Now That Perfect Shielding is Back...

[Zinith]

We all know Yoshi has a unique shield. Last time perfect shielding was a thing, he was given various properties unique to him, both good (parrying) and bad (lack of OoS options). How do you think Yoshi's shield will work with perfect shields?

 

[Nohbl]

A perfect shield just is a parry.
I don't see anything changing with Yoshi's shield following this alteration.

 

[AirJordans]

I’m going to say that I doubt that Yoshi’s shield will differ from others in the cast. The change made to shielding doesn’t make it more like melee or anything. Like, I think it’s as likely for us to get Yoshi’s parry back as we are to get wavedashing back.

 

[ElMoro995]

I think this change in how PS works actually helps Yoshi, because in S4 you had to put up your shield and Yoshi's shield was smaller than his hurtbox, now it's just a matter of good timing like for the other characters

 

[Delta-cod]

I think this change in how PS works actually helps Yoshi, because in S4 you had to put up your shield and Yoshi's shield was smaller than his hurtbox, now it's just a matter of good timing like for the other characters

Actually this is a really good observation. We don't really lose out on Power Shield timing like we used to. One less thing other characters have over us huzzah!

 

[AirJordans]

Actually this is a really good observation. We don't really lose out on Power Shield timing like we used to. One less thing other characters have over us huzzah!

This kind of went over my head, what was up with our shield in the last game? That’s something I don’t know that I actively noticed.

 

[Delta-cod]

This kind of went over my head, what was up with our shield in the last game? That’s something I don’t know that I actively noticed.

Perfect shielding in the past required you to shield an attack right as it was about to hit you (hitting shield one or two frames before getting hit I think). If you imagine a projectile being shot towards you, you'd have to block it at the last second.

If you had a large shield, it was easier to perfect shield because when you put up your shield it covers more space, meaning there's a larger zone around you that you can perfect shield in. Imagine the extreme case where your shield is as large as the entire stage. If you press shield any time there's an attack out on the stage you'll perfect shield because you had your shield hit within the first frame or two of putting it up.

Yoshi's shield is tiny though, and basically just covers his body. This means that to perfect shield, the attack basically had to already be on top of you. Other characters with shields larger than their bodies can put up their shields when attacks are further away and still get the perfect shield. Even worse, because Yoshi's nose is so big, there's always the possibility of getting beaned in the nose before even shielding.

Since perfect shielding now happens on RELEASING the shield, it doesn't really matter how small our shield is because everyone is already shielding, so everyone has to let go right before their shield gets hit. I suppose they get a slight advantage, since an attack that would hit their shield might just miss them if they release their shield, but that's kind of an edge case since shields shrink over time so their shields shouldn't be much larger than their hurtboxes anyways.

 

[AirJordans]

Oh okay thank you that all makes sense. So in the next game it won’t matter how long you’re shielding before getting hit, as it relates to perfect shielding? Obviously it’s always bad to sit in shield so you’ll want to get it as tight as possible.

 

[Delta-cod]

It won't matter how long WE shield for because our shield doesn't shrink. For other characters it will actually get harder for them to Perfect Shield the longer they hold their shields for, because their shields will shrink in size.

 

[Sharky]

This isn't about our shield, but definitely worth noting: since perfect shield is at the end now, can opponents still perfect shield our eggs, assuming it still has two hitboxes?

 

[Zinith]

This isn't about our shield, but definitely worth noting: since perfect shield is at the end now, can opponents still perfect shield our eggs, assuming it still has two hitboxes?

One of the Treehouse videos explained that the frames you get from a perfect shield is equal to the attack that you're parrying (but that's going on their word), so it may depend on how fast that second hitbox comes after the first.

 

[#swag]

Not only the fact that our shield doesn't get smaller, but the fact that we also don't get shield poked, so what I'm seeing is that in this game we get all of the pros of Yoshi's shield while negating the cons. They gave us jumping OoS in Smash 4, now they just need to give us shield dropping.

 

[Masonomace]

I really like the points brought up about the inherent cons for his egg shield possessing newfound advantages and pushing ideas on the bright future yoshi can have.

My short summary that others may have said, is that running shield for oncoming attack strings or approaches and readying perfect shielding for retaliation can be solid. I'm interested to try that when I play yoshi day 1. he's my top 5 characters so if I find anything I'll let you all know. I didn't really help out much with communities in a major way besides the shulk boards/ discord ):

 

[Sinister Slush]

No worries, any help for Yoshi is welcomed with open arms since Brawl was the last time we had a serious community that did consistent work. Smash 4 might've just not been too important to most veterans + we all grew up so life eventually took over for most of the melee/brawl yoshi's coming into Smash 4 release.

So if ya feel like helping or communicating just post on here or hop in the discord I made.