Why do you like playing as Bowser?

[MikeHaggarTHAKJB]

I like playing as Bowser because he sucks. True story.
The thing is, when you're playing someone and you're Bowser, you always have the disadvantage. Always. No matter what character you're playing against or what stage you're playing on.
So you have to play smart. If you play "arrogantly" as i call it (like not being cautious enough, having to much trust in your tech skill and not focusing on your opponent as much as you should) with Bowser you are sure lose even to the biggest f-smash spamming noob. And if you're playing a good player the slightest mistake will lead you into a lethal combo.
If you're playing with someone like fox you can rely on your speed to throw your opponent off guard, or if you're playing as Marth you can always rely on your massive range, but if you're playing as Bowser you have no advantages to "rely" on to tell yourself that you're going to win.
Playing as Bowser you force yourself to play as carefully as possible and take advantage of any opening for an attack you get. You need to get into your opponents head, predict what they're going to do and force them to make mistakes.

Discuss.

 

[St. Viers]

heh, that's why I like playing againt snakes in brawl

also, bowser in melee is too cute...it's why I used him

 

[elvenarrow3000]

I wouldn't say Bowser always has the disadvantage. He can beat like... Mewtwo or Kirby.

Honestly though, even though Bowser has a lot of weaknesses, he's got a lot of unique fun things going for him too. Maybe not good things, but fun. Like the Whirling Fortress out of shield, the ledge attack, the ability to grab from the air... and dthrow tech chases are always fun. He's got an excellent fair, a decent nair and a good bair too, and his ftilt isn't too shabby - it's especially nice when edgeguarding Falcon or Ganondorf.

Plus, beating someone with Bowser is just funny because you just beat them with Bowser. On top of that, he isn't as bad as people think he is, so winning with him isn't too uncommon.

Unless you're playing against Falcon, in which case he just dthrows to knee to knee to knee... but you can uthrow chaingrab him back <_<

EDIT: And lol @ concentrating on tech skill with Bowser.

 

[MikeHaggarTHAKJB]

Sure he has strengths: he's one of the better edgeguarders in the game and the fortress is at least the second best up-B in the game. But his weaknesses are far more and bigger, as a start he's the easiest to punish (laaaag) and gets punished the hardest due to the fact that he's practically made to combo.
BTW the tech skill part was concerning when playing with other characters >.> I clearly said that it was a part of playing "arrogantly" which you can't do if you're playing with Bowser (unless you want to get 4 stocked). I tend to play like that (arrogantly and focusing on tech skill) to much when I play with fox (who's my main), which is what makes playing with Bowser feel so fresh.

 

[elvenarrow3000]

I wouldn't say his moves have that much lag... I mean, yeah, they're a little laggier than other people, but they're not as bad as most people say they are.

Yeah, Bowser is definitely easy on the fingers though. Fox and Falco, you always have to be doing something that involves multiple button presses in short times... but playing Bowser is like playing a turn-based game.

 

[St. Viers]

^^in melee, little bit more = big problem, as it's a faster game >_>

 

[Dogysamich]

I
The thing is, when you're playing someone and you're Bowser, you always have the disadvantage. Always. No matter what character you're playing against or what stage you're playing on.

somebody with a recent join date needs to check their information. XD

 

[St. Viers]

Ithink what dogy meant to say was YS...

 

[Dogysamich]

bowser is, at the least, better than kirby.

Not even considering the, timmy vs gimpyfish thing. Bowser is at the least better than kirby.

Probably even pichu, since pichu cant camp bowser, and probably cant approach (i dunno).

And then you talk about stages?

Yeah, Bowser on yoshi's story can be a nightmare for somebody who's never played a good bowser, or somebody who cant use yoshi's story to their complete advantage (read: marth or ganon).

Control over low platforms, small stage so people can ran and camp you, and FREE FORTRESSHOGGING.

 

[MikeHaggarTHAKJB]

somebody with a recent join date needs to check their information. XD

johns

btw, what Marth doesn't know how to upthrow->uptilt and fsmash? >.< lol. A Marth who cant utilize YS is such a horrible player he's beyond sucking
What I meant was that you pretty much always have the disadvantage regardless of the level, not that there aren't any good Bowser stages >.< YS is indeed a fantastic Bowser stage, don't forget the advantage of the platforms being so low that you can jump right onto them from the ledge. Free, easy, riskfree fortresshogging+even more fantastic options from the ledge=ownage.
That said, it's still a better stage for the majority of opponents you'll be meeting then it is for Bowser (not the majority of characters, but the majority of the people you meet use fox or marth, so...)

Btw, according to my experience good pichus ***** good Bowsers. its true Pichu cant camp since he has no effective projectile (neutral b hurts himself lol). The problem is though, that pichu is so much faster than Bowser and he is such a small target so it's very hard to hit a pichu with fast movement and good spacing. And his speed and hit and run nature of his short hopped l canceled nairs makes him nearly unpunishable.

