Match-Up Discussion #12; Snake
55:45 Snake
Arguable for 50:50
Links Advantages
Link's projectiles make approaching very difficult for Snake at times and rack up damage fast.
All projectiles stop his best approach, his DAC or Mortar Slide.
Link's KO power can KO Snake earlier then some other characters. Dair does a very good job at KOing Snake.
Zair is very good at keeping Snake away from you due to his size. It also sets up for a few combos. Zair>Dash Attack/DAC/Grab.
Snake is very easy to juggle due to a very poor aerial game.
Snake doesn't have a lot to gimp you offstage with.
Link can arguably out camp Snake.
Even Snake may have a hard time KOing Link due to his weight and excellent DI.
Very easy to punish his mediocre recovery.
Snake's Advantages
Powerful tilt attacks that are abused/spammed often.
Above average projectile game.
Just about everything Snake has can kill.
DAC makes for an excellent approach.
Link cannot reliably grab Snake out of his cyhper to gimp Snake.
Overall better KO potential then Link.
-Lawz Input-
Snake is a powerhouse. his tilts have insane range (ftilt and utilt) and deal lots of damage. he is a very slow character and i'm pretty sure Link can outspam him. Snake's recovery is decent, cypher including the C4 detonation. he can only have 2 grenades at a time so it may not be as hard to get around. he can also plant mines but boomerangs can just detonate them from far away. up close Snake will probably win. both his ftilt and utilt have broken range and his jabs have very good knockback so expect to get knocked around by those a lot. Snake can do things with his down throw such as tech chasing which comes in handy for him. his sliding mortar isn't the worst thing either since throwing a boomerang can knock him out of it, and if you're above him a simple nair can go through the mortar itself.
Now when facing Snake zair works pretty well against him since he is a very tall character. he's also VERY heavy so he can be juggled as well. this also means that he is pretty bad in the air. his moves are slow although pretty much all his aerials can deal a formidable amount of damage as well as send you flying. Snake being a heavy character will take a while to kill. he can easily kill you with utilt pretty easily. now being as heavy as he is you can juggle him easily and jab cancels work well on him too. offstage isn't that bad against Snake but expect to be edgeguarded by things such as the mortar.
zair, projectiles, and jabs will be the best options in this match. Snake being a heavy character makes him easy to juggle, easy to zair and easy to spam. but this also means he will take a while to kill especially if they have good DI. he can kill with his tilts which have broken range. if Snake gets too close, zair him. if he powershields it expect to be grabbed or get beat by tilts. if you shield his tilts punish with grabs or jabs whether you just do A,A,A for spacing or if you jab cancel and/or juggle him to build up damage. if you catch Snake recovering low then punish him because it's his fault for being stupid. if he C4 jumps then dair him if he flies high enough in the air. Snake is extremely vulnerable when he recovers so find a way to punish him if he gets too close to the stage.
It's in Snake's favor 55:45 or 60:40 at worst but still in his favor.
-KirinBlaze Input-
I definitely think this is even.
Link CAN out camp Snake. Snake cannot jump around the stage continuously dishing out projectiles like Link can. 2 of Snake's projectiles are stationary (The mine being SO easy to get rid of.), and he can only have two grenades out which are easily avoidable and take time to detonate. His FowardB is slow and leaves him open and easy to avoid. Link's Zair poses as a very big problem for Snake due to his height so Snake cannot effortlessly approach and Ftilt away unless he feels like power shielding it every singles time which is unrealestic. Arrows, Bombs, Zair, boomerang, these ALL stop Snake's best approach option, his DAC. RBS destorys his DAC, hell just even THROWING a bomb owns his DAC. Snake doesn't have much on Link offstage, mostly you can just expect time QCEH's from him, just toss a GaleRang or bomb and kick him back on. Link can KO Snake a lot better then some of the characters in this game. Jab cancels destroy him. Link can grab him out of his Ftilt so baiting him to Powershield through your projectiles into this is very good against him. Snake is garbage in the air and has a decent juggle game against him. Link can PUNISH the balls off of Snake if he slips up and recovers low, he eats Ftilts, Nairs, and Bairs and quickly racks up damage. Dair owns the common Snake players who AD when coming down to the stage or out of their cyhpers.
This match-up is 50:50 or 55:45 Snake at worst. I personally believe it's 50:50.
-DingDing Input-
Sry guys, but I'm gonna agree with KirinBlaze on this one. It's definitely a 50:50 matchup, IMO, mainly for reasons Kirin listed above.
As a side note: Snakes that try to DACUS link get owned...only if the link expects it and retaliates with a projectile or zair. From a LINKZONEload of personal experience, the absolute best way to fight a snake from a long range is with a wall of zairs and boomerangs. Both stop his grenades and his DACUS in their tracks, without having them explode. Bombs, on the other hand, may (and usually do) hurt you both if used on an approaching snake, and if snake throws a grenade in your face and you bomb it, then BAM 21 damage. D:
So, IMO, link's best weapons against snake are zair, jab cancel, smashes and rang. Snake's best weapons against link are grenade spam, unexpected DACUS, grabs and tilts. Overall, as long as Link is at a distance where he can effectively space with zair and rangs, he has the advantage. Only if the snake gets close and is on the ground does link have a major problem.
Granted, Snake with proper DI lives forever, but Link with proper DI can too (though not QUITE as long), but is actually a bit harder to gimp. As long as the Link knows the matchup well and can DI, it's definitely around a 50:50 matchup.
