Q&A Doc's Tips: A Little Mac Q&A Thread

[STiCKYBULL3TZ]

what are the mechanics for canceling his neutral b? it seems to happen if you press b, but it doesn't happen immediately and sometimes a single press won't do it.

Unfortunately you can't cancel it right away. If it seems to take more than one press then you tried to cancel the charge before the cancel frames began.

Going back to the original question I asked, I agree that it can be used in the air. It is like an aerial with super armor. Though it is probably only practical defensively. Or on great reads

 

[Volt-Ikazuchi]

Unfortunately you can't cancel it right away. If it seems to take more than one press then you tried to cancel the charge before the cancel frames began.

Going back to the original question I asked, I agree that it can be used in the air. It is like an aerial with super armor. Though it is probably only practical defensively. Or on great reads

Is it helpful for recoveries? Something with armor that helps in recovery is definitely something Mac needs.

 

[STiCKYBULL3TZ]

It only moves you forward in the air if you fully charge it which is pretty impractical. If you're high enough to fully charge it then you more than likely have better options to recover. Mix up your second jump with side b and play around with the heights. Recover high, just at the ledge, or drop below the ledge and sweetspot an up b.

I'm not sure if Straight Lunge grabs ledge if you punched directly at it. I would stay away from this as a recovery.

 

[Volt-Ikazuchi]

It only moves you forward in the air if you fully charge it which is pretty impractical. If you're high enough to fully charge it then you more than likely have better options to recover. Mix up your second jump with side b and play around with the heights. Recover high, just at the ledge, or drop below the ledge and sweetspot an up b.

I'm not sure if Straight Lunge grabs ledge if you punched directly at it. I would stay away from this as a recovery.

Well, *Bleep*. I don't think Straight Lunge has any uses outside of FFA's then.

 

[STiCKYBULL3TZ]

So there's a new update out. Any chance they nerfed Little Mac? Rumor has it they increased rolling lag tho across the board

 

[Volt-Ikazuchi]

So there's a new update out. Any chance they nerfed Little Mac? Rumor has it they increased rolling lag tho across the board

Oh god no... Where did you find that out? Is that update out already? Maybe I can find some sort of changelist.

 

[Oilpath99]

No, I don't think they actually made any changes to Mac.

 

[LCC Son-in-Law]

They made no changes to any characters, despite saying they made "Balancing Changes" in the patch description. No Character files were changed in the patch.

 

[Ralph Cecil]

Yeah they made the same claim with the 1st patch and all the changed was people not getting banned for pulling a turnip in For Glory lol.

 

[earla]

whatup is anyone able to test little mac dacus????

 

[sxiz]

Unfortunately you can't cancel it right away. If it seems to take more than one press then you tried to cancel the charge before the cancel frames began.

it seemed to be rather irregular when i was testing it, but that was in the middle of a classic run, so i was probably just distracted. thanks for the answer!

 

[STiCKYBULL3TZ]

What's the lag on Mac's aerial KO Punch? Would it be practical to use its windbox against recovering characters or should we just keep it for the automatic mindgame and potential KO ability?

 

[Grobby]

I was just playing against a mario online and he consistently just edge camped and whenever I would attempt to attack him he would shield then grab and toss me off the edge. What is an effective way to approach mario that isn't predictable and can help avoid being grabbed so easily?

 

[STiCKYBULL3TZ]

Space Ftilts on his shield. A properly spaced Ftilt can't be grabbed by Mario (characters with tether grab can). If you pressure with Ftilt he has to react or his shield will break or he'll be pushed off the ledge. Most times he will try to grab you and if he you're far enough he will whiff giving you a free Ftilt or Dtilt punish

 

[Grobby]

Space Ftilts on his shield. A properly spaced Ftilt can't be grabbed by Mario (characters with tether grab can). If you pressure with Ftilt he has to react or his shield will break or he'll be pushed off the ledge. Most times he will try to grab you and if he you're far enough he will whiff giving you a free Ftilt or Dtilt punish

Thank you, did not know/think of this!

 

[STiCKYBULL3TZ]

Anyone have trouble recovering with Mac's wall jump? A lot of times the wall jump puts me too far from the ledge to recover with up b. If I'm at ledge height I have to option for side b to recover. It kind of bothers me that Little Mac's up b is so vertical. His wall jump pushes him away from the ledge so he can't recover with up b.

 

[shinhed-echi]

Anyone have trouble recovering with Mac's wall jump? A lot of times the wall jump puts me too far from the ledge to recover with up b. If I'm at ledge height I have to option for side b to recover. It kind of bothers me that Little Mac's up b is so vertical. His wall jump pushes him away from the ledge so he can't recover with up b.

