Project M - First Impressions
I just want to say, you guys did amazing. Really enjoying everything about this demo, and I really appreciate all the hard work you put in (especially under the pressure of a late release).
Anyway, I'll start with my opinions of the characters.
Mario - Like a better Dr. Mario. His attacks link better though (dair and especially uair), and his new cape is really cool for edge-guarding (reverses DI). Feels like Doc with better punishes.
Luigi - His ground game is slightly buffed from Melee, nothing major but its nice. Biggest difference is recovery. Luigi Cyclone gives him enough height for an extra Luigi Missile. More likely to Misfire is nice (1 in every 6). Also makes it easier to predict when you will Misfire (if you've done 4 Missiles and none have Misfired, one of the next two will). You can store Misfires for your next Missile as well, which gives him a new KO move or guaranteed recovery. All in all, he still runs the risk of getting gimped, but it won't happen as often so his amazing on-stage game will matter more.
Bowser - Bowser KOs really easy, you don't want to **** up against him. His armour lets him muscle through things with good prediction. You can't just rush in on Bowser anymore with on/off pressure cause if he predicts your approach, your dead. He is still slow (outside of Fortress) so he is going to get counter-picked pretty hard by agile characters and big stages I think :/
Peach - Same as Melee Peach. Up Tilt, Toad and Side-B buffs are nice, but won't make much of a difference in the long run.
Donkey Kong - Nice overall buffs from Melee. His Up Smash has a better hitbox which I like, lets you use it as a combo finisher in more situations. His nair has a better hitbox too so he isn't helpless when he is facing towards you. He doesn't really have anything remarkable to make him good though; his chain-grabs on fast-fallers don't matter as much when there are more viable non-fast-faller characters. His new Dash Attack is cool I guess.
Captain Falcon - Slightly better recovery with Brawl Raptor Boost, but it won't make much of a difference in the long run. I think Falcon Kick is buffed too. Unfortunately, he hasn't been given anything to deal with spacies, but spacies matter less now so he'll be like he was in Melee - Average high tier (I foresee lots of even or close to even match-ups).
Ganondorf - Overall buffs are nice, Flame Choke is VERY nice. Basically, same Ganon as Melee but he can punish you harder depending on the situation. His recovery is slightly buffed too, which is nice. He was good in demo 1, but now that everyone else has been buffed he is out-shadowed a bit.
Wolf - He is good, but not as good as Fox/Falco imo (I think they are all top 3 though... Wolf might be top 4/5). His combos are better than Fox's, but not quite as good as Falco and he doesn't have as many auto-combos; needs to read DI and techs more. His nair isn't a sex kick and it doesn't have a very good hitbox, but its good for shield pressure and comboing sometimes (maybe). B'n'b combos are just aerial > shine, shine > aerial; basic stuff. His laser is nice, situational, but nice (moves really slowly), good for shutting off aerial options and covering techs. His crippling weakness (why I think he is the worst spacie): his lack of a sex kick = no good forward-facing aerial. His fair has a meh hitbox and is slow, his nair has a meh hitbox and can be DI'd. He is going to need to use his bair a lot when spacing instead of nair. He can still deal with facing towards the opponent (he isn't as bad as Melee DK), he'll just have a harder time than Fox/Falco.
Melee Spacies - Still amazing. Fox is NTSC Fox, so better than what I am used to. All the other characters have _easier_ combos/punishes on them, but not necessarily better. They'll seem worse at low/mid level, but I think they will still dominate top level play due to shine/good movesets/falco's laser. Falco will do slightly worse against characters who can crawl for obvious reasons, haha.
King Dedede - KOs like a boss, even better than Bowser. Don't make a mistake against him. Ever. Other than that, seems kind-of unimpressive. He has good range which can stop people getting in with ease, but he still has no outs once they DO get in (and they can). He will get worse as his opponent's get better, because he relies on punishing mistakes and doesn't have amazing ways to force them imo.
Sheik - Melee Sheik. Better down throw angle than I am used to, but no ridiculous 70% chain-grabs.
Link - Very, very underwhelmed tbh. He is just an overall better Melee Link, still has nothing extraordinary about him. Not slow anymore (not fast either, but yeah) but his moveset is just... average. He is still a lot better (everyone is), but compared to the buffs other characters have received? I'm worried. His bombs are fun though, less fragile. You can hit them with zair or boomerang and they get knocked away instead of exploding
Worth noting is that when he walks he holds his shield in front of him, so he might be immune to laser camping.
