Landing Options

[TheReflexWonder]

For many characters, being directly above your opponent is the least advantageous place you can possibly be. In a way, it's like getting edgeguarded, in that your options are limited while the opponent has many more options from the ground. It's not a fun place to be, and it can be a struggle to get back on the ground.

I'm making this thread in order to give people a resource to see all of the universal options when landing. Many people seem to ignore the opportunities for mixing up a landing, choosing to stick with one or two options without using the rest. I will point out the options you can switch between, and the consequences they have for your opponent.


Normal fall speed vs. Fastfall

This is definitely the most basic difference that can be made, and it is one that should never be neglected. If you must fastfall to momentum cancel and you still have your double-jump, it's usually best to use your double-jump in order to go back to normal fall speed, if only to have this mix-up in your back pocket. This changes so many other things, so it's easy to tell how much of a difference it can make.

Opponent trying to use a well-spaced aerial? If they thought you were falling at a normal speed, and you choose to fastfall right before that moment, you're now right next to them, and you can either trade aerials or airdodge through the attack with little trouble. If they thought you were going to fastfall, and you choose to continue to fall at normal speed, they might outright miss their attack, which could allow for retaliation, and, no matter what, you're at least closer to the ground instead of getting hit back up.

Opponent trying to punish your landing? Most grabs only last two or three frames, while landing lag is usually four frames. Even if the opponent sticks out a ground move, they have to time it just right. If they think you will fastfall to the ground and guess incorrectly, their attempt at punishing can whiff, allowing you to retaliate. If they think you will land at a normal speed and guess incorrectly, you can powershield or spotdodge their move.

Now, building on that...


Landing aerial vs. No aerial

Depending on the character, there may be little reason not to use an aerial right before landing. However, most characters in this situation have to deal with a potential shield -> punish. Building on the normal fall/fastfall mix-up, aerials can make the opponent's 50/50 become much more threatening on an incorrect guess. Instead of being next to each other and the pressure still on you from landing, you can knock them away or even score a KO for yourself. It takes seven frames to drop a shield, so you should have frame advantage on landing if the opponent doesn't read you.
While fastfall timing can vary a great deal, the basic mix-up is normal fall -> late landing aerial or fastfall airdodge -> shield/spotdodge/fast or invincible attack. If they expect the normal fall and guess incorrectly, you can avoid or stuff a grab, and you're on the ground. If they expect a fastfall airdodge and guess incorrectly, your late aerial will hit them before their grab/attack comes out. Some characters have useful pokes like safe U-Smash or a shorthop aerial that can make it more complicated, but between the two options I listed, you should be able to avoid them, too.


Single-hit aerial vs. Multi-hit aerial

This is a often-overlooked option that can catch many people off-guard. Not every character has a multi-hit aerial that leaves little space between hits, but, for the ones that do, this can help a lot. When you land next to the opponent, their attempt at shieldgrabbing is usually tailored to wait for the shieldlag of the aerial, followed by a reflexive grab. However, this does not work well against multi-hit aerials, since the grab will be stuffed by later hits. Multi-hit aerials tend to have weak hits outside of the final attack, so what this does is hits the opponent out of their grab attempt, puts them in hitstun, and makes them land on the ground before they can throw out an aerial (except for frame 2-3 aerials, like Luigi and Meta Knight), which causes landing lag (and if you're lucky, you get landing lag from an aerial they accidentally throw out while trying to punish you). If you've ever messed up the autocancel timing on a multi-hit aerial and wondered why it was still safe when the opponent shielded the beginning of it, that's why.


For many characters, that leaves you with slight frame advantage, and because of all the helpless frames your opponent incurs, they may be too disoriented to properly buffer a quick move when they CAN attack. Many players will freeze up and hold Shield as a catch-all, so it can be an easy grab for you. It's also worth noting that you can start a fastfall at any point during your aerial, which will make it even more difficult for your opponent to know when it's safe to stop shielding. That can make it safe to land with a multi-hit aerial even if the opponent continues to shield.


Footstool attacking options

This is a very uncommon option, partly because few characters get anything useful out of it, and partly because it's hard to get yourself into position for it. It's pretty simple, though, and can really help characters who have a great deal of trouble landing. It's as simple as footstooling the opponent and doing a fast, low attack or a move that cancels momentum. For example, Zelda can footstool -> immediate Neutral-B all characters. Charizard can footstool -> immediate D-Air many characters. It's not terribly safe, but the fact that it's so rare to see can make it difficult for people to adequately react to, and the worst that can happen is that you're back in the air again, where you already were.


Remember, every extra option you have at your disposal is one more thing to get you on the ground, and one more thing your opponent has to make a read to deal with. Even the threat of a certain option can be a powerful thing--Just look at Ice Climbers' chaingrab. Keep all of these mix-ups in mind, and you'll find that getting to the ground isn't really that daunting a prospect for most matchups, and it can sometimes be more promising an approach than the average grounded attempt. King Dedede and Falco aren't the only characters that can mix up landings to approach.

Squirtle-specific landing options

Squirtle gets a very nice set of special move options to help with getting his feet on the ground. Actually, all three of his specials are at least moderately useful.

