Overswarm
is laughing at you
- Joined
- May 4, 2005
- Messages
- 21,181
Page 1. General Gameplay Tips
-ROB moveset and its uses
-ATs you need to know and their uses
-ROBs natural weaknesses and how to get around them
-ROBs natural strengths and how to abuse them
-Soulcrushing
-Brick Wall Tactics
-How to develop your playstyle
-How to remain in control even when on the defensive
-Stages overview
Mindgames, tricks, and commonly used tactics
Page 2. Character matchups
Difficulty
Appearance Rate
Returning
Edgeguarding
Approaching
Defending
Stages to Ban
Stages to Counterpick
Possible secondaries you may want to consider
Synopsis
Page 3
Reinventing ROB: A new skeleton to build off of
Character list for matchups:
Mario
DK
Link
Samus
Zamus
Kirby
Fox
Pikachu
Marth
Mr. Game & Watch
Luigi
Diddy Kong
Zelda
Sheik
Pit
Metaknight
Falco
Pokémon Trainer
Ike
Snake
Peach
Yoshi
Ganondorf
Ice Climbers
King Dedede
Wolf
Lucario
Ness
Sonic
Bowser
Wario
Toon Link
R.O.B.
Olimar
Captain Falcon
Jigglypuff
Lucas
ROB's moveset
Smashes
F-smash
Advantages: The f-smash can be angled up or down, giving it the wonderful ability to hit enemies that are crouching or jumping. It comes out incredibly quickly, looks awesome, and has low lag. Because of its low lag, a neat mindgame is to simply charge the forward smash, let it go, and then f-smash again; your opponent will often run into it!
Disadvantages: The range is very slight, and it's power isn't amazing.
Primary uses: To knock someone off the edge so they can be edgeguarded. This can occasionally be used as a KO move, but only if it is completely fresh; you have better options for KOs.
D-smash
Advantages: quick to come out, perfect amount of knockback for setups, little lag, easily done out of a spotdodge, and can often shield poke. When the opponent DIs out of it, if he does it at the wrong time it often sets up for another d-smash.
Disadvantages: can rarely kill off the top unless fresh, can be DIed out of by simply holding up, and it is almost always expected by your opponent.
Uses: To set someone up for a u-air or fair, or to use out of a spot dodge or roll so as to remove the enemy from your vicinity
U-smash
Advantages: Very fast, very strong, kills off the top
Disadvantages: very limited killing area, cannot be comboed into reliably when opponent is at kill %, cannot reliably hit a grounded opponent, and is the easiest move to read in the game. You KNOW when ROB is going for a u-smash.
Uses: KO. This is especially useful against characters such as D3 that often recover high on the stage.
Tilts
F-tilt
Advantages: Fast, can be angled, high priority, easily combos into itself, can push the enemy out of range for easy spamming opportunities
Disadvantages: Very difficult to KO with, does low damage
Uses: as a "get away" move or a move to punish opponents that faily slightly in their spacing. The range of this move is deceptive; abuse it!
U-tilt
Advantages: Quick, good for setups, has small hitboxes on the side that combo into the main hitbox
Disadvantages: long enough animation to leave you open for attack if you miss, gives the enemy enough room to DI so that this isn't a reliable move to combo from all the time, has to be done when you are very near the opponent
Uses: Is a great set-up for u-smash or u-air
D-tilt
Advantages: Quick, has an extremely large chance to trip an opponent, can be used as a "jab lock", and combos easily
Disadvantages: Does low damage, can be inconsistent due to enemy DI at times
Uses: as a quick attack inbetween others, often used to combo into d-smash or a grab
Dash Attack
Early Dash Attack
This is when you hit the front of their frame with the dash attack.
Advantages: Sets up for combos easily
Disadvantages: Allows you to be shield grabbed easily
Uses: combos into u-tilt often
Late Dash Attack
This is when you hit the center or end of their frame with the dash attack, often propelling you past them.
Advantages: Makes it near impossible to be shield grabbed, as you are behind them, sets up for aerials that can knock them off the edge
Disadvantages: leaves you open when you are running "through" your enemy
Uses: Depending on the opponents DI, this sets you up for a fair, bair, or shooting a gyro at their falling bodies. This often will also give you the ability to tech chase them.
Aerials
Fair
Advantages: Has the ability to KO when fresh, but when used often is given the new ability of comboing into itself! Can be great for edgeguarding and has an extended hitbox that is misleading. Arguably ROB's most solid move. You can even do two of these out of a short hop!
Disadvantages: Doesn't do as much damage as most attacks, and its uses are inconsistent as they are based off how many times you have used it already.
Uses: Comboing, edgeguarding
U-air
Advantages: does incredible damage, has the ability to combo into itself or other attacks, and if timed properly can go through air dodges
Disadvantages: can be DI'd out of fairly consistently and due to this can do low damage and go stale quickly
Uses: DAMAGE! It is also often used as a way to pressure the opponent into air dodging since they KNOW it is coming. This move makes up for the low damage output of ROB's other moves.
LEARN TO IMPLEMENT THE U-AIR!
Bair
Advantages: has excellent knockback, an extended and desceptive hitbox, can combo into some seriously damaging strings of attacks, and can automatically space itself so you can't be punished!
Disadvantages: laggy startup, laggy finish
Uses: edgeguarding and, when hitting with the front of the hitbox, comboing into d-tilt or f-tilt.
Dair
Advantages: Is a spike, can be used to set up for a u-smash out of a footstool
Disadvantages: is laggy to start, laggy to finish, and the only time you can use this is when you are above the opponent; being above the opponent is a dangerous place for ROB.
Nair
Advantages: Large and unique hitbox, is totally different when used facing away from your opponent, can be a KO move, is a great KO move when met towards the top of the stage
Disadvantages: goes stale easily, can be difficult to hit a shielded opponent in such a way you can't be punished, has startup lag
Uses: KOing
Jab
Single Jab
Advantages: Comes out quickly, stuns opponent
Disadvantages: short range, can sometimes be difficult to follow up without accidently jabbing twice
Uses: Used to stun the opponent so that you can grab or use another attack
Double Jab
Advantages: Comes out quickly, recharges moves well, knocks enemy away
Disadvantages: difficult to follow up with, laggy enough to be grabbed out of shield
Uses: as a "get away" emergency move, recharging your other moves
Grabs
Grab Release
A "grab release" is where you grab someone, mash A to deal them damage, and then they break out of the grab.
Advantages: can be used to recharge moves, as each time you hit them in a grab it counts as a separate move. It also is surprising and can set up for another grab, which can lead to a quick throw before they can DI!
Disadvantages: Doesn't work on everyone due to them having fast attacks out of grab release. Also, since ROB's grab attack is slower than most, it will sometimes allow them time to do the "jump out" breakaway, making this worthless. A throw also does about 10%, and screwing up a grab release robs (no pun) you of an otherwise free 10% and possibly an edgeguarding opportunity.
Uses: After a grab release, you can sometimes f-tilt to knock them away; due to the poor DI your opponents will often have in this situation and trajectory of the f-tilt, this will send them out and downwards rather than up and out. This is good for ROB.
More useful is the d-tilt out of a grab release. You can grab release, d-tilt, grab, grab release, d-tilt, repeat until about 50%. This is also a GREAT way to CHAIN SOMEONE OFF WALK-OFF EDGES, or at least get them close enough for an f-throw. This is a great way to get some extra damage at early %, and an even better way to get someone close to the edge so you can go for a gimp.
F/B-throw
Advantages: sends them off the stage nearly 100% of the time
Disadvantages: Isn't a kill move for forever
Uses: getting them off the stage so you can edgeguard. At low %, a great trick is to grab someone, back throw them, grab them again. You can sometimes even do this twice! It deals a heavy amount of damage quickly and is very, very fast.
U-throw
Advantages: has lower knockback than the d-throw at low %, but can be a KO move at higher %.
Disadvantages: the opponent has the ability to DI this very strongly
Uses: setting up for combos at low %, kills at high
D-throw
Advantages: has a set knockback, meaning that knockback never changes; if you can something once out of this, you can do it forever
Disadvantages: has nothing that works 100% of the time out of this throw, meaning that your opponent can literally be safe 100% of the time out of this throw if he knows what he is doing.
Uses: setting up for combos, putting opponent in a bad positions.
Specials
Neutral B: Concentrated Beam of Hatred for Bio Structures, aka "laser"
At 0 seconds recharge, is a close range attack with low knockback.
At 1 second recharge, is a fast, thin laser that can be angled and does low damage.
At 20 seconds recharge, is a slower, thick laser that does decent damage and can be used as a KO move
Advantages: Has 3 levels, all of them useful. Is almost always unpunishable due to ROB being far away when he uses it, can force your opponent to air dodge, and helps rack up damage. It also FORCES your enemy to ALWAYS approach you! That's invaluable. This move MAKES ROB.
Disadvantages: Does low damage and has a longer than average cooldown, giving the opponent time to approach if he chooses to. Takes 20 seconds to do the fully charged version, and that version can normally be dodged.
Uses: Edgeguarding, racking up damage, forcing an approach.
Side B: Robocopter
Advantages: Can be surprisingly irritating, has a wide hitbox that surrounds ROB, reflects projectiles
Disadvantages: laggy to start, laggy to end, often gets ROB in trouble.
Uses: Reflecting obvious projectiles or really screwing over Pikachu when he uses thunder. This can also be a surprisingly good way to edgeguard those attempting to sweetspot the ledge with their second jump.
Up B: Robo Burner
Advantages: great for comboing, chasing, recovering, getting away, "snapping" to the edge, you name it. This is mobility central.
Disadvantages: You can't air dodge out of it, making you vulnerable. You are also very predictable. You can go up at a variable speed, but down only at two speeds. This means you are easy to intercept, and that really sucks because this also WILL run out if you get hit towards the edge once or twice when recovering, especially from below.
Uses: recovering, edgeguarding, chasing, comboing
Down B: Gyro
Advantages: has a unique and annoying hitbox, has great knockback, can be used as an item, allows ROB to glide toss, and is useful for just about anything else you want to do.
Disadvantages: can be caught by the enemy, has to go away before it can be thrown again, if thrown straight up or held by the enemy it can be gone for quite some time
Uses: Damage, forcing your opponent into a bad position, edgeguarding, KOing
ATs you need to know and their uses
Glide toss- this tactic allows you to accelerate incredibly quickly while throwing an item.
