Previously on Banana Boy’s channel: But then, how do you anticipate something? I mean,
as long as you have a little bit of experience with the game, you should have a general idea
of what the most popular characters are gonna look for at the different percent ranges.
Luigi wants grabs at low percent and Greninja wants down tilt at kill percent, for example.
Okay so I felt kinda bad for essentially saying “Just play the game a lot lol” in my last
video. This channel’s main purpose is condensing everything I’ve learned about Smash over
the last 5 years into short, informative, and hopefully entertaining videos. Thus, I’ve
decided to put together a guide on the stuff to look out for from every single character
in Smash. The last thing you’d want is to die slowly and painfully from Ebola and then
having nobody attend your funeral since there wasn’t a single person who cared in the
first place. Never mind, the second to last thing is to go to a tournament thinking your
fundamentals are super polished, but then losing to some obscure cheese because you
didn’t know what to do against a certain character. Because of this, I’ve made a
ginormous list of the main things to be ready for to prevent this from happening. These
are all going to be super short generalizations, but they’ll at least cover the basics of
fighting everyone. Alright, let’s not waste any more time, you all know what this video
is. Timestamps are in the description. Mario – Across low and mid percents, most
Mario players will be fishing for combo starters. He has a lot of them, including short hop
up air, down air, grab, landing nair, and even back air’s pretty good. If you have
a good out of shield option, most of these can be beaten pretty easily, but don’t get
upset if you mess up once or twice and take 40 for it. You can also stuff out his jumps
if he does lots of landing aerials. At kill percent, be wary of up smash, and don’t
attack his shield unsafely from behind. Mario’s a great character, but his biggest weakness
is range, so use that to your advantage when possible. Donkey Kong – This character low key sucks. One of his main approach options is dash attack,
but just shield it lol. DK gets a lot off grabs, too, and he’s gonna probably fish
for them quite a bit. That said, you don’t want to just be spamming spot dodge or roll
if you expect a grab, as down b covers several of these options at once. Just play smart,
you know. His back air is pretty good, but approaching bairs can be dealt with by shielding,
which covers dash attack anyway. Be aware that if he does a rising back air, 99% of
DKs will do a landing one as well, maybe try and parry that. Then at kill percent, yeah
he’s still mostly gonna go for grabs. Mainly abuse his disadvantage and you’re fine.
His out of shield, landing, and ledge options are all actually garbage. Link – Get ready to play patient against projectiles, and make sure your parry game
is on point. When fighting him up close, you’ll want to be ready for lots of, for lack of
a better term, button mashing. He’ll do landing nair then jab right after, short hop
bair and up tilt after that, arrow to boomerang, he’s just always pushing stuff. Remember
to hold shield for longer than you normally would against him and wait for the most realistic
option to punish. Link also has some cool bomb tricks like z drop bomb into aerial or
throw bomb at opponent into grab. Be ready for these and maybe even throw the bomb up
once in a while to prevent him from using it. Be careful when juggling him, as down
air has tons of priority. It’s way easy to punish, though. At kill percents, look
out for landing fair, rising fair, landing back air, up tilt, up smash, bomb, and boomerang.
And make sure to always tech nair against him. Yeah, he’s not the worst at taking
stocks. Samus/Dark Samus – Samus players base a
large part of their game plan on abusing how people play against charge shot. Some like
to run up to her charging and shield, resulting in them getting grabbed. Some jump into her
charge and eat lots of forward airs. You don’t have to approach her every time she charges
up, it’s ok to stay back once in a while. You can also mix up how you approach to throw
her strategy off. Besides that, don’t do dumb stuff on her shield or you’ll get up
b’d. Oh, and parry the missiles, they do plenty of shield damage. Her throws kill super
late, and the rest of her kill moves should be pretty obvious. Yoshi - This character’s going to hold shield a lot since nair is simply amazing. I recommend
either landing with attacks that outrange nair or ones that have little enough lag so
you can shield before nair comes out, then punishing. Other than that, Yoshi loves tech
chases, as they come bundled for free with the nair out of shield package, and juggles.
Against his juggles, either jump or air dodge out. Up air is frame 5 and most attacks are
too slow to beat it. Counters do win though, as long as the string isn’t true. When you’re
about to die, hold shield like crazy. Yoshi has no kill throws or kill confirms off throws.
Just be ready to tech down tilt and shield all 3 hits of back air. Kirby - Kirby will likely fish for grabs at low percent since he gets pretty good mileage
off of them. Dash attack is also solid, as it goes through shields and has a big hitbox.
