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General Category => Entertainment and Media => Topic started by: Paranoia Dude on March 16, 2008, 02:45:25 am

Title: The GamingW Brawl Strategy & Netplay Thread
Post by: Paranoia Dude on March 16, 2008, 02:45:25 am
(http://www.gamingw.net/pubaccess/50675/brawl%20logo%201.PNG)


Okay, time for some advanced shit to help other out and you know, be generally better at the game. I don't care if you don't take this game seriously (lol its only a party game) but at least have the decency to not fuck up the topic with inane bullshit. This isn't a dickstroking topic or anything of the sort, this is to discuss legitimate and viable strategies for the game and characters from Brawl. Want to write a primer for a character? Go ahead and I'll link the post directly here. Want to write about a newly discovered glitch that can be abused for multiplayer games and makes some characters better? Same thing. I'll post what I know in this post and the following ones about the characters I play and the things I do, but go ahead and make your own stuff up for adding to the topic. Please no copy/pasting from videos (unless it's for an universal tactic, which is kinda hard not to copy/paste from) and guides, because that's seriously gay.

Intermediate to advanced techs
Dash dancing: Dash dancing is the action of using the game's lack of turnaround animation in the early frames of a starting dash in order to switch between the left and right dashing animations without any lag. This is done by simply going from left to right (or right to left) with the thumbstick very quickly. If done properly in Brawl, your character should stay in the same general spot (about twice the size of his actual model) while quickly turning upon himself.
Why do this? Dash dancing is used mostly in situations where the opponent's DI can affect the outcome of a combo. By doing it properly, your opponent can't effectively see where you will actually be going and is forced to make an educated guess. The dashdancing animation can be jumped, short hopped, shielded and attacked out of at almost any point, which makes it especially deadly if you're decent at the technical aspect of the game.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PscBUdZVnLM

Fox-trot: Similar to dash dancing, Fox-trotting is to cancel the starting dash animation (where smokes comes out under your character) into yet another starting dash repeatedly, which makes it look like as if your character is always in the first frames of dashing but never actually running. There is no speed increase by doing this but it disables the need for a turnaround animation when going from one side to another if done properly. Just like dashdancing, you can cancel this into a dashing attack, a jump or shorthop or a shield. In order to fox-trot, tap the thumbstick in the direction you wish to go, then go back to neutral state (most effectively done by simply removing your thumb from the stick, as the spring automatically goes back to neutral without boucning), then pressing forward again and into neutral yet again and so on. The timing is different for every characters but is generally easy to get used to.
Why do this? By removing the need of a turnaround animation and not changing anything to your actual movement speed, fox-trotting enables you to quickly and effectively chase your opponent around the stage, moreso than simply running and turning around or jumping backwards to hit your opponent if he DIs out of harm's way. This can also be used with many characters to abuse their pivot's property, making them very dangerous.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x8wygkxDyI

Pivotting: Pivotting is simply the act of using the few neutral frames when a character turns during fox-trot or dashdancing where it's possible to grab, tilt or smash without having to wait for the starting dash animation to end.
Why do this? This is pretty self explanatory, it allows you to directly attack an enemy while being in a running state but without having to wait for your running state to end before using your strongest attacks or grabs. You don't always want to do this though, as some characters (Ganon for example) have incredibly good dashing attacks.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-tBzYAaGu0

Auto-Cancelling: Auto-cancelling is a little different from this concept, it's simply using an attack in the earliest possible frames of a jump or shorthop in order to make it appear as if there had no lag in using the attack. If done correctly, your character should land and be able to move freely without any delay upon hitting the ground. Some of the characters who have confirmed auto-cancels from a short hop in brawl are Marth, Ganon and Lucario (help me out on this list).
Why do this? Auto-cancelling opens up new combo possibilities and makes using otherwise unsafe attacks almost completely safe. It also allows you to pressure your opponent by chaining several of them together to create a "wall of pain" tactic.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyhnF4jZa_Y

Dash attack cancelling: This is done by using several of the cast's members dash attack animation to smoothly transition from the dash attack into an up-tilt or an up-smash. The only characters who can use this in Brawl are Snake, Zero Suit Samus, Falco, Wario and Diddy Kong because of the way their dash animation works. This is especially useful in Snake's situation as it allows him to "Snakedash", which is connecting with the initial dash attack on your opponent and then using up-smash to cancel his dashing animation, if done properly, Snake should slide a long distance forward, giving him a great boost in movement speed and range.
Why do this? Aside from the obvious combos that open up from going into an up-smash or tilt with some of the characters (Falco's is especially deadly), this is also useful to create pressure strings and hit floating opponents with attacks relatively easily.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH-yv9Aha4g