How to do it: Pick up an item (your gyro, generally), then shield. Roll, and while rolling flick the c-stick in the way you want to throw the item. If your timing is correct, you'll slide forward. Depending on your timing, there can be a short slide or a long slide.
Uses: Great for KOs! You can glide toss to hit them with the gyro, and then f-smash or u-smash to KO them afterwards. This can also be used to fling yourself AWAY from your opponent to get out of trouble and allow you some breathing room. At times, it is important to throw the gyro straight up out of a glide toss so to hit an opponent coming to the stage from above. If an opponent sees this coming and is going to reflect it, glide toss and throw it down. You'll go forward and be able to hit them out of their reflector, but the gyro will stay where you were and promptly disappear!
Reverse Robo Burner- Part of the "b-sticking" group, this allows you to use the robo burner while moving the opposite direction you are facing. This also gives you an extreme momentum boost!
How to do it: hit up+b, then rotate your control stick in a "hadoken" type manner from top to bottom. (i need a better description for this)
Uses: Great for edgeguarding as it gives you a momentum boost
Second jump after up+b- If you do your up+b from the ground and then use the "B" button for the burner rather than up on the control stick, you save your second jump.
How to do it: Simply hit B rather than up after doing the up+b off the ground
Uses: allows you to up+b off the stage, do an attack, then jump and follow up with another. This saves you muchos fuel.
Reverse gyro charge-this turns ROB around when he's charging his gyro
How to do it: Just like the reverse robo burner
Uses: allows you to face the direction you'd like.
Gyro Cancel- This allows you to start charging your gyro then stop without shooting or shielding or air dodging.
How to do it: Hit shield the moment the gyro appears.
Uses: Help set you up for a back-air. Can also be used as a mindgame, as many people expect you to be unable to do anything once you start charging.
Jab Lock
How to do it: When someone hits the ground without teching while in the "tumbling" animation, you walk up and d-tilt them once, walk forward, d-tilt, repeat until they are near the edge.
Uses: Does a significant amount of damage, recharges moves, and brings them near the edge.
ROBs natural weaknesses and how to get around them
Blind spot behind and below him
A "blind spot" is an area that you cannot easily cover. ROB, while airborne, has a blind spot directly below him and behind him. While his dair and bair cover this area, they both have enough startup lag to be ineffective in protecting ROB in most circumstances.
It is rare that the blind spot directly behind him will be an issue, but when it is it can be solved easily. The first and most common way to solve it is to simply back air early. This does not guarantee you a hit, but it does push you away from the enemy. Be careful though! Good players will run forward, powershield your backair, and then grab you when you are descending. It is not difficult to do this; it just takes a lot of balls.
Because of this, we need another approach. The three remaining options we have are
1. Up+b up and over the enemy behind you so that you are facing him
2. Charge a gyro facing them, cancel the gyro charge, and prepare to throw out a fair
3. Use a neutral air
The up+b over teh enemy is risky unless you time it iwth their attack (which is risky in itself), and using a neutral air has similar issues to using a back air, so it would be wise to practice gyro canceling to a fair for these situations.
The much more taxing issue is ROB's weakness from below. This is where ROB will take the majority of his damage, and often enemies will use vertical-based attacks to launch ROB off the top, preventing him from surviving for his normal ridiculous amount of time.
The most obvious way to get around this is to simply up+b, go to a ledge, and then go from there. ROB is good on the ledge, so this solves the problem. However, this uses up a considerable amount of fuel and should not be standard procedure, as it is very dangerous. Defensive tactics should never be dangerous.
Air dodging or throwing out a nair can work, but these are not uncommon; this turns into a rock paper scissors game where ROB is always shooting first. If the enemy jumps towards you and you start to nair, he can air dodge and attack you. If the enemy jumps towards you and you air dodge, he can wait and attack you out of it. It is not difficult for your enemy to do this due to the startup lag of your nair; since you have startup lag directly below and behind you, he is safe due to his ability to air dodge.
Using your back-air to propel yourself off horizontally off the stage and getting to the ledge from there CAN work, but the lag from the backair often leaves you open for aerial attack anyway; this defeats the purpose. You can get two, maybe three, off in the same direction before your opponent is done with you and just hits you back into the air.
There are two solutions for this issue. If you're hit high enough, it is simple to just DI off the stage and then go to the ledge, but that has always been known. The two solutions left are:
1. Gyro canceled back airs to propel yourself in more than one direction
If you back-air, turn around with a gyro cancel, then back-air again, you can zig-zag downwards towards the stage. Added in with normal DI and a mix of fast-falling, you can often cause your opponent to go into their dash animation; this gives you the edge you need! One you see your opponent start running, you want to fast fall as fast as possible to the stage, possibly with another back-air or air dodge. When your opponent is running, they can't immediately turn around due to the lack of dash dancing in Brawl. They need to cancel their dash with a shield, turn around, then come after you. You should have more than enough time if they run the wrong direction.
2. Get hit
Sounds crazy, but ROB's blindspot from below is a WEAKNESS. When you have a weakness, it hurts you. Your first priority is to make it hurt you less, not avoid it completely.
Most vertical KO moves are strictly, well, vertical. This means you can air dodge out of that "vertical" attack range and then set yourself up to be faired, baired, f-smashed, or d-smashed. Your goal here is to DI OFF the stage so you can retreat back towards the ledge. Getting hit for 8-15% is a lot better than them hitting you for the same amount straight upwards and starting the cycle again.
The inability to KO
The plague of ROB's everywhere!
First off, the trick to preventing this from occuring is edgeguarding. That's a different animal, and will be discussed in the character matchup section.
That siad, there are other things you can do.
ROB's potential kill moves are:
U-smash, Nair, Bair, F-smash, Dair, fully charged gyro, fully charged laser (the projectiles are best off the edge) and to a lesser extent his D-smash.
Seeing that long list makes you wonder why ROB can't get KOs, but when you realize his U-smash, fully charged gyro, and fully charged laser are all hard to get off... his F-smash doesn't hit as hard as we'd like.... the bair is awkward to approach with and you can't combo into meaning you have to call someone on something for it... the dair has more startup lag than your grandfather's sex drive... and the d-smash can only kill light characters fresh at around 130%.... you aren't left with many good options.
The Nair stands out as a wonderful kill move, and it is, but it is also a staple to ROB's air game and an excellent approach and retreat aerial. To simply remove it to keep it from going stale is very difficult for a ROB, and probably not worth it.
So how do you get KOs? Edgeguarding is the obvious answer, but it can't be your only answer; how are you going to edgeguard Metaknight?
The trick is to find some sort of attack that can KO, and save it. That's it. Personally, I save the f-smash and spam the hell out of the rest of my attacks, and then am able to kill near 130% with relative ease from my f-smash. Some players use the f-smash quite frequently while others never use the bair.... look at your own playstyle and see what you don't use very much, and then just remove what little you do lose until they are at a high enough % for it to kill.
No one likes to hear that, because that doesn't really solve anything and isn't creative, but that's the way it is. Other than aggressively edgeguarding, that's the way it is.
To give yourself more opportunities to aggressively edgeguard, implement the f-tilt into your game. It is probably the easiest move to land with ROB, but due to its lack in knockback and damage power it seems more irritating than useful when used... but when you use it deliberately to knock someone off the edge so that they can be edgeguarded, it becomes a powerful tool.
-ROBs natural strengths and how to abuse them
His up+b
You have the craziest, most unique, and most versatile recovery in the game. Like anything good you have, you abuse it.
A "blind spot" that most characters have is at their 1 to 2 o'clock position while they are grounded. To hit this area, most characters need to jump and use a forward air. Using your up+b, you can approach in the air with a nair (forcing them to stay grounded or jump into it), and then hover in this position and simply wait for them to make a move. If they jump, immediately nair and DI away from them. Your nair will hit them, or it will miss them and you'll be on the ground and can wait for them to land, from which you will attack.
When edgeguarding, you can use your up+b to gain great distance (facing towards or away from the opponent) using the up+b. Even better is that you save your jump by using B to fuel your up+b, which allows you to quickly get back to the stage if you need to.
Invincibility on respawn is always an irritating thing to get around. ROB can easily force the opponent to stay at bay for extended periods of time under normal conditions, but when your opponent is invincible you will have difficulty scaring them. With your up+b you solve this problem! Simply full hop off the stage the moment your opponent starts coming towards you and do not fast fall. When your opponent goes off the edge, immediately jump and up+b. Your opponent's invulnerability has worn off, and now you can easily grab the ledge or get back to the stage without fear. If you're feeling ballsy, you can go for a gimp; nothing is better than gimping someone the moment their invincibility wears off!
The ability to fight at a distance
Unlike other characters, ROB can fight at a distance. Some characters can't even deal damage, some can spam to get damage on their opponent, but ROB can ****ing kill you and your opponent knows it.
Due to ROB's up+b instantly sweet spotting the edge, you can fight from the ledge with ease. You can spam lasers and gyros until they are close and, if you don't find their approach easy enough to punish with some other form of attack, you can simply jump off edge and continue to spam projectiles. When you need to, you can grab the ledge and patiently wait there until your opponent decides to do something to you. He may think you are simply stalling and that he can "wait you out". Little does he know that you are charging your laser. On matchups that often REQUIRE a fully charged laser for easy early kills, such as Olimar, any of the space animals, Ike, etc., etc., simply holding the ledge and then rolling or jumping off of it the moment your opponent starts an animation of an attack that will harm you can give you enough time to charge your laser.
Another way to abuse this ability is to simply run away. A lot. Approaching your opponent involves danger; running away from your opponent does not. There's no reason to approach when they are forced to approach you. If you hit them with a nair and they fly off the stage but you don't believe you can edgeguard them.... run to the other side of the stage and spam lasers and gyros. This often has an irritating effect on your opponent, and this will get them into the habit of approaching YOU. Very few characters other than Metaknight have the ability to approach safely, and even Metaknight can be tripped up if gets into the habit of constantly charging you.
When my opponent is at a low % and I have a gyro in my hand, I often find myself glide tossing the gyro towards them, but me away from them, and then continuing to fire lasers. The reaction of the opponent is priceless.
