The powerhouse of destruction enters brawl with some new improvements to his person, making the king of koopas a force to be reckoned with now.
Now, I haven’t had much time to experiment with Brawl, but in general, Bowser is way better. Some of his moves got much needed improvements.
(Glossary of terms used in the thread thus far:
Tilt: Slightly tilting the control stick in the direction of the move.
Smash: Smashing(or rather, a firm push in the direction) the stick in the direction of the move.
L Canceling: A Melee tactic that involved reducing recovery on aerial moves by hitting one of the shoulder buttons(or Z) before hitting the ground after using an aerial move. But, that has since gone away in Brawl, so don’t take any heed.)
Neutral A Combo: Nice, quick damage. Nothing much changed.
Down Tilt: Seems harder to hit both swipes, but still fairly useful. Range has increased, and killing power has increased.
Up Tilt: Hard to hit against midgets like Olimar…actually, it seems hard to hit period if you’re face to face with an opponent. Otherwise, still a good quick launcher, and best used when your opponent is above you.
Foward Tilt: It seems to cover more ground now. More length, and more uh…girth. Not bad at all.
Down Smash: Also seems to cover more ground. Notice how Bowser’s shell moves from side to side during that spin.
Foward Smash: Did it always have the ability to hit twice? It can do some great damage if you can manage to have it hit twice. Otherwise, still slow, but powerful when used right.
Up Smash: It can still hit when he comes down, but otherwise, unchanged. You can apparently combo an aerial up+a after an up smash(Thanks, Orochizoolander!).
Foward B: The Koopa Klaw has now leveled up into the Final Atomic Bowser. Good damage, you can control where he moves(and so can your opponent, to an extent), it can KO(only at high percentages, though), and there’s the Final Atomic Bowsercide. Which is pretty self explanatory. It can also be used in the air, so strong body any pesky foes who try to keep you from the edge(if you can, anyway).
Neutral B: The flame breath can now track opponents. I’ve not experimented with it much, but the fact remains.
Down B: The Boswer Bomb now has an initial hit before Bowser comes crashing down. The initial hit only seems to be available on the ground. I don’t know how fast it is, but it may turn out to be a decent tool when used correctly.
Up B: The Fortress has been nerfed some, but it’s still a decent “get off me” move in some respects. It can still KO at decent percentages, too.
Aerial Neutral A: Still fairly useful. I haven’t found much of a use for it, though.
Aerial Foward A: It seems to have lost a lot of it’s killing potential, that or i’m using it so much the spamming nerf comes into effect. Still very useful when short hopping.
Aerial Back A: Without L Canceling, this moves suffers. Still powerful, but insane recovery.
Aerial Up A: It seems to be faster. It could just be my eyes playing tricks on me, but it just…feels faster. Still a great move to get star KOs with.
Aerial Down A: I never found too much of a use for this move. Decent damage, not really worth it.
Forward Throw: Bowser’s throws were nothing much to write home to. His forward throw is pretty basic for any forward throw. Not much combo potential that I know of.
Back Throw: Basic back throw. Use when you need to switch up your positioning when you think it’ll give you an advantage.
Up Throw: Not much combo-ability that I know of with this throw. Maybe at low percentages, but at higher percentages there’s much ado about nothing after a successful up throw.
Down Throw: Probably Bowser’s best throw, since you can set up some mix-ups. Not that i’ve ever done any of these mix ups, but you can try and set up some aerial f+a/u+as, from what I understand. This is probably the best one to use after any successful shield grab.
Final Smash: Giga Bowser. Nuff said. A lot of his moves receive the changes such as explosive effects, icy effects, ect…also, SUPAH ARMOR!
Uh…that’s about it. Anybody else want to chime anything in, go right ahead!
Bowser! Numbah one!
