TobiasXK
Smash Ace
Now, this is barely a technique worth having a name like that, really, but "cool squirtle mindgame" isn't a topic that I would even bother checking, because it sounds stupid and mindgames don't work like that. As is, though, I've just stolen the name of Bowser's sliding up+B, anyways.
In any case, I haven't seen much/any discussion of this (though admittedly I haven't read through all of these topics because Smashboards treats nodes like johns and I'm constantly getting "no nodes" errors when I try to come here), but I think it's worth noting.
I've been playing a lot of Squirtle, because I'm trying to play Squirtle/Charizard with as little Ivysaur as possible (Squirtle is adorable, Charizard is a dragon, Ivysaur is hideous).
And a major thing that I've noticed and come to use a lot in my matches with Hylian is Squirtle's amazing skid/turnaround. It's unique from the rest of the cast not only because it's really quick, but because its actual animation and mechanic is special. Squirtle withdraws into his shell and slides a bit forward before sliding back at basically full-speed.
It's a really strange motion when you actually see it, and has plenty of advantages. For one thing, Squirtle is already really small. And being in his shell makes him even smaller. The main reason I noticed and started putting practice into this "technique" was initially because I've had to play Hylian's Samus a lot, and he can like brickwall most characters' approaches with zair spam if he spaces/times it properly.
At first, I was dash->crawling under them, because unless he did it at the lowest possible height, it wouldn't hit me, and then as he started to get better at consistently hitting me no matter what I did, I tried mixing it up with skid approaches.
And it worked really really well.
Squirtle getting shorter makes him all the harder to hit, and since Squirtle in general is pretty quick and his skid barely lowers his momentum at all, it can becomes like the equivalent of the staple dash forward->wavedash back from Melee.
And moreover, you can interrupt different parts of the skid/turnaround by dashing or dash-canceling (in this game, Shielding), which gives Squirtle basically the utility of an actual dash dance, where you can alter distances, interrupt and attack, mix things up by "fox-trotting", etc.
For instance, you can dash forward, skid back and immediately dash forwards again, which'll cancel the skid animation and give you like a half-dash from the very front of the skid. Or you can wait a few frames before you do it, which will make you skid backwards for a little bit before the dash puts you right back at where the front of your skid was. ***This in particular is amazing, because you can dodge attacks this way and immediately retaliate.
You can also attack directly out of the skid after the beginning of the animation (you have to wait till Squirtle goes into the animation where he's coming out of his shell, which doesn't take too long really). If you want to attack behind you, just skid and cancel it into an attack. If you want to attack in front of you, you'll need to hold the control stick forward a bit as the skid occurs so you'll be facing the right direction when you come out of your shell.
One way that I've come to use this basically makes the equivalent of dash-dancing or wavedancing into an attack. You dash away from your opponent, skid to turn around and cancel it into an attack or grab.
This "technique" in general just gives you a fantastic amount of options. Squirtle's skid is incredibly versatile and adds a lot of depth to his approach and defensive games, which of course lead nicely into his **** turtlecombos.
EDIT:
SHORT VIDEO "TUTORIAL" UPLOADED: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yTMrFboN2I
ALSO, SQUIRTLE SUPERWAVEDASH FOUND!!!
OFFICIAL NAME: HYDROPLANING (naming credit to vericz)
It's in the video, but here's a quick rundown of how it works:
During Squirtle's turnaround animation, there's a part where you're in the shell and the animation for you coming out of the shell. At a certain time during the "coming out" animation, you can perform an Up Smash that will slide very far across the stage.
I can't check things frame-by-frame, so it's hard to describe the timing exactly, but I can do it pretty consistently by now and I believe that if you wait until after you're entirely out of your shell, it's too late and you'll just hyphen smash. Adversely, doing it while you're still in your shell completely will just cancel the skid animation into a standing upsmash.
I also have performed it at varying lengths and speeds. I think this has to do mostly with timing, but it could also factor in momentum, as many other parts of this game do, so as we all experiment with it more we'll probably learn more about the mechanics of it.