Soul Crushing
Soul Crushing is the term I use when referring to the destruction of one's drive to play. Killing their motivation, lighting the fuse to their anger, or simply making them despondent and apathetic to their gameplay in general.
Many people originally thought I was joking when I originally mentioned this. I am not.
I first noticed this phenomenon when traveling to tournaments and making **** sure I watched every match of whatever player was using my main character. During this time, I saw many players get completely WRECKED the first game, often a 4 stock (it was Melee), by these amazing players that have been around forever. The counterpick always went just as poorly. I did not understand this, as the counterpick should give you an advantage! Why would Darkrain four stock your Fox on Dreamland, but then do the same thing on Onett? If the skill gap was wide enough for that to occur, sure, but it often wasn't. The player just played his best on a stage that didn't give an advantage, got wrecked, and then played WORSE when he DID have an advantage, which led to the same result.
There was a study decades ago involving this. They had several students wind string on a reel a few times and got an average time for them, and after everyone had an average a competition was held where two people would simply wind string on a reel and whoever finished first won. That was it. There were no variables, and your opponent's progress had 0 effect on yours... except it did. The study found that nearly 100% of the time, whenever someone's opponent did poorly, they did better than average. When their opponent did well, they did worse than average.
When you obviously are out-playing your opponent, their skill level will naturally drop and therefore increase your likelihood of doing well.
That's huge! Unfortunately, it's not too applicable. It adds one rule to Soul Crushing: "never goof off in a tournament match". This leads to your opponent playing above their normal potential, or at least at average, rather than playing poorly. But if you could destroy your opponent normally, you don't really need this advantage anyway, right?
I looked in the smash community for other such instances of Soul Crushing and was surprised at my findings. To do this properly, I've made a list of rules.
Rules of Soul Crushing
1. Never goof off; it gives your opponents hope.
I already mentioned why above.
2. When playing in friendlies or matches that don't matter, sandbag.
Play characters you don't play, when something works don't do it again, and make sure even the games you win are close. This will give your opponent the false illusion that they have a chance and will make them play at their best against you. Not only are you getting to see the every best of what they have to offer (and therefore learning what to do in a real match), but you're preparing them for massive mental breakdown. When you play them in the real match, give it your all (make sure to do everything that worked before that you didn't repeat) and destroy them; this will be completely against what they think SHOULD happen and will shake them to their core. They will then play worse as a result.
3. Don't announce you are sand bagging, but don't deny it either
If you tell someone "you only won because I was sandbagging", they consider this TWO victories over one. They don't believe you and think you are embarassed! It doesn't even matter if it is true. If you do it long enough though, you get a reputation for "not trying", and this will constantly keep your opponent on their toes. Even if they beat you in a tournament match, were you REALLY playing your best or did you just not care? This prevents your opponents from having the "boost" effect that normally occurs when someone is doing better than their opponent because THEY came to the conclusion you were sandbagging and now are never sure of themselves.
4. Lie and create false realities
If you think "but telling a lie is wrong", you aren't thinking very hard; everything I've listed under this topic is wrong. However, it is also useful. And fun. Lots and lots of fun.
Have you ever played someone and they say "this is my best matchup" and then you WRECK them? How does that make you feel? How does that make them feel? The inverse is true. If someone says it is their WORST matchup and they wreck you, you feel like crap. Use this to your advantage!
Lie. Tell them it is a bad matchup for you or that you "need to find a secondary for this matchup" even if you don't feel you do, then when you do surprisingly well this will inevitably attack their confidence. "If he's so bad at this matchup, why am I doing so poorly?!" is not an uncommon thought.
More effective than lying (which people can catch) is to create a false reality, which is basically a top tier lie. If you have to play a Snake player in tournament, make sure he watches you lose a friendly or a $1 MM to a Snake player. Then wreck him in the first game in tournament.
5. Stay silent
Don't gloat, don't guffaw, don't anything. Stay straight faced, say "good game", then get up and leave. This leaves their emotions nowhere to go but inward, and emotions turned inward are destructive. This is the best ending to a match for Soul Crushing purposes, but a close second is them standing up wanting to speak to you, finding you are leaving, and then just announcing to the room "MAN, THAT CHARACTER IS SO DUMB" and other such johns.
The point of Soul Crushing is, primarily, to gain a psychological edge on your opponent. The effects of one tournament can last for years, so it can be well worth it. You also receive bonuses. Sometimes, a player will simply quit playing that character or the game itself! This can be useful. I'm sure many good players have disappeared simply because they had their souls crushed; makes it easier for us soulless robots to get first. Another bonus is that it is a lot of fun to know that you just mentally destroyed the core of someone's being.
M3D's abridged version of Overswarm's ROB guide
I was having a conversation with M3D and we ventured into the topic of ROB and he made an abridged ROB guide that you may find useful.
Step #1: Be gay
Step #2: Be gayer
Step #3: Shoot projectiles
Step #4: Be even gayer than before
Brick Wall Tactics
A "brick wall" tactic is a simple strategy with a specific counter. Brick wall strategies beat noob players 100% of the time, and often a more experienced player won't expect them. So, used in moderation, these can be very frustrating. However, no brick wall strategy is infalliable. In fact, they are ALL easily beaten if the opponent knows what tehy are doing. Be careful, but use the following brick walls against your opponents and see how they react. Often opponents will attempt to counter your brick wall with the obvious counter, and if you know they will do this you can do something to counter their counter and it turns into a mix-up game. These mix-up games generally loop like paper rock scissors, so they can really randomize a game.
Spot dodge spam
Simply spot dodging in place can be an effective tool. Wait until your opponent whiffs an attack, then throw out a d-smash or grab.
Counter: Any move with multiple hits or a long hitbox (such as jiggly's pound) that will automatically hit once the spot dodge ends.
Counter to the counter: Shielding after the original spot dodge then grabbing or d-smashing
Gimmie your lunch money
Walking forward and f-tilting over and over again at low % can be frustrating to your opponent due to the incredible range. Once you get the first hit off, it is very easy to get multiples on an opponent that is unprepared. If they try to shield and attack you, you can just f-tilt them after they get out of their shield!
Counter: Shielding and then rolling away
Counter to the counter: Shooting a gyro or laser to follow up their roll
Ledge camping with projectiles
Grabbing the ledge only to drop off, jump and shoot a gyro or laser at your enemy doesn't do much damage, but a little bit adds up. This also forces your opponent to approach the edge, which allows you to do whatever you feel like.
Counter: Grabbing the other ledge and stalling if at higher % or running off and grabbing the ledge that ROB is on, then jumping off to aerial him.
Counter to the Counter: Rolling when your opponent runs off the edge, then edgeguarding them.
Running away and lasering
Simply knocking your opponent away or running away gives ROB a huge advantage due to his laser and gyro. Doing this in excess can frustrate the more aggressive players.
Counter: Simply walking forward and shielding whenever ROB throws his head back
Counter to the Counter: Throwing a fully charged gyro after the laser, then another laser; this lowers their shield enough for you do d-smash through it easily unless they powershield. If they hold their shield too long when blocking your projectiles, you can sometimes nair through their shield.
How to develop your playstyle
A playstyle is simply a word to describe how you play. Someone who has a campy playstyle will camp, someone who has an aggressive playstyle will be on the offensive a lot.
How you play one character generally transfers over to others, so acknowledging how you play your character is a big deal; once you accept that you are always aggressive, always defensive, always spamming, always whatever, it allows you to develop your playstyle. No one is ever going to be always something, but your natural playstyle is generally what you fall back to during periods or rest in matches.
Developing your playstyle is important because it helps move you beyond the basic elements of your gameplay. To develop your playstyle, you first must figure out what your playstyle is. Are you notoriously campy, like me? Do you focus on baiting your opponent and then capitalizing on his mistakes? Do you go all out aggression? Do you focus on strings rather than single hits? Do you use whatever move is easiest to land in the situation or do you consciously use damage dealing moves during lower % and use only KO moves at higher %? Answering these questions helps to tell you where you stand and what you tend to naturally do.
I will focus on defensive and offensive playstyles in this, as they are the easiest to convey.
When Brawl first came out, people assumed Defensive playstyles were the best in the business. Being an aggressive player meant getting shield grabbed and smashed out of shield, so those that camped in their shields and camped ledges would HAVE to win 100% of the time. This was incorrect.
The problem was that those with aggressive tendencies didn't develop their playstyle.
The first step is to acknowledge the problems with your playstyle.
These early players did this by complaining about shield grabbing and smashes out of shield.
The second thing they SHOULD have done, but did not, was find a way around it. NOT change your playstyle, but to find a way around it. If their problem was being shield grabbed, they should have focused on aerials that can be spaced out of grab range, getting grabs, or working with safe, quick attacks like jabs or tilts to set up further punishment.
You've already seen this occur with characters such as Wario. He will do an aerial, then float out of shield range. He repeats this process until you advance into his smash/grab range or until you retreat. Wario players can now be aggressive without worrying about shield grabbing quite as much.
It's that simple.
1. Acknowledge common problems with your playstyle that happen to everyone that plays similarly to your playstyle.
2. Find a way to adapt your playstyle to keep the heart of it intatct, but lessen the severity of the disadvantages involved
Sometimes your playstyle just doesn't work in a matchup. Being an aggressive ROB against D3, for example; this doesn't work most of the time. One powershield and you're grabbed no matter what attack you were doing, and that's bad news for our robotic buddy. The solution is generally NOT to change your playstyle, but to pick up a secondary that has an easier time in that matchup. It's easy to SAY "be defensive against D3, but aggressive against Snake", but it is much harder to do so without muddling what makes your ROB unique. Having a unique ROB is always better than having a cookie cutter ROB; that's why you can beat so many Snakes and Metaknights out there with ease. They just copy what someone else has done and don't understand that weaknesses exist and need to be counteracted.
How to remain in control even when on the defensive
Controlling the match generally means controlling space and limiting options. As this is the case, going on the offense is generally the best way to control the pace of the match. This is bad if you want to play defensive. Most people that attempt to play defensively lose because even though they may win several individual encounters... once the opponent wins one, he controls the pace of the match and ends up dealing more damage and getting easier KOs. Because of this, defensive playing is often seen as "noobish"; the easy thing to do with quick results that will win you battles, but not the war.
