is good for catching people off guard into surprise gimps or dtilt k.os it's also pretty safe as long as you didn't time it improperly.

Dsmash: spacing this properly is basically the same as the fortress option except riskier and it can K.O sooner if they fly the right way. Careful with this one.

Upsmash: Similar to dsmash but less coverage because it has less horizontal range. You'll either give up ledge jumps or rolls usually.

Fsmash: super risky but it covers a surprising number of options if spaced well. It can catch rolls, standing up, and ledge attacks. Rolls will likely be hit by the 20% back hit and fly to the other end of the stage, stand ups get hit by the 17% hit and attacks should get hit by the sweetspot. Super satisfying when it works, and will certainly k.o pretty well, even with the sourspot. You can move a bit closer to also hit them off the ledge if they like to wait but you give up the roll punish and it's even more risky that way.

Hope these help you out! Well anyone really. Let me know if you have questions.

 

[MagiusNecros]

Don't forget that just past 40 you can still crouch armor the fireballs as a mix-up. Use it to sneak in a surprise hitcheck.

@ Hitman JT I actually kinda agree with you, I'd rather the bug just get fixed so it'll stop being a problem, Bowser even has a guaranteed bowsercide set-up that ignores percent differences, but it only works near the ledge. It'd be nice to get more chances to use it.

Teach me Koopa.

 

[Jerodak]

@ MagiusNecros well it only works if your opponent is hanging on the ledge too long or if they are using a ledge attack or stand up from the ledge. It might work on ledge jumps too because the I frames on ledge jumps are so brief.

What you do is short hop forward, going offstage. Then reverse klaw when Bowser is about chest level with the the ledge. Because you are still falling during the long start-up of the flip, because of the new grab animation, by the time you start rising back up, you should be too low to clear the ledge. So even if you put the controller down, and you opponent D.Is properly, it's impossible to land on the stage, so it's out of their hands.

So when you have a stock lead, this could be the best way to end the stock on your own terms. They just need to fix the bug that lets the opponent break out for no reason and this could be usable on the entire cast.

Also @ Cassius. can probably vouch for this working if he can remember. I managed to pull it off in one of the games we played on his stream. You may even be able to see it if he still has the footage. Of course it was post-bug so he got the win screen since we were both last stock.

 

[G-Guy]

Hey Guys!
I loooove Bowser. He's the Drago to my Lucas.
I hope that you guys can help me improve my playstyle a little bit :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CzBCY0cycE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1_vzL3BCsg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoxBOp4zAec
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R04p5Ct15Q0 (for the lulz)

I hope i am not too terrible... ^_^

 

[ksizl4life]

Hey all, ksizzle of VitaminZK here. We have a video series detailing a breakdown on the latest patch and we recently released a video for various characters including Bowser. Hope you enjoy!

 

[Volkrion]

So here's my Losers Semifnals set against the best Diddy Kong in my region, Felix at a tourney I went to this Monday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puKC9QxleHI

Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome! Looking back at the video, I feel if I can just get rid of a few habits I have under pressure (like down airing at tense high pressure moments in hopes of clutching out that kill and also getting execution of some things down better), I'd have a better chance of defeating the top players(except Cacogen) in my region in tourney sets. I just gotta keep at it though!

 

[lancepantss]

BotanicSage Vs. Milk Steak

 

[LordMix]

well..hi there

 

[Zigsta]

well..hi there

This goes to everyone: Please keep this thread for either posting videos or critiquing videos. Anything else will be treated as spam.

I won't be giving out any more warnings from now on.

 

[Knee Smasher]

Here is a video in which I showcase the art of the Fire Breath:

 

[Cronoc]

So here's my Losers Semifnals set against the best Diddy Kong in my region, Felix at a tourney I went to this Monday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puKC9QxleHI

Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome! Looking back at the video, I feel if I can just get rid of a few habits I have under pressure (like down airing at tense high pressure moments in hopes of clutching out that kill and also getting execution of some things down better), I'd have a better chance of defeating the top players(except Cacogen) in my region in tourney sets. I just gotta keep at it though!