Wavebouncing: The latest discovery in SSBB glitches, wavebouncing is a strange technique that allows the use of special attacks in the air and give them backbouncing properties. The concept is simple, although it requires a Gamecube controller (maybe also classic controller?). By using the custom controls option, set your special attacks to the C-stick/right analog thumbstick. During a match, dash forward and during running animation, jump up and tap the C-stick forward. If done properly, the character should "bounce" back as he performs his special attack.
Why do this? This opens up a world of possibilities for some of the characters, namely safe special moves and easy positionning. But although the technical advantages are useful, you have to ask yourself if it's worth losing your C-stick smashes over it.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kox5-m5JM3w

Instant dash attacks: Another new discovery in the SSBB community, this is a "counterpart" of sorts to wavebouncing as it also needs the C-stick to work properly. This one is done by tapping the stick as if you would try to dash or smash your opponent and IMMEDIATELY doing a down-smash with the C-stick. If done correctly, your character should go straight into his dashing attack without the need of being in his dashing or running animation.
Why do this? This is very useful in some characters' case, and not so in others. While dash attacks are usually good, high damaging moves, a lot of them are also high in lag and delay, and can cause a quick death to anyone who doesn't use them properly. Use this wisely and you could technically be able to punish nearly everything that is at close to medium range instantly though, and it also makes comboing opponents so much funnier.
Video: I can't find any yet. - DN.

Characters
Ganondorf primer (http://www.gamingw.net/forums/index.php?topic=70023.msg1272326#msg1272326)

GamingW members' videos
Placeholder. Will be updated as replay files (can those be uploaded from an SD card?) and other videos are recorded and posted.

Final word
Yeah so this is pretty much the strategy discussion for Brawl in order not to clutter up the other topic which is mostly for matchmaking. Feel free to post the shit you discover, videos and anything else you feel worthy of mentionning. In the meantime, enjoy Brawling!
Title: The GamingW Brawl Strategy & Netplay Thread
Post by: Belross on March 16, 2008, 07:51:18 am
Thanks for the topic, but it is pretty hard to visualize most of these techniques from the descriptions alone. Do you have any good links to videos that actually demonstrate them in action to illustrate how they differ from standard moves/techniques?
Title: The GamingW Brawl Strategy & Netplay Thread
Post by: HL on March 16, 2008, 08:37:47 am
I took the liberty of raping your topic with video links, Raz.
Title: The GamingW Brawl Strategy & Netplay Thread
Post by: Paranoia Dude on March 16, 2008, 11:28:13 pm
Ganondorf

Ganondorf is a slow and powerful character who first appeared in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Although his specials remain largely unchanged, the lack of many advanced techniques from Melee in Brawl and the heavy changes made to his normal attacks moves the focus of Ganon's gameplay from a slow but aggressive and typically "rushdown" character to being one of the two "true" grapplers in Brawl. He shares some of his moves with Captain Falcon (up-B and down-B to be exact) but is otherwise played in a completely different manner from him.

Move analysis
Normals
Jab normal - A long, extending palm attack. High damage and high priority. Gains a high knockback property at moderate to high percentages.
Forward tilt - Sparta kick! Ganon kicks straight in front of him. Decent priority, great range and great knockback.
Down tilt - An extending low kick. More range than most of his other normals but lower damage and doesn't knockback as far as his other moves. Great for stuffing early dash attacks.
Up tilt - Oh god this one is awful. Ganon lifts his leg up high and charges for nearly 5 seconds before it lands. If it does hit (it's not going to hit, ever), it deals crazy damage, sends the other far back and can be a 1-hit KO move on most of the cast once they reach 30 to 40% damage.
Down smash - Ganon kicks twice, once in front of him and another time on the other side. If it hits, the other character is sent towards the second hit (assuming the first hit was the one to actually connect). Nice damage and goes out pretty fast. Can also punish shield-rollers like crazy.
Forward smash - Elbow to the face! One of Ganon's best killing move, tho it's a tad on the slow side. It has one of the longest horizontal travel property of any moves in the game, which makes it ideal for scoring KOs at low percents.
Up smash - Ganon kicks straight over his head. While it looks like this has a vertical hitbox, it actually hits in front of him with decent range. Very fast and is one of his best launchers.

