Zauron
Smash Journeyman
Okay, I've played extensively with FLUDD on my friend's import copy. Here's the full details:
How to use FLUDD
Press Down-B and Mario begins to charge FLUDD. Like DK's Giant Punch, it can be charged in mid-air as well. It doesn't have very much charge time before its full. You do not have to hold the button, it keeps charging automatically after tapping Down+B.
While charging, pressing Block will stop the charge but maintain how much you charged so far. On the ground pressing left or right will stop the charge and automatically go into a side roll in the direction pressed. All this is, again, pretty much exactly like DK's Giant Punch.
Also like DK's Giant Punch, pressing B again while charging fires the current charge level immediately. Again, holding B does nothing - when used, the FLUDD fires the full amount of water it has charged up by that point then stops, and you'll need to charge it again to use it again.
If you do not push B or abort the charge by blocking or rolling, when fully charged a sound effect will play and Mario will begin to flash lightly to indicate he has a full charge. If you don't use it for a while, the FLUDD will physically dissappear, but the charge will still remain and it will just reappear when you use it. At this point, pressing Down+B will immediately fire the FLUDD's full charge.
FLUDD can be shot in the air or on the ground. Its trajectory can not be affected except by its charge level, however, it does seem to have a very slight amount of homing ability. It fires mostly straight forward.
What is FLUDD supposed to do?
Enemies hit by FLUDD's water are pushed back. They do not take damage and it does not interrupt their current move (like Fox's lasers). That's all a it does. Also, the amount of damage the opponent has doesn't change anything - a 999 damage opponent is pushed the same amount as a 0 damage opponent. So can this be useful? See below.
FLUDD use - recovery?
When FLUDD is fired, it shoots Mario back a bit. However, the distance is no more than Samus's charged shot throws her back. Recovery in this game is so easy anyway, that if you actually had enough distance out where you could use this little bit of push to help you get back, you are likely far enough away that you already died anyway. So, pretty much useless for recovery.
FLUDD use - edge guarding?
For some odd reason, FLUDD has very very little effect on someone that is in the air. If you shoot someone who is in the air and they are holding forward, they will still move forward almost the same amount as if they weren't being shot at all. Its extremely unlikely this will do anything useful. The opposing player will have plenty of time to drop below the ledge after being shot and use their recovery move to grab the ledge, and the trajectory of FLUDD is such that it won't hit anyone that is coming up from below - which most will be doing since the new ledge grabbing is so much easier to do now. Also, since the damage amount of the opponent makes no difference, it's not going to be suddenly possible to edge guard them with it when they are at high damage. So, its pretty much useless for edge guarding.
So, is FLUDD useful for anything at all if it pushes back so little?
Well here's the thing - for some reason, it pushes back hardly at all in the air, but if an opponent is on the ground, it actually pushes back fairly hard, and can easily push someone that's on the ground right off the edge of the stage.
Of course, then they'll just recovery back to the ledge, and have taken no damage, so you might as well have just hit them with a smash attack right?
Well, first, FLUDD has more range than a smash attack so its safer to use. But, most importantly, FLUDD doesn't interrupt whatever move they were doing. This means that once they are in mid-air, they have to finish the move they were doing before they can recover.
I'll give you an example of how I killed someone with FLUDD. Lucas was somewhat near the edge of the stage doing his PK Freeze. I had FLUDD fully charged and shot him with it, and he flew off the edge. While in mid-air, his PK Freeze finished and, as a property of that particular move, after finishing it Lucas goes into free-fall. Thus, once the move finished he could do nothing to recover and died.
So far that's the only time I've seen FLUDD do something useful. Oh, and it may push projectiles away too, but you already have the cape for that so, uh, I forgot to test that.
One final note - Squirtle's Water Gun (nuetral B) is EXACTLY the same as Mario's FLUDD. Same charging/shooting mechanic, same push back effect, same trajectory. If there's any difference, I could not find it. So, if one of you feels like it you can let the PT fans know that Squirtle's move works this way too.
