Unorthodox Olimar strategy

[Randofu]

Currently I main Peach, but I'm considering branching out to use Olimar as my secondary. I have an idea for a certain (possibly completely new) play style for Olimar.

Anyone who's played Pikmin will know the merit of occasionally leaving 99 of your Pikmin behind to just take that one red Pikmin into battle. That's basically where I got the inspiration for my idea.

I tried it last night, and it worked fairly well. Just keeping a single Pikmin around wasn't exactly easy, but I still feel like my unpredictability gave me an edge. I relied pretty heavily on his tilts (obviously), to the point that when I finally did use the Pikmin in an attack it was surprising. Also, when I finally did go to use my Pikmin attack, I ALWAYS had the color I wanted.

Of course, the real downside here is his awful recovery. So far the only solution I have here is to not get hit. I would say that I'm pretty good, just shy of tournament level play and dedication. So was the friend who I played against last night.

My question is this: If I went up against tournament players with this, would they be gimping me left and right, to the point that this strategy didn't have a chance?

 

[Rocann]

My question is this: If I went up against tournament players with this, would they be gimping me left and right, to the point that this strategy didn't have a chance?

yes

ten characters

 

[RichBrown]

Just because it worked in pikmin doesn't mean it works in brawl. That'd be like saying if you spam mario's fireball you'll get 1 hit KO's because it worked in super mario bros 1. 1 pikmin=gimp central.

to be fair, sometimes in friendlies I will just play with maybe 3 pikmin just to get used to it, that way if I encounter a situation in a tournament where I'm short pikmin I'm not panicking. But Sakurai gave us Olimar users 6 pikmin for a reason. Use them.

 

[Randofu]

Just because it worked in pikmin doesn't mean it works in brawl. That'd be like saying if you spam mario's fireball you'll get 1 hit KO's because it worked in super mario bros 1. 1 pikmin=gimp central.

Well... obviously. I was just saying where I got the idea from.

to be fair, sometimes in friendlies I will just play with maybe 3 pikmin just to get used to it, that way if I encounter a situation in a tournament where I'm short pikmin I'm not panicking. But Sakurai gave us Olimar users 6 pikmin for a reason. Use them.

Sakurai also gave Ganondorf his Up Tilt.

You have a point, but I'm just trying to put things in perspective. Just because you CAN use 6 Pikmin, it doesn't necessarily mean that that's the best way to do it. OK, so, it probably is, but I still think that developing a strategy for just 1 Pikmin might have other advantages, such as surprise. Surprise, and alarm.

Obviously it's just a theory for now. I need a lot more work to show that it can be done in practice. It might be inconclusive if it doesn't work, though, since it could just be because of my shortcomings as a Brawl player.

 

[Rocann]

1 pikmin = no pikmin throw or you're useless = olimar's forcing people to approach or making his approach easier is gone. so olimar's whole game is gone.

how many times do you see a player somehow kill all of olimar's pikmin and then get SCARED and stop attacking? there is no "alarm" it's an opportunity for an easy kill. everyone knows he doesn't gain any secret moves with only one pikmin. and there's nothing surprising about a character with 5 moves.

 

[shanus]

I always use 3-6, any less and it gets risky. If I have a very strong set of 4 for a specific opponent, its nice because its a bit faster for me to sort through pikmin for the appropriate usage.

 

[Kyas]

Dude, I decided to try Snake... without his tilts!
And Ice Climbers... without Nana!

O NOES IT DIDN'T WORK

 

[Beo]

I've tried it. It's terrible.

I also thought "Hey, I'm so innovative LOL" like you did.

But then I realized what a douche I was being.

 

[TheDuplexDuo]

Currently I main Peach, but I'm considering branching out to use Olimar as my secondary. I have an idea for a certain (possibly completely new) play style for Olimar.

Anyone who's played Pikmin will know the merit of occasionally leaving 99 of your Pikmin behind to just take that one red Pikmin into battle. That's basically where I got the inspiration for my idea.

