B!squick
Smash Master
Best regards go out to Koopa Domain, the original source of the above edited picture.
=Contents=
- Updates
- The Shield
-Out of Shield Options - The Klaw and Infinite Jumping
-Surviving A Bowsercide - The Ledge
-Grounded Fortress to Ledge Grab: The Details - Bowser Bomb Do's and Don't's
- Ways to Recover
- Ways to Prevent Recovering
- More Approach Options
- BOWSER IS NOT SLOW
- Platforms
-The Klaw Drop - Know Your Limitations
- Bowser's Survivability
Note: Please inform me of any mistakes, new techs, new strategies, your own techs, your own strategies, and what have ya, more approach options especially. This is not meant to be a me only guide. Bowser can do some cool stuff and other than a move list diagnostic, I personally didn't find the Three Guide topic very useful. Plus, they lacked lots of pretty colors.
~Updates~
-2/23/09-Added funny picture, moved yellow text, and added update section... yes, I was bored.
-2/24/09-Moved some things around, corrected a few mistakes, changed some colors. More importantly: added Contents and More Approach Options sections as well added a bit more info to the Surviving A Bowsercide sub section and explained how to cancel momentum in the Ways to Recover section.
-3/26/09-Added the sweet pic, props to MrEh for finding it. Moved old pic to the bottom.
-3/26/09(Part 2)-Basically added in an explanation for why DAir, though not the fastest aerial, is best for vertical momentum canceling. Thanks to Buuman for beginning the chain of events that led to MrEh's test and explanation.
-3/26/09(Part 3)-Additional tests on vertical DI momentum canceling show inconsistencies. Stay tuned.
-4/2/09-[IMPORTANT UPDATE!] Bowser is not as slow as you think, so quit it with the freakin' "kadurr, boozer is slow" please, thank you!
-4/21/09-Finally got around to an update that should have happened sooner. My appologies. I explain how important platforms are as well as adding an EXTREMELY useful link in the section about ledges.
-4/27/09-Was bored and went into MSPaint to make a snazzy new custom picture. Also, I changed the name. What was formerly "Bowser Techs and General Strategies" is now "MORE POWER!: A Bowser Technical and General Strategy Guide."
-5/11/09-My job gives me lots of free time to think and I played human beings for the first time in eons. Both combined gave me the idea for the latest chapter in my ever expanding guide. 'Know Your Limitations'.
-12/28/09-No longer stickied, but still more awesome than the stickied guide, I do some learning on all forms of DI, momentum shifting, and whatnot. With my new knowledge, I am able to expand more on the 'Ways to Recover' section. As well, Opera now has a spell checker, so I fix some mistakes here and there. Oh yeah, and I talk about 'Bowser's Survivability'.
~The Shield~
Before you learn or try to do anything else with Bowser, you must learn to shield. This is probably thee most important aspect of Bowser's game other than all the fun stuff he can do after a grab release (see Vex's Grab Release Thread for more details ). One of the best ways to get a grab release combo started is by using your shield. Besides this, it also helps off set Bowser's massive size since his shield is also massive. It makes projectile spam almost null and once you get the hang of Power Shielding attacks, it makes matches against, say, Link, a breeze.
Approach Option: Dash -> Shield or better yet Power Shield X attack, rinse and repeat until close to opponent.
Grabbing out of shield brings me to my next point, OoS or -Out of Shield Options- which includes:
- Jab - It's fast, it has range, and keeps people from being uncomfortably close to you.
- FTilt/Forward Tilt - Much like Jab only a bit more powerful.
- Grab - See above for more.
- UpB/Fortress - It's wicked quick, has INVINCIBILITY frames, and will even kill at higher percents. It has a slight cool down after use make sure you don't end the move too close to your opponent. It's a safe attack, not a combo starter.
- DTilt/Down Tilt - Lots of horizontal knock back with this one. It attacks twice to make sure that anything in front of you is no longer there, but here again it has some after lag so try not to miss.
- UTilt/Up Tilt - It will only really hit the taller characters from the front, but if you can angle the joy stick just right so that you turn away from your opponent first you'll hit them with the back part of Bowser's swing. But that's against grounded opponents. It works much better against the airbourne kind.
- SideB/Klaw - Not the fastest of attacks nor the best of OoS options, but a useful one none the less.
- DownB/Bowser Bomb - Careful when you use this. If you press down before you let go of the shield button you'll do a Spot Dodge and Bowser's Spot Dodge isn't very good. It's also worth noting that the second hit of the attack can be Air Dodged, but it's VERY unlikely that this attack will be expected. Some landing lag after this one, so save it for a surprise KO. Also, it seems that a Jab -> DownB will break full shields.
