Edit: Real thing now.
It's too easy.
Advantages:
-ROB wins the camp game.
-ROB wins the up close game. (I'll explain how later for you naysayers)
-ROB can barely be touched while recovering.
-ROB gimps the **** out of Link. Like.. Link's recovery bad, but I've had matches with pretty decent Links and they still die at 55% of lower 2/3 stocks a game. That or they get camped to 120%+ and then other stuff happens.
ROB's disadvantages:
-As per usual, ROB's blindspot below. Link's UAir has a strange way of punishing. His UAir when placed right -will- beat airdodges and do serious damage/kill. It punishes in a different way thanks to it's long hitbox.
-There's a very thing range (like, 1 link's body) that Link can stay in to make things difficult for us. It's hard, but I'm sure someday someone will experience it hard core.
Opponent's Advantage:
-The thin range you need to stay in makes it way too easy to pressure ROB. I'll explain it below.
-Keeping us in the air if we're not smart.
Opponent's Disadvantages:
-As said before, bad recovery.
-Gets out camped easily.
-Can't really punish ROB's recovery.
What ROB should be trying to do and how he should do it:
Camping. Camping like Hell. Not really to be annoying or because it's necessary, but because it forces Link to approach by a ledge when you can try to knock him off and gimp him. With the comparative recoveries, it makes the center of the stage the wrong place to play for us. The very slightly added risk is worth the huge risk added to Link. When Link starts throwing projectiles, powershield bombs. This makes them blow-up but not hurt you instead of bouncing off your shield. If you learn to powershield only one projectile, I recommend this one. It reduces the amount of hitboxes he has out for the next half a second or so. That's enough to find an opening if he's throwing a boomerang or shooting an arrow. Ideally you'll powershield either of those options too so the most dangerous one to look out for is Bomb throw > bomb pull. If you play a number of Toon Links, learn to powershield based on visuals and Link's projectiles are basically the same but slower and less options. It's really not that difficult to do if you just sit there for a while and powershield a barrage of TLink spam. I find it easier than PSing Falco lasers.
Anyway. You move in once they're at spam range because you don't really want to be pushed off the ledge, even if you don't mind. You want to get in at that range so you can throw them and have them near the corner of the stage. Once there, you rush in (The same exact way as you did last time. They may be able to hold you back with spam, but don't let them past you.) and shield pressure with Jabs, DTilts, and FTilts. Mix in things like Jab > Grab and DTilt > Jab > Grab randomly with the other mix-ups, you can generally get something. Just some extra damage and then you'd have really pushed him off stage. Punish attempts to get past you with Pivot Grabs or Pivot Grabs OoS and just throw him back. Link can't really leave unless you make a big mistake. Oh, and DACUS can get them out, but you should have a laser charged at all times against Link just for this and if you see him use it, shoot him off the other side of the stage. He got out, but the situation's a perfect mirror basically.
It's all about spacing. really. Oh, that reminds me. Keep him out of the small range just between where your Jab -can't- hit and, but where your FTilt can hit excluding near the very tip. In there I've always had issues for some reasons. I think it's because it's within Link's Jab range and it's the fastest point he can grab from or something. It's just weird and it's the only times I've ever had an issue with a Link. That's easy to solve though, just back up or approach real quick. It's not that big a deal. Haha.
EDIT: I FORGOT THIS NEXT SECTION!
Oh, if we get hit up, we can completely avoid juggling. Fly off stage with Up-B, go out of reach of Link and recover horizontally/from below with your DJ. No juggling and you can get off Scott free fairly easily.
END OF EDITED AREA
How opponent can stop it:
Learn to powershield. Powershielding makes things in this game sooooooooooooo much easier and I wish everyone would just learn to do it. It'll make it so you can get past ROB and to ROB. You'll take less damage approaching a camping ROB and you'll be able to get out of his pressure easier meaning you'll have more chances to get past ROB's range and into the sweet spot for you guys. That's your goal.
What Opponents should be trying to do:
Ahhh.. those are kind of redundant. Same for the next two categories..so I'm not gonna answer them.
Counterpicks
-Japes: I looooove this stage, but y'all will find that out in the interview thingy. XD Really though. It limit's Link's approach options while you camp and there's easy gimps here. My favorite gimp on this stage, works on everyone too: They hit the water, even if it's between the left and middle platforms, shoot a laser at them and the hitstun + extra water stun -will- kill them if it's a weak laser. This is the only stage I recommend not keep a fully charged laser against Link and any other character specifically for that reason. It's situational, but my aim before I retired was good enough for this situational thing to be worth it.
-Frigate: Japes is either banned or the Link will ban it. Frigate for the obvious reasons. We can infinite camp the platform in second form even vs Link, btw. FAir beats Arrows and Boomerang > DJ Laser is 100% safe. Z/Airdodge catch bombs > Throw them. So Link's best options, but slowest, is probably bombs. You can actually just back up and camp from further and you're 100% safe, btw. My favorite thing to do with the platforms is to go close to the blast zone. Just out of camera sight, but just before you're in the bubble. You don't take damage unless you're in the bubble and there's no way for Link to see you. This means instant projectiles as far as the opponent's eyes can see. It's still blockable, yes, but you just made it a good deal harder. You need a really good sense of where you character is, but you should have that already because you shouldn't be looking at yourself anyway. Follow your opponent's character and just know where your's is. That's a whole different topic though.
Bans:
-Personal Discomfort Stage: Yeah, no stages are inherently -bad- against Link. Some are worse than others, but not by much so they'll probably go for a personal CP.
-Opponent's Personal Comfort Stage: This is the other option. It's what I usually do. Playing on your favorite stages is an advantage in itself. It's just something I've noticed. It's probably just because you know that stage far better than most other CPs.
Preferred Neutral:
Two options really:
-Biggest stage possible via striking: If you want to camp.
-Smallest stage possible: If you want to be aggressive. The smaller stage provides you with an easier time pushing them to the edge.
Ratio:
70-30 ROB
I'll be honest. I think it's that bad for Link. Once both players can powershield 70-80% of the time, it's clearly in ROB's favor since Link just has so much more lag with such a punishable recovery and the fact that he's forced to approach.
Edit: Y'all better appreciate this. I spent 45 minutes making sure I detailed everything. :[
