Good Secondary for Mega Man?

[BugDoctor]

Hey there everyone!

I'm mostly a lurker on this board, but I am a Mega Man main with a number of weird secondaries such as Wario and Bowser. I was just wondering what people's opinions are on a good secondary character for a Mega Man user? Frankly, I am having a lot of trouble dealing with a couple of select matchups, and am not sure who to use against them.

I am stubborn and have been trying to make the Blue Bomber work in every case, but some matchups involve playing pretty much perfectly, which is incredibly tough to do sometimes.

Anybody have thoughts on this? Honestly, Mario is the matchup I have the most trouble with. Alternatively, if anyone has some great ways to deal with that plumber, that would be interesting to hear as well. He seems too agile to reliably connect Z1gma and pwncall, gimping him is tougher than it seems and I wind up just getting hit most of the time instead, and it's more difficult to keep him at a distance than I ever thought it would be. Been thinking of picking up a sword user character or something to outspace him, but I don't know for sure.

Maybe I just need to get better at the MU, but I'm not sure. Anyway, just looking for some advice/thoughts on this. Thanks in advance!

 

[Mega-Spider]

I'd say Kirby is a good secondary. Kirby can help Mega Man with match ups like whereas Mega Man can help Kirby out with .
As for Mario, I can see characters like being a good secondary, since the Sonic v Mario match up is pretty even IMO, and some of Rock's other not so good match ups like Captain Falcon and Wario are easier for Sonic to take care of. Besides, and are the True Blue team.

 

[Unclesatan]

I use Kirby as a second, he's fun to use and seems to do well against the matchups I struggle with.

I would suggest at least learning some things about him and trying him out.

 

[BugDoctor]

Cool, thanks for the suggestions! I hadn't thought of Kirby, to be honest. I'll look into him for sure! I'm also sort of considering Shulk...I wanted to use him since the game came out and was hyped for him to be in, but I just focused more on other characters. Would he be a recommended one as well? I imagine his versatility might make him a good secondary in a lot of cases, but I'm not sure, haha!

Thanks again, will definitely try out Kirby since you both brought him up!

 

[Doctor_Panduck]

Personally, I use captain falcon and post-patch luigi as secondaries, let me explain why. I play a very defensive pellet zoning play style with bits of aggression. I don't fair well against defensive characters such as Falco and Zelda. I picked up falcon as a secondary to cover such match ups. Then I realized I have A big problem against Mario and fox. Both falcon and mega man have a problem being that they're both combo food. I picked up luigi because I believe people will sleep on post patch luigi and also he still has a big combo game at low percents, especially on fast fallers such as fox. The only MU I still have slight trouble with is pikachu.

That's my insight on the matter anyways

 

[Sneak Sneaks]

I have been looking for a secondary for some time now, one thing I consider i that if you use a top tier as a secondary you may just use him as your main, I currently use Kirby as a secondary but it seems Megaman and Kirby suffer from Yoshi and Mario, and I havent find any non toptier that beats Yoshi

 

[Mega-Spider]

I have been looking for a secondary for some time now, one thing I consider i that if you use a top tier as a secondary you may just use him as your main, I currently use Kirby as a secondary but it seems Megaman and Kirby suffer from Yoshi and Mario, and I havent find any non toptier that beats Yoshi

Sonic is a good secondary for both when it comes to Mario (especially since Sonic's one of Kirby's worst match ups), but not so sure about Yoshi.

 

[Sneak Sneaks]

Sonic is a good secondary for both when it comes to Mario (especially since Sonic's one of Kirby's worst match ups), but not so sure about Yoshi.

Yeah but if you are using Sonic as a secondary in the end it should become your main since he is just better than both

 

[BugDoctor]

Yoshi is definitely a tough one to beat. Some Yoshi users just seem to be everywhere on the stage at once. I can handle a lot of them with MM but a lot of others are wrecking machines.