Obviously, it’s still punishable though. Kirby relies on jumping and mixing up his
landings in neutral, which is unfortunate against characters or players who are good
at stuffing landings. You can also simply outrange him on the ground if your character
reaches further, which is pretty much everyone. Yeah just do that and you should be able to
beat Kirby, he’s not exactly known for being remotely decent in competitive play. Fox - This guy’s the opposite, he’s WAY good. A huge thing Foxes will do at low
percent is dash attack into punish what the opponent does after. People usually retaliate
with an attack, so Foxes are good at parrying into up tilt. Make sure you’re mixing up
what you do after his dash attack. Once you’re at mid percents, Fox will do his best to juggle
you, so you’re gonna want to be on the lookout for ways to escape. Teching a platform helps,
for example. His main kill options are back air in the corner and landing neutral air
to up smash. Against bair pressure, don’t panic and logically try to find the best option
to escape, as admittedly hard as that is. And against landing neutral air, hold shield
a lot, just like fighting Yoshi. Pikachu - His main gimmick is quick attack,
which is kind of like a get out of jail free card. If you happen to be in the range of
the move, though, it can be stuffed out with a lingering hitbox. Now, he’s a combo character,
meaning you should watch out for his main combo starters, being grab, up tilt, landing
fair and nair, and short hop back air. At kill percent, be ready to DI up throw thunder
either left or right, mix it up between the two. Then there’s dash attack which is absolutely
amazing for killing and unreactable. You may honestly want to just pick a stage with platforms
and camp those to avoid dying to this move. And landing nair down smash is a thing, in
case you weren’t aware. Don’t pick Kalos against this guy, t jolts hug the wall super
hard during his recovery and getting back becomes way free. Luigi - Don’t get grabbed obviously, his combos are insane. But also don’t always
play around grab the same way. For example if you constantly spam jump you’re gonna
start getting faired a bunch. The main thing people aren’t aware of when fighting Luigi
is his janky down b. It has invincibility on frames 1-7 when done in the air, making
it a faster combo breaker than his famous nair, Dr. Seuss let’s go. Luigis will do
it in the middle of practically every combo if they can get away with it. Remember to
shield the whole thing and punish. At death percent, treat his up smash the same as Mario’s
and watch out for up b if you don’t want to die early. If he successfully shields a
dash attack, it’s gg. Ness - Ness is the hardest button masher in
the game in my opinion. He can do approximately 50 trillion and 1 aerials from a full hop
and double jump. Don’t get overwhelmed, just be patient, punish his landings, maybe
even camp him out with projectiles, that’s pretty good. When he recovers, most Ness players
prefer to either PK thunder the stage or air dodge. The first one is hard to punish unless
you parry but the second can be beaten out with any attack that hits below the ledge.
Get familiar with the distance air dodge travels so you can know whether Ness is able to use
it or if he’s forced to up b. Also try to figure out which of your moves clank with
PK thunder 1, that will make landing a lot easier. Captain Falcon - When you beat him, be sure to anticipate complaining from your opponent
about how this character doesn’t work. Okay but in all seriousness, watch for dash grab
and dash attack as they’re his main approach options and combo starters. Get good at dealing
with juggles, too, he does a lot of those. Up b out of shield is pretty good, especially
in stalemate situations. Then be very wary of landing up air and down air, since they
can combo into knee for some early kills. If you whiff something, for example, don’t
use a panicky option like jab or spot dodge. Usually either shield or get out of the situation
entirely, you’ll be glad you did. Jigglypuff - Expect a slow match against this
character. Most of her landing or rising aerials can easily be punished by quick out of shield
options. Be careful against landing side b though. When she does it, you’ll want to
either move out of the way or parry. Only block and punish if you have enough shield
health. One thing many people might not know is that rest comes out frame 2 and is invincible
from frames 1-27, so don’t get too carried away with your untrue combos and juggles.
Don’t challenge neutral b if you don’t have a counter, it’s the best move in the
game tbh. Peach/Daisy - Paisy’s back and neutral air
are pretty lagless when float cancelled, don’t try to grab them. Either punish with something
very fast or leave the situation altogether. In neutral, be ready to deal with a bunch
of grabs, down tilts, and down airs. Don’t challenge side b on shield, you’re gonna
have a bad time. And don’t get surprise faired offstage. Overall, her main weaknesses
are range and landing. Abuse those by outspacing her and using anti-airs. Bowser - Don’t even sneeze on Bowser’s shield or you’ll get up b’d. Okay actually,
you should touch his shield, and I’m completely serious. Use a low-lag attack, shield his
up b, and punish hard. It’s a really effective gameplan against Bowser. Now, he can mix it
up with side b, so expect that after the bait’s worked a few times. His fire breath does lots
of damage. In most cases, DI out, you want to escape as fast as possible. Ledge
trapping is amazing against the Koopa King, the only option to be worried about is ledge
hop side b. Mainly abuse his disadvantage and you should be fine, just look out for
down air and landing side b. Ice Climbers - If you get the chance, try
to combo both Nana and Popo at the same time so they can’t save each other. When they’re
separated, almost always go for Nana, the CPU, as solo Popo is a pretty bad character.
Whether they’re together or not, Ice Climbers players love to use side b. It’s hard to
punish, has lots of priority, and the move can start combos quite well. You can mess
with it if you’re fast enough, though. When you end up getting grab comboed, all I can
do is salute you and say good luck. Some players do the craziest stuff with this character.
A few more bullet points: try not to grab Nana when Popo’s near, watch for their quick up smash out of shield, and prepare to deal with juggles. Sheik - Shiek has a very good neutral. Don’t underestimate her as a character just because
she can’t kill. Landing fair, nair, and bair are all unpunishable if spaced right.
Against them, either parry, stuff her jump out, or wait for another opportunity to fight
her. F tilt is one of her main combo starters. Many players will try to nair out of f tilt
combs, which a lot of good Sheiks will capitalize on if you do it too often. At kill percent,
watch out for weak nair to bouncing fish, ftilt to up air, and raw smash attacks. These
aren’t great kill options, though, don’t be surprised if you live past 150. She’s
also super light, and you’ll need way fewer neutral wins than her to get the w. Zelda - Zelda feels like a gimmick to a lot of people, which makes sense. Neutral b is
practically half her character. Many Zeldas will use the move after every spot dodge,
every whiff, or when landing to throw you off guard. If you shield it, though, you can
get a hefty punish. Knight is also a huge part of her character. Don’t get antsy and
jump in when she throws one out, since she’ll often use nair to cover this very option.
