Retreating fireballs!

[yellowdee]

I haven't really seen people talk about this strategy, nor have I seen it in videos, but it just seems to frustrate opponents to no end!

You run away, short-hop, then quickly and very slightly nudge the stick back to maintain your retreating momentum. Tap B, and you are now about-face three Mario-lengths farther from your opponent with a fresh fireball in between. You can rinse and repeat, even going offstage. Once your opponent appears stumped, go in for a hit-and-run!

I like to use this as a mixup if approaches are getting trumped.

With good care taken into account, I have had great success even against characters like Fox/Falco, Ike, and Mewtwo. The opponents this strategy worked against seemed very good, but I didn't know how elite they truly were.

Would people like to try this strategy against their friends and report how well it works?

 

[Narsic]

Usually people use fireballs to cover approaches and limit the opponents options, and everyone SHOULD be doing this because the fireballs are what really help Mario in the neutral game. I assure you that any pro Mario player uses the fireballs like how you described, and even with more depth than that. So you are definitely on the right track with the fireball usage.

The specific strategy you're talking about is called turnaround-b'ing the fireballs. Check this thread out and mess with more stuff with the fireballs. Learn these things, because the people you play will eventually find a way around your retreating fireball strategy and learning these things definitely help mix things up. For example you can Reverse-B the fireballs to fake out the opponent and make them think you're running away and fireballing, when really you're just baiting them to run at you, then you hit them with a fireball and (hopefully) confirm into a combo.

 

[MrM]

the term is called wave bouncing its a great move i use it alot myself

 

[Drodeka]

I've done this literally since the first time I played Mario. You can also do a fakeout fireball by pivoting before AND after the fireball, thus redirecting your aerial momentum upon launching the fireball. The only real use this has is to avoid ground counter attacks if the opponent is accustomed to doing such a thing.