Dealing with Ganondorf

[ThreeSided]

The 'Dorf is giving me trouble.

I know the match up is supposed to be in my favor, but I just can't seem to hold my own against a good Ganon. It's making me feel like this character is too good, which I know is definitely not the consensus of the community. It just feels like he has way too many fast moves. Any approach I make can be countered with SH-backFFL Fair. I can't pressure him effectively because half of his moves outprioritize mine, even his super fast jab and good tilts and Uair which end all that jazz. A good ganon doesn't throw out punishable moves in the neutral game unless they're for prediction, so if I try to stay back and bait and punish I do a little better but the neutral game feels horribly unbalanced. I can get two punishes for every one of his, but it doesn't matter because his moves/combos do 3 times as much damage as mine. Because I'm a fast faller he has no problem comboing me, and then all it takes is one good hit and I get blasted off beyond the point of recovery. In the air I can never seem to win, as his Uair seems to come out as fast as mine and far more powerful, and I swear to god his Dair seems to be just as fast as mine, though I can't for the life of me imagine why.

I'd like to tell myself that it's the input lag I'm dealing with, but I don't want to assume something like that. What am I supposed to do against this monster?

 

[ThreeSided]

Anyone? Anything? ;_;

 

[Matthew]

Hey, I am an Olimar main in PM, and I have trouble against ganon as well. I have noticed that Ganon's fair has a huge disjointed hitbox that is very dangerous, and when it is l-cancelled, it virtually has no endlag. I would suggest to try some mixups, such as running in and wavedashing backwards to bait in for a punish, or just run up, shield, let him hit it, and punish with an out of shield option. Another thing you could try is to run towards him and roll behind him to punish. Use Captain Falcons superior speed to dash dance, moonwalk, and wavedash to keep Ganon guessing about your next move.

 

[GeZ]

Just use superior movement.

Ganon is slow and relatively immobile so frustrating your opponent with your mobility will help. But besides that even, Ganon isn't all that hot. He's easily combo'd and has poor recovery, so short sequences of attacks to move him uncomfortably far from the stage and then hanging on to the ledge will get you the stock easily.

People really overhype how bad Ganon is. I really think he sits at low mid tier, but he is a good character for crushing the inexperienced. Not as a jab against anyone who has trouble with him, but Ganon as a character can really heavily punish other characters for gaps in their knowledge.

 

[-Fatality-]

Something else that's notable is Ganon's complete lack of quick OOS options, well spaced Nairs and what have you are so so safe against Ganon, provided he isn't CC'ing. Ganon can't reliably effectively approach you, so just use your mobility to try and push him into corners, and limit his options even further.

 

[dinn3rr]

Like everyone else said, use your mobility to the fullest. I main both Ganon AND Falcon, and Ganon has no real OoS moves that can reliably hit/punish Falcon straight OoS (instant uair is the fastest for ganon, it's still pretty slow compared to falcon).
Dashdancing, running towards them and WDashing back, hell, even moonwalking are good ways to make your movements unpredictable. If Ganon tries to read your movements, if you mix them up, he's likely to miss, giving you an opportunity to punish.
Spaced nairs will do good against Ganons who don't CC (barely any of them CC.)
I've heard the combo game vs. Ganon is really good, I can't verify.

As for combos, here's a good one:

Raptor Boost (Side-B) --> Uair (aerial) --> Uair (no jump, aerial) --> SHFFL Nair --> Knee

This combo works magic on big, slow characters like Ganon.

Hope this helps!

 

[Deleted member]

Dair like a mofo, punish the down b's, sidestep dodge the side b's, knee em.

As long as you're fast and have stage control as Falcon, Ganon won't be much trouble. I'd watch out for wizards kicks the most, because if he down grabs you and you tech to the direction he's facing, he'll always land the wizard's foot.

You also don't want to be offstage against a really good Ganon, his fair is ****ing scary.