 

[SanAntonioSmasher]

I wouldn't bother with a secondary. Mega man can fight any character, and doesn't have any huge character disadvantages (except shiek) IMO. Any time spent on a secondary is time away from practicing mega man. I only really started improving when I dropped my wario secondary and focused 100% on mega man.

Mario is tough for sure, especially with how quickly he can take you from 0 to +40%. But, he doesn't have great kill setups. He has to capitalize on mistakes, like bad landings. I play it very safe, and just whittle him down. Never challenge his ground smashes with fairs or bairs. Do lots of retreating aerials, and punish if he over commits. I often get kills with point blank nairs even. He is vulnerable offstage, so you just gotta be patient.

 

[Sneak Sneaks]

I actually think Megaman do needs a secondary, fighting Yoshi feels like being in a swimming race with an anchor attached

 

[Mega-Spider]

I wouldn't bother with a secondary. Mega man can fight any character, and doesn't have any huge character disadvantages (except shiek) IMO. Any time spent on a secondary is time away from practicing mega man. I only really started improving when I dropped my wario secondary and focused 100% on mega man.

Mario is tough for sure, especially with how quickly he can take you from 0 to +40%. But, he doesn't have great kill setups. He has to capitalize on mistakes, like bad landings. I play it very safe, and just whittle him down. Never challenge his ground smashes with fairs or bairs. Do lots of retreating aerials, and punish if he over commits. I often get kills with point blank nairs even. He is vulnerable offstage, so you just gotta be patient.

I usually take my time with match ups that aren't in Mega Man's favor. That way I won't make incredibly dumb rookie mistakes.

 

[Sorichuudo]

I actually think Megaman do needs a secondary, fighting Yoshi feels like being in a swimming race with an anchor attached

This is by far the best analogy you ever did XD

Again, i like playing C. Falcon, but for now i want to go solo Mega and see if i can at least make it out of pools _ _"
I don't think the Captain covers Mega's bad MU's, maybe he could fair a little better against Mario and Fox, but considering his recovery and the fact he is almost as good as a punching bag as Mega...

My point is, who do you guys think that can do good against Mario, Yoshi and Fox, who is not named Rosalina, Sheik, or Sonic?

 

[SanAntonioSmasher]

This is by far the best analogy you ever did XD

Again, i like playing C. Falcon, but for now i want to go solo Mega and see if i can at least make it out of pools _ _"
I don't think the Captain covers Mega's bad MU's, maybe he could fair a little better against Mario and Fox, but considering his recovery and the fact he is almost as good as a punching bag as Mega...

My point is, who do you guys think that can do good against Mario, Yoshi and Fox, who is not named Rosalina, Sheik, or Sonic?

Luigi might be a good option

 

[Sorichuudo]

Luigi might be a good option

Think he can handle those characters even now that he lost his free kill- i mean, his reliable dthrow setups?

 

[Sneak Sneaks]

Think he can handle those characters even now that he lost his free kill- i mean, his reliable dthrow setups?

Isn't Luigi superior to Megaman in everything but fighting zoners?

 

[Sorichuudo]

Isn't Luigi superior to Megaman in everything but fighting zoners?

Don't know. Pretty much all of his "potential" when people talked about it to me, was his dthrow combos and kills. I still think he is solid, still has good smashes and damage output, frame data etc, but since he no longers gets a guaranteed kill out of a grab, i don't know if he still "destroys Fox" as some people told me. Same thing to Yoshi and Mario. I guess if he goes at least even with them, i might consider him.

 

[Sneak Sneaks]

Don't know. Pretty much all of his "potential" when people talked about it to me, was his dthrow combos and kills. I still think he is solid, still has good smashes and damage output, frame data etc, but since he no longers gets a guaranteed kill out of a grab, i don't know if he still "destroys Fox" as some people told me. Same thing to Yoshi and Mario. I guess if he goes at least even with them, i might consider him.