 

[Dogysamich]

Wait, you're the one johning saying that bowser is the worst character when it's fact that he's not. Everybody knows that.

And what you're basically saying is that everybody int he world plays marth.

no.

I'm not gunna lie, it only takes a knowledgeable marth (actually, sheik is bowser's worst matchup) to shut down bowser, but everybody DOESNT play those 2, and no, everybody DOESNT play fox and falco on top of that.

__

And if pichu cant camp like you say, then what the heck is he going to do? he cant approach with grab, he doesnt have a broken grabrange like marth. Meaning if he approaches, you BLOCK AND FORTRESS. Shield approach? FORTRESS AND GET AWAY. Or if you're sure he's going to stay in the shield, koopa klaw the **** outta that. The rest is dumb bowser tricks that nobody know, upsmashes/uptilts through platforms, sh koopaklaw, empty jumps, FRICKING U.AIR TRAPS. XD Bowser actually options, contrary to the fact that only like, 5 people are crazy enough to ever play him in tournies

you say you've experienced good pichus, have you experienced good bowsers?

No, bowser is not a good character. Hell, he aint even mediocre. He's pretty f'n bad. But he is not the WORST character in the game.

-stops and thinks-
You do realize bowser has the most weight in the game, meaning he lives the longest. Sure he'll be too busy gettin chaingrabbed and comboed to reap the rewards from 70% of the cast, but it's still a fact.

His recovery isnt bad. (I MEAN, AS A F'N DOC PLAYER IM JEALOUS THAT BOWSER HAS A BETTER RECOVERY)

Bowser's edgeguarding is godly. If im not mistaken (and i honestly could be) i would swear that it's one of the best ones in the game. Getting people over there is hard yeah, but once you get them over there, options city.

__

That's all i got off the top of my head. Your retort, sir.

 

[MikeHaggarTHAKJB]

Sheik isnt Bowsers worst matchup in the PAL version that I play since he cant chaingrab here. Here jiggly is the worst. Sleep against big foe=no misses= ;(
Plus i never said hes the worst character or that marth is his worst matchup. and the everybody plays marth and fox was obviously an exaggeration. Stop being so defensive lol
You didn't read my good pichus **** good Bowsers post well enough: "the hit and run nature of his short hopped l canceled nairs makes him nearly unpunishable" thing is: if a pichu short hops a nair somewhat close to you without fastfalling hell go so far from the short he'll be out of range for you to punish him (unless he missed his l cancel or something lol, doesnt really happen though). the advantage bowser has is that the range and priority of bowser completely ***** pichus, if you're good at predicting you can f-tilt through pretty much everything he throws at you. but against a good player you wont have time and you need to start your attack slightly before they do for it come out and have them run into it.
and he dies at ridicilous percentages, if you play YS you probably won't be seeing him go above 100% lol

and god i love bowsers edgeguarding. its hilarious watching a bowser get comboed by a falco to like 180%, and then bowser successfully gets in a klaw or grab close to the edge, backthrows falco off the stage at like 30% and edgeguards him to death from there.

what makes him a bad character is the laggyness combined with how easy he is to combo. basically he is the easiest punishable and gets punished the hardest. He can easily be considered the worst, but I wouldn't say to much since I have very little experience in good kirby players. Zelda seems to suck hard to but I have absolutely no experience in good Zelda players.

 

[Dogysamich]

Sheik isnt Bowsers worst matchup in the PAL version that I play since he cant chaingrab here.

OK, that's where im going to stop the arguement.

Not because of any snide remarks, or anything, but we're talkin about 2 different versions of the game. XD

Yeah, i dont really know alot about bowser, and i cant say anything with certainty about PAL Bowser.

I do know one thing, and will agree with you. In the PAL version, i'd go along with sheik not being the worst matchup since PAL sheik plays fair.

...

... now i just feel like an *** for arguing and we were talkin about 2 different versions. :/

 

[MikeHaggarTHAKJB]

The Pal and NTSC versions arent that different from what I know, the only thing remarkable is that the chaingrabs in the game are less effective in PAL because you can DI grabs more (or DI everything more, or its something with the grabs, not sure actually)
and you cant flame cancel. lmao i tried to learn that getting frustrated just thinking i was timing it wrong but then i found it out just existed in early american version XD

 

[Dogysamich]

i know power and weight got messed around with.

if i remember right, ganon's fair isnt as godly over there, and fox is supposed to be "as light as kirby".

 

[MikeHaggarTHAKJB]

Fox isnt as light as kirby here thats for sure, but he's very light
Ive heard the Ganon Fair is as powerful as the knee for you guys O.o and that fox's upsmash is EVEN MORE godly...

 

[Dogysamich]

yeah, fox's upsmash is hilarious. People can die at like, 90% or so if they cant DI.

