One day, someone we've never heard of will start playing tournaments as Little Mac and absolutely DESTROY everyone, and he will single handedly bring Little Mac up to top tier. It'll happen, and then Nintendo will nerf Greninja.
ScourJful Mew2King never mained Mewtwo. A better example would be aMSa, a yoshi main from Japan, who nearly beat Mew2King at Evo 2013. It was his 2nd tournament ever, after getting 4th at a local. (Also, if someone did this, I hope their name would be Doc Louis)
A good Little Mac is the most frightening thing I've ever encountered. I once played about 7 games against a Mac on For Glory, and lost every time. Do NOT disrespect the kid!
twightlight3 Nah but Rosalina can just set up walls that can stop Sheik in her tracks. Also Sheik is very light and can easily be K.O.ed when Luma is in the mix. Also though I do believe Sheik beats Rosalina a bit too. Dabuz's results against the top Sheiks at Apex makes it hard to believe that.
I like how the developers clearly weren't thinking about competitive game when designing characters, but rather enjoyment and staying true to the characters. Punch Out is all about punishing and getting punished. Lil Mac does that.
Good rundown, man. Though, I feel it's important to note this little trick: Little Mac can recover high surprisingly well, IF...he has the KO punch. Supplies forward momentum in the air, and using it high minimizes the bad cooldown when ready to approach the edge. I find it to be a great option if used well enough, and most players do NOT expect that. Give it a try to see what I mean. Only constraint minus being wide open(only a real problem if you're not mixing it up), is that it can't be B-reversed...so it has the same problems as Wizard's Dropkick. Use it sparingly, and you can really save your ass with it.
Just gonna give some input on this as a Mac main:I tried this out at a Local tournament I attend weekly and I can attest that it's very situational. All little Mac custom sets feature Flaming Straight Lunge, a much better option than KO punch to recover due to much farther distance, hitboxes that reset neutral with the KB angle, and similar endlag. I tried using the KO punch to recover high and was still punished even as my opponent went mid to use an aerial; he still had enough time to punish and keep me pressured. I've found that is definately sucks to be offstage with the KO punch due to loss of FSL to recover from great distances safely due to the aerial super armor.(As a side note, both of the straight lunge customs give the KO punch 4 extra frames of super armor on startup, making almost the entire startup animation armored. S'pretty good.)
I only dislike Little Mac because he has a low skill gate for players. So it gets irritating when someone just constantly throws out F-Smashes or D-Smashes and call it a day. However, I adore PLAYING as Little Mac because it's easy to psych someone out and send them flying. Perhaps this was all intentional because it draws parallels to the Punch-Out games, where you're not supposed to blindly swing at your enemy. You have to be on the defensive and catch them when they mess up.
GroundPoundable I find Little Mac to be ridiculously fun. Intimidating enemies with KO punch, then hitting them with 2 jabs and moving right into the KO punch. It always works. Always.
Ryner Lute At that point, you might as well just finish them off with a Smash attack then. The D-tilt has very little knockback, so if you packed on enough damage that they're popping up higher than Mac himself, you might as well just finish them off.
Well, obviously some characters have moves that let them break out of combos, and some characters can even airdodge immediately after. But yeah, Mac can just power through any threats with smash attacks.
+Finlay TM umm no he isn't I seen some jigglypuff players and there and is rest move is strong so yea he's right if you use the character good there all good.
Mac's problem isn't his kill potential, in fact he may actually have the best kill setups and options in the entire game. His weakness is that his neutral game is based almost entirely on reads, and reaction to the other player's moves. He has no safe way to get in at lower percents other than throwing out d-tilts and jabs, jabs which don't leading into anything, and d-tilts that are basically a 50-50 on whether or not a character airdodges or jumps away. If an opponent is at 0% and sitting in the corner, it doesn't matter how safe Mac's approach options are, none of them are safe enough. Any competent player will find an opening, and if they can't, make one.
that's why he has unreal footwork, his extended dash dancing is the best by far, his perfect pivots are godly, his crouching perfect pivot is the fastest in the game, his foxtrot is super far capable of 4-5 fox trots across omega stages. he may require you to read your opponent as an approach, but he has more than enough speed to deal with it.
As someone who once mained Little Mac, I have to say getting the damage from 0% to 20% is a complicated part of the match, Especially when someone is playing the "rope-a-dope" strat. and both of you make good points, but again it comes down to.... can you get them to that %. and against someone who is playing safe, you possibly can't, Imagine against a great bayo.... one that uses witch time a lot. (happened to me) I HATED IT!!!! did it in the air, did it on the ground, even ran up to me just to use it in front of me, had to start grabbing and soon that didn't work (gotta mix it up). It was annoying. and at times, since you don't have projectiles, or a reflector, you have to stay close but keep distance, like in actual Boxing, But with most people, they want you doing that. They are baiting you out. (which is why the super armor makes sense) That's when you remember you have one thing, that was forgotten to be talked about in the video, He has a counter attack. when even used in mid air correctly, gets you closer to the stage (if it triggers and you're above the stage, can't be too far down.) and actually helps against some people (not all). but even that can be punished, (in the air by not hitting, or on the ground by just grabbing) who said he' has 50-50 moves, well. He's a do or die Character. like it or not, It's take a chance, and with correct reads, he's more of a Do 80% or die 20% he's not a guaranteed win 100% of the time, because one mistake with little mac, As we all know could cost him a stock even at 0%
Sadly, my friend thinks he is a god because he picks Little Mac when he gets upset. He acts so high and mighty... wanna know what he does? Spams Side B and Dash Attacks your shield. Yup. Best Mac N/A.
Sarokuthix Help him get better. Little mac is a great starting character for new players which is why he plays him. I mained Little Mac at first when the game came out before switching to Ganondorf and finally to Meta Knight(secondary, however, remains him and pac-man). Tear down his character (pun intended) so he stops being an asshole and you can help him get better.
Herodreamer The thing is, the dude is like a damned brick wall. We've tried (myself and three other friends) to give him some tips and he just gets annoyed at us and tells us to let him play the game his own way. I have my own way of letting him know. Each time he plays Mac, I go Meta Knight or Mario because Meta Knight can chase him off-stage for early kills, and Mario can cape him off the stage and use F.L.U.D.D. to kill him as well. Still doesn't work for him. He continues to make the same mistakes over and over again and I continue to punish him for it. Honestly man, I think there's no getting it through to him.
Sarokuthix damn bro, i see now. If you keep punishing his dashes, will he learn? maybe over time? I think time works the best since one gets used to seeing how the game works, when I first started playing i couldnt keep up with dodging, ppl shielding, etc. it was too fast for me. plusi had this nasty habit of dash attacking with MK which almost always led to punishes. My cousin noticed that a lot, until i naturally developed mixups. Plus I rolled to dodge everything getting behind my opponent. Thats probabaly why I was so good with LM at first, given that bad habit and him having th e fasttest roll in the game. but as 4 ur friend only time will tell
SHADOW999710 How about you learn to spell before giving other people commands? Herodreamer I punish him at every point. He misses a KO punch, he gets a Falcon Punch right back. He dash attacks shield, I throw him off and spike him. He doesn't even just do this to me either. He does it against everyone he plays against. Nothing gets through to him.
***** Link also has shitty recovery though... I believe Smash needs to stay true to the games' characters it's honouring, that includes everyone. Just because I'm not mentioning anyone else it doesn't mean I don't have problems with them.
I hear tons of people saying Shulk is garbage. Dunno why but I won the tournament at my school with shulk just to show them when you're really feeling it, he wrecks. Even zelda and palutena are always labeled bad from most people I play with; yet I have fought so many players that are very talented with those 2 and defeat me pretty badly.
leon2550 Yea. I've heard tons of people say shulk is a mediocre swordsman numerous times. Though that didn't stop me from making him my first main ;p Tho maybe the people I know just don't realize he is near top tier. But it's good to hear that people that you know know the power of the Monando boys
Christ vargas The current general consensus in the community is that Shulk is high tier. His only real issue is that his frame data is below average. Despite this, he's far from mediocre. Shulks's outstanding range, great adaptability, good approaches, strong ledgeguarding ability, and unique MALLC make for a strong and viable character. He may not be the next Sheik and Rosalina, but he's far from bad. All of the people who say Shulk sucks are obviously the people who still think Lucario is top tier.
cluelesslink16 I think he was playing along with your joke. Like, you liked the music so much you missed the point of the video? I dunno I guess i'm just giving him benefit of the doubt...
How "good" players see the tier list: Zero Suit Samus is top tier because she has lots of combo options, she's strong, etc., etc., etc. How i see the tier list: Zero Suit Samus is top tier because she is easy to use, players that are lazy and don't want to learn how to use a character play ZSS, Sheik, Captain Falcon, etc. And good players that aren't lazy, want to learn how to use a complicated character. That's why i respect StylesX2, his mains are Megaman and Little Mac, which are respectively Mid tier and low tier.
Caillou You can play whoever you want, and the only top tier that is hard to use is Rosalina, and even without much skill i won 80% of 1-on-1 matches on for glory using Rosalina
In Smash 4, the game with the freest, most nonsensical recoveries imaginable, a character who can't recover is doomed to be trash tier for all eternity.
***** Lucina is my number 1 main, so you're not alone. I honestly don't agree with most of the Smash 4 tiers. Though i'm not crazy about tiers in general, but I understand why they exist.
You sir do not understand how tier lists works. its BECAUSE he has so many bad matchups that he is low. not his potential that could work. So many characters can camp him and abuse his weak air. ONLY reason why he is down so far.