Mmm maybe if he stops being so easy to play with I may choose him as a secondary

 

[Greward]

Anything that does good against Sheik / Fox / Mario / ZSS should be good as a secondary.
I'd add yoshi to the list of "dont pick megaman against those ever" too but that's just imo, haven't found a lot of support for this opinion.

Still i recommend to only pick a secondary once you have mastered your main. It's hard to master two characters at the same time.

 

[Sorichuudo]

Mmm maybe if he stops being so easy to play with I may choose him as a secondary

Same here. I do want a character to deal with some bad MUs but i do not want a "win button". Not that Luigi was literally a guaranteed win without any practice or skill, but those dthrow setups were still ridiculous.

Anything that does good against Sheik / Fox / Mario / ZSS should be good as a secondary.
I'd add yoshi to the list of "dont pick megaman against those ever" too but that's just imo, haven't found a lot of support for this opinion.

Well, not sure how bad it is since i only fought one good yoshi in friendlies(one of hour top players, also plays Ness), and well, i think it is bad. Not "Mario bad", but still tough.

 

[Sneak Sneaks]

What do you think Pit as a secondary?

 

[Greward]

What do you think Pit as a secondary?

Pit is a good secondary, he doesn't have super hard matchups and he's not very hard to play. Worse one is ZSS which is pretty bad for mega man too.
IMO he doesn't do too good against Fox or Mario either but they're winnable.

 

[Appledees]

How would Pikachu or Sonic work as secondaries

 

[BugDoctor]

I wouldn't bother with a secondary. Mega man can fight any character, and doesn't have any huge character disadvantages (except shiek) IMO. Any time spent on a secondary is time away from practicing mega man. I only really started improving when I dropped my wario secondary and focused 100% on mega man.

Mario is tough for sure, especially with how quickly he can take you from 0 to +40%. But, he doesn't have great kill setups. He has to capitalize on mistakes, like bad landings. I play it very safe, and just whittle him down. Never challenge his ground smashes with fairs or bairs. Do lots of retreating aerials, and punish if he over commits. I often get kills with point blank nairs even. He is vulnerable offstage, so you just gotta be patient.

Yeah I've been working on this and there are so many times when I can get a very good Mario to equal kill percent but then he always manages to get the kill before me since Mario's options are safer. I am trying my best to rep Mega Man 100% of the time but there are certainly some frustrating matchups. I never thought a super aggressive Mario would be as tough as he is.

I have trouble going off stage but I'm working on that. I used to just go out and bair/fair/nair, but lately I've fallen into the habit of zdropping and trying to leaf-gimp people. It's gotten to the point where I realize I need to do a mix of both. I also am freaked out about getting attacked/spiked as I go out there to get a hit in...but I guess that's what practice is for, right? Nairs would be great if I could land them reliably, but it can be tough to predict people accurately enough sometimes.

Funny how you say Wario was your secondary, haha! I use him too! My secondary right now is probably tied between him and Bowser. Might change, depending on if I get a new one or not.

 

[Sneak Sneaks]

After playing Pit a lot Im really starting to like how he plays, sniping arrows just feels awesome!

 

[Lufos]

I'm also looking for a secondary, not only for fighting certain match ups, but because some of my friends really HATE playing against him. Picking up a secondary for those moment, while also being good at some of my worse match ups seems like a good idea.

The ones I'm having most trouble with are:
Mario, Yoshi, Pika, and Falco. Especially Falco and Mario. Who do you guys think can cover those? I'd rather stay away from the obvious one, Sheik, because I don't like how she plays.

 

[BugDoctor]

Interestingly enough, the other day I was playing Smash with a friend and just for the heck of it, I decided to try out some of the top and high tier characters that everyone uses. When I used Mario for a few matches, it all became clear as to how he is so good. He literally feels like easy mode compared to Mega Man. Kills are easy to get, combos are simple as all hell, and it's generally a much easier time. I'm not going to switch to Mario or anything, but man, it really put things into perspective.

