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Creative and Informative Guide on the Koopalings yo

The_ToolBag

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jul 29, 2014
Messages
74
NNID
mr.kasabii7
This is The ToolBag. I’m from CFL, and although I used to be pretty focused on PM and love commentating melee and the rest for the CFL crew, I’ve recently been in the lab when it comes to Sm4sh. I’ve found that this new game is pretty original and loads of fun on the Wii U (except for Rosalina and TL) I do have mains, but I am going to try to get carried away with all the characters. So this is going to be a straightforward analysis of different characters from the game and how they can be played. Stay tuned for the rest of the analyses. Also, let me know if I missed things? I’m looking for better ways to play myself.

-Enjoy.


Creative and Informative Guide on the Koopalings
Bowser……..JR?

APPROACH:
The first thing you need to know: The Clownkart is your best friend!

When I first played as this character I pressed side-b and was like, yo this move sucks! But I was very wrong. Your side-b is your best approach option for combos and early percentage racking. Here is the catch, don’t spin out. There are only two reasons to ever spin out.

1. Your opponent rolls to the edge of the stage at high percentage.

2. You use it in the air to either help recover or edge guard.

The reason you don’t want to spin out is because there is a bunch of lag afterwards. What you want to do is jump out of the clown dash. If you hit your opponent, it will pop them up, and you can easily combo them with an aerial, dependent on which way they DI. The move you can use is dependent on your opponent’s percentage, and cannot always directly combo at high percentages. Not only do you get a free follow up, but you can side-b as soon as you hit the ground, allowing you to do the same thing over again. My favorite way to execute this approach is popping them up and then jumping when I’m at the right distance for a bair and then follow up by doing the same thing over again.

If your opponent shields, then just jump anyways, you are in no danger, psych em out with a dair, it shield pokes. Or jump over them and do an up-smash or reverse grab, may be more risky though. This technique works well in the 0-60% damage range, and then dependent on the character, works well in the 100%-up range if you up-b when you pop them up and then attack them in the air, or if they are shielding, up-b and hope the clowncar shield pokes and blows them up for the kill.

The koopa-mech is a good tool for both pressure, and defense. Letting one of these loose creates more opening on your opponent, as they usually are more worried about them, then you. You are also able to kart into them and pick them up with an air dodge, but it’s pretty hard to execute.

DEFENSE:
All of B. Jr’s aerials wall out the opponent. Dair and Fair are his best options because they have long hit boxes. All of his smash attacks have a considerable amount of knockback, so be careful carelessly throwing them out. The Mech is great for runaway tactics at high percentage, as well as the Cannon, but the cannon must be used at a distance, as it also has some good cool down. His shield grab is very slow, only rivaled by Pacman on slowness, so be careful using that as well.

RECOVERY:
The only character with better recovery is probably Villager. B. Jr has essentially 4 jumps, as you can always jump out of the Clownkart regardless of how many jumps you have used. After you use it though, the only other jump you have is the up-B. Off stage recovery is amazing though, as the kart can always get you back to the ledge as long as you still have it. It is important to note that you can always use the kart again if you spin out in the kart in the air. This allows for extra horizontal distance but should rather be used for edge-guarding. Getting from the edge to the stage is rather simple, as B. Jr’s fair phases through the stage and is very safe to create space from the ledge. You can also Clownkart to arial or grounded spinout as it has high priority. Mechs are also a viable option.

DO NOT EVER SIDE B AS SOON AS YOU ARE CLOSE TO THE BLAST ZONE. The initial backwards momentum can result in a self-destruct.

KNOCKOUTS:
Probably the trickiest thing to do with B. jr is kill. Although he is safe in general, his kill moves are not. Edge guarding is his safest kill move, as you can follow your opponent off the stage and aerial spinout to kill them, and then Clownkart back to the stage.

One thing to note is that both up-smash and F-smash shield poke. These moves can kill if they are applied to weaker shield. Down-smash is extremely punishable, but will kill on rolls which is nice.

My favorite kill move is the up-b. It’s great to use the explosion to drop on people off the stage, or to drop it next to a shielding opponent, you can also do it right before the opponent gets back on the stage. You can also use the hammer out of up-B, but keep in mind that it is harder to aim, and you are very vulnerable in that state. Also, press a to get your kart back if hit out of this state (thanks Gahtzu).

Up throw -> up-B -> hammer –or- Clownkart -> up-B -> hammer.

