Not sure how to handle this

[Spudman]

This isn't really a complaint or anything, just looking for advice here. Played probably the most campy/defensive villager I've ever seen, and I'm not very good at the game, so I didn't really know how to beat the strategy. I don't really play Koopa Kid yet (was just practicing with him for fun sort of thing), so it could just be an ugly matchup for him, I don't know.

ANYWAY, I'm not exactly sure what to do about this Villager's strategy. Looking at the "tapes" I noticed maybe I could've done something more about punishing his desire to grab the ledge repeatedly which negated his invincibilty, and could have been more patient at times, but I'm open to feedback. I'd really like to improve at this game

 

[Deadzombie]

I play villager and this is disgusting ledge dependency. I mean I can understand I'd your getting pushed off ok. Or your at high percentages. But this guy is playing the lamest villager ever. That flow chart was just asking for a spike on ledge grab.

 

[Spudman]

Yeah I tried to get over there to punish it, like I said it might just be an ugly matchup for Koopa Kid, the rocket + repeated Fair spam kept me out for the most part as you can see.

 

[Jebus244]

Disgusting? Hmm.. I thought it was a great example of how villager is probably going to get played. The villager's up special is going to let him practically live on the ledge. Even if meteored, unless he's at high enough percentage, his balloons will carry him right back to the ledge. Did you see how he kept half watering the sapling to set up its spike on growth? And campy? No, this villager was aggressive, He was just responding to your aggression. Beautiful instant Nairs, though he needs to work on his Fairs a bit. My guess is you just need to play against it more as koopa since you said he wasn't your main.

 

[Duck SMASH!]

Using the Mechakoopa against villager is pretty much impossible if he's playing smart/defensive with his pocket.
Yea you gave him plenty of room to work with in constantly returning to the stage. The time he tried to return from far under the stage was a good opportunity to stage spike with Bair or Fair.
He pretty much abused his Fair and Lloid. You started to sidestep them but perhaps could have done that more often to hold your position and not give the guy too much space to work with.
But I'd get sick of this guy too so don't feel too bad.

 

[Fatmanonice]

It wasn't a bad match over all. You were lucky that Villager didn't go for any offstage gimps because it's really easy for Villager to simply overwhelm Bowser Jr off stage. There were a lot of opportunities that he/she didn't take where a simple nair would have taken you out. Overall, I'd say that this was fairly standard Villager play. The only thing I will say is that if you try to fight Villager offstage, he/she will win 90% of the time so going after him/her offstage is generally a huge risk for Bowser Jr.

 

[Spudman]

Yeah I figured it was highly risky for Bowser Jr to try and fight offstage, but I felt that was the only option I had. I felt that he was content to just stay on or hovering over the ledge until timeout.

Mainly posting this though not so much for the Bowser Jr. matchup, but just in general I really don't know how to handle that sort of playstyle.

 

[Fatmanonice]

Seeing how he/she played, I don't think they really knew the matchup and were just going about in a typical fashion because, as I said, Villager has a stupidly good offstage game against Bowser Jr. It's a match up about patience. A big part of playing against characters with weaker recoveries as Villager is to lure them to the edge but it isn't too terrible to go against as long as you don't let it get under your skin. Fair and bair only really hurt at point blank range so sometimes it's just a matter of spacing and waiting things out. If you keep going in, they'll likely knock you back. It's super annoying but it makes people easier to manipulate. As you said, it's good to take advantage of the end of the ledge invisibility and know that they can't stall the whole match ala planking in Brawl.

 

[Teh Sandwich]

You were being too aggressive. Almost forcing him to stay on the ledge. Take better advantage of the fact that he doesn't get invaluability when re-grabbing the edge.
I played a villager like this in an in-person tourney. I play link though. But I had a pretty easy time popping his balloons when he'd fall below the stage.

 

[Nobie]

When fighting a Villager who likes to hang by the ledge constantly, it's important to know how the Lloid Rocket works and what attacks are at your disposal that can allow you to quickly take out the Lloid Rocket without any danger to yourself. That Lloid Rocket, in addition to the insane recovery on Balloon Fight, is really the key to his being able to stay off-stage safely.

When the rocket is first being set up, it can't be destroyed. Once it starts moving, then just about any attack with decent strength and decent range can take it out (however, if he decides to ride the rocket, then it becomes much more difficult to destroy). Doing some simple tests with Bowser Jr., I find that his down tilt and forward tilt are good for taking out the rocket. Both of these attacks will clank with the rocket and destroy it, meaning that you also don't have to deal with the full animations of your attacks. From there, you should think of your goal as being not so much to edge guard him for the quick KO because it's really hard to do that to Villager, but to deal enough damage to him as he hangs there that it stops being as helpful a position.

 

[Spudman]

Thank you, that actually makes a lot of sense to me. I'll be sure to incorporate it into my strategy.

 

[Pink'd]

Let the villager come to you. Shield all his/her attacks, avoid his grabs, and punish him.

 

[Shaya]

You should be asking for help either on the village or bowser jr boards, alternatively the advice thread.