Surprised no one has mentioned ZSS. She's just fast enough to avoid your moves, and she's able to zone you out and still grab you for the punish.
With Zero Suit Samus it's all about making her whiff her grab. You can punish her hard when she does so. I usually jump a lot in this matchup to avoid the grabs and projectiles.
Can anyone elaborate on how Ness is a good counter against Little Mac? I haven't played many good Nesses in For Glory so I have little knowledge of how Ness is played.
In my opinion this is a near unwinnable matchup. I mean yeah I clobber a lot of Ness players for free, but Melborune, Australia's best player mains Villager and Ness. I can not touch this girl's Ness. She uses PK Fire exceptionally rarely so if you're throwing out Jolt Haymaker then you're going to be grabbed. Ness is one of the few characters that can punish a max distance Little Mac forward tilt against a shield with a dash-grab due to Ness's crazy grab range.
Oh and Ness's dash grab is just good in general. The constant threat of PK Fire means you can't just dash in or you'll get PK Fire'd into a grab, but if you're too hesitant than you'll just be dash-grabbed.
Any competent Ness has basically won the match once they get that first grab. It's tough to perform because the timing and positioning is different since the patch, but Ness can still do three forward airs out of a down throw. If you're near the ledge when Ness grabs you then you'll be just shy of the blast zone after the third forward air. Ness will just go back to the stage and you will just fall to your doom.
For me it has been
: The only match I had against Dedede was terrible. He just waited on the edge and used B. There is no other way for me to approach him. Once I'm swallowed, he turns around, falls off the stage, and if I manage to break free, or get spit out, I'm WAY ahead of my point of no return. So... if aerials are a joke, and my only means to approach the guy is to run AT him... What am I supposed to do? Wait for him to spam gordos? I could punch them back, but when he catches on to my game, he'll just stand there waiting. It's not like D3 gets tired of inhaling. (I think?).
: She's HUGE. And her grab range is equally huge. There's almost nothing I can do against a grab-happy Rosalina.
Someone else mentioned jabbing against Dedede's inhale.
Here's what I had to say about his forward-tilt.
As for Rosalina I feel the match up isn't too bad. Anyone dashing in for a dash attack or grab always lose out to forward tilt. If she's trying to space carefully and attack with Luma then you can just side smash through Luma AND hit Rosalina. Depending on positioning of course.
Jiggly isn't very hard to defeat. They usually shorthop, making it easy for you to land a quick Side-B. I'd say Mac's worst matchup is Diddy Kong, Dedede, or a good Lucario.
Lucario: His aura mechanic makes him susceptible to early KOs due to edgeguarding. Mac cannot take advantage of this.
Dedede: Strong, ranged, powerful projectile, and a gimping king.
Diddy Kong: Bananas leave Mac with no place to approach, because you should never really be that comfortable with jumping as Mac.
Lucario really isn't that bad. If Lucario tries to sweet spot the ledge you can bat it out with a well timed down smash. If Lucario recovers onto the stage there is to much landing lag(if Lucario doesn't land directly parallel to the ground) that you can slightly charge an up smash for lots of damage.
Dedede is a hard matchup, but far from unwinnable. Gotta watch that spacing.
Diddy Kong himself is just a really good character. But as the third fastest character in the game we can stay on top of him pretty well. If you're punching Diddy Kong every time he tries to pull out a banana then you're effectively removing one of his tools. Diddy is all about his grabs, if you don't let him use side+B or down+B then he has to work a lot harder to get his damage.
It wasn't me who was getting annoyed but I felt like torturing a half-way decent Little Mac(he didn't accidentally kill himself so there's that) with Link. I didn't do anything but spam my bombs and boomerang and I managed to get him to above 350% before I noticed that he disconnected. I was still at 0%
410
I personally find Link a really easy match up. He's just so slow both in movement speed and attack speed. There are a lot of characters with much faster projectiles than Link. People having trouble in this matchup need to learn how to approach projectile users. Link isn't really a factor.
