Help! Projectiles everywhere!

[Thy Knight]

"Bombs, boomerangs, ropes, lantern oil; you want them? They're yours my friend! As long as you have enough rupees."

I swear that quote rings in my head every time I face my brother in PM. My general character roster consists of: Bowser, Roy, Ganondorf and a little bit of Donkey Kong.

Now I'm making this thread because I really need some suggestions or tips against combating projectile-spam while playing as the one and only Bowser. I did notice there were threads discussing Bowser's strengths and weaknesses, but from what I saw, none of them hinted toward a strategy of facing someone who just loves to show you their vast arsenal of moves a hundred times over.

I feel at least some background information is necessary to describe my situation, so here goes:

In each installment of Smash Bros. that I play, the person that ends up being my "sparring buddy" is my little brother. (Not much younger than me mind you. He turned 5 years of age, okay!) Now my brother is the kind of player that wins by, and No John's here, gimmicks; not actual skill. In each Smash game, he would only use the C-Stick as his primary means of engagement, and if I so happened to be in the air while facing him then MAYBE, on the lunar eclipse when all the planets align perfectly with one another, he MIGHT use an aerial attack on me. Potentially. He's also quite fond of the B button as well. If I'm not in range of his smashes, then he would bait me with each and every projectile he has until I approach him.

Now sure you might not label that sort of play as being "gimmicky", or perhaps you would simply call me terrible for losing to such atrocious gameplay, or you might even go so far as to call me a cry-baby for looking down on or otherwise trashing another person's play style. Whichever category you fall under, I wish for you to consider one thing. The SALT is so real.

I wouldn't even be as salty as I am now if the ass donkey didn't trash talk throughout the whole match going into the next day! The thing is, he's been able to beat me in Melee by spamming Peach's horrible DSmash and in Brawl by using Diddy Kong's Bananas. And then he proclaims that he's some sort of a "Smash God." Blasphemy, I say!

Whew..That was a bit over the top, huh? I feel like someone is going to tell me that now thread doesn't belong here. Either way, I still want to know how to get around this projectile spam as Bowser. I manage to play decently enough against him with Roy, but any heavy in PM that I play just gets crushed by projectiles. P.S I know you can perfect/power shield them to reflect it back, but do I look like aMsA to you..?

Oh! The characters my brother uses are as follows: Link, R.O.B, Mario and Wario.

 

[Pluttergub]

Powershield the projectiles if he's too far away to punish with a dash attack. Dash attack through the projectiles if he's close enough to punish with a dash attack. Sounds like your brother isn't too concerned with spacing correctly, so as long as you stay near him you should be able to punish many of his attempted projectiles.

If you have trouble with powershielding, try binding your shield button to X or Y; I and many others find it significantly easier to perform consistently this way. With some practice (you should get plenty), powershielding really isn't that hard as Bowser.

 

[Thy Knight]

Powershield the projectiles if he's too far away to punish with a dash attack. Dash attack through the projectiles if he's close enough to punish with a dash attack. Sounds like your brother isn't too concerned with spacing correctly, so as long as you stay near him you should be able to punish many of his attempted projectiles.

If you have trouble with powershielding, try binding your shield button to X or Y; I and many others find it significantly easier to perform consistently this way. With some practice (you should get plenty), powershielding really isn't that hard as Bowser.

Alright then, thanks for the input. I'll do my best to time the shields properly, but I'll probably just get hit for trying it.

 

[meebius]

Use Bowser's superarmor to plow through projectiles

Take advantage of platforms if they're available and just kinda wait on top of the platform and wait for a chance to counterattack. They either have to jump or advance to hit you when you're on the platform It limits their options and most projectiles don't reach platforms

Don't let projectile characters have any space, leave just enough room where they'll be constantly pressured into getting hit

Powershield if you can because Bowser doesn't have too many movement options to move around projectiles easily

Apply pressure so they feel scared to throw out a projectile but don't go in too hard because you'll get punished, SPACING IS KEY

 

[Thy Knight]

Use Bowser's superarmor to plow through projectiles

Take advantage of platforms if they're available and just kinda wait on top of the platform and wait for a chance to counterattack. They either have to jump or advance to hit you when you're on the platform It limits their options and most projectiles don't reach platforms

Don't let projectile characters have any space, leave just enough room where they'll be constantly pressured into getting hit

Powershield if you can because Bowser doesn't have too many movement options to move around projectiles easily

Apply pressure so they feel scared to throw out a projectile but don't go in too hard because you'll get punished, SPACING IS KEY

Thanks for the suggestion! Hahah, it's funny because his favourite map is Final Destination for a reason. I have one question though. As Bowser, how in the world am I supposed to apply pressure? I can barely get to him, and when I do he just keeps flicking the C-stick down to smash me out. There's very little for me to do. What sort of attacks do you recommend I use to keep pressure? DTilt?

 

[meebius]

Bowser's worst stages are flats stages lol (Final Destination, Smashville, etc.)

He really needs those platforms for his movement so if you have the luxury, try to go to stages with platforms such as Battlefield

Apply pressure by being up in his face, but just out of the range of his moves
His dash dance is pretty small so it's difficult to do this, so I recommend getting used to insta-dash attacking because it will completely go through projectiles

Retreating fair, dash attack, grabs, and flame cancel are some basic ways to apply pressure with Bowser
but you shouldn't throw out moves unless you're sure they'll hit

 

[meebius]

Here's a good visual of what to do in the Link matchup
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBY_AXvEEjM

 

[Thy Knight]

Here's a good visual of what to do in the Link matchup
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBY_AXvEEjM

Thanks bud!

 

[Osmosis124]

Against Link, if he refuses to approach you run up shield is a decent approach if he does grab. Once you're close enough when he fires off a projectile punish with Dash attack and Forward air. Stay aggressive and always be on top of him. If he's Up B happy, try to read his tendencies to use the move and bait it out. If you Block the Up B when it starts you can get an easy punish with like fsmash or something.

With Rob run up shield works too. Make sure he doesn't get the opportunity to get a gyro out or grab you. At low percents you can use your neutral air to go through his. Edge guarding Rob is a matter of being consistent, keep hitting him with strong aerials and down tilt until he runs out of Up b's and side b's.

Mario is kinda a bunch of Dash Attacking and nair'ing. Once you get in on him you don't want to be super aggressive. I find the match up easier when you space him out and out right kill him.

I assume his Wario is very Side B happy. Find out the distance he likes to side B and block in preparation. Up B is a consistent punish along with forward tilt.

 

[Thy Knight]

Against Link, if he refuses to approach you run up shield is a decent approach if he does grab. Once you're close enough when he fires off a projectile punish with Dash attack and Forward air. Stay aggressive and always be on top of him. If he's Up B happy, try to read his tendencies to use the move and bait it out. If you Block the Up B when it starts you can get an easy punish with like fsmash or something.

With Rob run up shield works too. Make sure he doesn't get the opportunity to get a gyro out or grab you. At low percents you can use your neutral air to go through his. Edge guarding Rob is a matter of being consistent, keep hitting him with strong aerials and down tilt until he runs out of Up b's and side b's.

Mario is kinda a bunch of Dash Attacking and nair'ing. Once you get in on him you don't want to be super aggressive. I find the match up easier when you space him out and out right kill him.

I assume his Wario is very Side B happy. Find out the distance he likes to side B and block in preparation. Up B is a consistent punish along with forward tilt.

Hahah! It's like you've played him before. Thanks for tips everyone!

 

[Candypants]

Gonna sound harsh, but if you're losing to gimmicks you need to improve.

Take their strength, find a weakness in it and crush them.