The end result to that logic is 'why play defensive?', which means most upper level players end up being aggressive or "wait and bait" type players.
How do you solve this problem?
The solution lies in consistency. The defensive player will win most exchanges; if someone comes in with an aerial to someone who is waiting with a shield, the shielding player will win most of the time. This is good and something you want to happen as often as possible.
If you can do something once, you can do it a million times. So, how can your opponent approach to beat you?
If he approaches with an aerial, you've got a counter.
If he approaches with a dash attack or grab, you've got a counter.
If approaches with a tilt, you've got a counter.
If he attempts to shoot projectiles, you've got a counter.
There's NOTHING that your opponent cna do that beats you 100% of the time; if something like that existed, no one would do anything but that.
This is basically like rock paper scissors, except your opponent is showing you his hand long before you show yours; this should be simple.
Your opponent breaks through your defenses for two reasons:
1. You just plain old mess up
2. He tricks you
If you mess up, that sucks. Not much y ou can do to fix that but practice your tech skill by playing often.
If he tricks you, that means he knew what you were going to do and countered it appropriately. If I know that every time I jump in with an aerial you are going to shield and then grab, that gives me incentive to fake a jump only to land a bit away from you and then proceed with a tilt or smash.
But remember, he shows his hand first. If someone realizes you throw scissors when they throw paper, you shouldn't lose just because they throw rock. You see the rock BEFORE you make your decision, and then you make your choice. The problem of the defensive player is that he relies off of instinct, and will often throw the wrong move out simply hoping he knows what the opponent will do. This is often called guessing.
It's true to a certain extent that you have to guess; many moves and situations are too fast for us to react to... but it is very possible to minimize the amount of situations you lose in by simply being patient and reacting to what your opponent does. Low risk, and potentially high reward (but settle for low reward before increasing the risk!)
Stage Overview
If you don't see a stage on here, it is either too frequently banned to matter or doesn't give large advantages/disadvantages... except the neutrals, of which I'm going over all of them.
Battlefield
This is the worst of all starters for ROB. It DOES have good things going for ROB; the platforms let you get u-airs and u-smashes off a lot easier than normal. That's great for ROB! He deals a lot of damage and gets easier KOs. Unfortuantely, ROB is hurt a lot worse than his opponents are on this stage. The platforms covering most of the stage lead to ROB being in danger at nearly all times, and simple u-throws from your opponent that normally set up for nothing will then put you in danger of being attacked through the platforms relentlessly. If you do find yourself above the stage, avoid exposing your blind spot by focusing on getting on the ledge. Another good trick is to put a gyro on a platform when returning so you've got a bit of a "safe zone".
This stage isn't horrible for ROB, but it changes how you have to play and can easily screw you over. Avoid if possible in most matchups.
Smashville
A big problem a lot of ROB players have when recovering is that after getting hit only once, they lose most of their fuel. Smashville solves this problem by having a moving platform. When your opponent is attempting to edgeguard you, just stay on the ledge till the plat is back on your side and then you get your robo burner back.
Final Destination
This stage can be dangerous for ROB depending on the matchup, but overall it isn't too bad. It's pretty standard, if you haven't noticed.
Castle Siege
The first transformation is best for ROB; the initial platforms are great for u-tilts, u-airs, and u-smashes, and the edges help you gimp your opponent. The second transformation isn't that great for you, but you can shoot lasers through the statues while most other characters can do nothing. Use this to your advantage and force your opponent to come to you. The third transformation is, again, pretty standard. If you are ever stuck on a ledge, just stay on it so that when the transformation occurs you'll get your robo burner back. Not a bad stage for ROB at all if you can last on the 2nd transformation.
Halberd
The ability to u-air through the stage during recovery from the ledge is invaluable. This entire stage is great for ROB, and shouldn't be avoided.
Pokémon Stadium 1
If running the timer out is your thing, this stage is good for you. Each transformation has an area you can camp on to charge your laser/gyro and waste time on the clock. This is almost always in ROB's favor! There are also several spots where you can do d-tilt infinites.
Yoshi's Island
This Starter is great for ROB. It's harder than normal to pick up the gyro, but that screws your opponent over even more. When recovering, if you are stuck on the ledge without much robo burner, wait for Roger the potted ghost to come and you're good to go. You can also do a cool gyro trick here; simply throw a fully charged gyro while standing on roger and it'll pop up and then quickly down onto your opponent, making it perfect for approaching. The fact that there is a wall on the edge makes spiking with dair and bair much easier too.
Delfino
This stage has several walls and walk-offs, so be careful of those. Other than that, this stage works well for ROB. The platforms and permeable floor let you u-air all day long, and the fact the stage lands gives you the ability to wait on the ledge for your robo burner.
Lylat Cruise[/SIZE]
This is a great Starter for ROB! Almost every other character's recovery and projectiles have been screwed over, but not ROB's! Plus, these platforms are PERFECT for him. They are small enough not to be a danger to him, but large enough to let him get off a u-smash or u-air off on any opponent that lands on them. You can also easily go under this stage AND you can u-air or nair through the slanted sides. Arguably the best starter for ROB.
Luigi's Mansion
This stage is hit or miss, depending on the matchup. Avoid playing this against Metaknight or G&W, but other than that you're good to go. Your lasers go through the pillars, your Gyro bounces off of them and therefore you can throw your gyro at it so it stands spinning in front of the ledge (this helps you recover). You can spam d-smash against opponents when they are on the bottom floor, recharge your moves by d-tilting the pillars, and can u-air or nair people that are on the 2nd floor. You can also easily pull off a jab lock on a stage like this by smacking them against the ceiling and then using your d-tilt.
Corneria
This stage is generally not bad for ROB; there are a few characters that give him trouble here (like D3), but overall it isn't bad. ROB can easily kill people at low % by baiting them to the fin and then hitting them with a nair, can get an infinite on the right, and due to the extremely close blast zones on the left and right side, you can use your f-throw or b-throw as a kill move in many situations! Your gyro can also be tossed towards the fin to bounce back towards you, allowing you an easy setup for glide tossing.
Rainbow Cruise
This is gimp central. The boat is pretty standard as far as stages go except you have a great wall to do infinites on. The entire left side (when it is scrolling vertical) is when you want to be incredibly aggressive. Getting them off the edge at this point can easily mean certain death on its own, but add to that an aggressive robot throwing out fairs and you've got trouble. The side scrolling part at the top isn't particularly good for ROB; I suggest going to the right side and simply following the stage. If possible, do a u-throw towards the end to keep them in the air and then when the screen lowers they'll fall off the top.
Frigate Orpheon
A great ROB stage. During the first transformation, you can get u-airs and u-smashes off from the platform very easily. On the right side there is no ledge, so you can gimp people REALLY easy here. There is no auto-snap, so you can edgeguard with f-smashes. The second transformation has interesting slants that allow you to do some cool gyro/laser tricks, and the platforms coming in and out on the side are great for camping. Jump on them to recharge your robo burner, then jump, laser, jump, laser, up+b, laser, up+, laser, on and on until it comes back. Then recharge and repeat. This forces your opponent to be REALLY risky. If you are at 180% or so, this isn't a bad idea.
Skyworld
D-smash to kill the platforms and knock your opponent off the top is about all you need to know. There is a platform that runs along the bottom that is great for ROB, but don't depend on it. This is a great stage to pick against characters with horrid recoveries, because ROB lives forever here and they do not.
Jungle Japes
Standing on either side of the stage means your opponent has to approach you FROM THE AIR. This is HUGE. That means you can intercept with a gyro or f-tilt or some other nigh lagless attack, and if they air dodge you can d-smash or grab them, send them away, then repeat the process. This is perfect for those with poor aerial games, like Snake.
Norfair
This is not a good stage for ROB. The increased amount of ledges means you don't get to edgeguard as well, and the hazards make it very difficult for you to keep stage control. This is especially bad because your opponent easily gets access to your blind spot. Steer clear of this one.
Brinstar
This isn't too bad for ROB, but the acid steals your gyro for minutes at a time and it is very easy to screw up your tilts due to the stage's bumps and hills. This isn't something you want to go to, but if you do I suggest focusing on u-airs or nairs through the stage and, if possible, breaking the stage and forcing them to approach you.
Distant Planet
This is deceptively awful for ROB. Not only does the slanted side not help ROB in any way, shape, or form, the platforms here hurt him but don't really help him. There are also items appearing on the stage that hurt your projectile game and can let them force YOU to approach. Be careful on this stage.
Green Greens
Another deceptively bad stage; while edgeguarding is great for ROB, dying at extremely low % isn't, and that's what happens on this stage to anyone that plays it. Your projectiles are nerfed and you are forced to come in at odd angles, often with your blind spot exposed. This stage can be pretty rough on ROB.
Pirate Ship
This is an uncommon stage at best, but sometimes it'll come out of left field... and generally by a player that not only has experience here, but enjoys it. Keep in mind you don't recharge your up+b when in the water and that the boat, if it touches you on the left side, is a OHKO. Focus on projectiles and your d-throw/u-throw here; it is often the case that your opponent will want to land on the platforms in the center to regain their jumps. Use this to your advantage and u-air them. Other than that, ROB's got nothin' here. He can't really gimp, his recovery isn't super amazing anymore, and the shape of the stage is about as bad as can be.
Mindgames, tricks, and commonly used tactics
This section won't have much information as to why, how, or essential info like that. I'm simply going to post things I have done or observed that are pretty awesome across the board, and you can implement them into your game if you want.
Drop off ledge to nair to regrab ledge repeatedly, mixing it up by a drop off to fair.
When an opponent is far above you, full hop fast-falled nair early so you are obviously going to miss them, then double jump to u-air.
D-tilt to grab.
Dash attack to u-tilt.
U-tilt to u-air.
