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Ultimate Bowser MU Analysis and Discussion

S_B

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Zapp Branniglenn Zapp Branniglenn Great work on these.

I'm holding out hope that the increased focus on aggression over defense in SSBU will make Bowser's rushdown playstyle viable, and that'd be great because rushdown Bowser is a friggin' joy to watch, but only when it actually works.

Really hoping they deliver on what I feel like they've tried to make Bowser for 3 games and only sort of succeeded with in SSB4.
 

Zapp Branniglenn

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So I've been counting Bowser's frames wherever footage allows. Here's what I found out that's new:

-Side B is now 6 frame startup on the ground and in the air. This move coming out even faster is insane. Especially since our jab followups are probably still intact and without Uthrow > Uair we will once again rely on our Side B as our vertical kill throw. Keep picking stages with platforms! We can kill earlier if we land on them with the Slam, and a six frame air grab with shorter jumpsquat sounds like great shark potential against opponents above us on platforms.
-Standing grab startup is now 8 from 9. But Dash grab is now 11 from 10.
-Down Tilt second swipe comes out 5 frames faster. Probably to keep the victim from falling out early. This should make the move even less safe on block, so I hope the FAF has been improved. I think I saw the same 46 FAF and that would make the move extremely risky to use.
-Up Air's startup is now 7 from 9.
-New D-Smash startup is 12 in front and 28 in back.
-Landing lag reductions: N-air 15 from 20, F-air 14 from 24, B-air 24 from 40, U-air 20 from 28, D-air 36 from 40 (no landing hit). Up B 36 from 50. These are great but I'm jealous of everybody else's frame 10 or lower Nairs. Let Bowser be a gymnast.
 
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-Kagato-

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Considering just how much this game has been played during E3 and Rage, I wouldn't doubt that Bowser can still get tweaked here and there in some form. Staff apparently was receiving constant feedback so there's a good chance frames can be altered and entire move properties changed before the final release.

But still, it's not like we have anything better to do! :)
 

Zapp Branniglenn

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Careful getting too attached to specifics like frame data - this is very very early beta build
Don't I know it. You can tech footstools, you can't jab lock although the animations for doing so are there, Shields don't disappear immediately when you put them away, damage doesn't display immediately when hit, multihits are linking way worse than the last game, and Sonic is straight up missing his U-Air landing lag state. This build feels like somebody's attempt at making the last game faster and these are just the most playtested characters that they deemed playable.
 

Darches

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Nerfed jab, dTilt, uThrow, sideB, and 11 frame shield drop? With fewer kill options and reduced defense, Bowser will be somewhere between a little worse and crap.

3 frame jumpsquat, +1 damage on uSmash sourspots, and increased throw frame data/damage are nice buffs, but the significant buffs are the new upB (which was strangely buffed even on the ground) improved Tough Guy, and improved air dodges. The new dSmash looks good but it may not make a huge difference. People say Bowser's current dSmash is unusable but I've actually abused it quite a bit at the ledge and used it as bait since it has less endlag than upB. It looks scary! If fire breath has the same frame data it'll be less useless but not the game changer we need.

Bowsercide jank isn't even the worst part; currently Bowser's downB is nearly unusable. People can perfect shield, NORMAL shield (WTF), MULTI-dodge, or uSmash to beat it, and even if it does hit (the horn followup fails half the time) the damage is crap for the risk. Bowser Bomb should beat Mario's uSmash, not the other way around. Y'all played Mario 3 right?

At least I can finally play Cloud since he won't be pay2win anymore. Or Wolf. Or that new bird guy (TBH I don't know what the big deal is with having him in Smash. I've played most of the Metroid games and Ridley didn't strike me as an important character, just a tough boss at times.)
 
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KuroganeHammer

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Careful getting too attached to specifics like frame data - this is very very early beta build
Character balance stuff should mostly be done at this point. I get your point but honestly I'd be surprised if much changes that isn't bugs/polish.
 

Darches

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Kurogane! Thanks a boatload for your site. You have good taste in characters. :smirk:
 

Zapp Branniglenn

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I recently learned that the +20% 1v1 damage modifier shuts off whenever items are present. So those damage nerfs I pointed out earlier in the thread are all incorrect except for our jabs. I thought it was weird that the nerfs in damage were all 20% from what they should have been.