Air attacks
Neutral - Ganon kicks twice with a weird angle. Doesn't knockback far, so it can't be used to score easy kills, but it does rack up the damage pretty easily.
Forward - Ganon's usual killing attack. Does crazy damage, has good priority and sends the other guy so far back they usually have to try to recover or they simply slam against the side walls and die. Good combo finisher after an up-smash or a grab.
Up - Ganon does a backflip. This move is weird, but you learn to love it as time passes. If done backwards, the tip of his foot actually sends the other character travelling downwards. Great for edgeguarding but has a weird positioning in order to be effective.
Down - The all-purpose air move. This is a spike attack and sends the other character flying downwards. It can also combo at low percentages as it has auto-cancel properties from a shorthop. Great as a combo finisher too over an edge, since it'll send the guy travelling straight down towards his doom.

Grabs
Forward - Ganon pushes the other character forward. Has a long travel distance.
Down - Throws the opponent on the ground. This is somewhat of a chain grab as you can easily follow the opponent after the throw and grab them again while they're in the air at low percentages. Somewhat harder to pull on floatier characters.
Up - Sends the other character straight up. Standard use for combos, great launcher.
Back - Kicks the other character. Same properties as his forward throw, but on the other side. Use this in combination with the forward throw in order to send the guy towards the closest edge to ensure an edgeguarding situation.

Specials
Neutral: Gerudo Dragon - Ganon punches in front of him. This has gained a little speed from Melee but is otherwise unusable. Don't bother unless you're really cocky.
Down: Wizard's Foot - Same as Captain Falcon's, with a few differences in how it sends the other character after a hit. Can actually combo from some attacks if done instantly after a shorthop. Cannot be used for recovery like it could in Melee, as it doesn't reset the double jump counter like it used to.
Up: Dark Dive - Ganon jumps in the air. In the early parts of the move, this is a grab and will go through shields if done right besides the opponent. If it hits in the latter parts of the move, it turns into a slow-hitting uppercut with low knockback and damage. Has auto-sweetspot properties for recovery.
Side: Flame Choke - Oh god, this completely changed the way Ganon is supposed to be played. The flame choke is now a grab, goes through shields, and sets up a bunch of stuff on hit. Some characters even have a bounce property and can be hit with a jab right after it connects (so far, only Snake and ZSS does this) and if done over the edge, sends the other guy downwards along with Ganon in a suicide attack.
The real wonders of this move however are the situations after the grab. The opponent has three choices once he's on the ground: roll, attack, or get straight up/do nothing. In the first case, simply reacting and following the other guy around with another side B is enough. It will hit before he recovers and be in the same situation again. In the second situation, short hop down air does the job and leads to combo situations. The last option can be dealt with neutral or down-tilt attacks, which extend fully and long enough to be considered "meaty" (inside the character as he gets up) and can't be dealt with appropriately.

How to play Ganondorf
What most people don't realize is that although Ganon seems to be the same on the surface when you first pick him up, he's actually completely different from what he used to play like in Melee. Yes, his specials and air attacks look like they remained largely the same, but that's just the thing, they just look like it, they're not.

Ganondorf's entire gameplan now revolves around landing his side-B as much as possible. On top of hitting for a hefty amount of damage, it leads into a bunch of situations that you can exploit to your advantage (as explained above, I'm done repeating myself). Ganon's other main way of keeping the pressure up is to abuse the auto-cancelling properties of his jumping down aerial, done properly, you can move towards your opponent with a hitbox that covers most of the ground where Ganon is (only a few characters can crouch under, and even fewer can attack under it) and you have a high priority move coming out. It's not completely safe but it's safe enough to be nearly unpunishable by most of the cast. If it hits and launches the opponent, you put your opponent in an uneasy situation: if he's low on percentage, you can hit him again with yet another down Aerial and if he's high in percentage, he'll be launched and can be comboed easily (forward Aerial and up Aerial are your best options here). Some characters (light to light-middleweights) launch so high they actually can't recover and get KO'd off screen if they're over 90%.

The down Aerial is also useful as it's a spiking attack. If your opponent happens to be near the end of his recovery and you feel like you can reach him, jump and time it so hits as Ganon stops extending his body (this requires some practice, but it's generally easy to do once you get it done right once or twice). Done correctly, this sends the opponent downwards so fast that it's nearly impossible to recover from even at 0%. Ganon can also spike with his side-B (although he commits suicide in the process) and his down-B's first few frames. If done backwards, his up Aerial can also function as a semi-spike like it did in Melee, but with less vertical travel and more horizontal travel.

