Social Bubble Man's Jacuzzi (Mega Man Social Thread)

[Knight Dude]

Serious talk, I've seen some weird *** interesting use of Hyper Bomb and we all know how versatile Metal Blade is, but what do people really feel about Shadow Blade? And I'm talking more than just ideas and preference, what does it really provide, and why has no one been using it? I personally stick with the Metal Blade, but I'm more than curious to see videos of people doing interesting things with Shadow Blade. Are people just avoiding it because it lacks potential?

I'm guessing so. I can't find much of a use for it. Unless you can throw one and then pull off a Slide Kick or Top Spin. Otherwise, Bombs and Metal Blades have more apparent uses. But I'm sure someone will find some good tech for it at some point.

I'd like to see someone make use of the Ice Slasher myself. I've seen some cool stuff with Danger Wrap and Crash Bomber. But Ice Slasher is mostly a standard projectile it seems.

 

[Crescent_Sun]

I used a combination of Hyper Bomb and Ice Slasher once, it makes for very easy and effective alternating side b / b zoning, but it's difficult to take advantage of the freeze to lead into combos. Funnily enough, I'd see Ice Slasher making a great partner to Crash Bomber, but it isn't meant to be. If you don't like the weirdness of Crash Bomber, and you don't like Danger Wraps trajectory, Ice Slasher can be a good choice. I don't think it makes a good partner to anything but Hyper Bomb though, but that's preference.

 

[Fenrir VII]

Shadow blade essentially removes a long range option, adds ANOTHER midrange option, and just changes your game.

The interesting thing about shadow blade is that it can't be caught, and it boomerangs. so I really could see it being a nightmare against some characters who would literally not be able to do anything against it.

The obvious downsides are A) if it hits the ground it disappears, B) you can't catch it, so you can't do any Z-drop shenanigans (which to be fair can net you kills... a lot..., and C) you lose a long range tool that controls space while edgeguarding .


I mean honestly, I think it's just a tradeoff. I definitely think Shadow Blade has potential. I just think it'll come down to matchups and preferences. For example, I could definitely see using Shadow Blade against Rosalina, as it truly makes her Down B nothing but a shield for her (instead of giving her the item), but I'd never use it against somebody that I NEED the metal blade confirms into utilt or dair (CF comes to mind). I need to test it more honestly... I think now that we may have overlooked it.

 

[Crescent_Sun]

Yeah. I might try it out and see how it goes, but I might have just been waiting for someone with a higher skill level to use it and post videos of it to prove it to me, but all the shiny ATs with Metal Blade make Shadow Blade easy to ignore. That and Danger Wrap helps add another kill and anti air move.

 

[Fenrir VII]

I actually really don't like Danger Wrap. It's nothing to do with the move itself, but I REALLY like crash bomb, so that's hard to give up.

Going to try DW again with an open mind but I love my crash bombs. Ice Slasher seems too slow to really be useful for anything that the others aren't. The piercing properties just aren't enough to sway me.

 

[meleebrawler]

To me it seems that Shadow Blade is best used against rushdown.

The boomerang effect makes people very uneasy when thrown near
them and it'll be very difficult for them to get a good punish while reacting to it.

The fact that it can't be caught is also a plus in the sense that
you won't lose your projectile to a dash attack.

 

[Tornado_Man]

I am curious about one thing. Does the Shadow Blade go through smaller projectiles or just disappear like MB?

 

[meleebrawler]

I am curious about one thing. Does the Shadow Blade go through smaller projectiles or just disappear like MB?

Not sure, but at the ranges you'll probably be using SB,
you probably won't be running into many projectiles.

 

[Greward]

I just feel that metal blade is too freakingly good to give up. Shadow Blade is pretty good, but MB is just insane. MB is useful in every situation, extremely versatile and a good setup for mostly anything, you can even link it to kill moves, use it to gimp, to land, to camp, to approach (MB to dash grab or dash attack is legit too).
SB is annoying and can also be used as a setup for some moves, but i just feel the lack of metal blade hurts Mega Man too much.

 

[Fenrir VII]

Shadow blade combos directly into utilt on the boomerang... So that's something

 

[Yink]

Out of curiosity, is anyone going to a Gamestop event tomorrow for the Wii U version? I'm going to go myself...was wondering if anyone wanted me to try anything out while I'm there?

 

[Egregore]

Out of curiosity, is anyone going to a Gamestop event tomorrow for the Wii U version? I'm going to go myself...was wondering if anyone wanted me to try anything out while I'm there?