I am so salty that the dumb ape stole the lagless feature of our Side B and put it on his Down B. Like, what are you planning to accomplish with that DK, you bongo freak?
 

B!squick

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First - we literally do not know if up throw up air is a thing at all
So side b still does a grip of damage, does a lot of knockback, and yknowwww.... you can grab from the air. That's a real good thing.

Idk at what point it was "the only thing keeping him from being completely horrible" and idk when it was "an extremely situational move you only use when you're way ahead"

how in the world is this going to be a move you never want to use ever?
I'm a bit confused here.
Hey, I'm back now.

Anyway, I was referencing SideB through the games.

In Melee it could grab, it could just hit, once grabbed you could throw in different directions. Lots of ways you could use it.

In Brawl, it was Bowser's one good gimmick. Easy infinite mid air jumps (mid air being a little bit off of the ground) and weird platform interactions that allowed you reverse shark. There was also grab releases, but you needed a spreadsheet to know what you could do, when, and it was only really useful against Wario... who I think everyone could grab release anyway. Unless you were up against Venusaur, grab releasing didn't make or break many match ups. SideB was basically the only reason why Bowser was interesting.

In Sm4sh, "an extremely situational move you only use when you're way ahead and they're out of UpThrow > UpAir percentage" is SideB to a T. It had a TINY grabbox, was active for exactly 1 frame, had a TON of lag "if" (lol) you missed, and when you DID land it your opponent had insane amounts of control even with massive amounts of damage (which they tweaked later to be less bad thankfully) AND Bowser would die first if you went off stage... depending on the stage/opponent/height/direction you were facing (that last one is real) in which case it was a tie. Villager can actually recover if you go off stage with him. This all reads like some gag move in a parody fighting game, but it is in fact how Bower's SideB worked in Sm4sh. It probably could have been it's own meme if anyone actually played Bowser in Sm4sh. Press :GCL::GCB: To Lose.

And... now I'm trying to figure out what prompted that comment I made about the SmashU version.... Well, the game isn't out yet, so I'll reserve judgment until then at any rate, but this is a worrying trend.
 

Darches

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Press :GCL::GCB: To Lose.
Agreed lol it has happened to me. It IS still his best kill throw if you're not at the right percent for uThrow > uAir, my main problem is that the air version is frame 17... Why? It's excessively hard to time and therefore reminds me of Volcano Kick. You can use it after short hopping towards the opponent but that's ludicrously unsafe. If I hard read a shield I'd rather just dash grab most of the time.
 
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Zapp Branniglenn

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There was a small window between patches in Smash 4 where I remember Side B being one of our most valuable moves. A Command grab that follows up from our jab poke that deals as much damage as any of our other moves and kills on platforms. Sure Bowsercide wasn't viable in half the matchups but Rage and improved recovery gave us reasons to keep our stock that we never had. Then the Uthrow combos came around and Side B was mostly useful for A Land mixups.

Now that Throw > U-Air kill confirms are taken out across the board, our Side B can get back it's job as a kill throw. We can't A-Land with it, but we can fall on people with it without having to time it around some awful hitbox before landing. 6 frame air grab? Tell me that's not a killer move in a smash game. This isn't at all like our Fortress where they just took features away without replacing them with something useful. Now stop killing my buzz. They gave us Zangief's spinning piledriver and they will fear the Red Cyclone.
 

Darches

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They made it frame 6? Hot dog! If it still kills as early as before then that will be fine. It'll be a lot weaker without the same rage, but then the ninjas may rarely get to use rage at all, further improving heavies' endurance. Dedede is already a pain to kill; I expect him to achieve a new level of trollish endurance.
 

S_B

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So the match played at 4:07:26 in this video is a giant pile of depressing:
https://youtu.be/CT-DmdaLH_Q

Not only did my dreams of Bowser having SA on bomb's descent die a horrible death, but Bowser catches Fox with aerial fortress near the top of the screen while Fox is ~120% and Fox survives, Fox, so we can say goodbye to the hopes that we could somehow combo into aerial fortress for kill confirms.

It's looking like Bowser will be back to being bottom tier trash in this game, sadly. I've been watching videos analyzing other characters like DK and Pacman and seeing all these insane buffs they got, new tools that are going to be amazing for combos and kill confirms, and then back to Bowser and it's just depressing.

How the hell is Bowser going to confirm kills in this game? TG is good, but it ain't THAT good...
 
