Jonny Westside: The Samus That Shook ESAM Saga

It's not too often a Samus is seen doing well in Smash 4, let alone placing in the within the top 8. Adding on an event with some of the best talent SoCal has to offer with ESAM and ZeRo himself coming alone it would seem even less likely. But Jonny Westside threw all that out the window.

Former Project M Snake main once within the top three PM players of SoCal, Jonny Westside has been applying his skills towards Samus in Smash 4 and made a big splash at 2GGT: ESAM Saga last night After beating Mr. ConCon in a surprising upset and even taking a game off ZeRo himself Jonny sat down for an interview to talk about the event, Smash 4 Samus, and more.

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SmashCapps: Thanks so much for the interview! Now down to business. What inspired you to use Samus in Smash 4?

Jonny Westside: She's my favorite Nintendo character period. If Brawl/PM didn't feature Snake playable, I would've mained her but seeing as how Snake didn't return I stuck with her and here we are. Haha, I really owe it to my girlfriend for pushing me to not give up with Samus so here's to Lynn!

SC: It's not often we get to see Samus getting 7th at an event. What was going through your mind during that match against Mr. ConCon?

JW: I was confident against ConCon from the get go. I believe Samus has a good MU if played correctly and patiently. I feel like I demonstrated it on stream even though it was a close set the fundamentals were there. He and I had played previously a few months after the Wii U version of smash was released and I beat him then so in lifetime sets we're 2-0 my favor. Mr. CC is a monster no doubt and after this set he'll definitely be gunning for me haha.

SC: So you may have a good matchup against Luigi but how about Sheik? Not too many people have honestly taken games away from ZeRo in tournament. What were your thoughts going in and do you think you could take him if you met again?

JW: After feeling him out he's no different than the other Sheiks that have beaten me. No shots but K9 was harder than ZeRo haha. I can do it if I keep myself focused, I honestly owe most of my knowledge in the match up to a close friend of mine Zenyou the Mario player. His insight on any match up is incredibly depth. Sheik requires you to jump through so many hoops just to reset neutral it's insane for Samus it's even harder because landing against her is the biggest hurdle to overcome. I really look forward to facing Zero again.

SC: Any advice to fellow Samus mains out there how how to handle the Sheik matchup?

JW: Keep your distance! Zenyou always tells me to use my zair as a gauge to keep myself away. Try to trade missiles with needles for percent and make every grab count. ALWAYS. RESET. NEUTRAL.

SC: So when's the next time we might see your Samus in action? Are you attending Genesis 3?

JW: I am definitely going to Genesis! Hopefully I don't get robbed of stream time like Evo and Paragon haha.

SC: Alright man I think I've got the big questions covered. Any last things you'd like to tell Smashboards readers?

JW: Don't listen to people who think they know better than you. I get told to "take off the suit" and main ZSS a lot. I've tried her and it's just not fun. Pick whoever you like and just develop skills with that character. Hard work truly pays off! Learn from losses!

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A special thank you to Jonny Westside to for agreeing to do this interview. To keep up on his future adventures in Smash consider following him on Twitter. Think Samus might be better than people previously thought? Will ZeRo and Jonny meet again? Sound off in the comments below and stay tuned to Smashboards for future exclusive interviews.

 

I watched it, hype was way too real! Can't wait to see that man play again.

 

People crapping on palu and im like if only they knew...

 

People crapping on palu and im like if only they knew...

Pretty much everyone overrates their main when they main a mid/low tier.

 

Pretty much everyone overrates their main when they main a mid/low tier.

Yes but as we are seeing with Samus, people are way too quick on judging a character.
Since it's much easier to main easy bake characters that get you to the top play rather easily, what's the point in maining a tougher character.

 

Yes but as we are seeing with Samus, people are way too quick on judging a character.
Since it's much easier to main easy bake characters that get you to the top play rather easily, what's the point in maining a tougher character.