Be patient against it and even camp her if necessary. Zelda’s f smash catches landings
quite well. Lightning kick out of shield is pretty fast and solid against tall characters.
Watch for up b out of shield, it’s surprisingly quick and kills early. Dr. Mario - He’s just Mario with a few differences, mostly worse differences. Be careful when
recovering against him, down b kills pretty early. He has down throw down b at the edge,
but I’m pretty sure it’s not true if you DI out. Up b out of shield is really good
for Doc. He’s pretty easy to gimp, as long as you punish down b and/or double jump. His
speed is pretty garbage, too. Pichu - Most of what Pikachu looks for, Pichu
looks for, too. His quick attack is a lot easier to deal with since there’s no hitbox,
so stuff it out when possible. Look out for his main combo starters, being grab, rising
up air, and thunder jolt. One thing I didn’t mention that also applies to Pikachu is that
t jolts are often used to set up other moves. Make sure to react to them in different ways
each time, so the opponent doesn’t catch you always jumping or always shielding. Pichu
exclusive t jolts will put you in tech situations at kill percent. Get ready to use that R button
effectively and tech. Look out for f tilt kills, too, it’s still pretty good despite
the nerf. Falco - This bird loves platforms. His platform
pressure routine often goes like landing aerial into up tilt. This is because up tilt combos
into a bunch of stuff. Be careful when deciding when to leave a platform. Landing Falco fair
has a final hitbox that many aren’t ready for, so make sure to wait the whole move out.
Overall, Falco is quite the button masher. He throws out a lot of attacks, get ready
to shield them. At kill percents, he’s usually gonna fish for up tilt back air. When recovering,
he often won’t just use side b or up b, since his high jump and wall jump allow for
some cool mixups. He’s super easy to combo due to his fall speed and lack of a good combo
breaker. Marth/Lucina - Fighting these guys can be
frustrating, since they’re bad matchups for pretty much half the cast. You mainly
don’t want to get tilted. There will be times when you parry a move 3 times in a row
and still can’t punish. That’s just how the characters are. To make punishing aerials
easier, move in closer to the base of their swords right before they land. Neutral b can
beat shield, but it’s pretty reactable and you can either try to spot dodge, roll, or
take the hit. Marth side b can kill mad early, don’t fight down tilt, and watch out for
their amazing up bs out of shield. Stuff them in the air, as well. Young Link - Prepare to be bombarded by projectiles and try not to let them overwhelm you. Getting
comboed by him usually only lasts like 3-4 hits. Nair is probably his most common approach
tool, but it’s beatable. Now grounded up b has very little lag, so either punish super
quickly or wait for what he does after it. He has a hard time killing if you know to
avoid the right things, being raw nair, a raw smash attack, bomb, boomerang, and forward
throw at the edge. That may sound like a lot, but they’re not hard to avoid, especially
if you shield. Ganondorf - Don’t engage with Ganon and
you’re pretty much fine. Playing lame is the key to winning. But when you do have to
fight him, watch out for nair which stuffs a ton of things out. Up smash out of shield
is faster than you might think, too. He’s pretty good at reverse edgeguarding if you
get antsy. Beware of the threat of his get-off-me up air and huge up b. Assuming you miss the
tech against side b onstage, you may want to consider laying down for a bit longer than
normal to throw the Ganon player off guard. Most of them are used to people picking stuff
immediately. Then later mix it up of course. Mewtwo - 95% of Mewtwos use the shadow ball
to dash attack approach at least once per match. Just shield the whole thing, you’ll
be fine. Watch for his down tilt spacing and don’t mindlessly shield grab it. Try not
to jump in against dilt at the same timing frequently, since you could easily get stuffed
out with fair or nair. Look out for up throw, it kills way reliably. Thankfully, he’s
one of the easiest characters to combo, is super light, and has a gigantic hurtbox. Roy - Most Roy players will approach with neutral air like their family’s lives depend
on it. After that, they’ll usually jab or spot dodge if they whiff. The reason this
approach is so common is because nair combos into hefty damage. Try to avoid it. Side b
at the edge kills earlier than Cloud’s limit cross slash, and Roy has more time in between
each hit to do the next part than you’d think. Ban town and city if this scares you.
Jab RAR back air at the edge also kills way early. He’ll often spam jab for shield pressure,
but most characters can punish it in their own way. His up b out of shield is pretty
decent. Be ready for lots of aggressive play. Chrom - Same deal as Roy, except side b doesn’t
turn the stage into Warioware and his fall speed is a bit slower. Chrom’s up b out
of shield is better than Roy’s in my opinion. Now his recovery sucks, so don’t expect
Chrom players to be using their double jump early unless they’re scrubs 101, and be
ready for a lot of directional air dodging. Mr. Game & Watch - He easily has the best
out of shield option in the game. I swear you could touch his shield from the sombrero
galaxy and still get hit. After getting up b’d you’ll usually get hit by an up air,
and don’t challenge this move. You’ll always lose, and it’ll start to feel like
a 1 player game. His neutral air is practically a sword. He often approaches with dash attack
and pressures with forward air bombs. These bombs can be beaten by hitting them or Game
and Watch. Up smash has no lag, chair has a lot of knockback, and bacon is hard to punish
if you don’t run in preemptively. Landing dair has a huge hitbox but if you shield both
hits, it’s an easy punish. Yeah, there’s a lot to know about this weird guy. Fighting
a good Game and Watch for the first time legitimately feels like a spaz attack. Meta Knight - Dash attack and dash grab are his main approach options and combo starters.