Ganon's big problems arise from three things: his slow movement speed, his big hitbox and his inability to deal with spammed projectiles at long range consistently. The movement speed issue is easily resolved once you start mastering higher level techniques: the addition of pivoting, dash dancing and instant dash attacks make him deadlier than expected, and his dash attack actually travels faster than his running animation and goes farther than his startup dash. He's still slow, but if a good Ganon player wants to get to you, he'll get to you one way or another and there's nothing you can do about it. His big hitbox makes some situational or otherwise impossible combos work on himself nearly exclusively as well as making him much easier to hit with different attacks. The last issue is the most annoying to a starting Ganondorf player: projectiles absolutely destroy him. At least, until you figure out a few quirky things about his attacks, like the fact that a lot of them can actually stop projectiles dead in their tracks and cancel any damage he would take. The most effective way to do this is to use his neutral attack, it's fast, long reaching, and has that fun projectile stopping property to it at all points during the attack except when he's retracting his limb. This allows him to move towards his opponent relatively unscathed, although he lacks such a similar technique when in the air.

As a final note, Ganon's recovery isn't as abysmal as people may believe: his up+B actually has auto-sweetspot properties and is great for recovering on the ledge easily when knocked towards the bottom of a stage. He also gain a hefty amount of vertical travel and can come back from high percentage knockbacks much more easily than one would think just by moving towards the stage and being careful about his opponent's move. It's also useful to know that if all seems desperate, you can always try to side-B an overly aggressive opponent who follows you off the edge to score a suicide KO.

Final thoughts
To be honest, I loved Ganondorf as soon as I figured his side-B had changed for the better. Sure, he lost a few things in the long run but he gained so much as well that he ends up being pretty much as powerful as he was in Melee, just different. I don't think he'll be considered more than mid or high tier, but he's strong enough to pose a threat to a lot of the cast, although he can get counterpicked pretty heavily (Metaknight, Pit, Squirtle and Diddy Kong are the hardest to deal with, but they're not unbeatable). He's a worthy combatant and a good character to pick up and learn how the systems work together in Brawl, so don't shy away from the slow monster and embrace his harsher side.
Title: The GamingW Brawl Strategy & Netplay Thread
Post by: Sarhan on March 17, 2008, 03:34:38 am
Awesome Ganondorf article. Very detailed. I'm glad he's not as nerfed as I originally thought he was.

You've inspired me to try and write up a Marth or Wolf article when I get the chance. I was also considering writing a more general article about smash terminology and some of the more basic techniques (such as rolling, spot/air dodging, short hops, fast falling, shield grabbing, etc.) and how to use these techniques effectively. Most people already know this stuff, but it could come in handy for those new to smash.
Title: The GamingW Brawl Strategy & Netplay Thread
Post by: YoshiJRC on March 21, 2008, 11:17:38 pm
Can anyone contribute to this?  I'm not exactly a Super Smash Bros. expert, but I was thinking of doing a Items FAQ... like, what they do, how to use them effectively, how to deal with them... would anyone be interested in that?
Title: The GamingW Brawl Strategy & Netplay Thread
Post by: jaller141 on March 22, 2008, 12:05:45 am
Sure... Like how the heart only heals 100 hp instead of fully heal.
Title: The GamingW Brawl Strategy & Netplay Thread
Post by: Rye Bread on March 22, 2008, 01:49:05 am
I would love to do this for the characters I play but I do not really think at all about what I'm doing when I play so anything I try to put into text will probably actually be pretty bad advice.
Title: The GamingW Brawl Strategy & Netplay Thread
Post by: King of Spooks on March 23, 2008, 04:11:47 am
I dunno if this is part of wave bouncing or if you can do this another way, but if you set your b to the c stick, you can press the opposite direction that you're dashing in and then you jump facing the other way instead of having to turn around and then jump. With this you can dash at the opponent, jump facing away from him to make him think you're chicken and then press the opposite direction again when you're in the air to do a normal wave bounce so you maintain a safe distance while attacking. This is useful for Ness especially, because of the range of pk fire.
Title: The GamingW Brawl Strategy & Netplay Thread
Post by: Sarhan on March 24, 2008, 12:02:34 am
Quote from: King of Games on March 23, 2008, 04:11:47 am
I dunno if this is part of wave bouncing or if you can do this another way, but if you set your b to the c stick, you can press the opposite direction that you're dashing in and then you jump facing the other way instead of having to turn around and then jump. With this you can dash at the opponent, jump facing away from him to make him think you're chicken and then press the opposite direction again when you're in the air to do a normal wave bounce so you maintain a safe distance while attacking. This is useful for Ness especially, because of the range of pk fire.

