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Why do you main Greninja?

Cracke

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Jan 24, 2019
Messages
379
Location
In the attic
I've seen a thread for Inkling and Isabelle, so I want to ask that question to this corner of the forum. Personally I kind of stumbled upon Greninja in Sm4sh and ever since then played him. I've used him in Pokemon games a lot more now that I play him in Smash.
 

SJMistery

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Oct 18, 2016
Messages
383
3DS FC
0920-3611-4128
I like his moveset and it's pretty unlikely that my favorite pokemon, Empoleon, will ever make it, so he is the closest substitute. I almost never use him on the Pokemon games because he is just way too frail for my tastes.
 

Father Kelso

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jan 22, 2019
Messages
28
I started playing greninja in Sm4sh after watching TKBreezy gimp the crap out of people with hydro pump and I thought "I want to do that". It's soooo satisfying because it's almost anti climactic, watching people slowly drift towards the ledge, just out of reach, and take forever to fall to their doom.

I actually resisted playing him in Ultimate because I wanted to try new characters, but after seeing a few hype greninja matches from Venia and istudying I couldnt help myself. ATM I consider him my co-main with Pokemon Trainer.
 

Downshift

Smash Journeyman
Joined
May 16, 2008
Messages
325
it's pretty unlikely that my favorite pokemon, Empoleon, will ever make it, so he is the closest substitute.
PUN! :D

I normally play slow fallers or floaty fighters like Zelda, Samus, Marcina, Mewtwo, etc, so I like Greninja because he's the only fast faller that I can really control. I always SD with Sonic, ZSS and that camp, or they're too fast and I can't time their attacks and combos. Greninja, on the other hand, fits my style like a glove while still being really fast and I have no idea why.
 

Father Kelso

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jan 22, 2019
Messages
28
PUN! :D

I normally play slow fallers or floaty fighters like Zelda, Samus, Marcina, Mewtwo, etc, so I like Greninja because he's the only fast faller that I can really control. I always SD with Sonic, ZSS and that camp, or they're too fast and I can't time their attacks and combos. Greninja, on the other hand, fits my style like a glove while still being really fast and I have no idea why.
I was kinda the opposite, Greninja felt hella awkward to me at first
 

SJMistery

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Oct 18, 2016
Messages
383
3DS FC
0920-3611-4128
PUN! :D

I normally play slow fallers or floaty fighters like Zelda, Samus, Marcina, Mewtwo, etc, so I like Greninja because he's the only fast faller that I can really control. I always SD with Sonic, ZSS and that camp, or they're too fast and I can't time their attacks and combos. Greninja, on the other hand, fits my style like a glove while still being really fast and I have no idea why.
Sorry mate, couldn't help myself. In both Pokémon and Smash, Substitute is little short of my signature attack. Used correctly it is amazing, even back then in Smash 4. Yeah it could be intercepted/blocked but being able to punish a JAB with death at 20-40% and one-shot any recovery with a hitbox was well worth it, especially considering Shadow Sneak could be used as a backup pseudo-counter in those cases. And now you CAN'T intercept/block it anymore, only at the cost of sometimes having to wait to 60-80% because it cannot reliably combo into Uair anymore, no problem at all considering Greninja's combo game, AND it still destroys any offstage opponent almost regardless of percent. Say what you want, that thing is now F worse than Witch Time.
 
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MasterMicahWH

Smash Rookie
Joined
Oct 19, 2015
Messages
10
Location
Charlotte, NC
NNID
MasterMicahWH
Switch FC
7765-5492-7400
Since Sm4sh, I've always enjoyed his aesthetic, but I can't say I had any personal reason for liking him prior to maining the dude. As time went on, the appeal of uair drag down into up smash was a huge one.
The fact that I have speed, a camping tool, options to gimp recovery, multiple means of evading and approaching are amazing. You may use bair to approach with a flurry of attacks which helped when transitioning FROM Pikachu and lends itself well to comboes and wall spikes. Nair as an option to rack on damage was always fun. f-tilt is awesome. fair is a stupid spacing option that exemplifies "I didn't stab you. You clearly ran into my knife repeatedly. This is your fault."

The last one off the top of my head is that everybody was playing sheik in the dead game on the dead console for reasons. Personall, I didn't enjoy the saturation of sheik mains so that really drove in my desire to choose this bouncy, fluid and technical character over a tight, fluid and adaptable character.
 

$.A.F.

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Aug 13, 2018
Messages
426
Location
The Plant Gang HQ
Sorry mate, couldn't help myself. In both Pokémon and Smash, Substitute is little short of my signature attack. Used correctly it is amazing, even back then in Smash 4. Yeah it could be intercepted/blocked but being able to punish a JAB with death at 20-40% and one-shot any recovery with a hitbox was well worth it, especially considering Shadow Sneak could be used as a backup pseudo-counter in those cases. And now you CAN'T intercept/block it anymore, only at the cost of sometimes having to wait to 60-80% because it cannot reliably combo into Uair anymore, no problem at all considering Greninja's combo game, AND it still destroys any offstage opponent almost regardless of percent. Say what you want, that thing is now F worse than Witch Time.
Wait, since when did substitute kill at 20?
 

