Shameless Bowser Video Improvement Thread

[The Young Izzy Iz]

Super inspired by @Stockholm Syndrome 's video thread, I recorded a couple of matches of myself playing the booze kruze. Before we start I'll go ahead and say that I've played Bowser for a while, but I've only seriously started learning him over the past two weeks-ish so try not to bag on me too hard x] . In general I'd say that my style is a little confused: I like to play extremely aggressive but because I don't really know my safest approach/defensive options I get caught in shield a lot. I think that's probably the road that's going to see the most improvement in the short-term, learning how to not get pressured into shield quite as much. I'll also note that during a lot of edge-guarding sequences I feel like I choose the right option, only a second too late; I guess improvement there is only going to come through time played.

Video Number 1
At 0:10 started some Uair strings, missed the one at 0:14 but still managed to convert into some more for decent damage. Missed Full Jump at 0:18 cost me the last one. 0:35 tried for the Uair to quickly and got Up-smash. 0:49 missed Uair opportunity. By 0:53 probably should have been reading the back-rolls for KK follow-ups, He's definitely picked up on the shield-grabbing. Going off-stage at 1:06 grabs the stock for me. At 1:18 a Bair connects but leaves me on a plat, no idea how to get off = got comboed for it. 1:28 stupidly throw out KK in neutral. 1:38 was definitely a missed opportunity off his wiffed raptor boost, not sure how I should have capitalizes, maybe short-hop KK? I don't know if it would have reached. 1:45 am I spot-dodging too much? It works for me with Marth, not sure about the viability of Bowser spot-dodge. 1:52 Battlefield knows. 2:06 missed the full-jump, still getting used to the lag on Bowser's jump-sqaut. 2:19 little early with the flames for the edgeguard. 2:38 End of the match I finally start reading the back-rolls and catch with KK.

Video Number 2
0:20 I'm again reminded that KK in neutral isn't safe. 0:25 I hesitate with the fortresshog and forget about the negative slope auto-cancel properties I have on Yoshi's Story. 0:38 I'm feeling pressured and find myself in shield a lot, not really where I want to be. It's especially bad when I get forced into shielding on the plats. 1:02 Edgeguard was going great until I flubbed it, probably should have gone with the simple f-tilt option. 1:11 Shield's getting small so I retreat to the ledge to stall for a second. 1:28 waveland off a plat, super new to Boozer so actually getting the waveland was nice. I do it a couple more times but I'm nowhere near consistent with it. 1:36 overshoot on the Uair and it puts me off stage, need more practice abusing the plats from below. 1:57 I have the right idea with Uair on the plats but I don't hit the c-stick fast enough so no hitboxes come out on either, very disappointing; I need more practice short-hopping it. 2:17 the Bowser Bomb was a flubbed KK reading a backroll. 2:37 KK is a Fortress I flub because I'm nervous. Sad because bad.

Video Number 3
0:36 he shields the Uair while on the plat. Was there a better option to get at him? 0:50 flub the invincibility refresh, need more practice doing that.

1:00

Spoiler: Pow, right in the kisser

I didn't expect falcon punch to reach that far, I was wrong.
1:14 Edgeguard is going great until I flub that last f-tilt, managed to convert the u-tilt regardless but I shouldn't have dropped that. 1:30 Perfect KK opportunity that I miss. 2:02 a second too early on the Bair so I end up getting punished and die. 2:38 I think I just barely dropped that Uair conversion due to hitting the C-stick too late and not getting any hitboxes.

Video Number 4
0:18 I had the right KK read but I was too slow/it came out too slow. 0:23 I was too antsy with the Bair. Probably could have made it easier and f-tilted, thoughts? 0:39 Super KK opportunity, missed it though. 0:47 unsafe get-up attack from the ledge. 0:50 he notices I'm using unsafe get-up attack from the ledge. 0:57 He punishes unsafe get-up from the ledge. 1:02 Greasy battlefield. 1:32 full-jump Uair should have been short-hopped. 1:46 he punishes get-up attack. 2:02 f-tilt was fine, but KK -> back toss would have continued the edge-guard. 2:21 he punished unsafe get-up again. 2:50ish I'm trying to use plats/ weave through the lasers to approach.

