Alrighty then...here we go.
SNAKE-The
REAL Captain Falcon. The CF that's in Brawl is actually Rick Wheeler, disguising himself as a wannabee. But the
real Captain Falcon caught on, and disguised himself as Snake. Uh-oh.
Behavior and Patterns:
Snakes like their sliding mortar(See: dash attack cancel). They like it a lot. However, most Snakes these days have finally learned that is has priority equal to a blade of grass in a tornado. Yea, it has no priority. But it does have a lot of range. Even though all you need to do to stop it is simply time a jab, or simply time ANY move, they will still use it quite a lot against you, especially when you are on the other side of the stage from them. If you don't time it though, Snake will run into you before you can get your attack up. Grenade camping and mortar slides are both going to be very common things in this situation. Grenade spamming can and will be used VERY effectively to bait you out of a defensive position, which is usually where you want to be in this match-up. If you get a little over-zealous with your offense because of the grenades, you will get punished, often-times because they will follow up grenade spamming with a mortar slide. Other things they like to do include spamming up-smashes non-stop when you're off the stage or even hanging on the ledge. They like to ftilt all the time, because it comes out really fast and has absolutely ridiculous range. They also like to ftilt out of spot-dodge, or utilt.
Fundamental Moves:
Well, many of these were listed just above, but I'll post 'em again anyways:
Ftilt-Like I said, this move has insane range. It actually reaches farther than his knee extends, so if you're a couple feet away from Snake and his knee does not hit you, this move will still nail you. They spam it all the time because it's really powerful, has good priority, is pretty much lagless, and has more range than it should.
Utilt-Do I need to explain this move? Someone posted a picture in here earlier of its actual range, and it's no lie. This move is probably the most broken tilt in any of the Smash games. It also extends far past where Snake's leg goes, so please stay very far away from it, especially at high percentages. Lucario also has iffy vertical knockback resistance, so this move is particularly deadly.
Grenade-Duh. Projectile. Blows up if you hit it twice, and does damage simply by touching you. Catching them is hard but possible, but since Snake can also make his grenades stop whenever he wants to, this is definitely not a good idea. The good news? He can only throw two at a time. He can drop these to prevent FPCG, and follow-ups from regular attacks as well.
Up Smash-His usmash is just dumb. It's a freakin' projectile, for heaven's sake. The only smash attack in the game that is one. Snake will use this all the time, for edgeguarding, for maneuvering in the mortar slide, for attacking with the mortar slide, for launching it into the air above him, etc. The good news? It can be cancelled out with almost any move, but it requires good timing and spacing. Besides, by that time, Snake has probably already utilted you to your doom.
Back aerial-Yes, it's a common move. This aerial has tons of range, and if it connects right at the beginning, it's very powerful. Don't challenge him from behind, it's not a good idea, and you will always lose.
Neutral aerial-Yep, this one too. If you don't rapidly tap DI upwards from the first hit, you're gonna take a lot of damage, and that last hit will send you flying. At high percentages(meaning 90%+) it will kill you, so you definitely need to learn how to tap DI this move if you want to live from it. Plus then you're above them in a good position for a dair.
Lucario's Strategy/How to Win: Oh yea, my favorite part!! There's going to be a lot here, so pay close attention!