F-tilt to fully charged gyro
Running bair to d-tilt
Repeated fairs
Nair to chasing nair
Glide toss down to dash attack that picks up the gyro
Glide toss forward to f-smash
Glide toss forward to u-smash
Glide toss forward to grab
Glide toss forward to short hop fairs
Grab release to d-tilt and, if tripping occurs, another grab
Edgehog to getup attack on characters that will land by the stage (it knocks them back off the stage)
U-throw to falling u-air
Spot dodge d-smash
Spot dodge u-tilt
Spot dodge double jab
-ROB moveset and its uses
-ATs you need to know and their uses
-ROBs natural weaknesses and how to get around them
-ROBs natural strengths and how to abuse them
-Soulcrushing
-Brick Wall Tactics
-How to develop your playstyle
-How to remain in control even when on the defensive
-Stages overview
Mindgames, tricks, and commonly used tactics
Page 2. Character matchups
Difficulty
Appearance Rate
Returning
Edgeguarding
Approaching
Defending
Stages to Ban
Stages to Counterpick
Possible secondaries you may want to consider
Synopsis
Page 3
Reinventing ROB: A new skeleton to build off of
Character list for matchups:
Mario
DK
Link
Samus
Zamus
Kirby
Fox
Pikachu
Marth
Mr. Game & Watch
Luigi
Diddy Kong
Zelda
Sheik
Pit
Metaknight
Falco
Pokémon Trainer
Ike
Snake
Peach
Yoshi
Ganondorf
Ice Climbers
King Dedede
Wolf
Lucario
Ness
Sonic
Bowser
Wario
Toon Link
R.O.B.
Olimar
Captain Falcon
Jigglypuff
Lucas
ROB's moveset
Smashes
F-smash
Advantages: The f-smash can be angled up or down, giving it the wonderful ability to hit enemies that are crouching or jumping. It comes out incredibly quickly, looks awesome, and has low lag. Because of its low lag, a neat mindgame is to simply charge the forward smash, let it go, and then f-smash again; your opponent will often run into it!
Disadvantages: The range is very slight, and it's power isn't amazing.
Primary uses: To knock someone off the edge so they can be edgeguarded. This can occasionally be used as a KO move, but only if it is completely fresh; you have better options for KOs.
D-smash
Advantages: quick to come out, perfect amount of knockback for setups, little lag, easily done out of a spotdodge, and can often shield poke. When the opponent DIs out of it, if he does it at the wrong time it often sets up for another d-smash.
Disadvantages: can rarely kill off the top unless fresh, can be DIed out of by simply holding up, and it is almost always expected by your opponent.
Uses: To set someone up for a u-air or fair, or to use out of a spot dodge or roll so as to remove the enemy from your vicinity
U-smash
Advantages: Very fast, very strong, kills off the top
Disadvantages: very limited killing area, cannot be comboed into reliably when opponent is at kill %, cannot reliably hit a grounded opponent, and is the easiest move to read in the game. You KNOW when ROB is going for a u-smash.
Uses: KO. This is especially useful against characters such as D3 that often recover high on the stage.
Tilts
F-tilt
Advantages: Fast, can be angled, high priority, easily combos into itself, can push the enemy out of range for easy spamming opportunities
Disadvantages: Very difficult to KO with, does low damage
Uses: as a "get away" move or a move to punish opponents that faily slightly in their spacing. The range of this move is deceptive; abuse it!
U-tilt
Advantages: Quick, good for setups, has small hitboxes on the side that combo into the main hitbox
Disadvantages: long enough animation to leave you open for attack if you miss, gives the enemy enough room to DI so that this isn't a reliable move to combo from all the time, has to be done when you are very near the opponent
Uses: Is a great set-up for u-smash or u-air
D-tilt
Advantages: Quick, has an extremely large chance to trip an opponent, can be used as a "jab lock", and combos easily
Disadvantages: Does low damage, can be inconsistent due to enemy DI at times
Uses: as a quick attack inbetween others, often used to combo into d-smash or a grab
Dash Attack
Early Dash Attack
This is when you hit the front of their frame with the dash attack.
Advantages: Sets up for combos easily
Disadvantages: Allows you to be shield grabbed easily
Uses: combos into u-tilt often
Late Dash Attack
This is when you hit the center or end of their frame with the dash attack, often propelling you past them.
Advantages: Makes it near impossible to be shield grabbed, as you are behind them, sets up for aerials that can knock them off the edge
Disadvantages: leaves you open when you are running "through" your enemy
Uses: Depending on the opponents DI, this sets you up for a fair, bair, or shooting a gyro at their falling bodies. This often will also give you the ability to tech chase them.
Aerials
Fair
Advantages: Has the ability to KO when fresh, but when used often is given the new ability of comboing into itself! Can be great for edgeguarding and has an extended hitbox that is misleading. Arguably ROB's most solid move. You can even do two of these out of a short hop!
Disadvantages: Doesn't do as much damage as most attacks, and its uses are inconsistent as they are based off how many times you have used it already.
Uses: Comboing, edgeguarding
U-air
Advantages: does incredible damage, has the ability to combo into itself or other attacks, and if timed properly can go through air dodges
Disadvantages: can be DI'd out of fairly consistently and due to this can do low damage and go stale quickly
Uses: DAMAGE! It is also often used as a way to pressure the opponent into air dodging since they KNOW it is coming. This move makes up for the low damage output of ROB's other moves.
LEARN TO IMPLEMENT THE U-AIR!
Bair
Advantages: has excellent knockback, an extended and desceptive hitbox, can combo into some seriously damaging strings of attacks, and can automatically space itself so you can't be punished!
Disadvantages: laggy startup, laggy finish
Uses: edgeguarding and, when hitting with the front of the hitbox, comboing into d-tilt or f-tilt.
Dair
Advantages: Is a spike, can be used to set up for a u-smash out of a footstool
Disadvantages: is laggy to start, laggy to finish, and the only time you can use this is when you are above the opponent; being above the opponent is a dangerous place for ROB.
Nair
Advantages: Large and unique hitbox, is totally different when used facing away from your opponent, can be a KO move, is a great KO move when met towards the top of the stage
Disadvantages: goes stale easily, can be difficult to hit a shielded opponent in such a way you can't be punished, has startup lag
Uses: KOing
Jab
Single Jab
Advantages: Comes out quickly, stuns opponent
Disadvantages: short range, can sometimes be difficult to follow up without accidently jabbing twice
Uses: Used to stun the opponent so that you can grab or use another attack
Double Jab
Advantages: Comes out quickly, recharges moves well, knocks enemy away
Disadvantages: difficult to follow up with, laggy enough to be grabbed out of shield
Uses: as a "get away" emergency move, recharging your other moves
Grabs
Grab Release
A "grab release" is where you grab someone, mash A to deal them damage, and then they break out of the grab.
Advantages: can be used to recharge moves, as each time you hit them in a grab it counts as a separate move. It also is surprising and can set up for another grab, which can lead to a quick throw before they can DI!
Disadvantages: Doesn't work on everyone due to them having fast attacks out of grab release. Also, since ROB's grab attack is slower than most, it will sometimes allow them time to do the "jump out" breakaway, making this worthless. A throw also does about 10%, and screwing up a grab release robs (no pun) you of an otherwise free 10% and possibly an edgeguarding opportunity.
Uses: After a grab release, you can sometimes f-tilt to knock them away; due to the poor DI your opponents will often have in this situation and trajectory of the f-tilt, this will send them out and downwards rather than up and out. This is good for ROB.
More useful is the d-tilt out of a grab release. You can grab release, d-tilt, grab, grab release, d-tilt, repeat until about 50%. This is also a GREAT way to CHAIN SOMEONE OFF WALK-OFF EDGES, or at least get them close enough for an f-throw. This is a great way to get some extra damage at early %, and an even better way to get someone close to the edge so you can go for a gimp.
F/B-throw
Advantages: sends them off the stage nearly 100% of the time
Disadvantages: Isn't a kill move for forever
Uses: getting them off the stage so you can edgeguard. At low %, a great trick is to grab someone, back throw them, grab them again. You can sometimes even do this twice! It deals a heavy amount of damage quickly and is very, very fast.
U-throw
Advantages: has lower knockback than the d-throw at low %, but can be a KO move at higher %.
Disadvantages: the opponent has the ability to DI this very strongly
Uses: setting up for combos at low %, kills at high
D-throw
Advantages: has a set knockback, meaning that knockback never changes; if you can something once out of this, you can do it forever
Disadvantages: has nothing that works 100% of the time out of this throw, meaning that your opponent can literally be safe 100% of the time out of this throw if he knows what he is doing.
Uses: setting up for combos, putting opponent in a bad positions.
Specials
Neutral B: Concentrated Beam of Hatred for Bio Structures, aka "laser"
At 0 seconds recharge, is a close range attack with low knockback.
At 1 second recharge, is a fast, thin laser that can be angled and does low damage.
At 20 seconds recharge, is a slower, thick laser that does decent damage and can be used as a KO move
Advantages: Has 3 levels, all of them useful. Is almost always unpunishable due to ROB being far away when he uses it, can force your opponent to air dodge, and helps rack up damage. It also FORCES your enemy to ALWAYS approach you! That's invaluable. This move MAKES ROB.
Disadvantages: Does low damage and has a longer than average cooldown, giving the opponent time to approach if he chooses to. Takes 20 seconds to do the fully charged version, and that version can normally be dodged.
Uses: Edgeguarding, racking up damage, forcing an approach.
Side B: Robocopter
Advantages: Can be surprisingly irritating, has a wide hitbox that surrounds ROB, reflects projectiles
Disadvantages: laggy to start, laggy to end, often gets ROB in trouble.
Uses: Reflecting obvious projectiles or really screwing over Pikachu when he uses thunder. This can also be a surprisingly good way to edgeguard those attempting to sweetspot the ledge with their second jump.
Up B: Robo Burner
Advantages: great for comboing, chasing, recovering, getting away, "snapping" to the edge, you name it. This is mobility central.
Disadvantages: You can't air dodge out of it, making you vulnerable. You are also very predictable. You can go up at a variable speed, but down only at two speeds. This means you are easy to intercept, and that really sucks because this also WILL run out if you get hit towards the edge once or twice when recovering, especially from below.
Uses: recovering, edgeguarding, chasing, comboing
Down B: Gyro
Advantages: has a unique and annoying hitbox, has great knockback, can be used as an item, allows ROB to glide toss, and is useful for just about anything else you want to do.
Disadvantages: can be caught by the enemy, has to go away before it can be thrown again, if thrown straight up or held by the enemy it can be gone for quite some time
Uses: Damage, forcing your opponent into a bad position, edgeguarding, KOing
ATs you need to know and their uses
Glide toss- this tactic allows you to accelerate incredibly quickly while throwing an item.
