How does the whole grabbing game work?

[C3CC]

It may be a silly question, but here I go.

I don't understand how the grabbing game works. Sure, I get the basics, like grabbing the enemy, pummeling it and throwing it on an appropriate direction. The thing I don't get is the how the whole release thing works. I used to think that it depended on the enemy's damage: the higher the damage, the harder it is for them to get off the grabber's hands. But sometimes, when I'm playing against level 9 computers, I've seen that their damage meter goes past 100% and they get released immediately after I grab them, not even giving me the chance to pummel them even once.

That said, what do I have to do to release myself from a grab quickly? I mean, how do I do it as fast as the computers do? Sometimes I just mash A but it just doesn't work very well. I don't know if it depends on the character I'm using or whatever. By the way, my mains are Rosalina, Charizard, Yoshi and Palutena, so any tips on their grab games will be much appreciated (especially Palutena, whose grabbing SUCKS).

Any help will be appreciated

 

[Dr. James Rustles]

Pummeling extends grab time, and the victim pressing any button will decrease the grab time. CPUs cheat with their input - they have no physical limitations.

 

[SlyChoober]

I'm kind of in the same boat as you, at around 150% I can land two pummel hits and some have managed to escape immediately after..I think if you rotate both analog sticks you could get out of a grab much quicker, or just button mash not sure

 

[Mysteltainn]

Level 9 CPUs in general are just mean and terrible for almost everything, in the sense that they have inhuman reactions, mechanics and read actual button inputs rather than humans who rely on reads instead. To top it off, they aren't even good to train on at all since everything they do is so inhuman.

As for normal Grab mechanics. I believe your initial interpretation is correct (at least against normal players that you'll run into on For Glory / For Fun). The lower percentage you or your enemies are, the easier they can escape the grab, meaning that lower percent grabs must be followed up very quickly with the character's most favourable throw, and follow up to combo. An example of favourable throws is Palutena for example, who most ideally wants to use D-Throw at lower percentages so that you can follow up with some F-Air strings, N-Air or even a U-Smash in some cases. Luigi can use multiple attacks after a D-Throw, Mario can use multiple U-Tilts and a short-hop U-Air or U-Smash, Ness can use D-Throw followed by multiple F-Airs, U-Airs or N-Air, the list goes on and on with most characters. As percentages go higher, the character becomes "weaker", and cannot escape as easy, even when mashing buttons, and in turn fly further away when thrown. This means that at higher percentages, it's best to pummel as much as you feel you can get away with, and then use a killing Throw (Palutena's for example would be her D-Throw -> quick Dash -> U-Air, Ness' B-Throw, etc).

 

[Zeafling]

As quilt said, playing against a LV 8-9 CPU is quite different from playing against people online, in my opinion at least. They air dodge stuff they shouldn't, don't run into smashes as often, and grabs don't really work on them unless you throw instantly. As for getting out of grabs, pressing in different directions and mashing any button that is assigned (besides taunt, I think) will get you out faster than you normally would.

 

[C3CC]

Thanks for your help, everyone! Now I know that it's just not that easy, it's just that CPUs are cheap.

Level 9 CPUs in general are just mean and terrible for almost everything, in the sense that they have inhuman reactions, mechanics and read actual button inputs rather than humans who rely on reads instead.

THIS IS SO TRUE. The ease with they dodge aerial attacks is insane. I once threw a Marth very up high in the screen and immediately jumped with Rosalina to try and kill him with a U-air and guess what, he dodged it. I then went for a D-Air, he dodged it. Then a B-air, he dodged it. I tried again with a D-air to try and at least TOUCH him before we hit the ground, and he dodged it again. Freaking thing dodged FOUR AERIAL ATTACKS CONSECUTIVELY.

 

[Firehyphen]

Level 9 CPUs in general are just mean and terrible for almost everything, in the sense that they have inhuman reactions, mechanics and read actual button inputs rather than humans who rely on reads instead. To top it off, they aren't even good to train on at all since everything they do is so inhuman.

All smash CPU's Suck

 

[maxpower1227]

I used to play against Level 9 every time I played the CPU, but in Smash 4 they're just not really that much fun to play against. I usually top out at Level 7 now. Haven't played against any of my Level 50 amiibos yet.

 

[dirtydog275]

I used to play against Level 9 every time I played the CPU, but in Smash 4 they're just not really that much fun to play against. I usually top out at Level 7 now. Haven't played against any of my Level 50 amiibos yet.

My Mario amiibo just hit 50. It might be as hard as fighting a lvl 9 but its a tad more realistic. They learn from human input but they are still computers and can read button inputs ._.

 

[3870x2]

To be fair, the level 9 CPU doesn't provide much of a challenge in the first place, but the air dodges can get really annoying from time to time.