For now, though, it's just amazing, in my opinion.
In any case, I haven't seen much/any discussion of this (though admittedly I haven't read through all of these topics because Smashboards treats nodes like johns and I'm constantly getting "no nodes" errors when I try to come here), but I think it's worth noting.
I've been playing a lot of Squirtle, because I'm trying to play Squirtle/Charizard with as little Ivysaur as possible (Squirtle is adorable, Charizard is a dragon, Ivysaur is hideous).
And a major thing that I've noticed and come to use a lot in my matches with Hylian is Squirtle's amazing skid/turnaround. It's unique from the rest of the cast not only because it's really quick, but because its actual animation and mechanic is special. Squirtle withdraws into his shell and slides a bit forward before sliding back at basically full-speed.
It's a really strange motion when you actually see it, and has plenty of advantages. For one thing, Squirtle is already really small. And being in his shell makes him even smaller. The main reason I noticed and started putting practice into this "technique" was initially because I've had to play Hylian's Samus a lot, and he can like brickwall most characters' approaches with zair spam if he spaces/times it properly.
At first, I was dash->crawling under them, because unless he did it at the lowest possible height, it wouldn't hit me, and then as he started to get better at consistently hitting me no matter what I did, I tried mixing it up with skid approaches.
And it worked really really well.
Squirtle getting shorter makes him all the harder to hit, and since Squirtle in general is pretty quick and his skid barely lowers his momentum at all, it can becomes like the equivalent of the staple dash forward->wavedash back from Melee.
And moreover, you can interrupt different parts of the skid/turnaround by dashing or dash-canceling (in this game, Shielding), which gives Squirtle basically the utility of an actual dash dance, where you can alter distances, interrupt and attack, mix things up by "fox-trotting", etc.
For instance, you can dash forward, skid back and immediately dash forwards again, which'll cancel the skid animation and give you like a half-dash from the very front of the skid. Or you can wait a few frames before you do it, which will make you skid backwards for a little bit before the dash puts you right back at where the front of your skid was. ***This in particular is amazing, because you can dodge attacks this way and immediately retaliate.
You can also attack directly out of the skid after the beginning of the animation (you have to wait till Squirtle goes into the animation where he's coming out of his shell, which doesn't take too long really). If you want to attack behind you, just skid and cancel it into an attack. If you want to attack in front of you, you'll need to hold the control stick forward a bit as the skid occurs so you'll be facing the right direction when you come out of your shell.
One way that I've come to use this basically makes the equivalent of dash-dancing or wavedancing into an attack. You dash away from your opponent, skid to turn around and cancel it into an attack or grab.
This "technique" in general just gives you a fantastic amount of options. Squirtle's skid is incredibly versatile and adds a lot of depth to his approach and defensive games, which of course lead nicely into his **** turtlecombos.
EDIT:
SHORT VIDEO "TUTORIAL" UPLOADED: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yTMrFboN2I
ALSO, SQUIRTLE SUPERWAVEDASH FOUND!!!
OFFICIAL NAME: HYDROPLANING (naming credit to vericz)
It's in the video, but here's a quick rundown of how it works:
During Squirtle's turnaround animation, there's a part where you're in the shell and the animation for you coming out of the shell. At a certain time during the "coming out" animation, you can perform an Up Smash that will slide very far across the stage.
I can't check things frame-by-frame, so it's hard to describe the timing exactly, but I can do it pretty consistently by now and I believe that if you wait until after you're entirely out of your shell, it's too late and you'll just hyphen smash. Adversely, doing it while you're still in your shell completely will just cancel the skid animation into a standing upsmash.
I also have performed it at varying lengths and speeds. I think this has to do mostly with timing, but it could also factor in momentum, as many other parts of this game do, so as we all experiment with it more we'll probably learn more about the mechanics of it.
For now, though, it's just amazing, in my opinion.
I like "shelldashing" better. It sounds cool and it gives a hint to what it actually does.
