Venks
Smash Journeyman
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2007
- Messages
- 375
- NNID
- VenksUSA
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted on Berathen.com - Go there for better formatting and pictures.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ever since the Super Smash Bros 3DS tournament at San Diego Comic Con smash fans everywhere have started calling Bowser the new Fox. It's the general consensus that Bowser is the highest tier character in Smash 4 and thus even more capable than Zero Suit Samus.
Is Bowser truly overpowered now? Let's examine some of the players utilizing the King Koopa and see if we can figure this out.
Smash Invitational - DJ Nintendo
The first player to truly try out Bowser was DJ Nintendo during the Smash Invitational. This player was knocked out in his very first round and went onto say that Bowser was still one of the weaker characters in Smash. Given his performance with the King Koopa I think it should be quite apparent why DJ Nintendo thought this.
When DJ starts off the round he is starting off in a rather poor position. Anyone who has played a few free-for-alls or two-on-two matches can tell you that large characters like Bowser are very easy to hit by complete accident. So it is generally a good idea for a larger character to start off the round by shielding and making their way to one of stage's edges.
DJ Nintendo gets hit by multiple characters right at the start, but makes his way to the edge. Unfortunately, he charges back to the center of the stage to rejoin the fight and gets combo'd by multiple characters once again. This happens a lot throughout the match.
DJ Nintendo's greatest flaw is definitely his lack of awareness of the dangers around him, but secondly I need to point out how he chose to play Bowser. His go to attacks were forward air and Whirling Fortress. While both of these attacks are good moves they aren't Bowser's best tools for landing KOs. DJ Nintendo's only KO was via a Bowser Bomb. If the King Koopa player had practiced more variation amongst his moveset he easily would have secured at least 2nd place, which at that time would have secured him a spot in the next round.
Free For Alls - San Diego Comic Con
Despite the disadvantage of being a big target, Bowser is by no means bad at free-for-all matches. The winners of the tournament's first rounds were primarily Bowsers. These players took advantage of Bowser's powerful KO moves and heavy weight. By using the King Koopa's back air, side smash and down special, he is able to take out most characters without much trouble.
The tournament's announcers, Toph and Scar, mentioned that many of players waiting for their rounds would watch the tournament on the big screen and take note of the strategies being applied. This more than likely had a huge effect on the number of Bowsers that showed up throughout the day.
So was Bowser just the way to go if you want to win the free for all matches... for free? Not quite.
One of the more known smash players, WestBallz, tried out Bowser in his first round and completely floundered with the character. He really took the whole Bowser Bomb being a great KO move to heart. WestBallz used the move more than any other Bowser player did in their own rounds. He even managed to use the attack four times within seven seconds. The other players adapted nicely and punished most of the Bowser Bombs.
WestBallz second attack of choice was the popular side smash, Bowser's new drop kick. The move had been displayed earlier on to great effect, but this time around the King Koopa player demonstrated all of the attacks downsides.
For starters, the attack is not instant and doesn't have a hit box until Bowser starts to fall. WestBallz is knocked out of his side smash several times by opponents that are next to him as he starts the move.
Ideally Bowser's new side smash should be spaced just right so that you're hitting with the bottom of the giant turtle's feet. If used this way it is a lot harder to be hit out of the attack and it is much safer on block.
WestBallz seems to encounter a glitch with his Final Smash, but he was pretty behind in score and highly unlikely to make a come back. This player relied far too heavily on two key moves to win the game instead of making use of Bowser's many good attacks.
You do not want heavy Stale Move Negation on your KO moves. Using the same move again and again makes it weaker each time.That's the same reason HungryBox didn't win the Invitational with Kirby.
On HungryBox's last stock he used his up throw too many times, so when it came time to finish things off Kirby didn't have the oomph he needed. If HungryBox had just used his other throws at the start of his last stock, he would have been fine.
1v1 Matches - San Diego Comic Con
We really start to see how truly good Bowser is when the 1v1 matches start.
The announcer Scar expected players to change from Bowser to faster characters as the free-for-alls came to an end. His reasoning was that Bowser's slow attacks are easy to block and punish. This actually turns out not to be true.
Bowser's down special has really been buffed in Smash 4. The attack looks to deal significant damage to shields. After a shield has been weakened by part of the Bowser Bomb attack, the landing waves can hit the exposed player. This does a lot for a move that had little viability in 1v1 matches in previous Smash games.
The Bowser Bomb does not stop there. This attack has been seen a few times to completely shatter an opponents shield. I believe this is due to Bowser's positioning, being directly centered over his opponent rather than to a side.
It is for this reason that a Bowser in the air should always be respected.
That said the move is still plenty slow and punishable. It's just paramount that you completely avoid the attack rather than attempt a block.
With how great Bowser's down special is quite a few people seem to be unable to see the merit in the King Koopa's new down aerial. This new attack starts up faster than the Bowser Bomb and also has less, but still significant, landing lag.
