I've got the tourney vids, now I need the advice!

[Jimbo_G]

Hey you guys! I've been a HUGE fan of Mario in Brawl since the game came out (I won my first tournament with him) and I just recently got back from a serious Brawl tournament here in my home town. However, I lost to an Olimar player and came in 5th, so I thought it would be an awesome idea to post my matches on her for you guys' input and critic. If you have the time, please go over my matches and help me refine my Mario play-style. Feel free to be as brutal as you need to be, as long as that brutality is followed by helpful advice. I really want to be the best Mario player in Tennessee, so please help me as much as possible with your advice. Thank you, and here are the links! (My friend who taped the matches felt like it was a good idea to put some narration in the vid description, so feel free to read it for a few laughs. XP)

The tournament was best 2/3, so I cut the Rounds up into separate videos for easy access.

Match #1: VS. Zelda
Round #1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyOiKz3e1zM
Round #2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK1oOm2TwEI

Match #2: VS. Olimar
Round #1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYxGamUgaoI
Round #2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANSYvqfvhvc

Match #3: VS. Zelda/ Wolf
Round #1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOkC5fD2FmI
Round #2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdDhb157De4

Match #4: VS. Olimar/ Meta Knight (This is the match that places me in the Loser's Bracket)
Round #1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TOErexfIfI
Round #2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPH1UR0aspM

Unfortuantly, I can't find the match that officially knocks me out of the tournament, but Loser's Bracket was only 1 Round anyways. I think you guys get plenty of insight to my play-style from the videos above. Please feel free to critic as necessary, just try not to bite too hard. =P

 

[A2ZOMG]

I watched the Zelda vids, and I think you are overly reliant on rolling to approach. Bad idea in general, and Zelda really doesn't have a problem punishing that if she reads you right. Her F-smash or U-smash can catch you and if she D-smashes you that can gimp you.

Shield Din's Fire unless your shield is really low. It's the least punishable of ways to deal with it.

 

[Jimbo_G]

Yeah, I had a hard time getting in close. Every attack I attempted to make she would just roll away from, leaving me about to land while she gets a free hit. Rolling became my only reflex as a result of me being at a loss for any other solution at the time.

 

[Backpaw]

just watched one of the olimar matches 1st one
imo use fireballs more heck they are one of the best approaches for him iff your worried about spamming them don't olimar was spamming his throws so F it
AZZOMG is completely 100% correct though i do the exact same thing with mario
nice cape though

 

[mario brawler]

I saw the zelda match man that zelda player looked annoying but you stuck with it dude ,next time that happens charge at her all the time and shield slide the din fires just keep her pressured all she did was camp so dont give her a chance to make a gap between you(I did'nt know you could cape din's fire 0.o) but yea you got a decent mario,I wish I could go to a tourney but I dont even know if they have tourneys where I live T-T

 

[Jimbo_G]

Lol, yeah, that Zelda was atrocious. But, could you explain to me what shield sliding is? I'm afraid I've never heard that term.

And yes, you can cape Zelda's Din Fire if you don't have room to fall with an air dodge. You can also cape Pikachu's Down-B FYI, and it actually HURTS Pikachu! XD

 

[A2ZOMG]

Yeah, I had a hard time getting in close. Every attack I attempted to make she would just roll away from, leaving me about to land while she gets a free hit. Rolling became my only reflex as a result of me being at a loss for any other solution at the time.

This is where you learn to read the opponent's play style and punish rolls with your D-air or N-air.

 

[mario brawler]

Lol, yeah, that Zelda was atrocious. But, could you explain to me what shield sliding is? I'm afraid I've never heard that term.