I tried recovering with this a few times. It only worked when almost as soon as I walljump, I perform his up+b. I've come back from below visible range using this. But it has to be almost immediately after wall jump. Walljump must cbe used before. UpB or SideB.

 

[STiCKYBULL3TZ]

Wow! You recovered from below the visible line? Did you still have a double jump?

 

[shinhed-echi]

Wow! You recovered from below the visible line? Did you still have a double jump?

Wait, I'll clarify. I drop down from the stage, then I double jump, wall jump and immediately UpB. It's good if for some reason you tried to chase an opponent off the stage, and you end up below right next to the stage.

Mac has horrible horizontal aereal momentum, there's no way you will have a double jump available if you're returning from the side borders.XD. Sorry for the mixup.

 

[LCC Son-in-Law]

Hey everyone, I updated the opening post with some of the more frequently asked questions! I'll make sure we have it updated when more questions, and their answers, arise.

 

[Opana]

Little Mac Rising Haymaker

Is this known? Even the small slopes at the edges of YI produce this effect, and on Brinstar he can reach the platform on the other side once you break the fleshy tissue attaching it. Also, using that fleshy tissue to start up the rapid jab A is somewhat useful.

 

[SaikyoBro]

One awful MU is Yoshi for sure. That character does just an awesome job at putting out pressure at different ranges, unless I'm directly in his face he can do something to either keep me at bay or send me flying, and if I go off the stage in an egg at high percent I'm usually not able to mash out in time to recover. I have to be so careful with my spacing in this matchup that I don't get a chance to apply any pressure of my own. I'm glad Yoshi's finally good in one of these games, but I feel like they might have gone a little too far. I dunno, he's a weird character to balance with his unorthodox moveset. He's either really good (this game) or really awful (every other game!).

Another one I really hate that's probably surprising is Charizard. I rarely fight him and I've only fought a couple of really good ones, but I was really caught off guard by how many tools he has that make it hard for me to get in on him. Multiple jumps makes him hard to reach, fire breath that gimps me more often than not, rock smash has armor that can make it difficult to approach, he's pretty heavy so he's not easy to kill, it's just really awkward to fight him. Bowser is difficult for similar reasons, except he has a much easier time gimping me (if he jumps at me and side b's me while I'm trying to recover there's literally nothing I can do, I have to commit to either a dodge or a counter and he can punish me if I'm wrong).

Other match-ups I don't like are Falcon and Sheik. I feel like we're playing similar characters since we both have really great speed and hit hard, but their aerials are 10x better than mine so they have a lot more options for approaching, retreating, and recovery, so I'm left trying to make a read with my counter or armor but usually get wrecked pretty bad since I have so many less options. And of course, any Mario/Dr. Mario that knows about the cape to interrupt jolt haymaker trick is almost unwinnable. I still don't know how to deal with that, I just have to try and delay my special until the last second possible and hope they mistime it so I can counter instead.

I've heard lots of Little Mac mains whine about Rosalina but I don't actually hate it too much, it's probably in her advantage but I can usually knock the Luma off the stage with just a couple of hits and she's pretty predictable on her own. I was also very scared of Kirby and Jigglypuff at first since they're so great in the air but I was surprised to see that I win really often against these characters since they die at such early percentages.

 

[crashbfan]

I have to disagree there. I think Yoshi is a good matchup. You might even be playing it wrong.

 

[SaikyoBro]

I have to disagree there. I think Yoshi is a good matchup. You might even be playing it wrong.

Hell, I can't say I agree. But your feedback? Is much appreciated. I may just add you to my list of Smashboards friends in the coming days.

 

[DtJ Hilt]

@ SaikyoBro
Moved your thread to the Q&A.

 

[Ralph Cecil]

I think Yoshi is probably just a hard 45:55. I feel we have the tools to deal with Yoshi's nonsense just fine it just requires a lot of patience. Egglay is super rough to deal with though lol. Also hype to see someone else who doesn't think Rosalina is too bad for Mac. I just feel like our ability to body Luma and then deal with solo Rosalina just fine makes it a very doable mu. Haven't played any Charizards yet. I think Falcon might be even or slightly in our favor, but he has some deceptively disjointed moves on the ground to be able to mess with us. I think Sheik has the potential to be a really bad MU once she gets a bit more optimized since she can punish ftilt on shield with a grab which is Mac's B&B pretty much lol.

