vato_break
Smash Master
Hello there mario boards! Vato_break here and today i'm here to tell you what you guys should be looking for in matches and things you should be doing. It's no secret that the metagame is evolving and in this evolution alot of characters are being left behind and one of those characters is mario! Mario's metagame, in my opinion, has not quite peaked yet, there are quite a few things mario's can work on and this is this threads purpose. I'm not the best mario main by any means, this is just in my opinion and if you feel that i'm wrong feel free to discuss that in this thread.
Mario's Fireball
As we all know mario's fireball is probably one of the greatest things in his move-set. What's so great about it is that he can Approach, Camp, Combo/Followup, Edgegaurd, Space, Fireball Induced hitlag, ect. That's alot of things mario can do just with one move!
Camping: There are a 2 reasons you want to camp. First being that you want to build damage and the other being to force an approach. Using fireballs to build damage is a great way to rack up percent because, in my opinion, mario is best played as a poke/punish character. You poke in damage and punish your opponent for mistakes. Forcing you opponents to approach means your opponents has to whiff something or take damage, almost anything whiffed can be countered by mario. Every time you are camping you should THINK. If he does A I will counter with B but, always mix it up if possible. For example, you throw a fireball and they throw out an attack, punish it. Same goes if they sheild it, PUNISH. Camping with mario can lead to great success and it's one of the reasons Flameleon(one of the best mario's) is very successful.
Comboing: Lets face it, brawl has very little combos but, you can link attacks with fireballs. One example would be Wavebouncing a fireball into your opponent to dsmash or grab. The reason this is so good is because it put you very close to your opponents and allows you to capitolize on the very little hitstun fireballs give. This is similar to diddy kong's glide tossing into opponents with banana. It puts you close to them so you can grab them if they sheild and you can grab them if they have a slow sheild grab, like olimar. The fireball wavebounce gives you enough hitstun so you can connect another hit, other combos include Fireball>Ftilt/jab/uptilt/fsmash/dsmash basically anything I think.
Approaching: When using mario's fireballs to apprach be very safe! As always, THINK when you approach. You have many options after throwing a fireball. You should be using fireball approaches the same way you would when you camp. If he does A counter with B. You have many options after throwing a fireball. You can walk, which gives you the most Viable options, Out of walk you can pretty much do anything. From a run your options are more limited but, this doesn't mean running is bad. From a run you can Bair(rar'd), dair, upair, nair, dashgrab, dashattack, and sheild->sheildgrab/roll/spot dodge. For instance one thing I like to do, especially against snakes, is throw a fireball and run in with running shield and react as fast as I can, if I see that he's going to sheild grab me I spotdodge and buffer my next move if I see he's still sheilding i'll sheildgrab fthrow and this leave's him in a very bad position as from this point he can potentially be gimped. Always mixup your approach against a smart player, if you see your beggining to get punished, it's time to get mix it up. Think of mario's fireball like a minature wall and you should follow this wall, and surprise your opponent with something they won't expect. Approaching is always risky because of the defensive nature of brawl so always, THINK!
Edgegaurding: I, myself don't edgegaurd with fireballs very often but, when i do i use them against people who recover low. Using Short hop, Full hop, and Double Jump Fireball you can cover alot of range offstage and hit opponents from almost any angle as long as they are below you. Also I'll add that the fireball pressure when your opponent is on the ledge is VERY good. It really limits their options on the ledge and pressure's them to get back on stage or else they'll receive more damage, this even works even better if the receive RCO lag. Punish all of your opponents options after fireball pressure! They ledgejump? You cape/upair. They Get up? You fsmash/put them back off stage. They get up attack? You sheild and punishe.
Spacing: Use fireballs to space yourself from your oppoent.
Induced hit lag: Same way Fludd induced hit lag works applies in a weaker form for Fireballs. Fireballs can also be hit through so keep that in mind when using them.
The Cape
The Cape is alright to me, honestly i feel like the cape is a kind of overrated tool and isn't as good as people make it out to be. It's pretty situational and in some matchups it's an OK tool to use but, it is still a viable part of mario's moveset and must be acknowledged. The main problem with the Cape, in my opinion, is that is lacks RANGE and isn't that fast but, mainly the lack of range. Alsoit comes out at a okay speed but, the cooldown will lead to a punish is blocked or if you missed. This move would be so good if it had more range(similar to zss) but, this is what we got. The Cape has 3 main functions; Reflecting projectiles, Turning people around, and Recovering.