And yes, you can cape Zelda's Din Fire if you don't have room to fall with an air dodge. You can also cape Pikachu's Down-B FYI, and it actually HURTS Pikachu! XD

lol you can also cape snakes up-smash on him XD,but back on topic shield sliding (I beleive) Is very simple you just start a dash and then at any time during the dash put up your shield, your character will slide foward with his shield up due to the running momentum it's not a big slide at all but it's usefull if you wanna be aggresive on a camper and want to appraoch real fast with out getting blown away
so
charge the spammer->sheild slide to block attack->repeat until you reach them,then beat the livin day light otta'of'em

 

[Ville]

What you could improve:
-Use Fireballs
-Don't spam that cape so much, it's just hindering you at chasing zelda f.e.
-Don't spam rolls
-Vary more in your choice of attacks (not only d-tilt)
-Go for more aerials, since mario has a pretty good "combo" potential in air

Guess that's all gotta be said

 

[Jimbo_G]

Ok, so I got some good advice about the Zelda player and all, but what about the Olimar and Meta Knight player that beat me? That's where my real trouble is. What are your guys' suggestions for that?

 

[Matt07]

Hmm...against Olimar I found you could've used short hop follow by an air attack, usually you did a full jump then an air attack which your opponent usually saw coming. I found shield grabbing could've helped a lot, or grabbing more in general. You had pretty a good 'gimp' ko with Olimar on his second stock. I dunno, it seemed like using the cape, which you did really helped you a few times as well.

Again Metaknight I don't really know what you could've done better, you used a lot of fire balls in this match will really helped you.

Then again, I could be totally wrong on this whole paragraph, so it'd be better if you listened to someone with more experience against Olimar, and Metaknight.

 

[Jimbo_G]

Well, the whole struggle with the match in general was getting close enough to him without being shielded or dodged. I'm seeing a lot of people telling me I should use more fireballs, so I'll certainly keep that in mind, but grabbing was almost impossible in that match because almost all his attacks out-prioritize Mario's, so even getting close enough to do ANYTHING was nearly impossible without signing my own death warrant. O___o

 

[jambo]

Well, the whole struggle with the match in general was getting close enough to him without being shielded or dodged. I'm seeing a lot of people telling me I should use more fireballs, so I'll certainly keep that in mind, but grabbing was almost impossible in that match because almost all his attacks out-prioritize Mario's, so even getting close enough to do ANYTHING was nearly impossible without signing my own death warrant. O___o

Yeah fireball is key to approach mate, I saw you using them a bit but not so much for approach. SH FB followed by jab/ftilt + almost anything = pwn

 

[Fatmanonice]

First Zelda match: I think I counted like 12 times where you could have driven a stutter step fsmash into Zelda's face instead of rolling.

Second Zelda match: She was really predictible and you shouldn't have rolled with her. Also, spot dodging against Zelda in general is usually not a good idea for various reasons. You could have FLUDD's while she was camping with Din's Fire and gotten a cheap KO too.

I'll add more comments later.

 

[Jimbo_G]

I never thought about using FLUDD to get a cheap kill while she was using Din's Fire! That's one hell of a good idea!

As for the Stutter Stepping, everytime I tried to pull one off it was always dodged or shielded. I may have nailed one or two in the Zelda matches, but the only time I really got some good, strategic Stutter Steps in was in the match against Wolf.

I noticed I'm having a hard time knowing when to attack a roller. I always seem to be too late and get blocked when I try to attack a roller. It seems they don't have a punishable recovery after a Roll like I thought so much as a vulnerability about half way through the roll. Is that correct?

 

[cHooKay]

lol you can also cape snakes up-smash on him XD,but back on topic shield sliding (I beleive) Is very simple you just start a dash and then at any time during the dash put up your shield, your character will slide foward with his shield up due to the running momentum it's not a big slide at all but it's usefull if you wanna be aggresive on a camper and want to appraoch real fast with out getting blown away
so
charge the spammer->sheild slide to block attack->repeat until you reach them,then beat the livin day light otta'of'em

shield slide + immediate shield grab = extended normal grab
kinda like jump cancel grabs in melee, it will give you the sliding animation plus your grab..
do this instead of mario's dash grab, since his dash grab sucks in brawl...