How are you approaching with the Koopalings?

[Shiznaz]

Every move of Jr's seems slow and really easy to punish if shielded.

To me this makes Junior always fail at approaching with a forward air, SideB into Drill. Using a Mechakoopa as a front line... All of it doesn't work against a more competent player.

I've tried spacing with forward airs but most characters moves can go straight through it's wacky hit-box. Plus if you fast fall too quick it'll lag you to the end of days. Junior though, seems to be able to punish people who approach who are NOT quick on their feet, making him excel against heavies and predictable characters like Little Mac.

So, feel free to share with me your techniques to approaching a campy enemy fellow Clowncopters.

In the beginning I was approaching with car all day, and then more competent players and people learning came through and now it's impossible to break them with car-cancelled jumps and other things involving it.

 

[Exegguter]

Dash shield to get in. Observe what they do.

Clown car cancel informt of them, to see what they do (drop a mecha upclose if they jump away).

Bair retreats.

Hold mechakoopa as an item and throw it than get close to them.

Walk behind a mechakoopa.

Dashattack/dash throw/carjump/dash usmash for siderollers.

Jr. Doesn't really have that much problems with approaching except against characters like Rosalina/Zss. Those are a pain imo and his worst matchup.

Jr is all about traps and space control. Once you control space you will have no problems hitting your opponent.

Edit: only use fair when you're hangig on the ledge (down, jump, fair). To get on the stage safely if they're edgeguarding. Its hitbox is really long so it's a good tool for it.

Other than that you should use it in combos after car/dair/mechakoopa hit (regular koopa not item throw).

 

[423]

I fine that if you if you side-b and jump before you hit them, you have a couple of options, so try looking into that.

Although, don't forget that 1) you can let opponents come to you and 2) you don't need to approach immediately. Distracting them with mechakoopas I find can be useful.

 

[platomaker]

If you side B to test them and then get launched, you won't be able to side B again until you land, if you land. Its easier to try poking their defenses instead and use your plethora of projectiles to get the job done.

 

[Auroura]

I feel like I'm encountering the same issue really. I've having a difficult time against characters with a lot of projectiles like Link/Toon Link. Rosalina is a difficult matchup for me too. Perhaps I'm just inexperienced But I usually find myself on the defensive, and if they've got the lead already then they have no real need to ever approach me. I will take some of the tactics mentioned here and see how it works for me in the future.

 

[ndayday]

Nah, you're right. I played a TL that was good I'm sure but they just projectile spammed against me the entire time. You can't koopa kart them or jump cancel koopa kart. You can sometimes sneak a mkoopa by but usually they get blown up. you walk towards them and he'll hold a bomb and jump over you to avoid you going for a up air or aerial. You dash and shield and they just run away again. They were absolutely mind numbing matches, like sure you can build damage but it really just seems like the kind of match where winner would be decided by percent aka not fun. Same with Samus, I'm sure Link is the same but I haven't played any good Rosalinas really.

 

[Overmaster]

Mecha Koopas really help facilitate our approaches. The cannonball, if they are choosing to be campy, can often trade projectiles favorably. (Such as against Rosalina.) Clown Car mindgames are usually the best, between ram, spin out, and cancel.

Bowser Jr. is a rushdown character, so it should not be too hard.

 

[T-block]

I really really disagree with Bowser Jr. being a rushdown character. In fact, I agree with Shiznaz in that Bowser Jr. has a tough time approaching a lot of characters. Thankfully, there actually aren't that many characters who absolutely force us to approach.

For most matchups, you don't really need to think about approaching. When I'm playing well, I find I'm picking options to shut down my opponent's approach rather than finding ways to approach myself. Some good keep-out options are

• Run away pivot f-tilt
• U-tilt anti-air
• Retreating f-air/b-air (autocancelled obvs)
• D-tilt to cover landings
• Projectiles (if you find your opponent is adept at picking up the Mechakoopas, you need to adjust and stop letting them march towards him in neutral positions... only take them out if you have them pressured, or are intending to pick them up)

Of course, that's not to say you need to run away and camp for the entire timer duration. Threaten the side-b rush in once in a while to keep them on their toes. However, my experience has been that side-b as an approach in neutral with the intention of landing a hit from the charge or a follow-up aerial is actually, all in all, a BAD option. Good players deal with that easily, either hitting you before you can reach them, or using an OoS option to hit you after you jump. Side-b is much more effective when you use its speed to bait out a reaction (ie- charge towards, and hop backwards staying just out of their range). Only once you think you have a good feel of HOW they're going to react to your approach would I recommend actually entering their range with side-b, whether it's the spin-out, an aerial, or a cross-up aerial.

 

[platomaker]

I don't suppose anyone here has tried the custom move sets for the koopalings? They can be a rush down with enough support and if they control the field. Mechakoopa is one front- more like insurance. But the air-cannon can disrupt some camp games- and that's all you really need. Get them out of position, approach, rinse and repeat if you must. If all else fails you still have a fork.

 

[B!ggad]

I just "discovered" something, which seems to be very jr specific:

After you turn around from your run and continue to run in the opposite direction, you have a surprisingly huge window to input literally any move you want.

Test it our for yourselves, it gives you every option out of a RUN for a "short but still way longer than you'd think and long enough for it to be useful" period of time.

I tried it with like 5 other characters and their window for this isn't even comparable, I don't know if there even are other characters who can do this just as well.

 

[Kit Cal-N]

I just "discovered" something, which seems to be very jr specific:

After you turn around from your run and continue to run in the opposite direction, you have a surprisingly huge window to input literally any move you want.

Test it our for yourselves, it gives you every option out of a RUN for a "short but still way longer than you'd think and long enough for it to be useful" period of time.

I tried it with like 5 other characters and their window for this isn't even comparable, I don't know if there even are other characters who can do this just as well.

Everyone can do this, but Bowser Jr has huge window, yes.

 

[platomaker]

Any move? like that notorious forward smash?

 

[MarioMariox2]

Question, can you combo dair into multiple running dairs at low %s?

 

[zDuck]

A simple trick is spawning a mechakoops behind you, then running with it after it turns around to approach. This forces the opponent to either jump or shield which gives you an opportunity to punish.

 

[Exegguter]

Question, can you combo dair into multiple running dairs at low %s?

Last hit of the downair will cause a techable knockdown. If they don't tech: yes. Almost everything even smashes comboes.
If they tech, dash usmash always works if the backroll tech. If they frontroll tech standing still with usmash works as well.

If you fully hit a dair at low % only bair/fair combos iirc.

 

[T-block]

U-tilt also seems to combo off d-air on some characters at 0%.

 

[Conda]

A simple trick is spawning a mechakoops behind you, then running with it after it turns around to approach. This forces the opponent to either jump or shield which gives you an opportunity to punish.

By accident, this can work out entertainingly. Ive dropped a mech and then right away approached or had to deal with an approach. Dropping the mechkoopa is like INSURANCE - if you start getting combod, your mechkoopa can come in from offscreen (camera doesnt keep it in crop like Luma or duck hunt's Can) and save you. If you are doing fine, then sometimes that mechkoopa just adds to a combo or provides some additional pressure.

Insurance!