 

[cot(θ)]

I've noticed that sometimes my KO meter finishes charging when I'm hitting my opponent's shield. Does hitting an opponent's shield charge the KO meter just as much as hitting your opponent? What about hitting breakable stage objects or items?

 

[Hitman JT]

I have yet to see a Little Mac use down tilt > dash > jump-cancel up B to kill around 120-ish. Srsly use this, guys. It's pretty neat.

 

[jmjb]

so my question is, I noticed if I do a down smash where my fist hits the edge while someone's doing a cliff hanger, it only hits them on the 3rd hit. as in, I stand in place and down smash, nothing. I do it again without moving, nothing. I do it a 3rd time, bam, it makes contact and they fly away.
what's up with that?
so what can I use to hit someone hanging on the edge?

 

[LCC Son-in-Law]

so my question is, I noticed if I do a down smash where my fist hits the edge while someone's doing a cliff hanger, it only hits them on the 3rd hit. as in, I stand in place and down smash, nothing. I do it again without moving, nothing. I do it a 3rd time, bam, it makes contact and they fly away.
what's up with that?
so what can I use to hit someone hanging on the edge?

I believe you're not waiting for the invincibility frames to run out first. If you started trying to down smash them as soon as they grabbed the ledge, the third smash would hit about the time they loose invincibility frames. I've never had this problem when I dsmash after invincibility, so this is the only thing I can think of it being :x. Hope this helps.

 

[jmjb]

I believe you're not waiting for the invincibility frames to run out first. If you started trying to down smash them as soon as they grabbed the ledge, the third smash would hit about the time they loose invincibility frames. I've never had this problem when I dsmash after invincibility, so this is the only thing I can think of it being :x. Hope this helps.

it does thanks.

so I guess I need to stop then before they hit the edge, hmm

 

[STiCKYBULL3TZ]

If you time it correctly you can hit them with a Dsmash right before they even grab the ledge

 

[jmjb]

so after winning like 35 matches in a row with hitmonchan, I faced villager and got WALLED. can't touch that guy. he sets a tree wall in front of him, and spams rocket wood at me. hitmonchan can't do ****.
like I was winning in glory with both lives left 2/3 of all matchups, then villager swept me with barely any damage..

is villager hitmonchan's biggest counter?

 

[xJMANx]

so after winning like 35 matches in a row with hitmonchan, I faced villager and got WALLED. can't touch that guy. he sets a tree wall in front of him, and spams rocket wood at me. hitmonchan can't do ****.
like I was winning in glory with both lives left 2/3 of all matchups, then villager swept me with barely any damage..

is villager hitmonchan's biggest counter?

Shield off the rockets and stay away from the damn tree. Play the matchup a little slower and you should find more punishes.

 

[WeForgot]

How do you guys apply pressure to characters with tether grabs. I might not be playing patiently enough but I tend to get shield grabbed any time I use f-tilt or f-smash.

 

[Mrawesome48]

I lose every game against Little Mac. They just roll and dash attack or roll and jolt haymaker. I cant seem to get any damage in. When i try to camp they just roll to me and knock me off.

 

[KingTeo]

Learn to down smash. Especially with Peach. Long lasting downsmashes tend to get me, when I dash attack or try to roll to the other side of you. After that the key is to try and knock me off stage with an aerial. Grabbing out of shield is also a good strategy.373

 

[Moustachio]

If they spam dash attack and the jolt haymaker, respond with a shieldgrab. They both come out very fast, but the recovery time is very high. Learn to anticipate the attack, and shield at the right moment. Don't make it obvious by sitting there with your shield up, just waiting. You're likely to be punished if you do. If they spam roll, use sweeping attacks that cover both sides (usually your downsmash). As for a weakness you should exploit, many macs seem to react poorly to counters. If you have no counters (or if you're weak at using them), then get him off the stage, and gimp him with an attack. Watch carefully. If they use their 2nd jump while they're attempting to recover, if you can make a single hit, you'll usually kill them (unless they were already close enough to the stage to land or grab a ledge). If you have a quick ranged attack, this is typically more effective. I hope this helped. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[Wtfwasthat]

Just Jump.

 

[Funkermonster]

How do you get past projectiles of certain characters besides SideB? I've had trouble fighting Samus last night with her missiles and charge shots.

How do you guys apply pressure to characters with tether grabs. I might not be playing patiently enough but I tend to get shield grabbed any time I use f-tilt or f-smash.

Jump and punish if you expect the tether grab maybe? Grab them first instead of just Ftilts/Fsmashes?

EDIT: You don't have to use Ftilts for pressure, just found out! you can use Dtilts and jabs instead to help avoid tether grabs.