When getting comboed by up air ladders, mixing up your DI and directional air dodging out
is pretty much the hardest option to punish. Wait for him to land before punishing
side b onstage if it ever happens. F smash does lots of shield damage and has no lag.
Back air and tornado offstage kill very early. Pit/Dark Pit - Both characters get a lot off
grabs at low percent. They’re also huge fans of up smashing platforms sometimes. Forward
throw might kill earlier than you’d expect at the edge. Overall, though, they’re both
very simple characters with few gimmicks. If you say you don’t know how to fight them,
I genuinely don’t believe you. Zero Suit Samus - Her main thing in neutral
is nairing people’s shields into frame 1 jab. Wait out this jab, don’t try to shield
grab the nair. Neutral air is also her main combo starter, so try not to get hit by it.
Her favorite option to look for during tech chases is tech roll in, since she can get
a down smash into hefty damage. Boost kick out of shield is pretty big and quite strong.
When she down bs for recovery, it’s very hard to stuff out, and you can get screwed
over if you mess up. You can, however, shield the hit and aerial her if you aim right. Expect
to take a lot of shield damage against her, and maybe take breaks from shielding once
in a while. Wario - If there’s anyone you’ll wanna
try your absolute best to get a stock lead against, it’s Wario. Waft kills super early
and he has a bunch of setups into it. If he uses bike onstage, it’s very easy to punish
with either a rising or descending aerial. His main combo starters are landing up air
and up tilt, both of which can combo into juggles and/or waft. You can shield them and
punish, though. Be prepared for his heavy weight and short hurtbox, as well. Snake - Know his main grenade tricks. There are 3 that just about any good Snake will
use a lot. They can simply hold the grenade and throw it to harass you. He might also
pull one out, hold and drop shield, pick up the grenade, then block again, which beats
most approaches. Additionally, he can move around with the grenade in hand and cancel
with shield grab at the last second to throw opponents off guard. But those shouldn’t
work on you since this video can turn anyone into a Snake-fighting expert. Grenades blow
up after 2.5 seconds. Snake’s main approach option is dash attack since it’s huge, but
it’s easy to punish when anticipated. Make sure you keep track of where his C4 is at
all times. Don’t hit his shield on platforms if he has a grenade. Most Snakes always grenade
out of combos, which can be punished in many ways. I recommend grabbing his landing. When
recovering against him, hit nikkita to make it worse, and/or be unpredictable with how
you get back. Hitting his up b breaks it and Snake won’t be able to do another one after. Ike - Get ready for tons of safe spacing with neutral air, so either have your parries super
warmed up or stuff out his jumps a lot. Ike’s not the best against pressure, up b out of
shield is ok but a bit slow. One of his gimmicks is up bing right after neutral getup then
regrabing the ledge. This can be punished with rising aerials, and even if he super
armors through, you’ll at least get damage and good positioning. He likes to intimidate
opponents by holding side b for a long time then just snapping ledge. Don’t fall for
this bait and simply move towards position to ledge pressure. Pokemon Trainer - They like to switch Pokemon out of combos a lot, but this does have punishable
lag. As a rule of thumb, expect Squirtle at low, Ivysaur at mid, and Charizard at high
percents. Squirtle - Squirtle’s practically as short
as your favorite streamer, Luuuvable Mango’s kid and is very hard to hit because of it.
He’s usually going to fish for f tilt or grab at low percent, since that’s where
he gets most of his combos from. Maybe try spot dodging after getting filted as it doesn’t
always true combo into grab. His down smash is like Wolf’s f smash in that it’s practically
lagless. Side b on shield is pretty much unpunishable, but you can potentially react to what he does
after it. Be ready to tech at high percents, his jab lock setups are pretty good.
Ivysaur - Razor leaf is his main projectile, and it can be punished, especially when parried.
The closer you are to the move, the more likely you’ll be able to hit him. Don’t get up
aired or grabbed, as grab combos into up air. Getting up air stringed can turn a match around
instantly, so make sure to DI away from platforms and try your hardest to escape. He has down
throw up b, but it shouldn’t kill, especially if you’re mixing up your DI. I usually DI
into Ivysaur and that’s what works best for me. Nair and back air are his most common
out of shield options, both of which are punishable. His neutral is pretty linear, consisting of
mostly razor leaf, up air, and nair out of shield. Also back throw kills. Charizard - He has the fastest up smash in the game and a solid up b out of shield with
super armor. His disadvantage is pretty bad, though. Don’t get tipper back aired or f
tilted. If he back throws you at low percent, DI out and you shouldn’t get hard comboed.
Don’t underestimate his ledge trapping ability, as he has a nair that covers lots of space
and 3 kill throws. Diddy Kong - Play around banana. Shielding
with a banana in hand is a common option Diddys will go for. Lots of Diddy players will do
the same thing repeatedly after they throw banana, such as run up down tilt or immediate
grab. If banana hits your shield and they do one of these, expect it and punish accordingly.
