Mr. Game and Watch strategies?

[Lunix7]

Ok so Mr. G&W use to be one of my mains in brawl and I have been using him again but he just doesn't feel nearly as good as he did in brawl. I want to get better with him but the main problem I have while using him in smash 3ds. is trying to approach. I don't know what it is but I feel its really hard to get close with him without getting punished. I also feel like I'm really predictable even when I try to switch up my moves. Any good ideas or strategies with Mr. Game and Watch that can help me out or is he just not that good?

 

[PentaSalia]

I'm sorry to say but he just isn't as good before. His glass cannon attributes are all GONE. Before his regular cstick smashes would kill early and any charged smash was icing on the cake but now they HAVE to be charged to kill at a decent percent(100-120), Not to mention his other prime moves fair/dair are nerfed with dair having a stupid lag on landing now. The only remaining good attributes he has are his mobility in the air and his ability to rack up percent fast, especially with dthrow combos/follow ups. This still makes him pretty viable in dubs since gw still does a good job putting in the damage and being a slippery character at the same time.

How to play him in singles though? Unfortunately we are forced to play even more defensive than ever. His prime move in his neutral game right now would probably be dash attack. This will be the move for quick punishes and to get your opponent above gw, which is still his gameplan. Down the list would be bair, it still has its normal uses in this game, just not as reliable.Take advantage of his dashes/fox trotting in this game, it's surprisingly useful.

He's not nerfed to the ground but he requires more thought and precision than he did in brawl. I'm hoping I'll have an easier time linking his strings together on the wiiu, it may change my thoughts on him altogether.

 

[Lunix7]

I'm sorry to say but he just isn't as good before. His glass cannon attributes are all GONE. Before his regular cstick smashes would kill early and any charged smash was icing on the cake but now they HAVE to be charged to kill at a decent percent(100-120), Not to mention his other prime moves fair/dair are nerfed with dair having a stupid lag on landing now. The only remaining good attributes he has are his mobility in the air and his ability to rack up percent fast, especially with dthrow combos/follow ups. This still makes him pretty viable in dubs since gw still does a good job putting in the damage and being a slippery character at the same time.

How to play him in singles though? Unfortunately we are forced to play even more defensive than ever. His prime move in his neutral game right now would probably be dash attack. This will be the move for quick punishes and to get your opponent above gw, which is still his gameplan. Down the list would be bair, it still has its normal uses in this game, just not as reliable.Take advantage of his dashes/fox trotting in this game, it's surprisingly useful.

He's not nerfed to the ground but he requires more thought and precision than he did in brawl. I'm hoping I'll have an easier time linking his strings together on the wiiu, it may change my thoughts on him altogether.

Yeah I figured as much. Hopefully with the 1.04 patch they will buff him up a bit since I feel like he is lacking big time in this game but I won't give up on him. Also yes I feel that his dash attack is extremely good and good for punishes, while Bair (I loved this move in brawl) and Dair (What have they done to you!!!!) just aren't as good especially Dair. Fair doesn't seem that good either since the knockback is almost non-existent and its not even that powerful.

 

[Shmoopy]

Still purely my opinion but: there's not TOO much to Game & Watch.
He's more or less a glass cannon(As I often point out). I recommend just doing your best to avoid heavy damage and maintaining useful evasion for striking foes hard when their guard is down or predicting their moves. Basically, you'll wanna keep a distance or jump a lot.
If you can just manage around his frailty and spam those aerial moves, he's a really fun character

 

[SilkaN]

I really like his improved down tilt, which has some sort of trampoline effect now.
While not being useful in every situation, it can catch the opponent off-guard and lead into a up or side smash.
Correct me if this was also in Melee / Brawl, I haven't played those two games for a long time.

 

[bisho bola]

Since they removed mewtwo my only main is game and watch.

-foxtrot is awesome
-follow ups offstage with bairs are awesome, you can follow up bair, jump bair again and then go back to the stage safe, this will kill almost all the roster
-if you can't follow up, guard the edge tossing bacon , you will cause a lot of pain, frustration and a nice % of damage.
-You can meteorsmash dair if youa re close enough to your enemy
-short hop fair > dtilt is almost comboable (almost, enough to hit the enemy who will try to counter your landing lag somehow)
-be careful with shorthop turtle bair because of the ****ing insane landing lag, try to keep a good gap bewteen you and your enemy with it or you will be shieldgrabbed
-Dthrows into hammer works on low %, medium % you will need to short jump and hammer
-Dash attacks are good.