SJMistery

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Oct 18, 2016
Messages
383
3DS FC
0920-3611-4128
Wait, since when did substitute kill at 20?
You could combo it into Uair, and double jump Nair right near the blast zone. It was hard as S* to do but super satisfying. And the Downwards spike hitbox was stronger than Ganondorf's sweetspotted down B. Check that video on the minute 2:35 if you don't believe me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDNw09-E3U0

This is why we were all worried in the "Greninja changes from Smash 4" thread when we heard Substitute now actually gives Greninja the intangibility/invincibility frames and brief slowdown effect that every other counter has, as both traits combined with it's old unique ability to shift Greninja's Z axis (essentially acting as a mini-spotdodge), it would have meant a Witch Time without cooldown, and with recovery and anti-projectile properties for good measure. Fortunately the knockback got toned down enough that you will have to wait a while to get the kill while improving it's recovery and retreating potential as well as giving it new life as the reliable combo starter for low-mid percents that it was meant to be, and that we wanted and deserved for so long. As for the reduced kill potential, the fixed-up Shadow Sneak can easily fill this void.
 
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LightKnight

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Mar 21, 2019
Messages
284
Well… I might not be a Greninja main currently but since his inclusion he's been a ton of fun to use and easily is in my top 5 characters if not 3rd. Greninja is nice for when I want a more defensive and evasive aggressive character in comparison to Yoshi if that makes any sense :)
All his specials feel like they have their use (even if the counter reminds me of shadow sneak) and speaking of which Shadow Sneak is a really fun mix-up and finisher tool when I use it. I love all the tilts, fast jab, and many of the aerials! Feels great to land down-air! Though neutral air feels a little wonky to me I understand its place in the moveset. Oh, and lets not forget gimping or setting up for KOs with Hydro Pump :awesome:
Overall I love Greninja's fast and slippery playstyle which allows for big jumps and counter-play to aggressive players while being able to do the same.
 
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SJMistery

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Oct 18, 2016
Messages
383
3DS FC
0920-3611-4128
Greninja is nice for when I want a more defensive and evasive aggressive character in comparison to Yoshi if that makes any sense :)
Oh yes, it does make sense. Greninja is know to be a defensive "bait and punish" kind of character. Much like Little Mac (pre Smash Ultimate at least, now whatever he is... LOL), he seems to have all the properties of a rushdown character... except it lacks any useful approach option. Because of this, a big part of Greninja is learning WHEN and WHERE is it okay to go for the attack.
All his specials feel like they have their use (even if the counter reminds me of shadow sneak) and speaking of which Shadow Sneak is a really fun mix-up and finisher tool when I use it. I love all the tilts, fast jab, and many of the aerials! Feels great to land down-air! Though neutral air feels a little wonky to me I understand its place in the moveset. Oh, and lets not forget gimping for setting up for KOs with Hydro Pump :awesome:
Overall I love Greninja's fast and slippery playstyle which allows for big jumps and counter-play to aggressive players while being able to do the same.
Oh yeah, Shadow Sneak is a ton of fun to use. I will never understand why it was so criminally underused in Smash 4. This is essentially a midair Smash Attack with more range than Corrin's Side-B. Yeah, if can be punished if you spam it, but ONLY if you spam it. And reverse-edgeguards with this move are so easy to do that 99.99% of players, including pros, prefer to simply let Greninja recover and attempt to ledge trap him instead, in the same way they do with Pikachu.
 
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Firox

Smash Master
Joined
Jan 7, 2019
Messages
3,336
Personally, I main Greninja because he just feels the most rounded to me. He's got several amazing disjoints, incredible speed in both the air and on the ground, sexy AF combo game, and a surprising amount of kill power. He may not be quite as fast as sheik in terms of attack speed, but his kill power is leaps and bounds over hers. His projectile is super versatile, ranging between a fast stun and a slow death ball. Then there's his recovery. As others have mentioned, he can reverse-edgeguard all day with SS, and coupled with Hydro pump and Substitute, he can come back from almost anything. I'd honestly argue he has one of, if not THE, best recovery kits in the game. Then, to top it all off, he just looks soooo fricking cool. His design is sharp and sleek while his moves are flashy and satisfying to land. It's like driving a Ferrari with machine guns that pop out of the head-lights. And finally, to put a topper on the tippy top of it all, he was one of my favorite ass-kickers from Pokemon X and Y. THAT is why I main the ninja frog.
 
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