• Welcome to Smashboards, the world's largest Super Smash Brothers community! Over 250,000 Smash Bros. fans from around the world have come to discuss these great games in over 19 million posts!

    You are currently viewing our boards as a visitor. Click here to sign up right now and start on your path in the Smash community!

Louie's Notes-Olimar Q&A Thread!!

Sky Pirate

The best defense is a lot of frigging healing
Joined
Mar 10, 2009
Messages
3,660
Location
Elgin, Texas
NNID
SkyPirateCoud
3DS FC
1590-4884-8497
Yes, the next pikmin in line is always at the tip of UpB.
 

Zori

Smash Champion
Joined
Mar 5, 2008
Messages
2,300
Location
the vortex
so i was extra bored this morning and looking back at this thread i gave you guys nuggets of olimar gold haha....... i cant believe i used to contribute that much!


now i just troll


:troll:
 

otek

Smash Rookie
Joined
Jan 2, 2012
Messages
14
First of all I want to say that I'm new to Smashboards :p

I also got some questions, so stay tuned:

I know that as an Olimar player you need to be able to organize your pikmins well. But how do you do that, which pikmin do you want to have in which exact moment?
Also, do you need to have rather one sort of pikmin than another against different characters?

(sry for my English, I live in Germany so my English can't be perfect ^^)
 

PZ

Smash Lord
Joined
Oct 4, 2009
Messages
1,987
Location
Hinesville, Georgia
Pikmin management for each mu accordingly using the throw(sideb) of course, dsmash, fsmash, and pivot grabs. Dsmash n throw work bess for pikmin management.
Really it's always good to have yellow and purple for obvious reasons of combo n killing and next would be blue and red zoning with aerials or grabs n later killing with aerials. White isn't that bad but doesn't necessarily help too much in many situations. Learn that from watching nietono:O

I hate to search the boards while i am doing homework but can someone show me the thread with the most info on oli's smashes(hitboxes, frame advange...HYES! SHIELD ADVANTAGE TOO!, and frame speed)?
 

DtJ Hilt

Little Lizard
Joined
Feb 28, 2008
Messages
8,531
Location
Minnow Brook
Welcome to SWF and the Olimar boards, Otek! Feel free to ask as many questions as you want in here.

I'll cover the easier question first. There are definitely pikmin that are preferred for different matchups. However, generally, purples are the most preferred in just about any setting. But after that, you'll be wanting different Pikmin depending on who you're facing, what stage you're on, and what your opponent's percents are (or your own). If you have some specific matchups or situations, we can try to give you some tips on colors.

As for the other question, do you know how whistling your line works? The mechanics behind it and the way that it sorts them? Understanding that is important if you use whistle for having certain Pikmin in front. Other than that, plan ahead. If you have a purple as your third Pikmin and you think you'll need it soon, find a way to use the other two with two attacks or a down smash, or even gain some ground and delay the time moment that you're needing the purple for. You don't just have to make the Pikmin line adapt to your playstyle, sometimes it's best to adapt your playstyle to your Pikmin line. You'll want blues when you're expecting to land a grab or need to kill with a throw, yellows to catch the opponent's spacing off guard, purple to knock them off balance or for an unsuspecting kill, red when you need that bit of power, and white umm... uhh. Never mind.

There's obviously a lot more to it than that, but that's a good starting point. Again, feel free to ask more questions. If you have anything specific that we can answer, ask away.
 

PZ

Smash Lord
Joined
Oct 4, 2009
Messages
1,987
Location
Hinesville, Georgia
Good mods on this board:O Thankyou
O and wow the shield advantage can go as low as -2 or -3 for usmashO_o
Seems like dsmash is more punishable then I thought.
 

Dnyce

Smash Master
Joined
Mar 10, 2010
Messages
3,049
Location
Allen, TX
Good mods on this board:O Thankyou
O and wow the shield advantage can go as low as -2 or -3 for usmashO_o
Seems like dsmash is more punishable then I thought.
dsmash has a lot of shield push though, so those numbers can be deceptive in terms of what information you're trying to get from it.
 

Cygnet

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jan 11, 2011
Messages
115
Hi! I'm totally new to playing Olimar (on any sort of..... serious level), so I have a few questions to ask.

How do you remember the order of all 6 Pikmin at all times? I can only remember the front 3 at a time and after they're gone, I have to run or jump or move around to see the next 3.

And because some Pikmin are good at different situations, how do you.... not fish for that situation once you have that Pikmin in front? For example, I'll usually play fairly similarly throughout the course of an entire life, but if I have a purple Pikmin next and my opponent is at a high percentage, I'll be super fishing for a grab or usmash and take a lot of punishment for that.

And when should you use SH side B and when should you use grounded side B?