Neutral-B - Excellent B-Reversal option, since Squirtle's horizontal aerial mobility and top speed are among the best, and Squirtle retains full horizontal aerial mobility during the entire animation. You can B-Reverse it whether it's already charged or not. Uncharged Water Gun creates a hitbox next to you that can stuff opponents' aerials that come from the side, and fully-charged Water Gun aimed downward can induce hitlag in large aerials, freezing the opponent in place. Fully-charged Water Gun also pushes you backward a little bit, further aiding in your escape.

Forward-B - Can be difficult for some characters to chase and punish. If you end the move as you go offstage, you'll continue to move forward during the endlag, and you'll have your double-jump and Up-B at your disposal to recover, so you're rarely at any great risk from it. Because of its speed (when Forward-B is pressed as a Smash command, rather than a Tilt [like Samus's Power Missiles]), the opponent has to be in the perfect position before you start or he will not be able to footstool you. Against characters that do not have throws that KO at reasonable percents, you risk almost nothing by using it when you have taken a lot of damage. Especially good on stages you can jump through, such as Delfino, as you can do it from the ledge without much worry about being intercepted by an aerial before you land.

Up-B - Multi-hit move with a huge hitbox. Can easily be SDI'd, but, if you hit with the end portion, the SDI window is much smaller. Can poke shields and punish opponents who reflexively try to grab after seeing a single hit touch their shield. Not very reliable, but can be useful in a pinch.

Footstooling options - All Squirtle gets is D-Air after a shorthop footstool. Unless the platform is rising, Squirtle only ever gets the first or second hit of D-Air on them, which isn't good offensively, but certainly makes it easy to land afterward. Also, it makes it difficult for opponents to shieldgrab you, as they must guess your option between footstool -> D-Air, falling D-Air (multi-hit), falling B-Air (single hit), and airdodge -> Jab/grab.

I made a list showing what characters get hit by his shorthop footstool D-Air, and how many hits of it land if you do a second footstool before hitting the ground--

Mario - Yes; all hits after two

Luigi - Yes; all hits after two

Peach - No; two hits after two

Bowser - No; all hits after two

Donkey Kong - Yes; all hits after two

Diddy Kong - No; last hit after two

Yoshi - Yes; all hits after two

Wario - Yes; all hits after two

Link - Yes; all hits after two

Zelda - Yes; all hits after two

Sheik - Yes; two hits after two

Ganondorf - Yes; all hits after two

Toon Link - Yes; all hits after two

Samus - Yes; all hits after two

Zero Suit Samus - Yes; all hits after two

Pit - Yes; all hits after two

Ice Climbers - Yes; all hits after two

R.O.B. - Yes; all hits after two

Kirby - Yes; all hits after two

Meta Knight - Yes; all hits after two

King Dedede - No; all hits after two

Olimar - No; all hits after two

Fox - Yes; all hits after two

Falco - Yes; all hits after two

Wolf - Yes; all hits after two

Captain Falcon - Yes; all hits after two

Pikachu - Yes; one hit after two

Squirtle - Yes; one hit after two

Ivysaur - Yes; one hit after two

Charizard - Yes; all hits after two

Lucario - No; all hits after two

Jigglypuff - Yes; all hits after two

Marth - Yes; all hits after two

Ike - Yes; all hits after two

Ness - No; all hits after two

Lucas - No; all hits after two

Mr. Game and Watch - Yes; all hits after two

Snake - Yes; one hit after two

Sonic - Yes; all hits after two



Ivysaur-specific landing options

Neutral-B - Has an enormous hitbox when used in the air, has invincibility on the first few frames of start-up, and it comes out relatively quickly. Has the benefit of potentially shield-poking if the opponent doesn't retaliate or roll away before the seeds start coming out. Using a landing N-Air behind the opponent and following up with Bullet Seed will allow you to punish turnaround grabs and the like. Can get you punished hard on a whiff, but good to keep your opponents on their toes.

Footstool options - Ivysaur can footstool -> D-Air any grounded character, which is convenient and useful, though easy to punish with any aerial if the opponent guesses correctly and shields longer than normal. The important thing is that our D-Air outranges pretty much anything, so switching between a well-spaced D-Air to stuff attacks, a footstool to deal with people shielding spaced D-Air, falling airdodge, and falling N-Air, people should be stressed due to having to guess. It should incite shorthop aerials to deal with you before you get so many options, and that means if you just land, you now have the opponent in the air and can immediately start pressuring them.

Shorthop footstool -> Bullet Seed is an option that actually puts opponents in the stream if the opponent is holding Up when they're hit, which would work well against characters with good out-of-shield options. Here is a list of characters that can be hit by the pop-up hit and have any business holding Up for an out-of-shield option--

Mario

Link

Zelda

Sheik

Toon Link

Meta Knight

King Dedede

Fox

Falco

Pikachu

Charizard

Marth



Charizard-specific landing options

All of Charizard's options have at least a moderate amount of usefulness, and they all benefit from great damage output, as well.

