So from looking at the the trailer, Little Mac's weakness is air and recovery

[NefariousShyGuy]

When Mac was fighting against Wii Fit Trainer, Doc Louis said:

"You ain't no air fighter Mac!"

and then he falls into his doom.


What does everyone else think about this?

 

[NintenRob]

so thats what he says

 

[Ussi]

He has Roy's recovery is what i thought lol.

 

[dimensionsword64]

It's a good way to balance him out.

 

[nat pagle]

Hopefully his ground game isn't too exploitable, if it is he's destined for mid tier at the best. It really is dependent on that, lest he has obvious weaknesses that can't be overcome and strengths that can be nullified too easily.

 

[Morbi]

I usually play characters that have predominant air game, I really enjoy jumping around, so I am going to have to adjust this to properly main Little Mac. His recovery move looks useless as a recovery move, so that will probably just be used to finish up combos. However, in the trailer, the Mac player was obviously self-destructing for the trailer. I highly doubt his recovery is THAT detrimental.

 

[Enlong]

That recovery failure looked really scripted. A double-jump followed by that recovery move totally would have saved him in that position.

 

[Speculator]

I believe he said "You ain't no out-fighter, Mac" - as in, a boxer that maintains a distance and uses long-range extended punches. Either way, it makes sense for Mac's air game to be pretty poor. I imagine he's much more comfortable with his feet on the ground.

 

[NefariousShyGuy]

Yep, Sakurai confirmed through Miiverse that Little Mac's weakness is in fact air.

 

[DJVictor]

hit him one time with forward smash of marth and he is done

 

[SchAlternate]

That ain't Falco. Cuz he doesn't prefer the air.

 

[Substitution]

I'm assuming a hard counter from Meta Knight...

 

[shinhed-echi]

I don't know... From what I saw in the trailer, Little Mac has some pretty NASTY uppercuts. I'm sure his lack of aerial game is made up for in plenty anti-air attacks.

Not to mention how some of his special attacks don't flinch from some aerials such as Samus' fair.

 

[nat pagle]

I'm assuming a hard counter from Meta Knight...

Or any stage with platforms.

 

[Substitution]

Or any stage with platforms.

Depends.
If anything, platforms might be a good thing for him. He's ground based, right?
So, if anything, it gives him more room to fight.

 

[nat pagle]

Depends.
If anything, platforms might be a good thing for him. He's ground based, right?
So, if anything, it gives him more room to fight.

He has to go to the air in order to get on platforms. He has very little protection while jumping up or down from platforms and won't be able to really stop people from coming from below with a superior u-air.

 

[Rasumii]

He said "You ain't no outfighter Mac" which is a real thing in boxing. Air fighter is not, but yes Little Mac has horrible air-game.

 

[Substitution]

He has to go to the air in order to get on platforms. He has very little protection while jumping up or down from platforms and won't be able to really stop people from coming from below with a superior u-air.

Simple.
One possibility is a D-Air. Or air dodge right when they try to attack. He's not gonna be helpless when he jumps. He has options.
I see him like Mario. He doesn't completely suck in the air, but he's no Meta Knight.

 

[nat pagle]

Simple.
One possibility is a D-Air. Or air dodge right when they try to attack. He's not gonna be helpless when he jumps. He has options.
I see him like Mario. He doesn't completely suck in the air, but he's no Meta Knight.

Of course he's not going to be helpless, but he's not going to have very good aerial ability or mobility.

 

[Deleted member]

It makes sense that Little Mac is a weak air fighter. He is a boxer after all.

I think that it's a great idea for him as it emphasizes his fast ground movement and strong ground attacks. Even as a weak air fighter, the momentum might be a great tool for Little Mac to compensate his weak air fighting capabilities.

 

[shinhed-echi]

Well, Mac does twist his whole body to maximize punching power.
Having practiced martial arts myself, I can assure that turning the whole body and pivoting your back foot in such a fashion can lead to maximize power in a (straight) punch definitely.

If Mac is in the air, he doesn't have the full technique advantage... Nice detail there, Namco!

I wonder if Giga Mac consists of nothing but KO punches all around. XD

 

[greenluigiman2]

He said "You ain't no outfighter Mac" which is a real thing in boxing. Air fighter is not, but yes Little Mac has horrible air-game.

That is not what he said. He definitely said "air fighter."

 

[Rasumii]

That is not what he said. He definitely said "air fighter."

I can only hear it as "out fighter" and "air fighter" does not exist in regular boxing. Well it's not like it matters, anyone is free to believe what they want.

 

[greenluigiman2]

I can only hear it as "out fighter" and "air fighter" does not exist in regular boxing. Well it's not like it matters, anyone is free to believe what they want.