Test Rush Cancel, leaf shield spawn time, and grab pummel speed / damage, please!

 

[meleebrawler]

So I've got three custom sets up right now, and they use all the moves
Megaman has to offer. Synergy is what I look for when making movesets.
I'll be posting one of these sets at a time to discuss them before
moving on to the next.

1. The Air Man
B: Metal Blade
>B: Danger Wrap
^B: Tornado Hold
vB: Leaf Shield

This set has a focus on attacking your opponents from above
to get them and keep them there. You'll be seeing a lot more Star KOs with this.

Metal Blade gives you a straightforward projectile that can be used
for all your z-dropping needs. You can use it with the leaf shield
as has been discussed by Wood Man's guide, or you can couple
it instead with the Tornado Hold, a move that creates a tall but narrow
tunnel of wind that can put them in unfavourable situations on hit.
The fact that it pushes Megaman AWAY from the enemy on the
ground rather than towards them makes this move a good deal safer than it appears.

Once your enemy is in the air, you have a myriad of ways of pestering them
from below, from Metal Blades, Air Shooters and of course, Danger Wrap.

The weaknesses of this set are likely characters with fast falling speeds
who can escape the air harassment more easily, and with fast ground
speed which makes them more likely to be able to punish Holds.
Recovery is also an issue, as the Hold gives the least distance
of all his recovery options, both making more susceptible to gimps
and limiting his ability to fight offstage. On the plus side, when you do
reach the edge, you can be tricky and hit people standing too close
with a quick drop then tornado.

(Another aside about tornado: while it may be good at hitting people
recovering low, you're likely only helping then recover. Maybe it could
be good for saving teammates?)

Sorry if this was long. I'm just impressed by how cohesively Megaman's customs
can work together.

 

[BBC7]

Shadow blade combos directly into utilt on the boomerang... So that's something

It combos into D-Smash as well which kills even earlier than U-Tilt. In fact, Shadow Blade combos into a crap ton of attacks. I had a whole list but I forgot where I left it.

EDIT: Found it.

F-Smash(uncharged)
U-Smash(uncharged)
D-Smash(uncharged)
F-Tilt
U-Tilt
D-Tilt
Jab
Nair
Fair
Bair
Dash Attack

In the case of D-Tilt, you can actually get a true 3 hit combo if you throw the Shadow Blade from a distance where it hits the opponent 2 times in quick succession(true combo) and D-Tilt into the opponent for the final hit.

 

[Ramzy]

Out of curiosity, is anyone going to a Gamestop event tomorrow for the Wii U version? I'm going to go myself...was wondering if anyone wanted me to try anything out while I'm there?

Rush cancel

 

[Yink]

Pretty sure Rush Canceling is gone. It was really hard to test though due to it being an 8-player Smash event...but I swear either I'm terrible (a possibility) or it's gone (a possibility).

Leaf Shield seemed a little quicker, but I need the actual game to confirm that. (Also, I can confirm this is a real copy of the game, because my rep literally was playing it at home with her family, haha.)

Pummel speed seemed the same to me.

U-air has a larger animation now (and you can tell, the hitbox is probably larger too).

I also noted that I could DACUS with Mega in the original build (E3 Best Buy event demo) and I couldn't seem to do it here. But once again, I was fighting to do that with 8 players fighting around me, so I'm not sure if he still can or not.

Cheers, guys.

 

[Ramzy]

It's a nerf fest out here

 

[Egregore]

I'll be hitting up the pre-KTAR warm-up tournament today at Hitbox Arena in NJ runnin' our Rock.

Gonna see how I square up with the best and hopefully land top 5.

 

[Crescent_Sun]

I've been working with Shadow Blade, Danger Wrap, Rush Coil, and Leaf Shield and it's honestly been a lot of fun. CB and MB have a lot of ATs for them but I find the sheer utility of something like DW much more rewarding to combo with since it actually kills. This set really focuses on sheer mid range, giving up the ability to long range zone but seriously creating this incredibly restrictive zone in front of or behind mega man that can lock people in quite a bit.

