On the topic of D-airs.

[Lemonman]

Earlier today, I was playing against Toon Link, Sonic, and Lucario. Needless to say, there was ALOT of D-Airs being tossed around, mainly on me. So, seeing as my brother uses both Toon Link and Sonic, what would be a good strategy to go avoiding or punishing the D-Air users? I usually just have to roll out of the way, But the D-Air from toon link seems to blow me off to the side, making a Side smash miss.

Oh yes, and of course I main Captain Olimar.

 

[Florida]

Shield grabbing would work best for Toon Link's and Sonic's dair. Lucario's dair is a little more difficult to punish, so I suggest rolling out of the way and pressuring your opponent by tossing pikmin. There are many other ways to counter dair spamming enemies, but these are the most effective from my experience.

 

[Lemonman]

Hmm, I see, how does the ^B work against said D-Airs?

 

[Herooftime7888]

Well you just have to position it right and you might have to whistle before hand which can screw up the surprise element. I'd say go for the grab or use a pikmin throw.

 

[Lemonman]

I see, thanks, both of you.

 

[scalpel]

Toon Link's Down-Air is very easy to punish. It has a lot of priority, so I usually try to stay away from being under Toon Link. Once he uses a Down-Air and lands on the ground, there's a brief pause before he can do anything. Simply stand next to him and grab.

 

[Fino]

I've played a couple toon links who ***** that move all the time. what I so in that situation is roll out of the way and then shield grab them. keeping a ground game is ideal when they do that because then you're in the position of power to deal the damage and dodge their main approach. However, you can't quite do that with sonic. It doesn't take long for a sonic player to switch from that to continuously spamming their B moves (in other words spinning the whole game). not quite sure how to counter those as well, but aerials seems to work most of the time.
Lucario's Dairs are, I think, actually easy to dodge, mainly because my brother has a good lucario. when lucario spams dair I usually short hop away and then fair... works for me. Another tactic to use is roll and then f smash seeing as if he misses he'll likely immediatly do it again. if he doesn't take the opportunity to throw some pikmin on him

~Fino

 

[scalpel]

Sonic's Down-Air, like Zero Suit Samus and Toon Link's, has a lot of priority. You can't punish Sonic's Down-Air with an immediate attack. I suggest rolling out of the way.

Sonic, in my opinion, is one of the easiest match-ups against Olimar. Sonic's rolling attacks are all punishable by grabbing. I'm not even talking about shield grabbing - just simply grabbing. When you see Sonic charging up for a rolling attack, simply spam your grab button because Sonic just cannot avoid it. You WILL grab Sonic if he rolls at you, and that's a fact. If he runs at you and spins, you can grab him, also. Sonic depends on his speed on the ground to win, and unfortunately for Sonic, Olimar is the best character for punishing people on the stage.

 

[scalpel]

I know this is slightly off-topic, but watch this video of an Olimar vs. Sonic:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zdYpYybuCAg

The reason why I am posting this video is because I believe it really demonstrates how easy it is to grab Sonic. Now, I'm not saying this Olimar is a god. Personally, I don't think this Olimar user is that good. What I DO think this person did well was that he punished Sonic by grabbing a lot. However, if it was me fighting Sonic, I would be grabbing even more. Some may say it is cheap to grab so often, but my rationale is that I am simply punishing Sonic consistently.

My critique for this Olimar user in the video is that he jumped in the air way too often. Notice that Olimar was punished nearly every time he randomly jumped in the air. Against a Sonic, it is best for Olimar to stay rooted and firm on the ground. This is where Olimar can punish Sonic best. Sonic's air game is not impressive. Sonic's strength lies in his ability to control the ground with his speedy attacks. Sonic's strength, however, is rendered useless against a good Olimar because Olimar can EASILY punish Sonic. Most of Olimar's attacks, including his forward-smash, out-prioritizes Sonic's speedy rolls. This Olimar would've easily defeated this Sonic, in my opinion, if he followed my critique.

 

[hikikimori]

just though i'd throw it out there, but i've actually been able to challenge toon links Dair with purple/blue pikmin upsmashes. not something i would recommend to do considering it usually only works when the pikmin hit the sword at the peek of its upward height.

just really throwing it out there cause it could help in a really tight clinch. aside from that i would just suggest to just dash out of his way when he's coming down, punish him with a upsmash or a fair.

 

[Lemonman]

The only problem I had, was that when toon link lands, characters get moved to the sides. I assume shield grabbing gets around this, didn't think about that, just rolled, got moved, missed the F-Smash. Nice way to punish sonic, I'll try that out later as well. Once again, thank you.

 

[Psyflame]

Roll to the side, run and shield-cancel a grab. That should be able to hit him before he gets out of his delay.

 

[Awesomethreat]

An easy solution is to shield grab while toon link is immobilized, although I've canceled plenty of D-airs with an Uair, but it's not the most reliable solution.

 

[scalpel]

An easy solution is to shield grab while toon link is immobilized, although I've canceled plenty of D-airs with an Uair, but it's not the most reliable solution.

That's so strange because EVERY time I try to out-prioritize Toon Link's Down-Air with my own Up-Air, I get all of these little flashes of light between our attacks that indicate neither of us is getting damaged. However, once my Up-Air animation is finished, Toon Link is still locked in his Down-Air, and I get damaged. I've never been able to directly punish Toon Link's Down-Air with anything. Oh well.

 

[Kirby-oh]

U-Smash pops TL up for a U-Tilt