Video Number 5
0:22 Sometimes I can see these bursts of speed when I can get the SHFFL's to flow properly, I think the key is learning to improve the flow so I can maintain that speed constantly. 0:30 Missed the U-tilt and got Up-smash. 0:43 made the right choice but it clanked. 1:03 should have f-tilted, completely missed that opportunity. 1:23 another in the pattern of unsafe get-up attacks from the ledge. 1:25 pretty sure that one was intentional, just poor decision making on my part. 1:48 should have Bair'd on plat. 2:35 Had the f-tilt right again, just slightly to early this time. 2:58 F-tilt was on the way out, should have done it earlier. 3:28 onwards: yes, the first was intentional, I was trying to push him towards the ledge with his smash DI. The D-Smash was also intentional, although not spaced properly. I know you can clip Spacie's recoveries coming up from the bottom it you position the D-smash right, I just didn't have the experience yet to land it perfect, just need some more practice with it. Managed to get the conversion anyway for the W.

Please let me know your thoughts guys, I did the whole commentary thing so you could sort of understand my thought processes in a lot of the situations. I think a lot of it right now comes down to lack of character experience and some key flubbed inputs which should iron themselves out over time.

 

[gmBottles]

I'm going to be typing all of this as I watch the videos, I assume most of this info will translate to your Bowser across all MUs. Most other comments will just be based off of reading your posts, responding to specific questions.

Just to make sure this advice stands out: Learn to Fortress Hog. It is crucial in Bowser's movement and offensive options, as well as edgehogging.

I'm noticing you're missing L-cancels. Never do that with Bowser, much too slow.
You should only upB OoS when you can either hit the opponent or Fortress Hog.
Bowser's wavedash timing is super weird, but it is necessary to have it down. It gives him so much more movement, and really opens him up to new options, like wavedash ftilt or simply using his waveland for added mobility. But really, just something as simple as a wavedash back jab can instill some fear in your enemy. Abuse it. Bowser mostly functions off of mindgames.
Uair isn't a very good option unless you either know it will hit, or you are reacting to something. Approaching upwards with uair is easily punished because of the startup time.
You should be using dthrow more. You can get tech chases off of it, especially against characters like Falcon. It's a great way to rack up percent, not to mention that dthrow generally has more followup options than his other grabs in a lot of situations.
That Koopa Klaw around 2:37 was ****ing sexy
Be careful using bair. In most cases when on stage you'd be better off quickly turning around and using fair, or ftilt if it reaches
If they're shielding uair while on a platform, you can condition them to expect an uair and instead fullhop up and KK. KK bthrow is usually the best option here, but if they are at a lower percent you could do fthrow to pop them up for an uair chain, assuming they miss the DI.
Falcon actually has more combos into Falcon Punch against Bowser than you might expect. Watch out for it, and don't get salty if you get got. Bowser just sucks.
Down angled ftilt is great for edgegaurding, I don't think I really saw much of that.
I see a lot about late uairs. You gotta be pretty quick if you want to do a SH uair. Once you learn his jumpsquat frames and such it won't be as hard.
You should try to to tech chase grabs instead of SHFFL fair. Bowser's dash grab is pretty damn long, and it's one of his better ways of racking up damage on every character, except for Jigglypuff and G&W because it does 0 damage WTF
If you're having trouble getting off of platforms, you can upB. Wait for a second, and move off of the platform just before the move ends. When you land, there will be zero landing lag. You can either do another instant upB, or whatever option is appropriate for the situation.

Frankly, a lot of the things I'm seeing you do won't work well against better players than Ebola-chan here, at least not for long. But keep it up, we can never have too many Bowser players. Welcome to the Koopa Klan.