I don't know if SB is on equal terms with MB yet, but I'm really starting to see it's merit. If you can space shadow blade to get those two quick hits as much as possible, then you can lead into all sort of combos, whether you're racking up damage OR setting up for a kill. SB not being takeable also means it's always an option, and it can help destroy things like villager's lloid rocket just by following it up with some pellets. I'm going to keep trying it out, but I really want it to work because of the ridiculously superficial reason that I like Shadow Man more than Metal Man. I mainly want to see a good competitive Mega Man show off with it so I can see what my feeble mind doesn't see that they do. As long as I can make sure I'm not in the mindset that "less techs" doesn't mean "worse move"

 

[Fenrir VII]

One thing I like about shadow blade is throwing it in vertical arcs really creates a zoning wall that is really nice. It's moved to 2nd for me, behind metal blade. I could definitely see using it in some matchups instead of mb.

I also want to say I'm coming around on danger wrap... Considering dthrow to DW creates a good trap, and it's another option to force an airdodge from the ground...

 

[---]

Personally I just want to try Danger Wrap on characters with good mobility in the air like Yoshi or Jigglypuff. Both are matches that really bug me online. Also kinda of fun to launch it underneath the recovery platform to see what happens. It covers a space that Mega Man has a hard time with.

I like pressuring with Crash Bomber, but beyond that I haven't found much use for it. Most of the time I just get opponents running towards me like mad to transfer it or have me get caught in the explosion as well. Probably not using as well as I could be, but it's ultimately just not as satisfying IMO.

 

[Crescent_Sun]

If only they'd separate and allow custom moves on For Glory... It's the reason I don't like it much, besides the 2 stock vs. 3 stock thing. Pretty much everyone I play uses at least one custom move, and it's a pretty big deal when I don't have access to that.

What I like about DW too which you alluded to is that you can just kind of toss it out. It's a very serious projectile to avoid and being able to just throw out such a dangerous hitbox to characters who like to approach mega man diagonally is a pretty big deal. CB has so many uses but against people who are better it just doesn't feel as good. It compounds with the feeling that Mega Man has to work so damn hard to get anything done.

 

[Fenrir VII]

I would never, ever give up crash bomb against some characters (Rosa and Villager come to mind), but I could see DW being better in some others...

 

[Crescent_Sun]

That's one thing I enjoy about Mega Man, different loadouts feel very appropriate to his character. I've thought a lot about it though and through testing CB isn't as necessarily superior to DW in those matchups than you'd think. It's really easy to land DW on Rosa because of how floaty she is, and I found it fixes my biggest issue with her which is safely killing her.

Villager can definitely go either way for me though, leaning towards CB. I would rather they have pocketed a crash bomb than a danger wrap, that's for sure... And CB helps allow you to counter the long range zoning that villager has. I can't think of many other matchups where CB is definitely what I'd go with though.

 

[Fenrir VII]

The unbeatable crash bomb artillery unit is amazing against Rosa. You really never have to be near her when Luma is around. No way I'd give that up

 

[Crescent_Sun]

Wish it were that easy to keep her away for me! Any other matchups that you think Crash Bomb is preferred? I'd like to get a good idea of what tools I should be using against whom.

I also feel really weird about Kirby copying Mega Man. He's really just copying Metal Man, but it's like Kirby is copying Mega Man's ability to copy. It's a little like how Kirby isn't doing anything specifically Shulk like when copied, it's just using a copy of the Monado.

 

[Fenrir VII]

I'd have to think really.. Any matchup where you can instantly explode the crash bomb on an object is really good (Villager's tree, Luma, duck hunt's gunmen, and a few others) with the possible exception of pacmans fire hydrant, as he doesn't usually hide behind it.

Any matchup where the opponent isn't fast enough to punish relentless crash bomb use (Bowser, ddd, DK, and others) is another example.

Meanwhile crash bomb isn't great against big projectile chars (Samus, WFT, lucario), as it just gets eaten and you get punished.
Also any fast chars that can close space quickly can really pressure us for trying it.

I'm of the opinion that if the opponent shields a crash bomb,it's a good thing for us, so it's relatively easy to avoid nature really isn't a downside.. Honestly looking at it now, I'd think it's about a 50 50 split on which is better against the rest of the cast.

 

[Crescent_Sun]

Duck Hunt!!! There we go, I knew I was missing a really key meatshield user. Pac Man likes to jump around a lot but I think CB or DW works there too. I've learned with Bowser though that they cancel out CB pretty often with wide jabs, it isn't hard to stop CB and Bowsers faster than you'd think. Any way to escape Bowser will likely involve going into the air, which is not an amazing place to be as Mega Man.

Works great against DDD and DK though. And on the other side of that, Danger Wrap doesn't always work well against players who frequently find their way down using some kind of downward momentum attack like Bowser's or DDD's sit.