~The Klaw and Infinite Jumping~
As previously stated, it's not the fastest of attacks. However, the hit box for it is horribly disjointed and even reaches downward somewhat from the air. In fact, it looks like he uses the Force or something when he grabs with this, or that a bellowed "GET OVER HERE!" should be in order.
Approach Option: (Read on)
Now, the infinite jump has many names: Klaw Hopping, Koopa Hopping, whatever, it's simply the SideB Inifinate Second Jump Recovery or ISJR. Personally, I like the term Klaw Hopping the most. Anyway, performing this is ridiculously easy and from what I can tell, the easiest infinate jump to perform. Simply Jump, SideB before landing when near the ground, Jump again, repeat as long as you want and have ground to "jump" from. The beauty of this is that you can jump again at any point during the SideB animation, so long as you're near the ground. Here's a handy vid showing it in action as well as the things you can do while airbourne. Please note however that the name is a little misleading. You don't actually recover your second jump with this. A better way to describe it is that you're jumping infinitely and laglessly with SideB at the cost of your second jump.
In addition, it's great to just jump and come at your opponent with a Klaw. It's landing lag is a neglegible 3 frames and being a grab, that means that your opponent can't shield it. It has some start up lag, so it's probable that your opponent will see you coming. However, it's range is sick and thus proper spacing will make this unimportant. Now, what this all means is that when Bowser is flying at them and reaching for their face, their options are few:
- Get out of the way - A backwards roll would probably be their best bet. The disjointed hitbox of Klaw makes this the only real safe option. If they roll towards you, make them eat a DSmash if they're REALLY close because DSmash has a horrible hitbox and you can be grabbed out it, or if they're further away a Filt, Dtilt, Fortress, or even a FSmash (if you think you can land it) are good alternatives. NEVER try to SH a BAir. It may be quick and have good range, but if you miss your opponent will make you cry.
- Spot Dodge - I separated this from the 'Get out of the way' section because it is the most favorable for you. The almost non existant landing lag of Klaw means that you're opponent has most likely just given you a free attack, the safest, as always, being Fortress, or a Grab, which is very win.
- Attack! - Now it becomes a question of can they hit you before you give them a flipping, flopping, Koopa hug of doom. Chances are they probably wont.
When grabbed, keep in mind that whoever has the lowest percent gets to control where you land on them.
-Surviving A Bowsercide-
Apparently, you're supposed to mash the jump button and then get saved by a stage change or gimick. I can't get this to work, but I usually don't get a chance to Bowsercide anyway. Here's a vid of it in action. My suggestion, besides practice, is to pay attention to when he starts and when the stage changes. I'm sure if you can get the timing perfect you don't even have to jump at all.
~The Ledge~
The ledge is awesome for Bowser. Simply dropping, jumping, and either Up or Down Bing to the ledge will give you near constant invincibility frames. In addition, it's possible to attack with FAir, UAir, and SideB from the ledge and simply UpBing back up to the laedge. You can even FAir onto the stage from the ledge and tests have suggested DAir to be an even better option with the draw back being a guaranteed death if you don't make it back to the ledge.
But how do to get to the ledge? Well, besides the obvious, which is recovering, a couple useful tactics and edge guarding maneuvers would be a grounded DownB and Fortress from the stage. When DownBing, just make sure you're close enough to miss landing on the stage, but far enough away so that you don't miss the ledge itself. Fortress requires a bit more than learning where to stand...
-Grounded Fortress to Ledge Grab: The Details-
At first, I decided that this was too ridiculously hard to pull off to ever want to attempt in a real match. Very rarely was I able to Fortress just off stage and grab the ledge... then I turned around and it was suddenly ridiculously easy!
Now, when you Fortress off the ledge, of course you need to DI up and toward the ledge for the best chance at grabbing the ledge. Too early and you stay on the stage. Too late and you freefall. For whatever reason, if your facing the ledge/outward/away from the stage center when you start, it's nigh impossible to grab the ledge. When facing the away from the ledge/inward/the stage center, it suddenly becomes a challenge to miss the ledge. In fact, the only times when I miss the ledge when starting with my back to it are when I'm too close to it (like, on top of it) and I assume the invincibility frames last long enough to keep me from grabbing, or when I start off too far off and the freefall kicks in as I'm going off stage.
So to recap: Face AWAY from ledge -> Fortress -> Spin off stage -> IMMEDIATELY DI up and towards the ledge.