The two attacks are definitely similar in that they both quickly pull Bowser down to the ground. However, the down aerial's trajectory can be altered to go slightly to the left or to the right. The move also has spiking properties, which in Smash 4 equates to ground bounces. Bowser's down aerial can be a good move for quickly nabbing a star-ko on an unwary player at high percents.
Another thing that separates the good Bowser's from the bad is how they use their aerials. Bowser's front aerial attack has decent range, speed, and power. The move is good for building up damage on opponents in the air and can also be auto-cancelled into his jabs.
Bowser's back air is a bit on the slower side, but the trade is well worth it for its amazing range and knock out power. The landing lag on this move is pretty steep so it's not something that can just be thrown out low to the ground. Bowser's back aerial saw a lot of use when chasing opponents off the stage and as a quick retreating attack after running off of a platform.
As good as all of these attacks are they each have their own disadvantages.
It is fundamentally due to the great players using Bowser that we were able to see some of the potential he has in Smash 4.
I absolutely love how in one of the Bowser vs Bowser matches before the finals, one of the players perfectly charged his side smash to knock out a returning player. The returning player doesn't know when the charged attack will come out so he goes for a air dodge. However, the attacking player holds on to the charge long enough so that he can punish the air dodge's landing lag. It was so beautiful.
Final Thoughts
So how do I think Bowser fairs in terms of rank compared to his fellow E3 build fighters? To be honest I think Bowser sits pretty comfortable alongside most of the cast. The reason I think this is mostly due to how much Sheik made Bowser struggle.
It's my opinion that the Bowser players the Sheik played against were much more skilled. The reason I say this is that you can see the giant turtles adapt their approaches as they learn to circumvent Sheik's solid projectiles. But the Sheik doesn't really change things up. Sheik does an amazing job with her ranged attacks, but completely blunders when she attempts to get physical.
Sheik's favoured close ranged attacks were dash attack and side smash. These attacks were easily read and punished with guard grabs multiple times. You really would think that the Sheik would occasionally mix up her attacks with grabs. Especially due to how often Bowsers would dash into shield.
If Sheik had been in the hands of an equally skilled player I think Bowser would have had a much harder time. Plus it's definitely worth mentioning that Bowser is a much easier character to work with than say Mega Man or Zelda. There's a lot we still don't know about this game and some characters need to be completely relearned. But all of that aside I think Bowser's changes and recent performance really reflect the Smash Development Team's devotion to making this game as balanced as possible. Bowser has come a very long way since Brawl.
Originally posted on Berathen.com - Go there for better formatting and pictures.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ever since the Super Smash Bros 3DS tournament at San Diego Comic Con smash fans everywhere have started calling Bowser the new Fox. It's the general consensus that Bowser is the highest tier character in Smash 4 and thus even more capable than Zero Suit Samus.
Is Bowser truly overpowered now? Let's examine some of the players utilizing the King Koopa and see if we can figure this out.
Smash Invitational - DJ Nintendo
The first player to truly try out Bowser was DJ Nintendo during the Smash Invitational. This player was knocked out in his very first round and went onto say that Bowser was still one of the weaker characters in Smash. Given his performance with the King Koopa I think it should be quite apparent why DJ Nintendo thought this.
When DJ starts off the round he is starting off in a rather poor position. Anyone who has played a few free-for-alls or two-on-two matches can tell you that large characters like Bowser are very easy to hit by complete accident. So it is generally a good idea for a larger character to start off the round by shielding and making their way to one of stage's edges.
DJ Nintendo gets hit by multiple characters right at the start, but makes his way to the edge. Unfortunately, he charges back to the center of the stage to rejoin the fight and gets combo'd by multiple characters once again. This happens a lot throughout the match.
DJ Nintendo's greatest flaw is definitely his lack of awareness of the dangers around him, but secondly I need to point out how he chose to play Bowser. His go to attacks were forward air and Whirling Fortress. While both of these attacks are good moves they aren't Bowser's best tools for landing KOs. DJ Nintendo's only KO was via a Bowser Bomb. If the King Koopa player had practiced more variation amongst his moveset he easily would have secured at least 2nd place, which at that time would have secured him a spot in the next round.
Free For Alls - San Diego Comic Con
Despite the disadvantage of being a big target, Bowser is by no means bad at free-for-all matches. The winners of the tournament's first rounds were primarily Bowsers. These players took advantage of Bowser's powerful KO moves and heavy weight. By using the King Koopa's back air, side smash and down special, he is able to take out most characters without much trouble.
The tournament's announcers, Toph and Scar, mentioned that many of players waiting for their rounds would watch the tournament on the big screen and take note of the strategies being applied. This more than likely had a huge effect on the number of Bowsers that showed up throughout the day.
So was Bowser just the way to go if you want to win the free for all matches... for free? Not quite.
