Mr. Game and Watch vs Link (Match-Up)

[Bouse]

Hello G&W community,
Currently the G&W vs Link match-up is being discussed in our match-up thread. The Link community would appreciate any input you have on the match-up.

The thread is here:
http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?p=5436219

Thank you

 

[Demenise]

Game and Watch has the upper hand in this match up by far.

Game and Watch's priority dominates Link's. It's rather easy to punish ANYTHING link throws at us, while it's near impossible for Link to punish us. Bair pretty much eats up anything Link has. Once he's off the stage, it's near impossible to recover. Game and Watch has no problem gimping you whatsoever. If you're against a Game and Watch that knows what he's doing, there's no chance of survival if you're out horizontally, and (most of the time) vertically.

What does Link have? Projectiles. Can't be absorbed through the bucket. However, I'm pretty sure that Bair cancels out arrows, the Boomerang is still pretty useless (especially if the gust effects kicks in,) and Bombs are... well, bombs. Game and Watch has no trouble avoiding them. However, they are always great for messing up his momentum and keeping him at range. Guess spamming them isn't too bad of a strategy here.


Summary: Game and Watch beats Link in almost every category. Link is good at messing up Game and Watch's momentum with projectiles, though, which can seriously help in a match. However, this doesn't make up for the number of disadvantages he has. In my opinion, 70:30 Game and Watch.

 

[A2ZOMG]

Matchup is around 65/35 at best for Link.

Link has two advantages in this matchup. Range and projectiles. The matchup is fairly straightforward in that G&W will almost always be approaching, and Link will almost always be playing defensively.

On stage Link does okay against G&W due to having decent range and priority on his sword attacks. However his projectiles can't keep G&W away forever since G&W is able to swat them away with attacks and weave around them with his mobility, and his high mobility means that he has a pretty good ability to punish Link for whiffing other attacks too. Once G&W gets in a hit with his B-air or anything else like a different aerial, D-tilt, Up-throw, etc, he has the positional advantage and can continue to rush down Link with more attacks unless Link's spacing is 100% perfect with aerials. This matchup also goes to G&W because Link is VERY easy for G&W to gimp. One hit from an Up-B, a non-sweetspot from an F-air, or from even a fastfalled B-air can punish Link's air dodges and gimp him by taking away his horizontal momentum. Link is not hard for G&W to spike either. Chef is also very annoying for Link to work around when recovering.

Basically, although Link definitely has tools to play through this matchup on the stage, G&W himself is quite good on stage too. Link doesn't have enough advantages on stage to compensate for the fact that G&W can also easily edgeguard him.

This matchup can probably be closer on certain counterpick stages.