Since brawl first came out, even before it hit the U.S., Metaknight has been given the title as "the best character in the game." There is still an ongoing conflict of who is "better": Mk or Snake, but Mk has fewer bad matchups. For a while now it has been discovered that Olimar is either neutral or at an advantage with Snake, and that Mk is arguably Olimar's worst matchup. A few days ago brawl was in the U.S. for 5 months. A lot has changed since the intial release: different ATs, opinions on certain characters in the tiers, discoveries on different matchups, which leads me to my opinion of Olimar's arguably "worst" matchup.
Its Metaknight. No matter who you use, its going to be a difficult fight if the Mk player knows what hes doing. After fighting many Mks throughout the months, I've honestly come closer to believing that Olimar is neutral with Mk. I know this has still been argued about for a little while, but I thought this really needed to be discussed.
Think about it, what is it about Metaknight that makes us believe hes so good? He has range, speed, absolutely no lag on almost all of his attacks, low attack power to provide for incredibly easy combos and great move succession, he has one of the best recoveries in the game, plays one of the best offstage games, rediculous priority on almost all of his attacks, and upb that can kill at 30-40, crazy gimping ability, a dsmash that can kill at 115-125 on heavy characters and a tornado that practically makes him invincible and deals the opponent a ton of damage. Olimar's range, however, is significantly longer than Mk's, which affects the matchup greatly.
Besides the tornado, which is punishable if performed correctly, it is difficult to approach Olimar as Mk. He can't approach from the ground in that he'll be grabbed or fsmash before he can even get near Oli. His only choice then if ground and tornado approaches are gone is to approach from the air, which becomes predictable as the match goes on and thus punishable. Most Olimars, or atleast the Olimars I've seen/know know how to avoid getting gimped through WAC, using purples to knock them off the edge, or just avoiding a situation like this completely. I guess Mk is just so overused that people have found ways around him, especially in matchups that were believed to be **** on the opponent's side. Even some Metaknight players are now saying that they hate playing Olimars, including M2k who personally posted about it on this board. In no way am I saying that Olimar has a significant advantage or advantage at all in this matchup, its still incredibly difficult, but I just think this matchup keeps rearing closer to neutral everyday.
If this is the case, shouldn't Olimar be placing better in tournaments? Lets look at the top 11(I want to include ROB) ranked characters from Ankoku's Character Rankings List found here: http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=165954.
1. Metaknight
This entire thread.
2. Snake
Annoying, but you have range and some priority. Shouldn't be too hard.
3. King Dedede
Hes fat, your not. You can't get chaingrabbed, he has a hard time removing latched pikmin, and your 0% combos can easily get him to around 60%.
4.Mr. Game and Watch
This is never a fun matchup. It's in my opinion neutral, but still incredibly difficult.
5. Wario
Dead even, most people on either board would agree with me.
6. Marth
Another tough matchup. Keep your spacing and avoid fighting him in the air.
7. Lucario
He has range also, so its all a game of spacing. You have a slight advantage.
8. Falco
Another fairly even matchup. Do your best to avoid getting chaingrabbed and you should be alright.
9. Diddy Kong
VERY ANNOYING. You do have another slight advantage, but its hard to pressure a Diddy and the bananas if not controlled will destroy you.
10. Donkey Kong
Arguable on who has an advantage here. Its close, but again hes fat your not.
11. ROB
This is another arguable hard matchup. He can become predictable and punishable if your smart, but he is still such a pain.
I am not trying to turn this into a matchup thread and at all take away from Dangr's matchup thread, but I am trying to figure out why Olimar is failing. This isn't a bad thing necessarily since top tier characters become overused, but just something worth looking into. Mk stood in Olimar's way for so long, but if the #1, also the most used character becomes easier to play, and Snake being another potentially easy match, whats up?
Its Metaknight. No matter who you use, its going to be a difficult fight if the Mk player knows what hes doing. After fighting many Mks throughout the months, I've honestly come closer to believing that Olimar is neutral with Mk. I know this has still been argued about for a little while, but I thought this really needed to be discussed.
Think about it, what is it about Metaknight that makes us believe hes so good? He has range, speed, absolutely no lag on almost all of his attacks, low attack power to provide for incredibly easy combos and great move succession, he has one of the best recoveries in the game, plays one of the best offstage games, rediculous priority on almost all of his attacks, and upb that can kill at 30-40, crazy gimping ability, a dsmash that can kill at 115-125 on heavy characters and a tornado that practically makes him invincible and deals the opponent a ton of damage. Olimar's range, however, is significantly longer than Mk's, which affects the matchup greatly.
Besides the tornado, which is punishable if performed correctly, it is difficult to approach Olimar as Mk. He can't approach from the ground in that he'll be grabbed or fsmash before he can even get near Oli. His only choice then if ground and tornado approaches are gone is to approach from the air, which becomes predictable as the match goes on and thus punishable. Most Olimars, or atleast the Olimars I've seen/know know how to avoid getting gimped through WAC, using purples to knock them off the edge, or just avoiding a situation like this completely. I guess Mk is just so overused that people have found ways around him, especially in matchups that were believed to be **** on the opponent's side. Even some Metaknight players are now saying that they hate playing Olimars, including M2k who personally posted about it on this board. In no way am I saying that Olimar has a significant advantage or advantage at all in this matchup, its still incredibly difficult, but I just think this matchup keeps rearing closer to neutral everyday.
If this is the case, shouldn't Olimar be placing better in tournaments? Lets look at the top 11(I want to include ROB) ranked characters from Ankoku's Character Rankings List found here: http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=165954.
1. Metaknight
This entire thread.
2. Snake
Annoying, but you have range and some priority. Shouldn't be too hard.
3. King Dedede
Hes fat, your not. You can't get chaingrabbed, he has a hard time removing latched pikmin, and your 0% combos can easily get him to around 60%.
4.Mr. Game and Watch
This is never a fun matchup. It's in my opinion neutral, but still incredibly difficult.
5. Wario
Dead even, most people on either board would agree with me.
6. Marth
Another tough matchup. Keep your spacing and avoid fighting him in the air.
7. Lucario
He has range also, so its all a game of spacing. You have a slight advantage.
8. Falco
Another fairly even matchup. Do your best to avoid getting chaingrabbed and you should be alright.
9. Diddy Kong
VERY ANNOYING. You do have another slight advantage, but its hard to pressure a Diddy and the bananas if not controlled will destroy you.
10. Donkey Kong
Arguable on who has an advantage here. Its close, but again hes fat your not.
11. ROB
This is another arguable hard matchup. He can become predictable and punishable if your smart, but he is still such a pain.
I am not trying to turn this into a matchup thread and at all take away from Dangr's matchup thread, but I am trying to figure out why Olimar is failing. This isn't a bad thing necessarily since top tier characters become overused, but just something worth looking into. Mk stood in Olimar's way for so long, but if the #1, also the most used character becomes easier to play, and Snake being another potentially easy match, whats up?
.
Theres only so much you can do when it comes to catching them and whatnot. I've played many more Mks than Diddys, I know shocking, as well.