I have trouble with a banana-heavy Diddy myself so I won't pretend to say I'd have done better or give you moment to moment critiques. But I'll say I noticed you jumping more than you needed to, and the Diddy took advantage. Now, jumping to avoid the result of getting hit on the ground by the banana is ok in itself, but at times you jumped when there was no banana in play, and it only served to give yourself a frame disadvantage against a character that already has much better frame data than Bowser. I'm going to contradict myself now and say at 3:01 or so in the video is an example of this. Diddy is way too close for you to spend 8 frames in Bowser's jumpsquat, empty hopping and throwing out a klaw. I get what you were going for there, and in that moment you were recovering from an accidentally reversed flame breath which I completely sympathize with, but there's a good number of similar moments in the first match. When a character has such good frame data, IMO Bowser can't afford to go airborne against them at that range, especially if not immediately throwing an autocancel-able attack.

In my experience air approaches get less and less mileage the better my opponent is, and air approach klaw is easily beaten by any hitbox (see 0:55). It might be better to play a more ground based game that is more centered around shielding/dodging/clanking the banana and punishing with ground attacks, but that's just my speculation. One last thing, personally against good players I've hit usmash on the Smashville platform against them so rarely I don't know if it's worth bothering with anymore. They can often run off the platform and punish in the endlag of usmash anyway. Utilt has the better coverage and using it twice can catch an opponent that thought they were out of danger after the first. Short hop nair is also pretty safe and often catches people letting go of shield too early.

Keep it up, we need more tourney Bowsers!

 

[Zigsta]

So here's my Losers Semifnals set against the best Diddy Kong in my region, Felix at a tourney I went to this Monday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puKC9QxleHI

Comments and constructive criticism are always welcome! Looking back at the video, I feel if I can just get rid of a few habits I have under pressure (like down airing at tense high pressure moments in hopes of clutching out that kill and also getting execution of some things down better), I'd have a better chance of defeating the top players(except Cacogen) in my region in tourney sets. I just gotta keep at it though!

You had a bad habit of wasting your double jump when you were already high in the air. If Diddy's on the ground, he's not gonna be wasting his double jump to come get you. Save your double jump for when you're a bit closer to the ground so you can land safely. When you waste your double jump, you take away an important landing tool that makes it easier for your opponent to read and punish you.

You also went for way too much short hop Klaw. You should pivot grab more in this MU, especially when the Diddy is side B happy--and a lot of Diddies are when they face a large character like Bowser, especially if you show you're shield happy. With proper timing, our pivot grab beats Diddy's side B.

You also gave up ledge control way too easily. At times you would do a retreating fair when Felix was on the ledge. That's a totally useless option, unless your goal is for your opponent to get back to the stage freely while you land. I usually like to stand by the ledge so I'm within dtilt range. It makes people respect the dtilt, and then it's all about reading and reacting to their ledge options. If they just getup, you get a free Fortress. If they getup attack, you can sometimes shield and fsmash (and Fortress is safer if you are unsure). A ledgehop can be swatted away with fair, bair, or dair, depending on positioning. If you think they're gonna roll, you can always run and pivot grab their roll. Overall you just NEED to stay close to the ledge to at least put some semblance of pressure on your opponent. You can't be so afraid of Diddy side B-ing you when he gets back to the stage (in which case you can just pivot grab him!).

Firebreath makes bananas disappear, but I'd still use it sparingly so you don't get punished for it. Keep it to short bursts.

You need to use jab cancel mixups more. Try going for jab>grab and see how your opponent reacts. If they start spotdodging after jab 1, then you've conditioned them to be fsmash'd or Bowser Bomb'd. Just go for different stuff after jab 1 more often since we get a nice frame advantage on hit.

I also wouldn't take Diddy to Smashville. I'd totally ban it. The stage is too linear and flat, and the platform helps Diddy far more than it helps Bowser. I'd legitimately BAN this stage against Diddy, especially a high level Diddy like Felix.

At the end of the day, though, Felix is a strong player and has been since Brawl. There's no shame in losing to him! Use this video as a way to learn how to improve--and best of luck next time. Hope this helps.

