ok, for those who don't know, this ranks as possible my favorite match up in all of SSBM, simply because of the great tactics being employed by both sides. However, any Peach who has played a high level Sheik user can attest that it's a bit of an uphill battle, so now I think it might be important to analyze this match-up, seeing as how Sheik destroys other character much worse, herself included...
Sheik's anti-Peach
1. Sheik retains a lot of her combo ability against the floaty Peach. But did you know that constantly DIing a hard left/right away from Sheik's tilts sends Peach too far for any possible follow up? It's true... whenever you're enganging Sheik, DI a hard left/right away from her. If Sheik hits you with a tilt, your angle of flight is so off she can't hit you again for a follow up. This is another reason why C-sticking is so important with Peach. You can use aerials with them while still holding the proper DI angles just in case (except for nairs). You can try the DI bits in training mode with a friend. It can counter ftilt, dtilt, utilt, and the dreaded standing A - fair combo, all of Sheik's big combo setups vs. Peach, except for the dthrow because it's cheap and stupid.
2. Sheik's big killers on Peach are her fair and uair, most commonly linked from dthrow. However, it seems like even the Sheik user doesn't know that both of these can be DI'd to prolong the victim's survival for some odd reason. If you see fair coming and can't do anything about it, just hold the control stick up+towards (same way you'd DI a forward throw). Granted, DI'ing Sheik's fair isn't as effective as a fthrow simply because of the low angle it sends you, but an angle of DI exists, and should be used. You can also try this in training mode to see the difference in sending angle.
Sheik's uair can also be DI'd. Sheik's uair is actually very similar to Peach's, one of those similarities being it doesn't have a perfectly vertical send. It's a bit off center, and you can use that angle to DI the uair to a small extent. It's simple.. if you're to the right of the center of Sheik's body, hold right on the control stick. If you're on the left, hold left. Bear in mind though, that it's better to be eating Sheik's fair from the dthrow as opposed to uair 90% of the time as Peach dies much more easily off the top than to the side.
As noted, DI has comparatively little effect on Sheik's fair/uair as they would on most other horizontal sends. But even a little extra survivial can go a long way.
3. Sheik's grab - dthrow is too much for poor Peach to handle. At most any percentage past 30, Peach is set up for a free uair or fair from Sheik following this move no matter how she DIs. At 0% she can be chain grabbed a couple of times or utilt comboed for good damage, so watch out for those as well when you are fresh from a respawn. Moral here: Sheik will try to grab - dthrow you as much as she can. DO NOT ALLOW SHEIK TO GRAB YOU.
However, it is inevitable that she will get grabs on you. Once this happens, try to break out like mad. Most Sheiks simply use dthrow anyways and you can attempt to break the grab without messing up the DI of dthrow when needed as it's fairly slow. Speaking of which, you should almost always DI a hard left/right, almost never up. This sort of DI limits Sheik to an fair (no uair) afterwards until the 120+ damage range, which is almost always the better option. After that, you can DI the fair (up+towards) and hope you survive. Setting yourself for uair is only favorable when the ceiling is much higher than the distance to the left/right blast zone in question and that's rare...
However, when Peach reaches about 120% or so, it is possible for Sheik to run under you and Uair after dthrow, even with the horizontal DI. This takes a bit more time to do than a usual running Fair, so you actually (barely) have enough frames to wiggle out of dthrow stun and airdodge the brutal attack. However, that requires extremely precise timing and a thorough foresight of your opponent's follow-up patterns. Remember that if you do wind up eating uair for whatever reason to DI it the right way for maximum chances of survival.
-PAL players do not have to worry about dthrow combos except for an occasional dash attack follow-up at low damage. Consider yourself lucky.
Avoiding/countering Sheik's grab game is key in giving her a good match. Peach actually has a couple of ways to get around Sheik's grab when she's in range of it:
>slaps - Peach's standing A only has one frame of startup (hits on frame 2). Even if you see a grab coming, you have a (comparatively) good amount of time to simply slap her out of it. The slaps also have decent reach (outranges sheik's grab), so this would be the safest countermeasure provided Sheik doesn't CC it. Peach 1st slap, unfortunately, can be CC'd at any percentage. Remember though, that if they do start CC'ing it, that your dsmash comes into play.
>fsmash - Peach leans back and bends her waist in such a fashion that it avoids Sheik's hand. If you're against a grab-happy Sheik, feel free to fsmash them. It's recommended you try this out in a controlled 1 vs. 1 first to get the proper spacing down, although it's not entirely hard. The lean-back is actually very substantial, but take a little time to reach its maximum. Fsmash is also a very handy anti-air attack against Sheik when used properly. Get used to its speed and random range and you'll have a valuable attack to use in this match.
