Moondashing: is this a new and/or useful AT?

[Gatoray]

UPDATE:

I made another video going deeper into this technique. Let me know what you think:

ORIGINAL VIDEO:

I don't know if I was the first to find this, but I found it interesting. I'd like to hear your thoughts. If anything, it's showing the changes to the physics system in Smash 4.

Copy-pasted from my video description:

I'm not claiming to be the first person to find this, but I haven't seen any other videos like it yet so I decided to do a quick upload to see what others think about it. I am familiar with pivot canceling, but moondashing is a little different.

Apparently pivots in Smash 4 have a ton of IASA frames. The technique in the video is done similar to moonwalking in Melee. Dash in one direction then instantly input the other direction and hold. Before you finish pivoting you can refresh the moondash repeatedly. Not every character can do this as effectively as Villager, Link can do it fairly well, but the other 3 characters in the demo have a harder time. Mario can still do it somewhat.

I apologize for the out-of-focus video.

 

[SmasherP83]

Looks as if it's gonna be used since I guess it's somewhat of a wavedash 2.0.

 

[Ganreizu]

Yes, looks incredibly useful. I like the similarities to wavedashing as it affects every character differently because of how good or bad pivots are. Combined with improved roll and spotdodge, movement becomes more interesting.

It seems to be great for spacing ground options, if nothing else. Mindgames for sure.

 

[Gatoray]

Yes, looks incredibly useful. I like the similarities to wavedashing as it affects every character differently because of how good or bad pivots are. Combined with improved roll and spotdodge, movement becomes more interesting.

It seems to be great for spacing ground options, if nothing else. Mindgames for sure.

Spacing ground options is what I think it will be used most for. It's good that this game is actually giving us some freedom of movement. I'm sure a lot of Melee fans will be at least happy for that, I know I am.

 

[Oatmealski]

Yes, finally an exploit that we can use to enhance competitive play. :D

 

[Shog]

I like this name btw and nice find.

 

[Gatoray]

So I think I know why this happens. Villager when pivoting out of a dash has an exaggerated forward movement probably due to him having a combination of more traction and less speed than the other characters. Also, it seems his pivot animation is shorter. Therefore he can repeatedly do this over and over while staying in place. I tested this on other characters, and they have less traction and/or more speed, so their forward momentum when changing directions accelerates slower and doesn't get the same effect. In other words, I'm not so sure on the viability of this technique, but at least it looks funny.

 

[AuraStUrm]

Decided to mess with this a little more. Each character's IASA frames start at a different time during their pivot. Villager and Link, for instance, have their IASA frames start pretty quickly, while the other 3 have to wait a little longer.

And you can do pretty much anything out of the IASA, not just dashing. This opens up a ton of options in the ground game, like dash->pivot->turnaround jab in your original direction. Flicking the stick around takes some getting used to, but I think that learning to apply it will be very beneficial.

 

[Shaya]

Hello, I may be wrong, but this is likely the same as "True Pivoting" (imo a bad name).

The act of having the control stick return to neutral during the initial dash/pivot animation will have you cancel movement and act freely.

 

[Scruffy_Scoundrel]

This looks like an exciting movement option, it'll probably be great with Mac!

 

[Gatoray]

Bumping because I updated my original post with another video. Check it out if you're interested, it's much more informational.

 

[Raijinken]

Looks interesting enough. We'll see how it works when more players try it.

 

[LinkNIvy]

I don't understand how it's useful as a movement option. The pivot stuff discovered is useful as a way to more attacks in different positions, not move quicker and more precisely like wave dashing

 

[Cook]

Reminds me of the thing MK can do in Brawl where you run forward, then hit back on the stick + charge f smash facing the direction you were running and you slide backwards charging f smash.

 

[Squii The Fish]

I for one believe in the power of Moondashing and believe for certain characters it will be the cats meow.

I would like to see this tech used with the whole roster to see who it benefits the most.

Like any tool, this will DEFINETLY have its uses. Excellent (exploit?) man I diggy.

 

[Daybreak]

Nice. It reminds me of the pivot-tilt mechanic. I wonder if they could be meshed somehow, although it would be very demanding on the 3DS. It would take a lot of precision.

 

[HeavyLobster]

Did the - did the Villager just moonwalk!? I think the utility of this tech will be very character dependent. For most characters it'll probably only have niche uses or be completely useless, but I think a few characters with the right properties to abuse this will see it become a significant part of their metagame.

 

[Joe73191]

not as useful as real dash dancing but I can see it having a bit of utility until people learn to read it properly.

 

[Yikarur]

This was already in Brawl but Dash Pivots where generally longer there I think so it wasn't really useful. (There where other technics to compensate that though)