New and seeking guidance!

[Phat_Lewts]

Hello fellow Koopalings!

I'm relatively new to the Smash scene, I've played previous iterations but never at any sort of competitive level, I played Melee a fair bit when I was younger but only for fun with friends. I played Brawl for a while too.

I decided to get a bit more serious with Smash4, I've played a few fighters, namely SSF4.

From day one I had my main picked because of my love for the character, while he is by no means the best or most effective, he is the most fun to me, I enjoy playing him and love his moves.
I've been told to switch characters a few times and the words...not viable and trash were mentioned! I don't really have any interest changing mains but I have considered picking up a secondary, I am quite interested in Mega Man and possibly Yoshi too. +
I'm guessing I should pick a secondary which covers the mains weaknesses right? would either apply?
I play Bowser Jr, (Ludwig and sometimes Roy/Bjr).
I use some techniques with him, I know how to JC Kart to aerials/recover ( even going under the stages! ;D ), basic strings, how to recover reasonably well, I can sometimes pull off the Mechakoopa juggling by F-air'ing into it while it attaches. I know basic stuff like, floor teching (not confidently tho) , SH/FF. Putting some of it into practice online however is proving tough.

Last night, despite my strange anxiousness with online multiplayer, I decided to bite the bullet and try online, suffice to say it was pretty bad, while I did win a few games, the ones I did win I felt like I got lucky and that I was just bad.
I don't mind losing at all, I chalk it up to experience, I'd even stay a few games to try and get better but It just seemed like it was inevitable.
I'm not saying I got two stocked everytime, some times It was very close but I'd inevitably panic and get punished hard.
I think a lot of my problem is being impatient and trying to rushdown a lot, I use punishable moves too often, struggle with Jr's grab range, spammers are the bane of me, (Spamus usually) I eat projectiles and fumble a lot with the controller.
(I use a WiiU pro controller, I do own a gamecube controller which I had planned to use but those adapters are rare!)
My win rate is somewhere between 25%-30%
Sometimes there was a lot of lag problems, I'm located in the UK but I play at American/Japanese prime times.

I don't really have anyone to practice with and training mode can only get you so far, I can beat all my RL friends pretty easily, which isn't fun for any of us.
I'm trying to find either likeminded beginners online or people who wouldn't mind mentoring me a bit, I'm not looking to be the best in the world or win tournaments, I'm just looking to have fun in a For Glory environment, I'm not unrealistic, I know I'm not going to improve overnight or become a badass! I watch a lot of tournaments and smash youtubers, I very much enjoy watching Tweek + Zucco . And that helps a lot.

I don't know if this thread is in the right place and I do apologize if it isn't, I also apologize for the boring 'wall'o'text' style thread.

My NNID is my username on here and I look forward to talking to and possibly playing with you guys!

tl;dr Help a fellow Bowser Jr player with whatever tips, tricks and strats. I'm here to make some friends and possibly sparring partners!
- Phat_Lewts

 

[krazyzyko]

Hey welcome to SWF!

Its kinda hard to give you tips without seeing your gameplay but if you're not confident on executing a move then you should go to the lab and grind it out. So you can use any move at will and not limit yourself because you might flub on your techskill.

Here's a video of this guy called COMMANDER DUCKY. He's the best Jr I've seen on YouTube so far.
http://youtu.be/lo2RWVHKJzo

And here's a bunch of cool tricks:
http://youtu.be/ZQhTVOYNUjA

There's this controller I bought at Walmart called the power A mini which has the Xbox layout but smaller than the PS3's. It feels much better than the pro one and it doesn't lag as much.

I'd go with Yoshi in your position because mega man is another laggy Zoner minus the autocancels and decent recovery.

Jr's grab is really bad so mostly you're better off poking your opponent's shield with Ftilt or jab > down tilt. I usually get grabs by jab > dash grab; pivot > grab and if theyre blocking MK.

Anyways nice meeting you and hope this helps. ^^

 

[Phat_Lewts]

Thanks for the reply! I don't really have any videos to show or anything like that but I think I need to learn proper spacing, I tend to either be too close or too far, I miss a lot of moves, especially aerials which I like to use.
Is there any way to practice that? So I can connect moves better?

I'll check out those vids too, I'm always watching various Bowser Jr clips on YT!

I'm always looking at different controllers too, so i'll check it out.
Another question, I tend to accidentally use smash attacks a lot too, which leads to punishing, the only one I can seem to land reasonably well is a Dash > Usmash, I've been toying with the idea of binding Tilts to the right stick, I thought it might help with not moving too far while in the air and being able to use tilts on command w/o smashing by accident.
I'm quite comfortable using A + Direction to smash too so it's not really a problem, what sort of control layouts do you use?

I use left bumper to Jump, right bumper to shield, tap jump off and I think X is grab, Rstick is currently smash attacks but that's where I'm unsure.

I'd quite like to play Yoshi too, he seems a little hard to get into and I'm even worse with connecting attacks with him but I think I'll give it more of a go when I'm quite comfortable using my main to a better standard at least!

Yeah, I've found I'm barely grabbing at all tbh, I'll try putting that into practice. I think It's more...remaining sorta calm so I can actually think and analyze situations, instead of flying around getting punished for everything :D. I'm not too sure about Pivoting, I'll need to get some practice in, Is there any explanations or videos on how to learn it?

Thanks again for taking the time to read through all that!

 

[krazyzyko]

Not really just try to put your hitboxes out there while being safe if they miss. Gain stage control make MK traps etc. Work on your movement Turbo dash > JC, pivots, dash dances, trot dancing etc.

His smashes are usually for hard reads and solid punishes. You shouldn't just throw them out there like auto canceled fair. L-canceled dair into dash > JC up smash works at low %'s. His Dsmash punishes rolls and is good to punish a 2nd ledge grab. His F smash is good after a jab lock.
So you need to be patient and rack up DMG with your tilts, aerials and MK.

I've mapped my power A mini controller as if it was the GC. Use what's most comfortable to you. I've played melee competitively for 10 yrs now so the GC layout is my main choice. Its better if you have tap jump ON to JC > up smash and glide toss easier.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6vaR4RM-qr0
Perfect pivot tutorial
Check out that channel it has many tutorials.