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meleebrawler

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So the match played at 4:07:26 in this video is a giant pile of depressing:
https://youtu.be/CT-DmdaLH_Q

Not only did my dreams of Bowser having SA on bomb's descent die a horrible death, but Bowser catches Fox with aerial fortress near the top of the screen while Fox is ~120% and Fox survives, Fox, so we can say goodbye to the hopes that we could somehow combo into aerial fortress for kill confirms.

It's looking like Bowser will be back to being bottom tier trash in this game, sadly. I've been watching videos analyzing other characters like DK and Pacman and seeing all these insane buffs they got, new tools that are going to be amazing for combos and kill confirms, and then back to Bowser and it's just depressing.

How the hell is Bowser going to confirm kills in this game? TG is good, but it ain't THAT good...
Fthrow & bthrow
SH bairs
Much safer dsmash that can be done out of dash (same with ftilt)
Frame 6 Flying Slam

Most of Bowser's changes seem geared to make him much better at dealing damage. A tripping dtilt at low percents, uthrow that does more damage and still starts combos at low percents, dthrow that does a massive 18% in 1v1s, lagless landing nairs... the things that held back heavies in the past were their generally weaker combo games that allegedly were compensated by higher damage per hit, and slow movement.

Bowser, even at his worst in Smash 4 with no vectoring or Showtime, was still a good deal better than his Melee and Brawl incarnations, thanks to being a faster on the ground and some frame data improvements. Now his movement is even better with his jumpsquat fixed, and that alongside with dash cancels and far less landing lag on aerials will likely make his neutral the best it's ever been. I just can't see him being much worse, if at all, than he was in 4.
 
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KuroganeHammer

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Nah Bowser is actually bottom 10. He's already not great in Smash 4 and is carried by his kill confirm.

Do you know what happens to characters with a single tool to be viable when that tool gets taken away?

Like sure he has a better dsmash or faster side b but dsmash is still unsafe as **** and side b overall is way worse since it doesn't cancel on landing now.

Also his nair isn't lagless on landing if you do that **** on a shield the opponent is just gonna kill you for it lol.
 

S_B

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I visited Nairo's stream for ~a minute one night after he had come back from trying out SSBU. He was talking about who he was going to main or something and I jokingly typed in chat "But you're a Bowser main now!"

He actually replied and said, "No, he lost his throw followups."

Meanwhile, Pacman now has a frame one stun via z dropping the bell on his opponent's face. Just let that sink in for a moment...

Bowser was hot garbage without a kill confirm. We knew this. No amount of damage racking matters if you can't actually close out stocks, and that was exactly his problem pre patch in SSB4.

Thankfully, we have Ridley as a backup fat, fire-breathing reptile to hold us over until they come to their senses and buff Bowser in patch #1...
 

Zapp Branniglenn

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I visited Nairo's stream for ~a minute one night after he had come back from trying out SSBU. He was talking about who he was going to main or something and I jokingly typed in chat "But you're a Bowser main now!"

He actually replied and said, "No, he lost his throw followups."
Tbh I always thought it was clear Nairo played Bowser casually.

I'm low key glad that Uthrow is gone because I'm tired of seeing great writeups for matchups and then the kid responds with "but how do I grab bayoooooo". When that was 100% of your game plan with Bowser, you weren't playing Bowser. And I don't fault people for wanting to move on now that the roster is this huge and the only untouched top tier is Ryu who's hard to pick up. SSBU is going to see the rise of a ton of characters with all these changes.
 

S_B

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Tbh I always thought it was clear Nairo played Bowser casually.
Hence why I said "jokingly".

I'm low key glad that Uthrow is gone
I'm fine with it going away, but what has Bowser been given in its place to compensate?

Look at what the damn dirty ape has gotten:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t75ekvlJTP8

And Pacman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0_-GR0097Q&t=1s

Maybe there's some guaranteed kill setups Bowser has that we haven't found yet, but the fact that other characters are getting these discovered already is worrisome because I've not heard anything of the sort being discussed for Bowser yet.

Bowser wasn't viable without throw followups (as was DK). Even with them, there were a number of characters that straight up invalidate his existence in SSB4.

I'm glad to see DK is getting some buffs that can actually be kill confirms (SA on side + b which can lead to a shield break or burying the enemy followed by giant punch) cause god knows relying on the ding dong was jank.