I know Mario users who say they have trouble dealing with Yoshi so he might be a possibility for you Lufos . He outspeeds Falco as well and can easily escape his combo game, and his projectile is not as direct so it may be easier to work in against him. As for dealing with Yoshi...it's tough to say in that case. I hate the Yoshi ditto, myself, but it's hard to find an alternate character that can deal with him well and isn't named Sheik.

For Pikachu, honestly use pellets a lot. It shuts down his projectile and his quick attack if he's approaching with that move, which leaves him with limited options for getting attacks in. I always pellet a ton in games (maybe too much, in some cases), but for Pikachu it works wonders. Punish his laggy smash moves with your powerful attacks and since he's so light, you'll be able to get the kills pretty early...particularly with the Mega Upper. Leaf shield is good for controlling him, too, and can make Pikachu users panic off stage and mess up their quick attack recovery. Sometimes they'll just outright kill themselves by accident, but mostly they will land on the stage rather than at the ledge, leading to a punish.

 

[Funkermonster]

Before the shieldstun patch, I used to like using as my 2nd. Greninja is a pretty technical character ever since he got his 1.0.4 nerf and I wouldn't exactly advise using him as a secondary since he's so difficult to play, and it was a pretty dangerous move for me to start playing both him and Mega Man but I went for it anyways.

Spoiler

In spite of their high learning curves, I found the two characters to synergize quite well for the most part with different enough gameplay and cover most of each other's bad MUs barring Sheik (Fox is also a bad MU for both characters, but not enough to worry about. Mega Man is a low risk, low reward character with a fantastic neutral game who can zone out more than half the cast for days and has great OoS options, but lacks offensive options with his situational kill moves and his damage output is weak as ****, not to mention he struggles at close range with too many laggy & gimmicky options. Greninja is a high risk high reward character with a huge, huge pool of combo options, decent kill options, and better close range abilities than MM; but his out of shield options are extremely weak with a crappy shieldgrab and nothing else to compensate, not to mention he has bad frame data and while his neutral is good, it isn't exactly Mega Man good. Greninja lost to and maybe , and I think its safe to say Mega Man did well against just about all of these. Imo Mega loses to and maybe but my Greninja was almost always able to back him up with these anyways, and overall both are just fun to play and it was a good team imo. But after this patch and us getting nerfed, I'm not really sure how well its gonna work anymore, I think the Pika and ZSS MUs got worse after this patch and we now have more common enemies, and not to mention Sheik is basically safer now and she already was a horrible MU to start with. After playing a real good Sheik in my scene I've come to realize how bad the MU really is and maybe my duo's just not gonna work well anymore and I might have to play someone else

Right now, I'm still playing these two but I'm looking at 3 alternatives if the nerfs fall to chaos.

But enough about that little story, for actual recommendations I'd say is a good choice, Pit is slightly better because of arrows but they're the same character overall so it doesn't really matter who. A well-rounded character who does almost everything well and has few truly good or truly awful matchups, he's an all-arounder with no special strengths and no truly detrimental weaknesses (except killing) and he's not too tough to play. To be good with Pit, you just gotta have good fundamentals and you don't have to worry about in-depth character knowledge or anything like that, and for the most part I think he does good or alright against most of our perceived bad MUs, even Sheik being a managable one. He definitely does not do well with Lucario though, so that could be a problems. Overall though, Pit's a fine 2nd for just about anybody.

 

[Lufos]

Thanks for your replies!

I was actually thinking about (much better victory theme than )... I've also been playing around with lately, but I'm not sure how he actually fares against the matchups I mentioned....

 

[Sneak Sneaks]

With Pit Ive been dping great against a friend who mains Mario

 

[uncaDon]

Make sure you know how to play a character that can deal with a) top tier chars and b) heavy camping

I put some more time into my Falcon lately and I notice it's a good way to overwhelm people after they narrowly beat my Megaman. However my true secondary is Ganondorf so yeah...