New to Bowser

[DragonZProductions]

I am relatively new to competitive smash (3 months of playing now and just finished my 2nd tourney in melee), and recently I started to play Project M. I play Doc in melee so of course I just play Mario in PM, but for some reason he just doesn't feel right, and so I went to a character who is someone I would have loved to play in melee... Bowser. I tried looking for a basic learning guide in here so I was wondering if the community could give me some tips to learning the basics of Bowser.

 

[FakeKraid]

Still looking for advice here?

 

[N0PE]

I would start practicing jump-cancelling his grounded Down+B, it's a good tech for air-chasing to finish off a KO. All you do is jump anytime during the upwards momentum before he starts going back down. It's faster and more reliable than hopping upward

 

[Jimbo_G]

Your first thing you'll want to learn is controlling Bowser and maximizing his movement. His speed is his biggest weakness and if you can't keep him moving then you're basically a giant punching bag. Bowser has a magnificent Fox Trot so start with that. Fox Trotting is his primary source of movement along with Wavedashing.

Secondly, Up-B out of shield. It's Bowser's bread and butter move and the only thing he can throw out in less than 10 frames. Learn it. Abuse it. Leave no shield attack unpunished.

Secondly, Fortress Hogging. It's Bowser's only quick way to the ledge and he'll want the ledge a lot when being pressured on the ground. Coupled with Up-B out of shield you can get a lot of movement punishing, hogging to the ledge, then jumping off of it in one swoop.

 

[N0PE]

Secondly, Up-B out of shield. It's Bowser's bread and butter move and the only thing he can throw out in less than 10 frames. Learn it. Abuse it. Leave no shield attack unpunished.

Is this just a matter of using Up-B out of shield or is there more to it than that?

 

[Thor]

Is this just a matter of using Up-B out of shield or is there more to it than that?

Dunno exactly what you mean by that, but you should be doing a jump-cancelled up+B. You'll do it without shield drop lag and while still on the ground.

I know this game is different from Melee, but DJ Nintendo (best Melee Bowser in the world) does a fair bit of up+B OoS here, and around 1:55 he does it twice in a very short timespan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-na5cfbaP74

If it's like Melee, you are invincible frame 1-5 of up+B and the hitbox is out frame 5, meaning you outprioritze every attack and will clank any non-transcendent attacks with no risk to you on that 5th frame. I think you might be vulnerable for a minimum of 1 frame due to jumpsquat (that is, you have to jump then up+B while still on the ground, so I think your shield is not protecting you for the number of jumpsquat frames you go through before the cancel), but it's arguably the best OoS option in all of PM (it was almost as good as Shine OoS in Melee, and that doesn't have an invincibility frame anymore) and a necessity for Bowser, who would otherwise have absolutely atrocious options.

That said, people will bait you into this, so if you're not careful, someone might managed to space something, get shield up in time, and punish (an example that comes to mind would be a Fox player running up, shining, and fullhoping - I don't think up+B OoS can punish that [or else you must be VERY fast], but if you aren't fast enough (regardless of this can be punished or not), he's above you and can land with nair, dair, or probably bair (or maybe even fastfall grab), while you're doing up+B on the ground, which does have enough endlag for Fox to punish it).

 

[N0PE]

you have to jump then up+B while still on the ground

This answers my question. I thought people were saying you can press Up+B while holding shield to go straight into fortress.
So you jumpcancel the shield and then up+b, sounds good. Thank you!

 

[Thor]

This answers my question. I thought people were saying you can press Up+B while holding shield to go straight into fortress.
So you jumpcancel the shield and then up+b, sounds good. Thank you!

Just to be clear, you don't actually hit a jump button [generally X/Y], then do an up+b. Technically you can (I guess), but if you just smash (and temporarily keep holding) up and hit B immediately after, you'll do Up+B OoS [because tap jump will cause the jump and you just have to hit B with the analog stick up to do up+B]. If you can do usmash out of shield by just hitting both sticks up, it's the same principle here.

I play Link in PM, and up+B OoS is basically the only reason I don't disable tap jump, because I use the method I described above to do up+b OoS.

 

[Jimbo_G]

Just to be clear, you don't actually hit a jump button [generally X/Y], then do an up+b. Technically you can (I guess), but if you just smash (and temporarily keep holding) up and hit B immediately after, you'll do Up+B OoS [because tap jump will cause the jump and you just have to hit B with the analog stick up to do up+B]. If you can do usmash out of shield by just hitting both sticks up, it's the same principle here.

I play Link in PM, and up+B OoS is basically the only reason I don't disable tap jump, because I use the method I described above to do up+b OoS.

The only reason Up-B OoS works is because of the Tap Jump. Without Tap Jump on you will need to use a different button to achieve the effect. I don't play with Tap Jump on, so I've remapped jump to my L button since I use R for shielding and L-Cancelling.

 

[Thor]

The only reason Up-B OoS works is because of the Tap Jump. Without Tap Jump on you will need to use a different button to achieve the effect. I don't play with Tap Jump on, so I've remapped jump to my L button since I use R for shielding and L-Cancelling.

I assumed the OP used tap jump, which is admittedly rather silly. I did detail above that a jump cancel is required.

So if one has tap jump, the method I described is probably the best, but if one does not use tap jump, they must input a jump and then quickly input the up+B before Bowser actually leaves the ground (and faster is better).

 

[N0PE]

I assumed the OP used tap jump, which is admittedly rather silly. I did detail above that a jump cancel is required.

So if one has tap jump, the method I described is probably the best, but if one does not use tap jump, they must input a jump and then quickly input the up+B before Bowser actually leaves the ground (and faster is better).

I actually didn't use Tap Jump in the past, but quickly figured out that Tap Jump is what makes this magic possible.

 

[WinterShorts]

I am relatively new to competitive smash (3 months of playing now and just finished my 2nd tourney in melee), and recently I started to play Project M. I play Doc in melee so of course I just play Mario in PM, but for some reason he just doesn't feel right, and so I went to a character who is someone I would have loved to play in melee... Bowser. I tried looking for a basic learning guide in here so I was wondering if the community could give me some tips to learning the basics of Bowser.

Hmmm....basics? Well luckily I do main Bowser myself in PM, and people have commented about it positively.

If you want basic stuff, first note that Bowser has a screw-ton of superarmor. I believe 4 of his attacks have superarmor on them, those being F-Smash, N-Air, Down-B, and Up-B. The ladder 2 attacks have superarmor for like 1 or 3 frames at the beginning. When using Bowser's N-air, nothing is really going to flinch it since you get the armor when you press the button, and it's so nice for breaking through other attacks in the air.

And speaking of airs, don't forget that you can jump cancel your Down-B from the ground. This gives Bowser a ridiculous jump speed and hight allowing you to Up-Air them when they're sent flying. In fact, you could do anything you can after you jump cancel said move.

Jump cancel down-b: N-air.

Jump cancel down-b: Up-air for finishers.

Jump cancel down-b: F-air for the greatest reach you can.

Jump cancel down-b: into a down-b (for unpredictability )

Also, up-B is still a really useful move. So, use it. It's a fast move to punish almost any aerial, but don't over abuse it as people can easily predict that and grab.

Hope you have fun with him! He is a very destructive character in PM.

 

[Gayl0rd]

Youtube is an extremely good resource for tech.

Check out matches with Calmanimal. I learned most of my tech from watching his matches.