PM Gold-The Forest of Hope

[Latch]

Alright guys, it's here. No more changes.

This board, perhaps more than other characters' boards, has been obsessed with changes to Olimar. Why he's bad, why his design is flawed, why his recovery sucks, etc. Well I say this: Olimar is kick-ass. I play him because I love his design, because I love his playstyle, because I love Pikmin, and because I truly believe he can win a major. 3.5 was a rough time, but 3.6 was overall kind to Oli, and I think we're in a pretty good spot for the gold release. Yeah, his recovery isn't the best. Yeah, he cracks under shield pressure. Let's list his flaws. Then, let's figure out how to work around them. Let's talk about what's good, with no fear of a nerf bat. Let's compile awesome frame data, matchup information, strategies, tips, tricks, and much much more.

Our pikmin are at our side; our whistle is poised. Let us stroll forth into this new dawn; let us voyage into the forest of hope.

 

[Latch]

Starting the ball rolling: recovery.

Let's look at Olimar's full suite of recovery options.

1. Neutral B: gives a nice boost to horizontal recovery. Should be used probably every recovery, far offstage to avoid punishment. Remember that it only boosts once per airtime, so don't waste it.
2. Side B: throwing a purple can help cover your recovery quite well. If you don't have a purple, then this is not too helpful. However, whites can be useful as well, since their explosion goes off pretty quickly if the opponent is at high percent. Throwing pikmin in general can also interrupt your opponent's attempt at countering your recovery, delaying their hitbox. While this would probably be disadvantageous 90% of the time, still good to have in the toolbox.
3. Airdodge: does anybody remember this gem? Seriously, with a combination of good DI, Olimar's decent aerial mobility and neutral B, you will sometimes have the option of airdodging rather than up-bing. A useful tool.
4. Finally, Up-B: the Ionian Jet. Roughly comparable to falcon's up-b in terms of distance covered, this move is better than you might expect. Advantages include: slight control of angle, a refreshing hitbox offering some protection... okay, it's pretty bad. But, it's workable. Mix up high recoveries and low recoveries, practice sweet spotting, try to edge cancel on platforms, and above all, innovate.

That's my take on his recovery, would love to hear others' opinions.

Other topics I'll write up later: ledge options, OOS options, and getting out of juggles. Discuss!

Edit: an idea I had which would be worth testing: is it possible to overshoot a fully angled-back up-b just past the ledge, then drift back and edge cancel back off the edge of the stage? I'll test this later, unless somebody already has.

 

[Ningildo]

Neutral B only really helps with vertical distance at the cost of horizontal height, which is helpful, but still means you can't use it low.

It is possible to do that (overshoot Up B and edge cancel afterwards by drifting back), but our recovery's angle is really predictable and as time goes on, people will probably be able to already tell from our distance from the stage what we will try to do.

Don't get me wrong, we do have mixups (you forgot whistle shenanigans), but overall, Olimar's recovery is poor. If you are offstage and your opponent is on stage waiting for you, you WILL get hit unless you sweetspot (which is harder then you imagine).

This is a good try on starting discussion, though. Let's see how long it'll stay alive.

 

[Captive]

Actually I wanted to talk about Whistle and this seems like a perfect spot. First off is about B-Tech in general. How much momentum gets transferred when you B-Reverse? Also would it ever be useful to B-reverse whistle on stages as a kinda air "dash dance?"

 

[it-a-albinomoose]

i am excited to see how this character develops, he has the tools to become not trash in the eyes of most players with all of the b tech he has, most notably the b reverse whistle and neutral b, whistle for movement and baiting and pluck for essentially having no end lag allowing for quicker chases and recovery to the stage, he will be technically demanding to be played at full potential but i hope it will be worth it