He can also side b while holding banana to throw your blocking game off guard. Forward
air is good at stuffing approaches, but it’s super unsafe on shield. He definitely has
a hard time killing without a banana confirm. Lucas - Prepare to deal with a lot of camping
and have a plan against PK fire especially. Most Lucases I’ve played against tend to
stay back almost the entire match. His main cheesy gimmick is PK freeze. Don’t ever
get hit by it, the move isn't hard to avoid. I usually settle for ledge pressure against
him instead of edgeguarding since he has seemingly infinite options to get back to the stage. Sonic - Don’t challenge spin dash up close, it’s invincible at the beginning. If he
ends up using it near you, just shield and establish stage control. You can beat the
move from far away, however. If he homing attacks your shield, it’s not safe if your
punish is fast enough. Look out for homing attack when you try to edgeguard him, it’s
an extra good get-off-me tool. Mainly try to maintain stage throughout the match and
keep your cool, you’ll be fine. Playing with a lead against Sonic is super hard for
him to deal with. The scariest thing at kill percent is spin dash fair at the edge, that
kills way early. King Dedede - Most Dedede's play with the
game plan of mixing up their landings at different timings and with different moves. If you shield
most of his landing aerials you can punish but he’ll often mix it up with a landing
neutral b, which is also beatable as long as you anticipate it. He has a few moves that
are pretty lagless like landing nair and forward smash, so simply wait for what he does after
them or stuff them out. The best way to hit gordos back at him is with projectiles, since
it’s low-risk. Try to hit them back as early as possible, to give him little chance to
retaliate. Olimar - Make sure you’re aware of the basic
attributes of every pikmin. Blue, red, and yellow all feel pretty much the same, white
does crazy damage when it’s stuck to you, and purple won’t stick to you, but it has
strong knockback. Also know the best way to get Pikmin off your character. Watch out for
up smash out of shield, as it can sometimes lead to 50% combos. Don’t get grabbed at
kill percent if he has a blue pikmin in his lineup. And edgeguard him, his up b has no
hitbox. Lucario - Bait him to grab at low percents,
Lucarios love throw combos. The biggest win you can get against him is an early kill,
since aura Lucario is absolutely something to sweat bullets about. If you do get him
to high percents, play cautious but don’t panic. The big things to look out for are
aura sphere, side b, and back air. F smash is extremely powerful, too, but it shouldn’t
be that hard to avoid. His b reverse movement is really good, watch for that as well. ROB - Parry nair and you’re gonna do great. ROB’s main neutral tool is gyro. When there’s
one onstage, don’t mindlessly pick it up, it’s hitbox is pretty annoying. He might
even have a laser waiting for you anyway. If you do take possession of the gyro, don’t
throw it at him at a super obvious timing, as most ROBs are ready for it. Either be unpredictable
or toss it up to restrict his access to the projectile, which makes fighting him only
half as difficult. Respect his up air while he’s recovering, don’t get naired at the
ledge, and combo him hard when you get the chance. Quickly rotating the control stick
is the best way to mash, btdubs, your opinion is incorrect if you think otherwise. Toon Link - Look out for his down air windbox, it’s actually pretty huge. Forward tilt
is also quite large for whatever reason. Up b at the ledge can cover plenty of options,
but definitely not waiting. Don’t get back thrown. He’s Link but with funny sound effects,
what else do you want me to say? Wolf - Respect blaster, it beats practically
everything. Try not to get grabbed at low to mid percents, his combos are pretty strong.
Don’t try to punish f smash, it’s lagless. Consider recovering slowly to bait a 2 framing
move out early, especially since down smash is a problem. Don’t retaliate aggressively
out of his combos or up smash might scoop you. His main weaknesses are lack of kill
power besides dash attack and bair, easiness to combo, and recovery. Villager - A very projectile-heavy, nickel-and-dime character. His most common projectile used
for cool tricks is side b. One popular setup is side b into slingshot to cover you jumping
over the rocket. This or lloyd to grab your shield, it’s like 50-50. He has a pretty
hard time landing and isn’t good at boxing up close. Villager’s also a huge ledge planker,
which is ok as long as you pressure him and shield at the right times. His recovery is
also super easy to edgeguard, and if he rides his side b, just jump over it and punish him
onstage. When getting edgeguarded by him, recover around bowling ball so you don’t
die at 50. Look out for axe, back throw, and close-up aerials at kill percent. Mega Man - Get ready to deal with a lot of pellets. The best time to try and punish them
is after the 3rd blip, since he has to wait before doing another set. Leaf shield is actually
amazing, especially when landing, since it beats pretty much any attempt at an out of
shield option. Watch for it and punish when the move’s done, the hard part is anticipating
when it comes out. Don’t panic if you get sticky bombed, you can simply run away and
shield, spot dodge, air dodge, or counter. Look out for landing aerial into up tilt,
it’s a weird bait some Mega Mans? Men? have done to me. Don’t get baired or faired offstage
at kill percent. Wii Fit Trainer - This character has some
very weird hitboxes that can easily catch people off guard. These include the huge back
of her f tilt, her legs during down smash, and the foot of her jab. Just something to
keep in mind. Don’t get naired at lower percents, it can combo into a lot of stuff.
