Is moonwalking "essential" tech?

[Spazzy]

Is moonwalking essential to learn? I personally think it is but always been to lazy to practice it. It is another movement option and most essential tech like wavedashing and shield dropping and stuff like that are movement options. So I'm just curious, is it actually really helpful in play or could wavedashing just cover it?

 

[gmBottles]

It isn't necessary, it's just used for mixups. Mainly just for Falcon.

 

[SAUS]

It's not that important. There are a few cases that it's okay as a way to try to trick your opponent (moonwalk at their shield to see if they try to attack you). The only time I really use it is with captain falcon for edge guarding. You can do a full-speed running jump off the edge backwards and throw out a bair, and then if they jump above you to avoid it, you can jump up and up-air and hit them with the back hitbox to send them outward. That said, I don't know if that is even necessary since you can do basically the same thing jumping forward with a knee.

 

[Spazzy]

It isn't necessary, it's just used for mixups. Mainly just for Falcon.

But aren't mixups very helpful to play? And it's helpful with all characters it seems like, for example I can't get the clip now but at Big House 4, Mango moonwalked with fox to K.O. Armada.

 

[gmBottles]

But aren't mixups very helpful to play? And it's helpful with all characters it seems like, for example I can't get the clip now but at Big House 4, Mango moonwalked with fox to K.O. Armada.

Sure, it's helpful. But that doesn't make it necessary. For example, Borp uses no tech and still does well.

 

[Spazzy]

So are you saying that movement options in general are not really necessary to become better in higher level of play?

 

[gmBottles]

So are you saying that movement options in general are not really necessary to become better in higher level of play?

I'm saying that it isn't necessary, but it is helpful. You don't have to learn it to do well, but you can do better with it.

 

[Spazzy]

IYou don't have to learn it to do well, but you can do better with it.

So why wouldn't you want to learn something if it makes you better?

 

[gmBottles]

So why wouldn't you want to learn something if it makes you better?

I already know it, you can learn it if you want to.

 

[Spazzy]

​

 

[SAUS]

So why wouldn't you want to learn something if it makes you better?

You also have to prioritise things. You can't just move to the next advanced technique every time you master one. At some point, you have to play the game for what it is (ie make your opponent dead while keeping yourself not dead).

Just don't get caught learning all the little advanced techniques when you could learn something that makes you leaps and bounds better like DI or option coverage/decision making or even learning moonwalking before wavedashing or something. It's kind of useful (having any amount more options - even if they are bad 99% of the time - will make you better at the game), but it is low priority.

 

[-ACE-]

Who would want more options at their disposal? Not me, that sounds awful.

 

[MookieRah]

The thing about moonwalking is that, outside of a few characters that have good moonwalks, it doesn't really help. It's a "mindgame" tech, that relies on tricking your opponent. To my knowledge, outside of Falcon, I don't think there are setups that require moonwalking in order to be effective.

What moonwalk is good for, aka has a totally legit use:
Grabbing the ledge quickly while facing towards the ledge (with applicable characters)
Boosting your momentum for off-stage edge guarding (with applicable characters)

All of the other uses are gimmicks at best, and honestly only Falcon can really make something of it in a real way.

Unless the two things I mention are something your character gains from, moonwalking isn't something that gives you anything terribly beneficial. It doesn't give you more options, as it suffers from all the same limitations that dashing/running has. It's tricky, and it can trip someone up, but that can also backfire in your face. It's cool as hell, so lots of people learn it for that, but you are better off actually working on micro-spacing with wavedashes.*

* Controlled wavedash lengths that allow you to move the space you need without over-extending while keeping your options open.

 

[Scuba Steve]

It's essential for styling

 

[X WaNtEd X]

i'd recommend learning it if you are a falcon or ganon. otherwise it is not nearly as important, but there's no reason not to learn it. i just wouldn't put it as high on a priority list of tech to learn outside of falcon/ganon.