***** You do know that tiers are basically pointless right? I doesn't matter how high tier your character is, i your opponent plays his character good, you WILL lose. I hate people who only care about tiers. Like, for example, I main as Toon Link. I met a guy who mains Fox. If you look, currently Fox is on the "tier list" above Toon Link. I'm not the only one that noticed that. He almost immediately turned down my match, just because he claimed "You're a lower tier then me, so it would be pointless. I would obviously win." (Or something along the lines of that) He would only accept when i pressured him about being scared. (I pressured him cause he was being a jerk) And, what do you know? I won. Then he claimed "You got lucky" (I think) and walked off. My point is, that tier lists are basically pointless. Not just for Smash, for everything. Basically, TIERS SUCK!
Daniel Yogi None said that tiers lists are flawless. Its a techincal way of looking at it. The less reads you need to do, and the more combos you can do once you get it going, or how more easily your character can edge guard, puts them higher on the tier list. DD Kong was S tier. all on his own because of his Hoo-Haa Combo was so strong. Your logic is flawed as you are denying that DD kong was wrecking tourneys all over the world before the nerf. Tiers are personal depending on how you like to use characters. but having a really bad recovery and air in the same time makes the time you lose your foot grip death. Calling tier lists shit is retarded. Ofcourse you can take a tourney with little mac or marth etc. But that does not mean the character is good, its YOU as a player. Tier lists are not player influenced. Its CHARACTERS MECHANICS. Thats all. You do not UNDERSTAND tier lists. that is all.
***** I think I get what tier lists are thank you very much. I feel like the REASON people used DDK was cause of his high tier. People still use him in tourneys, and even though he was nerfed, he's still winning matches. The whole POINT of Smash is balance. Not "My character is a higher tier than you blah blah blah" I just said that. It doesn't matter how good the character is, it matters how you USE them. Tier lists kinda are shit (I never actually said that though) Nintendo doesn't even really want tier lists, it's the other websites and stuff that make them really. Basically, yeah. I HATE tier lists
Daniel Yogi you still don't get it. You hate how people compare characters through tier lists. It's a solid point for learning to be "the best". That is why YOU are not the best sm4sh player. Because people who are one of the best players care about tier lists. Because then they can learn match up to match up. The less good match ups the character got, the lower on the list. But if you don't practice ever vs a low tier character, he is gonna fuck you up because everyone knows how to play against top tier characters. Little mac is a character that if the player knows how to play against will just gimp him. because you will get off stage at one point. if they know how to edge guard. you hare probably not coming back. No matter how good the player is, characters have rules and weaknesses. The more weaknesses you can abuse, the lower on the tier list. THAT is why little mac is on the bottom. No matter how much YOU dislike them, its a matter of characters useability and strenghts.
Coming back to the video that sparked my interest in Little Mac even further. The guide that started it all for me, still coming back to it for refreshing my game.
One thing to add, little mac has a wall jump, that covers a partially long distance both horizontal and vertically. Using it to recover vertically with up-B won't usually help much, as you can barely reach the ledge horizontally. However, it works well with the side-B, as it can counter the horizontal distance of the wall jump. I would say it works even better than just double-jump - up-B. Besides, It can catch opponents on surprise, because they expect you to directly side-B or try up-B from below.
Yoshi is one of the best characters in the game, why would anyone think he sucks? One of my mains is Yoshi and I'm not great at the game but I still body others with him.
Tails the cute fox agree on d horrible grabs. its soooo slow.. I wish it was faster. Its a glaring weakness for him and if you miss you are gonna be punished for it
Slamblaster yeah trust me I only go on this video because he inspire me to play little mac so I either play little mac now or link and ganondorf(only because I like to gananside)
Why is this channel not more popular. This guy isnt over the top like a lot of how to videos. The information is giving steadily with no fluff, but he's not talking too fast where you have to pause to process it. I hate how to videos that start with a thirty minute intro XD This guy is great
BKG yea i just cringe every time a see a fg mac haymakers off stage or charges with a dash attack :/ is he viable for tournament play though? I can imagine people throwing him off stage and capitalizing on his stupid recovery
Kevin C Yeah, he is viable, you just have to have the patience of a god. He doesn't get many results in tournament because almost no top players use him.
BKG but still, his moves are so SATISFYING to pull off especially that bass drop during the ko punch and thanks to your video i have more ways to finely hone this disrespecting machine >:)
smashbrother86 But that's the thing. You have to be at a very specific range to get the most out of Marth, which is difficult to master and requires careful measuring of the opponents moves. Lucina doesn't have that limitation. Her power is evenly distributed among her blade, giving her many more approach options. It's not far behind Marth's tipper strength, either. Also, her hitbox is slightly smaller, making her harder to hit, while still maintaining Marth's weight. However, the true differences come in the type of battle they face. They're both good one-on-one and can hold their own in free-for-alls, but Lucina is slightly more adept to nimble fighters and escaping close-range combos, whereas Marth is better for larger, power-reliant characters.
+Ultron 5 I agree Marth is not better and I can copy pasta a pretty long response I posted elsewhere thoroughly explaining why Marth is not better. At worst, they both have MUs they are better at, but Lucina wins out slightly.
I agree completely. Also an advantage is his unorthodox neutral game. Most characters usually pressure with aerials, grab on shield, and convert with more aerials. Macs lighting quick and dominate ground game is both hard to play against and hard to learn
Gotta say, I AM a little Mac main, and every time I see a video shit talking Mac, it drives me CRAZY, but this video highlights ALL his strong points, and they are the reason I main him. They all say hes bottom tier, but his strong points make him top tier to me, and I will continue to use him. The match-ups he has problems with like, Shiek, Mario, and Rosalina and Luma, ARE indeed difficult for him, but if you play it right, and watch your opponents for any errors they make, and then capitalize on it, Little Mac, can shit on them. Only in the hands of a good player, will Little Mac ever be seen as a Top tier character in Tournaments, and if I can improve more then I am everyday, I am hoping I can get into some Tournaments and show everyone he is as strong and top tier as any of the others.
C.U.D. Call Us Damage Cody I'm a little mac main and I've won matchups against Sheik, Mario, Rosalina and Luma, and other mac counters just fine. As you said if you know how to make up for his terrible recovery you can win any matchup
+Colin McGreevy I played Little Mac at my friends they said "Little Mac?".......like he was bad....at the end of the match I sent him flying when he slipped up with MewTwo We need more Little Macs man
I completely forgot i was subscribed to you.. and then you come out with this high quality, interesting and helpful video? Im so glad im subscribed man, i never really cared about playing mac, but now i might try to use him out more often!
DeathThePlague D-Tilt to KO works in relatively low percents, when the knockback from D-Tilt is neglegible enough. Most normal-sized characters die from KO Punch at 27%-35% at the earliest, so make sure your D-Tilt will do at least that much.
Aerials can make for a very good little Mac combo. I hate it when people just assume little macs completely useless in the air despite having no clue what they're saying.
Yeah, after a bit I started to use Little Mac most of the time. But yeah, he's horrendous on some stages so developing a knack for another character is going to be pretty essential for anyone who really wants to play Little Mac a lot. Though I don't know if I'd call myself a GREAT Smash player. I'm okay at times I suppose, probably because I tend to also often use characters that most people don't (Little Mac, Game and Watch, Duck Hunt Dog) and that means people are often not experienced with playing against them.
THANK YOU for making this video. I`ve been saying since Day 1 that Lil Mac is up there in the tiers and wasn`t getting enough credit. Super Armor, Super Fast Punches with Great Knockback, Running Speed, Combo Potential, A counter that can kill SUPER ARMOR (had to say it again), pokes are decently safe, low risk high reward and hit confirmable and of course.... the ko punch!
Teir lists are obsolete, they are just popularity contests. Not one fighter in this game is either the best or the worst, it's just the fact that they're easier to use.
Ummm no they aren't popularity contests... If they were, you would see way more low tiers winning. Also diddy kong isn't that popular of a character... Please remove stupid before commenting.
CircusBlue92 As long as characters can have good or bad matchups against other characters, tier lists will never be obsolete. Even in a theoretical game where all of the characters have equal numbers of good and bad matchups, tier lists will still be relevant because they are a way to assess the metagame on the whole. If certain characters are getting good results in top tier play, then it's indicative to people at lower levels that those characters likely have good matchups against the currently popular characters. And it tells people playing at high levels that they need answers to those characters, either by attempting to develop their own character's metagame or by picking up a secondary. In Smash 4, tier lists are still certainly relevant because the fighters are definitely not balanced perfectly. There's a significant amount of variance among the characters that are succeeding in tournaments (or, at least, more than Brawl), but pre-patch Diddy didn't just win a lot of tournaments because he was popular and easy to play; he also had dominant frame data and a difficult-to-gimp recovery. Below is evidence for individual matchups necessitating a tier list. Don't read it if you don't want to. If you are in a best of 3 set on the wrong side of a 70-30 matchup, you don't have a 30% chance of winning; you have a 30% chance of winning each individual game (assuming the matchup numbers are accurate, which they never will perfectly be, and the players are of equal skill, which is a difficult thing to quantify, but that's a whole 'nother bag of worms). Rather, you have a 21% chance of winning (.3^2 + .3^2 x .7 x 2). And if you have a 70-30 matchup against the most popular character at the time, that 20% is going to crop up a uncomfortably often. In other words, you'll be playing a low tier character because of the metagame they are taking part in. This gets worse in a best of 5. With the same 70-30 matchup, you now have a 16% (.3^3 + .3^3 x .7 x 3 + .3^3 x .7^2 x 6) chance of winning a best of 5 against this same popular character. Those odds are definitely not in your favor. If you've found your way into loser's side Grand Finals, you need to pull that off twice, for a stunning 4% chance of winning the tournament after managing to get all the way into Grand Finals. If you're in winner's side Grand Finals, you've got a 29.5% chance of coming out successful... finally close to that perceived 70-30 matchup, but the odds are still definitely against you. To recap the argument: The only premises are that characters do not all have even matchups against each other, that the competing players are of a comparable skill level, and that some characters are more popular than others. Given those scenarios, each of the characters available will have more or less chance to succeed in tournament settings, as that is determined by what matchups they go through. And since certain characters are more popular than others, all the character's likelihood to succeed in a tournament CANNOT be equal, as certain characters will have more prominent good matchups than others. In other words, a tier list is necessitated, as certain characters are more likely to succeed than others. Note that the argument for the existence of tier lists works even in an environment where every character is "equally good." The argument that characters are innately "better" than others wasn't part of that at all; rather, the environment that they are placed in is important. In other words, popularity contests are actually a part of how well a character works in competitive play!
