Neb
Smash Lord
Driven by the 'glass-half-empty' morale of the forum, I have decided to write this letter in hopes of reshaping the group-think of our team. My intentions are to establish a workhouse that acknowledges the 'bottom dog' mentality, and yet stubbornly strives toward the goal of metagame dominance. This will support the continued progression of Mr. Game & Watch. - Neb
For one, he is tinier. But we know that a small hurtbox makes for a difficult target. Especially a target moving fast. See this becoming the foundational principle for players of this character. The skilled G&W will be marked by an uncanny ability to accelerate his speed and movement to the limits of the character model. Buffer, foxtrot, FF, autocancel, DI, crouch, Upb... This should be so strongly enforced throughout our following that it becomes common to hear G&W is "too fast, and uncatchable" within the match-up discussions of our competition. I say this because he is the quickest he has ever been.
Several aerials can be 'explosive', especially rising or FH'd, allow for great DI control in the early frames and also clean sequencing into the other midair spectrum (most notably with bair). Together, Fire and Parachute immediately transport G&W away from or toward his opponent. The option to...
1. Angle upb
2. Cancel into aerials or specials
3. Second jump directly out of an aerial, or later in the parachute animation
4. Drift left - right - or both
5. Delay his decent
6. Redirect his position
7. Ease of resetting Upb
...all greatly transform the benefit of prolonged airtime. Giving us a wide escape route, and aerial dominance by extending our SH and SJ options across the entire screen. It also allows G&W to tailor his tempo for the situation at hand, and inspires countless mixups. While the invincibility frames seem to initiate sooner than we saw in Brawl. The remaining aerials (one of which allows G&W to engage his opponent un-compromised: uair), and the wind hitbox of dtilt, together deny anything coming from above, or from an angle... That is a powerful tool. Few character's are able to control an up-and-down zone as swift and effectively.
On top of this, notice as G&W simulates rising high into the altitude, his body becomes smaller in size until finally releasing the chute to land. As we imagine him coming from the sky, his true size returns within the later frames of his chute animation... The take away here is G&W's command over his hurtbox -- the only way our opponent can deal percent damage. As we explore proper timing/movement in order to eliminate punishment and reposition ourselves for offense, there is a new potential in his metagame.
When it comes down to it, the object of the game is to KO your opponent while not being KO'd yourself. We knockout by racking damage and landing a powerful blow, or gimp. We avoid being knocked out by solid defence, offensive dominance, or evasion...
Look at the tools we have been given. There's Upb, dashA, jab, fair, bair -- and to a lesser extent -- dtilt, ftilt, fsmash, and dsmash. These are arguably the sharpest tools in our box, and a detail they all have in common is the direction of their knockback. It goes without saying that as we inflict more damage, the force of trajectory is sufficient enough to guarantee the foe is repositioned offstage. Game & Watch does not fit the bill of a glass cannon, traditional zoner, or even a juggler... Our current moveset actually supports a playstyle that is firmly centered around edgeguarding.
- Upb, KO/stagespike/steal ledge
- Bair, priority advantage
- Dair, KO/spike/juggling
- Uair, freefall KO setup/juggling
- Fair/Soft Fair, KO/steal SJ/stage spike
- DashA, stagespike
- Dtilt windbox, ledgegrab freefall
- Chef, steal SJ/panspike
When we ready an approach or look to punish our opponent, the thought is to "Evade - Poke - Gimp." In that order. These are our strengths. We gain leverage by pressuring our competition into positions where Game & Watch may fully stretch his aerodynamic playstyle in order to gimp, rack damage, refresh his moveset, and control the options/decisions of his opponent.
Fair is now the weapon of choice. Disjointed and safe on shield, with solid damage and minimal landing frames. A single hitbox reduces the trouble that bair finds in DI'ing opponents, and allows for clean shield weakening to open the door for commonly 'unsafe' approaches. Furthering an offensive variety. The soft hit jab resets, and good DI can be used to punish a baited attack. Fair is excellent rising, FF'd, and SH'd. While most mistakes can be forgiven with a buffered jab, shield, spotdodge, Upb, or buffering a retreating bair... The crucial point is that it sends the opponent in a linear path to link directly into the dominance of his edge game.
There are character's that have more options offensively, and others defensively. On the map, G&W seems to fit nicely into a reaction based zone when challenged parallel to his opponent. As stated earlier, the opponents approach is cut to a forward charge because of the priority and quickness of Upb. But establishing caution with bair further limits this path by outranging and prioritising many ground/air options. Use the bair for eating short ranged or non-disjointed hitboxes, but also for poking a weak shield.
Not many people can pressure G&W without a projectile because his escape routes are so intricate, and pressuring him onto the ledge is not actually an advantage for his opponent. This reinforces "Evade - Poke - Gimp." We zone with intelligent use of walls (displaying certain moves to block options), denying aerial angles (Upb), and weaker, short-ranged approaches (bair).
This, along with Upb and Fair Oos, buffed DashA, buffed jab, and our versatile grab, make for solid punishing options that ALL extend to the primary goal -- edgeguard. I would encourage G&W's to approach sparingly.
1. Allow your opponent to initiate
2. Influence their decision with creative walls & spacing
3. Punish
Accumulating damage on your opponent then becomes a natural result of baiting, poking, and defending the ledge. You will be less prone to trading hits and sustaining damage (key as a lightweight), while further confusing and frustrating your opponent.
- INFORMATION -
- Crouch
- Foxtrot
- F-air, reduced landing lag
- Aerial speed and attack sequencing
- DashA less committed; forward knockback
- Smashes safe on block
- Excellent recovery
- Final hit jab, with respectable knockback
- Smaller profile/hurtbox
- Dthrow combinations, low-mid%
- Dtilt windbox
- Usmash impenetrable start-up frames
- Bucket, instant fill opportunities
- True random Judgement
- Move refreshing with uair, dtilt, upb windboxes
Challenges
- Utilt, smaller hitboxes
- Dtilt, cooldown
- Fsmash, spacing and linear sweetspot
- Dsmash, smaller hitbox
- Nair, missing hitbox
- Dair, no slow fall alternative - laggy
- No bucket braking
Questions to Research
- Reduced ftilt cooldown
- Double hit utilt (7% x 2 dmg) out of dthrow
- Punishing new airdodge lag, land traps
- Capitalising on spawn invincibility
- Upb, startup or mid execution invincibility frames
- Dtilt windbox to toss into freefall state as foe snaps to ledge
- More DI control in parachute
- Approaching (outside), with uair to lift aerial approaches that may outrange
Last edited:
I'm probably most disappointed with the removal of NAir's SH autocancel. It was our only AC aerial in the first place, and it was such a great ground spacing tool.