I tried it last night, and it worked fairly well. Just keeping a single Pikmin around wasn't exactly easy, but I still feel like my unpredictability gave me an edge. I relied pretty heavily on his tilts (obviously), to the point that when I finally did use the Pikmin in an attack it was surprising. Also, when I finally did go to use my Pikmin attack, I ALWAYS had the color I wanted.

Of course, the real downside here is his awful recovery. So far the only solution I have here is to not get hit. I would say that I'm pretty good, just shy of tournament level play and dedication. So was the friend who I played against last night.

My question is this: If I went up against tournament players with this, would they be gimping me left and right, to the point that this strategy didn't have a chance?

Bah... why does no one consort the Unolimar guru upon such matters? Does no one read signatures these days? *grumble*​

Anyways yes, the fighting style certianly has it's merits. Easily counter choices against characters. Smash attacks do not deminsh much, so it's generally a knock out, unpredictable and much more fluid combos.

Battling a Pikachu mainer? Pick out the yellow costume and find a ol' yellow pikmin. Then it's simple as Pokemon pie. Most of the time you will want to use the red pikmin. But I think I had better divulge some more general infomation of my Unolimar studies. Olimar mainers might wanna take advantage of some of this info;

We all know that Olimars recovery is pretty poor, but did you know that his recovery if infact more EFFECTIVE with ZERO pikmin than with 1, 2 or even 3? Yup, go check it out, you can do some rather crazy lookin' ledge tatics with it too. So for you wanting to test this out go to Final destination. Test out his recovery with 3 Pikmin, hang on the ledge and drop, then recover. Mess around with this for a a while. Annoying that you have to be a certain angle from it? Or that you have to pull youself to the ledge first then drop down?

Now try with zero, hang on the ledge and drop. With good timing you can use the second jump from the near the bottom of FD and jump then use his recovery. Also when such events such as level events of Final Smashes going on I tend to hide on the ledge, fall and jump at a side diagonal and return with the recovery. It's a shame I cannot show you folks a video, but just mess around with zero pikmin. You will understand what I mean.

And to the uses of this? Well to you Olimars it means when recovering and there is someone trying to keep you off the stage you should considering spamming ALL your Pikmin if you have around 4/3. Then reach with zero.

I was mulling over making a guide for the Olimars about certain mindgames and how to play much more unpredictably and about Pikmin management. So I feel I ought to leave the bulk of my knowledge for that. But thrust me, there is LOADS of techs JUST for the Unolimar can take advantage of.

BTW, has anyone noticed that Pikmin do not latch on the opponent as long when at higher %'s? So that means with even the Unolimar of those who like to play with less can still use the Pikmin spam at the start of the match. Just latch it on and juggle them so that they can't shake 'em off.

 

[shrinkray21]

I can't even respond...wow...just...wow...

 

[DanGR]

I thought about doing this up until I get to roughly 30% before kill percentage. You won't have to worry as much about your pikmin chain being so small.

 

[Rocann]

Bah... why does no one consort the Unolimar guru upon such matters? Does no one read signatures these days? *grumble*​

But thrust me, there is LOADS of techs JUST for the Unolimar can take advantage of.

no. there aren't. and the only thing you mentioned in that ENTIRE post is that his recovery is better with none than 1-3, and I already make use of that.

 

[TheDuplexDuo]

no. there aren't. and the only thing you mentioned in that ENTIRE post is that his recovery is better with none than 1-3, and I already make use of that.

Last time I checked "TECH" was a lose term for a technique. And that meaning "A technique is a procedure used to accomplish a specific activity or task". So you could say given the task of recovering upon the stage you could following the procedure I had stated could very well accomplish the goal of coming back to the stage.

But I digress, I could of used an more acceptable synonym but I had thought a little more highly of these boards than to stoop that low to pinpoint errors in others work. I consider it quite pedantic to point out for example the blatantly obvious spelling errors in your retort.

