Who do you WISH you mained?

[Xelrog]

I guess I got lucky, because my top 3 are #1 card-carrying bad guy Ganondorf, and my two best Nintendo girls.

...although with the turnip thing out I might try going back to Peach for a bit, see what difference that makes. Even though I like Daisy as a character so much better...

If there's any character I wish I was better with I guess it would be the Mii fighters. I'm good with them, but not main material. They really catch people off guard, too.

 

[Sean²]

I'm not going to say I would necessarily change mains, but I wish I could play Snake effectively. I played him in Brawl as my secondary and had a lot of fun, but he feels so sluggish and clunky in Ultimate. The way I want to play him doesn't work any more. The loss of DACUS is a big part of it, I think.

The ability to move smoothly about the stage is a big factor in how I choose my characters.

 

[Necro'lic]

I wish I liked Sheik and Greninja more. I honestly despise the ninja motif and how overdone it is, and I'm not a fan of faster characters that are simply rushdown with speed and speed alone, but Sheik and Greninja have that inkling of nuance to them in that they require precision, and being a fan of Zelda's lightning kicks, I like requiring precision, even if it's fast.

Plus, their OP presentation in the last game kinda hurts their standing with me on a personal level because I absolutely HATE top tier characters just on principle, even if I like the character, and I can't get rid of the bias, mostly because it's an admission that something is either wrong with the game's balance, or VERY wrong.

For example, if R.O.B, one of my secondaries since Brawl, becomes top tier in Ultimate, which is not too far off considering all of the love he's getting, eventually I will grow to hate him due to it, not even because he's BS to play against, but because something is wrong with the system of the game, and it's affected one character I actually like, like an imbalance virus.

This is despite Greninja being only above average in Ultimate and Sheik being contender for bottom 10 now. Maybe it's me being petty.

 

[Deleted member]

****, I'd be a bonefide Pichu main if her learning curve wasn't so stupidly steep contrary to how people play her like gods.

 

[Luigifan18]

Bayonetta and Jigglypuff have very similar gameplans — force the opponent offstage and utilize superior air mobility to pummel them as they struggle in vain to recover. I'm decent at playing as Jigglypuff, and absolute rubbish with Bayonetta. Go figure.

Also, while I main Ness, I barely touch Lucas.

 

[Gyrom8]

I also wish I was good at Wario as I love the character and he also happens to be v good in Ultimate

Just something about him never really clicked with me though

 

[Jaro235]

I really wanted to like , but the more I used him, the more I just can’t get into him and his play style. He is just too slow, even for a heavy, and he just feels stiff. I prefer Ganon and Dedede as far as heaviest go.

Was a character that I really liked in Smash 4, but something seemed off about him in Ultimate. No matter how hard I try to get back into him, I just cannot get used to him in Ultimate. That being said, I think he is a very good and underrated character, but he is just not for me.

Like Shulk, I liked Sonic quite a bit in 4, but he just feels stiff in Ultimate. It is disappointing because he didn’t feel that different, but his something about his transition made him less fun in Ultimate than in 4.

I love watching Game & Watch. I really want to like playing as him but that forward air turns me off every time I use it. He just seems nerfed on every level and I really don’t know why.

I only recently started to like Sheik as I picked Ultimate up. However, as time goes on, I started to notice her flaws more and more. Because of this, I tend to use Yoshi and Palutena a lot more because I do better with them. I have not given up on Sheik, but it is becoming harder and harder to use her in competitive battles.

 

[Ghøstly]

I actually mained Ken, since I really liked how technical he is. I used to main Pit wanting to main Ken, but I actually ended up being better with Ken.

 

[Wario Wario Wario]

I wouldn't main them per say, but I'd play Pokemon Trainer way more without Charizard in the mix.

Also the Mother kids.

 

[StrangeKitten]

None, as far as mains go. I wish my day 1 main was more viable, but I've stuck with him anyway and am good with him. I'm happy with as my other mains, and play them well. So I'll get into characters who I've tried as secondaries or pockets:

Characters I'm keeping:

: I'm not awful at Pikachu, but this was who I originally planned on seconding, but there's just a lot about the character that makes me not as interested in playing them. Few combo routes that aren't super technical. Low damage output otherwise. Being great at edgeguarding... if you're good at getting the second zip of Quick Attack, which is hard for me since I use Joycons + grip. But I've also seen every high and top level Pika mess up QA, so it's clearly not the easiest on other controllers. But, I think the main thing I don't like are the changes to Thunder. In Melee it was a straightforward kill move, now you have to hit with the sweet spot to kill, which requires a RAR that is also a read if you're trying to confirm it from up throw. I think I could get really good with Pika if I played them more, but lordy is this character way too technical for me when I can do just as well, if not better, with other characters. I still practice Pika from time to time, though.

