Who are your alts?

[Eaode]

I don't necessarily mean who else do you play in general.

More like, let's have a discussion about the viability of certain characters as alts to cover squirtle's bad matchups.

Personally, I've been picking up Ike lately, and I think he's a near perfect complement to squirtle. He's literally our antithesis-- he's got range, power, and LOTS of priority.

Ike also brings different dynamics to some of squirtle's important matchups. Spacies for example, squirtle has to beat by trying to be faster and apply more pressure than the spacies, which is difficult. But switching to Ike lets the match be dictated by baiting and punishing with disgusting combos.

So, who are you picking up (if anyone) to cover your not-so-stellar matchups?

 

[Translucent]

I'm playing around with other characters, but I definitely want to have an answer to a good marth. Right now I'm also playing some Wario(bad against Marth) and Snake.

 

[dettadeus]

ROB is a good answer to Marth. We beat him pretty solidly in the MU.

I use ROB/G&W/Squirtle and there's not really anything I have trouble with.

 

[DiSQO_BuNNY]

Diddy kong is the answer to everything.
Otherwise. Bowser. Who can beat Turtle Trouble?

 

[SpiderMad]

Personally, I've been picking up Ike lately, and I think he's a near perfect complement to squirtle. He's literally our antithesis-- he's got range, power, and LOTS of priority.

Lol good luck, you've chosen the next step up of a still unviable character

 

[G13_Flux]

i wouldnt say that at all, i dont believe there are any characters that are not viable in PM. and i actaully think that squirtle has very good MUs against the space animals. hes hard to combo, small and hard to hit, can barrel through weak attacks like lasers and quick jabs, and is very hard to catch. he plays a good hit and run game, and has excellent mobility all around and can shut down approaches well with bubble and his squirt gun.

but overall i would say good counterparts to squirtle are defensive characters with range and priority. DK is a great example. ike as well, although his defensive game isnt great, he is much better at trying to shut his opponent down, but i can see him working well in MUs where squirtle might have difficultes. possibly even DDD.

 

[Eaode]

Ike? Not Viable? xD
Definition of viable being...? (Let me guess: "Spacies")
But alas, this thread isn't about Ike's viability, so I digress.

I also agree that Squirtle's spacie matchups aren't bad. He has a better time running over Fox than Falco, but you can do the job with both. I just like to have a backup in case I don't feel like playing the "put more pressure on the spacies than they put on you" matchup.

I feel like people would disagree with me on going Ike vs spacies (because Ike isn't terribly good under pressure), but I'm not sure I agree with that logic. Maybe it's because I main squirtle, but I don't feel the need to be able to escape pressure with something (be it OoS or w/e), and I'd much rather bait a whiffed approach than take it and try to win the trade. And one grab with Ike = hell for spacies. Also techchasing them is safe and easy with all dat range.

 

[dettadeus]

I never really have trouble with spacies.
The only matchups I ever had real trouble with were Charizard and Link, but after I got good at G&W the Link matchup became way more manageable.
Haven't played vs Zard since before Squirtle came out though, I wanna try the MU someday. We only have one Zard player in the state and he lives like two hours away. ;c

 

[traffic.]

Squirtle took over my main slot, so Bowser is now my backup as he is about as opposite as you can get, and I've just started to pick up Link as the midfielder. I played Sheik for a good while but without years of melee experience there's just no chance of me being creative or mindgamey in some way that doesnt just get spanked by classic melee routine. I've maintained that I really want to approach the melee tech skills with new characters and focus on developing new janky styles, and to try and pick up a history tome to get outclassed by every falcon player ever seems daunting and silly for a newer player. So, specifically, my character choices have been more from a learning standpoint to try and round off my game knowledge and skillset moreso than smoothing out my matchups, but I suppose the two go hand in hand. Squirtle being totally unknown to most of the competitive scene is the biggest advantage a character can have, so it really comes down to how creative and bizarre you can use these new mechanics to come up with something nobody has seen before. It will force many players to play very defensive and safe, which means they will be all the more susceptible to squirtle's mobility and spacing tools.

 

[Eaode]

I personally have a lot of trouble with the G&W matchup as squirtle, so Ike covers that nicely for me. G&W just has so much random ass priority and range and a lot of his hitboxes stay out forever so it's hard to get in on him as squirtle. And it speaks to how much random ass priority he has that when I go Ike instead, we're playing with the same ranges in most cases. And I'm IKE. <.<

 

[bubbaking]

Well, I know we wanted to talk coverage, but I'm just gonna say that my competitive alts a.k.a. the chars, other than Squirt, I will go in tournament are ROB, Zard, Lucario, Snake, and Luigi. I also want to get my Ivy up to snuff so that I'm a true Pokemon Trainer.

 

[PastLink]

I'm also becoming a Pokemon trainer, ivysaur has good zoning pressure, combos, and can be absolutley camptastic. Charizard hits hard and is surprisingly mobile for such a heavy character, and can juggle all day. Honestly I play more too, I just find it hard not to enjoy playing characters like bowser, toon link, and pit and as many as that is I wanna get good with all of them.
Ridiculous I know.

 

[Megachuk]

My main problem with squirtle is sword characters in general. Characters with a lot of range seem to be tougher for squirtle. I've been practicing with Zelda but I'm not sure how good her matchups are against Marth/Link/Ike and such. I also want to make sure that my secondary is good against spacies.

My other options for secondaries are Tink and Bowser just because I like their playstyle. Should I go with Zelda, or is there a better secondary I can use for squirtle's tougher matchups?

While I really enjoy playing as multiple characters I really want to narrow it down and stick with it.

 

[JOE!]

Charizard and Ivysaur

 

[Burnsy]

The worst sword char for squirtle is Metaknight. The rest dont scare me. Maybe work on your bait and punish game?

 

[Megachuk]

What stages would you choose to go to?

 

[YellowRello]

Mario, sheik & wolf

 

[~Dad~]

Burnsy have you got any videos of you playing against a good Roy? I still struggle with that matchup. I've been terrified of Roy ever since I player Sethlon lol.

 

[Burnsy]

Unfortunately, no. The only decent Roys I've played were off stream, and I'm not sure how much they'd help you when going up against Sethlon, lol. Play very safe, as Roy has a very damaging punish game on Squirtle, but a more difficult neutral against him than marth. Make sure you are doing all you can to keep racking up damage before the situation resets to neutral.

As for stages against long reach characters, I like to chose big stages for Squirtle if I'm planning on playing very safe, and platforms help Squirtle to move safely, but might also benefit his sword opponents, so the FD vs Something Else Big decision comes down to the opponents playstyle.If they strike FD, and I wanted it, I'd go to distant planet if its an option. If not, probably dreamland or PS2.

 

[Daftatt]

After working on my tech skill I actually don't think there are any characters that squirtle has a hard time against except metaknight, which is because they way his sword hitboxes work, just being able to outrange squirtle all the time and not caring about priority.

I use ZSS to handle metaknights.