Throwback
Smash Lord
Let's look at some of Samus' properties:
- extremely low landing lag (bar fair)
- great (equal highest maybe?) aerial braking speed (I'll find the reference somewhere if ppl want proof)
- sloooow falling speed
- fast dash startup
- amazing shield-stab with nair (truly incredible, you have to try it).
Basically, HM is slow and it autocancels. That means it gives samus something she desperately needs: time. It also lets her frametrap with HMC -> dash-grab. Sadly that trap is balls as soon as your opponent starts spot-dodging. However, samus can capitalise on HMC in soo many ways, paricularyl nair to shield-stab and uair/zair to beat pretty much any aerial moves.
Using HMC approaches a LOT is aggressive, it puts your opponent under heaps of pressure and it puts you in a great stage position. It's the key to good samus play imo - it balances out her very beatable keep-away.
Here's an example: Your opponent is falling from a highish position, towards you but will land just inside max zair range. They know they can't do anything to you, and so do you. It's simple to rising zair in this situation, but anyone who knows samus will air-dodge it (and falling zair will be shielded because it takes too long). In this situation, a HMC approach is guaranteed and keeps the momentum in your favour.
Anyway I know this post is badly organised so I will be cleaning it up as time permits. The point is, use & abuse HMC approaches, but not to dash-grab.
- extremely low landing lag (bar fair)
- great (equal highest maybe?) aerial braking speed (I'll find the reference somewhere if ppl want proof)
- sloooow falling speed
- fast dash startup
- amazing shield-stab with nair (truly incredible, you have to try it).
Basically, HM is slow and it autocancels. That means it gives samus something she desperately needs: time. It also lets her frametrap with HMC -> dash-grab. Sadly that trap is balls as soon as your opponent starts spot-dodging. However, samus can capitalise on HMC in soo many ways, paricularyl nair to shield-stab and uair/zair to beat pretty much any aerial moves.
Using HMC approaches a LOT is aggressive, it puts your opponent under heaps of pressure and it puts you in a great stage position. It's the key to good samus play imo - it balances out her very beatable keep-away.
Here's an example: Your opponent is falling from a highish position, towards you but will land just inside max zair range. They know they can't do anything to you, and so do you. It's simple to rising zair in this situation, but anyone who knows samus will air-dodge it (and falling zair will be shielded because it takes too long). In this situation, a HMC approach is guaranteed and keeps the momentum in your favour.
Anyway I know this post is badly organised so I will be cleaning it up as time permits. The point is, use & abuse HMC approaches, but not to dash-grab.