I know it doesn't matter, but as someone who grew up around people that talk like Doc, I understand what he said clearly, which is "You ain't no air fighta Mac" which may not exist in boxing, but definitely exists in a Smash Bros. as pointed out by Sakurai in a recent pic of the day.

 

[shinhed-echi]

I understood it as "You're no air-fighter Mac", and the visual reference helped bit more too.

Another factor to consider is that I hadn't heard of "In-fighter/Out-fighter". I had only heard of "In-boxer/Out-boxer".

But I don't think it makes much difference. His recovery is still terrible.

 

[DraginHikari]

At the most it just seems to be their way of balancing the character really, on the ground Mac seems to be very fast, have many armor frames where he doesn't flinch while performing attacks, and seems to be quite strong though it hard to tell since we can't see percentages. He probably already got strengths as it stands.

 

[Knight Dude]

I think he fits being a character that gets in all of his hits in quick. Someone who rushes in and takes no prisoners. But once you are left open, you might be screwed. I wonder what his other air attacks are like though. But I imagine they are also intentionally weaker than the others.

 

[MP8]

In my opinion, its ludicrous for Sakurai to be manifesting a character's weakness this early, let alone a brand new character. Its like, what's the point of putting him in the game if you're going to bare such a detrimental weakness this early? Recovery is an extremely important factor to a character's success. Its a killjoy and a little frustrating to say the least. Nevertheless, I shall not lose hope for the rookie from the Bronx.

 

[DraginHikari]

I guess I don't entirely agree, a character is going to have weaknesses in some form, I don't see any issue with showing those anymore then any other aspect of the character. Especially considering the characters other strengths that were also shown.

 

[Malcolm Belmont]

So basically he is the opposite of Jigglypuff..

 

[MP8]

I guess I don't entirely agree, a character is going to have weaknesses in some form, I don't see any issue with showing those anymore then any other aspect of the character. Especially considering the characters other strengths that were also shown.

I see where you're coming from and I agree. I was just pointing out that based on the situation with Little Mac making his debut, its seems unnecessary to show such crucial discrepancies this early. Because if the recovery (yes, the recovery is what I'm mainly highlighting, for the seeming lack of air game is not as much of an issue to me) is going to be this much of a problem then I would have hoped that this could have been altered in production. Basically in short, there is some disappointment in seeing the exciting arrival of this long anticipated character being countered by such blatant and avoidable limitations.

At the same time though, its also early to making assumptions based on some footage and commentary. There's the hope that when this game is broken in by the competitive scene, something useful could be found to help the progression of said character. It could also be that I'm being pessimistic and only pointing out the negative and ignoring the strengths thereof. This could be due to the fact that I mained Mario in Brawl and had to deal with bad recovery all that time. Either way, its great to see Little Mac become a playable character in Smash Bros. Its a good move.

 

[Ijuka]

Meh, seems like people way overreact to that. Also I for one would take things Sakurai says about the characters' strenghts and weaknesses with a grain of salt. That aerial attack thing he did on Megaman that sort of seemed like a special attack had very low landing lag which would make him a very strong aerial fighter if true, I feel. The super armor to be honest seems very powerful with multiple ways to use it. I think that in SSB-games, every character has a very powerful aerial game so his aerial attacks would need to be absolute trash for his aerial game to be truly weak.

I wonder if his recovery really cannot be directed forward at all? Either way, in that trailer he clearly fastfalled for quite a while after his double jump, it was completely staged. Wouldn't really draw too many conclusions from that either and I definitely don't think that one should be playing Little Mac with the mindset of not jumping if the game's similiar at all to older SSB-titles, where aerial moves are king.

 

[RSF-Blue bomber]

I'm assuming a hard counter from Meta Knight...

not really because mac is fast on the ground and metaknight is not really known for ground combat so they kind of cancel out

 

[Substitution]

not really because mac is fast on the ground and metaknight is not really known for ground combat so they kind of cancel out

Sure, but Meta Knight is faster in the air. Where Little Mac isn't.
Which means he might have the advantage. Sure, Mac has the ground. But what's the use when you're opponent is high in the sky?

 

[UltimateWario]

So basically he is the opposite of Jigglypuff..

Or Ridley.

Which means he might have the advantage. Sure, Mac has the ground. But what's the use when you're opponent is high in the sky?

What goes up must come down.

 

[MP8]

I love your avatar UltimateWario. George Costanza should be a character. I'd main him.

 

[Substitution]

What goes up must come down.

Yes.
But there's still that advantage. Regardless of gravity. At worst he'll be awful against them. At best he'll be okay, but not better.

 

[Bowserlick]

This is perfect. Little Mac as a boxer relies on his extremely strong punches, combos, counters, and dodges. If you cannot counter or dodge correctly, you are going to have a rough time.