 

[Big Sean]

Its' been a while since i've done one of these but I could use some tips before paragon:

vs. Shulk http://www.twitch.tv/themadeoakland/v/13513790?t=1h14m48s
vs. Robin http://www.twitch.tv/themadeoakland/v/13513790?t=1h45m05s
vs. Ness/Diddy http://www.twitch.tv/themadeoakland/v/13513790?t=2h26m41s
vs. Shulk http://www.twitch.tv/showdownsmash/v/14325719?t=1h12m18s

I realize i've been playing too aggressive lately and have too many hard reads, but I think it's a bit too late to change all that before paragon :/ Still I'm sure you're tips will be useful post paragon too!

 

[S_B]

Its' been a while since i've done one of these but I could use some tips before paragon:

vs. Shulk http://www.twitch.tv/themadeoakland/v/13513790?t=1h14m48s
vs. Robin http://www.twitch.tv/themadeoakland/v/13513790?t=1h45m05s
vs. Ness/Diddy http://www.twitch.tv/themadeoakland/v/13513790?t=2h26m41s
vs. Shulk http://www.twitch.tv/showdownsmash/v/14325719?t=1h12m18s

I realize i've been playing too aggressive lately and have too many hard reads, but I think it's a bit too late to change all that before paragon :/ Still I'm sure you're tips will be useful post paragon too!

LOVED your Bair on Diddy at the end there, and that Ness was HOLY CRAP.

But you gave me an idea while watching the Diddy match...

There's an advanced tech on the Diddy forums called Z-drop aerials. Basically, you Z drop the banana immediately before doing an aerial and you'll regrab it.

Here's the thing: Bowser can definitely do this as well, meaning he has full access to all of his aerials while keeping Diddy's banana away from him. Yes, Bowser's groundplay is severely hampered while he's holding the banana (as is everyone's), but Bowser still has a number of B-options even while grounded, ESPECIALLY a command grab that can punish a spot-dodged attack from Diddy.

The banana NEVER actually vanishes when you're holding it, and the real point here is not to hold onto Diddy's banana for the remainder of the match, but to make Diddy REALLY have to guess as to when you're going to throw it at him. As it stands, you can see that the Diddy in that match pretty much expected that, as soon as you got the banana peel, you were going to throw it moments later (though he still got hit, heh).

Use fortress OoS to punish shielded attacks, klaw to do the same, and maybe even bomb if you can land it and you could hypothetically go a decent amount of time without letting Diddy have his banana back.

I'm not sure on this, but I BELIEVE that Bowser's large size might also make it easier for him to aerial z catch the banana because he should have a larger range in which to do that (confirmation here would be great).

I'll have to test the viability of this the next time I fight a Diddy, but at the very least, you should be able to make the Diddy extremely unsure of when you're going to hit him with that banana...

I made a quick video of how easy it is for Bowser to z aerial regrab:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_dfNRZecdU

You have to watch your lateral movement when doing it, as moving too far to the left or right between z dropping and executing the aerial will miss the banana, but it should still be possible.

 

[Cronoc]

Its' been a while since i've done one of these but I could use some tips before paragon:

vs. Shulk http://www.twitch.tv/themadeoakland/v/13513790?t=1h14m48s
vs. Robin http://www.twitch.tv/themadeoakland/v/13513790?t=1h45m05s
vs. Ness/Diddy http://www.twitch.tv/themadeoakland/v/13513790?t=2h26m41s
vs. Shulk http://www.twitch.tv/showdownsmash/v/14325719?t=1h12m18s

I realize i've been playing too aggressive lately and have too many hard reads, but I think it's a bit too late to change all that before paragon :/ Still I'm sure you're tips will be useful post paragon too!

I love playing aggro myself, which you used against me way back the last time I went to the foundry. You bopped me with a lot of pivot grabs as I did my aggressive approaches and during attempts to dash slash from the ledge. It's fun to play aggressive, but when you meet defensive play you will lose, as I found when I played you back in... May? April? Our matches certainly got me practicing my pivot grabs afterwards... Nowadays I still play aggressive, but that aggression goes into keeping an uncomfortable but respectful distance between myself and my opponent.