This a very useful tech because it turns an extremely safe move into an ENTIRELY safe move, so long as you don't miss the ledge. Not only that, but it looks epic if you successfully edge hog with this.
As well, Liquid Gen started up a very useful Metagame and Advancement thread which, as of this update, is currently discussing Bowser's ledge game in far greater detail than what you'll find here. I strongly suggest giving it a looksee here.
~Bowser Bomb Do's and Don't's~
A common mistake that people make when they're just starting out with Bowser is DownBing to the stage when their opponent is below them. NEVER EVER DO THIS! Even a noob will probably see it coming, get out of the way, and then make you eat a FSmash. Generally, this means an Ike FSmash where noobs are concerned. And that's really really bad for you. But I shouldn't say never. If your opponent is prone to using laggy moves and/or is generally bad, a Bowser Bomb from the sky may be in order. All other times you'll be taking massive damage because of your whiff and cursing under your breath.
You should be using DownB in one of two situations: OoS and to a ledge.
Though keep in mind that some UAirs will beat the Bowser Bomb.
Also, I would like to point out, on the off chance that you missed it in the section about the shield, that a Jab -> DownB will break any full shield. You can thank Lord Bowser for bringing this bit of info to light.
~Ways to Recover~
NEW! Okay, just go here for all the details on how to survive and the best ways to DI multi hit moves. And please, even if you think you know (like I did), go there anyway if you haven't already. There's a good chance you'll learn something about DI you didn't already know.
In a nutshell though, the crossed out section had it mostly right. DI to the corners of the blast zones, use FAir to get out of the first part of hitstun, fast fall if the knock back is vertical, jump if it's horizontal. If you are unsure which way you facing and are thus afraid of doing a BAir and not a FAir, UAir instead as it is almost as fast as FAir.
So, now that you're moving back towards the stage, here are some ways to get back to the ground safely:
- When high above the stage, just aim for the ledge and DownB.
- When low, make the most of Fortress and use it if they try to gimp you. Try to hold off using it for as long as possible. NOTE!: Certain characters a great at gimping because they can beat even the mighty Fortress. To my knowledge, the only characters you should worry about in this department are Mario and Ganondorf. If you know from experience of any characters with moves that will beat Fortress off stage, please inform me.
- Usually though, you'll be knocked off stage and might not even need to use your second jump, let alone Fortress. If he's waiting at the ledge, SideB as you fall past or onto the stage depending the spacing. If you can Fast Fall or FF it, even better, but you don't have to. What this does is makes it so that most of the time your opponent will have to let you back on the stage, or risk getting cuddled Bowser style. Due to slight start up lag and the slight downward hitbox you'll have to start the move a bit higher than you might think.
- Same goes for if they leave the stage and attempt to attack you directly, Klaw them, though depending on the match up and the situation it's probably better to just Air Dodge past.
~Ways to Prevent Recovering~
- BAir is usually your best bet here.
- FAir works nice too.
- If low or if a space animal, Firebreath for the win.
~More Approach Options~
- SHed FAir is nice approach. If you FAir early enough in the jump, you land without any lag leaving you free to Jab, FTilt, Fortress, Shield, Grab, whatever.
- SHed ADs or Air Dodges could work in some situations, but it's not as effective as simply Dashing and Shielding.
- Spaced FTilts and Jabs also work well. Firebreath can too, but it's dependent on who your facing.
~BOWSER IS NOT SLOW~
This is taken from the match up thread in regards to Bowser's speed:
I'll repeat, Bowser is not slow. This is NOT a valid arguement for anyone playing against Bowser unless their name is Sonic, so feel free to laugh in their face whenever you hear it.
~Platforms~
Platforms are a really important part of Bowser's game. They act as a barrier against projectiles and give you a pretty safe position to attack your opponent from. If your opponent happens to be standing/landing on one, you're realatively free to attack them with any number of things:
- FAir
- BAir
- UAir
- UTilt
- USmash
Now, should you find yourself stuck on a platform yourself, a good method to get off it is to leap and Air Dodge to safety or Fortress off of it, OoS if need be. Another possibility is this recently discovered tech...
-The Klaw Drop-
By now we should all know how to Klaw Hop. Simply Klaw and Jump before landing. Well, as it turns out, if you're on a platform you fall through you can instead tap down on the control stick to pass through the platform. Not only do you regain your second jump with this, but it also allows you to seamlessly perform any aerial or special from a platform cancelled Klaw.