 

[Fenrir VII]

Bowser still takes a while to cover ground against alternating crash bombs and metal blades.

I also want to say that danger wrap is probably by far the best choice for team battles, where another kill move is fantastic, and crash bomb gives fairly random results.

 

[---]

I would never, ever give up crash bomb against some characters (Rosa and Villager come to mind), but I could see DW being better in some others...

Does Danger Wrap fill up Game & Watch's bucket like Crash Bomber does?

Ran into a guy trying to counterpick me with him, it was so much fun punishing them for their bucket abuse.

 

[meleebrawler]

Not to mention that it can combo into Air shooter depending on
where it hits.

While we're talking about team battles, I'd like to draw attention to Tornado
Hold. I've already talked about it at length in my previous post, but it synergizes
very well with Danger Wrap, and you can likely use it to save teammates
from falling as it:

a. Reaches far below the stage
b. Pulls them up and gives them a third jump back
c. Does very little actual damage

 

[Crescent_Sun]

That makes me very interested in Mega Man's team battle viability. I imagine that you could use T Hold to help out partners like Little Mac in particular! I'm not sure who in particular makes a great teammate to Mega Man though.

I'm also not sure about the G&W thing, but it's always pretty clear when someone tries to go out of their comfort zone just to counter pick Mega Man.

 

[meleebrawler]

If you have a speedy teammate, it could be funny if you purposely tagged them
with Crash Bombers so that they could pass it, but of course it might not be that
effective...

 

[Fenrir VII]

Most people cp me with palutena for some reason. It... doesn't work

Rush Coil can also save your partner. Uair can too. Mega really is better in teams than I had thought he would be

 

[Yink]

It's a nerf fest out here

How so? I'll take the upgraded uair and leaf shield speed. I also didn't get to test everything but someone was telling me his pellets also went a little further (need to check though). That uair is helpful to have, and Rush Canceling was nice, but I don't think it was something he absolutely needed. Is it kinda sad it's gone? Yeah, but he also got two buffs (for now. We'll see when the game is released).

 

[Ramzy]

How so? I'll take the upgraded uair and leaf shield speed. I also didn't get to test everything but someone was telling me his pellets also went a little further (need to check though). That uair is helpful to have, and Rush Canceling was nice, but I don't think it was something he absolutely needed. Is it kinda sad it's gone? Yeah, but he also got two buffs (for now. We'll see when the game is released).

I was definitely not aware of those buffs, but I really hope the pellet thing is true! That would be so worth the trade.

 

[Egregore]

Took 1st at HBA today without losing a set. I used Shadow Blade a few matches in the spirit of the current discussion here. It does a lot for setting up combos, leading into grabs or lemons, and stopping rushdown.

I've been playing around with Plant Barrier a lot and I'm almost at the point where I prefer it to Leaf Shield. Wavebouncing when coming down from the top blast zone with Plant Barrier pretty much guarantees you're safe because of the extra durability if they predict your movements. The best part about it I find is that it eats (some) projectiles, and that the barrier stays up even if the leaves hit your opponent. I've been able to just summon Plant Barrier and roll around and I can tell it's frustrating for my opponents lmao.

Anywho, I'm pro customs and I hope TOs will considering further testing of these moves to allow more diversity for players (I'm a TO myself).

How so? I'll take the upgraded uair and leaf shield speed. I also didn't get to test everything but someone was telling me his pellets also went a little further (need to check though). That uair is helpful to have, and Rush Canceling was nice, but I don't think it was something he absolutely needed. Is it kinda sad it's gone? Yeah, but he also got two buffs (for now. We'll see when the game is released).

No amount of buffs can replace the absence of Rush Cancel. It adds SO much survivability to Megaman that if this AT is out then kiss a lot of MU advantages goodbye.

 

[Ramzy]

Good stuff man. How many rounds did you play?

 

[Egregore]

All matches were best of 5, and I went 5-0. It was a pretty small turnout, but I think it's because of KTAR being next week. Couldn't get off work for KTAR but I'll be going to the "unlocking party" the day before with a local buddy @Opana, and there's supposed to be a tournament then, so we'll be jumping into the Wii U version day 1.

 

[Crescent_Sun]

Is there anywhere we can watch? I'm so interested in seeing some Mega Man success even if it's a small tourney. I agree with your points on Shadow Blade and really want to see you use it in action. I might also give Plant Barrier a run!