What kills him is the landing lag on his aerials, are WAAY too much, plus just vertical throws

 

[knifeofdunwall]

My strategy usually involves moving around constantly to avoid letting my opponent connect with any big launch moves. For approaches use the dash attack and the down air. Chef is very effective at keeping certain characters at bay by creating a barrier of food that will stop projectiles and cut approaches short. Neutral A is also useful for stopping ground approach characters like Little Mac(not to mention using it on the edge as the opponent recovers, it catches them almost everytime and the launcher has decent KO potential) Oil Panic is useful if you are playing against characters such as Samus or Fox that use energy projectiles but for most non item fights it is useless. Judge is something to only use in very open situations as you have no control over the power or affect of the attack. For KO's you actually have several options, landing a smash attack at moderate to high percentage, using the neutral A launcher at moderate to high percentage, using D air at high percentage, and using throws in addition to chef and neutral A for edge guarding at moderately low percentages. The hardest part of playing game and watch is learning to survive long enough to get a KO on your opponent, so work on those dodging skills!

 

[BassX]

Thats essentially the "key" to maining G&W. Surviving long enough to get a quick smash kill then chip as safely as you possibly can on your opponents 2nd stock. Defense is huge.

 

[The 0ne]

My signature showcases the characters that have nothing Mr. Game and Watch can absorb. Everyone else is fair game for Oil Panic. In fact, I think he does pretty well against characters that don't have something.

EDIT: Or at least, it used to. I made a thread about it in the G&W and Yink made one in the Ness forums.

 

[Zodiacx10]

"What kills him is the landing lag on his aerials, are WAAY too much" THIS!...y mashpotato soccerguy? y u gotta do dis?

 

[RAzul]

I'm sorry to say but he just isn't as good before. His glass cannon attributes are all GONE. Before his regular cstick smashes would kill early and any charged smash was icing on the cake but now they HAVE to be charged to kill at a decent percent(100-120), Not to mention his other prime moves fair/dair are nerfed with dair having a stupid lag on landing now. The only remaining good attributes he has are his mobility in the air and his ability to rack up percent fast, especially with dthrow combos/follow ups. This still makes him pretty viable in dubs since gw still does a good job putting in the damage and being a slippery character at the same time.

How to play him in singles though? Unfortunately we are forced to play even more defensive than ever. His prime move in his neutral game right now would probably be dash attack. This will be the move for quick punishes and to get your opponent above gw, which is still his gameplan. Down the list would be bair, it still has its normal uses in this game, just not as reliable.Take advantage of his dashes/fox trotting in this game, it's surprisingly useful.

He's not nerfed to the ground but he requires more thought and precision than he did in brawl. I'm hoping I'll have an easier time linking his strings together on the wiiu, it may change my thoughts on him altogether.

Thank you. I needed this.

 

[Mr. Odd]

I'm sorry to say but he just isn't as good before. His glass cannon attributes are all GONE. Before his regular cstick smashes would kill early and any charged smash was icing on the cake but now they HAVE to be charged to kill at a decent percent(100-120), Not to mention his other prime moves fair/dair are nerfed with dair having a stupid lag on landing now. The only remaining good attributes he has are his mobility in the air and his ability to rack up percent fast, especially with dthrow combos/follow ups. This still makes him pretty viable in dubs since gw still does a good job putting in the damage and being a slippery character at the same time.

How to play him in singles though? Unfortunately we are forced to play even more defensive than ever. His prime move in his neutral game right now would probably be dash attack. This will be the move for quick punishes and to get your opponent above gw, which is still his gameplan. Down the list would be bair, it still has its normal uses in this game, just not as reliable.Take advantage of his dashes/fox trotting in this game, it's surprisingly useful.

He's not nerfed to the ground but he requires more thought and precision than he did in brawl. I'm hoping I'll have an easier time linking his strings together on the wiiu, it may change my thoughts on him altogether.

