chaddd
Smash Lord
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2006
- Messages
- 1,485
That's a complicated question but my advice would be to focus heavily on his many strengths.
I'll list some stuff for you.
-Invincible ledgehog and invincible ledge dash. You should be able to do these without trying.
-Platform abuse. Wavelanding off for back airs, up airs, and forward airs can all increase the appearance of his speed. Forward airs are the hardest.
-Multiple aerials per jump. This includes full jump double down airs, full jump triple back airs, and full jump triple up airs.
-The jab. No character can **** with the jab. If you jab them out of range, run up for a grab, any farther than that and you can forward tilt. If they happen to still be in range then you should most definitely just jab again. Get comfortable jabbing again as soon as possible after jabbing.
-Learn to back air and foward air (The Captain Hook) AROUND the ledge of the stage so that they hit an opponent either hanging vulnerable on the ledge or an opponent attempting to grab the ledge. This is done by controlling the descent and timing of your fast fall and short hop.
*******Lastly I'd suggest you learn the move set that works best for specific characters. Melee is really one of the only fighting games that works this way. You're better off not using certain moves nearly as often on certain characters, while the match up can be made MUCH easier by focusing on the abuse of a small section of his move set.
Here's a list of the best moves to focus on against the top tier characters:
**Captain Falcon**
-Forward-Up Tilt (not to be confused with the up-tilt)
-Back Air
-Instant Up Air
-Neutral Air (Yours out-ranges his. So does a VERY well timed Forward Air.)
(PRO TIP: Shield Dash ruins Falcon's spacing, and double jump down-b to intercept his up-b is an amazing way to get a low percentage stock)
**Fox**
-Jab. Jab. Jab. JAB. JAB. JAB. F****** JAB.
-Grab/Chain Grab
-Forward Tilt
-Retreating Forward Airs
(PRO TIP: Fake a jump off the ledge to force a Firefox and then get out there for a free shot. Also forward-down tilt will take out any Fox/Falco trying to sweet-spot the ledge with a Firefox.)
**Falco**
-Crouch Cancel Jabs. This includes crouch cancelling lasers. Sometimes it's better to take the hit for a free jab.
-Grab/Chain Grab
-Up airs. The back and the front are equally useful.
-Don't be afraid of the lasers. Remember that they leave him open when he's doing them.
(PRO TIP: Crouch cancelling and then jabbing the edge double laser is pretty much a free stock. If you don't have time to get positioned for it, you can always jump on top of Falco for a down air when he goes for it.)
(SPACE ANIMAL PRO TIP FOR ANY CHARACTER: NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER LET THEM LIVE ONCE THEY'VE BEEN FORCED TO FIREFOX.)
**Sheik**
-The grab can be Ganon's strongest tool in this matchup.
-Retreating Forward Airs
-Reverse Up Airs and WELL spaced offensive Up Airs.
(PRO TIP: Always stay moving and try to spend as little time on the ground as possible without making yourself vulnerable or giving away when you're going to use your double jumps. In this matchup a grab is a free stock for either side. Also remember to always grab the ledge once you get Sheik off the edge of the stage. If you're under 100% you can force an up b with the ledgeroll and still have time to punish. If you're on your game with the ledgehog you shouldn't have to worry about being hit with the Up B.)
**Marth**
-Back Air
-Instant and reverse Up Airs
-Pressure with Forward Airs
(PRO TIP: Ledgehog invincibility is vital in edge guarding Marth. You can force him to Up-B onto the stage and then ledgehop for a free grab. Standard as well as wavelanding reverse up airs is also the best way to discourage any Marth coming back to the stage.)
**Peach**
-Offensive and Retreating Forward Air
-Offensive Up Airs
-Back Airs
(PRO TIP: KEEP HER IN THE AIR. There isn't a single aerial she has that can prevent being hit by Ganondorf from underneath. If you can keep her off the ground then you have already won the game. And since every aerial pops her up this is pretty easy. Use wavedashing to stay directly under her when she's floating or using her umbrella. Try to avoid jabs that you would normally spam on her shield and in general because it will more often than not cause you to catch an unwanted turnip and take a hit to the face.)
**Jigglypuff**
-Wavelands/Wavedashes into tilts and jabs.
-Reverse Up Airs
-Carefully timed retreating and offensive forward airs. You need to be careful when you choose to do this because it could get you Wall of Pain'ed.