: Is it weird that I have a lot of trouble playing Mario? Everyone acts like he's straightforward and easy to play, meanwhile I just don't have a good time with him. I feel like I'm getting over that, but his lack of range is mainly what makes him difficult for me. I'll keep sticking with him when I feel like playing him, though, as lately I've felt like I'm finally making breakthroughs.

Characters I've dropped:

: I dunno what it is but Jr and the Koopalings feel so meh to me. It's not necessarily being a bad character, as I enjoy far worse characters (, ) but there's just something about them that isn't fun for me.

: I love watching Bayo players and how stylish the character is, but god, she's almost Pika levels of technical while being a much worse character overall. Maybe I'll give her another try if she gets some buffs, as she does seem only a few buffs away from being really good. But for now, she's sadly not for me.

: She has no range. She has no projectile. She feels far too glass and not enough cannon. I was going to try and be decent with every Pokemon, but god, Puff just feels awful to play. I think a big factor is that she lacks safe kill moves outside of bair. If a character is going to be this fragile, they shouldn't struggle to kill this much (and yeah, I know offstage walls of pain and true combos into Rest, but both of those feel very, very inconsistent to get. And if they were more consistent, we'd see Puffs doing well. We're not seeing that).

: Do I even need to explain why? Funny anecdote with him, though. I knew one of my friends likes playing on KoF Stadium, so I trained up a Mac specifically for that. I proceeded to 5-stock level 9 CPUs on Battlefield, and, while whiffing my KO Punches against my friend in 2 of our stocks, I landed the third one and sealed the game with it. Mac may be so awful that I just don't feel like playing him anymore, but at least I have some good memories with him!

 

[YoshiandToad]

There's a few:

/: I loved Pikmin 3 Deluxe and these little guys quickly became characters I was fascinated in...however no matter what I do I cannot seem to get used to their playstyle.

: My most wanted Brawl character back in the day (outside the still missing Toad). Wario got me so hyped to play him. For whatever reason no matter how hard I try I just end up suiciding every single time I get the bike out unable to unglue his fat butt from the seat effectively. I play him for fun a lot but I basically guarantee I'll lose with him.

: Conceptionally I love Robin. I was even rooting for them over Chrom in Sm4sh but between the weapon breakage and insanely low speed I don't quite gel with Robin as much as I'd like to.

: Just feels clunky and nothing really flows for me. I'm still not entirely sure how to use the spiked ball effectively. I can get by with Plant, but it feels far from natural for me.

 

[Squall LeonHeart]

I'm pretty happy with cause I am a big fan of FF7 and FF8.

I wish I can pocket cause I love SF as well but having command inputs with Smash inputs just throw my brain into a loop having to adjust to two different playing styles. So I am happy just pocketing . Yeah playing two characters who have terrible recovery has its cons for sure but it keeps me on my toes.

 

[StrangeKitten]

I'm pretty happy with cause I am a big fan of FF7 and FF8.

I wish I can pocket cause I love SF as well but having command inputs with Smash inputs just throw my brain into a loop having to adjust to two different playing styles. So I am happy just pocketing . Yeah playing two characters who have terrible recovery has its cons for sure but it keeps me on my toes.

I also can't do command inputs. I tried with for a few good days when he released. It took me a while to get the hang of them, kinda, in Training Mode. Then, doing them in the heat of a match just seemed impossible. I know players of traditional fighting games would tell me to git gud, but I've never played traditional fighting games outside of the very rare times a friend had one and wanted to play. So the command inputs are just not something I'm accustomed to doing. Terry also released when I had already had Ultimate for close to a year, by which point, I already had a lot of characters I was better with. I don't mind picking up a new character, but command inputs just felt like a daunting thing to learn when I'd have more success picking Wolf and pressing B.

I'm glad and have command inputs because it helps make them unique, and might draw in players of traditional fighting games. But since I can't do them, I've deemed these three as not for me.

 

[Golden Icarus]

I have a bigger problem with liking too many characters and wanting to main all of them. I try to main just about every DLC character that comes out. It’s a problem.

Still, I do have one particular instance of this. and are two of my favorite Pokémon, but I am absolutely horrible with them in Smash. I tried really hard to get good with Mewtwo in Smash 4, but it just never clicked with me.