This is a pretty new AT though and much testing still needs to be done. Hopefully in the near future I'll have a complete list of things you can do, but the simplist is to simply tap A as you tap down for a surprise DAir.
~Know Your Limitations~
After playing some smash offline for what feels like the first time, I noticed what also feels like the first time a few flaws that Bowser has. You need to be always aware of these flaws if you want to get anywhere with Bowser.
Now, it doesn't take a legend of Smash to notice that Bowser's attacks come with a bit of lag, mostly due to the obnoxiously long animations; the ammount of time it takes for the hitboxes to appear is actually somewhat faster than Captain Falcon.
No, no, the chink in Bowser's armor I need to point out are the hitboxes themselves. For such a large character, Bowser has some annoyingly small hitboxes. Others of comparable size such as DeDeDe and DK you'll notice have much better hitboxes for their size and a BAir that puts Bowser's entire aerial game to shame. While Bowser has the best projectile between the three (I've seriously been thinking lately that I need to Firebreath more) that actually deals great damage and has a pretty great range for something that's a stream of well sized hitboxes, this is of little concern as pretty much the entire cast can either move back and shoot with a much better projectile or just jump over it and punch Bowser while he's in the throes of his ending animation lag. The only other move of note is The Klaw which is better than Bowser's regular grab for its range alone and more so for it's versitility.
While only a suedo-fighting that doesn't have much to do with true combos anymore, this is still a fighting game. The faster attacker is generally better and when you look at Bowser's range, for his size, I find that Bowser falls into an ackward gap.
Going back to the hitboxes, another large problem Bowser has is his air game and more specifically the area beneath him while he's in the air. The animation length for DAir is 77 frames if you don't land (just over a second), hits on frame 14 (only UAir is slower, but it ends alot sooner), and has a range that almost makes DSmash look decent (almost... well, okay, not really >.>). FAir is quick but lacks range and this is due partly because of Marth, a much more popular character. BAir has great range, but you can't short hop it. Despite the frame 16-19 hitbox, UAir has pretty good range and short hopping into a Klaw Hop boosted UAir can catch people by surprize. Even NAir, with it's bad range and noticably longer animation for a NAir is good for use around short platforms, cancelling projectiles, or just to give Bowser some breathing room, is still better than his DAir despite not being that good of a move either. Bowser's only safe option when this happens is to get over a ledge and DownB or chance it with an air dodge to the ground. Depending on the character you may want go with the air dodge. Either way, Bowser is in a bad position when that happens and even a simple short hop could have disastrous consequences.
In short, remember to always always ALWAYS space your attacks. Unless you're playing Meta Knight.
Oh, and if Bowser was meant to fly he'd have his Koopa Clown Car with him. Stay out of the air if you can avoid it.~Bowser's Survivability~
Having hopefully read the link I provided above in my revision of the 'Ways to Recover' section, we should all be on the same page. If not, here it is again.
Now, what this means is that overall, Bowser is extremely good at surviving. You could argue that someone like DeDeDe would be better because he weights alot too, but also has a super fast aerial (BAir), which mean faster recovery from hitstun and should THEN be better at dealing with knock back.
However, this is only half the story. This should hold true for vertical knock back, though I am unsure if the faster attack fully compensates for Bowser's additional weight, this should not hold up when it comes to horizontal knock back. This is because jumping to counter act the knock back takes into account your drift or aerial speed, which you should already know if you looked at that article I linked to. And DeDeDe has the worst drift speed in the game, while Bowser has the 9th best.
I have said on many occasions said that only G&W should be living longer than Bowser. The answer to the question of, is that true or not is yes... and no.
While it true that DeDeDe's faster aerial means that he can get out of hitstun quicker, this matters less and less the more knock back you actually have. Which is why I believe that at higher percents, due to being the fattest of the fatties, Bowser would have the best shot at surviving.
It is then by extension that I suggest this: become more aggressive as you take damage; take more risks. At first it may seem like a stupid idea to put yourself in harms way more often at higher percents, but knowing what I do know about knock back and DI, I think it's a legit strategy.
Thanks go out to:
-NinjaLink, Sliq, and Vex Kasrani for showing me what an awesome Bowser looks like.
-Uraj, Dynamism?, Liquid Gen, and Me14k for the guide(s) that served as an insparation.
-3GOD for the frame data.
-MrEh, Liquid Gen (again), Lord Bowser, Crzy, bowser king, LinIsKorean, Phiddlesticks, Blistering Speed, Spadefox, Commander Blitzkrieg, itsthebigfoot and others for the Bowser banter and other such mostly useful nonsense.