Her neutral b has a windbox. Wii Fit also really enjoys ledge planking with side b and
rising aerials. It’s not that hard to deal with, though, as long as you don’t get hit
by any of it. When she has her down b, deep breathing activated, take Wii Fit Trainer
very seriously. She becomes extremely powerful. Rosalina and Luma - Most of this character’s
scariness comes from Luma, so try your best to kill it as quickly as possible. Many attacks
send Luma into tumble and if you can trigger this animation offstage, it’ll die and won’t
respawn for another 10 seconds. After Luma’s gone, do your best to capitalize on solo Rosa’s
suckiness without getting too reckless. You will, of course, have to deal with both characters
occasionally, though. The main thing to look out for is Luma attacking after you send Rosa
into hitstun. Make sure you shield and don’t make the noob mistake of getting hit by it.
Rosa can also do dash attack and dash grab at the same time when Luma’s alive, something
to be aware of. This character is very easy to edgeguard, just don’t get hit when she
tries to double jump and retaliate. Up smash and luma aerials are her favorite kill options. Little Mac - Juggle, juggle, juggle. Most people give the advice of “throw him offstage,”
but that’s pretty cliche and not always easy, especially against good Little Macs.
But juggling is the next best thing, as he has practically no solid way to get out. Against
super armor smash attacks, the main thing you’re gonna want to avoid is landing with
obvious aerials. You’ll always lose the trade. If you shield his smash attacks, you
can usually punish with something quick, or hit him for what he does afterwards if it’s
super obvious. You can also spot dodge to get a super free punish. Camp KO punch and
be wise when going in for an attack, as he’ll usually be waiting for you to do something
stupid. He can cancel neutral b charge btw. Greninja - This frog’s favorite approach
option is dash attack. Any landing aerials are unsafe on block, unless they’re max
spaced. Get ready to deal with shuriken camping if the match comes to that. Side b activates
a shadow near him so you can follow where he’s gonna go. He can also move, jump, and
even taunt before he uses it. He might surprise attack you with one of these if you try to
edgeguad. Greninja’s likely going to fish for down tilt at kill percent as it combos
directly into up smash. Make sure to DI most of his combos away and tech up air drag down. Mii Fighters - You’re on your own. These
characters deserve no rights. Palutena - Play as if she’s always looking for a nair, because she is. Before doing any
option, ask yourself “what are the chances of me getting naired because of this?” Thankfully,
approaching nair isn’t safe, and you can bait that out. She’s going to try to catch
your landings with invincible dash attack, so don’t land sloppily. Bair has the same
invincible property. When getting juggled, especially on platforms, be very cautious
of immediate up air snipes. Try not to get down thrown at the edge at death percent,
rar back air is true a lot of the time. Her projectiles are solid, but they’re both
punishable at point blank. Teleport edge cancelling can also be challenged if expected, same with
her recovery. Pac-Man - Hydrant has 13 HP, you’re welcome.
Pacmen often run in with short hop fair then landing nair. Either wait both moves out or
punish the fair SUPER quickly. His grab is really good now, as it’s pretty much active
during the entire animation. He even has some ok throw combos. Always expect the hydrant
when juggling him, and his escape options are trash without it. You’ll be surprised
at how much of his game plan you’ll shatter by stealing the bonus fruit. Don’t challenge
side b, the hitbox is practically Jupiter. Frame 3 nair out of shield is solid. Robin - His levin aerials are amazing, he’s going to do a lot of them when rising and
landing. Some good ways to deal with this are either anti airing him or punishing out
of a block/parry. Look out for landing down b though, it beats shield. When he’s spamming
arcfire on the ledge, which will happen, roll as he throws it and you’ll escape, or take
a few hits while hanging to deplete his magic. You may want to jump over or spot dodge his
projectiles sometimes, he could grab if you shield them. His recovery isn’t the worst,
but there’s no hitbox on him so I’d say go for it an edgeguard least occasionally. Shulk - Expect him to switch monado arts during hitstun. He’ll often change to shield art,
making many of your moves unsafe on hit. A good option in this scenario is grab, since
throws are always safe to go for. Get ready to play against a variety of playstyles for
his different arts, similar to fighting Pokemon Trainer. Jump usually plays in the air and
speed plays more grounded. Camp his scariest arts, especially Smash at kill percent and
maybe buster, too. Lastly, don’t call his arts monados or the Shulk player will beat
you up and you’ll become crippled, putting you in disadvantage irl. Bowser Jr. - Prepare to deal with lots of koopa clown cart. He’ll often side b, jump
out of it, then land with an aerial. Either that or he’ll roll out with it. Both can
be punished just by blocking, though. Know how to deal with mechakoopas or he’s going
to spam them like crazy. Pick them up, shield them, just don’t get hit all the time. His
throw combos are actually really good, don’t get grabbed. Avoid back air and clown cart
hammer at kill percent. Edgeguarding him isn’t completely free, as he can air dodge during
up b. If he lands with hammer after this, though, you’ll get the easiest punish ever.
Don’t get hit by hammer, by the way. It’s strong. Duck Hunt - His best neutral tool is can. He’s often going to react to how you deal
with it and punish accordingly. Like if you always block, he might go for can to grab.