I don't know who mac "wrecks" yet, but robin is starting to seem like a good matchup. Super arnor also is a godsend vs rosa luma, but i wont go and say thats a good mu yet. Bad matchups? I think a good Doctor Mario or Mario is darn near unwinnable; maybe like a 30:70 or 20:80 ratio. I've played the mu as doc a lot, and if I get a grab, its either going to be me juggling you for a ton of a percent, or a btbrow where your only hope of making back safely is a well timed up. Side b too low I get a free cape; too high I regrab you and toss you back off stage.
I wouldn't say Mario is near un-winnable. A top level Ness or Villager are much worse as both characters played at top level can easily take out Little Mac at 50% or less.
Mario is definitely very difficult as his down-air and back-air have next to no landing lag and are thus very difficult to punish. But of course the main problem is Mario's grab game. Still though if you're using properly spaced forward tilts and down tilts then Mario can't get the grab in. If he's getting the grab after you've already taken some damage then it is much easier to jump out of so he can't string together much damage.
You should almost always be recovering low against Mario. The cape and FLUDD can't do much when you're using Rising Uppercut to ride along the underside of FD/Battlefield/Smashville. though of course you should occasionally mix it up and recover onto the stage if you think Mario is gonna attempt running off stage into back air for a stage spike.
I've played many games against a decent Greninja. I've lost a few but won much more. I don't think it's tough match up at all. If he tries to zone you with Water Shurikens just block them. Many Greninjas will try to condition your blocking and go for a dash grab. If you see this kind of approach drop shield and Ftilt. It beats the grab every time. If they like to charge water shuriken run and dash attack/grab. I've noticed lately a lot of people can't react to a dashing Mac at mid range.
One of the main things I do when fighting Greninja is watch the ground. I keep my eyes on the ground to constantly watch for Shadow Sneak. A blocked or whiffed Shadow Sneak is a free punish because it has so much lag.
The hardest part to this match up is getting put in the air. Greninja can juggle Mac very well and Uair will destroy you if you don't get to the ground quickly. Mix up Counters and fast falls. When put off stage, always try to go for Up b. If not, try to delay your jump and side b as long as possible. Greninja's Up b windbox will end you if you're caught during/after side b.
Edgeguarding Greninja is all about timing. A well timed Dsmash beats the up b.
I actually think this match up is in Mac's favor. I don't have a number for it tho
I'd say the match-up is in Greninja's favor myself. It's not by much, but the massive range on Greninja's up-air, forward-air, back-air, and up smash allows him to bait out aerial dodges and Slip Counters really easily and thus he juggles Little Mac better than most characters.
I'm surprised no one here has mentioned the 'dorf matchup yet.
I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.
Ganondorf hits really hard. His side tilt and side smash can knock Little Mac pretty far away at mid-percents which means you can fall into the lower blast zone really early. Ganondorf's side+B grabs through Little Mac's side smash and the KO Punch so that's something you have to look out for. Especially since if you don't tech it than he can pop you into the air with down tilt and follow up with ap-airs.
Realistically though Ganon is a easy match-up as long as you play carefully. Ganon has no real way to approach. His aerials are not safe and if you stand just outside his side-B and down-B range than there's nothing he can do. If Ganon approaches you should always be beating him out with forward-tilt and if the big guy is using his tilts or smashes it's pretty easy to beat them out with your own side-smash.
Ganon's recovery path is also very limited and very easy to hit with down smash if timed carefully.
Little Mac's jabs beats nearly everything, lol, it's a 1 frame move. Simply ridiculous.
I dunno if it's in favor of Fox, I'd argue it's even. Fox has to rely a lot on baiting counters, spot dodges, etc, basically play a defensive bait and punish game. But yes, Mac does outmaneuver Fox in the ground: Mac is just a little faster than Fox in terms of running speed, his attacks have a tad more reach, and his low cool-down and super-armor smashes means Fox has to be on his top punish game to win this matchup.
On the other hand, Fox has many ways of getting Mac in the air, and it's GG for Mac unless he can properly read and react to what Fox will follow up with. This is where the baiting that I mentioned previously comes into play from the Fox. Fox's D-smash also sends Mac in a very horizontal trajectory, often sending Mac to his doom.