Before i get in depth with this particular aspect of the cape keep in mind Power sheilding is the better option at times. For instance, think to yourself; is whiffing cape worth the reflection? What i mean by this does the pro outweight the con? Is using cape worth the potential punish?
Reflecting projectiles: Now there are some projectiles that do not need to be reflected but, instead powershielded is the better option and vice-verse.
Projectiles that should be reflected; KO projectiles(Aura sphere, Charged Shot, ect), High Priority Projectiles(Turnips, Banana Peels, ect), Ness.
Projectiles that should be powersheilded; Low priority Projectiles(Peanuts, Fireballs, ect), Projectiles that won't reach if reflected(Wolf's Blaster, Snakes nades, ects).
Keep in mind Cape will blow up explosive projectiles if used normally, to avoid this, cape backwards so you can avoid blowing projectiles up.
Turning people around: this is something that I don't see people do that often anymore! The cape is good at turning around people who throw out hitboxes that have little or no disjoint. Moves with little disjoint include; Donkey kongs Ftilt, Robs ftilt, and moves in general that you can outspace or outrange. For example, you can do a retreating sh cape against donkey kongs bair, if spaced correctly you will cape him around and not be harmed, though this does require good spacing, so if you believe you will get hit it's not worth the cape wiff as donkey kongs bair does twice the damage cape does, always keep that in mind, if their move outweighs the damage output of cape it's not worth the risk. It's also good to use cape when your out of peoples range when they throw out certain moves like jabs or moves that cape general has greater range than.
Furthermore, using cape to turn people around can be used for edgegarding. You can straight up cape people offstage and it will send them off stage. Cape can be a really good tool to condition gimps. For example, say all your attempts to cape you opponent off stage and he dodged all of them by jumping over you, for the very last kill you can wait and cape him after he jumps or in general you can wait for people to jump then cape them, depending on the character, usually this means that they have only one option left to recover, cover this option and you will get the gimp. Pay very close attention when ever you put your opponent off stage and pay attention how they recover. Use baits to find habits and certain reactions and then punish accordingly. It's all about limiting peoples options.
Recovering: Cape, when used in the air, gives you a slight boost and as well keeps you stalled in the air. If used twice, the second cape will not give you a boost, instead it just stalls you in the air. If you believe you will be edgehoged when you upB use cape twice to stall long enough, it's been 3 years i'm sure everyone know about this already. This is the only application i recommended using to recover with the boost and the stall. You can also try to use cape to deflect certain edgegaurds like small disjointed aerials but, it's not recommended, caping in the air leaves you open like a sitting duck.
Some other useful cape applications;
Cape stalling: can be either used for mindgames, to avoid an attack, or to bait/punish, and most importantly recovering. Obviously the con about this is your a sitting duck in the air!
SH Cape: This is useful against tall characters and this is useful for spacing/mindgames with your movement. For example you SH Cape towards your opponent but, the block and upon landing you know you will get punished, instead of landing on the ground JUMP away and from this you still have options; Empty landing, Airdodging, Breversed/wavebounced fireball, landing with a aerial, ect. If you choose not to jump make sure you cross up his block and punish him if he does wiff a grab.
Cape Stalling while on the ledge: Renews your invisibility, only pro about this. Cape stalling leaves you stuck on the ledge and mario's options on the ledge are limited so i would only use this if your opponent is off stage.
Cape Gliding: Leads to some useful edgegaurds
Reverse Cape gliding or "Cape Dashing": eh, i only use this in an attempt to "taunt" it's practicality isn't very useful, in my opinion.
Cape ****: Very useful in doubles but, only useful in singles against characters with explosives or if characters get hit with stage hazards(Picto, Brinstar, Halberd)
FLUDD
Please watch this Videoi made for fludds applications.
In my opinion, Fludd is a very bad move because it has limited uses. Not to say it isn't useful because it is -useful- but, only in some instances. Here are uses of Fludd that i am aware of/use
Fludd Induced Hit Lag(FIHL): Basically when you use FLUDD vs. a move with regular priority, the regular move out prioritizes fludd, however, their move receives a small amount of lag and thus enables you to punish them. Kwwp noted that you don't want to waste FLUDD if they don't have a move in which you can't really punish! For example, I wouldn't waste fludd on a single hitbox move, however, i would use fludd on a multi hit move! Not to say that fludd is useless against single hit moves, it's still useful on LOW LAG single hit moves but, it's more useful if the move has a lot of cool down. Single hit low lag moves include Marths fair, Luigi's fair, ect. and single hit moves with a lot of COOL DOWN include Gaw's fair,Diddy kong's sideb kick, ect. FIHL works even BETTER on mutihit moves like Game and watches bair, luigi's downB, ect.