Lucario is even worse. I love the guy, but he’s easily one of my worst characters in all of Ultimate. It’s not even the aura mechanic that I have a problem with. His floatiness and overall speed and movement just doesn’t work for me.

 

[Nah]

: Is it weird that I have a lot of trouble playing Mario? Everyone acts like he's straightforward and easy to play, meanwhile I just don't have a good time with him. I feel like I'm getting over that, but his lack of range is mainly what makes him difficult for me. I'll keep sticking with him when I feel like playing him, though, as lately I've felt like I'm finally making breakthroughs.

Part of it might be that his archetype/intended playstyle just doesn't mesh with you, which is a very normal thing. But I wonder if part of it is also that he's a character that is on the surface easy to use, but once you get beyond that, it's not really the case (though I wouldn't really know since I don't use Mario).

Lucina's in the same sort of boat where everyone's like "she so basic!" and while that's true in one sense, consistently succeeding with her is not as easy as top players sometimes make it look.

---

But anyway, for the thread topic, I'm pretty happy with my primary pool of characters as it right now (), especially with the addition of Pythra, though I wish I had a better grasp of

 

[Keeshu]

I have a bigger problem with liking too many characters and wanting to main all of them. I try to main just about every DLC character that comes out. It’s a problem.

Still, I do have one particular instance of this. and are two of my favorite Pokémon, but I am absolutely horrible with them in Smash. I tried really hard to get good with Mewtwo in Smash 4, but it just never clicked with me.

Lucario is even worse. I love the guy, but he’s easily one of my worst characters in all of Ultimate. It’s not even the aura mechanic that I have a problem with. His floatiness and overall speed and movement just doesn’t work for me.

I know how that feels.

It takes a special kind of person to main either character. Mewtwo just has very strange movements that take a while to get used to. Then him being a gigantic glass cannon doesn't help either, so he's not very nice to people that can't master his movement. Eventually I was able to get good with him in Ultimate, but I take one break, and it's like I never played him before. He's one of the only characters that is like that for me, so I kinda took that as a sign. Especially since there's so many other characters I love playing in Ultimate.

Lucario is tricky in general to play. However in Ultimate, Rage and Aura got nerfed a whole bunch, along with most of the roster killing very early compared to earlier games. Lucario is the character I've spent the most time doing training with in Ultimate. I struggle to do well with Lucario. Meanwhile, Literally every single top/high tier character I can perform much better with despite not training with them, and there's a good handful of mid-tiers that are just so much easier to win with than him. He just requires you to out-play your opponent so much harder.


As for the topic:
Been trying to pick up Pichu and Sephiroth lately and I've been having my doubts. Feeling like I'm going to swap back to other characters pretty soon here.... AGAIN.
Sephiroth seems cool at first and is an upgrade to Byleth (who was already a strong candidate for a main). Also he was a character I've wanted to play in Smash ever since Melee (though at the time I thought it'd be impossible). However, so often I feel like I'm just cheesing my opponents. Shadow Flare never feels safe, but that's one of the most interesting things about him. I have troubles using Shadow Flare once it is on the opponent as well (people just let it hit them because no one wants the shield break or even a grab). Giga Flare feels like it should never work, but it often does. The other 2 flares work way more often than they really should. I try to space out opponents, but I never seem to be able to time the fair properly to hit grounded opponents, makes me feel really bad if they are tall ones (like the "I'm so bad, why do I even attempt to play Smash. Why not play something else?" kind of bad feels). Also, I hit people with the charged octaslash too much, and I feel I don't get punished enough for it, but it's so hard to resist! I don't even think I've been able to land a 2 nair combo in match, and I don't think I've ever hit 3 nairs together in training mode. Considering he needs to do that to make his close range game better, it nags at me often..... Yes the Dunning Kruger effect is hitting me very hard right now... So much practice and all that to be done X_X
Pichu was way easier yet somehow much much harder than I anticipated. I feel like I never get punished for so many things I do since people keep whiffing their attacks because he's so tiny and fast. Which lets me get in on them often. However, I still struggle to do his combos (doesn't feel as hard as Meta Knight's combos at least). I often feel like I'm winning all the time. However, in reality I lose most matches with Pichu (Sheik has a similar problem for me). I have a few characters in Elite Smash, but Pichu is hanging around 2 million GSP despite playing my heart out and that's like the worst GSP out of anyone in my roster. Despite all this, Pichu still makes me feel incredibly happy whenever I play them, I just wonder if that'll run out at some point.