 

[exarch]

yeah, fox's upsmash is hilarious. People can die at like, 90% or so if they cant DI.

more like 90% after the hit.

I'm pretty sure Fox's upsmash kills peach even with good DI starting at like 92%

and yea, ganon's fair is at least as strong as his bair, probably stronger.

there a whole bunch of other differences between the two versions as well:
Marth doesn't fall over from the shine in NTSC
Marth's dair is a meteor in PAL
Fox's up and fsmash are both stronger in NTSC
Falco's dair spikes the whole time and doesn't send at slightly upwards angle at the end like in PAL
Sheik's dthrow in PAL is more like M2's in NTSC
Yoshi's heavier

etc etc.

There's an archive with the differences in MD (or at least used to be)

*goes back to looking for any discussion on melee at all*

 

[elvenarrow3000]

Marth doesn't have a grab, he has a projectile that happens to grab. It's fair =P

 

[Dogysamich]

hey haggar.

--handshake--
My bad.

Marth doesn't have a grab, he has a projectile that happens to grab. It's fair =P

Na, he just has a fast tether grab. >.>

 

[elvenarrow3000]

You misspelled Haggar =P

 

[Dogysamich]

no i didnt.

>.>

<.<

 

[elvenarrow3000]

I like playing as Bowser because he's the symbol that represents SSBM, as shown by his image in the Smashboards banner.

Which I still don't understand. He's not really the first thing people think of when they think Nintendo or SSBM. Why can't like... Mario or Marth or Fox or something be up there?

 

[TheReflexWonder]

I like playing as Bowser because he's the symbol that represents SSBM, as shown by his image in the Smashboards banner.

Which I still don't understand. He's not really the first thing people think of when they think Nintendo or SSBM. Why can't like... Mario or Marth or Fox or something be up there?

Because Bowser is a very scary being that strikes fear in hearts and makes small children cry.

However, going on-topic, I like playing Bowser because I can't get that sort of raw power anywhere else. It's a nice feeling, landing a U-Air or F-Smash. Also, because it doesn't take a lot of technical ability to excel with Bowser (as much as Bowser can excel, that is). Having Up-B out of a shield makes me feel warm inside.

He's got a lot of interesting quirks that I like; many Bowser tricksies. It makes him inherently fun when you know those.

 

[MikeHaggarTHAKJB]

hey haggar.

--handshake--
My bad.

--Shakes hand--

 

[exarch]

Marth doesn't have a grab, he has a projectile that happens to grab. It's fair =P

http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=105800

However, going on-topic, I like playing Bowser because I can't get that sort of raw power anywhere else. It's a nice feeling, landing a U-Air or F-Smash. Also, because it doesn't take a lot of technical ability to excel with Bowser (as much as Bowser can excel, that is). Having Up-B out of a shield makes me feel warm inside.

Idk, I think Ganon and CF have some moves which compete with Bowser's Uair and Fsmash.
You should play as Samus, too then.

Bowser's fun because you can literally CCtech DI EVERYTHING and shouldn't feel bad about doing it.

Otherwise he's a pretty boring character, since half his game revolves around Up-B. It's the moments when I'm not upb'ing that I enjoy as bowser.

 

[elvenarrow3000]

Otherwise he's a pretty boring character, since half his game revolves around Up-B. It's the moments when I'm not upb'ing that I enjoy as bowser.

Haha, REVOLVES around up B. Anyway...

I guess it depends on your playstyle. I find myself using the fair more than I use the Fortress, with an occasional Klaw thrown in for shielders.

 

[exarch]

No pun intended. Ouch.

I meant more of Upb is bowser's universal get out of trouble solution.
Stuck in your shield?
Miss and aerial?
Attack a shield?
Getting uncomfortably close to someone?
CCing but about to be comboed?
BOWSER!!!! You know what to do!!!!

Yeah I like his aerials more, but getting out bad situations hardly takes any thought with him.

 

[XalchemistX]

I like doing Bowser's side B when I have an extra stock left and trap people with his flamethrower.

 

[elvenarrow3000]

Ledgehopped flame cancels are cool too. They always rush in because they think they can hit you and BAM... bam bam bam... fizzle.

 

[DLO]

i like to play with bowser cuz' my friend can't predict what this fat lizard is going to do.except with falco =/.
I think he's funny to play,you always think "uff this opponent is fast i can't beat him" but when you do the moves and hit the "Marth" fly away.I love Bowser.When brawl come in Europe,i think he's going to be my main.

 

[elvenarrow3000]

Why does he have to predict what you're going to do? =P He could just grab you and combo and then predict a death.

 

[MimicMew]

GIMPYFISH!!!!!!

....and Boozer is cute

 

[KevinM]

I don't know why I play him.

 

[-Wolfy-]

I only use Bowser because I like the way he plays. I don't buy into the whole Tiers Don Exits thing anymore, and I don't like him because Gimpy showed he can be halfway maneuverable. I just like playing as him.