I did not remember crafting the information of the recovery for you only, I read the question in Randofu post and sought to help out all fellow Olimars. So next time please pardon the grey area of lanuage that is the veridicality of internet slang.

 

[Puddin]

BTW, has anyone noticed that Pikmin do not latch on the opponent as long when at higher %'s? So that means with even the Unolimar of those who like to play with less can still use the Pikmin spam at the start of the match. Just latch it on and juggle them so that they can't shake 'em off.

Uhm yes we have...

This is really just a guide on how NOT to play Olimar, while training for situations in which you have only one Pikmin is vry helpful this is not a useful way to fight entire battles, the whole point of having Six Pikmin is to take advantage of the different abilities each one has but this factor of Olimar is taken away when using just one Pikmin, and makes you a fairly predictable player.

When I say it makes you predictable everyone should know what it means, part of using Olimar is keeping track of your Pikmin line which can be an essential aspect for you AND your opponent. But if you fight with just one Pikmin, lets say blue, your opponent will obviously predict your never ending barrage of long range grabs because Blue is the best Pikmin for grabs.

This is just half of the disadvantage to using one Pikmin, the rest lies in Pikmin throws, using the Chian as an attack and recovering..

 

[PrinceACE]

Ok one pikmin is insane. The only time i have less than 3 is If I just came back from a life so I'm at 0% and my opponent is at like 85% Sometimes I will pluck and in the first two plucks i will get a purple. If I get a purple I stop plucking and move it up to next in line. Then i wait for the opportunity and BAM Up smash! But this is very very situational I have only used it once or twice. I got lucky once though, I used it to kill a Metaknight on a platform :D

 

[TheDuplexDuo]

Bah! By no means does anyone have to play with one Pikmin. I just consider it less cheap. But we all don't really want to have a long debate do we?

 

[shrinkray21]

Bah! By no means does anyone have to play with one Pikmin. I just consider it less cheap. But we all don't really want to have a long debate do we?

less cheap? Now I see what this guy is trying to say.

 

[TheDuplexDuo]

I'd hate to sound like a douche but for me Funz > Tierz.​

I know most of you choose Olimar becouse you enjoy his playstyle, fond of games or love the novelty of commanding 6 little Pikmin. Heck, I wouldn't even care if you choose him becouse he ranks highly on the "Tier" list. I don't care as long as there isn't another bandwagoning Snake.

 

[DanGR]

I use Olimar b/c he's small, has combos, is tricky, has good mindgame potential, SA on command, and I think he's good. He also has the surprise factor. I've helped him rise in the tiers.

 

[Niko_K]

*Looks at his signature*

You want to talk about cheap? lmfao.

 

[DKKountry]

On a COMPLETELY unrelated topic, does anyone remember when someone suggested the strategy of throwing all of your Pikmin off of the stage except for your purples until you had nothing but purples? That idea was a bit silly wasn't it?

 

[DKKountry]

I'd hate to sound like a douche but for me Funz > Tierz.​

I know most of you choose Olimar becouse you enjoy his playstyle, fond of games or love the novelty of commanding 6 little Pikmin. Heck, I wouldn't even care if you choose him becouse he ranks highly on the "Tier" list. I don't care as long as there isn't another bandwagoning Snake.

I was one of the people who wanted to use Olimar since before Brawl came out

 

[TheDuplexDuo]

Good to hear the Olimar love.​

*Looks at his signature*

You want to talk about cheap? lmfao.

If your refering to Ice Climbers in my sig I don't actually use them. I've had this sig from way I've joined before Brawls release. But the mistake is understandable.

 

[Awex]

For the record I was speculating and saying "I'm maining Olimar if he's in brawl" months before he was even announced. So I'm not jumping on his bandwagon, which shouldn't even be there because he's not broken like Metaknight or Snake.

I see the advantage of using 1 pikmin or no pikmin as a mindgame or in a pinch situation. But purposely playing with 1 the entire match leaves you at such a disadvantage, I don't think you could enjoy it even if you were playing for "funz."

