Gonna play a Snake...What should I watch out for?

[EarthMLG]

I never played a Snake player before is there anything I should out for?

 

[BND]

Literally everything, if they know what they're doing. If you haven't played a Snake before, it's probably going to be a 0-100 matchup for you unless you're Marth and they have bad DI + spacing, in which case it turns into a combofest. (Still have no idea how Mango won against Prof)
(Alternatively, if you play some similarly-hard-to-adapt-to characters that they've never played against, it's a bit better)

...Most beginner-level snakes like to spam mines, though. That can easily be neutered with dash in -> shield, since it gives you a protective hitbox too (since Snakes can be hit with their own mines).

...I guess you should also watch out for the tranq. It's a novelty thing, but it works if you're grounded. (Jumping frequently, mashing out, or shielding on reaction (recommended) act as counters to this; tranqs at midrange should only matter at 70%+ or so)

 

[Ninjagamer1234]

As a PM Snake player I recommend not letting them get to the other side of the stage. They will lay C4, launch mortars and grenades. The "gimmick" with Snake is stage control. You just just let him get in control of the stage when this happens you have pretty much shut him down. Also look out for d-throw tech chases that can be combo'd in to up-throw u air then detonate sticky. Those are the basics, the poster before me got it down pretty good

 

[BND]

If your character has any competent projectile (E.G. any fireball, lasers), having Snake on the other side of the stage is probably the best positioning you could want. Grenades are the only projectiles Snake has (barring tranq, which does 1 damage; you're also going to have a hard time getting in there to capitalize on the sleep if you've walled yourself in), and they don't detonate on impact: unless you're really darn good at cooking them, you're going to have a hard time finding someone who's afraid of them for very long. With that being said, grenades will clank with most projectiles, which actually bounces them back at the Snake (potentially clearing their mines and forcing them to shield if it clanks close enough to Snake). The general consensus is that Snake's scariest when he's up there, wailing on you/your shield.
tl;dr unless the other character doesn't have projectiles, Snake's probably going to be the one approaching. He can ignore many projectiles with his crawl, and a lucky grenade explosion results in decent damage, but he doesn't have much going for him in terms of camping on one side of the stage.

 

[IonescoBasco]

Don't let Snake control the momentum of the match. Punish his linear recovery. You can shield and airdodge the mines. Tranq won't knock you out during short hops. Listen for the grenade pin if they're getting too fancy with them.

 

[cisyphus]

Honestly Snake is too organic of a character to blanket like this: I've watched a lot of Prof and Rolex lately and the difference in their styles is huge. He's too flexible to say "just camp him out" or "don't let him camp"—evident by the completely contrary recs given here. BND plays a grenade heavy, aggressive Snake so he's going to speak on that subject. I play a more patient, bait-and-punish Snake so I'm inclined to speak of that, but I'm starting to realize more fully that a good Snake won't limit himself to one or the other. Play the player, not the character. The major assets Snake has:

- Stage control via explosives: mine, C4, grenade, and mortar shells cover entire platform lengths if properly placed.
- Great on block options like Cypher, Grab, C4, nair, dair, and grenades
- Massive combo potential out of Cypher (basically a free aerial) and Grab (with chaingrabs and techchases readily available.
- Good range via down tilt, crawl tilt, nair, fair, bair, uair...

see which of these your opponent depends upon most and use your assets to limit their viability.