Video demo!
>dtilt - raise an eyebrow if you like, but Peach's dtilt plays a large part in your anti-Sheik game. It's very difficult to get used to using, but has the highest payout of any combo starter since dtilt offers ridiculous advantage when you hit an opponent on the ground with it. In the first few frames of Peach's dtilt, she leans back for a brief period before striking. This can be used to evade-and-counter grabs in a very similar way as fsmash. However, it's a bit tricky to get the spacing down since the lean back is not as big as fsmash, but is near instant starting on frame 2! Spaced dtilts are also relatively safe to throw out there since it has fast recovery and also good range (better than dsmash by a good bit). It is shield-grabbable only if you're way too close. Here's some frame data from SDM's files:
D Tilt
Total: 27
Hit: 12-13
IASA: 26
max lean back: 2-9
Shield stun: 13
Shield hit lag: 6
Advantage: -8
Anyway, you can try this in a controlled 1 vs. 1 to see that it does work, but fitting this into a real match requires much practice and foresight. The spoils however, are grand. dtilt leads into a natural combo into uair up until about 105% before landing the dtilt. Even with DI it still leads to free attacks. Once Sheik is past that 105ish percentage, a dtilt sends her too far up for a combo to be viable, but you can attempt to hover in the air and intercept her from below as they will almost assuredly jump out of the stun once they see you pursuing, and have no choice but to fall back down to a waiting Peach out for blood.
Sheik's jab - . When Peach is at roughly 95% and above, Sheik can use a single standing A to set Peach up for a fair. This actually counts as a combo in training mode *shudder*. The best example I can tell you is S4C Mike G vs. Isai 01. It's just brutal. Anyway, avoiding it is tricky. If you manage to DI Sheik's punch, you'll be too far for her to fair you in time. However, DI'ing it is impossible on reflex. My best thought is to keep your distance from Sheik moreso than you should be pre-90%, and again, constantly using the "away DI" whenever Sheik is close. If you abuse DI, Sheik is going to be pissed off trying to kill Peach since the setups send her too far away for any follow up as long as she stays away from the dthrow.
Alternatively, you can attempt to CC-counter Sheik's jab if you're suspicious of it. Bear in mind though, that CC-spam will leave you vulnerable to random grabs.
Sheik's ftilt - Anyone that's played an ftilt-spacing Sheik knows this move is a complete and utter ***** to get past and leads to free attacks whenever you don't DI it away. The only moves Peach has that matches its range are the second hit of A,A and the tennis racket. Only the club outreaches it entirely, but fsmash to counter her ftilt is unadvisable. You do however, have some defenses against it.
dtilt - what, dtilt again? Yes, the lean back of dtilt is enough to avoid spaced ftilts from sheik, and even hit her, too! Juggle the cheap ho to hell and back.
Turnips - you can throw a turnip from shield and it will hit sheik before she recovers from ftilt assuming you block the ftilt (and have a turnip).
DD dash attack - dash away right before the ftilt comes out, then snap around and dash attack her. Requires precise timing and also runs a risk of being shield grabbed if you're too slow or CC'd if they have little damage.
Remember that if you wind up eating the ftilt, to either CC it or DI away from Sheik to avoid getting comboed.
NTSC vs. PAL
PAL Peaches rejoice. Sheik had some key anti-Peach characteristics taken away from her. Her dthrow now has more horizontal send, making it impossible to connect with an aerial after proper DI on your part, and her uair now requires roughly 35% more damage to KO as it did in NTSC. Those two bits are enough to turn the tables in Peach's favor instead of the vice-versa.
On the other hand, Peach has been unchanged ever since Up+B starting lagging on hit in NTSC 1.1 and subsequent versions. In PAL, Peach can afford a little bit more error than in NTSC since grabs from Sheik and being caught from below in general aren't nearly as devastating. Sheik still retains the KO power in all her other moves, though. You still have to be mindful of her standing fair, bair, usmash, dsmash, and as always her ridiculous tilt and needle game.
Peach vs. Sheik by version
Here's how it goes. In NTSC, Sheik's brokenness allows a tiny advantage in her favor against Peach. Certainly still a close match, but Sheik has ridiculous stuff on Peach that is hard to avoid, and Peach can't quite return that punishment in full (for the same amount of effort, anyway).
In PAL, well... Sheik actually loses to Peach. With the lack of a real grab game to counter Peach's CC game, Peach wins pretty handily. Makes me want to move to Australia only to still get owned by the Marths and Foxes.