I just want to see Bowser getting the same love...
 
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Zapp Branniglenn

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I'm fine with it going away, but what has Bowser been given in its place to compensate?
Running tilts is huge for characters with good run speeds, like us. Our Utilt is going to get much more use since it reaches higher than any other Utilt (except for Shulk) and has enough disjoint to beat a Cloud Dair with good timing. Perfect shielding looks easy to perform and grants enough advantage that Bowser Bomb punish looks like it's going to be the go to for kills and damage. Our Dthrow is the highest damage throw in the game letting us keep our F and B throws unstaled. New Jumpsquat lets us jump over stuff instead of hiding in shield. Our Fortress has reasonable landing lag and launches so we'll be punished a lot less. I'm also expecting a larger, more protective hitbox since it really cannot get worse than Smash 4's version in the air. N-Air combos will be an ever present tool rather than a weird niche you could do at some percents against sheik. Landing with Side B is a way more viable attack now that it has real startup and a real hitbox. I'm expecting a perfect shield punish meta at high level play and air grabs are going to be exempt. Ours is the fastest in the game and kills with the aid of platforms. B-Air's landing lag is no longer tied for the most landing lag of any aerial.

If our Jab stuff is intact and Dtilt has reduced endlag of about 8 or so then I say this is all a fair trade for Uthrow and Side B cancels because we still have a clear game plan and options.

Look at what the damn dirty ape has gotten:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t75ekvlJTP8
His Uthrow doesn't kill either, didn't you notice? Plus his Up B looks worse. His trade includes: Super armor on Side B - great for mixing up on somebody's landings. A less laggy dash attack, a less laggy Jab 2. A sixth aerial in his new Down B, slightly faster charge for Giant Punch, and he's going to love running tilts. I'd say that's a good grab bag of stuff, but I wouldn't be surprised if DK mains aren't also bailing on this character prematurely.
Pac Man's new stuff is good but you really gotta note how poor he was in Smash 4. He needed the update more than we did. Struggling to wall out opponents which I still expect to be the case. Other characters getting more stuff doesn't bug me.
 
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S_B

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Running tilts is huge for characters with good run speeds, like us. Our Utilt is going to get much more use since it reaches higher than any other Utilt (except for Shulk) and has enough disjoint to beat a Cloud Dair with good timing. Perfect shielding looks easy to perform and grants enough advantage that Bowser Bomb punish looks like it's going to be the go to for kills and damage. Our Dthrow is the highest damage throw in the game letting us keep our F and B throws unstaled. New Jumpsquat lets us jump over stuff instead of hiding in shield. Our Fortress has reasonable landing lag and launches so we'll be punished a lot less. I'm also expecting a larger, more protective hitbox since it really cannot get worse than Smash 4's version in the air. N-Air combos will be an ever present tool rather than a weird niche you could do at some percents against sheik. Landing with Side B is a way more viable attack now that it has real startup and a real hitbox. I'm expecting a perfect shield punish meta at high level play and air grabs are going to be exempt. Ours is the fastest in the game and kills with the aid of platforms. B-Air's landing lag is no longer tied for the most landing lag of any aerial.
We'll see, but I've played the "Hey, Bowser looks so improved this time!" game one too many times to fall into that again.

I don't want Bowser to revolve around grabs for being viable, but he has to have something that makes him a very real danger and 3 grabs = death only partially did that for him in SSB4.

Expect that everyone else is going to have better frame data as well, in addition to new tools and kill setups. Bowser can run up and tilt? So can everyone.

And I'd be more excited about aerial side+B if we didn't basically eat a smash attack when someone spotdodges it...
 
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I think aerial down B spikes. Was watching footage from the Mario Tennis / Smash Ultimate special and heard the spike sound when Bowser hit someone on start up. What an interesting property.

If you SH down B and they shield, it breaks. If they drop shield, ground bounce, maybe into a 50/50?
 

Zapp Branniglenn

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Bowser can run up and tilt? So can everyone.
But do they have tilts worth using? long range and limb intangibility? How about good run speed? Some characters clearly benefit more from this. And among heavyweights Bowser's got the best tilts as long as Dtilt doesn't end up unviable. Unless Snake is still considered a heavy weight, in which case those moves are still great.

And I'd be more excited about aerial side+B if we didn't basically eat a smash attack when someone spotdodges it...
I could say the same about Dash Grab. Be less predictable and you won't get read.
 