If I fail to main them, I'll probably swap to one of these. Spoiler for the curious:

Spoiler

Luckily I've decided to put characters into groups recently so it's permanently stopped me from wanting to use a lot of characters for a main.
- Lucario filling the all-around spot. I'm stubborn, I want to make him work. Also he feels a lot more fundamental based than most characters in the roster, especially with the nerfed aura. I may revert to Wolf though, he did feel easy to play, perhaps I can get over that so I stop playing to win and start playing to improve since he's so strong there's no reason to try to win. Yoshi and Kirby are new options now because of people I hangout with now corrupting me, and playing Pichu a bit, I'm not afraid to main adorable looking characters even if they may not be the best. Yoshi is just fun, and sometimes feels a bit broken. Kirby's copy mechanic always interested me, and forces a heavier focus on knowing the matchup.

- Meta Knight filling in the speedy archetype again. He's the one that got me into dueling in video games in the first place. So of course I want to go back. Just been taking a break because I realized that my friends and I might not like me as much if I just spammed the up air combo on them all the time (even if it's nerfed in Ultimate). Going through Persona 5 now, starting to like Joker a lot, so willing to give him another shot. Especially since I don't have a good reason to not like Joker. Inkling is similar because recently try to complete the DLC for Splatoon 2, also Inkling is feeling much much much better to play than they did the first time I tried them. Sonic just feels great in general, and there's part of that "I'm not like those campy sonics" attitude that makes me want to play him. Fox is who got me into Smash and Nintendo as a whole, so I feel like I have to actually put some time into him. Something always pops up when I try to play Fox (recently was Sephiroth getting in the game)

- R.O.B. filling in the projectile user archetype. I have history with R.O.B. (I even have him in my room!) so I love the character, and then the gameplay lets me be creative and do whatever the heck I want! He kinda has the Wolf thing going on where I felt like he was so OP and easy to play that I wouldn't improve. However now I think that maybe if I win all the time I'll stop trying to win, and just focus on improving. Tempting to do Samus but she feels too matchup dependent, but if I get over that I will absolutely love terrifying opponents with charge shot. I want to try Toon Link, but I am afraid that if I play him, I may want to pick up the other Links.
- Ridley filling in the big-body archetype. He's the only big-body I really care about, and I waited for years for him to get in, and now I'm happy. His gameplay is better than expected, and feels like a combination of a few characters I've played a lot of. I sometimes call him "big meta knight" due to his speed, multi jumps, and nair. He has tipper attacks that make him feel like Marth (my Melee Main). He has cheesy high damage/instant KO stuff like Ganondorf as well. Casually or competitively, he's a blast.

 

[Spiny Top]

Would be who I would pick, just because that would be so unusual for a lot of people to play against. I’m not sure I have ever even seen a legit one online before. It would be fun to play her as well as I can ROB.

 

[Janx_uwu]

, because I really love Pokemon and I love how PT is designed. I also just really like all of the alt colors.
, because Steve is my most wanted character that I actually got in Ultimate (so far), and his moveset allows for such creativity that (unless they just play optimally and spam minecart), no two Steve mains are the same.

 

[Doc Monocle]

In Brawl, I wish Bowser were such that I mained him. He would need significant changes though. He would, for example, need considerable stage control options. I also have always believed that a character of his proportions should have at their disposal the tools to play strong mind games, if only by their physical properties.

 

[Blackwolf666]

64: satisfied
Melee: satisfied
Brawl: went into the game wanting to main Fox like I did in 64 and most of my time in melee but hated that they changed his B-air
Sm4sh: Nobody in smash 4 felt like a person I wanted to main but left Yoshi in my profile because a lot of people hated him.
Ult: been wanting this character forever but just not feeling it when I play them.

 

[StrangeKitten]

Lucario is tricky in general to play. However in Ultimate, Rage and Aura got nerfed a whole bunch, along with most of the roster killing very early compared to earlier games. Lucario is the character I've spent the most time doing training with in Ultimate. I struggle to do well with Lucario. Meanwhile, Literally every single top/high tier character I can perform much better with despite not training with them, and there's a good handful of mid-tiers that are just so much easier to win with than him. He just requires you to out-play your opponent so much harder.