You can do something similar to this with aerial moves. You run, hit back and quickly jump. Your character's back will be facing the direction you were running in, which lets you pull off back-aerials quickly instead of having to stop the run, turn around, jump, and then attack. Very useful for characters like Ike who have an insanely quick back air but slow everything else or for anyone with very powerful back-aerials..
Title: The GamingW Brawl Strategy & Netplay Thread
Post by: missingno on March 24, 2008, 12:10:55 am
Anyone have anything about using the Nunchuk controller configuration? I've been using it when I play because it's just so horribly comfortable, but when looking at all the advance techniques everything is so Gamecube controller-centric. I don't really want to be at a disadvantage for preferring one controller over another.

In particular I think that shorthopping is a LOT harder with the Nunchuk. In fact I actually have a very hard time shorthopping. I don't know if it's just because I use my index finger on the shoulder button now and that is affecting the way I touch the button, or if the actual control makes it different, but it's really giving me a hard time. Losing reliable shorthops has seriously been a problem for me.

I started a rough Diddy Kong article because I've been having a lot of fun with him. I've been playing mostly against irls and am having problems getting online, but there are a few people who I play with who are pretty serious- one of them was the third in my state at Melee at one point. If and when I finish it, I'll post it here.
Title: The GamingW Brawl Strategy & Netplay Thread
Post by: Cheesy Doritos on March 24, 2008, 01:00:34 am
I might write about Olimar soon, he's one of my favorite interesting characters. Or Wario.
Title: The GamingW Brawl Strategy & Netplay Thread
Post by: halibabica on March 25, 2008, 01:40:57 pm
Okay, I decided to take a stab at this.  I don't know all the fancy technical terms (wut's a DI???), but I do know his moves and how they all work, so here we go.  Oh, and I'm going to mimic Raziel's format b/c he did such a good job.

Mr. Game & Watch

Mr. Game & Watch is a very light, fairly fast, quirky member of the cast that first showed up in Melee.  Of the characters in Brawl, he's among those that changed the least since then, but I'll be making note of his minor differences between now and then.

Move analysis
Normals

Neutral: Gas - G&W pumps a pump and a lil' ball of gas poofs out.  It doesn't do much damage, but you can spam it quickly for successive hits.  Merely holding the A button will have G&W continuously do this move if it connects.  You can spam it manually without hitting the enemy, but I wouldn't recommend it (as you've already missed).

Forward tilt: Tamer's Chair - G&W pauses in a strange pose, then produces a lion-taming chair.  The move strikes as soon as the chair appears, so G&W is vulnerable for a (very) brief moment before the attack.  However, since the attack strikes suddenly, you might be able to surprise your foe with it.  If they don't attack you before it's unleashed, they won't have time to do much more than power shield it.  This has gotten faster since Melee.

Down tilt: Manhole Cover - G&W tilts up a manhole cover right in front of him.  This move was more powerful in Melee, but now it has longer reach.  It's excellent for tripping foes in front of G&W, and has decent knockback to go with it.  It strikes nearly instantly as well, so it's a very useful move.

Up tilt: Flag Waver - G&W waves a flag starting in front of him and then over his head.  The move doesn't do a ton of damage, but it has a broad swing to it.  You can hit enemies both in front of you and above you.  No matter where you hit them, they fly up at the angle G&W swings the flag.

Forward charge: Hard Hat - G&W equips a hard hat and plows into his foes.  The attack has decent knockback, and it sends the enemies back the way G&W came.  You can sometimes follow this up with the same move going the other direction, but it's not always possible to pull off consecutively.  This move slows G&W's running speed down, so you'll need to close the gap between you and your opponent to make it land.

Down smash: Hammers - G&W swings two hammers to the ground on both sides of him.  It might seem like a straight-forward move, but there's a trick to it.  It has a shockwave.  If you hit your foe with the hammers themselves, the enemy will fly fairly straight sideways.  But, if you barely miss them with the hammers (i.e. they're right next to where the hammers strike the ground), they'll fly straight up and take a little more damage from it.  This gives the move longer reach than it looks, and it's very good for KOs.