I used to john about this matchup all the time not too long ago, I don't anymore though. Seems more like 50:50.
Are you sure Little Mac's jabs are active on the first frame? Because I highly doubt that. They are pretty fast, but if his jabs were really that fast he'd be able to 100% punish the stand-up at ledge option, but he can't. Maybe it's only the very first jab that activates on first frame?
But yeah I think this match-up is even. Little Mac's jabs beat out Fox's dash attack and forward tilt beats out Fox's dash grab. Fox can get a free shot or two with his blaster, but he can't really do too much on the ground. Fox has very little end lag on both his neutral-air and down-air though so he can apply really good pressure with short hopped aerials if he hits the back of Little Mac's shield. Little Mac can land some free up smashes if he predicts the short hop and times it properly, but again Fox can empty short hop fast fall and grab the whiffed up smash.
Once Fox gets Little Mac into the air he has really good aerials for keeping him there.
Honestly, I have no problems with Little Mac in any matchup. I can put up a decent fight with anyone on the roster. Except for one: Pikachu. I just have NO idea whatsoever how to approach a good Pikachu. He will spam his thundershock so your movement on the ground will be limited (which is Little Mac's best area to boot). If you try to approach him by either rolling or jumping, he will punish you because of Pikachu's quick moves. On the other hand, if you try to shield or avoid the thundershocks, he will approach you together with the thundershock. This means either you will keep shielding to protect yourself from the thundershock and Pikachu will grab you as he comes along with it. Or you roll backwards and Pikachu will come running at you and do a dash attack.
Thoughts on how to counter this?
Personally I've never faced a high-level Pikachu myself, but I've seen this kinda approach from Mario+Fireballs and Villager+Rockets. Generally as the projectile is about to approach me I'll use side-smash to armor through the projectile and punch my opponent in the face.
As a Villager main, I have a hard time against good Little Macs. Thanks to having one of the worst grabs in the game and a lack of "OH GOD GET OFF ME" attacks, I find it easy to be overwhelmed by him. Granted, Villager destroys him off stage but getting to that point can be a struggle. Villager has range for days but if Little Mac can get in quick, there's not a whole lot of things that Villager can do to regain control of the situation aside from actually landing a shield grab or getting Mac in the air.
I personally find the match-up near unwinnable. Use the rocket to approach and grab just before it hits so you get the damage from it and your throw. If Little Mac tries to jump over the rocket then just use your slingshots to stop him. If he's prone to aerial dodging the second he's in the air then you can punish with up smash instead.
When Little Mac gets in your shield is your best friend. Little Mac can not combo or kill out of throws so don't ever be afraid to shield. If you block a dash attack than jump out of shield and use neutral air to throw Little Mac off of you. Your grab is slow, but it is long enough to punish max-distance forward-tilts on your shield. Once you get Little Mac off stage the game is yours.
If Little Mac uses Jolt Haymaker then you can slingshot to push him too far away to recover. If the Little Mac is prone to using Slip Counter than charge a bowling ball side-smash instead. This will push him too far away to recover.
If Little Mac uses Rising Uppercut to ride along the underside of the stage you should run off the stage and use either neutral-air or back-air to stage spike him.
Oh and if Little Mac grabs the ledge and uses either get-up-attack or stand-at-ledge both of those options lose to bowling ball side smash. This attack gives you a red lightning KO into the side blast zone at
40%
Alternatively use a pivot grab, which has crazy increased range that goes further than the net, to punish rolls from the ledge. Or simply neutral air if he tries to jump up from the ledge.
As a MegaMan main what is your strategy against Mac? I played a MegaMan on For Glory once and got destroyed. He did an onslaught of short hop Metal Blade to grounded Crash Bomber. Little Mac has no projectile so I was forced to approach. As I tried to inch my way in I was met with a dash attack or grab. When I got grabbed, I was thrown off stage then Dair'd to death every time. I seriously felt like there was nothing I could do in the match up. Enough to put it heavily in MegaMan's favor. What do you think @
shinhed-echi
?
Forward tilt beats out Mega Man's dash attacks and dash grabs. Also jump now and then to get past projectiles.
)