How to do it: Pick up an item (your gyro, generally), then shield. Roll, and while rolling flick the c-stick in the way you want to throw the item. If your timing is correct, you'll slide forward. Depending on your timing, there can be a short slide or a long slide.
Uses: Great for KOs! You can glide toss to hit them with the gyro, and then f-smash or u-smash to KO them afterwards. This can also be used to fling yourself AWAY from your opponent to get out of trouble and allow you some breathing room. At times, it is important to throw the gyro straight up out of a glide toss so to hit an opponent coming to the stage from above. If an opponent sees this coming and is going to reflect it, glide toss and throw it down. You'll go forward and be able to hit them out of their reflector, but the gyro will stay where you were and promptly disappear!
Reverse Robo Burner- Part of the "b-sticking" group, this allows you to use the robo burner while moving the opposite direction you are facing. This also gives you an extreme momentum boost!
How to do it: hit up+b, then rotate your control stick in a "hadoken" type manner from top to bottom. (i need a better description for this)
Uses: Great for edgeguarding as it gives you a momentum boost
Second jump after up+b- If you do your up+b from the ground and then use the "B" button for the burner rather than up on the control stick, you save your second jump.
How to do it: Simply hit B rather than up after doing the up+b off the ground
Uses: allows you to up+b off the stage, do an attack, then jump and follow up with another. This saves you muchos fuel.
Reverse gyro charge-this turns ROB around when he's charging his gyro
How to do it: Just like the reverse robo burner
Uses: allows you to face the direction you'd like.
Gyro Cancel- This allows you to start charging your gyro then stop without shooting or shielding or air dodging.
How to do it: Hit shield the moment the gyro appears.
Uses: Help set you up for a back-air. Can also be used as a mindgame, as many people expect you to be unable to do anything once you start charging.
Jab Lock
How to do it: When someone hits the ground without teching while in the "tumbling" animation, you walk up and d-tilt them once, walk forward, d-tilt, repeat until they are near the edge.
Uses: Does a significant amount of damage, recharges moves, and brings them near the edge.
ROBs natural weaknesses and how to get around them
Blind spot behind and below him
A "blind spot" is an area that you cannot easily cover. ROB, while airborne, has a blind spot directly below him and behind him. While his dair and bair cover this area, they both have enough startup lag to be ineffective in protecting ROB in most circumstances.
It is rare that the blind spot directly behind him will be an issue, but when it is it can be solved easily. The first and most common way to solve it is to simply back air early. This does not guarantee you a hit, but it does push you away from the enemy. Be careful though! Good players will run forward, powershield your backair, and then grab you when you are descending. It is not difficult to do this; it just takes a lot of balls.
Because of this, we need another approach. The three remaining options we have are
1. Up+b up and over the enemy behind you so that you are facing him
2. Charge a gyro facing them, cancel the gyro charge, and prepare to throw out a fair
3. Use a neutral air
The up+b over teh enemy is risky unless you time it iwth their attack (which is risky in itself), and using a neutral air has similar issues to using a back air, so it would be wise to practice gyro canceling to a fair for these situations.
The much more taxing issue is ROB's weakness from below. This is where ROB will take the majority of his damage, and often enemies will use vertical-based attacks to launch ROB off the top, preventing him from surviving for his normal ridiculous amount of time.
The most obvious way to get around this is to simply up+b, go to a ledge, and then go from there. ROB is good on the ledge, so this solves the problem. However, this uses up a considerable amount of fuel and should not be standard procedure, as it is very dangerous. Defensive tactics should never be dangerous.
Air dodging or throwing out a nair can work, but these are not uncommon; this turns into a rock paper scissors game where ROB is always shooting first. If the enemy jumps towards you and you start to nair, he can air dodge and attack you. If the enemy jumps towards you and you air dodge, he can wait and attack you out of it. It is not difficult for your enemy to do this due to the startup lag of your nair; since you have startup lag directly below and behind you, he is safe due to his ability to air dodge.
Using your back-air to propel yourself off horizontally off the stage and getting to the ledge from there CAN work, but the lag from the backair often leaves you open for aerial attack anyway; this defeats the purpose. You can get two, maybe three, off in the same direction before your opponent is done with you and just hits you back into the air.
There are two solutions for this issue. If you're hit high enough, it is simple to just DI off the stage and then go to the ledge, but that has always been known. The two solutions left are:
1. Gyro canceled back airs to propel yourself in more than one direction
If you back-air, turn around with a gyro cancel, then back-air again, you can zig-zag downwards towards the stage. Added in with normal DI and a mix of fast-falling, you can often cause your opponent to go into their dash animation; this gives you the edge you need! One you see your opponent start running, you want to fast fall as fast as possible to the stage, possibly with another back-air or air dodge. When your opponent is running, they can't immediately turn around due to the lack of dash dancing in Brawl. They need to cancel their dash with a shield, turn around, then come after you. You should have more than enough time if they run the wrong direction.
2. Get hit
Sounds crazy, but ROB's blindspot from below is a WEAKNESS. When you have a weakness, it hurts you. Your first priority is to make it hurt you less, not avoid it completely.
Most vertical KO moves are strictly, well, vertical. This means you can air dodge out of that "vertical" attack range and then set yourself up to be faired, baired, f-smashed, or d-smashed. Your goal here is to DI OFF the stage so you can retreat back towards the ledge. Getting hit for 8-15% is a lot better than them hitting you for the same amount straight upwards and starting the cycle again.
The inability to KO
The plague of ROB's everywhere!
First off, the trick to preventing this from occuring is edgeguarding. That's a different animal, and will be discussed in the character matchup section.
That siad, there are other things you can do.
ROB's potential kill moves are:
U-smash, Nair, Bair, F-smash, Dair, fully charged gyro, fully charged laser (the projectiles are best off the edge) and to a lesser extent his D-smash.
Seeing that long list makes you wonder why ROB can't get KOs, but when you realize his U-smash, fully charged gyro, and fully charged laser are all hard to get off... his F-smash doesn't hit as hard as we'd like.... the bair is awkward to approach with and you can't combo into meaning you have to call someone on something for it... the dair has more startup lag than your grandfather's sex drive... and the d-smash can only kill light characters fresh at around 130%.... you aren't left with many good options.
The Nair stands out as a wonderful kill move, and it is, but it is also a staple to ROB's air game and an excellent approach and retreat aerial. To simply remove it to keep it from going stale is very difficult for a ROB, and probably not worth it.
So how do you get KOs? Edgeguarding is the obvious answer, but it can't be your only answer; how are you going to edgeguard Metaknight?
The trick is to find some sort of attack that can KO, and save it. That's it. Personally, I save the f-smash and spam the hell out of the rest of my attacks, and then am able to kill near 130% with relative ease from my f-smash. Some players use the f-smash quite frequently while others never use the bair.... look at your own playstyle and see what you don't use very much, and then just remove what little you do lose until they are at a high enough % for it to kill.
No one likes to hear that, because that doesn't really solve anything and isn't creative, but that's the way it is. Other than aggressively edgeguarding, that's the way it is.
To give yourself more opportunities to aggressively edgeguard, implement the f-tilt into your game. It is probably the easiest move to land with ROB, but due to its lack in knockback and damage power it seems more irritating than useful when used... but when you use it deliberately to knock someone off the edge so that they can be edgeguarded, it becomes a powerful tool.
-ROBs natural strengths and how to abuse them
His up+b
You have the craziest, most unique, and most versatile recovery in the game. Like anything good you have, you abuse it.
A "blind spot" that most characters have is at their 1 to 2 o'clock position while they are grounded. To hit this area, most characters need to jump and use a forward air. Using your up+b, you can approach in the air with a nair (forcing them to stay grounded or jump into it), and then hover in this position and simply wait for them to make a move. If they jump, immediately nair and DI away from them. Your nair will hit them, or it will miss them and you'll be on the ground and can wait for them to land, from which you will attack.
When edgeguarding, you can use your up+b to gain great distance (facing towards or away from the opponent) using the up+b. Even better is that you save your jump by using B to fuel your up+b, which allows you to quickly get back to the stage if you need to.
Invincibility on respawn is always an irritating thing to get around. ROB can easily force the opponent to stay at bay for extended periods of time under normal conditions, but when your opponent is invincible you will have difficulty scaring them. With your up+b you solve this problem! Simply full hop off the stage the moment your opponent starts coming towards you and do not fast fall. When your opponent goes off the edge, immediately jump and up+b. Your opponent's invulnerability has worn off, and now you can easily grab the ledge or get back to the stage without fear. If you're feeling ballsy, you can go for a gimp; nothing is better than gimping someone the moment their invincibility wears off!
The ability to fight at a distance
Unlike other characters, ROB can fight at a distance. Some characters can't even deal damage, some can spam to get damage on their opponent, but ROB can ****ing kill you and your opponent knows it.
Due to ROB's up+b instantly sweet spotting the edge, you can fight from the ledge with ease. You can spam lasers and gyros until they are close and, if you don't find their approach easy enough to punish with some other form of attack, you can simply jump off edge and continue to spam projectiles. When you need to, you can grab the ledge and patiently wait there until your opponent decides to do something to you. He may think you are simply stalling and that he can "wait you out". Little does he know that you are charging your laser. On matchups that often REQUIRE a fully charged laser for easy early kills, such as Olimar, any of the space animals, Ike, etc., etc., simply holding the ledge and then rolling or jumping off of it the moment your opponent starts an animation of an attack that will harm you can give you enough time to charge your laser.
Another way to abuse this ability is to simply run away. A lot. Approaching your opponent involves danger; running away from your opponent does not. There's no reason to approach when they are forced to approach you. If you hit them with a nair and they fly off the stage but you don't believe you can edgeguard them.... run to the other side of the stage and spam lasers and gyros. This often has an irritating effect on your opponent, and this will get them into the habit of approaching YOU. Very few characters other than Metaknight have the ability to approach safely, and even Metaknight can be tripped up if gets into the habit of constantly charging you.
When my opponent is at a low % and I have a gyro in my hand, I often find myself glide tossing the gyro towards them, but me away from them, and then continuing to fire lasers. The reaction of the opponent is priceless.