Using Fludd to cancel projectiles: Fludd Cancels most projectiles except for lazers and needles and maybe some more. I don't really use fludd to cancel projectiles so let me say this, don't waste fludd just to cancel projectiles unless there is some other benefit to it! Don't use fludd to cancel a single fireball unless you hit your opponent through their projectile so you can try to mess with their approach. Using fludd to cancel prjectiles isn't very great! i don't suggest you only do this agianst people who are recovering. Fludd has many other useful aplications.
Using fludd to edgegard: this works well against people with bad recovery's, though if they are DI'ing correctly even the characters with bad aerial are effected very little but, it's still useful. It will slow them down a bit so you can go offstage and edgegaurd or even push them far enough where you can edgehog them.
Fludd to keep characters away: This is only useful against floaty characters like jugglypuff, peach, Metaknights mach tornado and in those exact matchups you want to keep your distance and camp and fludd will help them keep them away and mess with their approaches!
Use fludd to keep opponents on the ledge: This only works if you believe your opponent is going to use a get up attack, regular get up, or a roll back on stage. Use fludd to push them back offstage! Their are some characters whom you can punish when they try to regrab the ledge or get back on stage.
Fludding ****?: I'm not exactly sure of the name of this technique. When you use fludd against someone who is in hitstun, fludd will completely cancel all hitstun momentum but, keeps them in hitstun(example). This is really only useful in in doubles(to save your partner/use with your partners throws to setup for jab locks, though this only works with throws with set knock back), stages with hazards, and characters with explosives( Link, Toon Link, Snake, or if the rare occasion you cape someone's projectile and happen to fludd them after). Fludd acts as a footstool with this technique.
It's always wise to charge fludd when ever you can but, remember you don't have to charage it all the way. Why? let me explain.
Let say you are recovering and...
*Sidenotes*
-avoid using upB to grab the ledge when recovering.
-Avoid using SH fireballs a lot against people with large sheildgrab ranges(D3) and people who can hit through fireballs from the front with a lot of range(Marth, Snake, Diddy)
-The best secondary for mario, in my opinion, is Diddy Kong. They cover each other very well. or metaknight..but, i feel like mario and diddy are similar.
-Don't worry about winning/losing, this alters your mindset! Just do your best
I don't believe in with holding any information, i want everyone to get good with mario so thats why im sharing everything i know
Goodluck!
WIP(Work in progress)
Mario's Fireball
As we all know mario's fireball is probably one of the greatest things in his move-set. What's so great about it is that he can Approach, Camp, Combo/Followup, Edgegaurd, Space, Fireball Induced hitlag, ect. That's alot of things mario can do just with one move!
Camping: There are a 2 reasons you want to camp. First being that you want to build damage and the other being to force an approach. Using fireballs to build damage is a great way to rack up percent because, in my opinion, mario is best played as a poke/punish character. You poke in damage and punish your opponent for mistakes. Forcing you opponents to approach means your opponents has to whiff something or take damage, almost anything whiffed can be countered by mario. Every time you are camping you should THINK. If he does A I will counter with B but, always mix it up if possible. For example, you throw a fireball and they throw out an attack, punish it. Same goes if they sheild it, PUNISH. Camping with mario can lead to great success and it's one of the reasons Flameleon(one of the best mario's) is very successful.
Comboing: Lets face it, brawl has very little combos but, you can link attacks with fireballs. One example would be Wavebouncing a fireball into your opponent to dsmash or grab. The reason this is so good is because it put you very close to your opponents and allows you to capitolize on the very little hitstun fireballs give. This is similar to diddy kong's glide tossing into opponents with banana. It puts you close to them so you can grab them if they sheild and you can grab them if they have a slow sheild grab, like olimar. The fireball wavebounce gives you enough hitstun so you can connect another hit, other combos include Fireball>Ftilt/jab/uptilt/fsmash/dsmash basically anything I think.
Approaching: When using mario's fireballs to apprach be very safe! As always, THINK when you approach. You have many options after throwing a fireball. You should be using fireball approaches the same way you would when you camp. If he does A counter with B. You have many options after throwing a fireball. You can walk, which gives you the most Viable options, Out of walk you can pretty much do anything. From a run your options are more limited but, this doesn't mean running is bad. From a run you can Bair(rar'd), dair, upair, nair, dashgrab, dashattack, and sheild->sheildgrab/roll/spot dodge. For instance one thing I like to do, especially against snakes, is throw a fireball and run in with running shield and react as fast as I can, if I see that he's going to sheild grab me I spotdodge and buffer my next move if I see he's still sheilding i'll sheildgrab fthrow and this leave's him in a very bad position as from this point he can potentially be gimped. Always mixup your approach against a smart player, if you see your beggining to get punished, it's time to get mix it up. Think of mario's fireball like a minature wall and you should follow this wall, and surprise your opponent with something they won't expect. Approaching is always risky because of the defensive nature of brawl so always, THINK!