-Down Air and Up Airs. Try to stay above or below her. Your worst enemy is her Back Air.
(PRO TIP: Prepare to camp. You absolutely can't be too patient. There's really no point in going off the stage to edge guard because a kill on a Jigglepuff will almost always be a solid hit from center stage and instantly kill. Try to stay center stage and only leave the stage when you're sure you'll get the hit. As long as you can trade blow for blow you'll win.)
Ganondorf holds the capability to win any matchup if he plays it right. The main issue with running him 100% of the time is just that in certain scenarios involving lack of sleep, exhaustion, nervousness, and other issues. You tend to find that Ganondorf's mistakes have much more of an impact on his ability to win the game than the vast amount of high tier characters.
For instance, Fox produces around 200 actions around the same time Ganondorf produces roughly 30-40. One mistake from Fox may very well be punished, but due to his high number of actions it makes it much less likely to affect his overall game performance negatively than a character like Ganondorf.
My goal has always been to have characters available when I need them, and I believe that when I'm playing at the highest possible level of the meta game today that I would have equal control over both my characters if only for the sake of versatility.
Certain players I find it's better strategy to play Ganondorf against their high tiers because of their aggressive play styles. But typically if I'm playing a player who has a lot of experience against Ganondorf, like Lambchops for instance (who has trained with both Tipman and Linguini), it's much smarter for me to select a character with an equal number of options.
There is also the fact that Fox has a distinct advantage over Ganondorf against characters like Falcon and Sheik, where as the characters that give Fox trouble (like Samus, Ice Climbers, Donkey Kong, Peach, and Marth) are all pretty strongly in Ganondorf's favor.
Essentially my goal is to be able to play both my characters as well as one another so that I can apply that to my knowledge of my opponent for a stronger strategic advantage.
And you're right. Touching on what I said to Peepee just now, there are several matchups (both player and character) that I feel Ganondorf is a much stronger pick. Typically I prefer to play Ganondorf first and foremost and I will only switch if I feel the match wasn't close enough to risk picking him twice in a row.
But if I'm playing against someone who knows Ganondorf well enough to know how to call his actions often enough to make the matchup relatively even, I'd prefer for the matchup to remain relatively even while being able to maintain a greater number of options (playing as Fox).
Truthfully, it's a simple matter of counter picking as strategically as possible. While I feel that I could win against any character or player with Ganondorf if I performed flawlessly, at a certain level of pro competition I've come to the conclusion that playing as Fox affords me the luxury of accomplishing the exact same goal while only having to work 1/3 as hard as if I had picked Ganondorf.
It's a sad fact of the game at a certain level, and I'm confident I'll need an equally skilled Fox and Ganondorf in order to Top 5 regional or national level brackets. Just watch my videos from Winterfest and you'll see what I mean. I lost Fox dittos to Jman all day that day, and he put me into Loser's Brackets 2-0 when I picked Ganondorf both games. I simply decided I had nothing to lose by at least trying to play Fox even though I hadn't won any dittos against him all day, and it worked out in my favor. Alternatively, against M2K in the same bracket, I beat his Marth with my Ganondorf, at which point I had to switch to Fox to avoid being chain grab 4 stocked by his Sheik (which he actually did earlier that day). If my Fox had been stronger against Marth at that point then it could have easily been me playing Hungrybox for Loser's Finals.
Also pay close attention to the selections for the entire M2K set. By selecting Fox first, I greatly increased the chances that he would counterpick Marth, who I prefer to play against. It also allowed for the Ganon/Marth counterpick in the second match, and switching back to Fox increased the chances that he would stick with his already warmed up Marth as opposed to switching to a Sheik that he hadn't played yet during the entire set. With my character selection I was able to strongly influence my opponent's characters selection.
Truthfully my ultimate goal will always be maintaining the strongest and most strategic counterpick game possible. It's just how everyone at the highest level of play has managed to win so consistently and seemingly effortlessly, from Isai's Falcon/Sheik to Armada's Peach/Young Link. For example, if Armada had only played Peach at Genesis, then it's likely he would have just lost to Hungrybox, where if he only played Young Link he probably would have never made it far enough to play Hungrybox in the first place.
I also feel it's much more strategic for your opponent to be unable to determine your characters selection OR your strongest stage pick. It's undeniable that it's much easier to prepare for a match mentally and strategically when you already know your opponent's character selection. It's definitely much more of an advantage to do your best to remain unpredictable.
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