When you shield his can at point blank, it’ll explode only him. If can is moving in the
wrong direction, like if it goes left when you’re both fighting on the right side of
the stage, that’s amazing for you. It’s comparable to fighting Rosa without her Luma,
so try to get in this situation often. Frisbee and cowboy are reactable, and Duck Hunt really
struggles with killing. Ryu - He’s going to look for a lot of combo
starters, especially jab, up tilt, down tilt, nair, and fair. Shielding or outspacing him
are both great options against Ryu, as he has no grab combos and lacks range. Just make
sure to watch out for his shield breaker. Side b can go through many projectiles. Be
aware of that if you decide to camp. The best way to break focus is with a multi-hit. He
can turn around while charging focus, don’t do a “woke” roll in against it or you’ll
get bodied. Fully charged focus goes through shields. Don’t cross Ryu up, as he literally
gets rewarded for bad shield dropping options with his turn-around mechanic. At kill percents,
continue to avoid his combo starters, as they confirm into shoryuken. Ken - Ken feels very similar to fighting Ryu. The only major specific thing to be aware
of is shoryuken in the air. It kills extremely early, don’t get cheesed. Cloud - Expect him to up b out of shield as much as any Bowser player, I don’t know
why it’s so good. Look for lots of spaced fairs in neutral and try cornering him to
make his spacing worse. If he starts to juggle with up air, simply mixing up the direction
you air dodge towards can go a long way in helping you escape. When he has limit, it
only lasts for 15 seconds, meaning you can usually camp him to time it out. Don’t try
to punish limit side b unless you parry, by the way. I can’t believe people still do
in 2019. Feel free to try to gimp him, just be aware that directional air dodge is a new
Ultimate-exclusive option. It’s still beatable, though. Corrin - Punish her landings and you should be fine. She might side b a decent amount,
too, which is cancellable now. Usually just respect the move unless you’re either really
fast and can punish her going away or she goes through your shield. Corrin does have
a surprisingly obnoxious forward smash on shield which can break it when fully charged.
Beating the move isn’t simple, but I’ll link an amazing video by Shallus which explains
it in depth, including how to combat it. Bayonetta - Shield a lot in neutral, you don’t
want to get comboed to 50. Her main combo starters are up b (often used out of shield),
short hop side b, grounded side b, and down tilt. When you’re getting comboed, SDI does
still work in this game. SDI is essentially just rotating the control stick across the
notches in the direction you want to go. Most people know that when she lands after using
a bunch of specials, Bayo has a lot of lag. But make sure you’re wary of a surprise
down air or witch time at the last second. When she’s on platforms, she’s often going
to witch time to punish any pressure you go for. Bait it out and react accordingly. Then
don’t get baired or forward thrown at kill percent. Inkling - Prepare for lots of back airs, like a lot. Parrying will pretty much always make
the move unsafe, thankfully. When you do get landing baired, most Inklings go for grab
right after. React fast and spot dodge. Inkling’s other favorite thing to do in neutral is dash
dance around and duck under something punishable. Try to only use safe attacks that hit low
when this happens. This character fishes for grabs a lot, as they get tons of mileage off
them. Try to bait it once in a while. Inkling really struggles with killing if you play
anti-roller. Roller on shield is quite easy to punish. Ridley - Be careful when jumping against this character, nair is really good at catching
people in the air. Fire breath can be annoying, but if you keep your distance you should be
fine. He doesn’t have the best approach options besides dash attack and side b, but
yeah those are hard commitments. Fighting in neutral shouldn’t be that hard. If you
get side b’d, mash out and shield right after. Ridley can jab but can’t grab because
of how the game works. The main cheese you’re gonna want to be aware of is side b offstage.
It can send people way low and kill them at any percent. Combo and ledge pressure Ridley
hard, you guys know how it goes fighting heavies, even if he’s technically lighter than Terry. Simon/Richter - Get ready for a barrage of projectiles and safe tilts. Axe’s hitbox
can be cancelled by a single-hit move. Then cross can get sent right back to the Belmonts
by a lot of disjoints. If you anticipate him throwing out a projectile, you can usually
punish preemptively as they’re quite slow. Watch your landings, they’re often going
to try to stuff them with up tilt, f tilt, or up b out of shield. Right after teching,
99% of Belmont players will try to down tilt, which is punishable if you’re fast enough.
Against their ledge trapping, jump is usually the best option, please don’t neutral getup.
If you hang on too long and get hit by the fire, you’ll only take around 2 percent
and get your invincibility back. Just something to keep in mind, it’s not the worst option. King K. Rool - K Rools typically look for side b and cannonball to annoy opponents.
Neither are necessarily that hard to deal with, thankfully. Just be aware that crown
has 2 hitboxes, so you can shield the first one then maybe jump against the second. If
he cannonballs at point blank, punish immediately. It’s completely guaranteed, and you’ll
be safe from getting succed. He can also drop through platforms mid-succ but that’s super
gimmicky and it should only work on anybody once, if ever. Only challenge his low recovery
from the sides, the propeller hitbox is quite huge. His disadvantage is buttcheeks, the
only unique thing to worry about is nair which has armor. It’s an easy punish if you wait
it out, though. If you can mash out of bury correctly, this character has a very hard
time killing. Isabelle - Refer to Villager, fighting her
feels almost the same. Just look out for grounded lloyd rocket. It can be destroyed easily by
lots of disjoints and projectiles. Oh, and fishing rod is kind of annoying. Make sure
not to jump between the pole and the hook and you should be good. But yeah, just be
patient, you’ll be fine. Incineroar - Don’t underestimate his aerials
and grab follow ups, he’s actually quite the heavy hitter. His juggles are also really
good, try not to get into that situation. Don’t spam projectiles too much against
him, or he’ll counter and become super strong. To cancel revenge, either grab or hit him
with a really strong attack, usually the former. To avoid side b, make sure to jump. “I spot
dodged” is not an excuse against a move that’s good at beating spot dodges. Neutral
b is a great get-off-me tool with invincibility at the beginning. To punish it, shield the
first hit or two, jump or roll out of the way, then run in and punish. It has 6 hits
so blocking the whole thing’s kinda hard. Piranha Plant - Phew, we’re on Ultimate
DLC, almost done. Her scariest move is neutral b. She can cancel it, there’s very little
lag, the move does lots of shield damage, its hitbox is huge, and it kills reliably.
