What can Mac do against projectile spammers?

[Kirby Phelps (PK)]

Jeeeeeeeeesus!! I just fought the campiest, spammiest Robin EVER!! I swear, if I wasn't going after him, he would've spent the whole 5 minutes just standing off to the side of the stage and spamming thunder. I was Little Mac and having a real tough time getting in because of all the projectiles. Mac's super armor wasn't doing me nay good for some reason. Maybe Robin's projectiles are just too strong for that? And he'd always just dodge roll and grab and own me off the stage. I didn't know what to do.

 

[Bedoop]

Stay as close to the Middle as possible.
If he spams projectiles, get away from it, dodge around if he decides to go with Thoron, fully charged Shuriken, ect. or something, maybe pull of a Taunt or two, to anger him.
Just bait him to come for you.
Then LET HIM HAVE IT.

 

[NOSTK]

Side B is the best option for stuff like this. Lil'Mac will by able to fly through any projectile (before he throws the punch) and it can punish any spammer. However, it is a move you have to master. If your jump is too short, you might (might, it's usually safe but gets you nowhere) get punished, and if you jump too far, you'll SD. However, a mastery of this move is a MUST to use Little Mac.

 

[Kirby Phelps (PK)]

^Can you control how far Mac goes with his side B?

 

[NOSTK]

Yeah. Press B anytime in the move, and Mac will toss his punch and land. However, not much distance can be changed. It's best to learn it's distances, and if you are too close, run back a bit, and then do it.

 

[Bedoop]

^Can you control how far Mac goes with his side B?

You get more distance if you use it on the Ground than in the Air.

 

[XalchemistX]

Punch them in the face. Works all the time

 

[Nat Goméz]

When someone spams a weak projectile always try to jab it, just to the air, Little Mac's jab can cancel most of the weak projectiles.

 

[allshort17]

Short hop over projectiles. Most are low enough to do so. Also, walking and shielding is underrated by Little Macs.

 

[Chocoty1er]

When robin does his fire move you can di up and away then counter. You can also do this with his jab but don't be to predictable with it. Also down smash on reaction to the fire and the armour eats through it.

 

[Toebex]

I just wait until they get bored and come to me. The Jolt Haymaker works great against Samus, Duck Hunt Dog and Falco. Greninja is a ******* though.

 

[Qbopper]

Side B is pretty strong I find - although I'm pretty sure people who say that pushing B to punch early are wrong if they say you land quicker. I'll have to check.

Not really sure how to help you, OP, I've yet to run into any spammers

 

[nintyplayer]

I've been playing Little Mac since the game came out pretty much nonstop.
OP, you have to master side B and also know when to shield. There's a lag associated with throwing projectiles; it's not constant. Shield, advance, shield, rollback, and so on until you get into perfect short side B range. They'll assume you're going to hit them and roll forward, allowing the shorter version of the punch to hit.
If you're close enough, Mac's counter has more range than his smash attacks as far as I can tell, so if they toss a powerful blast at you, let's say you're fighting Megaman or Samus and you're right outside of punchtime range, you can counter and still hit them.
Work on your spot dodge and air dodge and you'll become even more effective. I wouldn't suggest trying any grabs, since his grab range is strange and short, to say the least. Best thing you can do is side B, neutral A, and tilt their health away.

Playing against Pit online is fun, lets your practice your perfect shielding.

 

[squaminator]

Don't underestimate the dash either. You can interrupt the dash with short hop counter and that will cover a lot of space. As always be careful near the edge of the stage but it's less risky than sideb in that regard because it doesn't make you helpless.

 

[UltraDavid]

I'm it's important as Mac to not think your goal is just to run at people. You have a lot of time on the clock, you can be holding forward on the stick and block by just pressing a button instead of having to move your stick hand, you have short jumps, your jabs can hit weak projectiles, etc. The game engine plus your move speed gives you lots of great approach tools already. And you don't even really need to approach all the time. If you have a life lead against a character whose projectiles can be shielded or jumped or jabbed or dodged etc, just let them waste time, who cares?

I don't think side+b is that great tbh. You have to do it preemptively, usually can't react to projectiles with it, so doing it is a guess. If you guess wrong and the opponent dodges or rolls and then hits you off stage, you're probably dead because your recovery is so bad. Side+b is something to keep around of course, but to be used very rarely imo.

 

[A2ZOMG]

I'm it's important as Mac to not think your goal is just to run at people. You have a lot of time on the clock, you can be holding forward on the stick and block by just pressing a button instead of having to move your stick hand, you have short jumps, your jabs can hit weak projectiles, etc. The game engine plus your move speed gives you lots of great approach tools already. And you don't even really need to approach all the time. If you have a life lead against a character whose projectiles can be shielded or jumped or jabbed or dodged etc, just let them waste time, who cares?

I don't think side+b is that great tbh. You have to do it preemptively, usually can't react to projectiles with it, so doing it is a guess. If you guess wrong and the opponent dodges or rolls and then hits you off stage, you're probably dead because your recovery is so bad. Side+b is something to keep around of course, but to be used very rarely imo.

Huh...looks like you just registered to Smashboards today. Never would have guessed.

And Little Mac's gameplan isn't so much approaching, as it is about super dominant footsies.

 

[UltraDavid]

Huh...looks like you just registered to Smashboards today. Never would have guessed.

And Little Mac's gameplan isn't so much approaching, as it is about super dominant footsies.

i have an old account from, i dunno, 6-7 years ago but it was a slightly different name that i don't really like anymore heh. decided to re-register with this one!

 

[LightningLoops]

Are you the same UltraDavid who plays Street Fighter? Love your commentary.

Like most users posted, Little Mac can get past projectiles with Side-B. Down-B works too, but is very situational.

 

[Roach_00]

I know i'm really late to this thread but to control Little Macs side B, just press B again when you want to stop, press it rapidly for a short side B, or don't for long B. It takes practice to actually control how far you want it to go, since you need to watch your timing.