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meleebrawler

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Running tilts is huge for characters with good run speeds, like us. Our Utilt is going to get much more use since it reaches higher than any other Utilt (except for Shulk) and has enough disjoint to beat a Cloud Dair with good timing. Perfect shielding looks easy to perform and grants enough advantage that Bowser Bomb punish looks like it's going to be the go to for kills and damage. Our Dthrow is the highest damage throw in the game letting us keep our F and B throws unstaled. New Jumpsquat lets us jump over stuff instead of hiding in shield. Our Fortress has reasonable landing lag and launches so we'll be punished a lot less. I'm also expecting a larger, more protective hitbox since it really cannot get worse than Smash 4's version in the air. N-Air combos will be an ever present tool rather than a weird niche you could do at some percents against sheik. Landing with Side B is a way more viable attack now that it has real startup and a real hitbox. I'm expecting a perfect shield punish meta at high level play and air grabs are going to be exempt. Ours is the fastest in the game and kills with the aid of platforms. B-Air's landing lag is no longer tied for the most landing lag of any aerial.

If our Jab stuff is intact and Dtilt has reduced endlag of about 8 or so then I say this is all a fair trade for Uthrow and Side B cancels because we still have a clear game plan and options.



His Uthrow doesn't kill either, didn't you notice? Plus his Up B looks worse. His trade includes: Super armor on Side B - great for mixing up on somebody's landings. A less laggy dash attack, a less laggy Jab 2. A sixth aerial in his new Down B, slightly faster charge for Giant Punch, and he's going to love running tilts. I'd say that's a good grab bag of stuff, but I wouldn't be surprised if DK mains aren't also bailing on this character prematurely.


Pac Man's new stuff is good but you really gotta note how poor he was in Smash 4. He needed the update more than we did. Struggling to wall out opponents which I still expect to be the case. Other characters getting more stuff doesn't bug me.
Jab cancel stuff seems nerfed for everyone, so it looks like Bowser's go-to combo starters are going to be his grab and utilt. 0:07 in his fighter showcase demonstrates how completely it covers both in front and behind, and launches opponents right above Bowser for juggling. You'll have the choice between the front hit for speed or pivoting for the back hit leading to more guaranteed stuff. And the video also shows that both hits of dtilt can trip, at least during low percents. Allegedly it has good knockback growth that still makes it effective at KOing or setting up edgeguards at higher percents, though there's no visual confirmation of this.
 
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S_B

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I think aerial down B spikes. Was watching footage from the Mario Tennis / Smash Ultimate special and heard the spike sound when Bowser hit someone on start up. What an interesting property.

If you SH down B and they shield, it breaks. If they drop shield, ground bounce, maybe into a 50/50?
Yeah, down+B has a hitbox while rising, which is weird and possibly a bug.

But if they perfect shield down+B or just spotdodge it, we're screwed.

But do they have tilts worth using? long range and limb intangibility?.
The majority are. DK's tilts are amazing, Ridley's look pretty damn good, and D3's are also excellent.

Also, why limit it to tilts? Many characters have run-up smashes or even jabs that will be better than Bowser's tilts.

I'm not trying to shoot down your optimism, but we KNOW how well Bowser did in the competitive scene before his throw followups, and yet in Sm4sh, we were all speculating about how improved he is, how great his runspeed is, etc...and it all led exactly nowhere.

Really, start getting disappointed now and it'll hurt less later on. :p

Be less predictable and you won't get read.
Or you'll STILL get read because Bowser is yet again going to be hella slow in this game compared to all of the characters that give him the most trouble.

Kurogane's post above sums the whole thing up nicely. There's not much else to be said until we get some time labing Bowser and find out where his kill confirms are.

A character in SSB without kill confirms is like Napster trying to go public back in the day: you can make it sound like a good idea, but unless it can actually close the deal/stock, none of it matters.
 
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Zapp Branniglenn

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Jab cancel stuff seems nerfed for everyone, .
I haven't found any hard evidence suggesting either way. The only thing I notice about Jabs is multi jabs hitting quicker. Really a lot of multi hit moves were adjusted to have startup reductions on the second hit onward. Probably so that players don't get a free perfect shield on whichever hit they want while blocking. Which is still an issue for some moves like Inkling rapid jab or Fox D-Air. But for normal jabs, all I seen is Link's Jab 1 endlag is improved from last game. Probably not to a point where his jab 1 nonsense is back, but enough where jab won't seem like such a heavy commitment.