Hope you find this useful.
How to use FLUDD
Press Down-B and Mario begins to charge FLUDD. Like DK's Giant Punch, it can be charged in mid-air as well. It doesn't have very much charge time before its full. You do not have to hold the button, it keeps charging automatically after tapping Down+B.
While charging, pressing Block will stop the charge but maintain how much you charged so far. On the ground pressing left or right will stop the charge and automatically go into a side roll in the direction pressed. All this is, again, pretty much exactly like DK's Giant Punch.
Also like DK's Giant Punch, pressing B again while charging fires the current charge level immediately. Again, holding B does nothing - when used, the FLUDD fires the full amount of water it has charged up by that point then stops, and you'll need to charge it again to use it again.
If you do not push B or abort the charge by blocking or rolling, when fully charged a sound effect will play and Mario will begin to flash lightly to indicate he has a full charge. If you don't use it for a while, the FLUDD will physically dissappear, but the charge will still remain and it will just reappear when you use it. At this point, pressing Down+B will immediately fire the FLUDD's full charge.
FLUDD can be shot in the air or on the ground. Its trajectory can not be affected except by its charge level, however, it does seem to have a very slight amount of homing ability. It fires mostly straight forward.
What is FLUDD supposed to do?
Enemies hit by FLUDD's water are pushed back. They do not take damage and it does not interrupt their current move (like Fox's lasers). That's all a it does. Also, the amount of damage the opponent has doesn't change anything - a 999 damage opponent is pushed the same amount as a 0 damage opponent. So can this be useful? See below.
FLUDD use - recovery?
When FLUDD is fired, it shoots Mario back a bit. However, the distance is no more than Samus's charged shot throws her back. Recovery in this game is so easy anyway, that if you actually had enough distance out where you could use this little bit of push to help you get back, you are likely far enough away that you already died anyway. So, pretty much useless for recovery.
FLUDD use - edge guarding?
For some odd reason, FLUDD has very very little effect on someone that is in the air. If you shoot someone who is in the air and they are holding forward, they will still move forward almost the same amount as if they weren't being shot at all. Its extremely unlikely this will do anything useful. The opposing player will have plenty of time to drop below the ledge after being shot and use their recovery move to grab the ledge, and the trajectory of FLUDD is such that it won't hit anyone that is coming up from below - which most will be doing since the new ledge grabbing is so much easier to do now. Also, since the damage amount of the opponent makes no difference, it's not going to be suddenly possible to edge guard them with it when they are at high damage. So, its pretty much useless for edge guarding.
So, is FLUDD useful for anything at all if it pushes back so little?
Well here's the thing - for some reason, it pushes back hardly at all in the air, but if an opponent is on the ground, it actually pushes back fairly hard, and can easily push someone that's on the ground right off the edge of the stage.
Of course, then they'll just recovery back to the ledge, and have taken no damage, so you might as well have just hit them with a smash attack right?
Well, first, FLUDD has more range than a smash attack so its safer to use. But, most importantly, FLUDD doesn't interrupt whatever move they were doing. This means that once they are in mid-air, they have to finish the move they were doing before they can recover.
I'll give you an example of how I killed someone with FLUDD. Lucas was somewhat near the edge of the stage doing his PK Freeze. I had FLUDD fully charged and shot him with it, and he flew off the edge. While in mid-air, his PK Freeze finished and, as a property of that particular move, after finishing it Lucas goes into free-fall. Thus, once the move finished he could do nothing to recover and died.
So far that's the only time I've seen FLUDD do something useful. Oh, and it may push projectiles away too, but you already have the cape for that so, uh, I forgot to test that.
One final note - Squirtle's Water Gun (nuetral B) is EXACTLY the same as Mario's FLUDD. Same charging/shooting mechanic, same push back effect, same trajectory. If there's any difference, I could not find it. So, if one of you feels like it you can let the PT fans know that Squirtle's move works this way too.
Hope you find this useful.
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