See, I actually feel the opposite. I have liked the idea of playing G&W since Melee, but he just never seemed to work. In Sm4sh however, he fits like a glove. G&W is a skirmish character (in fact, he might be the defining skirmish character). There is a big difference between skirmishing and playing defensively. I find that playing just defensively can actually get me in a good bit of trouble.

G&W can still kill, you just need to know what moves to use and how to use them. Up-smash, down-smash, and side-smash are great kill moves alongside u-air, side-tilt, side-b, down-b, and b-air in certain cases.

Standard-b is great for edge guarding, and because he has such a good air game and recovery, you are at liberty to play off the edge (I like to set up a b-air or jump-d-air-jump-up-b to ledge).

Essentially, G&W plays on his own terms. He is a skirmish character who hit-and-runs. Short hops are his friend, and he spends half of his time in the air (I am not using hyperbole here, some of my matches literally have half or more time in the air).

G&W will continue to be an eccentric character. He is odd (thus why I play him), and he will surprise people. He will not be widely played or understood, but he is incredibly deadly when played well and according to his nature.

Ironically, I do not use G&W in doubles (unless I am partners with one particular person who shall go unnamed). I find while he would be great for doubles, he cannot work well unless your partner understands his skirmish nature as well.

 

[SPoitter]

Some strategies for G&W work only in specific situations, G&W is one of the most matchup dependent characters because some of his strings, followups, & tricks vary by weight.

Like @ Mr. Odd said, G&W is a skirmish character, hit & run is the way you'd want to go, however a good thing to do is chef camping.
Unlike any other projectile in the game, sausages cannot be absorbed or reflected, & it's a very good tool in certain matchups like Peach or Rosalina, another good thing to do is mixups with smashes. If your opponent hasn't adjusted to G&W, I doubt they'd be able to react to a shield pressure from a smash properly. One thing that's very good about G&W is the range of his smash attacks and their relatively low cool down, what I'm saying here is that smash spamming is actually a decent strategy, and the main reason for this is just because shield pressure from any of his smashes can push them straight into a fsmash or dsmash. :v

 

[pepi1197]

Chef is excellent for zoning but the amount of lag at the end is stupidly high. Its best to just use two-three sausages, reassess and then move forward.

 

[Zodiacx10]

...but the amount of lag at the end is stupidly high.

You could put that statement after like 90% of Mr. Game and Watch's moves lol

 

[pepi1197]

You could put that statement after like 90% of Mr. Game and Watch's moves lol

Chef and Oil Panic really are the two worst, I got leveled the other day because I forgot to jump before bucketing an Arc Fire. Also did you ever get my reply?

 

[Zodiacx10]

Chef and Oil Panic really are the two worst, I got leveled the other day because I forgot to jump before bucketing an Arc Fire. Also did you ever get my reply?

your reply?

 

[dahuterschuter]

Do as many dthrow Judges as percentage will allow and pray.

 

[Zodiacx10]

Do as many dthrow Judges as percentage will allow and pray.

My goto Mr. Game and Watch strategy

 

[TheMiSP]

Disrespected so hard by reverse 9'ing and hard reading my opponent's roll after I respawned. xD

 

[Mr. Odd]

Do as many dthrow Judges as percentage will allow and pray.

I got two 9 kills in a tournament match just last week (can't link because I do not have enough posts....).

Some strategies for G&W work only in specific situations, G&W is one of the most matchup dependent characters because some of his strings, followups, & tricks vary by weight.

Like @ Mr. Odd said, G&W is a skirmish character, hit & run is the way you'd want to go, however a good thing to do is chef camping.
Unlike any other projectile in the game, sausages cannot be absorbed or reflected, & it's a very good tool in certain matchups like Peach or Rosalina, another good thing to do is mixups with smashes. If your opponent hasn't adjusted to G&W, I doubt they'd be able to react to a shield pressure from a smash properly. One thing that's very good about G&W is the range of his smash attacks and their relatively low cool down, what I'm saying here is that smash spamming is actually a decent strategy, and the main reason for this is just because shield pressure from any of his smashes can push them straight into a fsmash or dsmash. :v

Yeah, match-ups can be huge. In the video I was going to link, I was in a terrible match-up. Pikachu on Battlefield basically means I couldn't do diddly squat.