I agree that people can be too quick to judge, but also keep in mind that Palutena's frame data is only slightly better than Dedede's without Dedede's massive hitboxes and reliable grab combos.
Palutena was made to be used with customs. When not used with customs, it's quite clear she's bad.

 

Pretty much everyone overrates their main when they main a mid/low tier.

i dont main the char i simply have experience with really a good palu shes not even close to awful i would have agreed with you had i never witnessed it but i have.

her play style is really weird and very few people understand hows shes properly played once you've fought a really good palu though you start to realize how she is designed and that its more then workable her frame data isnt the greatest but it doesnt need to be either.

And if you want results said palu has beaten venom (the Canadian dude who came 4th at the ktar yesterday in which is in tristate) as well as holy and has taken games off ally`s mario and its his first year playing smash in general IIRC meaning hes a fairly new player so take that for what you will.

 

Great job Jonny! You did us proud.

 

Even though I dropped Samus for Falco, seeing Samus put in work was the highlight of that tourney, hands down! Great play by Jonny

 

Damn, TSM And Samus must be a bad Matchup

But what about when plup beat out leffen as sammus? =P

 

Mii Swordfighter is perfectly viable tho lmao

Also nah, I hate this philosophy of "everyone is viable!!!" people seem to be adopting in Smash 4. There are still a good amount of outright unviable characters in this game, at top level anyway. For example...

And if we're talking 1111:

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WHOA! Why s D3 in that list?!

 

I feel like Samus, Bowser Jr., and Mewtwo are the most underrated characters in this game. Props to this guy.

 

Palu's not really that bad. In fact the only actual bad characters are Zelda, Puff, and D3, and D3's only bad if you actually know the MU at a high level, which next to no one does.

 

Palu's not really that bad. In fact the only actual bad characters are Zelda, Puff, and D3, and D3's only bad if you actually know the MU at a high level, which next to no one does.

Dedede has gotten pretty good (if sparse) results at the big leagues, like Big D getting 17th at Paragon and CaptainVul getting 33rd at Dismantle 2. Can't say the same for somebody like Pally besides IceNinja winning a Canadian national, whose only notable player there anyway was Wizzrobe.

 

Dedede has gotten pretty good (if sparse) results at the big leagues, like Big D getting 17th at Paragon and CaptainVul getting 33rd at Dismantle 2. Can't say the same for somebody like Pally besides IceNinja winning a Canadian national, whose only notable player there anyway was Wizzrobe.

Which is why I said he was only bad when people really know the MU. He thrives off of MU inexperience more than most characters. I'm aware he has better results than these other characters.

 

Just watched Jonny's set against Concon, great stuff. That bomb to charge shot shieldbreak was beautiful. I'm checking for the other matches on youtube, seems they haven't been uploaded yet.
Samus is well designed overall, she just needs a bit more power to stand out.

 

Amazing play Jonny Westside !
Beating the best in the world is no small feat!

 

i dont main the char i simply have experience with really a good palu shes not even close to awful i would have agreed with you had i never witnessed it but i have.

her play style is really weird and very few people understand hows shes properly played once you've fought a really good palu though you start to realize how she is designed and that its more then workable her frame data isnt the greatest but it doesnt need to be either.

And if you want results said palu has beaten venom (the Canadian dude who came 4th at the ktar yesterday in which is in tristate) as well as holy and has taken games off ally`s mario and its his first year playing smash in general IIRC meaning hes a fairly new player so take that for what you will.

Nairo has beaten Nietono's Shiek with Zelda. Doesn't make Zelda a good character. When someone who mains a bottom tier wins against someone who's using a top tier, they either had a decent matchup, the top tier messed up, or that says something about the skill of the low-tier player.

 

More like JWest Saga

 

Is he like the cousin or son of "Johnny Topside", the guy who got turned into a Big Daddy in Bioshock 2?

But seriously, cool stuff. Rare to see a noteworthy Samus!

 

Great job JWest! Your play was amazing and I hope to be as good out here in the east as you are out there. Thanks for the inspiration to keep going!

Samus main rep

 

Thank you all!!!!!