Overview:
Snake from Metal Gear Solid joins the Brawl! With extremely broken powers of camping and not dying, he’s a tough matchup. Using his beardly awesomeness to aid him in battle Snake is second on the tier list, but by copying his beard, you can achieve a camping power that surpasses even his own.
Pros+Cons:
+Extremely heavy, making him very difficult to outright KO.
+Camping can force Kirby to approach, which is something Kirby rarely wants to do.
-Kirby is one of the best characters at gimping Snake.
-Heaviness makes him susceptible to aerial juggling.
Watch out for:
Utilt – His utilt has extremely broken range (it outranges every aerial approach you have, except final cutter) and extremely broken power. If hit by it, DI behind Snake to live longer.
Ftilt – It can do a maximum of 21% damage if both hits make contact, and is Snake’s main punishing move.
Usmash – His usmash is a 2-hit attack, one hit with the mortar and one with the small projectile it pushes out. It can be used in a DACUS for a very long range attack, and a smart Snake will use it near the edge when you are recovering.
Pivot Grabs – Snake’s pivot grabs are very broken, much like his weight.
Dthrow & Follow-ups – Snakes dthrow does a decent amount of damage and he can chase you very well do to your slow roll and short roll distance.
How to win:
Get Him in the Air – Snake is afraid of being in the air. All his aerials are too slow to counter yours, which means a jugglefest. Deal damage to him while you can, and expect to take quite a bit when he falls down to earth.
DI His Dair, Nair and Jab– Snake’s dair and nair are 4-hit moves, the last hit being a powerful KO move, and his jab is a 3-hit move with large knockback on the 3rd hit. Make sure to DI them so you don’t get hit by the KOing part.
Inhale Him Out of the Cypher – Inhaling Snake out of the cypher and not spitting him out acts the same as a grab. Jump offstage towards the end of the inhale duration. Either you get a footstool on him, or he DI’s horizontally and can’t bomb jump, resulting in death.
Copy His Power– This probably seems a little confusing, given the previous point, but copying grenades makes winning so much easier. See Spit or Swallow (next section) for more talk about each.
Keep Track of C4 and Mine – Make sure to remember where his C4 and mine are, and if you can, take a look at the clock when he plants a C4. It’ll blow up in ~27 seconds on its own.
Mix up Between Fthrow and Dthrow at the Beginning of Stocks – Snake can pull a ‘nade in each of these cases which will explode after any follow-ups (except aerial hammer after fthrow), but if you read that he’s going to do these, we can get follow-ups on him (inhale after a Dthrow if he pulls a ‘nade, hammer after fthrow if he pulls one…). It eventually becomes a game of mix-ups between pulling a ‘nade or not for Snake and how to attack for Kirby.
Fight for 4th Port – The person in the “better” port (1<2<3<4) won’t get knocked back after a ‘nade explodes and one person is grabbing the other. Kirby is in a perfect position to be hit after a ‘nade explodes if he’s in an inferior port to Snake.
Effectively Use FC’s Projectile – FC’s projectile can blow up Snake’s ‘nades and mines, though expect to have a grenade thrown at you during the long ending lag.
Spit out or Swallow?
Either one has its large advantages. Kirby is even better with ‘nades than Snake, and can camp like the best. You can also use them to deal damage and still live after being hit by a KO attack, if you read your opponent correctly. Be careful about shield-dropped ‘nades: if you wait too long, they will slide out of your reach.
Inhale is also good, because it means an instant gimp on Snake if you can get him in your mouth (it counts as a grab, and grabbing his cypher without pummeling it doesn’t give him it back).
If you’re at medium-high %’s, copy grenades. If he’s at medium-high %’s (where an fsmash would knock him far enough for him to need his upb), spit. Whichever you feel more comfortable with, in general.
Also note that Snake can hit you with the first hit of his dair out of a swallow.
What NOT to do: (more to be added later!)
Approach From the Air at High %’s – Snake’s utilt outranges every air approach you have, except maybe final cutter, which is even more easily punished.
Inhale Riskily – Utilt outranges inhale, meaning that you need to be sure you can hit with it before using it.
Stages (in order of priority):
Rainbow Cruise - Snake is unable to camp very effectively and is often forced into the air, a good scenario for you. Expect Snake to ban it.
Jungle Japes – High ceiling negates utilt kills, the water current hates Snake and your Kirbyciding is very effective here. Just be aware that his explosives are harder to see on this stage.
PS1 - Snake in general does poorly on this stage, and you in general do well. There's a chance that both RC and JJ will be banned, and if they are, this is your go-to.
Lylat Cruise - Snake has good stage control and pressuring (grenades work wonders at pressuring, especially on the platforms), but the stage can mess up his recovery and he can be ninja spiked. It's not a great stage to take him to, but it's not that bad if you end up here.
Brinstar - Close sides in all directions allow for extremely low % kills, he has a cg on the bridge and the acid can save him from gimps.
Halberd – Low ceiling and wide blastzones are the exact opposite of what Kirby wants, while Snake can kill easily. Ban it.
Neutrals: Ranked and Explained:
Key: Blue=Good, Red=Bad.
Yoshi's Island - Snake's least-abusable neutral, and a stage which is arguably one of your better neutrals. You can jump off after inhaling Snake with your face towards the stage for a guaranteed footstool. Pick it, unless PS1 is neutral.
Smashville - Slightly smaller than FD, but the moving platform allows for moving explosives. Try not to take him here.
Battlefield - Platforms aid camping and it's one of Kirby's worst and Snake's best neutrals.
Final Destination - Game summary: Grenade, Grenade, Nikita, plant mine, Snake-Dash, rinse, repeat. Stage strike it. NOW.
Synopsis:
Snake is like DK in that he has some characteristics (large & heavy) that Kirby likes and some that he dislikes (good camper, powerful killer), but worse overall. It’s hard for Kirby to get in, but once he does, Snake is in for some %’s, but Snake can deal a lot of damage to Kirby before he gets in. It’s an uphill matchup, but it’s still possible.