Edgegaurding: I, myself don't edgegaurd with fireballs very often but, when i do i use them against people who recover low. Using Short hop, Full hop, and Double Jump Fireball you can cover alot of range offstage and hit opponents from almost any angle as long as they are below you. Also I'll add that the fireball pressure when your opponent is on the ledge is VERY good. It really limits their options on the ledge and pressure's them to get back on stage or else they'll receive more damage, this even works even better if the receive RCO lag. Punish all of your opponents options after fireball pressure! They ledgejump? You cape/upair. They Get up? You fsmash/put them back off stage. They get up attack? You sheild and punishe.
Spacing: Use fireballs to space yourself from your oppoent.
Induced hit lag: Same way Fludd induced hit lag works applies in a weaker form for Fireballs. Fireballs can also be hit through so keep that in mind when using them.
The Cape
The Cape is alright to me, honestly i feel like the cape is a kind of overrated tool and isn't as good as people make it out to be. It's pretty situational and in some matchups it's an OK tool to use but, it is still a viable part of mario's moveset and must be acknowledged. The main problem with the Cape, in my opinion, is that is lacks RANGE and isn't that fast but, mainly the lack of range. Alsoit comes out at a okay speed but, the cooldown will lead to a punish is blocked or if you missed. This move would be so good if it had more range(similar to zss) but, this is what we got. The Cape has 3 main functions; Reflecting projectiles, Turning people around, and Recovering.
Before i get in depth with this particular aspect of the cape keep in mind Power sheilding is the better option at times. For instance, think to yourself; is whiffing cape worth the reflection? What i mean by this does the pro outweight the con? Is using cape worth the potential punish?
Reflecting projectiles: Now there are some projectiles that do not need to be reflected but, instead powershielded is the better option and vice-verse.
Projectiles that should be reflected; KO projectiles(Aura sphere, Charged Shot, ect), High Priority Projectiles(Turnips, Banana Peels, ect), Ness.
Projectiles that should be powersheilded; Low priority Projectiles(Peanuts, Fireballs, ect), Projectiles that won't reach if reflected(Wolf's Blaster, Snakes nades, ects).
Keep in mind Cape will blow up explosive projectiles if used normally, to avoid this, cape backwards so you can avoid blowing projectiles up.
Turning people around: this is something that I don't see people do that often anymore! The cape is good at turning around people who throw out hitboxes that have little or no disjoint. Moves with little disjoint include; Donkey kongs Ftilt, Robs ftilt, and moves in general that you can outspace or outrange. For example, you can do a retreating sh cape against donkey kongs bair, if spaced correctly you will cape him around and not be harmed, though this does require good spacing, so if you believe you will get hit it's not worth the cape wiff as donkey kongs bair does twice the damage cape does, always keep that in mind, if their move outweighs the damage output of cape it's not worth the risk. It's also good to use cape when your out of peoples range when they throw out certain moves like jabs or moves that cape general has greater range than.
Furthermore, using cape to turn people around can be used for edgegarding. You can straight up cape people offstage and it will send them off stage. Cape can be a really good tool to condition gimps. For example, say all your attempts to cape you opponent off stage and he dodged all of them by jumping over you, for the very last kill you can wait and cape him after he jumps or in general you can wait for people to jump then cape them, depending on the character, usually this means that they have only one option left to recover, cover this option and you will get the gimp. Pay very close attention when ever you put your opponent off stage and pay attention how they recover. Use baits to find habits and certain reactions and then punish accordingly. It's all about limiting peoples options.
Recovering: Cape, when used in the air, gives you a slight boost and as well keeps you stalled in the air. If used twice, the second cape will not give you a boost, instead it just stalls you in the air. If you believe you will be edgehoged when you upB use cape twice to stall long enough, it's been 3 years i'm sure everyone know about this already. This is the only application i recommended using to recover with the boost and the stall. You can also try to use cape to deflect certain edgegaurds like small disjointed aerials but, it's not recommended, caping in the air leaves you open like a sitting duck.