Forward smash: Fire Brand - G&W swings a flaming stick in front of him.  Like the Tamer's Chair, this move has a pause before it connects.  It has a flame effect and sends enemies flying far in the direction you swung it.  The only downside to it is that you'll see G&W hold the brand above his head before he swings it.  That means your opponent might see it coming and get away in time.  Even so, it's a useful smash.

Up smash: Diving Helmet - G&W equips a diving helmet and headbangs with all his might.  This move is very powerful, but also one of G&W's slowest.  The attack sends foes skyward, but that's only if it connects.  There's a long pause before it strikes (even longer than the fire brand), so how you'll make it hit is definitely something to think about.

Air attacks

Neutral: Fish Bowl - G&W holds up an overfull fish bowl and fish pop out on both sides of him.  This used to be a parachute attack in Melee, and has been nerfed considerably since then.  The fish can strike multiple times on both sides of G&W, so it's not a bad move (though its applications are limited).  It strikes using G&W's whole body, so it can connect on any side of him.

Forward: Package? - G&W swings a package? directly in front of him.  The attack has the most damage and knockback when it first appears, but can still hit after being out for a moment.  It has a fair amount of range, so it's good for edge guarding and the like.

Up: Gas, Again - G&W holds a funnel or something over his head, and two puffs of gas pop out.  The first ball of gas is not very powerful.  The second one does a lot more damage and sends enemies flying upward.  This move works kind of like Fox's up air attack, but it has an added effect.  With each puff of gas, air is wafted up from this attack that can push airborne foes up.  How far up it sends them depends on their current weight (it could kill some shrunken foes), but it's perfect for thwarting down air attacks from your enemies.  It keeps space between you and them, thus rendering those attacks useless.  It even works on some of the rush-down-airs used by Zero Suit Samus, Toon Link, Shiek, and Sonic.

Down: Key - G&W produces a huge key and slams it straight beneath him.  The moves travels down very quickly, and has a big impact when it hits the ground.  While this alone is useful, G&W pauses for just a moment when he first takes out the key.  This can allow your opponent's up attacks to miss just in time for your downward strike to connect with them.  This element of surprise is useful, but they could catch on if you do it too much.

Grabs

All of 'em: Juggle - G&W's throws are very deceptive.  The animation for all of them is almost exactly the same, no matter what direction you pick to throw your enemy.  G&W juggles the foe like a ball and tosses them in the direction you chose.  He juggles them from front to back for up, down, and back throws, but juggles them back to front for forward throws.  The only way your opponent will know for sure where your sending them is if you throw them forward.  Now, all these throws send your foe forcefully in the direction you picked (this got buffed since Melee), but down throw is most useful of all these.  It sends them straight into the ground, much like Ganondorf's side-B.  It leaves your foe with the same options as that: attack, stand up, or roll away.  G&W can follow up on this throw with any of his smash attacks.  This is a great use for the Diving Helmet, but the Hammers are faster and harder to escape from.  The Fire Brand is inbetween.  Whatever you decide to do, do it fast.  Depending on the reaction time of your opponent, they could escape any further punishment (especially if they're expecting it).  It's best to vary up your throws to keep your opponent guessing, and save the down throw/smash combo for special occasions.

Specials

Neutral: Chef - G&W swings a blazing hot pan in front of him and a variety of meat products fly out (back in Melee, it was only sausages).  The food flies forward on an arc that goes a fair distance up.  The pan can be flipped up to five times in one swing (holding B will do all five in a row with even pacing).  Your enemy would be stupid to approach through the meat itself, because they'd get bopped by every piece.  If they decide to rush under all the food, they're more likely to collide with the pan.  It has a fire effect and sends foes straight back the way they came.  It only does this when G&W is swinging the pan, but that's not usually an issue (only faster characters can really get past it).  This move is nice for buying time and putting space between you and your enemy (ahhh, breathing room).

Up: Fire Rescue - Two firemen with a trampoline appear beneath G&W to send him skyward.  G&W damages any foes he collides with on his way up, and produces a parachute (there's his old neutral air!) to float gently back down to earth.  The nice thing about this move is that it doesn't end G&W's midair actions like other characters up-B's.  He can follow this up with any aerial attack (and air dodges after that).  He won't be able to use this move again until he hits the ground, but this is still a better deal than most characters get.

