ok so ive been playing a bit(was at school all day but finally got a chance to play for a while) ive tried out pretty much everyone save a few
It seems crouch canceling is gone(thank jah) so no more cc downsmashes from that hoe in a pink dress or getting cc shined from cheap and cheaper(Falco and fox), so im kinda digging that(altho it means fox can nair shine all day now without worries at any percent...ugh)
they also left in a really good technique in brawl called reverse air rush(rar) which basically means u can run forward and turn back before you jump, so you can run forward and back air in that direction just like in brawl which is cool, i could wavedash with marth, start my run animation, rar->bair for an edge guard
also 3 frames for buffering now, so my movements seem much better than in melee(I think it was only 1 frame in melee or sumn)
you can also grab the edge from behind now it seems(not to sure yet)
Ganon-hes really strong it seems. He is basically identical to melee except his run speed seems a little faster(could be my imagination) and they left in his brawl forward B, which is godlike. It is amazing at punishing rolls cuz it doesnt matter if they shield or not, its a command grab. When they get grabbed they can tech as soon as they touch the ground which means it sets up a really nasty tech chase scenario, cuz if they get grabbed by it they are in the same spot again. Also it seems if you buffer a jab from it they cant tech at all and have to get the jab. I tried to tech this in training mode myself with a 2nd controller and couldnt, but my timing could be off who knows for now. overall he is a beast, and his punches have a dope sound effect
Falco-It seems harder to wavedash with him for some reason(lol), but other than that he is better than in melee. He is the same in melee except for his jab which is the brawl version which is 10x better. More range and it was faster(in brawl atleast, not sure about project M). Also rar is really good with him cuz his bair is godlike
Fox-The same, cant up throw up air to save my life tho, not sure if im not used to new timing or its just not possible. I think either could be possible
Marth-The same, down to his old animation for shield breaker
Mario-Sooo fun he seems like a really balanced and versatile character, the recover buff really helps. Also he has an advanced tech that he had in brawl where if he capes as he runs to the edge he will slide way of the stage, useful for gimping and edge guarding in general
Falcon-The same beast he was in melee and still really really fun. Moon walks, tech chases, KNEE its all their.
Jiggs-Rest isnt as strong and the hitbox is smaller, like the brawl version. But other than that the same as far as i can tell
Lucas-really fun, he can pressure really well his spaced fairs(similar to falcos spaced bair in melee) and his combo ability seems up there. He can combo REALLY well into kill moves, although his edge guarding is weak due to his poor recovery. He also has a really good wavedash. His moves were changed from brawl a bit, forward B is now PK ice instead of fire, but it doesnt freeze em at all. His b move is now dope. He powers up DBZ style until he maxes out. Think Dks punch, but im not sure if you can start and then stop and it "saves" it. When he reaches max his hands start glowing and what happens after that is godlike. His next smash move will be made considerably more powerful, both the hitbox and the damage will be absolutely amazing at max power. His downsmash hitbox becomes HUGE even hitting behind him and I gave falco 37% from 0 from a fully powered up one. Fully powered up Up smash killed falco at 70 off the top(computer DI, but still). This guy is really really good, i actually may main him
Snake-Wow so this is the character i was most interested in, so far it seems really hard to find good combos with him, but i know his Up smash seems really good for combos, I could combo Us smash straight into his spike for the kill at multiple percents but im really not seeing as much combo potential. As i said before i need way more time with him before i make a verdict like that though. One thing that i have to say is that his tech chasing is now amazing thanks to wave dash out of shield. His down throw lays em on the ground just like in brawl. If im standing in front of them and shielding im at a huge advantage now, because if i see them roll forward i can wavedash OoS forward and grab again. Fox rolled behind me once and i was able to wavedash back OoS-> Turn around up tilt, up smash, spike to kill him. It still needs prediction though, and punishing backwards rolls is really hard. In brawl if i saw em roll backways i could just drop my sheild, and forward tilt behind me for free, but now with melee's shield drop lag that aint possible. Speaking of out of shield, his out of shield options are now good, because i have realized that the L canceling in this game is the one from 64, not melee which means ALL lag from your attacks is gone not just half. This is a godsend for snake who had really laggy air attacks. Bair out of shield is really good, and a what i use the most to punish people for rolling behind me in the down throw tech chase scenario. Combine this with wavedash out of shield and he went from a character with literally no out of shield options except roll or spot dodge, to some pretty decent ones. He doesnt have a shine out of shield but i can work with it. His Up tilt is now an uppercut, looks like ryus crouching fierce from street fighter 4. Its better for combos but it doesnt have anywhere near the kill power or the broken hitbox that brawl had. Forward tilt is the same but it seems i can combo from the 1st hit now, will have to try it out some more. It also is way harder to blow myself up off stage to live, because of the fall speed of the characters being so fast. Grenades are now pretty cool for combos as well, i was able to throw a grenade off stage as fox was illusioning back on, it blew up on him and i could combo into spike to kill him. Pretty cool. They blow up way faster now and he can only pull 1 at a time though, which means they dont seem to be about limiting the opponents options and stage control as much anymore, but its still their to a point. Also, his downsmash is now awesome. He plants the mine near instantly and the hitbox seems bigger than in brawl. If I place it at the right spacing behind or infront of me and down throw my opponent i basically take away 1 rolling option from them since if they touch it at the end of thier roll it blows up. I really like it. His down B c 4 now has no where near the huge hitbox it used to have under it, I can no longer place the c4 on 1 of the side platforms on battle field and place his downsmash mine under it and blow the c4 to trigger the mine. It still does hit under it now but they hitbox is way smaller. And last but not least, he isnt the heaviest in the game anymore, which means no more living till unreal percents. He is average weight now.
so yeah thats my thoughts, still have to try game and watch, zelda, sheik, link and sonic. Overall the game feels really nice, and the characters are all lots of fun.