redblue200 Finally, a person with a level conscience. I commend you for not spewing shit and wasting my time. Even though the statistical percentile of winning or not is relevant to teir lists, that is why I have a gripe with them. For there is an unlimited number of whether or not one succeeds, thus bringing up your point of one trying to make their own metagame. I do strongly agree that everyone is not balanced perfectly, but that doesn't mean (for example) a Charizard has an absolute 30% (or what have you) of winning against a Diddy Kong. I believe in an infinite amount of possibilities, and wish for players to think outside of the box and ignore these "Teir-lists". I may not attend huge tournaments like EVO, but I do know that if one knows their character well enough, they could truly shine forth. This may not be the response you want, but just take it, it's my opinion and my theory.
Adam Castro dude, his recovery is amazing, its far superior to mario or doctor mario and hell it even has a large tendency to KO opponents. I love is recovery, and his side b not as bad you would think. its very useful.
You need to educate yourself a little bit more there buddy, because you are wrong. yeah also you can steer the rising uppercut, and its very easy to get back on stage even with a trashy mario trying to show that you suck, but in reality he sucks. Not to mention you dont do the side b immediately, sometimes you dont at all, all you need is fall enough and you will land near the edge or just counter and that brings to the stage every time. You are also wrong because little mac has a wall jump, therefore he has a double jump.
Thanks for doing this, always been a huge fan of Mac's gameplay it's good to see I'm not the only person who feels he isn't often played to his full potential.
yashsickle In....this reality? Little Mac actually has one of the highest win/usage rate of any character. In tournaments that have results reported, Little Mac has been in 224 top 16s and has 36 first place finishes. Do your research. smashboards.com/threads/usage-based-tier-considerations.396301/
I main many characters: Jigglypuff, Yoshi, Mewtwo, Duck Hunt, Charizard, Zelda, Mario, Pac-Man, Lemmy, Pikachu, Greninja, Lucario, Samus, R.O.B., Ike, Toon Link, Dark Pit, Ness, Wii Fit Trainer, and Sonic. I win more than I lose in online matches. This shows that any character is good when used right!
TheCannon 20 mains is absurd. The definition of main is the character you play the most out of all the majority of characters. And just because you main a character doesn't mean they're good. Melee kirby probably has some people who main him. Still flaming garbage.
20 mains isnt a main, you have a main and a secondary and sometimes you have a third just-in-case character, any character is good if you're actually good at the game. that doesnt show anything thing that just shows you like playing more than 3 characters.
As Mac as one of my best characters, here's some tips: 1. If you can predict it, use counter to recover, as it sends Mac forward much faster than his Side-B. 2. Mac's N-air is the fastest aerial in the game, (Coming out at Frame-1) he can break out of combos easier than Luigi in Melee. 3. Mac's F-Smash angled downward breaks shield, use this on FG since most players are really dumb. 4. If you insist on grabbing, use D-Throw, since it deals the most damage (9%), it also can lead to an Up-Tilt or Side-B if you can read the opponent. 5. Mac has a surprisingly easy time landing due to his Neutral-B giving him super-armor, use it on characters that can juggle with their U-Airs, try to release it before landing though to get away from the opponent. 6. Mod the game for a Doc Louis skin. (This one is the most important!) 7. Memorize the Bee Movie script, as it can throw an opponent off in a match if you quote it at random. 8. If you win any match, have any of your friends say, "Nice work ___(YN)___! You have it all figured out!" 9. Always show up to your 11-Man-Local in a pink track-suit. 10. Show them your moves. 11. Always acknowledge when it's either Shulk time or time to tip the scales.
A lot of this is wrong. Mac Jab has a property that prevents it from being clanked out by anything, but in most situations that would come up, you would still get hit and lose/trade (which is usually losing) the exchange anyway. Jab -> KO Punch is only a true combo at ludicrously high percents (we're talking ~200%; non-fastfallers can ruin it for themselves by buffering the wrong options after being Jabbed, but in most circumstances, the KO Punch can be spotdodged after a Jab (you can shield on Frame 1, but the shield isn't visible until Frame 2, so anytime you see the shield, you could have been invincible via spotdodge in that time). Nothing currently appears to reliably combos into Rising Smash, either.
TheReflexWonderful Non-fast fallers can't get out, but I never said it was a true combo. Spotdodge is invulnerable on frame 2 so the point still stands. Either way almost no players have the reaction time to input a spotdodge after getting jabbed. Jab doesn't lose trades often unless were talking about lingering hitboxes, what are you talking about?
Just wanted to say thank you for making this video! This gave me life, confidence and more security to keep using Little Mac. This is such a wonderful and great advice you gave all Little Mac user like myself. ARIGATO!!!
Very nice video, I love when people showcase a character's true potential by showing the uses of all the character's moves, and their combos. I am looking forward to the next video in this series.
excellent video. One thing that I've noticed is that the dash attack can also be used as a fairly good anti-air if your opponent is landing across the stage, since its hitbox is both above and in front of you. They think they can safely land, but then you sprint towards them and smack them out of the air.
Another really important thing to remember is that Mac has a walljump. This actually makes his recovery usable on some stages. If you pick Duck Hunt or similar, you become essentially immune to most forms of gimping.
I really do hope this series goes on. these are really informative and entertaining, and there are plenty more characters that deserve recognition despite how poorly they perform. Olimar, Wario, Charizard, and maybe DK could all make for great episodes.
It is also worth mentioning that Mac has a wall jump, a useful recovery tool on some stages. Wall jump to side b towards ledge lets you recover from much lower than up b.
I've actually learned recently that Little Mac is pretty spectacular. As long as you know his ranges, you can easy plow through most characters. I've been trying to mess around with his counter as a recovery for people that try to punish him further from the map, too, which seems to work well in many places on most maps.
This video has so much truth to it. well done, covers everything most would need to know about the character, and is a instant level up to anyone picking up the character.
If someone is at the other side of the stage camping with shield, I always space out side tilts as well so I dont get shield grabbed because the move has very low cooldown and great range. I can see down tilt and jab being better options as well seeing that they are faster, but I'm not sure if they have as much range.
You do a great job at pointing out Little Mac's potential! I am trying to find a good secondary character for my main which is the 2D destroyer of worlds Mr. Game and Watch. The thing is neither still cover Sheik which is an issue because Sheik wrecks the both of them. Speaking of which, possibly for the future of this series you can explain that G&W is better than people think he is. People gave up on him too early when they realized they couldn't play him as the lightweight tank he was in Brawl.
D-tilt Side B to D-tilt (smash or KO punch) can all combo into each other. This combo works with most characters around 10% to 20% percent. On Falcon from 0% do 3x d-tilt Side special d-tilt step up smash. the 3x d-tilt to side b will be guaranteed, the 4th hit might be jumped out. But if it does it the fifth will be guaranteed.
The comment section is a good reminder why I shouldn't bother reading them and why I don't like the majority of the Smash 4 community. Anyway, this video is really awesome and it inspired me to pick up Little Mac. Can't wait to see what other videos you have in store for the future. Consider me subbed~!
The thing about Little Mac for me is that the things he does can be done by another character better. Speed can be bested by Sonic or Speed Shulk, crazy kill power can be done by Capt. Falcon, frame data is better with ZSS, kill combos with Bayonetta, kill counter with Corrin, etc. Plus his recovery is legitimately bad.
Your doing gods work with this vid. Though he's only my secondary (My main is Dedede), I still hate seeing all these dumb Macs on for glory who kinda treat him like Sonic. While Sonic can work using dash attacks and keeping the match at a frantic pace, you can't chase the same amount as if you were Sonic as Mac. Btw, I really liked the Doc Louis quips throughout the vid lol.
Little Mac was my first character I played in smash 4. But for the longest time for some reason, I got really bad with him. I want to thank you for showing me cool new tricks with him.
Now see, here's the thing... It doesn't matter if he has a good combo game, it doesn't matter if he's a heavy hitter, it doesn't even matter if he has super armor on all of his smash attacks... If he can't recover when being thrown off the stage, that makes him a bad character. If he can't land easily when an opponent is juggling him in the air due to a lack of midair options, that makes him a bad character. If he goes against any character that specializes in trapping the foe in midair (Sheik, Jigglyuff, Mario, etc.), he's screwed. Do you get where this is going?
Nice video! I play as Little Mac, when you learn his moves he is awesome! Mac gets a lot of hate so it's fun to see a video where someone shows that he is actually really good! :D
Honestly, I wish they didn't think so hard about the design and style of boxing and just made little mac's grounded side b and up b the same as aerial up b and side b
I main Little Mac and I use the Sprint attack not very often or not as much as I used to. I know that the spring attack at 0% if hit right off the bat can go into a side B then a forward smash, I use that to deal good damage in the beginning. I also know if you can foxtrot then when you're close to the foe don't dodge roll away dodge roll towards them it's not a good mind game but I learn it confuses my friends because they chase me when I go away.
Nice video! A few things I wanted to point out: You should have mentioned his other custom moves like dash counter wich guves him a nice approach against projectile users or that slow but strong side b that has super armor and goes trough shield, meaning he doesn't gimped that easily.
I don't run into Little Macs often, but when I do, they usually give me trouble. I haven't bumped into any tournament-level Macs, but I have bumped into ones who get the gist of Little Mac's style and they give me trouble. I don't attempt to go head first into them because I know I'll get hit because of Super Armour or something similar. I try to find openings, but at that point is when I screw up. Not often will I run into a low-level Little Mac who uses Dash Attacks all the time.
Little Mac buffs that NEEDS to happen: Down angled forward smash needs to actually break shields(more consistently). Also, maybe something else that will also help his terrible match ups. Great idea for a character. He doesn't suck but I really want his MUs be better. BTW, I main Falco and Ness(I don't even alt LM). No bias in that category here.
I am one of the few little mac mains that play like this, but its still clear to me that LM is still in dire need of a buff. asking someone to basically never get forced off stage is like asking surfer never to get wet. but while other characters have multiple recovery options, LM has 2 very predictable ones that can garantee a gimped even if you have the read. I also find it strange that LM's side B and up B on the ground have more range than in the air when he actually needs it, even if they doubled his air recovery range it would still be the worst recovery in all of smash.
if you Haymaker right after a jump, you can do a jump cancel haymaker, which decreases speed and range. Sounds bad, but if you want to rush down an opponent near the edge with a haymaker kill, you can use this to save yourself from death.
I'll be frank. Basic little Mac play is easy. GOOD little Mac play is almost f*cking impossible. He doesn't look like much, but he's got a lot of nifty secrets and tricks that make him great if you learn to use them properly. I'm still learning to Little Mac myself, but I have a few ideas of how to make his character work. First, try mixing up dodging through a character with his side-b invincibility. This only works on the ground because while in the air side-b has no such invincibility. It also is a good way to punish some projectiles. Second, be sure to mix up the distance of side-b. Pressing b at any time during the move causes him to cut it short and throw his punch. You still need to keep in mind the distance of this attack, but it can be a good way to throw people off guard by confusing them with how far you reach. Third, act like your feet are glued to the ground. Jumping should be a foreign concept except as a a rare part of punishing or when trying to get back on the stage. Again I'm not pro Mac player, but I have fun playing as this guy.
This is your reminder that little Mac can wall jump if you know you can make it with an up-b, most people don't know that and can surprise your opponent if land well
Lot of people don't know olimar either. What I do is throw pikmen off the stage until I get just a purple. Then dominate. There are times where your pikman will be too slow, so down b works nicely, or you can have a backup pikman like red or blue (something that lays on power) but never really go for three. Your recover is slowed down, you have too much inconsistency. I beat a Mario main with this "One Pik Wonder" method and I don't even main olli lol
Hey Man thanks for the tips I love your idea of why Mac is said to be "bad" this video has inspired me to be a little Mac main I already liked playing as Mac so this is great
Bro, you forgot to mention that you can GREATLY INCREASE HIS RECOVERY when playing on stages that tretch all the way downwards in a vertical fashion. 5:46 Little Mac might have been able to recover there if he simple did a WALL JUMP. You can always CANCEL WALL JUMPS by doing an up B so you simply just get that extra boost. Little Mac can RECOVER from REALLY LOW parts od the stage simply by doing that wall jump cancelled into an up B. It has saved me tons of times. Also, if done correctly you can counter close to the stage and even if your opponent doesn't hit you, you can wall jump into up B to make it back. These type of stages greatly benefit Little Mac so it's better to play them over FD (unless you prefer stage spiking),
One thing you forgot was the fact that Mac can wall-jump, its a very effective tool if you're close to the wall and don't have your mid-air jump and almost garanties you getting back to the stage and sweet-spotting the ledge.
Tip: Little Mac has a frame trap. Down-throw into KO punch on certain characters, such as Captain Falcon, at low percent. Only way to live is to DI away.
One day, someone we've never heard of will start playing tournaments as Little Mac and absolutely DESTROY everyone, and he will single handedly bring Little Mac up to top tier. It'll happen, and then Nintendo will nerf Greninja.
Burning Night Let's make it happen!
Burning Night Not the Greninja one ...
So basically what Mew2King did for Mewtwo in Melee?
ScourJful Yes, exactly
ScourJful Mew2King never mained Mewtwo. A better example would be aMSa, a yoshi main from Japan, who nearly beat Mew2King at Evo 2013. It was his 2nd tournament ever, after getting 4th at a local. (Also, if someone did this, I hope their name would be Doc Louis)
How to get roasted online:
"Little Mac Is My Main"
How to counter that roast:
Link this video
Best counter would be to streak win using Mac.
A good Little Mac is the most frightening thing I've ever encountered. I once played about 7 games against a Mac on For Glory, and lost every time.
Do NOT disrespect the kid!
Benjamin McEachrane Not just his skill, maybe your skill has to do with it,
Well let's see if you can see my lil mac my guy
□
Bison pause on that
you are sooo right i main kirby i have a friend who mains him and its almost impossible to approach him without getting shield breaked or bodied
Seems like Rosalina is the best co-main for Mac.
Handles Mario, Sheik, and Villager pretty well.
***** Good point, I was struggling to think of a character than does well against Sheik but Rosa does cover those characters.
***** To be fair Sheik can beat Rosalina too. It really depends on the players in that matchup.
What are you talking about? Villager is the perfect POCKET main for Mac. Kappa
***** Rosa does poorly vs. Sheik because of the amount of pressure that Sheik can exert. It's probably Rosa's worst matchup.
twightlight3 Nah but Rosalina can just set up walls that can stop Sheik in her tracks. Also Sheik is very light and can easily be K.O.ed when Luma is in the mix. Also though I do believe Sheik beats Rosalina a bit too. Dabuz's results against the top Sheiks at Apex makes it hard to believe that.
I like how the developers clearly weren't thinking about competitive game when designing characters, but rather enjoyment and staying true to the characters. Punch Out is all about punishing and getting punished. Lil Mac does that.
Classix he is like a human
we cannot Mario
nor can he
Nathaniel Grizzle ...What?
Classix He's like a real boxer, with the exception of the ko punch. No boxer irl can hit you 1000ft into the air.
I didn't know boxers could double jump...
David Eloiza everyone has to have a double jump though. It's super smash bros!
Good rundown, man. Though, I feel it's important to note this little trick:
Little Mac can recover high surprisingly well, IF...he has the KO punch. Supplies forward momentum in the air, and using it high minimizes the bad cooldown when ready to approach the edge. I find it to be a great option if used well enough, and most players do NOT expect that. Give it a try to see what I mean.
Only constraint minus being wide open(only a real problem if you're not mixing it up), is that it can't be B-reversed...so it has the same problems as Wizard's Dropkick. Use it sparingly, and you can really save your ass with it.
THIS MAN GETS IT!
Just gonna give some input on this as a Mac main:I tried this out at a Local tournament I attend weekly and I can attest that it's very situational. All little Mac custom sets feature Flaming Straight Lunge, a much better option than KO punch to recover due to much farther distance, hitboxes that reset neutral with the KB angle, and similar endlag. I tried using the KO punch to recover high and was still punished even as my opponent went mid to use an aerial; he still had enough time to punish and keep me pressured. I've found that is definately sucks to be offstage with the KO punch due to loss of FSL to recover from great distances safely due to the aerial super armor.(As a side note, both of the straight lunge customs give the KO punch 4 extra frames of super armor on startup, making almost the entire startup animation armored. S'pretty good.)
***** Yeah i wouldn't expect that.
But also, counter momentum sometimes is really nice... or it can be too stronk against you too
Huh no one is fanboying out neat
MrMr just as surprised. I'm a fan, but ain't gonna start spam for it.
I only dislike Little Mac because he has a low skill gate for players. So it gets irritating when someone just constantly throws out F-Smashes or D-Smashes and call it a day. However, I adore PLAYING as Little Mac because it's easy to psych someone out and send them flying. Perhaps this was all intentional because it draws parallels to the Punch-Out games, where you're not supposed to blindly swing at your enemy. You have to be on the defensive and catch them when they mess up.
GroundPoundable I find Little Mac to be ridiculously fun. Intimidating enemies with KO punch, then hitting them with 2 jabs and moving right into the KO punch. It always works. Always.
Ryner Lute Down tilt into KO Punch is guaranteed at any percent I believe.
Not at high percents, some characters get popped high enough to DI away.
Ryner Lute At that point, you might as well just finish them off with a Smash attack then. The D-tilt has very little knockback, so if you packed on enough damage that they're popping up higher than Mac himself, you might as well just finish them off.
Well, obviously some characters have moves that let them break out of combos, and some characters can even airdodge immediately after. But yeah, Mac can just power through any threats with smash attacks.
He moves like a bolt of lightning and hits like a bag of bricks
He recovers like a bag of bricks, too lol
(I love playing Little Mac and I’m so happy his recovery is better in Smash Ultimate)
Any character can be good if you figure them out. All depends the person playing
ur just rong JIGGLYPUFF is the worst no matter what
+Finlay TM umm no he isn't I seen some jigglypuff players and there and is rest move is strong so yea he's right if you use the character good there all good.
+Finlay TM gannon is worse
yeah. some charecters like gannon and jigglyuff can not win large tournaments
Yep 👍
Mac's problem isn't his kill potential, in fact he may actually have the best kill setups and options in the entire game. His weakness is that his neutral game is based almost entirely on reads, and reaction to the other player's moves. He has no safe way to get in at lower percents other than throwing out d-tilts and jabs, jabs which don't leading into anything, and d-tilts that are basically a 50-50 on whether or not a character airdodges or jumps away. If an opponent is at 0% and sitting in the corner, it doesn't matter how safe Mac's approach options are, none of them are safe enough. Any competent player will find an opening, and if they can't, make one.
that's why he has unreal footwork, his extended dash dancing is the best by far, his perfect pivots are godly, his crouching perfect pivot is the fastest in the game, his foxtrot is super far capable of 4-5 fox trots across omega stages. he may require you to read your opponent as an approach, but he has more than enough speed to deal with it.
As someone who once mained Little Mac, I have to say getting the damage from 0% to 20% is a complicated part of the match, Especially when someone is playing the "rope-a-dope" strat. and both of you make good points, but again it comes down to.... can you get them to that %. and against someone who is playing safe, you possibly can't, Imagine against a great bayo.... one that uses witch time a lot. (happened to me) I HATED IT!!!! did it in the air, did it on the ground, even ran up to me just to use it in front of me, had to start grabbing and soon that didn't work (gotta mix it up). It was annoying. and at times, since you don't have projectiles, or a reflector, you have to stay close but keep distance, like in actual Boxing, But with most people, they want you doing that. They are baiting you out. (which is why the super armor makes sense)
That's when you remember you have one thing, that was forgotten to be talked about in the video, He has a counter attack. when even used in mid air correctly, gets you closer to the stage (if it triggers and you're above the stage, can't be too far down.) and actually helps against some people (not all). but even that can be punished, (in the air by not hitting, or on the ground by just grabbing)
who said he' has 50-50 moves, well. He's a do or die Character. like it or not, It's take a chance, and with correct reads, he's more of a Do 80% or die 20% he's not a guaranteed win 100% of the time, because one mistake with little mac, As we all know could cost him a stock even at 0%
Sadly, my friend thinks he is a god because he picks Little Mac when he gets upset. He acts so high and mighty... wanna know what he does? Spams Side B and Dash Attacks your shield. Yup. Best Mac N/A.
Sarokuthix Help him get better. Little mac is a great starting character for new players which is why he plays him. I mained Little Mac at first when the game came out before switching to Ganondorf and finally to Meta Knight(secondary, however, remains him and pac-man).
Tear down his character (pun intended) so he stops being an asshole and you can help him get better.
Herodreamer The thing is, the dude is like a damned brick wall. We've tried (myself and three other friends) to give him some tips and he just gets annoyed at us and tells us to let him play the game his own way. I have my own way of letting him know. Each time he plays Mac, I go Meta Knight or Mario because Meta Knight can chase him off-stage for early kills, and Mario can cape him off the stage and use F.L.U.D.D. to kill him as well. Still doesn't work for him. He continues to make the same mistakes over and over again and I continue to punish him for it. Honestly man, I think there's no getting it through to him.
Sarokuthix change yr profile pic.its gey
Sarokuthix damn bro, i see now.
If you keep punishing his dashes, will he learn? maybe over time? I think time works the best since one gets used to seeing how the game works, when I first started playing i couldnt keep up with dodging, ppl shielding, etc. it was too fast for me.
plusi had this nasty habit of dash attacking with MK which almost always led to punishes. My cousin noticed that a lot, until i naturally developed mixups. Plus I rolled to dodge everything getting behind my opponent. Thats probabaly why I was so good with LM at first, given that bad habit and him having th e fasttest roll in the game.
but as 4 ur friend only time will tell
SHADOW999710 How about you learn to spell before giving other people commands?
Herodreamer I punish him at every point. He misses a KO punch, he gets a Falcon Punch right back. He dash attacks shield, I throw him off and spike him. He doesn't even just do this to me either. He does it against everyone he plays against. Nothing gets through to him.
I don't care about aerials
He just can't recover
op pls nerf
he's a fucking boxer that's the point of him. giving him that up special was generous enough. no one's complaining about his aerial game.
***** Link also has shitty recovery though... I believe Smash needs to stay true to the games' characters it's honouring, that includes everyone. Just because I'm not mentioning anyone else it doesn't mean I don't have problems with them.
Smash Shulk back throw can kill him at close to zero percent(if he can't wall jump).One air attack is death.His recover is pathetic.
I don't care about aerials... I also don't care about winning.
5:13 is the scariest thing I've ever seen.
T.F.H.K. Swiggity swooty
This aged about as well as raw steak in a pile of mud.
I hear tons of people saying Shulk is garbage. Dunno why but I won the tournament at my school with shulk just to show them when you're really feeling it, he wrecks.
Even zelda and palutena are always labeled bad from most people I play with; yet I have fought so many players that are very talented with those 2 and defeat me pretty badly.
Christ vargas wait, people think shulk is bad? what?
i've only ever heard good things about shulk...
leon2550 Yea. I've heard tons of people say shulk is a mediocre swordsman numerous times. Though that didn't stop me from making him my first main ;p
Tho maybe the people I know just don't realize he is near top tier. But it's good to hear that people that you know know the power of the Monando boys
I wish we had tournaments at my school.
Christ vargas The current general consensus in the community is that Shulk is high tier. His only real issue is that his frame data is below average. Despite this, he's far from mediocre. Shulks's outstanding range, great adaptability, good approaches, strong ledgeguarding ability, and unique MALLC make for a strong and viable character. He may not be the next Sheik and Rosalina, but he's far from bad. All of the people who say Shulk sucks are obviously the people who still think Lucario is top tier.
Christ vargas my friend said Shulk sucked & that Ike was better.
I then proceeded to two stock him in our first match.
My thoughts on this video:
That SA2 Music Choice
cluelesslink16 and then you're unable to focus on the rest of the video
It was a joke bro, relax.
cluelesslink16 I think he was playing along with your joke. Like, you liked the music so much you missed the point of the video? I dunno I guess i'm just giving him benefit of the doubt...
I noticed that as I posted and I was like: :-/
cluelesslink16 Not your fault, just misunderstanding. It's not like there's a font for jokes or something. BTW sonic music in general is amazing.
How about: "This Character Doesn't Suck #2 - Duck Hunt - Super Smash Bros. for Wii U"?
You called it.
;)
but little mac is the king
Congratson because that's a video
That Kingdom Hearts music tho
How "good" players see the tier list:
Zero Suit Samus is top tier because she has lots of combo options, she's strong, etc., etc., etc.
How i see the tier list:
Zero Suit Samus is top tier because she is easy to use, players that are lazy and don't want to learn how to use a character play ZSS, Sheik, Captain Falcon, etc. And good players that aren't lazy, want to learn how to use a complicated character.
That's why i respect StylesX2, his mains are Megaman and Little Mac, which are respectively Mid tier and low tier.
Well Tiers are for Queers anyway.
M8 not every high tier is easy to use. I thought people could play whoever they want.
Caillou You can play whoever you want, and the only top tier that is hard to use is Rosalina, and even without much skill i won 80% of 1-on-1 matches on for glory using Rosalina
+BLBR For glory sucks. Of course you won with no skill.
So all rush down characters are bad according to you? Really?
In Smash 4, the game with the freest, most nonsensical recoveries imaginable, a character who can't recover is doomed to be trash tier for all eternity.
Zelda doesn't suck either.
Am I the only one who loves playing as low-tiers?
***** I love using low-tiers as well, Charizard is my main and I love Mii Gunner
***** Lucina is my number 1 main, so you're not alone. I honestly don't agree with most of the Smash 4 tiers. Though i'm not crazy about tiers in general, but I understand why they exist.
I love using lucina
SilverRain i love using lucina and charizard. and i have a friend who isnt half bad with mac. wait until i tell him about the down tilt
***** i have a feeling when the meta game evolves, a lot of low teirs like zelda lucina marth and wario will be atleast in the top 15
Nice to see some Mac love
You sir do not understand how tier lists works.
its BECAUSE he has so many bad matchups that he is low. not his potential that could work.
So many characters can camp him and abuse his weak air.
ONLY reason why he is down so far.
***** You do know that tiers are basically pointless right? I doesn't matter how high tier your character is, i your opponent plays his character good, you WILL lose. I hate people who only care about tiers. Like, for example, I main as Toon Link. I met a guy who mains Fox. If you look, currently Fox is on the "tier list" above Toon Link. I'm not the only one that noticed that. He almost immediately turned down my match, just because he claimed "You're a lower tier then me, so it would be pointless. I would obviously win." (Or something along the lines of that) He would only accept when i pressured him about being scared. (I pressured him cause he was being a jerk) And, what do you know? I won. Then he claimed "You got lucky" (I think) and walked off. My point is, that tier lists are basically pointless. Not just for Smash, for everything. Basically, TIERS SUCK!
Daniel Yogi None said that tiers lists are flawless.
Its a techincal way of looking at it.
The less reads you need to do, and the more combos you can do once you get it going, or how more easily your character can edge guard, puts them higher on the tier list.
DD Kong was S tier. all on his own because of his Hoo-Haa Combo was so strong.
Your logic is flawed as you are denying that DD kong was wrecking tourneys all over the world before the nerf.
Tiers are personal depending on how you like to use characters. but having a really bad recovery and air in the same time makes the time you lose your foot grip death.
Calling tier lists shit is retarded.
Ofcourse you can take a tourney with little mac or marth etc.
But that does not mean the character is good, its YOU as a player.
Tier lists are not player influenced. Its CHARACTERS MECHANICS.
Thats all. You do not UNDERSTAND tier lists. that is all.
***** He has bad matchups but also has many exceedly strong matchups. Low tiers have very few good matchups. He's a mid tier.
***** I think I get what tier lists are thank you very much. I feel like the REASON people used DDK was cause of his high tier. People still use him in tourneys, and even though he was nerfed, he's still winning matches. The whole POINT of Smash is balance. Not "My character is a higher tier than you blah blah blah" I just said that. It doesn't matter how good the character is, it matters how you USE them. Tier lists kinda are shit (I never actually said that though) Nintendo doesn't even really want tier lists, it's the other websites and stuff that make them really. Basically, yeah. I HATE tier lists
Daniel Yogi you still don't get it.
You hate how people compare characters through tier lists.
It's a solid point for learning to be "the best".
That is why YOU are not the best sm4sh player.
Because people who are one of the best players care about tier lists.
Because then they can learn match up to match up.
The less good match ups the character got, the lower on the list.
But if you don't practice ever vs a low tier character, he is gonna fuck you up because everyone knows how to play against top tier characters. Little mac is a character that if the player knows how to play against will just gimp him. because you will get off stage at one point. if they know how to edge guard. you hare probably not coming back.
No matter how good the player is, characters have rules and weaknesses.
The more weaknesses you can abuse, the lower on the tier list.
THAT is why little mac is on the bottom.
No matter how much YOU dislike them, its a matter of characters useability and strenghts.
Coming back to the video that sparked my interest in Little Mac even further.
The guide that started it all for me, still coming back to it for refreshing my game.
One thing to add, little mac has a wall jump, that covers a partially long distance both horizontal and vertically. Using it to recover vertically with up-B won't usually help much, as you can barely reach the ledge horizontally. However, it works well with the side-B, as it can counter the horizontal distance of the wall jump. I would say it works even better than just double-jump - up-B. Besides, It can catch opponents on surprise, because they expect you to directly side-B or try up-B from below.
Nice guide , I wanted to make one aswell but yours covers a lot of things .
Good work !
- Akhous - Subbed to you dude, you're amazing.
BKG Thank you !
- Akhous - Akhous do you want a RUclips Banner from me? I already made it and it took a lot of time x. x
What about Yoshi? He's criminally underused and to my knowledge is only weak to a very skilled Ness.
Yoshi is one of the best characters in the game, why would anyone think he sucks? One of my mains is Yoshi and I'm not great at the game but I still body others with him.
AwesomeToobSauce Yeah, he has the best jabs in my opinion, and his UP+B is waaay better than anyone says
Aleksa Bogdanović Only bad thing about Yoshi is his horrible grabs. Otherwise, very good character.
Tails the cute fox agree on d horrible grabs. its soooo slow.. I wish it was faster. Its a glaring weakness for him and if you miss you are gonna be punished for it
Tails the cute fox I never use grabs with Yoshi anyways
I remember fighting bot Little Macs and HE HITS LIKE A TRAIN JEEZ
Slamblaster yeah trust me I only go on this video because he inspire me to play little mac so I either play little mac now or link and ganondorf(only because I like to gananside)
I'm loving how well made and informative these videos are. Keep up the good work man
Why is this channel not more popular. This guy isnt over the top like a lot of how to videos. The information is giving steadily with no fluff, but he's not talking too fast where you have to pause to process it. I hate how to videos that start with a thirty minute intro XD This guy is great
Now, if only little macs recovery wasn't terrible.
If only..
broken character.
his side b used to go far in the air but it got nerfed
DunbanSmash his recovery is really patetic but his wall jump is sublime
Mr. Creeper lame all they ever do is nerf fun characters
Hey, the new airdodge buff now improved his recovery SO much. Im guessing that he's gonna be a lot more dangerous now.
instant subscribed
trying to learn the mac so i can add him to yoshi and falcon but i honestly don't know how to set up with him
Kevin C Yeah he's a great character to know how to play, like I said dtilt and jab are your best friends
BKG yea i just cringe every time a see a fg mac haymakers off stage or charges with a dash attack :/
is he viable for tournament play though? I can imagine people throwing him off stage and capitalizing on his stupid recovery
Kevin C Yeah, he is viable, you just have to have the patience of a god. He doesn't get many results in tournament because almost no top players use him.
BKG
but still, his moves are so SATISFYING to pull off especially that bass drop during the ko punch and thanks to your video i have more ways to finely hone this disrespecting machine >:)
Kevin C Yes, always let the bass drop :)
Do a This Character doesn't suck for Lucina and Charizard. I'm a Lucina main myself, and I've gone up against some pretty deadly Charizard players.
+Ultron 5 Marth too. At least his only ranked low-mid tier and not as trash tier.
smashbrother86 I don't really care about Marth. I'm just concerned about getting the world to realize that Lucina is better than him.
No, Marth is better than Lucina in every way if yo can consistently land tippers.
smashbrother86 But that's the thing. You have to be at a very specific range to get the most out of Marth, which is difficult to master and requires careful measuring of the opponents moves. Lucina doesn't have that limitation. Her power is evenly distributed among her blade, giving her many more approach options. It's not far behind Marth's tipper strength, either. Also, her hitbox is slightly smaller, making her harder to hit, while still maintaining Marth's weight.
However, the true differences come in the type of battle they face. They're both good one-on-one and can hold their own in free-for-alls, but Lucina is slightly more adept to nimble fighters and escaping close-range combos, whereas Marth is better for larger, power-reliant characters.
+Ultron 5 I agree Marth is not better and I can copy pasta a pretty long response I posted elsewhere thoroughly explaining why Marth is not better. At worst, they both have MUs they are better at, but Lucina wins out slightly.
1: Thank you for defending Mac! :)
2: OMG KINGDOM HEARTS MUSIC! :D
I agree completely. Also an advantage is his unorthodox neutral game. Most characters usually pressure with aerials, grab on shield, and convert with more aerials. Macs lighting quick and dominate ground game is both hard to play against and hard to learn
Gotta say, I AM a little Mac main, and every time I see a video shit talking Mac, it drives me CRAZY, but this video highlights ALL his strong points, and they are the reason I main him. They all say hes bottom tier, but his strong points make him top tier to me, and I will continue to use him. The match-ups he has problems with like, Shiek, Mario, and Rosalina and Luma, ARE indeed difficult for him, but if you play it right, and watch your opponents for any errors they make, and then capitalize on it, Little Mac, can shit on them. Only in the hands of a good player, will Little Mac ever be seen as a Top tier character in Tournaments, and if I can improve more then I am everyday, I am hoping I can get into some Tournaments and show everyone he is as strong and top tier as any of the others.
C.U.D. Call Us Damage Cody I know that feel bro. I know that feel.
Thanks bro, we know that feel all too well...
C.U.D. Call Us Damage Cody I'm a little mac main and I've won matchups against Sheik, Mario, Rosalina and Luma, and other mac counters just fine. As you said if you know how to make up for his terrible recovery you can win any matchup
little Mac is now much better because a lot of his moves are now safe on shield
Yep
Im still salty about the shieldstun upgrade in smash 4.
His moves when properly spaced can be somewhat safe on shield, but for the most part they're not. Up Tilt maybe, but not in most situations..
I'm the best little mac player I know. We are indeed a rare species
I main him too! He is op!
+Colin McGreevy I played Little Mac at my friends they said "Little Mac?".......like he was bad....at the end of the match I sent him flying when he slipped up with MewTwo
We need more Little Macs man
Little macs for the wiiiin
Mac power, son !
Little Max is one of my best characters. But I don't main him. He is usually my 2nd of 3rd.
I completely forgot i was subscribed to you..
and then you come out with this high quality, interesting and helpful video?
Im so glad im subscribed man, i never really cared about playing mac, but now i might try to use him out more often!
A guy who makes smash videos who doesn't have an annoying voice or delivery? Word. Subscribed.
Issue with mac is his large inconsistency in wins, large gains and large losses. People like consistency in characters and wins.
In my experience, trying to go from D-Tilt to KO Punch almost always misses. Is there a certain spacing requirement?
DeathThePlague saaaaame! i just forgot the d tilt and time it right. people become wild and stupid when they hear that bell go off and see my K.O.
DeathThePlague D-Tilt to KO works in relatively low percents, when the knockback from D-Tilt is neglegible enough. Most normal-sized characters die from KO Punch at 27%-35% at the earliest, so make sure your D-Tilt will do at least that much.
"mac's aerial game brings this to a whole new level"
*"you aint no air fighter mac"* -doc louis 2014
sure, he has a jab lock... but... um... huh.
Aerials can make for a very good little Mac combo. I hate it when people just assume little macs completely useless in the air despite having no clue what they're saying.
i use the fact that people think mac's got no aerials to combo into death. it's fun and it makes them stay away and worry.
It's true. His aerials do suck in neutral.
However, they do make for amazing combos.
Yeah, after a bit I started to use Little Mac most of the time. But yeah, he's horrendous on some stages so developing a knack for another character is going to be pretty essential for anyone who really wants to play Little Mac a lot. Though I don't know if I'd call myself a GREAT Smash player. I'm okay at times I suppose, probably because I tend to also often use characters that most people don't (Little Mac, Game and Watch, Duck Hunt Dog) and that means people are often not experienced with playing against them.
THANK YOU for making this video. I`ve been saying since Day 1 that Lil Mac is up there in the tiers and wasn`t getting enough credit.
Super Armor, Super Fast Punches with Great Knockback, Running Speed, Combo Potential, A counter that can kill SUPER ARMOR (had to say it again), pokes are decently safe, low risk high reward and hit confirmable and of course.... the ko punch!
Teir lists are obsolete, they are just popularity contests.
Not one fighter in this game is either the best or the worst, it's just the fact that they're easier to use.
Ummm no they aren't popularity contests... If they were, you would see way more low tiers winning. Also diddy kong isn't that popular of a character... Please remove stupid before commenting.
Bruce Wayne Seeing that you said that, I will not concern myself with you.
CircusBlue92 As long as characters can have good or bad matchups against other characters, tier lists will never be obsolete. Even in a theoretical game where all of the characters have equal numbers of good and bad matchups, tier lists will still be relevant because they are a way to assess the metagame on the whole.
If certain characters are getting good results in top tier play, then it's indicative to people at lower levels that those characters likely have good matchups against the currently popular characters. And it tells people playing at high levels that they need answers to those characters, either by attempting to develop their own character's metagame or by picking up a secondary.
In Smash 4, tier lists are still certainly relevant because the fighters are definitely not balanced perfectly. There's a significant amount of variance among the characters that are succeeding in tournaments (or, at least, more than Brawl), but pre-patch Diddy didn't just win a lot of tournaments because he was popular and easy to play; he also had dominant frame data and a difficult-to-gimp recovery.
Below is evidence for individual matchups necessitating a tier list. Don't read it if you don't want to.
If you are in a best of 3 set on the wrong side of a 70-30 matchup, you don't have a 30% chance of winning; you have a 30% chance of winning each individual game (assuming the matchup numbers are accurate, which they never will perfectly be, and the players are of equal skill, which is a difficult thing to quantify, but that's a whole 'nother bag of worms). Rather, you have a 21% chance of winning (.3^2 + .3^2 x .7 x 2). And if you have a 70-30 matchup against the most popular character at the time, that 20% is going to crop up a uncomfortably often. In other words, you'll be playing a low tier character because of the metagame they are taking part in.
This gets worse in a best of 5. With the same 70-30 matchup, you now have a 16% (.3^3 + .3^3 x .7 x 3 + .3^3 x .7^2 x 6) chance of winning a best of 5 against this same popular character. Those odds are definitely not in your favor. If you've found your way into loser's side Grand Finals, you need to pull that off twice, for a stunning 4% chance of winning the tournament after managing to get all the way into Grand Finals. If you're in winner's side Grand Finals, you've got a 29.5% chance of coming out successful... finally close to that perceived 70-30 matchup, but the odds are still definitely against you.
To recap the argument: The only premises are that characters do not all have even matchups against each other, that the competing players are of a comparable skill level, and that some characters are more popular than others. Given those scenarios, each of the characters available will have more or less chance to succeed in tournament settings, as that is determined by what matchups they go through. And since certain characters are more popular than others, all the character's likelihood to succeed in a tournament CANNOT be equal, as certain characters will have more prominent good matchups than others. In other words, a tier list is necessitated, as certain characters are more likely to succeed than others.
Note that the argument for the existence of tier lists works even in an environment where every character is "equally good." The argument that characters are innately "better" than others wasn't part of that at all; rather, the environment that they are placed in is important. In other words, popularity contests are actually a part of how well a character works in competitive play!
redblue200 Finally, a person with a level conscience. I commend you for not spewing shit and wasting my time.
Even though the statistical percentile of winning or not is relevant to teir lists, that is why I have a gripe with them. For there is an unlimited number of whether or not one succeeds, thus bringing up your point of one trying to make their own metagame.
I do strongly agree that everyone is not balanced perfectly, but that doesn't mean (for example) a Charizard has an absolute 30% (or what have you) of winning against a Diddy Kong.
I believe in an infinite amount of possibilities, and wish for players to think outside of the box and ignore these "Teir-lists".
I may not attend huge tournaments like EVO, but I do know that if one knows their character well enough, they could truly shine forth.
This may not be the response you want, but just take it, it's my opinion and my theory.
redblue200 Oh... And I saw that Dr Mario of all people is last in the tier lists.... What?
No little mac is good is just his recovery is TERRIBLE! Its so terrible i dont think it can be considered a recovery
Adam Castro dude, his recovery is amazing, its far superior to mario or doctor mario and hell it even has a large tendency to KO opponents. I love is recovery, and his side b not as bad you would think. its very useful.
..... ya know he cant recover he hes he dosent have a double jump and if hes at a 90 degree angle from a stage right?
You need to educate yourself a little bit more there buddy, because you are wrong. yeah also you can steer the rising uppercut, and its very easy to get back on stage even with a trashy mario trying to show that you suck, but in reality he sucks. Not to mention you dont do the side b immediately, sometimes you dont at all, all you need is fall enough and you will land near the edge or just counter and that brings to the stage every time. You are also wrong because little mac has a wall jump, therefore he has a double jump.
Every character has a double jump dude
wait do you play as little mac? or do you just like to watch combo videos so you can make fun of them?
kingdom hearts music? :^)
I love the organization XIII music at the start lol
Kingdom Hearts OST is soooo good
Thanks for doing this, always been a huge fan of Mac's gameplay it's good to see I'm not the only person who feels he isn't often played to his full potential.
>mfw Ganon was actually once considered better than Ike
bruh
when a little mac wins a national, hell even locals, we'll start to talk. It's not that he's bad its that other characters are better.
yashsickle Macs are already winning locals and getting top 3 at regionals. I agree other characters are better I'm just saying he doesn't suck.
BKG in what reality?????
yashsickle In....this reality?
Little Mac actually has one of the highest win/usage rate of any character. In tournaments that have results reported, Little Mac has been in 224 top 16s and has 36 first place finishes. Do your research.
smashboards.com/threads/usage-based-tier-considerations.396301/
I'll still gimp you in for glory hahahahahahahahahaha
yashsickle Well...if you need _lag_ to win, then alright: _gimp away!_
I main many characters:
Jigglypuff, Yoshi, Mewtwo, Duck Hunt, Charizard, Zelda, Mario, Pac-Man, Lemmy, Pikachu, Greninja, Lucario, Samus, R.O.B., Ike, Toon Link, Dark Pit, Ness, Wii Fit Trainer, and Sonic. I win more than I lose in online matches. This shows that any character is good when used right!
you can't have 20 mains, any more than 3 isn't a main
also people on for glory are terrible and can and will side-b off the ledge
TheCannon 20 mains is absurd. The definition of main is the character you play the most out of all the majority of characters. And just because you main a character doesn't mean they're good. Melee kirby probably has some people who main him. Still flaming garbage.
20 mains isnt a main, you have a main and a secondary and sometimes you have a third just-in-case character, any character is good if you're actually good at the game. that doesnt show anything thing that just shows you like playing more than 3 characters.
I am so thankful that this video kept me going as a mac main, as I now fight the criticism and showcase some of the safest combos as I rek.
I loved the music choice you had in the back ground, i knew almost all of the songs.
Uh, Little Mac does suck.
little mac is the king
homo bob No, Cloud is
Alex DeMoss nope.
Alex DeMoss bet i could beat you
Alex DeMoss can
solid guide and nice choice of SA2 music
As Mac as one of my best characters, here's some tips:
1. If you can predict it, use counter to recover, as it sends Mac forward much faster than his Side-B.
2. Mac's N-air is the fastest aerial in the game, (Coming out at Frame-1) he can break out of combos easier than Luigi in Melee.
3. Mac's F-Smash angled downward breaks shield, use this on FG since most players are really dumb.
4. If you insist on grabbing, use D-Throw, since it deals the most damage (9%), it also can lead to an Up-Tilt or Side-B if you can read the opponent.
5. Mac has a surprisingly easy time landing due to his Neutral-B giving him super-armor, use it on characters that can juggle with their U-Airs, try to release it before landing though to get away from the opponent.
6. Mod the game for a Doc Louis skin. (This one is the most important!)
7. Memorize the Bee Movie script, as it can throw an opponent off in a match if you quote it at random.
8. If you win any match, have any of your friends say, "Nice work ___(YN)___! You have it all figured out!"
9. Always show up to your 11-Man-Local in a pink track-suit.
10. Show them your moves.
11. Always acknowledge when it's either Shulk time or time to tip the scales.
A lot of this is wrong. Mac Jab has a property that prevents it from being clanked out by anything, but in most situations that would come up, you would still get hit and lose/trade (which is usually losing) the exchange anyway.
Jab -> KO Punch is only a true combo at ludicrously high percents (we're talking ~200%; non-fastfallers can ruin it for themselves by buffering the wrong options after being Jabbed, but in most circumstances, the KO Punch can be spotdodged after a Jab (you can shield on Frame 1, but the shield isn't visible until Frame 2, so anytime you see the shield, you could have been invincible via spotdodge in that time). Nothing currently appears to reliably combos into Rising Smash, either.