Synopsis of moves:
Up-B: Kill move

Down-B: nice for defense

Side-B: great approach option and racks up a ton of damage

Nut-B: Edge guard capability

Uair: nice for juggles

Dair: shield pressure and multi hits

Bair: kills and high damage out of side-b option

Fair: walls out opponents

Nair: big hit-box

Upsmash: best kill move smash, run up smash option

Dsmash: use on rolls

Fsmash: shield stab, great kill option

Grab: up throw and down throw are your best options

In conclusion, I believe Bowser Jr. has a high amount of potential, but you have to be smart while using him. Get in the lab, and find just how technical this character is.

-ToolBag out yo
 
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Boasting Toast

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jul 17, 2013
Messages
77
Nice guide. I like to use BJ from time to time, and I learned a few new things here. Maybe you could add a section for custom moves in the future?
 

T-block

B2B TST
Joined
Jan 11, 2009
Messages
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Hello there! Nice writeup all in all... I just have a few comments.

When I first played as this character I pressed side-b and was like, yo this move sucks! But I was very wrong. Your side-b is your best approach option for combos and early percentage racking.
I heavily disagree that side-b is the best approach, defining approach as an attempt to move from neutral position to an advantage position. Bowser Jr. actually has a lot of trouble approaching in general, and I think he's much better off being played as a character who controls space and stuffs approaches. We don't have enough options out of side-b to warrant it being called a good approach (no shield, no grab, limited attacks). It doesn't even move all that fast, and its trajectory is easily telegraphed. When used from long range, pretty much any competent player will react and simply hit you out of it. Side-b is good, however, in making your movement unpredictable. Charging towards your opponent and then hopping backwards outside of their range is the safe, usually better, option.

I claim side-b is a bad approach because in NEUTRAL positions, your opponent is assumed to have all of his options available to him. The time and place for allowing your charge to go into your opponent, then, is when you are in an advantaged position (ie- when your opponent does not have all of his options available). The most obvious example is when you f-tilt them away at lower percents and you chase with side-b. The speed of side-b is enough to pressure their attempt to land. To use Marth as an example, if you just knocked him away with f-tilt and he's falling back to the ground while you're charging at him, if he doesn't throw out an aerial, then your side-b connects and you can combo into an aerial. If he does throw out an aerial (which will BEAT your charge more often than not), he risks losing to you hopping out early and punishing the landing lag.

If your opponent shields, then just jump anyways, you are in no danger, psych em out with a dair, it shield pokes. Or jump over them and do an up-smash or reverse grab, may be more risky though.
Side-b is definitely NOT always safe on an opponent's shield... I think quite a few characters actually have some response to side-b. Marth, for example, can u-smash OoS regardless of whether you jump out before or after his shield.

The koopa-mech is a good tool for both pressure, and defense. Letting one of these loose creates more opening on your opponent, as they usually are more worried about them, then you. You are also able to kart into them and pick them up with an air dodge, but it’s pretty hard to execute.
The Mechakoopas are indeed a nice tool, but the future is not far off when any competent opponent will be able to just pick them up off the ground and use them against us. My suggestion is to not let them just walk towards them in neutral. Instead, pull them out when they're up in the air trying to land so you can pressure if they try to pick them up. You could also send them out behind you so you can pick them up yourself. Or, pull them in the air so that you can catch up to them and pick them up.

All of B. Jr’s aerials wall out the opponent. Dair and Fair are his best options because they have long hit boxes.
D-air is actually only situationally useful, due to its high landing lag. It should really only be used when you're absolutely certain it will hit. I wouldn't even call it good shield pressure, because it's really unsafe on shield. Even if you manage to cross up, as long as they don't drop their shield before the final hit, they actually have enough time to drop shield, turn around, and punish.

His shield grab is very slow, only rivaled by Pacman on slowness, so be careful using that as well.
Do you have frame data to back that up? It is indeed slower than a "normal" grab, but characters like Samus, ZSS, and Greninja also have slower-than-normal grabs that probably have similar startup frames.

The only character with better recovery is probably Villager.
Haha I dunno about that... side-b is amazing in keeping your recovery trajectory unpredictable. Up-b is pretty dangerous though, and some characters can seriously threaten you if you need to up-b. You can air dodge as you come up, but of course that doesn't keep you safe from absolutely everything.

DO NOT EVER SIDE B AS SOON AS YOU ARE CLOSE TO THE BLAST ZONE. The initial backwards momentum can result in a self-destruct.
This is a good point to stress. I think some of us (myself included) have learned this the hard way heh.
 