NTSC Peach/Sheik matches
Vidjo vs. Drephen 1
Vidjo vs. Drephen 2
Vidjo vs. Drephen 3
Vidjo vs. Drephen 4
Cort vs. mystery Sheik - pretty good actually
Cort vs. mystery Sheik 2
Cort vs. Hayato 1
Cort vs. Hayato 2
Sheik's anti-Peach
1. Sheik retains a lot of her combo ability against the floaty Peach. But did you know that constantly DIing a hard left/right away from Sheik's tilts sends Peach too far for any possible follow up? It's true... whenever you're enganging Sheik, DI a hard left/right away from her. If Sheik hits you with a tilt, your angle of flight is so off she can't hit you again for a follow up. This is another reason why C-sticking is so important with Peach. You can use aerials with them while still holding the proper DI angles just in case (except for nairs). You can try the DI bits in training mode with a friend. It can counter ftilt, dtilt, utilt, and the dreaded standing A - fair combo, all of Sheik's big combo setups vs. Peach, except for the dthrow because it's cheap and stupid.
2. Sheik's big killers on Peach are her fair and uair, most commonly linked from dthrow. However, it seems like even the Sheik user doesn't know that both of these can be DI'd to prolong the victim's survival for some odd reason. If you see fair coming and can't do anything about it, just hold the control stick up+towards (same way you'd DI a forward throw). Granted, DI'ing Sheik's fair isn't as effective as a fthrow simply because of the low angle it sends you, but an angle of DI exists, and should be used. You can also try this in training mode to see the difference in sending angle.
Sheik's uair can also be DI'd. Sheik's uair is actually very similar to Peach's, one of those similarities being it doesn't have a perfectly vertical send. It's a bit off center, and you can use that angle to DI the uair to a small extent. It's simple.. if you're to the right of the center of Sheik's body, hold right on the control stick. If you're on the left, hold left. Bear in mind though, that it's better to be eating Sheik's fair from the dthrow as opposed to uair 90% of the time as Peach dies much more easily off the top than to the side.
As noted, DI has comparatively little effect on Sheik's fair/uair as they would on most other horizontal sends. But even a little extra survivial can go a long way.
3. Sheik's grab - dthrow is too much for poor Peach to handle. At most any percentage past 30, Peach is set up for a free uair or fair from Sheik following this move no matter how she DIs. At 0% she can be chain grabbed a couple of times or utilt comboed for good damage, so watch out for those as well when you are fresh from a respawn. Moral here: Sheik will try to grab - dthrow you as much as she can. DO NOT ALLOW SHEIK TO GRAB YOU.
However, it is inevitable that she will get grabs on you. Once this happens, try to break out like mad. Most Sheiks simply use dthrow anyways and you can attempt to break the grab without messing up the DI of dthrow when needed as it's fairly slow. Speaking of which, you should almost always DI a hard left/right, almost never up. This sort of DI limits Sheik to an fair (no uair) afterwards until the 120+ damage range, which is almost always the better option. After that, you can DI the fair (up+towards) and hope you survive. Setting yourself for uair is only favorable when the ceiling is much higher than the distance to the left/right blast zone in question and that's rare...
However, when Peach reaches about 120% or so, it is possible for Sheik to run under you and Uair after dthrow, even with the horizontal DI. This takes a bit more time to do than a usual running Fair, so you actually (barely) have enough frames to wiggle out of dthrow stun and airdodge the brutal attack. However, that requires extremely precise timing and a thorough foresight of your opponent's follow-up patterns. Remember that if you do wind up eating uair for whatever reason to DI it the right way for maximum chances of survival.
-PAL players do not have to worry about dthrow combos except for an occasional dash attack follow-up at low damage. Consider yourself lucky.
Avoiding/countering Sheik's grab game is key in giving her a good match. Peach actually has a couple of ways to get around Sheik's grab when she's in range of it:
>slaps - Peach's standing A only has one frame of startup (hits on frame 2). Even if you see a grab coming, you have a (comparatively) good amount of time to simply slap her out of it. The slaps also have decent reach (outranges sheik's grab), so this would be the safest countermeasure provided Sheik doesn't CC it. Peach 1st slap, unfortunately, can be CC'd at any percentage. Remember though, that if they do start CC'ing it, that your dsmash comes into play.
>fsmash - Peach leans back and bends her waist in such a fashion that it avoids Sheik's hand. If you're against a grab-happy Sheik, feel free to fsmash them. It's recommended you try this out in a controlled 1 vs. 1 first to get the proper spacing down, although it's not entirely hard. The lean-back is actually very substantial, but take a little time to reach its maximum. Fsmash is also a very handy anti-air attack against Sheik when used properly. Get used to its speed and random range and you'll have a valuable attack to use in this match.
Video demo!