 

[zuloon]

i'd recommend learning it if you are a falcon or ganon. otherwise it is not nearly as important, but there's no reason not to learn it. i just wouldn't put it as high on a priority list of tech to learn outside of falcon/ganon.

>You said falcon/ganon mains should learn moonwalking
>What is your rationale for this?

 

[-ACE-]

>You said falcon/ganon mains should learn moonwalking
>What is your rationale for this?

He forgot to mention Fox/falco. It's about pivoting without sacrificing momentum (actually increasing it), mindgames, and style. People seem to assume that you forfeit options when you moonwalk, when in reality you can do almost anything out of it. You don't have to finish the animation; it can serve as a good bait.

 

[X WaNtEd X]

>You said falcon/ganon mains should learn moonwalking
>What is your rationale for this?

falcon and ganon can move pretty far with their moonwalks and have pretty good options out of it. bair and reverse fair out of a moonwalk are pretty good with falcon. also moonwalking behind someone's shiled into a grab is a good mixup you can do pretty easily with falcon. and because you move so far out of a moonwalk with falcon, it's a great movement option to have in your pocket.

as for ganon, you unfortunately do not get as much mileage out of it as falcon. you still have it as a movement tool, which you really need to make the most of to play ganon well as he is super slow without wavelands. moonwalking can allow you to get the ledge quicker, enhance the hitbox of a boost grab (i think, i just read about this today actually) and space some aerials in certain situations.

and as ace said, i probably should've mentioned fox and falco. because there's so much tech to learn with the spacies compared to ganon and falcon i wouldn't put it up as high on a priority list of things to learn. but i'm not a space animal player so my opinion on that is questionable.

 

[xbombr]

The main things it helps with are movement mixups and feinting a dash dance into something offensive and surprise bair approaches. As others have mentioned, characters like Falcon, who have longer moonwalks, get more mileage out of it. You can also chain it into wavedashes pretty effectively on some characters, adding more variation to their movement.

I wouldn't say it's essential tech like l-cancelling or something, but it's definitely a nice movement trick to have up your sleeve for some mind games or to facilitate an otherwise difficult/impossible approach. I would say it's definitely something to learn if you feel like you've got the basics down.

 

[EddyBearr]

If you don't wanna have moonwalking be a core component of your game, then just play as Game & Watch.

 

[theMagnumDragon]

No. It is no more important than the ability to multishine more than twice. Adds utility to your character though

 

[SwiftOfDaSouth]

No. It is no more important than the ability to multishine more than twice. Adds utility to your character though

MagDrag how u so new and how u so wise at same time???

 

[JNova]

Yes, it is.
Swagging on your opponent is an essential skill to demoralize your opponent and pretending that you're better than you actually are

 

[SwiftOfDaSouth]

Yes, it is.
Swagging on your opponent is an essential skill to demoralize your opponent and pretending that you're better than you actually are

Concurrences to this statement have been made on my end. Jolly good show!

 

[Massive]

Moonwalking is completely unnecessary to any level of play.

It doesn't really add any options you don't already have, it really just lets you do the same thing with some flair. Practice it if you want, but realize that it's not going to make you any better than you already are.

 

[EddyBearr]

Moonwalking is completely unnecessary to any level of play.

It doesn't really add any options you don't already have, it really just lets you do the same thing with some flair. Practice it if you want, but realize that it's not going to make you any better than you already are.

It allows for the deepest possible bair from fox/falco while edgeguarding. There is utility in this. Likewise, it works great as a feint.
It's not necessary, but it does add options you didn't already have.

 

[victra♥]

Honestly I would be careful with moonwalking. I've gone through a few controllers because my control stick would just get wrecked (gets loose, rubber comes off etc)

 

[Spak]

Honestly I would be careful with moonwalking. I've gone through a few controllers because my control stick would just get wrecked (gets loose, rubber comes off etc)

My rubber fell off about 4 years ago and I couldn't afford a new controller, so I just got used to it.