Just some quick comments (edit: ok not as quick as I thought):

vs Shulk: you were aggro during the shield monados and I think that's why you lost the first match. The Shulk used shield in neutral and buster/smash once he had you cornered on the ledge. Shulk moves really slowly during the shield monado, you can easily run out the clock by making him chase you across the stage, forcing him to approach (especially in shield he has no good approaches). Once he's at kill percent, there's no need to stack up more percent and stale your kill moves trying to kill him during shield monado. As soon as he's out of it, he's done - as long as he doesn't corner you in the meantime. But more than running out the clock, Shulk simply has no good way to get in on Bowser. He loses the grab game, his nair approach sucks... he has no projectile either, he has to come to you. Because of his toolset vs ours I consider this a classic defensive matchup, and Shulk loses every approach.

vs Robin: yow, 0-death in the first match. Robin is an unfortunate character to try spotdodging attacks with since so many of them are multihit - arcfire is almost impossible to spotdodge as Bowser (though I saw you did it once, grats!) and most Robins have an arcfire habit. I like the klaw from the ledge, but a roll to mix it up might help. Actually, I feel like you weren't giving Robin enough respect in the matches, you were too close all the time. Robin has that ridiculous jab combo and close range arcfire guarantees you're eating a smash or aerial with it. I hate to say it, but Robin is such a defensive character that you have to choose your spots to be aggressive. Personally, what I'd consider the appropriate "respect" range for Robin is at about on the edge of where arcfire would land if Robin uses it - close enough that if they use arcfire you can SHADC into klaw or bomb to punish their endlag. Regarding the ledge - it seems like you very rarely jumped from the ledge. Against a low mobility character like Robin, jumping towards the stage will at least reset the neutral if they don't read it with an aerial. Sometimes resetting the neutral is the best thing to do, rather than high risk medium reward ledge attacks.

vs Ness: All I can say is he maximized his advantage here every time, you looked pretty impatient to get a hit in and took more damage for it. High risk approaches are extra high risk against a Ness, given what he can do once Bowser is at a disadvantage. Better to get on the ground and reset the neutral. I saw you DI'd the dthrows pretty well so he couldn't fair string you, but he adapted with uair afterwards. I've had this happen to me too, but I'm wondering if it's possible to jump before the uair. Maybe not, I can't test this by myself. If not, maybe the answer is to mix up DI back and forth... It's a frustrating matchup, to be sure. I always misjudge how many hits there are in his fair and dash attack. Not going to say much on Diddy.

I made a quick video of how easy it is for Bowser to z aerial regrab:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_dfNRZecdU

You have to watch your lateral movement when doing it, as moving too far to the left or right between z dropping and executing the aerial will miss the banana, but it should still be possible.

The question is if Bowser can do that with full forward or backward aerial momentum.

 

[UltimaLuminaire]

@ Big Sean
A lot of it seems to be MU experience and errors in execution. So I'm going to avoid nit picking everything since I know that you'll overcome those issues, no problem.

The biggest issue I see is that once your opponent starts to mix up their follow-ups, you stop mixing up your response. Great example is after you get hit or thrown, you started to air dodge like crazy. Your opponents picked up on that eventually, but you still kept at it and it cost you 1 or 2 games.

Other than that is your use of fire. You tend to try and leap into your opponent to use it. IMO, fire is best used to play keep away, lightly scald someone for trying to play keep away, or as an aerial b reverse mix-up. Most of the time you tried to use it, your opponent was already moving into a better position to screw up your fire spacing. Luckily, they never super punished you, so that's their fault haha.

 

[S_B]

The question is if Bowser can do that with full forward or backward aerial momentum.

The short answer is yes, you CAN do this, but it requires very precise timing as you need to return the stick to neutral for a split second in order to perform the Z-drop before resuming your momentum.

Also, while it's possible to do this with smaller characters with decent aerial speed (like Kirby), it felt a LOT easier to do it with Bowser, so maybe Bowser's size is finally an advantage for a change.

It makes sense: the area around a character in which you could press A to grab a projectile would logically have to be larger for a character that's larger and smaller for a smaller character. Otherwise, small characters would be able to press A and it would appear they're grabbing a projectile that hasn't actually gotten near them yet and large characters would have a VERY hard time grabbing projectiles from the air.

Again, I could be wrong here, but it seems like that would logically be how projectile catching would need to happen...

I should also add that this is perfectly doable against ROB with his gyro as well.

 

[MagiusNecros]

Here is a video in which I showcase the art of the Fire Breath:

Decided to watch this and I am screaming internally right now.

 

[Knee Smasher]

Why, MagiusNecros?

 

[MagiusNecros]

Still trying to figure out what I watched.