Dealing with squirtle

[Mischief]

I've been having a lot of trouble dealing with the squirtle mu. Squirtles side b is pretty much the entire cause of this because it is essentially a free approach option. Grabbing it is hard to near impossible if the squirtle knows how to bait out moves, shield grabbing won't work because the attack passes through the shield. Attacking it sometimes works but it requires a very strong attack as the side b will superarmor anything weaker than a fsmash or tipped ftilt. Even with this, it is very hard to time and squirtle can instantly punish you for a mistimed attack. I've tried short hopping into dair, which sometimes works but more often than not it will miss and the squirtle will side b backwards. Countering can work, but I'm pretty sure we all know the problems with constantly throwing out counters.

I see no reliable, safe options for dealing with this attack, and I have yet to see a marth win when faced with a good squirtle.

 

[Commander]

You already listed good options. Ftilt, grab, etc.. You just need to become a better player and not fall for baits.

 

[shairn]

Squirtle's armor stops working after ~35%, so if you can't get anything started at first, get him up there and dtilt/ftilt through his side B.

Alternatively, facing away from squirtle and shielding allows you to grab him out of it and follow up with whatever.

 

[Sai_]

You can also use down B and counter anytime it does the side B.