That's because is among the worst characters in Ultimate, imo. Heck, he may even be more difficult to win with than characters worse than him (, ) because they have some things about them that make winning easier. Lucario is unfortunately kinda dysfunctional. At low %, he has few combos and very low reward on things, in addition to poor range. And when you do pull his combos off, he does Shieklike damage. You'll string a grab into a few fairs and do like 23. And then, he'll struggle hard with killing unless you've got a lot of aura cooking, so he becomes less of a character that rewards you for losing, and more of a character that you have to be losing with to function. I've had times where I've been doing great with Lucario, but then I'm nearing kill %s for my opponent but I'm only at like 30, so I need to take more damage, and take it now while my opponent is at 80 and doesn't have much rage. It's just bad, and he's the only character that feels this way.

In Brawl, I wish Bowser were such that I mained him. He would need significant changes though. He would, for example, need considerable stage control options. I also have always believed that a character of his proportions should have at their disposal the tools to play strong mind games, if only by their physical properties.

I'm in a similar boat with Bowser, except in Melee. He's one of my favorite characters in all of Smash, and his Melee moveset is just brutal (god I miss Koopa Klaw) but trying to play him in that game makes me agree with the consensus that he's the worst character in the game. Oh well, at least Ultimate gave me Bowser as I've always wanted him, functionality-wise (he's high tier in Ultimate, so really good).

64: satisfied
Melee: satisfied
Brawl: went into the game wanting to main Fox like I did in 64 and most of my time in melee but hated that they changed his B-air
Sm4sh: Nobody in smash 4 felt like a person I wanted to main but left Yoshi in my profile because a lot of people hated him.
Ult: been wanting this character forever but just not feeling it when I play them.

Same. Banjo was my most wanted, but sadly now he's just kinda... there. He's got enough good properties to not be low tier, but not enough to stand much taller. He has neither a robust, free-flowing combo game, nor a high damage output and kill power, where most characters have one of the two, and I think that's what makes him lack compared to most of the cast. It kinda feels like they made him really limited because of Wonder Wing being a strong option, and then you realize Wonder Wing is also not that great. You're limited to only 5 uses per stock, and need some of those for recovering and getting in. When it comes to snagging kills, Wonder Wing is surprisingly bad. Lots of startup, and a sour hit on the end that sends nowhere. The sweet spot of the move seems to only be active for a brief amount of time, while the rest of the good hit won't kill most characters at 100. I find myself surprised a lot of the time, as I was pretty certain I hit with the strong hit, only for my opponent to live so I must have been, like, a frame off.

 

[Keeshu]

That's because is among the worst characters in Ultimate, imo. Heck, he may even be more difficult to win with than characters worse than him (, ) because they have some things about them that make winning easier. Lucario is unfortunately kinda dysfunctional. At low %, he has few combos and very low reward on things, in addition to poor range. And when you do pull his combos off, he does Shieklike damage. You'll string a grab into a few fairs and do like 23. And then, he'll struggle hard with killing unless you've got a lot of aura cooking, so he becomes less of a character that rewards you for losing, and more of a character that you have to be losing with to function. I've had times where I've been doing great with Lucario, but then I'm nearing kill %s for my opponent but I'm only at like 30, so I need to take more damage, and take it now while my opponent is at 80 and doesn't have much rage. It's just bad, and he's the only character that feels this way.

He's definitely more difficult to win with than characters below him. Just the smash attacks of Ganondorf and Little Mac are enough to get them half way to Elite Smash. Put in a bit of time to know how to bait + punish and you'll make it into Elite Smash no problems with them. Lucario is a lot more difficult to play at a reasonable level like other characters though.

Taking damage so you can take stocks to avoid rage sounds like a terrible idea since taking that damage will behave as if you triggered their rage anyways. You can KO people at 0% with Lucario, but 0% Lucario is like the hardest character to KO with. I have 0 to deathed people quite a few times with Lucario (of course it's much more common on characters with poor recoveries like Ganondorf though). Get anyone to high enough % and they will die. Also back airs can be a bit hard to avoid all the time. Of course, Forward Smash is always pretty strong if you manage to land it, but it just absolutely deletes people at high%s. I get what you mean though, also sometimes I worry that me constantly pressuring the opponent with 0% Lucario shows too many of my strategies since I have to use so many more in order to deal normal damage.
With that said, feeling that he has to be losing to function is definitely in effect for Ultimate and I totally get that feeling. This is why I could never recommend Lucario to other people despite him seeming rather fundamental compared to most characters when he isn't getting cheesy high aura KOs. He takes a very specific kind of person to enjoy that kind of gameplay, and it takes someone that is willing to get good at harder stuff to even begin to function.