Some general Dr. Mario neutral game questions?

[Dustydog96]

I've been maining doc since the game released basically and I'd consider myself to be good with him but am of course trying to improve to be even BETTER with him. I'm doing a tourney this weekend and am bringing my Dr. Mario in full force. But when i'm approaching *yes with pills* into a nair I don't feel very safe at all rather half the time i just get shielded and grabbed. Does anyone know any approaches that are safe on shield? Back air is the only thing i can think of maybe being that option.

Question 1: Approaches that are safe on shield as Dr. Mario? / Good ways to approach?
Question 2: Should you be trying your hardest to maintain stage control as Dr. Mario, as in pushing your opponent off the edge?

 

[RoA_Zam]

If you get grabbed while approaching with nair then space the nair to the top of their shield and land behind them. From there you can either retreat and go back to neutral if you don't feel safe or go for a tilt or grab on them is what I normally try. Or you could try completely whiffing a move to fake out an opponent and punishing them if they try to grab you or stay in shield or something.

I just tend to try to cape any character who has a linear recovery like spacies, CF, ness, mario, etc. Other than that if they recover above the ledge I go for a grab, dsmash, utilt, or fsmash to punish that, for my edgeguard.

I'm not that experienced in neutral yet but that tends to be most of what I do that works more than it fails for me.

 

[Dustydog96]

If you get grabbed while approaching with nair then space the nair to the top of their shield and land behind them. From there you can either retreat and go back to neutral if you don't feel safe or go for a tilt or grab on them is what I normally try. Or you could try completely whiffing a move to fake out an opponent and punishing them if they try to grab you or stay in shield or something.

I just tend to try to cape any character who has a linear recovery like spacies, CF, ness, mario, etc. Other than that if they recover above the ledge I go for a grab, dsmash, utilt, or fsmash to punish that, for my edgeguard.

I'm not that experienced in neutral yet but that tends to be most of what I do that works more than it fails for me.

I was trying a bit with the "nair over the shield" tactic and it was working pretty well for me. I like it : )

 

[Dobbston]

Full hop cape is safe, perfect tornado is safe, and Dtilt is safe.

 

[Kisatamura]

You should always try to mixup your approaches as Doc because he can be very predictable if you use him as such. When you throw a pill, you either do the reverse b trick towards the opponent so you can keep momentum, or any type of jump towards the opponent while throwing a pill.

From throwing a pill, you have a couple options. You can do aerial approaches involving nair or bair, but nair is risky on block, and bair needs to be spaced incredibly well to avoid retaliation. Aerial approaches involving uair are rather safe since it ends quickly and hits a decent angle in front of Doc, while dair is risky, but using the move to throw off people with it's landing hitbox is effective. If you're feeling gusty, you can use the cape as an approach option.

Failing that, you can Dr. Tornado to hover above the opponent, but be aware that any aware opponent (And especially people who know how to fight against Doc) can knock you out of the move's endlag. If you're conditioning the opponent to block or they're waiting for you to do a jump, you can always perform an empty jump into a throw, or just run up to them and throw them. Running to the opponent and shielding for a bit is a great way to approach. All in all, mix up your approaches when using pills offensively because you can condition your opponent to block and just wait for you, and you can capitalize on that.

 

[MarioMeteor]

To answer your second question: Dr. Mario is a character best played center-stage, kind of like Little Mac, because his defensive game is so strong. Sometimes you might not even want to approach, but rather let them approach.

 

[Doctor_Mario]

Just a random tip: If you do the Dr. Tornado and the enemy happens to shield, I would rapidly press B and fly the heck out of there.