Thank you in advance! :)
 

Sky Pirate

The best defense is a lot of frigging healing
Joined
Mar 10, 2009
Messages
3,660
Location
Elgin, Texas
NNID
SkyPirateCoud
3DS FC
1590-4884-8497
For the first two, it's just practice and awareness. If you're aware of your shortcomings, try to actively focus on taking care of them.
You can practice against a level 1 CPU to gain better overall control of Olimar for the first one, BTW.

The second one is... kind of in limbo ATM. We used to use grounded SideB against characters with a fast method for getting under/through us, but Nietono showed that shorthopped SideB can actually be quite safe. IDK.
 

Cygnet

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jan 11, 2011
Messages
115
Hmm.... I guess that makes sense.

I guess for my second question, I meant like.... every purple usmash kill (for example) needs a purple Pikmin, lots of damage, and a usmash opportunity.

Usually, if my opponent has lots of damage, then I try to bring a purple to the front to fulfill the first two conditions, but then I end up fishing for the usmash opportunity.

However, if my opponent has lots of damage and I just play normally until I happen upon a usmash opportunity (which makes more sense, I think, cause you might just get a dsmash/fsmash/fair kill instead) instead of forcing it, then I probably won't have a purple there to do so.

It seems like the only way to align all three conditions is either by fishing or by being really lucky.... how do other Olimars do it?
 

Sky Pirate

The best defense is a lot of frigging healing
Joined
Mar 10, 2009
Messages
3,660
Location
Elgin, Texas
NNID
SkyPirateCoud
3DS FC
1590-4884-8497
So you Usmash them and it isn't a purple.
If they're at a high percentage, it might kill them anyway (if it isn't a white). If not, you'll have them in a disadvantageous position. Any port in a storm, y'know.
You could also charge the Usmash/delay the grab/bait a move, etc. Don't forget that you don't have to act as soon as you have what you need.

You could probably help with your fishing problem if you don't cling to the idea that you HAVE to use certain pikmin for certain things. Your opponent should be aware of your line and know what you're trying to accomplish with certain pikmin, so give him something to think about, y'know?
It's not like it's a crapshoot, though. You can control your line by using Fsmash/Pikmin Toss to get rid of the crap you don't want at a given moment and Usmash/Dsmash/Pikmin Toss/Grab/shorthop FF Uair (I use this to check my line while cycling when I'm not completely sure) to cycle through your line.
Like I said, it's just something that takes practice and awareness. Just be aware of what you have and what your opponent expects you to do with it, condition him to expect certain things, and throw him mixups, y'know?

EDIT: WOW, I use "y'know" a lot. o_o
 

DtJ Hilt

Little Lizard
Joined
Feb 28, 2008
Messages
8,531
Location
Minnow Brook
One thing I like to recommend to others that are starting to notice their line on the fly is this. Take it in steps. The most important Pikmin to know where they are are purples. So at first, every time you jump, every time you're hit by an opponent and you whistle as you're coming back to the ground, every time you get a moment of that you aren't under pressure or pressuring them, take note of where every purple is in your line. Pay attention to when you think they're going to be coming up, what situation you want to be in, what situation you think you might have to be in, what you think you can accomplish with it, and try to make the best out of it. Bring it up faster if you think you can effectively, adapt yourself to how you can use it best if you don't. Since you get the most benefits from purples when you use them correctly (while having some drawbacks if you don't), you want to know where they are primarily.

Next are whites. Reason whites are next is because of the opposite. There are major, major drawbacks if you use them incorrectly. And it's really easy to do. Start using the same method to notice where all of your purples and whites are, when you're good watching for purples. And whenever you have a white coming up, toss it at the opponent. Either it'll latch on or do a million damage and die, it'll get swatted off by the enemy and die, or it'll miss them and fly off the stage like a moron and die. Either way that's a win/win for you. Just make sure you're safe when you're doing so. Grabbing with them is okay too I guess but that's going off on a tangent and is a question for another topic.

Afterwards it's up to you. If you feel confident paying attention to most of your line (you don't need to pay attention to every bit of it if it's hindering your play), you're good to go. At that point you'll want to effectively work on utilizing every pikmin for their role and job. Long and short of it is not that you want to think "Okay, my first pikmin is ____, my second is ____, my third is ____, etc, etc," you more so want to think "Okay, my ____ pikmin is in this spot, my ____ pikmin are in these spots, etc, etc." I think that's the most effective way to go about it and definitely something worth working on. Best of luck!
 

Cygnet

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jan 11, 2011
Messages
115
Long and short of it is not that you want to think "Okay, my first pikmin is ____, my second is ____, my third is ____, etc, etc," you more so want to think "Okay, my ____ pikmin is in this spot, my ____ pikmin are in these spots, etc, etc." I think that's the most effective way to go about it and definitely something worth working on. Best of luck!
Wow, thank you so much, Hilt and Cloverleaf! :) Honestly, it was probably the best help I've ever received..... ever! (Especially the above quote, definitely the most helpful thing I've ever come across on any character board, ever! Or actually.... maybe anywhere ever.)
 

