Want to make sure you're playing Bowser at your highest level? Got the basics mastered? Welcome then to this intermediate guide. The goal is to take full advantage of your experience and use it to make your Bowser a full-fledged ruler... of clobbering!
Make your spacing harder to predict:
Bowser, like most mid-low characters, has a somewhat limited list of options for approaching. You'll find in a lot of matchups there is a specific zone you want to be, usually either in Jab or FTilt range of your opponent. On top of that, Bowser's walk is very very slow. What this means is that if you're not careful your opponents will quickly learn your range and power-shield your attacks/space their attacks so they hit Bowser's arms in the middle of an attack through sheer prediction. Thankfully, Brawl has analog controls so you can do your part to make sure this doesn't happen:
a) Do empty short hops
b) Turn around
c) Delay your attacks (when on the offense)
d) Go for a suboptimal attack [MIXUPS]
Use each of these options sparingly. They work best when you condition your opponent to expect to space normally. For that to happen, you have to space normally often. Something as simple as turning around makes the the range of Bowser's FTilt harder to visualize. Suboptimal attacks include short bursts of flame breath against a slow opponent, DTilt/FSmash against a spot-dodger and dash-grab against someone who shields often.
Pivot-grabbing/Baiting into klaw:
Fortress is really good. It's so good, it changes matchups completely for your opponent, forcing them to camp or approach you only with the safest moves. The lower you go down the tier list, the more the characters become affected by this. At a certain point characters start to only have 2 reliable options to hit you with, one of them being a projectile. So what happens when you predict their pokes? Usually you can FTilt them, or simply shield and get closer. But what if I told you:
a) Bowser has a better-than-average pivot grab
b) Aerial Klaw's disjointedness allows you to grab through disjointed approaches (aka swords)
We all know the marvelous things Bowser can do with a grab, so it's in your best interest to get one whenever you can. For that you need to know your opponent's moveset well and know when the proper situation arises (a good example is predicting Mario's BAir). Klaw is the most damaging non-smash move Bowser has, so it's a really good option too. You can use it as a pivot-grab of sorts by jumping backwards and Klaw'ing the empty space Bowser was previously occupying. Just know that it IS harder to set up due to Bowser's awful jumping animation and the klaw's startup time. Baiting into a Klaw however has the advantage of working in the air, use it as a mixup with your airdodge: Double jump backwards, fast fall and Klaw your opponent's trajectory.
Jab mixups:
As you should know if you've really played Bowser enough, you can follow the first part of Bowser's jab with more than just the second part of the jab. If you wish to cancel into the first jab, hold down during the attack animation and let go + press A at the same time on the first frame of the crouching animation.
a) There are 3 possible scenarios in jab canceling, each are dependant on the opponent's position when you hit them with the first part of Jab:
a1) If he/she was right next to you: Klaw is guaranteed and should always be used (Other guaranteed options are the second part of jab, cancelling into the first part of jab again and fortress)
a2) If he/she was a little farther: Nothing is guaranteed except jab 2 - Klaw can only be avoided by spot-dodging, if your opponent attempts to roll he will be caught in the klaw. Here you want to use mixups that work on spotdodges: FSmash and DTilt, for example
a3) If he/she was outside klaw range: Nothing is guaranteed except jab 2 but FTilt is safe from this distance. Here you will need mixups for 2 occasions if you like to FTilt, you can't do anything about rolling/running away as far as I know: Against an opponent who shields the FTilt you can dash-grab, against an opponent who spot-dodges FSmash can work but DTilt more often than not won't.
If you cancel into the first jab in the a1) scenario, your opponent will be pushed into the zone of the a3) scenario.
Grab-release mixups:
If you're anything like me, you hate having your FTilt/DTilt powershielded out of a ground release. You know the frame advantage says they should be hitting, but for some reason, be it because you didn't buffer it or whatever, it doesn't work sometimes. I personally have a slightly slower-than-average reaction time which makes ground-release chaingrabbing very difficult. This is where mixups come in.
a) Your FTilt is getting powershielded: Go for a dash-grab when ground-releasing, or just simply Down Throw
b) Your DTilt is getting powershielded: You're probably looking for a kill - try Jab -> Bowser Bomb, if all 3 hits connect your opponent's shield will break. Otherwise go for a Klaw and hope the pummels have unstaled it enough
c) Your dash-grab keeps whiffing (your opponent runs away): Get better. But seriously, go for the most damaging release move you have or Down Throw instead. As far as I can tell you don't have an option for when they run away, firebreath is too slow.
Jab -> Bowser Bomb in b) will only work if your opponent has very little experience with it. Rememeber, for the mixups in a) and b) to work, you have to try to FTilt/DTilt often. You can also Jab some characters out of a ground-release and set up the a3) scenario in the Jab mixups entry.