Some other useful cape applications;
Cape stalling: can be either used for mindgames, to avoid an attack, or to bait/punish, and most importantly recovering. Obviously the con about this is your a sitting duck in the air!
SH Cape: This is useful against tall characters and this is useful for spacing/mindgames with your movement. For example you SH Cape towards your opponent but, the block and upon landing you know you will get punished, instead of landing on the ground JUMP away and from this you still have options; Empty landing, Airdodging, Breversed/wavebounced fireball, landing with a aerial, ect. If you choose not to jump make sure you cross up his block and punish him if he does wiff a grab.
Cape Stalling while on the ledge: Renews your invisibility, only pro about this. Cape stalling leaves you stuck on the ledge and mario's options on the ledge are limited so i would only use this if your opponent is off stage.
Cape Gliding: Leads to some useful edgegaurds
Reverse Cape gliding or "Cape Dashing": eh, i only use this in an attempt to "taunt" it's practicality isn't very useful, in my opinion.
Cape ****: Very useful in doubles but, only useful in singles against characters with explosives or if characters get hit with stage hazards(Picto, Brinstar, Halberd)
FLUDD
Please watch this Videoi made for fludds applications.
In my opinion, Fludd is a very bad move because it has limited uses. Not to say it isn't useful because it is -useful- but, only in some instances. Here are uses of Fludd that i am aware of/use
Fludd Induced Hit Lag(FIHL): Basically when you use FLUDD vs. a move with regular priority, the regular move out prioritizes fludd, however, their move receives a small amount of lag and thus enables you to punish them. Kwwp noted that you don't want to waste FLUDD if they don't have a move in which you can't really punish! For example, I wouldn't waste fludd on a single hitbox move, however, i would use fludd on a multi hit move! Not to say that fludd is useless against single hit moves, it's still useful on LOW LAG single hit moves but, it's more useful if the move has a lot of cool down. Single hit low lag moves include Marths fair, Luigi's fair, ect. and single hit moves with a lot of COOL DOWN include Gaw's fair,Diddy kong's sideb kick, ect. FIHL works even BETTER on mutihit moves like Game and watches bair, luigi's downB, ect.
Using Fludd to cancel projectiles: Fludd Cancels most projectiles except for lazers and needles and maybe some more. I don't really use fludd to cancel projectiles so let me say this, don't waste fludd just to cancel projectiles unless there is some other benefit to it! Don't use fludd to cancel a single fireball unless you hit your opponent through their projectile so you can try to mess with their approach. Using fludd to cancel prjectiles isn't very great! i don't suggest you only do this agianst people who are recovering. Fludd has many other useful aplications.
Using fludd to edgegard: this works well against people with bad recovery's, though if they are DI'ing correctly even the characters with bad aerial are effected very little but, it's still useful. It will slow them down a bit so you can go offstage and edgegaurd or even push them far enough where you can edgehog them.
Fludd to keep characters away: This is only useful against floaty characters like jugglypuff, peach, Metaknights mach tornado and in those exact matchups you want to keep your distance and camp and fludd will help them keep them away and mess with their approaches!
Use fludd to keep opponents on the ledge: This only works if you believe your opponent is going to use a get up attack, regular get up, or a roll back on stage. Use fludd to push them back offstage! Their are some characters whom you can punish when they try to regrab the ledge or get back on stage.
Fludding ****?: I'm not exactly sure of the name of this technique. When you use fludd against someone who is in hitstun, fludd will completely cancel all hitstun momentum but, keeps them in hitstun(example). This is really only useful in in doubles(to save your partner/use with your partners throws to setup for jab locks, though this only works with throws with set knock back), stages with hazards, and characters with explosives( Link, Toon Link, Snake, or if the rare occasion you cape someone's projectile and happen to fludd them after). Fludd acts as a footstool with this technique.
It's always wise to charge fludd when ever you can but, remember you don't have to charage it all the way. Why? let me explain.
Let say you are recovering and...
*Sidenotes*
-avoid using upB to grab the ledge when recovering.
-Avoid using SH fireballs a lot against people with large sheildgrab ranges(D3) and people who can hit through fireballs from the front with a lot of range(Marth, Snake, Diddy)
-The best secondary for mario, in my opinion, is Diddy Kong. They cover each other very well. or metaknight..but, i feel like mario and diddy are similar.
-Don't worry about winning/losing, this alters your mindset! Just do your best
I don't believe in with holding any information, i want everyone to get good with mario so thats why im sharing everything i know
Goodluck!
WIP(Work in progress)
<---Da Bess