I'm not trying to shoot down your optimism, but we KNOW how well Bowser did in the competitive scene before his throw followups, and yet in Sm4sh, we were all speculating about how improved he is, how great his runspeed is, etc...and it all led exactly nowhere.
It led to a 24 placement in the most recent tier list. Out of 58. Considerably better than 33 out of 38 in the previous game.

Kurogane's post above sums the whole thing up nicely. There's not much else to be said until we get some time labing Bowser and find out where his kill confirms are.

A character in SSB without kill confirms is like Napster trying to go public back in the day: you can make it sound like a good idea, but unless it can actually close the deal/stock, none of it matters.
Kurogane's post is just a hot take. Bottom 10 when we've seen less then half the roster? I'm not fully convinced Bowser is bottom 10 in this demo with all these nerfs.

Kill confirms aren't everything in the new Smash. You may have noticed every character has been losing kill confirms due to the new knockback mechanics. Stray hits, neutral, edgeguarding, perfect shields are the name of the game now. I can't tell you where people who don't play Bowser will rank Bowser, but I can tell you he's got the tools he'll need. Claiming he's not viable this early is just juvenile. Stop trying to justify picking up new characters. It's a whole new game, you don't need a compelling excuse.
 

Darches

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Kurogane knows what he's talking about; I wouldn't doubt his wisdom. Although, I disagree with bottom 10... Bottom 15?
His grabs are kill confirms. He has 3 kill throws in bThrow, fThrow, sideB. Amazing!
I believe heavies will benefit the most from the 20% singles buff.
If the stronger uThrow still combos into nAir or uAir at least once (or twice!?) we'll still have some decent damage. Clearly the jumpsquat buff will help here.
Plus, mixing up landings with sideB and nAir will scare people. If nAir ISN'T blocked who knows what it'll do. I've already managed to nAir > uSmash kill a couple times in Sm4sh :D

Yeah, down+B has a hitbox while rising, which is weird and possibly a bug.
The horn attack?
 
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_Rated D.R.K_

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My adoration for Bowser in the Smash series, is like a gift and a curse. Because I know within my heart of hearts, he will never be the good character that I'd like him to be. Luckily, he is the only character I thoroughly enjoy playing despite obvious limitations. However, Bowser will always be a victim to his own design. He's a big dope, a really big dope. People pass his arse around the Battlefield like a collection plate at church. Smash Ultimate will be no different and the ones who actually gives a crap about Gamera's cousin, will continue to use him. Suffering and all. Self-loathing and jokes aside, we will make it work as per usual.
 
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S_B

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Kurogane's post is just a hot take.
Given the amount of analyzing Kurogane does, I'm sure he's already seen most if not all of what other characters now have and it's not too hard to see that Bowser didn't get visited by the buff fairy like they did.

If you want to theorycraft that what we've seen somehow equates "all the tools he needs", you have fun with that.

Characters that do well in SSB are those that can do one or several of the following: evade well, rack damage well, and confirm kills reliably. New Bowser definitely can't do the first, he might be able to do the second, but I've yet to see ANYTHING that suggests he can do the third, and THAT'S what's going to keep him stuck in low tier without some changes.

I'm seriously having deja vu of the days leading up to SSB4, "Look how fast Bowser is now! His frame data is so much better! I'm sure Sheik and ZSS won't totally crap all over him this time!"

Sigh, history repeats itself, I guess...

The horn attack?
I posted some videos earlier in the thread where Bowser has hit opponents before he has started to descend during down+B, and it did seem to spike them downward. Looks very buggy, though.
 
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Zapp Branniglenn

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Given the amount of analyzing Kurogane does, I'm sure he's already seen most if not all of what other characters now have and it's not too hard to see that Bowser didn't get visited by the buff fairy like they did.
Yeah I'm just curious why you're hanging on his every word when we do the same thing .Or more appropriately, why use anybody's first impressions to shoot down other people's equally valid viewpoints? You did it earlier with Nairo too. Why do we need some vague kind of credibility just to give our own impressions. Stop picking and choosing things you hear as gospel and try to think more critically.