Dnyce

Smash Master
Joined
Mar 10, 2010
Messages
3,049
Location
Allen, TX
One thing I like to recommend to others that are starting to notice their line on the fly is this. Take it in steps. The most important Pikmin to know where they are are purples. So at first, every time you jump, every time you're hit by an opponent and you whistle as you're coming back to the ground, every time you get a moment of that you aren't under pressure or pressuring them, take note of where every purple is in your line. Pay attention to when you think they're going to be coming up, what situation you want to be in, what situation you think you might have to be in, what you think you can accomplish with it, and try to make the best out of it. Bring it up faster if you think you can effectively, adapt yourself to how you can use it best if you don't. Since you get the most benefits from purples when you use them correctly (while having some drawbacks if you don't), you want to know where they are primarily.

Next are whites. Reason whites are next is because of the opposite. There are major, major drawbacks if you use them incorrectly. And it's really easy to do. Start using the same method to notice where all of your purples and whites are, when you're good watching for purples. And whenever you have a white coming up, toss it at the opponent. Either it'll latch on or do a million damage and die, it'll get swatted off by the enemy and die, or it'll miss them and fly off the stage like a moron and die. Either way that's a win/win for you. Just make sure you're safe when you're doing so. Grabbing with them is okay too I guess but that's going off on a tangent and is a question for another topic.

Afterwards it's up to you. If you feel confident paying attention to most of your line (you don't need to pay attention to every bit of it if it's hindering your play), you're good to go. At that point you'll want to effectively work on utilizing every pikmin for their role and job. Long and short of it is not that you want to think "Okay, my first pikmin is ____, my second is ____, my third is ____, etc, etc," you more so want to think "Okay, my ____ pikmin is in this spot, my ____ pikmin are in these spots, etc, etc." I think that's the most effective way to go about it and definitely something worth working on. Best of luck!
Hilt, you still give really solid advice <3


Like Hilt mentioned, in terms of line management... looking for whites and purples will go a long way. For the most part, you can get away with only looking for those two colors and it won't significantly hinder you. If you think about it, red/yellow/blue pikmin are similar enough that using one over the other wouldn't be devastating; meanwhile whites and purples vary drastically in multiple areas. As hilt said, they're very powerful when used correctly... but debilitating otherwise.


Unless a match-up or opponent's play-style demands me to closely watch my line, I only really look at the first two + whites/purples.
 

Nintendude

Smash Hero
Joined
Feb 23, 2006
Messages
5,024
Location
San Francisco
Hello everyone. I'm an old school Melee player that played Brawl competitively in the summer of 2008 and am thinking of picking up the game again as an Olimar main. However, the metagame has changed so drastically since my days that I'm not really sure what tricks are important nowadays. I'm already comfortable with all of the basic techniques except that B-move momentum reversal thing, but I'm fine with Melee's tech barrier so I don't think I'll have a hard time learning that. I guess some of the main things I'm curious about are:

- What are Olimar's good / bad matchups and why?
- What kind of tricks does Olimar have for recovering / getting up from the edge safely?
- How are pivot grabs (and grabs in general) used most effectively?
- What are good strategies for spamming Pikmin, keeping the opponent out, and approaching?
 

Turazrok

Smash Master
Joined
Aug 10, 2009
Messages
4,133
Location
LA
Hello everyone. I'm an old school Melee player that played Brawl competitively in the summer of 2008 and am thinking of picking up the game again as an Olimar main. However, the metagame has changed so drastically since my days that I'm not really sure what tricks are important nowadays. I'm already comfortable with all of the basic techniques except that B-move momentum reversal thing, but I'm fine with Melee's tech barrier so I don't think I'll have a hard time learning that. I guess some of the main things I'm curious about are:

- What are Olimar's good / bad matchups and why?
- What kind of tricks does Olimar have for recovering / getting up from the edge safely?
- How are pivot grabs (and grabs in general) used most effectively?
- What are good strategies for spamming Pikmin, keeping the opponent out, and approaching?
Bad MU's are Falco, Diddy, MK, Mario and Lucario can be tricky, recovery tricks can include using his down+b whistle that gives super armor for uhhh idk how many frames (help fino), instant return ( again, fino knows better than I ), also momentum canceling which can be learned from GIMR's videos on metagame minute, pivot grabs can be used to grab things like MK's tornado that can't be normally grabbed but you must be careful with oli's grabs because OLIMAR has no grab armor, the pikmin get it.

Also stand under platform flick yellow stick at bad guy

Just doing this cause you main IC's and I now wait to be corrected or replaced with more detailed info.
 
Top Bottom