"You Got Frooed": A New Way To Rest
(As a Prelude, I should add that this technique may not fit all gametypes as easily as it has fit mine. If the Sex Kick is not a strong point of your game, or not a point at all, you might wish to dismiss this technique as merely situational at best. However, with my game and my Nair approach tactics as loosely described in this thread:
http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=84342 , this adds a truly fearful element to your approaches and to your opponent's decision to stay grounded during your fight. It is not something to adopt zealously, but rather to develop mindgames and a technical understanding of the technique so as to be able to pull it off on-command, and under control. Discovering your own openings and setups for a successful non-CC'ed Nair approach, I leave for you.)
I've been experimenting with different interactions with puff and it's moves for quite some time trying to find a way to strengthen both my approaches and what they can be followed up by. Basically, I've always wanted to create a good enough tech game and a strong enough game of prediction that every move I make can be followed up with either another move that continues my opponent's string of inability of action, or a move that effectively ends their stock.
Now this may not be totally game-breaking, but it's one hell of a start.
Introducing the newest tried-and-true combo technique: Neutral-Air to Rest. Yep. That move, when you know what you're doing, actually does leave the opponent completely immobile and stuck in attack stun lag long enough to land, and perform rest just as the helpless floaty falls into your parameter. This is also amplified with the extremely handy fact that Jigglypuff's Nair auto-Lcancels a full 20 frames before the end of it's animation, and auto-cancels the exact frame after it's hitbox goes away. This allows you to concentrate far more on your spacing and timing, so that if and when you do decide to approach with the Nair, you'll be ready with prior knowledge and experience in hand, and will be able to trust it as much as a simple Uthrow-Rest.
OK, I typed out a ton of this when I was unoccupied one late evening, so you'll need to read it bare through all the information to understand the principal ideas behind all this explanation. I also added a Video Demonstration, linked below, that you can refer to for Nair->Rest demonstrations on the opponents this technique is most effective on. =D
Nair-Rest Facts:
For Peach, below 30% but after around 10%, SH-Nair works better than a descending Fullhop-Nair into rest. Fullhop-Nair between 10-30% seems to hit too softly combined with her faster recovery from hit stun, and you make contact too high above the ground to get down fast enough to Lcancel the Nair into rest. SH-Nair is quick and low to the ground, so she's still stunned from the Nair. Between 30-55% (after which Nair-Rest stops reliably working) FH-Nair to Rest works better. THE KEY IS TO MAINTAIN FORWARD MOMENTUM, As Nair pushes them forward, so you cannot just fall straight down, you've gotta keep moving.
The timing of it is basically halfway between when the flipper of the Nair comes out, and when the animation would end, to make contact with the opponent. that gives the best hit properties and you're close enough to the ground/animation's end so it auto-cancels. I've also found that it is more or less most effective if you manage to begin the Nair exactly at the top of the arch of your jump. This goes the same for the SH Nair-Rest procedure and the FH Nair-Rest procedure. What this insinuates is that you'll preferably want to find yourself at a particular range before you jump, start the Nair, make contact, and rest them. You don't necessarily need to start it at the height of your jump, but doing so lets you simply fall downward and towards them maintaining momentum, lets you keep your trajectory stable, and with the fullhop you shouldn't even have to L-cancel the Nair, so you can just concentrate on if the opportunity for resting them after the Nair has arisen. With a SH, you'll be starting the Nair pretty much right after you leave the ground, so you'll probably still require an L-cancel for the best chance of success for Nair-Rest comboing.
The same properties apply against Marth too, but after the 30% range when you start comboing it with FH-Nair, you'll want to hit with the Nair just after the Flipper comes out, as it seems to control the trajectory more consistently so long as you keep your forward momentum, because as it seems marth flies further, you've gotta keep more momentum for longer. The percent thresholds are the same with peach as with marth, pretty much. It also makes comboing Nair into Rest far easier if you make your attack approach with the butt-end of the Nair, rather than attacking with the Flipper of the Nair. This is because the extra range of the flipper part forces you to make up extra ground when trying to catch up with the opponent after connecting with the Nair (evident by the fact that because your center must be overlapping them for rest, because the flipper extends beyond your normal parimeter, once the flipper hits, the extra range makes you further away to make your center catch up with them before their hitlag ends.
The characters I've found this works on best are Sheik (15-45%), Marth (10-50%), Peach (10-50%), Samus (20-55%), Mario/Doc (10-45%), Zelda (10-50%), and some other lower-tiered characters like pika, luigi, roy, etc, but for the unnamed characters this combo is either unnecessary, too difficult to land due to size/extra floatyness or weight, or a missed rest leaves you far, far to easily punishable (such as missing a rest against pika will get you
killed near 30%). The percentile ranges listed above entail a margin of error of +/- 5%. So the combo can technically work 5% above or below those ranges, but the noted range will give a much better success rate if you stick to it, as it requires much better timing, perfection, and luck if you deviate above or below it.
I should also note that Nair-Rest can and does work against Fox, Falco, and Falcon at near the same percent ranges as some of the ones listed above, but from what I've been able to deduce, you've got to be extremely fast and perfect to pull it off. You have to be extremely close to the ground when the Nair hits, you can't miss the Lcancel, and you've got to practically rest on the nearly first frame possible. However, hitting with the backside of Nair is probably more desirable than hitting with the flipper of it, but that is mere conjecture and assumption at this moment.
Ok, as far as the Video Demonstration goes, I did it one character at a time, showcasing the Nair->Rest capabilities on Marth, Peach, Sheik and Samus. I included many shots from varying angles, increasing in small percentage increments. I also included some slow-motion footage clips so you may get a better view of what's happening. (The sound in some of them became poorly-synched, I didn't really care about it so I just encoded it and released it. It's the visual that counts anyways =D ).
Download Link:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UQ1AQGP4
Youtube Link:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Sow6iFGQMIc
Thanks to Sidefx for the slick Vid Intro!
King Out