Neutral-B - Charizard's safest attack in general is also rather safe when used in the air. Its great range and ability to be angled up and down help cover a large area of space. It causes hitlag on opponents' aerials, so it can freeze them in place while you land. If you simply want to keep opponents out of your space, this is a useful option.

Forward-B - Probably the most underrated landing tool Pokémon Trainer has; I would say it's one of the best in the game. Its enormous hitbox, counter frames, and great damage/KO potential, combined with the ability to Wavebounce and B-Reverse, make this move absolutely fantastic for punishing aggressive opponents. Charizard's horizontal aerial mobility isn't very good, but his top speed is good, making it difficult for people to react to. Moving forward and suddenly wavebouncing back will hit any Smash, tilt, or aerial attack from the opponent extremely hard. A B-Reverse will allow you to punish opponents who try to roll past your landing, no matter how good their roll's range may be.

Up-B - This move has solid KO potential, and the super-armor frames allow you to power through aggressive opponents' moves. This is particularly useful against characters who are good at juggling, such as Marth and Wolf. You should have a platform ready to land on in case you miss, however, or you will be severely punished if it does not work.

Footstool options - Charizard probably gets the best deal out of all of them, which is good, because he definitely struggles a great deal when trying to land on the ground. He has two options that work well: shorthop footstool -> D-Air and shorthop footstool -> Up-B.

D-Air is an awesome option--It's completely safe after a footstool, a regular mid-air jump -> footstool can be used as a mix-up against characters looking to hit you with a shorthop aerial, U-Tilt, or U-Smash, does nice damage, and even has good KO potential!

Up-B is not nearly as safe as D-Air, but, it deals more damage and works on a greater number of opponents.

Mario - D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his back)

Luigi - D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his back)

Peach - No D-Air; Up-B (aim toward her front, then hold Up)

Bowser - No D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his back)

Donkey Kong - D-Air (must move toward his front slightly); Up-B (aim toward his back)

Diddy Kong - No D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his front, then hold Up)

Yoshi - D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his back)

Wario - D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his back)

Link - No D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his back)

Zelda - D-Air; Up-B (must turn around, then hold Up)

Sheik - No D-Air; Up-B (aim toward her back)

Ganondorf - D-Air; Up-B (must turn around, then hold Up)

Toon Link - No D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his back)

Samus - No D-Air; Up-B (aim toward her back, then hold Up)

Zero Suit Samus - D-Air; Up-B (aim toward her back, then hold Up)

Pit - No D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his front)

Ice Climbers - D-Air (must move toward their back slightly); Up-B (aim toward their back)

R.O.B. - No D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his back)

Kirby - D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his back, then hold Up)

Meta Knight - No D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his back)

King Dedede - No D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his front)

Olimar - No D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his back, then hold Up)

Fox - No D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his back)

Falco - No D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his back)

Wolf - No D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his back)

Captain Falcon - D-Air (must move toward his back slightly); Up-B (aim toward his back, then hold Up)

Pikachu - No D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his back, then hold Up)

Squirtle - No D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his back, then hold Up)

Ivysaur - No D-Air; No reliable Up-B (Ivysaur for top tier)

Charizard - D-Air; Up-B (must turn around, then hold Up)

Lucario - D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his back, then hold Up)

Jigglypuff - D-Air (must move toward her front slightly); No reliable Up-B

Marth - D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his front)

Ike - No D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his back, then hold Up)

Ness - No D-Air; Up-B (must turn around, then hold Forward in that direction)

Lucas - No D-Air; Up-B (must turn around, then hold Forward in that direction)

Mr. Game and Watch - D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his front, then hold Up)

Snake - No D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his front, hold Up, then hold Forward toward the end

Sonic - No D-Air; Up-B (aim toward his front, then hold Up)

 

[CoonTail]

This is a concept I have never ventured into or even really thought about, so time to hit the lab.

Luis my serious question is where do these ideas come from as far as you finding them? I never see such opportunities arise yet you consistently come to the boards with fresh and interesting new options.

 

[TheReflexWonder]

I just...think a lot, even when I'm not playing the game. There are an awful lot of situations to analyze, and there are a lot of things I wish were easier, so I try to brainstorm new ways to use otherwise underdeveloped aspects of characters.

 

[CoonTail]

We need a skype session ASAP, are you still available on tuesday?

 

[TheReflexWonder]

Yeah, I'll be free on Tuesday. Let me know what time works best for you.

 

[CoonTail]

I will be working in NYC tomorrow so I may be home a little later than my usual time of 6pm, once I have a better idea I will let you know. I will know by mid-afternoon tomorrow.

 

[Bomber7]

Interesting read Luis. Sadly, I'm bad at footstooling so for me this is all situational information.

 

[TheReflexWonder]

It's not really something you approach the opponent with the intention of doing. It's when the opponent has you trapped while landing to the ground and you're forced to decide whether you're going to do an aerial or fastfall airdodge; this is just one more option to defend yourself with. It's definitely supposed to be situational.

 

[Bomber7]

Oh. I see.

 

[TheReflexWonder]

Added Special move options. This thread seems to be complete now.