Oh the generations of Olimars this question has crossed =P If you want to see how far we've come, or just for a laugh, check out the original thread on this topic:
http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=141173
Unfortunately, apart from the US release of the game, little has changed concerning Olimar's recovery. Some of the ideas thrown around are more obviously insane now, and others have been proven false, but the purple toss, slight UpB hop and aerials are all mentioned in there somewhere =P The only viable two options mentioned there and not here are not techniques, but valuable game theory I figured I'd add.
Don't Get Hit, but if you do, DI:
Its a common theme/joke, but its got merit, particularly the last part. First off realize than any time you get hit is because you made a mistake, take it personally when you get hit and work on it. Its funny how much this mindset can improve a player, suddenly drawing interest to rolls dodges shields and spacing. Secondly from this phrase however is something I don't think I've mentioned much lately, but is incredibly important and should be reiterated more often. DI, Directional Influence, its been so improved in Brawl that going back to SSBM would likely feel like playing underwater. If you don't understand what DI is, or don't know exactly how to do it, or just could use a very well worded refresher, see this:
http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=155409 So, now that we all know what it is, time for the important Olimar details. Olimar struggles recovering horizontally, so DI to counter that! What I mean is simple, in general because Olimar can be hog gimped so easily, don't just DI the opposite horizontal direction you've been hit. Doing so will reduce the distance you fly, but there is a better option. If you DI up, you will still fly horizontally, but also higher than you would normally, very noticeably so at %s high enough you need to worry about gimped recovery. Being higher up does many good things for Olimar's recovery, first of all you'll be able to DI back onto the stage much more easily cause you have more falling time prior to getting to the stage. Because of this, you can at much higher percents be able to land on the stage, not even needing the ledge. Because you can land on the stage, people will not try and gimp you, which means they'll leave the ledge open. When they do this, don't fall right into them hoping to hit with an aerial, its predictable, they have the advantage on the ground, and most the time you'll find yourself just flying off the stage again. Instead fall safely to the ledge, now you have the ledge unharmed just as though you would have used UpB to recover if he hadn't hogged and you hadn't DIed up. This increased time also means that IF you should need to pull out a purple pikmin, you'll have more time to whistle/FAir your way there, never a bad thing. This correct DI will easily extend your average life a noticeable amount, do it. Be warned though, good players will see that your DIing up consistently and extending your life that way, they will then try and use moves that will instead knock you up, trying to ceiling KO you. Recognize when your being hit up, and correctly DI down, and then typical anti juggling stuff to land safely. Good DI is probably the single biggest improvement a player who doesn't do it can make, its as fundamental as short hopping or shielding, but it is far far more overlooked than most of the basics.
Positioning:
I go on and on about spacing. I doubt theres many posts around here that doesn't have the word in it somewhere. Its important, but in some situations positioning is even more so. I'll define positioning like this, if you were going to take a hard hit from your opponent, and your opponent was going to be in the same spot they are right now, where would you want to be to take that hit? Or an even simpler example, pretend every move had the exact same knock back, and it didn't increase with your percent. Obviously the safest place in the game would then be the middle of the stage, because if everything hit just as hard, you'd have equal safe space in every direction. Now if your opponent is off to one side of the stage, logically you'd want to be on the inside of him, back to the center of the stage. In this position you'd have to be hit all the way across the stage prior to you being in any danger of losing the stock. This is a simple concept, so simple that it, sometimes even more so than DI, is tragically forgotten and overlooked. Positioning becomes obvious when your at high damage and caught on the ledge, trying to get up and be safe but your opponent just seems to be knocking you off that side again, however good positioning earlier on in a life is also important, especially as your percents are entering the middle area, not fighting for your life but a tad beaten up. Fighting for and controlling you and your opponents positioning on a stage is a bigger deal for characters with poor recoveries. You ideally would always have your back to the center of the stage fighting an opponent. Bad positioning means when you get hit your going to fly into an even smaller area of the stage, giving you even fewer options and making it even more likely your opponent will connect yet again, pushing you further and further until your dead. If you manage to get into good positioning, your opponent may still have momentum and be in your face with pressure, but at least now they have to hit you across the length of the stage again before your in danger, and hopefully in that time/space you'll be able to turn things around. Olimar is great at spacing due to his character identity of non projectile range. Fight for, win, and then keep that central positioning, any time they try and take it they have to try and avoid Olimar and his big range, not an easy task. Many players will forget or not even see the positioning game, they'll give it to you unconsciously, don't make the same mistake. Look for this positioning in games between good players, not only will you see it, you'll find it can often times tell you who the winner is before its even over.
-True
