Excitement for Bowser

[Mr. Odd]

When Melee first came out, I was really excited to play as Bowser. Unfortunately, he was not that good. I have played a bit of 3DS Smash, and I absolutely love the tweaks they made. My only disappointment is that his air-down-A and down-B are so similar. What are everyone else's thoughts?

 

[James N.]

Well, down A and down B have two distinct differences. Down A has you move up in the air a bit before you slam down so you can fake out people a bit with that. You can also slightly steer it. Down B breaks shields which for Bowser means you basically get a free kill. It's more of a prediction move. I do agree with you though, new Bowser is a monster. I wanna try him in the WiiU version just because it'll be easier to do some more technical things there.

 

[aguyuno]

He's amazing. I'm enjoying the hell out of him. Just wish we could get for glory that's not on these flat-ass stages...

 

[FEFIZ]

He suicid is very good!

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

He suicid is very good!

Nope, the victim can control its direction..... Bowser-cide has been nerfed

 

[James N.]

Nope, the victim can control its direction..... Bowser-cide has been nerfed

Even in Brawl the victim could control the direction.

 

[Mr. Bones]

Even in Brawl the victim could control the direction.

Yeah. In both cases, the target can control where you go if they're even/lower percents in relation to you. Just get them a little higher if you want a free kill...but hell, at that point most of Bowser's attacks will kill them without the flying slam anyway.

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

Even in Brawl the victim could control the direction.

I forgot about it in Brawl because I barely play Bowser in that game...

 

[LunarWingCloud]

It took three games, but finally, it's time to be afraid of the monster!

 

[Netherfall]

If anything the only problem I have with Bowser is against extremely fast characters with combo capabilities like Sonic, but that's why other characters exist. I mean it's *somewhat* winnable but its so stacked heavily against you its not worth the hassle. Maybe I just need to play more of them?

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

It took three games, but finally, it's time to be afraid of the monster!

You forgot every Mario game.......

 

[Mr. Bones]

If anything the only problem I have with Bowser is against extremely fast characters with combo capabilities like Sonic, but that's why other characters exist. I mean it's *somewhat* winnable but its so stacked heavily against you its not worth the hassle. Maybe I just need to play more of them?

Sonic isn't extremely stacked against Bowser. What are you having the most trouble with in that MU specifically?

 

[The Stoopid Unikorn]

If anything the only problem I have with Bowser is against extremely fast characters with combo capabilities like Sonic, but that's why other characters exist. I mean it's *somewhat* winnable but its so stacked heavily against you its not worth the hassle. Maybe I just need to play more of them?

Faster characters usually lack projectile, so use your Neutral-B to rack up damage whenever he gets close, but don't overuse it, Bowser need to recharge his fire.

 

[Netherfall]

Sonic isn't extremely stacked against Bowser. What are you having the most trouble with in that MU specifically?

Mainly the time to land kill moves. I can stop his approaches fine with ground fire and OOS fortress/ shield grabs if he decides to dash towards me like an idiot. If he stands too far out I tend to bait his approach by dashing forward just outside his range and get a feel for his movements. It's just when I get the chance to counter its normally only jabs or grabs and not a stronger move like ftilt or dtilt before hes out of my range. It could just be input lag from FG or just not being familiar with Sonic since I've only seen him maybe... 3 times total?

 

[Mr. Bones]

Basically it's a war of attrition, but we can win it just fine. You can dash forward, shield, see if you bait his rolls. You can catch his roll towards you with a pivot f-tilt or just Up-B. Punish roll-away or spot dodges with Fire.

Best time to kill him is off stage. Bowser can go pretty far out/down and still make it back if you keep his second jump. Bait his Up-B with an empty jump, because they'll almost always use it to escape your hit. Catch him on the ground after he uses it. If they keep their double jump, you can catch the double jump with your own double jump into Up-Air.

Just keep pressuring him off stage and catching him with he lands. If he tries to recover low with Up-B, just RAR off-stage and stage-spike him with Fair. It's easier to hit with than Bair. If he recovers high and you bait out his Up-B with empty jump, just follow his air movement from the ground and try to catch his fall with Up-Smash.

 

[S_B]

Nope, the victim can control its direction..... Bowser-cide has been nerfed

They could always control it, but seriously, shorthop off the ledge for a mid-air claw FTW...

I've surprised a number of people with this already. I still need to test if "crocodiling" still works (aka jumping while hanging from the ledge, grabbing the person off the ledge and taking them down with you).