Soul Crushing
Soul Crushing is the term I use when referring to the destruction of one's drive to play. Killing their motivation, lighting the fuse to their anger, or simply making them despondent and apathetic to their gameplay in general.
Many people originally thought I was joking when I originally mentioned this. I am not.
I first noticed this phenomenon when traveling to tournaments and making **** sure I watched every match of whatever player was using my main character. During this time, I saw many players get completely WRECKED the first game, often a 4 stock (it was Melee), by these amazing players that have been around forever. The counterpick always went just as poorly. I did not understand this, as the counterpick should give you an advantage! Why would Darkrain four stock your Fox on Dreamland, but then do the same thing on Onett? If the skill gap was wide enough for that to occur, sure, but it often wasn't. The player just played his best on a stage that didn't give an advantage, got wrecked, and then played WORSE when he DID have an advantage, which led to the same result.
There was a study decades ago involving this. They had several students wind string on a reel a few times and got an average time for them, and after everyone had an average a competition was held where two people would simply wind string on a reel and whoever finished first won. That was it. There were no variables, and your opponent's progress had 0 effect on yours... except it did. The study found that nearly 100% of the time, whenever someone's opponent did poorly, they did better than average. When their opponent did well, they did worse than average.
When you obviously are out-playing your opponent, their skill level will naturally drop and therefore increase your likelihood of doing well.
That's huge! Unfortunately, it's not too applicable. It adds one rule to Soul Crushing: "never goof off in a tournament match". This leads to your opponent playing above their normal potential, or at least at average, rather than playing poorly. But if you could destroy your opponent normally, you don't really need this advantage anyway, right?
I looked in the smash community for other such instances of Soul Crushing and was surprised at my findings. To do this properly, I've made a list of rules.
Rules of Soul Crushing
1. Never goof off; it gives your opponents hope.
I already mentioned why above.
2. When playing in friendlies or matches that don't matter, sandbag.
Play characters you don't play, when something works don't do it again, and make sure even the games you win are close. This will give your opponent the false illusion that they have a chance and will make them play at their best against you. Not only are you getting to see the every best of what they have to offer (and therefore learning what to do in a real match), but you're preparing them for massive mental breakdown. When you play them in the real match, give it your all (make sure to do everything that worked before that you didn't repeat) and destroy them; this will be completely against what they think SHOULD happen and will shake them to their core. They will then play worse as a result.
3. Don't announce you are sand bagging, but don't deny it either
If you tell someone "you only won because I was sandbagging", they consider this TWO victories over one. They don't believe you and think you are embarassed! It doesn't even matter if it is true. If you do it long enough though, you get a reputation for "not trying", and this will constantly keep your opponent on their toes. Even if they beat you in a tournament match, were you REALLY playing your best or did you just not care? This prevents your opponents from having the "boost" effect that normally occurs when someone is doing better than their opponent because THEY came to the conclusion you were sandbagging and now are never sure of themselves.
4. Lie and create false realities
If you think "but telling a lie is wrong", you aren't thinking very hard; everything I've listed under this topic is wrong. However, it is also useful. And fun. Lots and lots of fun.
Have you ever played someone and they say "this is my best matchup" and then you WRECK them? How does that make you feel? How does that make them feel? The inverse is true. If someone says it is their WORST matchup and they wreck you, you feel like crap. Use this to your advantage!
Lie. Tell them it is a bad matchup for you or that you "need to find a secondary for this matchup" even if you don't feel you do, then when you do surprisingly well this will inevitably attack their confidence. "If he's so bad at this matchup, why am I doing so poorly?!" is not an uncommon thought.
More effective than lying (which people can catch) is to create a false reality, which is basically a top tier lie. If you have to play a Snake player in tournament, make sure he watches you lose a friendly or a $1 MM to a Snake player. Then wreck him in the first game in tournament.
5. Stay silent
Don't gloat, don't guffaw, don't anything. Stay straight faced, say "good game", then get up and leave. This leaves their emotions nowhere to go but inward, and emotions turned inward are destructive. This is the best ending to a match for Soul Crushing purposes, but a close second is them standing up wanting to speak to you, finding you are leaving, and then just announcing to the room "MAN, THAT CHARACTER IS SO DUMB" and other such johns.
The point of Soul Crushing is, primarily, to gain a psychological edge on your opponent. The effects of one tournament can last for years, so it can be well worth it. You also receive bonuses. Sometimes, a player will simply quit playing that character or the game itself! This can be useful. I'm sure many good players have disappeared simply because they had their souls crushed; makes it easier for us soulless robots to get first. Another bonus is that it is a lot of fun to know that you just mentally destroyed the core of someone's being.
M3D's abridged version of Overswarm's ROB guide
I was having a conversation with M3D and we ventured into the topic of ROB and he made an abridged ROB guide that you may find useful.
Step #1: Be gay
Step #2: Be gayer
Step #3: Shoot projectiles
Step #4: Be even gayer than before
Brick Wall Tactics
A "brick wall" tactic is a simple strategy with a specific counter. Brick wall strategies beat noob players 100% of the time, and often a more experienced player won't expect them. So, used in moderation, these can be very frustrating. However, no brick wall strategy is infalliable. In fact, they are ALL easily beaten if the opponent knows what tehy are doing. Be careful, but use the following brick walls against your opponents and see how they react. Often opponents will attempt to counter your brick wall with the obvious counter, and if you know they will do this you can do something to counter their counter and it turns into a mix-up game. These mix-up games generally loop like paper rock scissors, so they can really randomize a game.
Spot dodge spam
Simply spot dodging in place can be an effective tool. Wait until your opponent whiffs an attack, then throw out a d-smash or grab.
Counter: Any move with multiple hits or a long hitbox (such as jiggly's pound) that will automatically hit once the spot dodge ends.
Counter to the counter: Shielding after the original spot dodge then grabbing or d-smashing
Gimmie your lunch money
Walking forward and f-tilting over and over again at low % can be frustrating to your opponent due to the incredible range. Once you get the first hit off, it is very easy to get multiples on an opponent that is unprepared. If they try to shield and attack you, you can just f-tilt them after they get out of their shield!
Counter: Shielding and then rolling away
Counter to the counter: Shooting a gyro or laser to follow up their roll
Ledge camping with projectiles
Grabbing the ledge only to drop off, jump and shoot a gyro or laser at your enemy doesn't do much damage, but a little bit adds up. This also forces your opponent to approach the edge, which allows you to do whatever you feel like.
Counter: Grabbing the other ledge and stalling if at higher % or running off and grabbing the ledge that ROB is on, then jumping off to aerial him.
Counter to the Counter: Rolling when your opponent runs off the edge, then edgeguarding them.
Running away and lasering
Simply knocking your opponent away or running away gives ROB a huge advantage due to his laser and gyro. Doing this in excess can frustrate the more aggressive players.
Counter: Simply walking forward and shielding whenever ROB throws his head back
Counter to the Counter: Throwing a fully charged gyro after the laser, then another laser; this lowers their shield enough for you do d-smash through it easily unless they powershield. If they hold their shield too long when blocking your projectiles, you can sometimes nair through their shield.
How to develop your playstyle
A playstyle is simply a word to describe how you play. Someone who has a campy playstyle will camp, someone who has an aggressive playstyle will be on the offensive a lot.
How you play one character generally transfers over to others, so acknowledging how you play your character is a big deal; once you accept that you are always aggressive, always defensive, always spamming, always whatever, it allows you to develop your playstyle. No one is ever going to be always something, but your natural playstyle is generally what you fall back to during periods or rest in matches.
Developing your playstyle is important because it helps move you beyond the basic elements of your gameplay. To develop your playstyle, you first must figure out what your playstyle is. Are you notoriously campy, like me? Do you focus on baiting your opponent and then capitalizing on his mistakes? Do you go all out aggression? Do you focus on strings rather than single hits? Do you use whatever move is easiest to land in the situation or do you consciously use damage dealing moves during lower % and use only KO moves at higher %? Answering these questions helps to tell you where you stand and what you tend to naturally do.
I will focus on defensive and offensive playstyles in this, as they are the easiest to convey.
When Brawl first came out, people assumed Defensive playstyles were the best in the business. Being an aggressive player meant getting shield grabbed and smashed out of shield, so those that camped in their shields and camped ledges would HAVE to win 100% of the time. This was incorrect.
The problem was that those with aggressive tendencies didn't develop their playstyle.
The first step is to acknowledge the problems with your playstyle.
These early players did this by complaining about shield grabbing and smashes out of shield.
The second thing they SHOULD have done, but did not, was find a way around it. NOT change your playstyle, but to find a way around it. If their problem was being shield grabbed, they should have focused on aerials that can be spaced out of grab range, getting grabs, or working with safe, quick attacks like jabs or tilts to set up further punishment.
You've already seen this occur with characters such as Wario. He will do an aerial, then float out of shield range. He repeats this process until you advance into his smash/grab range or until you retreat. Wario players can now be aggressive without worrying about shield grabbing quite as much.
It's that simple.
1. Acknowledge common problems with your playstyle that happen to everyone that plays similarly to your playstyle.
2. Find a way to adapt your playstyle to keep the heart of it intatct, but lessen the severity of the disadvantages involved
Sometimes your playstyle just doesn't work in a matchup. Being an aggressive ROB against D3, for example; this doesn't work most of the time. One powershield and you're grabbed no matter what attack you were doing, and that's bad news for our robotic buddy. The solution is generally NOT to change your playstyle, but to pick up a secondary that has an easier time in that matchup. It's easy to SAY "be defensive against D3, but aggressive against Snake", but it is much harder to do so without muddling what makes your ROB unique. Having a unique ROB is always better than having a cookie cutter ROB; that's why you can beat so many Snakes and Metaknights out there with ease. They just copy what someone else has done and don't understand that weaknesses exist and need to be counteracted.
How to remain in control even when on the defensive
Controlling the match generally means controlling space and limiting options. As this is the case, going on the offense is generally the best way to control the pace of the match. This is bad if you want to play defensive. Most people that attempt to play defensively lose because even though they may win several individual encounters... once the opponent wins one, he controls the pace of the match and ends up dealing more damage and getting easier KOs. Because of this, defensive playing is often seen as "noobish"; the easy thing to do with quick results that will win you battles, but not the war.
