Candide
Smash Apprentice
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2008
- Messages
- 87
Here I have a guide for some fun debate and discussion as to how all the Brawlers might be grouped as to play style, strengths, weaknesses, et cetera. The purposes are both offensive- experimenting with characters most similar to your favorites and defensive- seeing a pattern in the characters you always have trouble against. Especially, I'd like your opinion on which groups beat others in general: you know, rock, paper scissors, to find a rationale for match-up viability other than pure skill, and what to add or change in group descriptions or characters. There is bound to be some overlap, but I'll do my best to be exclusive. (Yes, I'm a "n00b" here, but I've been smashing it up since SSB64.) Here are my groups:
Heavy Hitters: Relatively heavy characters with some of the best KO ability in the game. They're somewhat difficult to control due to slowness (Gdorf/Wario) or extreme speed (Falcon):
Captain Falcon, Ganondorf, and Wario.
Shooters: Moderate to heavy in weight, they can KO and avoid competently in close range but excel especially in sniping. (Snake has heavy hitter qualities):
Samus, Lucario, and Snake.
Puffballs: Able to set up aerial combos and recover with ease using their multiple jumps. However, they don't KO easily unless they hit just right. They are very light:
Kirby, Jigglypuff, and Metaknight.
Swordsmen: With high power and large hit area at close range, relatively high agility, and great countering, they excel at everything except recovery. (Ike has heavy hitter qualities):
Marth, Ike, Link, and Toon Link.
Foxy: Admittedly, they are no longer clones in Brawl but are more similar to each other than anyone else. They are some of the fastest and most agile in the game, both at short and long range. Their reflector and blasters are great counters to the Shooters. Their recovery and KO ability are mostly average, however:
Fox, Falco, and Wolf.
Gymnasts: These ladies can jump over, under, and through any assault and dazzle you with their strings of side-scrolling combos. Their aerial KOs are some of the best, put otherwise their power is limited, and they are quite light:
Sheik and Zero Suit Samus.
Mario Brothers: Invaluable characters at any level of mastery, they are, as you might expect, just simply very well balanced. One weak point is recovery.
Mario and Luigi.
Fatmen: By far the heaviest, most powerful, and bulkiest characters in the game, it takes some practice with them in agility to not letting your damage % swell to record levels. Yet if you DO manage to get good at avoiding hits, it takes a lot of force to KO you, and you can KO at ridiculously low %'s. Recovery is low but at times better than Swordsmen's:
King Dedede, Bowser, Donkey Kong, and Charizard.
Bouncy Scamperers: Nearly as well-balanced as the Mario Bros., they are a bit lighter but have agility almost at par with the Gymnasts. They seem to almost bounce around the field of play and can produce surprisingly powerful hits if they only can aim their attacks at the right place. They are small targets for others, however:
Pikachu, Diddy Kong, Squirtle, and Sonic.
Offensive Flyers: Some of the most annoying characters in the game, these two can fly off the stage and smash others offscreen while still in the vulnerable state of recovery. Their air game is great, but they're not as adept as the Puffballs at pulling off combos and recovering themselves. Their ground KO power and weight is slightly less than average. To compensate, their techniques include light projectiles and counters:
Pit and Peach.
Psi Kids: Simply put, they have a play style all their own. Their regular attacks are relatively powerful but their real edge lies keeping foes at bay with a powerful slew of projectiles and throws. They're somewhat agile with practice. They possess the unique trait of health recovery by absorption:
Ness and Lucas.
Defensive Counters: Like the Psi Kids, they excel at keeping others away but at a shorter distance. They are relatively slow and clumsy, but their recovery is a bit above average. Whether on the ground or in the air, however, once they build up damage and in the process avoid it themselves, they will wait until a foe is in exactly the right place and at then hit them with a devastating attack from their arsenal of widely varied but good power:
Zelda, Olimar, and Ivysaur.
Erratics: These two are some of the hardest to predict and fight against because of their truly unpredictable movements. Even more than the Defensive Counters, their attacks range from extremely weak to godly. They are not the most agile or heavy, but their recovery is surprisingly very reliable:
Mr. Game & Watch and R.O.B.