For example.. Say you have 4 pikmin. You short hop pikmin toss all of them. Your opponent charges in. Pluck, cancel it with a grab, combo from there. (Or kill if you got a lucky purple/blue at the right percent.) That's just a little trick I use against opponents who have that habit of approaching with a run.

So again.. Playing with 1 pikmin isn't bad for a mindgame or in a pinch, but playing with 1 the entire match is not legitimate for tournaments. If it's fun for you, hey, suit yourself.

 

[Kyas]

One pikmin is just silly, silly.
You can't even do a complete dsmash
and you have no tether to attack/recover with
or pikmin to throw.

Sure, it makes olimar simpler to handle, but that's the last thing I want when an opponent is trying to predict my every move

 

[DKKountry]

For the record I was speculating and saying "I'm maining Olimar if he's in brawl" months before he was even announced.

OH YEAH!?! well I wanted to main Olimar in Brawl before Pikmin was even released!

jp

 

[WHA?]

well maybe use this tactic at the begining, when u have little damage and are less suceptible to gimping, but u will surely have to resort to the other pikmin at higher percentages........

 

[deepseadiva]

I think most of you are missing the point and the potential of having the advantage of SURPRISE. Sure, having only tilts might become predictable - but using this strategy (sparingly) to mix-up Olimar's game once in awhile sounds not only cool, but respectable.

I compare it to when Peach pulls a beam sword. Unexpected, surprising, and a HUGE opportunity to throw your opponent off.

With this though your trading overall Olimar potential for tactical unexpectedness. Whether this is a good trade-off is dependent on the player.

 

[Kyas]

OH YEAH!?! well I wanted to main Olimar in Brawl before Pikmin was even released!

jp

Oh yeah? Well I am descended from an ancient family line that has anticipated maining Olimar for thousands of years!

I'M STHUPER STHERIAL

 

[DKKountry]

Oh yeah? Well I am descended from an ancient family line that has anticipated maining Olimar for thousands of years!

I'M STHUPER STHERIAL

Epic lolz

10genealogies

 

[KillaFrmNY]

U guys shouldnt kill yourselfs over trying to be honorable. After all most important thing u wanta do is win. If hta means using all 6 pikmin then so be it.

 

[OlimarFan]

OH YEAH!?! well I wanted to main Olimar in Brawl before Pikmin was even released!

jp

Swoot. That was my line. I chose Olimar because of the Pikmin series, not because he was strong in Brawl.

 

[IDK]

three is better for me if i'm playing like this. just throw them off until i get red, white, and purple. aerials, grab combo, kills, and antiedgeguard. when do you ever need blue or yellow anyway. yellow sucks and blue only does more damage on the throw. but the grabjab is best with white.

 

[TheDuplexDuo]

Hujah whazja mofuzzyah whaflahba mofoba jah? Oddly nice to see this thread still rambling around. But I have a better unorthodox strategy these days.

It's called CHARIZARD!​

 

[DKKountry]

yellow sucks

The multi-ZAP sound that you get from a well-executed Uair is, in fact, a vital cog in the wheel of Olimar's metagame.

 

[Ingulit]

The multi-ZAP sound that you get from a well-executed Uair is, in fact, a vital cog in the wheel of Olimar's metagame.

And they confuse Diddy mainers like crazy

 

[Rocann]

why.........

 

[DKKountry]

And they confuse Diddy mainers like crazy

Why? Do the zaps sound like nanners?

 

[Fino]

why.........

a pointless thread... pointlessly bumped from august....
*harikiri*


~Fino

 

[Kyas]

three is better for me if i'm playing like this. just throw them off until i get red, white, and purple. aerials, grab combo, kills, and antiedgeguard. when do you ever need blue or yellow anyway. yellow sucks and blue only does more damage on the throw. but the grabjab is best with white.

Since Andy decided to revive the thread, I might as well add that Yellows are VERY important. They have higher priority, longer hitstun, and larger hitboxes than any other pikmin. They are the combo kings. Read more in my guide if you want proof.