The end result to that logic is 'why play defensive?', which means most upper level players end up being aggressive or "wait and bait" type players.
How do you solve this problem?
The solution lies in consistency. The defensive player will win most exchanges; if someone comes in with an aerial to someone who is waiting with a shield, the shielding player will win most of the time. This is good and something you want to happen as often as possible.
If you can do something once, you can do it a million times. So, how can your opponent approach to beat you?
If he approaches with an aerial, you've got a counter.
If he approaches with a dash attack or grab, you've got a counter.
If approaches with a tilt, you've got a counter.
If he attempts to shoot projectiles, you've got a counter.
There's NOTHING that your opponent cna do that beats you 100% of the time; if something like that existed, no one would do anything but that.
This is basically like rock paper scissors, except your opponent is showing you his hand long before you show yours; this should be simple.
Your opponent breaks through your defenses for two reasons:
1. You just plain old mess up
2. He tricks you
If you mess up, that sucks. Not much y ou can do to fix that but practice your tech skill by playing often.
If he tricks you, that means he knew what you were going to do and countered it appropriately. If I know that every time I jump in with an aerial you are going to shield and then grab, that gives me incentive to fake a jump only to land a bit away from you and then proceed with a tilt or smash.
But remember, he shows his hand first. If someone realizes you throw scissors when they throw paper, you shouldn't lose just because they throw rock. You see the rock BEFORE you make your decision, and then you make your choice. The problem of the defensive player is that he relies off of instinct, and will often throw the wrong move out simply hoping he knows what the opponent will do. This is often called guessing.
It's true to a certain extent that you have to guess; many moves and situations are too fast for us to react to... but it is very possible to minimize the amount of situations you lose in by simply being patient and reacting to what your opponent does. Low risk, and potentially high reward (but settle for low reward before increasing the risk!)
Stage Overview
If you don't see a stage on here, it is either too frequently banned to matter or doesn't give large advantages/disadvantages... except the neutrals, of which I'm going over all of them.
Battlefield
This is the worst of all starters for ROB. It DOES have good things going for ROB; the platforms let you get u-airs and u-smashes off a lot easier than normal. That's great for ROB! He deals a lot of damage and gets easier KOs. Unfortuantely, ROB is hurt a lot worse than his opponents are on this stage. The platforms covering most of the stage lead to ROB being in danger at nearly all times, and simple u-throws from your opponent that normally set up for nothing will then put you in danger of being attacked through the platforms relentlessly. If you do find yourself above the stage, avoid exposing your blind spot by focusing on getting on the ledge. Another good trick is to put a gyro on a platform when returning so you've got a bit of a "safe zone".
This stage isn't horrible for ROB, but it changes how you have to play and can easily screw you over. Avoid if possible in most matchups.
Smashville
A big problem a lot of ROB players have when recovering is that after getting hit only once, they lose most of their fuel. Smashville solves this problem by having a moving platform. When your opponent is attempting to edgeguard you, just stay on the ledge till the plat is back on your side and then you get your robo burner back.
Final Destination
This stage can be dangerous for ROB depending on the matchup, but overall it isn't too bad. It's pretty standard, if you haven't noticed.
Castle Siege
The first transformation is best for ROB; the initial platforms are great for u-tilts, u-airs, and u-smashes, and the edges help you gimp your opponent. The second transformation isn't that great for you, but you can shoot lasers through the statues while most other characters can do nothing. Use this to your advantage and force your opponent to come to you. The third transformation is, again, pretty standard. If you are ever stuck on a ledge, just stay on it so that when the transformation occurs you'll get your robo burner back. Not a bad stage for ROB at all if you can last on the 2nd transformation.
Halberd
The ability to u-air through the stage during recovery from the ledge is invaluable. This entire stage is great for ROB, and shouldn't be avoided.
Pokémon Stadium 1
If running the timer out is your thing, this stage is good for you. Each transformation has an area you can camp on to charge your laser/gyro and waste time on the clock. This is almost always in ROB's favor! There are also several spots where you can do d-tilt infinites.
Yoshi's Island
This Starter is great for ROB. It's harder than normal to pick up the gyro, but that screws your opponent over even more. When recovering, if you are stuck on the ledge without much robo burner, wait for Roger the potted ghost to come and you're good to go. You can also do a cool gyro trick here; simply throw a fully charged gyro while standing on roger and it'll pop up and then quickly down onto your opponent, making it perfect for approaching. The fact that there is a wall on the edge makes spiking with dair and bair much easier too.
Delfino
This stage has several walls and walk-offs, so be careful of those. Other than that, this stage works well for ROB. The platforms and permeable floor let you u-air all day long, and the fact the stage lands gives you the ability to wait on the ledge for your robo burner.
Lylat Cruise[/SIZE]
This is a great Starter for ROB! Almost every other character's recovery and projectiles have been screwed over, but not ROB's! Plus, these platforms are PERFECT for him. They are small enough not to be a danger to him, but large enough to let him get off a u-smash or u-air off on any opponent that lands on them. You can also easily go under this stage AND you can u-air or nair through the slanted sides. Arguably the best starter for ROB.
Luigi's Mansion
This stage is hit or miss, depending on the matchup. Avoid playing this against Metaknight or G&W, but other than that you're good to go. Your lasers go through the pillars, your Gyro bounces off of them and therefore you can throw your gyro at it so it stands spinning in front of the ledge (this helps you recover). You can spam d-smash against opponents when they are on the bottom floor, recharge your moves by d-tilting the pillars, and can u-air or nair people that are on the 2nd floor. You can also easily pull off a jab lock on a stage like this by smacking them against the ceiling and then using your d-tilt.
Corneria
This stage is generally not bad for ROB; there are a few characters that give him trouble here (like D3), but overall it isn't bad. ROB can easily kill people at low % by baiting them to the fin and then hitting them with a nair, can get an infinite on the right, and due to the extremely close blast zones on the left and right side, you can use your f-throw or b-throw as a kill move in many situations! Your gyro can also be tossed towards the fin to bounce back towards you, allowing you an easy setup for glide tossing.
Rainbow Cruise
This is gimp central. The boat is pretty standard as far as stages go except you have a great wall to do infinites on. The entire left side (when it is scrolling vertical) is when you want to be incredibly aggressive. Getting them off the edge at this point can easily mean certain death on its own, but add to that an aggressive robot throwing out fairs and you've got trouble. The side scrolling part at the top isn't particularly good for ROB; I suggest going to the right side and simply following the stage. If possible, do a u-throw towards the end to keep them in the air and then when the screen lowers they'll fall off the top.
Frigate Orpheon
A great ROB stage. During the first transformation, you can get u-airs and u-smashes off from the platform very easily. On the right side there is no ledge, so you can gimp people REALLY easy here. There is no auto-snap, so you can edgeguard with f-smashes. The second transformation has interesting slants that allow you to do some cool gyro/laser tricks, and the platforms coming in and out on the side are great for camping. Jump on them to recharge your robo burner, then jump, laser, jump, laser, up+b, laser, up+, laser, on and on until it comes back. Then recharge and repeat. This forces your opponent to be REALLY risky. If you are at 180% or so, this isn't a bad idea.
Skyworld
D-smash to kill the platforms and knock your opponent off the top is about all you need to know. There is a platform that runs along the bottom that is great for ROB, but don't depend on it. This is a great stage to pick against characters with horrid recoveries, because ROB lives forever here and they do not.
Jungle Japes
Standing on either side of the stage means your opponent has to approach you FROM THE AIR. This is HUGE. That means you can intercept with a gyro or f-tilt or some other nigh lagless attack, and if they air dodge you can d-smash or grab them, send them away, then repeat the process. This is perfect for those with poor aerial games, like Snake.
Norfair
This is not a good stage for ROB. The increased amount of ledges means you don't get to edgeguard as well, and the hazards make it very difficult for you to keep stage control. This is especially bad because your opponent easily gets access to your blind spot. Steer clear of this one.
Brinstar
This isn't too bad for ROB, but the acid steals your gyro for minutes at a time and it is very easy to screw up your tilts due to the stage's bumps and hills. This isn't something you want to go to, but if you do I suggest focusing on u-airs or nairs through the stage and, if possible, breaking the stage and forcing them to approach you.
Distant Planet
This is deceptively awful for ROB. Not only does the slanted side not help ROB in any way, shape, or form, the platforms here hurt him but don't really help him. There are also items appearing on the stage that hurt your projectile game and can let them force YOU to approach. Be careful on this stage.
Green Greens
Another deceptively bad stage; while edgeguarding is great for ROB, dying at extremely low % isn't, and that's what happens on this stage to anyone that plays it. Your projectiles are nerfed and you are forced to come in at odd angles, often with your blind spot exposed. This stage can be pretty rough on ROB.
Pirate Ship
This is an uncommon stage at best, but sometimes it'll come out of left field... and generally by a player that not only has experience here, but enjoys it. Keep in mind you don't recharge your up+b when in the water and that the boat, if it touches you on the left side, is a OHKO. Focus on projectiles and your d-throw/u-throw here; it is often the case that your opponent will want to land on the platforms in the center to regain their jumps. Use this to your advantage and u-air them. Other than that, ROB's got nothin' here. He can't really gimp, his recovery isn't super amazing anymore, and the shape of the stage is about as bad as can be.
Mindgames, tricks, and commonly used tactics
This section won't have much information as to why, how, or essential info like that. I'm simply going to post things I have done or observed that are pretty awesome across the board, and you can implement them into your game if you want.
Drop off ledge to nair to regrab ledge repeatedly, mixing it up by a drop off to fair.
When an opponent is far above you, full hop fast-falled nair early so you are obviously going to miss them, then double jump to u-air.
D-tilt to grab.
Dash attack to u-tilt.
U-tilt to u-air.
F-tilt to fully charged gyro
Running bair to d-tilt
Repeated fairs
Nair to chasing nair
Glide toss down to dash attack that picks up the gyro
Glide toss forward to f-smash
Glide toss forward to u-smash
Glide toss forward to grab
Glide toss forward to short hop fairs
Grab release to d-tilt and, if tripping occurs, another grab
Edgehog to getup attack on characters that will land by the stage (it knocks them back off the stage)
U-throw to falling u-air
Spot dodge d-smash
Spot dodge u-tilt
Spot dodge double jab