Side: Judge - The ultimate random move.  G&W holds a number from 1-9 above his head and swings a mallet in the direction he's facing.  The move has different effects depending on which number comes up.  Here's each of them:
1: The lamest result.  It hits with a Koopa Shell noise, does very little damage, and actually hurts G&W!  Argh, 12% is no joke!
2: A pitiful hit.  The attack doesn't do much damage, and only sends foes back a little bit.
3: A weak attack with a whapping sound.  Hits like the Fan, sending foes flying behind G&W.
4: Another weak attack.  Makes a piercing sound with forward knockback.
5: Has a shock effect.  Strikes multiple times with jolts of electricity.
6: Has a fire effect with decent knockback.  Sends foes far sideways.
7: A decent whack that produces a food item.  Lucky 7 can heal G&W, but its appearance is unlikely.
8: Has a freeze effect, even on foes with low percents.  You can hit your encased enemy with anything you like before they thaw.
9: A truly dreaded result. This one-hit KO move strikes just like the Home Run Bat.  Your opponent will likely die from this, even at low percentages.  It strikes at the same speed as all other Judge numbers, so this may be what you had in mind trying the move in the first place.

Down: Oil Panic - A very unique move.  G&W holds a bucket in front of him.  While it has no offensive abilities like this, it can catch energy-based projectiles.  This includes things like Samus' charge beam, and excludes things like Link's arrows.  When a projectile is caught, one layer of the bucket is filled.  When three layers are filled, G&W will glow to indicate the move is fully charged.  Pressing down-B again will make G&W dump the whole bucket in front of him.  This move is devastatingly powerful.  It has a wide forward spread and may kill the foe it strikes.  The strength of the attack depends on the projectiles put into it.  So, you'll get a more powerful result if you fill it with three charged Super Scope shots than if you filled it with Fire Flower flames.  In Melee, there was no limit to the strength of the oil spill, but in Brawl the power caps at 60% (but any bucket doing that much is still an instant KO).  A surprising feature of this move is that you don't lose the bucket's charge when KO'd.  If you have anything in the bucket at all, it will still be there when you return to the board.  This includes the fully charged ones, so don't be afraid of losing all the effort you took filling it.  A final note about this, if you hold out the bucket, you can continue holding it there by holding B.  If you're facing the wrong way, G&W can turn on the spot with the control stick for as long as the bucket is being held.  This way, you can catch projectiles on either side, no matter what...the only downside is that G&W pauses for a moment to put away the bucket.  Try not to leave yourself vulnerable for too long.

Final Smash: Octopus

For G&W's final smash, he turns into a massive octopus that terrorizes the stage and redefines "tentacle rape."  The tentacles on the octopus won't work unless you press the A and B buttons, so make sure to have them going at all times.  The octopus is slow, but bulky and hard to escape from.  It's body can do damage as well as the tentacles, so don't hesitate to jump into foes above you.  Yes, it can jump.  Twice, in fact.  If a foe is avoiding you by hanging off the cliff, just gently let yourself off the edge.  You can bump them to their doom and leap gracefully back onto the stage from there (I got Sarhan with that trick once).  The key to using the octopus is to keep your cool and take away as many of your opponent's escape options as possible.  Remember, they can only run under you if you're not using the tentacles...

So, there you have it.  Due to my play style, I don't really have any advanced techinques to suggest to you at this point.  But just knowing how these moves work is half the battle anyway, so hopefully this will help people read my mind and whup me get familiar with G&W and all his interesting quirks.
Title: The GamingW Brawl Strategy & Netplay Thread
Post by: Mama Luigi on March 25, 2008, 02:16:44 pm
I discovered a glitch a while ago that Sonic can continue to use his neutral B move under levels like Final Destination and Battlefield. Useless, but interesting all the same.
Title: The GamingW Brawl Strategy & Netplay Thread
Post by: Cheesy Doritos on April 12, 2008, 09:47:18 pm
Yeah so Olimar's down-B gives him super-armor. This still makes him take damage if hit, but he doesn't suffer any knock back. And, since you can use it pretty much continuously, he can avoid things like being killed by Mario's Final Smash and stuff. Pretty neat!
Title: The GamingW Brawl Strategy & Netplay Thread
Post by: YoshiJRC on April 13, 2008, 02:02:19 am
maybe I could attempt a guide on Sheik...

although Sarhan could probably do a better one.
Title: The GamingW Brawl Strategy & Netplay Thread
Post by: Sarhan on April 14, 2008, 02:03:24 pm
Quote from: YoshiJRC on April 13, 2008, 02:02:19 am
maybe I could attempt a guide on Sheik...

although Sarhan could probably do a better one.