Try your best to parry it, shield it, or just weave around the move. Don’t block side
b or you’ll get grabbed and take 2 billion percent in a second. Nair out of shield is
similar to Ivysaurs. Play around it the same way. Her landing options aren’t amazing
and her recovery is pretty easy to challenge from the top. Joker - Know the range of side b and always be ready to shield it when you’re within
said range. Look out for grab setups, remember to shield both hits of dash attack, and don’t
get landing aerialed. Downward guns are amazing, but you can anticipate and punish them if
you attack from the sides. Make sure you’re punishing counter with a grab, charged smash
attack, or combo starter, and not hitting it. Now arsene is pretty obnoxious and you’ll
get bodied if he lands any attacks. Look for side b when he’s recovering, it throws lots
of people off guard and does 500 damage. My best advice against broken Joker is to camp,
but run in once in a while to both throw him off and be in a better position. Just camping
puts you in the corner, which leads to insane back air pressure for days. If you land a
combo starter when he has arsene, go for the entire thing, you’ll deplete his meter while
also getting good damage. Don’t go for any crazy air dodge reads. Hero – Against down b, your best bet is to run up and shield, since it covers every
one of his hitboxes besides kamikaze, which you can react to and spot dodge anyway. Look
out for kaboom, it’s super strong, comes out a bit late, and has a windbox that sucks
you in. If you get side b’d, don’t land right into another side b, I see Salem get
away with that all the time. Against magic burst, you can stall your recovery. It’s
not a completely free edgeguard. The rest of his moves aren’t that big and come out
slowly, so fighting them shouldn’t be too much of an issue. Banjo & Kazooie - Don’t fight right in front of him too much or you’ll get bombed. He’s
mainly gonna look for lots of stray hits, as Banjo is not a combo character. Shielding
works against a lot of his stuff, as not only is his grab bad, but he gets almost nothing
off of it. Wonder wing is his main trump card. It goes through pretty much every attack.
Don’t forget about the move, it’s easy to get lost playing around everything but
side b. You can punish after shielding by running up to him or using a projectile. Terry - He feels very similar to fighting Ryu and Ken. Don’t get hit by low-range
combo starters, since that’s what he mostly goes for, especially since landing a jab at
0 does 25. DI down throw away and you won’t get comboed. Watch for the enormous hitboxes
on his Go! moves and try to kill him early. His recovery doesn’t snap ledge, so use
that to your advantage if possible. And those are the basics on how to fight every
character in Smash Ultimate. If you’ve made it this far, congratulations, I hope you learned
a lot. If I missed anything big related to your character, then my apologies, this is
a guide purely from personal experience. I’ll probably do more in-depth anti-character guides
like I did with Lucina in the future. But I’m burnt out right now, so I’ll see you
all in two weeks. Oh, makes sure to subscribe, let’s hit 100k soon.
Oh man, I can’t believe I actually made this thing. My channel’s over a year old
now, though, so I figured I should celebrate big. I have some big plans for 2020, including
the return of weekly uploads. Hahaha of course I’m kidding…unless?
New BB video == instant click. Everyone needs to watch this, he explains everything so well and goes over the crux of every matchup in surprising detail for spending so little time on each one.
See, BananaBoy is one of the best for tutorials. Go subscribe to this guy right now guys, he really gives a great perspective of a pro player
I love BananaBoy! The way he explains things is just so easy to understand, I feel like a lot of pro players are in the category of "they can do it really well but cannot teach it if their life depended on it" but BananaBoy does a really good job at explaining things so that someone who doesn't know every little bit of terminology could still understand.
This video is a great starting point for having a basic game plan against each character. Great for myself as I only have this game for 5 months so I am still building my knowledge on each match up.
As a shulk main, I can confirm that this guide is completely accurate. If you call the arts monados, you will be put in disadvantage IRL.
Good video. If you really care, I'd highly recommend making a google doc where you have a list of every character. Then you can put in notes when you fight them with your main - BB's generalized notes are very good here, but making your own notes helps you internalize them, and making them tailored to being for your main can really help. At the very least, it's worth doing for some of your main's bad matchups. Helped me a lot.
Loved this. Is there any "how to play every character"? I know it is a much more complex thing, but still it would be useful to know the characters' main strengths and way of playing in a simple way: there are so many of them!
The best way to learn how to fight every character is to hit up the character discords and get practice matches. I feel like these short-bite sized nuggets of advice, while helpful for getting you out of 100k gsp, won't actually help you against an opponent who knows what they're doing, nor prepare you for what a character's kit actually does.
If hou havent, subscribe to this dude