Toon Link - Like Link but better. More mobile (though his wavedash feels worse than YL in Melee...?), faster attacks and more solid KO moves (Melee down smash, Brawl up smash and easier combos into dair than Link). His dair flame spike is better and easier to do, which makes it a cool combo finisher. Moving spin attack is cool, but I don't think it will be very useful as an attack (too easy to SDI).
Ness - He can do rising aerials now and his PK Thunder recovery is buffed, so he isn't as fragile off-stage (can still get gimped though). PK Fire triggers off shields and PK Thunder is faster, so his ranged game is slightly better. Everything is just better lol, which is cool. Dair is faster, improves his combo game a bit. He still isn't spacie impressive though
Pikachu - Melee Pikachu with buffs and Quick Attack Cancel. Best uses of QAC (from my knowledge of Melee Pichu) are 1. mind-gaming by doing it horizontally to get behind the opponent and 2. backing out of approaches (Jump towards, quick attack away) for mind-game approaches, poking (seeing what the opponent does) and conditioning.
Jigglypuff - Melee Jigglypuff. Except now more characters are fit to counter her. Bad news for the gay little puff-ball. All those random mid tiers who gave her a fight in Melee now either beat her or go even.
Marth - Melee Marth. More viable stages = more stages that Marth is bad on. Its nice that he has an extra counterpick in the form of the Metal Mario stage, but he is gonna do worse games 1 and 3 (assuming he loses game 1). Also, his good match-up against the spacies matters less now because there are more viable characters and all the other characters do better against spacies on average.
Ike - His forward smash. Is ridiculous. OMG.
Other than that, he reminds me a lot of Marth. He is obviously slower which gives the opponent a bigger window to hit him than Marth, but he is probably one of the scariest characters to fight regardless. Big range + big power = you need to be sure that your approach is going to work. I'm a bit worried about him getting counter-***** (big stages + fast characters), but he definitely has one of the best spacing games in PM. His jump cancel quick draw stuff is cool, but gimmicky. It doesn't define him as a character or anything, its just an extra tool for his arsenal imo. Most of this only applies to small, platform heavy stages. I don't think he will fare very well on larger stages with few/spaced out platforms, the gaps between his attacks are just too big.
Mr. Game & Watch - Short hop double bacon is pretty good at controlling space, situational, but good (like Wolf's laser). He is mobile, he can space, he can combo decently, he can KO and he can recover. Just a basic jack-of-all-trades. I don't really see anything boosting him to top tier, or anything keeping him in bottom tier. Not much to say really lol
Charizard/Pit - They make my Wii Freeze LOL (silly broken laser!). This isn't Project M's fault though, they freeze in Brawl too.
CHARACTERS I DON'T FULLY UNDERSTAND:
Wario - Looking really good. Doesn't seem to have much range but he is mobile and he can combo and KO very well at mid percents (I think he might have some trouble at higher percents though, like Marth). I also think he will get juggled easily and stuck on platforms, due to his janky dair.
Zelda - She seems ok. Fragile if they get in but she has tools to keep opponents out and her recovery is good. Not too impressed by her, unfortunately.
Lucas - He is like Ness but with more versatile combos and easier KOs; but a steeper learning curve, as far as I can see. His spacing game is a little worse cause of lack of fair, but I think he makes up for it by being a boss at punishing.
Lucario - No comment. Can't be bothered learning his combo system yet lol.
R.O.B. - Another jack-of-all-trades kind-of character. I'm too used to Brawl ROB to use him properly, unfortunately. But I see the potential for cool stuff... but nothing "spacie amazing".
Snake - Really impressed with him, actually. I was expecting him to be a lot more awkward to use, but he feels really natural. Tilts, jab and aerials are all really good at keeping people out and giving him time to set up as well as KO. I'm worried about how well he will do on large stages for obvious reasons. Also worried about tanks just powering through his 'defensive wall' and punishing harder in the long run. The real indication for me will be seeing the extent of Snake's punishment game. If he can punish hard, he will be scary (like Ike). Otherwise, I can see fast characters steam-rolling him when he gets out-played. Time will tell.
Sonic - Reminds me of a really exaggerated Melee Falcon. I can't decide whether he is good or bad at the moment and it all hinges on his speed for me. If I see someone taking advantage of his speed to make up for the (apparent) difficulty KO'ing/punishing, lack of solid approaches and average hitboxes, then I believe he can hang with the big boys. Otherwise... ehhhh, he could be the worst in PM. Time will tell.
STAGES:
Lots of cool new starters and counter-picks to learn, the variety will be fun.
Frigate Orpheon is the only recommended legal stage I have a problem with. The flip is very obtrusive in PM (momentum works differently compared to Brawl) and KOs you much easier as well (worse recoveries + faster falling).