One of the more known smash players, WestBallz, tried out Bowser in his first round and completely floundered with the character. He really took the whole Bowser Bomb being a great KO move to heart. WestBallz used the move more than any other Bowser player did in their own rounds. He even managed to use the attack four times within seven seconds. The other players adapted nicely and punished most of the Bowser Bombs.
WestBallz second attack of choice was the popular side smash, Bowser's new drop kick. The move had been displayed earlier on to great effect, but this time around the King Koopa player demonstrated all of the attacks downsides.
For starters, the attack is not instant and doesn't have a hit box until Bowser starts to fall. WestBallz is knocked out of his side smash several times by opponents that are next to him as he starts the move.
Ideally Bowser's new side smash should be spaced just right so that you're hitting with the bottom of the giant turtle's feet. If used this way it is a lot harder to be hit out of the attack and it is much safer on block.
WestBallz seems to encounter a glitch with his Final Smash, but he was pretty behind in score and highly unlikely to make a come back. This player relied far too heavily on two key moves to win the game instead of making use of Bowser's many good attacks.
You do not want heavy Stale Move Negation on your KO moves. Using the same move again and again makes it weaker each time.That's the same reason HungryBox didn't win the Invitational with Kirby.
On HungryBox's last stock he used his up throw too many times, so when it came time to finish things off Kirby didn't have the oomph he needed. If HungryBox had just used his other throws at the start of his last stock, he would have been fine.
1v1 Matches - San Diego Comic Con
We really start to see how truly good Bowser is when the 1v1 matches start.
The announcer Scar expected players to change from Bowser to faster characters as the free-for-alls came to an end. His reasoning was that Bowser's slow attacks are easy to block and punish. This actually turns out not to be true.
Bowser's down special has really been buffed in Smash 4. The attack looks to deal significant damage to shields. After a shield has been weakened by part of the Bowser Bomb attack, the landing waves can hit the exposed player. This does a lot for a move that had little viability in 1v1 matches in previous Smash games.
The Bowser Bomb does not stop there. This attack has been seen a few times to completely shatter an opponents shield. I believe this is due to Bowser's positioning, being directly centered over his opponent rather than to a side.
It is for this reason that a Bowser in the air should always be respected.
That said the move is still plenty slow and punishable. It's just paramount that you completely avoid the attack rather than attempt a block.
With how great Bowser's down special is quite a few people seem to be unable to see the merit in the King Koopa's new down aerial. This new attack starts up faster than the Bowser Bomb and also has less, but still significant, landing lag.
The two attacks are definitely similar in that they both quickly pull Bowser down to the ground. However, the down aerial's trajectory can be altered to go slightly to the left or to the right. The move also has spiking properties, which in Smash 4 equates to ground bounces. Bowser's down aerial can be a good move for quickly nabbing a star-ko on an unwary player at high percents.
Another thing that separates the good Bowser's from the bad is how they use their aerials. Bowser's front aerial attack has decent range, speed, and power. The move is good for building up damage on opponents in the air and can also be auto-cancelled into his jabs.
Bowser's back air is a bit on the slower side, but the trade is well worth it for its amazing range and knock out power. The landing lag on this move is pretty steep so it's not something that can just be thrown out low to the ground. Bowser's back aerial saw a lot of use when chasing opponents off the stage and as a quick retreating attack after running off of a platform.
As good as all of these attacks are they each have their own disadvantages.
It is fundamentally due to the great players using Bowser that we were able to see some of the potential he has in Smash 4.
I absolutely love how in one of the Bowser vs Bowser matches before the finals, one of the players perfectly charged his side smash to knock out a returning player. The returning player doesn't know when the charged attack will come out so he goes for a air dodge. However, the attacking player holds on to the charge long enough so that he can punish the air dodge's landing lag. It was so beautiful.
Final Thoughts
So how do I think Bowser fairs in terms of rank compared to his fellow E3 build fighters? To be honest I think Bowser sits pretty comfortable alongside most of the cast. The reason I think this is mostly due to how much Sheik made Bowser struggle.
It's my opinion that the Bowser players the Sheik played against were much more skilled. The reason I say this is that you can see the giant turtles adapt their approaches as they learn to circumvent Sheik's solid projectiles. But the Sheik doesn't really change things up. Sheik does an amazing job with her ranged attacks, but completely blunders when she attempts to get physical.
Sheik's favoured close ranged attacks were dash attack and side smash. These attacks were easily read and punished with guard grabs multiple times. You really would think that the Sheik would occasionally mix up her attacks with grabs. Especially due to how often Bowsers would dash into shield.
If Sheik had been in the hands of an equally skilled player I think Bowser would have had a much harder time. Plus it's definitely worth mentioning that Bowser is a much easier character to work with than say Mega Man or Zelda. There's a lot we still don't know about this game and some characters need to be completely relearned. But all of that aside I think Bowser's changes and recent performance really reflect the Smash Development Team's devotion to making this game as balanced as possible. Bowser has come a very long way since Brawl.
Last edited:
