Topic: Smash Bros for 3DS: What are your Character Strategies? (Guides inside also!)

[Captain Sheepy]

Alright, so I've been playing Super Smash Bros for 3DS every day and I'm enjoying the damn hell out of it...besides unlocking custom moves and not even getting the ones for the current character I use all the while using the home button exploit on classic.

So everyone's going on about tiers and what characters suck and what characters are "Richter Belmont's memories whipping Johnathan's butt in three hits" (Neobelmont quote).

Any character can be played well. It's just to keep them competitive at a high level will be tougher when disadvantages in their own moves weight against them (like ganondorf and little mac's recovery)

But that's for a freaking competitive level...we are talking tournaments! Let's just push that out of the way and talk about our own character strategies that we use online or against friends. The fun side of things, and I'm not saying for fun in smash terms...I mean our own fun and well being of life in gaming.

With all that gibberish out of the way, I'll get started with Shulk since aside from the other characters I mainly use, I found him to be very interesting and fun to pick up. I was just..."Really feeling it..."

Shulk: (just gonna be honest....SHULK SUCKS especially against Sheik thanks to his laggy moves. This guide will help you a bit...but not as much as I hoped. You'll be able to be a bit more competitive, but Sheik is too fast in attacks for him.))
So through the CPU which has great defense over offense some of the time, I learned that Shulk is meant to be played rather strategically and technically...yeah you can do that with any character, but Shulk really represents his character reveal trailer. You really need to have that god damn vision, the ability to read your opponents so you know what move or monado to do...and make sure you are "REALLY feeling it."

The Monado Arts: (neutral special)   *if you know about these, skip down to shulks moves

Monado arts work as such when you press standing special and cycle in the order from top to bottom and repeat. The monado art can be cancelled by pressing special twice very fast, or sometime even three times if you don't press fast. Or you can keep pressing to go to another monado (cancelling monado or switching monados is super important)

Green - Jump
Blue - Speed
Yellow - Sheild
Purple - Buster (Damage Percentage)
Red - Smash (knockback)

Green: While this gives you high jumping power, the trade off is that you take more damage percentage and you'll be more floaty (good or bad depends). Watch out with this one at high percentages, but this still is useful for both keep away game and recovery...or even stage based elements and smash run.

Blue: This makes you run pretty fast, but at the cost of jump height and how much damage you deal. The jump height works to and against your advantage. This can potentially set up some nice rush down game, low to mid or maybe high percent combos, keep away game, and a ton of pressure. Though, just watch out if you get knocked off stage. It'll be a little tougher...but no where as tough as.........

Yellow: The defensive yellow monado turns you into a tank...literally. You take less damage, you become heavy, and you can't get knocked away so easily. But this is at the cost of you dealing less damage, your jump height (and I mean big time, you become like Ganondorf) and DAMN do you run slowly. The heavy weight class can come in handy against those moves that take forever to recover from...but it can also work against you for those who love faster fallers and low percenters for combos, aka, mario and kirby's up tilt. This can save you in some nice situations and don't forget, you can switch out. Just don't use this monado too late or recovery will be tough.

Purple: This is one of my favorite monado's to throw in just so I can easily bring an opponent's percent up as fast as bowser pretty much. Just as an example, your forward smash will boost from 17 damage uncharged to 24. And when you are getting in a lot of hits, it adds up. However...the big trade off is that you will also take a lot of damage, and you certainly can't send a person flying with this monado (but you actually don't want them to be flying, so that's actually good for you unless you are fighting a heavy character and using moves you can't immediately move from.) Since you rack up quite a bit of damage on yourself also...be very very careful if you actually do try to use.........

Red: The Smash Monado is your double edged murder weapon. You can send people flying, they can send you flying and taking a lot of damage...and having less weight so they can super send you flying. But, I'm sure if you play very strategically and place a well timed up smash or forward smash when the person recovered into your attack trajectory, you'll be just fine.

Shulk's Moves:

So, we know about his stances, but what of his moves? This guy feels so god damn slow and linear! ARRAHGH!...Well, there's a reason for that and it all has to do with play style stuff.

You can't just throw moves out when you feel like it, especially smash moves. He's almost like Ike but there are many differences that separate the two other than both wielding heavier blade weapons.


Grounded attacks: Starting off with his standard jab combo and tilts, he'd actually pretty good with these. His smash attacks are very situational though and need careful planning before executing the moves.

Jab Combo:
Pretty standard, pretty nice, can help with combo enders in certain situations, 10 damage. Can lead to some nasty follow ups against someone trying to attack after getting knocked away rather than just landing or teching. Some jump in follow ups and dash attacks depending on the mix up game work nice.

Down tilt:
His down tilt attack can be spammed at a nice rate and you can come out of the move very fast (even if it doesn't look like it when you use it alone) allowing you to follow up with dash and etc. Good pokes and you can go into a guard or roll to try and stay safe. Can miss some opponents if you are too close

Forward tilt:
A good amount of knock back on this one and nice damage, but not as safe as down tilt unless you hit the person. You can even clash or get some hit boxes with this E.G.: Marth using shield breaker and after he extends his sword out and misses, you can hit his sword to hand area and poke him nice that way.

up-tilt:
Nice anti-air move and juggle starter sometimes...depending on your speed, enemy percentage, and what move you use, follow ups are possible and sometimes even two up tilts. I've also one against some attacks with this move covering a nice range above shulk.

Dash attack:
Hmm...not much to say about this one. Gotta do more testing. It does send the opponent flying diagonally up though.

Smash moves:
Alright, here's the tricky ones. I'm putting these all together because their technical situational moves that require some good reflexes, accuracy, and set ups. All of these moves have very terrible recovery and will leave you open for a good second and his down smash even longer if the opponent jumps. The forward and up smash also have two hits to theme, one initial with the sword, and then the laser follow up. The first hit will usually guarantee the next.

However, you want to set up your opponent by watching where they recover to when you knock them over...or rather predict their movements. So if they try to roll behind you, you down smash or forward smash behind you. If they roll into you, you can try to land an up smash and etc. You can even catch an up smash on people who jump up after grabbing the ledge, or use a different smash in other situations if you are lucky. So...USE YOUR "VISION!" and make sure you are "REALLY FEELING IT!"

Air attacks:

Neutral Air:
His neutral air attack is pretty awesome. You can recover out of it very fast and even spam it on the way to your opponent (just don't do that on a counter character though lol.) It actually covers all around you and can even hit an opponent chasing you if you just decide to fall off the stage. Just be careful if you do use this move off the stage...you'll make it back...but it takes awhile to recover from in the air (while landing it is super fast) so watch out. But this move is pretty nice.

Forward air:
Another sweet move. This covers your front area, above somewhat, and below you. You don't recover as fast when landing it, but you do recover better with it in the air. This can be used to chase your opponents when their off stage and make it back...just don't go too far with Shulk in general though. Good knock back.

back air:
This move has some pretty nice range, it can actually hit in front surprisingly, a little blow, and very much behind you and diagonally below and behind. It doesn't recover in the air as fast as forward air but it is much faster than neutral air. You also recover out of this just a tiny bit faster than forward air if you land it. Nice mix up game if you use it like Iori Yagami and jump past your opponent to hit them from behind.

down air:
Link wannabe without the jumping up off the opponent when it connects. It actually has two hits to it and is kinda hard to get out there sometimes, the second hit mainly. However it does recover faster than link's down air which even got improve in recovery. I keep trying to land it but it sends the opponent forward. It does spike...a little bit...but it's very touchy with how you spike it. You can use it off stage and get back easily though..

Up air:
Other link like move with two hits to it...though very touchy. Very specific hit just like the down air, even more so actually. But when it hits, it hurts and it send the person up up up at a higher percentage, especially with smash monado. But it is hard to hit with and you certainly can't land it into your opponent. Above only.

Special attacks:

Forward Special:
Alright, back slash works just as it did in Xenoblade...except here it's possible to fly over your opponent's head while doing it and no, you cannot sweetspot the ledge with it (grab the ledge) so watch out if you are trying to recover right onto the stage even if you are nearly level with the ground. Hitting the person's back does more damage and knockback, otherwise, the move sucks if you hit in front. 9-10 damage depending on your distance used (close is worse) versus a back hit which gets 14-16 damage and high knock back (kinda like marth's tip of the sword). With the purple monado from behind, you get 22 damage which is pretty nice. And with the red monado, you can kill around the 90 percents.

Up special:
His recovery is actually pretty nice in the vertical recovery department. Good vertical range and a second follow up horizontal slash for a little more recovery and a strong attack. Just don't wait too long to do it, if you are below the screen on final destination, forget it, but above, you might make it with that second follow up. It can kill above the 90s with red monado.

Just as another note, if you accidentally throw it out like or whiff it, you are better off not using the follow up to recover faster, unless you are trying to sorta stay safe somehow. Once he puts the sword on his back, you can't follow up (which is a little after peak height) Buuuut...recovery after being pushed back very far will take a double jump possibly unless you get really lucky
(one more note...this move is safe against some counters.)

Down Special:
USE THAT VISION! Counters in this game are pretty good as long as you have the timing and VISION to do so. Damage gets reflected back at a really nice amount along with some decent smash power. I didn't really use this move at all at first and I mean, it's pretty tough sometimes since you have to have your opponent thinking in your zone, and not being in their own.

But try fighting 10 shulks or even a pretty nice cpu Shulk and watch how he uses this move with perfection, literally pulling off street fighter 3 parries against really fast attacks and sending you to your doom. The move can miss since Shulk moves back and then forth slowly. What's interesting is with counters, if you take a custom character like ganon, buff that strength up like crazy, and then warlock punch while he counters....One hit KO XD.

Throws and throwing game:
Shulk's throwing game is actually good for set ups into some of his attacks, especially at the lower percentages. Though, like a lot of the characters in the game, you gotta get pretty close now to grab. At least he recovers well out of a running and normal grab somewhat. Throw in a purple monado and your throw pummels will be 5 damage each, ouch! Have blue monado, and follows ups from lower percent throws will be very awesome. Killing around 110 even with red monado doesn't really work so well though (down throw around 130 near edge worked) but use his throws for set ups, mix ups, and pushing opponents off stage.
 
Down throw works nice in some set ups at lower percentage, and forward throw also for a little longer than down throw. With back throw, you may be lucky to land a back slash depending on your opponent (which is possible with down and foward but you'll hit the front). Last, up throw sets up for up air attack at a certain percentage...around the 30-50s...sometimes even above but...still needs testing with recovery on the opponent.

Strategies: I'm feeling this is too long now and then again, the move explanations are what worked for me against for glory players. It'd be best to find your own play style because Shulk is very versatile. But the best tip I can give is:
1. MONADO IS SUPER IMPORTANT! DON'T EVER NOT USE IT! Yeah, there's trade offs, but mastering monado will is what will help you win, KO's are otherwise pretty difficult.
2. Figure your opponent out, their play style, and their character
3. USE YOUR VISION! PUNISH YOUR OPPONENT! (not the counter but read your opponents recoveries, techs etc)
4. Smash attacks with Shulk are deadly and have nice range, but are twice as good when only using it on punishes and some lucky combos and etc. Never hope you will hit...KNOW you will.
5. Wear...them...undies and shout "I'M REALLY FEELING IT!"

For those of you trying to get over 2000 meters in the Home Run Bat minigame:
1. Take Shulk and put him in his undies,
2. Grab the homerun bat and enter your 4th purple monado as fast as possible
3.  Home run smash the sandbag twice (the sandbag will not leave the dome) and if you have time, get in an additional hit
4. switch to your 5th red monado and get yourself in such a position to hit the bag with the tip of your bat
5. HOME RUN SMASH! PAAANNNG! and it goes flying probably way past 2000 and over to 3000

CUSTOM MOVES:

I may add to this section eventually...but honestly, his custom moves are very self explanatory and work just the way they say they do.

I hope you enjoyed! I know...I may not be the best, maybe a lot of what I said was wrong, but I've been doing pretty well with Shulk so far and he's not even my main XD. This is just what works for me...I'd suggest you take the things that do work and then put your own better things on them

Tell me what strategies you have for your character, or maybe even post up questions on a character and maybe I or someone knowledgeable of smash can answer them.

Neobelmont is probably gonna ask me for a strategy on Lucina XD

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

THANK YOU SO MUCH for this post!
I've been trying to figure out Shulk (I had forgotten his Monado colors since it's been a while since I played Xenoblade Chronicles, and also they're kinda hard to read on my regular 3DS).  This probably makes him the most difficult character to master, as there's so much you can quickly change about.

LOL I play with him in his swimsuit as well.  I have him go up against Justin Bailey ZeroSuit Samus, hehehe.

[theANdROId]

Though there aren't many options within it, I've been enjoying the crap out of the demo for this!  I really look forward to other characters and the customization options, but for now I've been forbidden from buying this title.  I'm hoping this is because my wife has been planning on getting it for my birthday next week, and not because of expensive hospital bills from my transplant and stuff.  If I don't get it for b-day, I will be getting it the day after.  I don't care if I have to dig through my neighbors' couches for the money! ;-)

[Captain Sheepy]

THANK YOU SO MUCH for this post!
I've been trying to figure out Shulk (I had forgotten his Monado colors since it's been a while since I played Xenoblade Chronicles, and also they're kinda hard to read on my regular 3DS).  This probably makes him the most difficult character to master, as there's so much you can quickly change about.

LOL I play with him in his swimsuit as well.  I have him go up against Justin Bailey ZeroSuit Samus, hehehe.

Oh wow, nice to see I was noticed by an Admin O.O Your welcome. I am a fighting gamer after all, not the best, but I'm Dan Hibiki enough to teach some pretty nice materials sometimes, even for other games with fighting game mechanics.

Yeah unfortunately, if he were much faster with his air attacks and other things...he'd actually be a GOOD character. He suffers from laggy attacks and Sheik, Zero Suit, and Rosie kicks ass syndrome. It's not that he's a bad character to play against friends with and he certainly shines in teams and free-for-all...but to play him competitively, he has more flaws than even Metaknight in this game.

I'm hoping this helps a bit but unfortunately, my friend Zeyan, or known as Zan in smash tournaments, murdered my butt and my strategies. Which is why I did mention to take what works and apply your own materials. The only thing that seemed to always work was Smash attacks only being used to punish your opponents and monado. Don't be discouraged though, he'll shine somehow!

Though there aren't many options within it, I've been enjoying the crap out of the demo for this!  I really look forward to other characters and the customization options, but for now I've been forbidden from buying this title.  I'm hoping this is because my wife has been planning on getting it for my birthday next week, and not because of expensive hospital bills from my transplant and stuff.  If I don't get it for b-day, I will be getting it the day after.  I don't care if I have to dig through my neighbors' couches for the money! ;-)

Oh wow o.o. That's pretty serious. And DEFINITELY try out the customization, it's a ton of fun. (especially turning Ganon into a great character)

[GuyStarwind]

The custom options imo are really cool. I've been playing a lot of smash run to get them for my mains. Honestly I'm not sure if I'll play without them now.

[Captain Sheepy]

The custom options imo are really cool. I've been playing a lot of smash run to get them for my mains. Honestly I'm not sure if I'll play without them now.

Oh man I'm so sorry. Don't Smash Run to get Customs....that's the long way. Yeah it's fun, but, it takes forever, and if you only get one or two customs and they are a repeat of what you have, then it's pretty annoying

Best way to get customs in smash is to do classic mode, and when you see a red tool sign, press the home button just before it, or keep pressing it until you slowly make your way to it. Then when you have the red tool sign anywhere above the center, hold the A button and boom, easy achieved.

I get an average of 3-8 custom moves per run for my own character along with equipment and costumes being the rest if I get enough tool x 5s or something.

[GuyStarwind]

I read about that but haven't tried it myself. I think I'll have to try because I need one more Ike custom and can't get it.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Someone said "Custom Characters"?

[uzo]

I was wondering when you'd get around to making that.

[GuyStarwind]

That actually looks really good

[Captain Sheepy]

Wow! That looks freaking awesome. What's the name of the outfit? All I ever get is repeats and I don't think I even got anything like that.

[Shiroi Koumori]

That's one awesome custom!

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Thanks!  Here is Alucard having a dance with a blood-red Peach (Rosa from CV64? ).


MegaMan doesn't seem impressed by my sword skills...


...until now!


Maybe I should unleash...


...my Crissaegrim Attack!

[uzo]

Why you gotta beat up on poor Megaman. He's got enough of a beating from Capcom already.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

He volunteered.  He's happy enough to be IN a game.
(when I cranked him to lv9 he kicked my ass if it makes you feel any better )