Murder/Suicide: Nearly as unpredictable as the Erratics with their just plain awkward play styles, they are a bit light but swift and can hand out some crushing blows. Their downside is that while their recovery has the potential to be quite good, if any error is made in its execution, they're basically dead:
Yoshi and the Ice Climbers.
Heavy Hitters: Relatively heavy characters with some of the best KO ability in the game. They're somewhat difficult to control due to slowness (Gdorf/Wario) or extreme speed (Falcon):
Captain Falcon, Ganondorf, and Wario.
Shooters: Moderate to heavy in weight, they can KO and avoid competently in close range but excel especially in sniping. (Snake has heavy hitter qualities):
Samus, Lucario, and Snake.
Puffballs: Able to set up aerial combos and recover with ease using their multiple jumps. However, they don't KO easily unless they hit just right. They are very light:
Kirby, Jigglypuff, and Metaknight.
Swordsmen: With high power and large hit area at close range, relatively high agility, and great countering, they excel at everything except recovery. (Ike has heavy hitter qualities):
Marth, Ike, Link, and Toon Link.
Foxy: Admittedly, they are no longer clones in Brawl but are more similar to each other than anyone else. They are some of the fastest and most agile in the game, both at short and long range. Their reflector and blasters are great counters to the Shooters. Their recovery and KO ability are mostly average, however:
Fox, Falco, and Wolf.
Gymnasts: These ladies can jump over, under, and through any assault and dazzle you with their strings of side-scrolling combos. Their aerial KOs are some of the best, put otherwise their power is limited, and they are quite light:
Sheik and Zero Suit Samus.
Mario Brothers: Invaluable characters at any level of mastery, they are, as you might expect, just simply very well balanced. One weak point is recovery.
Mario and Luigi.
Fatmen: By far the heaviest, most powerful, and bulkiest characters in the game, it takes some practice with them in agility to not letting your damage % swell to record levels. Yet if you DO manage to get good at avoiding hits, it takes a lot of force to KO you, and you can KO at ridiculously low %'s. Recovery is low but at times better than Swordsmen's:
King Dedede, Bowser, Donkey Kong, and Charizard.
Bouncy Scamperers: Nearly as well-balanced as the Mario Bros., they are a bit lighter but have agility almost at par with the Gymnasts. They seem to almost bounce around the field of play and can produce surprisingly powerful hits if they only can aim their attacks at the right place. They are small targets for others, however:
Pikachu, Diddy Kong, Squirtle, and Sonic.
Offensive Flyers: Some of the most annoying characters in the game, these two can fly off the stage and smash others offscreen while still in the vulnerable state of recovery. Their air game is great, but they're not as adept as the Puffballs at pulling off combos and recovering themselves. Their ground KO power and weight is slightly less than average. To compensate, their techniques include light projectiles and counters:
Pit and Peach.
Psi Kids: Simply put, they have a play style all their own. Their regular attacks are relatively powerful but their real edge lies keeping foes at bay with a powerful slew of projectiles and throws. They're somewhat agile with practice. They possess the unique trait of health recovery by absorption:
Ness and Lucas.
Defensive Counters: Like the Psi Kids, they excel at keeping others away but at a shorter distance. They are relatively slow and clumsy, but their recovery is a bit above average. Whether on the ground or in the air, however, once they build up damage and in the process avoid it themselves, they will wait until a foe is in exactly the right place and at then hit them with a devastating attack from their arsenal of widely varied but good power:
Zelda, Olimar, and Ivysaur.
Erratics: These two are some of the hardest to predict and fight against because of their truly unpredictable movements. Even more than the Defensive Counters, their attacks range from extremely weak to godly. They are not the most agile or heavy, but their recovery is surprisingly very reliable:
Mr. Game & Watch and R.O.B.
Murder/Suicide: Nearly as unpredictable as the Erratics with their just plain awkward play styles, they are a bit light but swift and can hand out some crushing blows. Their downside is that while their recovery has the potential to be quite good, if any error is made in its execution, they're basically dead:
Yoshi and the Ice Climbers.