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SoundChow

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Nov 29, 2014
Messages
86
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PA
I claim side-b is a bad approach because in NEUTRAL positions, your opponent is assumed to have all of his options available to him. The time and place for allowing your charge to go into your opponent, then, is when you are in an advantaged position (ie- when your opponent does not have all of his options available).
I definitely agree with this. I find that playing bowser jr. really offensively and charging in with side-b every chance you get isn't a very good option against experienced players, because they can definitely punish mindless nairs and dairs with shield-grabs (though dair does have a deceptively long-lasting hitbox), as well as a normal charge by just shielding. I do think that the clown-kart does have amazing combo potential, but it has to be used sparingly. Bowser jr., with his slow speed and unreliable clown-kart dash, definitely has a hard time with approaches.
 

Sea Buoy

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There is actually one more reason to spin out other than the ones previously stated. I have found that Bowser Jr.'s side-B is actually a pretty good mix-up. Either you can hit them with the hitbox while you're in the cart or you can hit them with the hitbox while you're spinning out. Of course, the former is useful for setting up a small combo, but the latter covers a couple more options such as rolling, spot dodging, and even shielding.
 

Sea Buoy

Smash Cadet
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I also would like to disagree and say that F-Smash is the best kill move. It comes out incredibly fast, pretty safe on shield, difficult to Smash DI, and easier to punish with. It is also deceptive in range as the last hitbox is slightly further than the first so when the opponent tries to react out of shield, they may be caught by the last hit still. In addition, I think that his Fair has a good follow-up potential as it is pretty easy to carry your opponent across stage if executed properly.
 

Funkermonster

The Clown
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I also would like to disagree and say that F-Smash is the best kill move. It comes out incredibly fast, pretty safe on shield, difficult to Smash DI, and easier to punish with. It is also deceptive in range as the last hitbox is slightly further than the first so when the opponent tries to react out of shield, they may be caught by the last hit still. In addition, I think that his Fair has a good follow-up potential as it is pretty easy to carry your opponent across stage if executed properly.
Lol no. Fsmash has slower than normal startup and a good bit of cooldown, it's not safe on shield and is still punishable. Its also got an awkward disjointed hitbox and tends to whiff if your opponent is too close, making the move unreliable. I'd rather use Gimp kills or Dsmash (which is faster in startup and has better hitboxes, but still has massive cooldown) for kills, although it isn't saying much considering how Junior's kill moves are pretty bad overall, being either hard to land or hella unsafe.
 

T-block

B2B TST
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I played a LOT of Koopalings today against many people. F-tilt and b-air gave me the most kills I think... matches were long quite long haha x.x

Speaking of which, why the hell does the OP not talk about tilts lol... all three tilts are among the best tools in his moveset.
 

guedes the brawler

Smash Lord
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i find that Jr's best kill moves aren't on-stage stuff, but rather offstage kills with ALL of his aerials and specials and sometimes smash attacks (even Usmash, as it can take out an smartass Fox trying to recover on-stage above you with side-b and similar stunts) being viable for this though you can't really overuse any of them unless the situation allows for it -: straightforward vertical recoveries that aren't dangerous to disrespect (like Aether) can be safely dealt with Up-bs since people like Doc or Mac WILL get hit fi they are ever forced to recover low.

his smashes are pretty unreliable on ground. heck, disrespecting jr's f-smash is usually a good thign with faster, non-big characters because they can just run to the blindspot and make you eat their own smash. i almost never manage to land d-smash on rolling people, i simply dont get this. is it just my timing? in brawl i could dsmash people on reaction with ddiddy, wolf and pikachu, but here with jr i can't d-smash on READS... am i just getting too greedy with charging?

i generally am favoring ftilt to punish rolls now. it generally puts people in the air which is generally good. especially if it sends them offstage... or kills them outright.

another favorite kill method of mine is clown cannon to punish landings, but i suspect this is just because i haven't faced incredible players yet. this tactic does take out a decent bit of their shield which is still good, though it will always fail against certain characters who have flip down specials (diddy shiek, ZSS)
 
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T-block

B2B TST
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I've been experimenting on getting d-smash to work. I used to have the same problem, and I think it's just a timing thing. I've gotten a little better at it, and I suspect that if you just work it out you will too.

F-tilt is the much safer option for rolls though, obviously.
 
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