Well why don't we discuss how G&W plays right now first before we try to come up with ways to improve him? For instance, what characters can you safely approach with bair? What matchups do the use of neutral A benefit the most and why? How should one follow up a grab? We should at least have a clarification of G&W's playstyle before brainstorming elsewhere. It should also be done from the perspective of top tier matchups, being vs MK, Snake, Falco, DDD, Marth.
EDIT: I think the first thing I want to do is argue against the topic creator with respect to some of the things he said in his initial post. I'm going to quote JustKindaBoredUKno:
A Bored Dude said:
His fair is punishable. It was a lot of cool down, doesn't link into anything, unless you're playing a heavy character, and you unsweetspot it into a sweetspot. Saving it for a killing move is hardly useful, because using it above far above the ground can make it dodgeable and too close to the ground = punished.
Edgeguarding. Other than that it's not really useful and I can't argue with what you've said.
His n-air is only good for juggling and good players can DI away.
Only good for juggling? First of all, that's false. It's an amazing move to use on any character that jumps, it has a hitbox all the way in front of and behind G&W's head. It's also great when someone's near the edge while you're trying to get back on. It's even a good edge camp move that not even MK can do much about.
Secondly, even if it
was only good for juggling that is enough of a reason to say it's a good move. Marth's uair is only good for juggling, but no-one's going to say it's a crap move because it's not really punishable when used properly and it supports juggling - which is a key component of Brawl, no questions asked. G&W's nair supports his uair making a powerful juggling game. You wanna know how to completely wreck Olimar? Get under him and uair, then nair. The whistle will not save him.
His b-air is good, that can't be argued.
Actually, it can. Since it's by far his most useful approach move, that means the other player knows it's coming and will specifically try to get around it as it's happening, and it lasts so long that it gives him more time to react so long as they avoid the move correctly. Snake and MK are G&W's two hardest matchups. Why are they his hardest matchups? One big reason is because he can't freely approach with bair.
His d-air is a poor spiking move. If used from above its shield-grabable.
Since when did we evaluate a dair, or any move, upon the criterium of whether it's a good spiking move? His dair is so good that almost no character can juggle him for any length of time. How is this not a supreme advantage?
His u-air is good at juggling, but doesn't even damage, so beyond stalling how good is it really?
His u-air is good at juggling, and often leads into nairs or if they airdodge near the ground and you meet them there, you can do whatever you want. Most often than that it's just good for nair damage and if they're too close to you they CAN get hit by uair, and they get sent extremely high. I've killed MK with this move multiple times.
His tilts are poor. His up-tilts can juggle at low damages, but thats about it. Nothing can lead into anything like most other characters' tilts, and they by no means KO. the only real tilt useable is d-tilt, and thats hardly situationable.
His tilts are not the best, but they're not "poor". They get the job done, but aren't very special. His dtilt does its job at being a great defensive move that can disrupt an approach, and often in close quarters it is the best move to use, since it has more range than any move that G&W can use in front of him except his fair. Running backward into bair is can get predictable and takes longer. His ftilt is very situational I'll give you that, but this is no real fault of G&W, most ftilts are situational except MK and Snake who can use them as approach or to effectively disrupt approaches, oh wait they're the best characters..... :X. His uptilt is extremely underused by the way. It's the only move he has on the ground that does what his uptilt can do. What other move can you use on the ground that lets you follow up with juggling? What other move can be used if they fall on you that ends faster than their airdodge and can then lead into you getting a free grab if they did? What other move can you use out of a spotdodge that is going to knock them up on a platform and give you stage control? Don't say upsmash.
He's light, can die low unless you're godly at DIing.
Even if you DI, he still dies low relative to other characters with equal DI skills. G&W is very light and will die early no matter what, this is just a fact. You can also say the same about MK, what's your point?
His moves really can't combo, so as long as you dodge you seem to be ok.
His moves aren't any worse at combo'ing than any other character, save MK. And dodging against G&W's bair, nair or dtilt, all pretty good moves, is never a very good decision.
My g&w has only done worse around here lately.
I'm sorry, use MK or Snake. Or use Falco against Snake and DDD.