TheReflexWonderful Non-fast fallers can't get out, but I never said it was a true combo. Spotdodge is invulnerable on frame 2 so the point still stands.
Either way almost no players have the reaction time to input a spotdodge after getting jabbed. Jab doesn't lose trades often unless were talking about lingering hitboxes, what are you talking about?
Just wanted to say thank you for making this video! This gave me life, confidence and more security to keep using Little Mac. This is such a wonderful and great advice you gave all Little Mac user like myself. ARIGATO!!!
Very nice video, I love when people showcase a character's true potential by showing the uses of all the character's moves, and their combos. I am looking forward to the next video in this series.
This was a well made guide. As a little Mac main myself I found it both informative but still easy enough for beginners to understand
excellent video. One thing that I've noticed is that the dash attack can also be used as a fairly good anti-air if your opponent is landing across the stage, since its hitbox is both above and in front of you. They think they can safely land, but then you sprint towards them and smack them out of the air.
Another really important thing to remember is that Mac has a walljump. This actually makes his recovery usable on some stages. If you pick Duck Hunt or similar, you become essentially immune to most forms of gimping.
I really do hope this series goes on. these are really informative and entertaining, and there are plenty more characters that deserve recognition despite how poorly they perform.
Olimar, Wario, Charizard, and maybe DK could all make for great episodes.
It is also worth mentioning that Mac has a wall jump, a useful recovery tool on some stages. Wall jump to side b towards ledge lets you recover from much lower than up b.
I've actually learned recently that Little Mac is pretty spectacular. As long as you know his ranges, you can easy plow through most characters. I've been trying to mess around with his counter as a recovery for people that try to punish him further from the map, too, which seems to work well in many places on most maps.
This video has so much truth to it. well done, covers everything most would need to know about the character, and is a instant level up to anyone picking up the character.
If someone is at the other side of the stage camping with shield, I always space out side tilts as well so I dont get shield grabbed because the move has very low cooldown and great range. I can see down tilt and jab being better options as well seeing that they are faster, but I'm not sure if they have as much range.
This is the best and most in-depth Mac guide I've seen. Great job! How about a Mii Swordfighter guide next?
Thank you so much for choosing one of my favourite songs from 3 of my very favourite games!! You have good tastes.
Thank you for making this video. I've mained Little Mac since day one and this had so many techniques I didn't know about.
You do a great job at pointing out Little Mac's potential! I am trying to find a good secondary character for my main which is the 2D destroyer of worlds Mr. Game and Watch. The thing is neither still cover Sheik which is an issue because Sheik wrecks the both of them. Speaking of which, possibly for the future of this series you can explain that G&W is better than people think he is. People gave up on him too early when they realized they couldn't play him as the lightweight tank he was in Brawl.
D-tilt Side B to D-tilt (smash or KO punch) can all combo into each other. This combo works with most characters around 10% to 20% percent.
On Falcon from 0% do 3x d-tilt Side special d-tilt step up smash.
the 3x d-tilt to side b will be guaranteed, the 4th hit might be jumped out. But if it does it the fifth will be guaranteed.
The comment section is a good reminder why I shouldn't bother reading them and why I don't like the majority of the Smash 4 community. Anyway, this video is really awesome and it inspired me to pick up Little Mac. Can't wait to see what other videos you have in store for the future. Consider me subbed~!
That kh music on point
The thing about Little Mac for me is that the things he does can be done by another character better. Speed can be bested by Sonic or Speed Shulk, crazy kill power can be done by Capt. Falcon, frame data is better with ZSS, kill combos with Bayonetta, kill counter with Corrin, etc.
Plus his recovery is legitimately bad.
Your doing gods work with this vid. Though he's only my secondary (My main is Dedede), I still hate seeing all these dumb Macs on for glory who kinda treat him like Sonic. While Sonic can work using dash attacks and keeping the match at a frantic pace, you can't chase the same amount as if you were Sonic as Mac. Btw, I really liked the Doc Louis quips throughout the vid lol.
Little Mac was my first character I played in smash 4. But for the longest time for some reason, I got really bad with him. I want to thank you for showing me cool new tricks with him.
Now see, here's the thing... It doesn't matter if he has a good combo game, it doesn't matter if he's a heavy hitter, it doesn't even matter if he has super armor on all of his smash attacks... If he can't recover when being thrown off the stage, that makes him a bad character. If he can't land easily when an opponent is juggling him in the air due to a lack of midair options, that makes him a bad character. If he goes against any character that specializes in trapping the foe in midair (Sheik, Jigglyuff, Mario, etc.), he's screwed. Do you get where this is going?
Nice video! I play as Little Mac, when you learn his moves he is awesome! Mac gets a lot of hate so it's fun to see a video where someone shows that he is actually really good! :D
Honestly, I wish they didn't think so hard about the design and style of boxing and just made little mac's grounded side b and up b the same as aerial up b and side b
Looking forward to more entries in this series!
I main Little Mac and I use the Sprint attack not very often or not as much as I used to. I know that the spring attack at 0% if hit right off the bat can go into a side B then a forward smash, I use that to deal good damage in the beginning. I also know if you can foxtrot then when you're close to the foe don't dodge roll away dodge roll towards them it's not a good mind game but I learn it confuses my friends because they chase me when I go away.
That was MAD useful dude. Thanks a lot. Been maining Mac since the game launched and I'm still learning new stuff.
Nice video! A few things I wanted to point out:
You should have mentioned his other custom moves like dash counter wich guves him a nice approach against projectile users or that slow but strong side b that has super armor and goes trough shield, meaning he doesn't gimped that easily.
I don't run into Little Macs often, but when I do, they usually give me trouble. I haven't bumped into any tournament-level Macs, but I have bumped into ones who get the gist of Little Mac's style and they give me trouble. I don't attempt to go head first into them because I know I'll get hit because of Super Armour or something similar. I try to find openings, but at that point is when I screw up.
Not often will I run into a low-level Little Mac who uses Dash Attacks all the time.
Little Mac buffs that NEEDS to happen: Down angled forward smash needs to actually break shields(more consistently). Also, maybe something else that will also help his terrible match ups.
Great idea for a character. He doesn't suck but I really want his MUs be better. BTW, I main Falco and Ness(I don't even alt LM). No bias in that category here.
I am one of the few little mac mains that play like this, but its still clear to me that LM is still in dire need of a buff. asking someone to basically never get forced off stage is like asking surfer never to get wet. but while other characters have multiple recovery options, LM has 2 very predictable ones that can garantee a gimped even if you have the read.
I also find it strange that LM's side B and up B on the ground have more range than in the air when he actually needs it, even if they doubled his air recovery range it would still be the worst recovery in all of smash.
if you Haymaker right after a jump, you can do a jump cancel haymaker, which decreases speed and range.
Sounds bad, but if you want to rush down an opponent near the edge with a haymaker kill, you can use this to save yourself from death.
I'll be frank. Basic little Mac play is easy. GOOD little Mac play is almost f*cking impossible.
He doesn't look like much, but he's got a lot of nifty secrets and tricks that make him great if you learn to use them properly.
I'm still learning to Little Mac myself, but I have a few ideas of how to make his character work.
First, try mixing up dodging through a character with his side-b invincibility. This only works on the ground because while in the air side-b has no such invincibility. It also is a good way to punish some projectiles.
Second, be sure to mix up the distance of side-b. Pressing b at any time during the move causes him to cut it short and throw his punch. You still need to keep in mind the distance of this attack, but it can be a good way to throw people off guard by confusing them with how far you reach.
Third, act like your feet are glued to the ground. Jumping should be a foreign concept except as a a rare part of punishing or when trying to get back on the stage.
Again I'm not pro Mac player, but I have fun playing as this guy.
This is your reminder that little Mac can wall jump if you know you can make it with an up-b, most people don't know that and can surprise your opponent if land well
Lot of people don't know olimar either.
What I do is throw pikmen off the stage until I get just a purple. Then dominate.
There are times where your pikman will be too slow, so down b works nicely, or you can have a backup pikman like red or blue (something that lays on power) but never really go for three. Your recover is slowed down, you have too much inconsistency. I beat a Mario main with this "One Pik Wonder" method and I don't even main olli lol
Hey Man thanks for the tips I love your idea of why Mac is said to be "bad" this video has inspired me to be a little Mac main I already liked playing as Mac so this is great
Love the KH music to go along with the badass montage.
Bro, you forgot to mention that you can GREATLY INCREASE HIS RECOVERY when playing on stages that tretch all the way downwards in a vertical fashion.
5:46 Little Mac might have been able to recover there if he simple did a WALL JUMP. You can always CANCEL WALL JUMPS by doing an up B so you simply just get that extra boost. Little Mac can RECOVER from REALLY LOW parts od the stage simply by doing that wall jump cancelled into an up B. It has saved me tons of times. Also, if done correctly you can counter close to the stage and even if your opponent doesn't hit you, you can wall jump into up B to make it back.
These type of stages greatly benefit Little Mac so it's better to play them over FD (unless you prefer stage spiking),
One thing you forgot was the fact that Mac can wall-jump, its a very effective tool if you're close to the wall and don't have your mid-air jump and almost garanties you getting back to the stage and sweet-spotting the ledge.
Thanks, BKG! Now I know what moves to use, and can now main Mac without mindlessly using Forward Smash!
Tip: Little Mac has a frame trap. Down-throw into KO punch on certain characters, such as Captain Falcon, at low percent. Only way to live is to DI away.
As a Mac main, this is a great video. It taught me a lot as a young player, and now I can win locals more than not. Don't sleep on a good Mac.