Doubt it. Plus I don't have the time. You should do one if you have the time and I could add in some stuff to it maybe? Just a suggestion.
Title: The GamingW Brawl Strategy & Netplay Thread
Post by: Cheesy Doritos on April 17, 2008, 09:20:09 pm
Also, Raziel, Ganondorf's down tilt is a great launcher.
Title: The GamingW Brawl Strategy & Netplay Thread
Post by: halibabica on July 10, 2008, 11:06:48 am
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, All-Star Mode pits you against the entire cast of the game with one life and limited healing items.  This is the same idea, but without all the life and percentage restrictions.

halibabica's All-Star Mode


So, here's the deal.  I've been playing Brawl for a good while now, and I finally feel comfortable enough with all the characters to hold my own in a fight with them (with a few exceptions :fogetshifty:​).  Now, I'm looking for people who are willing to take me on as all of them in one sitting.

It's basically 40 matches in a row.  I start as Mario and change characters each match, working my way from left to right on the character select screen (you can be whoever you want).  Each character gets their own stage that suits them best without repeating stages.  Since there are 39 different characters and 41 stages, all but two stages are used.  Here's a list of who I'd be in what order and where.

But, wait!  If there are only 39 cast members, how can there be 40 fights?  Well, the final fight is a random character on a random stage, so you never know what you'll get for the last round.  The only two stages that don't get used are 75m and Mario Bros., but they still might come up in the end...

The matches would all be 3 stock and non-timed.  Items can be on, but if they're on, I'd keep them on low.  Also, with this list, you'll know who I'm being next and what stage I'm choosing for them.  You can use this info to your advantage.  If you don't like the stage I'm choosing next, you can pick a different one and hope mine doesn't get chosen.  Or, if you like the sound of this, you can play along and pick the same as me.  I can't control you, but I'll pick these spots for these characters regardless!

Now, here's what separates this from just a regular batch of Brawls.  With each match, I'm going to be keeping score.  You don't have to win to get points, just K.O. me at least once.  Here's how the scoring breaks down:

K.O. me once:  1 point.  That's nothing!
K.O. me twice:  another 4 points, for a total of 5.
K.O. me all three times:  another 5 points, for a total of 10.

So, if you fought every match and beat me every time, the most you could get would be 400 points.  But, wait!  There's more!  If, by some act of Satan, you manage to K.O. me all three times without losing a life yourself (ie 3-stocking), you get an additional 10 points for a match total of 20!  I'm not betting on this happening, so your score is defined by the 400 limit in spite of it.  It'd be a dark day when someone got an 800 out of me...

When all the fighting is over, I'll post the results here.  It'll include who you played as, where we fought (if any different from my chosen stages), how many points you got in each round, and your end total/rank.  Even if you quit in the middle of it, I'll still post the results.  However, your score and rank will be adjusted based on when you quit.

Any questions?  Or, more importantly, any challengers?!  If you're interested in attempting my All-Star mode, PM me with your schedule so I can pick a time we both can meet online.  Just please remember about time zones, as I'm on America's east coast.  I may also need your Brawl code and name tag, so include those as well.  Also, if you're serious about this, remember:

40 matches x 5 minutes each = 3 hours and 20 minutes.

I don't think every match would take that long to fight, but it's a possibility.  So, keep in mind how early you'll want to start this if you intend on finishing it.  I'm also okay with someone starting where they left off if they had to quit from an earlier try.

I look forward to destroying you all.

My Brawl code/tag:  "LIBBY" 0645-5438-6224
Title: The GamingW Brawl Strategy & Netplay Thread
Post by: spacelion on July 10, 2008, 03:14:02 pm
you are really full of yourself
Title: The GamingW Brawl Strategy & Netplay Thread
Post by: HL on July 10, 2008, 03:23:54 pm
Hey guy, this is cool and all but I think this would be better suited here instead of its own topic.
Title: The GamingW Brawl Strategy & Netplay Thread
Post by: halibabica on July 10, 2008, 03:49:20 pm
Quote from: spacelion on July 10, 2008, 03:14:02 pm
you are really full of yourself
How so?  Because I'm looking for a challenge?  Or because I'm trash-talking?  I know I'm not the best Brawl player out there, I just love playing it!  Sorry if I came off like a pompous jerk...

EDIT: Boy, did this die fast.  This is why I made a separate thread.