Alrighty, where to begin? Weeelll...Snake is big, he's bad, and he's a pain in the neck. You can't approach him. Just don't do it, because he will freaking **** you if you try to. Do not be too aggressive. You must always stay calm and in control. BE PATIENT. That is by far the most important part of this match. If you are not patient and do not take your time with everything in this match-up...Snake will **** you hard-core. He will at first either throw grenades, ftilt, or mortar slide to you, depending on where you start on the map. Remember that he can only throw two grenades at a time, so if you're looking for an opening remember that. Your AS will blow them up and AS will not eat them, so don't use it if you're anywhere near a grenade. Those things have a ginormous hitbox. Let him come to you by using luring tactics. Approach over the grenades or something, then shield the explosions when you land and he'll try and attack you. I don't know but whatever the case may be, try to lure him to you. If he uses his mortar slide, punish him. IF you can get a FPCG off before you're at too high a percentage: do it. It's 40% easy. After that, he'll start pulling out grenades to stop you. Your fsmash is not the best of ideas, because it has lag and he does not. He will hit you with an ftilt or mortar slide if you use it too much. Don't challenge him in the air, especially if you're behind him, because you will lose. His bair has a crap-load of range, and his nair is ridiculously powerful. If you get hit by his nair ever, then you need to tap DI upwards rapidly, so that you only take the first two or maybe three hits. The last 1-2 hits you will avoid and you won't die. Not only that, but then you'll be above him, so you can dair him too!! Yay? Use techniques that have lingering hitboxes when he's above you in the air. If you are above him...prepare to die. If he's above you, then he should prepare to take a lot of damage. Every single time against most of the Snakes I've played, they will come down with an air dodge. Well, we all know how awesome the usmash is with its lingering hitboxes, so he won't be able to dodge the whole thing(usually). Chase him with a uair if you feel bold enough, or wait for him to get in your vertical grab range. Or b/pseudo stick an Aura Sphere into his face. He definitely won't be expecting that, and depending on how large it is, he won't be able to dodge it. Just remember that you need to be very, very patient in this match-up. Watch for openings and use your projectile well. Do not rush in, and do not swiftly retreat. If you have to retreat quickly, it means you obviously rushed in without thinking, and then he'll just mortar slide or utilt or ftilt you, or throw grenades at you, whatever. Everything must be controlled and planned, everything goes how you say so, you have to manipulate the match to go where you want it to. If you do it right, this match will take you a while to complete. If you do it wrong, it will be over very quickly and you will be the loser.
On gimping...there's really not much you can do, unless Snake is an idiot or has no other choice and recovers right next to the ledge. In which case grab his cypher or him, and if you grab him do not throw him and do not pummel him. Just let him fall away and he will die because he is unable to use his up-B again. Every chance you get you need to do that. Usually he's too slow to get off a C4 jump when you do that too, so on most stages they won't have time to recover using that tactic.
If Snake spot-dodges...you'd better be prepared for either the ftilt or utilt. Both have more range than should be humanely possible, and therefore if you are anywhere close to him you will get nailed by either. The utilt kills us a lot more often than the ftilt, so please watch out for that. And if you're trying to expose a weak spot behind him, watch out. If you are shielding a bunch of ftilt's and manage to roll dodge behind him, he'll do a utilt if you're not fast enough. Roll dodging backwards is the better choice, but then he might mortar slide you. Still safer than getting nailed by a utilt. Don't willingly roll into that trap if he knows you're going to do it. You can also shield-grab the ftilt between hits if you time it right and you're close enough, because the first and second hits both make Snake lean forward so your grab range extends a little bit.
I think that's actually it. Hmmm...not as bad as I was expecting, heh.
Overall Match-Up:
I think that this match-up is 60:40 Snake. Really, he doesn't have as much on us as they want us to think. He's still extremely powerful and very heavy, but Lucario generally does pretty decently against heavier characters. Snake has a ton of range, so our range game is matched pretty evenly. He has less moves to use but all have crazy range. Overall we have more range but the moves we need the most are beaten out. His grenades are a good and very annoying projectile, but he can only toss two of them at a time. We can out-camp him because of that.
*phew* Man...I started this and I was like, "Yea, I can write another big 'ol long post on Snake!" And then, when I realized I still had to finish it, I was all of a sudden like, "
MAN...this is so much more work than I remember it being." Sorry guys, but I'm pretty unattached to the boards as of late. I'm not on as often right now. Just a period of recession, I suppose.
Anyways, hope that was all helpful. Catch you all later.
Erich out.