Against an opponent on the ledge:
Hanging on the ledge:
Under construction
Make your spacing harder to predict:
Bowser, like most mid-low characters, has a somewhat limited list of options for approaching. You'll find in a lot of matchups there is a specific zone you want to be, usually either in Jab or FTilt range of your opponent. On top of that, Bowser's walk is very very slow. What this means is that if you're not careful your opponents will quickly learn your range and power-shield your attacks/space their attacks so they hit Bowser's arms in the middle of an attack through sheer prediction. Thankfully, Brawl has analog controls so you can do your part to make sure this doesn't happen:
a) Do empty short hops
b) Turn around
c) Delay your attacks (when on the offense)
d) Go for a suboptimal attack [MIXUPS]
Use each of these options sparingly. They work best when you condition your opponent to expect to space normally. For that to happen, you have to space normally often. Something as simple as turning around makes the the range of Bowser's FTilt harder to visualize. Suboptimal attacks include short bursts of flame breath against a slow opponent, DTilt/FSmash against a spot-dodger and dash-grab against someone who shields often.
Pivot-grabbing/Baiting into klaw:
Fortress is really good. It's so good, it changes matchups completely for your opponent, forcing them to camp or approach you only with the safest moves. The lower you go down the tier list, the more the characters become affected by this. At a certain point characters start to only have 2 reliable options to hit you with, one of them being a projectile. So what happens when you predict their pokes? Usually you can FTilt them, or simply shield and get closer. But what if I told you:
a) Bowser has a better-than-average pivot grab
b) Aerial Klaw's disjointedness allows you to grab through disjointed approaches (aka swords)
We all know the marvelous things Bowser can do with a grab, so it's in your best interest to get one whenever you can. For that you need to know your opponent's moveset well and know when the proper situation arises (a good example is predicting Mario's BAir). Klaw is the most damaging non-smash move Bowser has, so it's a really good option too. You can use it as a pivot-grab of sorts by jumping backwards and Klaw'ing the empty space Bowser was previously occupying. Just know that it IS harder to set up due to Bowser's awful jumping animation and the klaw's startup time. Baiting into a Klaw however has the advantage of working in the air, use it as a mixup with your airdodge: Double jump backwards, fast fall and Klaw your opponent's trajectory.
Jab mixups:
As you should know if you've really played Bowser enough, you can follow the first part of Bowser's jab with more than just the second part of the jab. If you wish to cancel into the first jab, hold down during the attack animation and let go + press A at the same time on the first frame of the crouching animation.
a) There are 3 possible scenarios in jab canceling, each are dependant on the opponent's position when you hit them with the first part of Jab:
a1) If he/she was right next to you: Klaw is guaranteed and should always be used (Other guaranteed options are the second part of jab, cancelling into the first part of jab again and fortress)
a2) If he/she was a little farther: Nothing is guaranteed except jab 2 - Klaw can only be avoided by spot-dodging, if your opponent attempts to roll he will be caught in the klaw. Here you want to use mixups that work on spotdodges: FSmash and DTilt, for example
a3) If he/she was outside klaw range: Nothing is guaranteed except jab 2 but FTilt is safe from this distance. Here you will need mixups for 2 occasions if you like to FTilt, you can't do anything about rolling/running away as far as I know: Against an opponent who shields the FTilt you can dash-grab, against an opponent who spot-dodges FSmash can work but DTilt more often than not won't.
If you cancel into the first jab in the a1) scenario, your opponent will be pushed into the zone of the a3) scenario.
Grab-release mixups:
If you're anything like me, you hate having your FTilt/DTilt powershielded out of a ground release. You know the frame advantage says they should be hitting, but for some reason, be it because you didn't buffer it or whatever, it doesn't work sometimes. I personally have a slightly slower-than-average reaction time which makes ground-release chaingrabbing very difficult. This is where mixups come in.
a) Your FTilt is getting powershielded: Go for a dash-grab when ground-releasing, or just simply Down Throw
b) Your DTilt is getting powershielded: You're probably looking for a kill - try Jab -> Bowser Bomb, if all 3 hits connect your opponent's shield will break. Otherwise go for a Klaw and hope the pummels have unstaled it enough
c) Your dash-grab keeps whiffing (your opponent runs away): Get better. But seriously, go for the most damaging release move you have or Down Throw instead. As far as I can tell you don't have an option for when they run away, firebreath is too slow.
Jab -> Bowser Bomb in b) will only work if your opponent has very little experience with it. Rememeber, for the mixups in a) and b) to work, you have to try to FTilt/DTilt often. You can also Jab some characters out of a ground-release and set up the a3) scenario in the Jab mixups entry.
Against an opponent on the ledge:
Hanging on the ledge:
Under construction