I'm seriously having deja vu of the days leading up to SSB4, "Look how fast Bowser is now! His frame data is so much better! I'm sure Sheik and ZSS won't totally crap all over him this time!"
Dude, Sheik was not a viable character in Brawl. She couldn't combo because of the knockback mechanics and she had no kill moves. Now I'm extremely curious about your selective memory.
 
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S_B

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Yeah I'm just curious why you're hanging on his every word when we do the same thing
Because he came to a conclusion grounded in realism whereas you haven't.

And scroll up. I was still optimistic, even after he said:
Bowser is dead.
...on the end of the previous page.

But I've been watching analysis videos of other characters and realizing how generally grim things look for Bowser, because the point isn't to sit here and analyze Bowser's tools in a vacuum but to compare what he has to what the rest of the cast has and have realistic expectations for how Bowser is going to deal with them.

It'll be a miracle if Bowser's "rushdown" playstyle actually works in this game because it hasn't for the past three. What has changed so much that Bowser is going to win out when his non-winning strategy hasn't changed at all since SSB4, except he gets less value off of grabs?

Dude, Sheik was not a viable character in Brawl.
No, but she dunked on Bowser in Brawl and dunked on him horrendously in Melee before it.

If Bowser doesn't have an answer to these fast characters, he's hosed either way, regardless of whether those characters are top tier.
 

meleebrawler

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Because he came to a conclusion grounded in realism whereas you haven't.

And scroll up. I was still optimistic, even after he said:

...on the end of the previous page.

But I've been watching analysis videos of other characters and realizing how generally grim things look for Bowser, because the point isn't to sit here and analyze Bowser's tools in a vacuum but to compare what he has to what the rest of the cast has and have realistic expectations for how Bowser is going to deal with them.

It'll be a miracle if Bowser's "rushdown" playstyle actually works in this game because it hasn't for the past three. What has changed so much that Bowser is going to win out when his non-winning strategy hasn't changed at all since SSB4, except he gets less value off of grabs?



No, but she dunked on Bowser in Brawl and dunked on him horrendously in Melee before it.

If Bowser doesn't have an answer to these fast characters, he's hosed either way, regardless of whether those characters are top tier.
In regards to speedy characters, jumpsquat makes a huge difference since while before they could easily smack Bowser before he could even attempt to use an aerial to challenge (fair), now Bowser can more readily contest and space with it, since it outranges similar moves from fast characters and wins trades with higher damage. And as Zapp said, makes getting around projectiles easier.

His grabs are still hugely damaging and reliable killers at high percents. No one wants to be grabbed by him, whether they be normal or special. At the mid-percent range where grab combos stop working for most fighters, Bowser's dthrow will be doing more damage than all of them.

Fire Breath no longer being flinchless at it's edge brings it back up to Flamethrower standards, and that was a very useful move for Charizard in neutral for safe damage.
 
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KuroganeHammer

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Bowser will be bad because the only thing stopping him from being gutter trash tier was his uthrow uair, and now its gone and guess what happens to characters who have polarizing playstyles because all their other moves are ****?

None of Bowser's moves have been buffed enough to replace the void left by Uthrow uairs departure.

The only notable buff (since most of his stuff has been nerfed so far) he's gotten are jumpsquat (universal) and landing lag reductions which are STILL worse than everyone elses btw.
 

Darches

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Bowser isn't really a rushdown character IMO with his combination of speed, risk, and payoff.
 
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Zapp Branniglenn

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It'll be a miracle if Bowser's "rushdown" playstyle actually works in this game because it hasn't for the past three. What has changed so much that Bowser is going to win out when his non-winning strategy hasn't changed at all since SSB4, except he gets less value off of grabs?
I saw this term thrown around a lot in years previous. Good run speed doesn't make you a rush down. It just means you can close distance fast for a punish. Rush down means you can apply safe, varied pressure that cuts off the opponent's options and voids any of their zoning tools. Never got that impression from Bowser. Bowser is more Marth than Fox. His range is comparable and his moves are functionally like swords while the hitbox is active.

Because he came to a conclusion grounded in realism whereas you haven't.
Well I don't know what to say then if we're going to ignore the whole conversation that led up to this. I bring facts, you bring youtube videos. I've had enough of it.
 

KuroganeHammer

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I think at the end of the day the actual facts are it's Smash 4 Bowser, but with no uthrow uair and a worse side B. :secretkpop:
 
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