>dtilt - raise an eyebrow if you like, but Peach's dtilt plays a large part in your anti-Sheik game. It's very difficult to get used to using, but has the highest payout of any combo starter since dtilt offers ridiculous advantage when you hit an opponent on the ground with it. In the first few frames of Peach's dtilt, she leans back for a brief period before striking. This can be used to evade-and-counter grabs in a very similar way as fsmash. However, it's a bit tricky to get the spacing down since the lean back is not as big as fsmash, but is near instant starting on frame 2! Spaced dtilts are also relatively safe to throw out there since it has fast recovery and also good range (better than dsmash by a good bit). It is shield-grabbable only if you're way too close. Here's some frame data from SDM's files:
D Tilt
Total: 27
Hit: 12-13
IASA: 26
max lean back: 2-9
Shield stun: 13
Shield hit lag: 6
Advantage: -8
Anyway, you can try this in a controlled 1 vs. 1 to see that it does work, but fitting this into a real match requires much practice and foresight. The spoils however, are grand. dtilt leads into a natural combo into uair up until about 105% before landing the dtilt. Even with DI it still leads to free attacks. Once Sheik is past that 105ish percentage, a dtilt sends her too far up for a combo to be viable, but you can attempt to hover in the air and intercept her from below as they will almost assuredly jump out of the stun once they see you pursuing, and have no choice but to fall back down to a waiting Peach out for blood.
Sheik's jab - . When Peach is at roughly 95% and above, Sheik can use a single standing A to set Peach up for a fair. This actually counts as a combo in training mode *shudder*. The best example I can tell you is S4C Mike G vs. Isai 01. It's just brutal. Anyway, avoiding it is tricky. If you manage to DI Sheik's punch, you'll be too far for her to fair you in time. However, DI'ing it is impossible on reflex. My best thought is to keep your distance from Sheik moreso than you should be pre-90%, and again, constantly using the "away DI" whenever Sheik is close. If you abuse DI, Sheik is going to be pissed off trying to kill Peach since the setups send her too far away for any follow up as long as she stays away from the dthrow.
Alternatively, you can attempt to CC-counter Sheik's jab if you're suspicious of it. Bear in mind though, that CC-spam will leave you vulnerable to random grabs.
Sheik's ftilt - Anyone that's played an ftilt-spacing Sheik knows this move is a complete and utter ***** to get past and leads to free attacks whenever you don't DI it away. The only moves Peach has that matches its range are the second hit of A,A and the tennis racket. Only the club outreaches it entirely, but fsmash to counter her ftilt is unadvisable. You do however, have some defenses against it.
dtilt - what, dtilt again? Yes, the lean back of dtilt is enough to avoid spaced ftilts from sheik, and even hit her, too! Juggle the cheap ho to hell and back.
Turnips - you can throw a turnip from shield and it will hit sheik before she recovers from ftilt assuming you block the ftilt (and have a turnip).
DD dash attack - dash away right before the ftilt comes out, then snap around and dash attack her. Requires precise timing and also runs a risk of being shield grabbed if you're too slow or CC'd if they have little damage.
Remember that if you wind up eating the ftilt, to either CC it or DI away from Sheik to avoid getting comboed.
NTSC vs. PAL
PAL Peaches rejoice. Sheik had some key anti-Peach characteristics taken away from her. Her dthrow now has more horizontal send, making it impossible to connect with an aerial after proper DI on your part, and her uair now requires roughly 35% more damage to KO as it did in NTSC. Those two bits are enough to turn the tables in Peach's favor instead of the vice-versa.
On the other hand, Peach has been unchanged ever since Up+B starting lagging on hit in NTSC 1.1 and subsequent versions. In PAL, Peach can afford a little bit more error than in NTSC since grabs from Sheik and being caught from below in general aren't nearly as devastating. Sheik still retains the KO power in all her other moves, though. You still have to be mindful of her standing fair, bair, usmash, dsmash, and as always her ridiculous tilt and needle game.
Peach vs. Sheik by version
Here's how it goes. In NTSC, Sheik's brokenness allows a tiny advantage in her favor against Peach. Certainly still a close match, but Sheik has ridiculous stuff on Peach that is hard to avoid, and Peach can't quite return that punishment in full (for the same amount of effort, anyway).
In PAL, well... Sheik actually loses to Peach. With the lack of a real grab game to counter Peach's CC game, Peach wins pretty handily. Makes me want to move to Australia only to still get owned by the Marths and Foxes.
NTSC Peach/Sheik matches
Vidjo vs. Drephen 1
Vidjo vs. Drephen 2
Vidjo vs. Drephen 3
Vidjo vs. Drephen 4
Cort vs. mystery Sheik - pretty good actually
Cort vs. mystery Sheik 2
Cort vs. Hayato 1
Cort vs. Hayato 2
