Unlike Felnoter i’ll try and show my findings without being a smartass:
So i decided to do 20 BnB’s ending in DS, 10 with mashing, 10 without, and record the findings based on small, medium, and large characters. Here’s what i got, along with a few observations.
First off the Combo i did is from the starting position of training mode: M,H,Stinger, Rising Sun, Trick down, J.M, J.H. J.S, land, H, Stinger, M trick, H, S, J.M J.M, J.H. J.2H. Otg 3H, xx Dimension Slash. (note that M wiffs on rocket raccoon at the starting position, so i wiffed 1 standing m, then did the combo for spacing consistency).
Here’s the findings.
Not mashing against a normal Character (Phoenix): Average hits: 46.0
41 (low)
51 (high)
42
49
47
44
47
46
45
48
Mashing against a normal character (Phoenix) Average hits: 45.2
43
54 (high) (highest against a normal size character)
44
44
43
45
50
46
41 (low)
42
Observations: Mashing gave me the best single result in 54 hits, both mashing and not mashing had the low against a normal character at 41 hits, however the average ended up going towards not mashing by just slightly, for now lets put a point towards DS not being mashable.
Not mashing against a small character (Rocket) Average hits: 34.5
37
35
35
32
30
32
33
42(high)
40
29 (low) (lowest against a small character)
Mashing against a small character (Rocket) Average hits: 36.9
36
39
39
43 (high) (highest against a small character)
32
37
37
40
35
31 (low)
Observations: Mashing got both the highest against a small character, the better average, and it’s lowest result was 2 hits better than the lowest result of not mashing. Also when watching the combo counter and the way Rocket bounces this is where visually mashing seems to have the most effect. The numbers lean towards supporting that mashing does in fact add hits, though this could just be luck of the bounce in what is a fairly small sample.
Not mashing against a large character (Nemesis) Average hits: 57.6
57
54
58
55
62
66 (high) (highest against a large character)
62
54
57
51 (low) (lowest against a large character)
Mashing against a large character (Nemesis) Average hits: 59.1
56
60
63
58
52 (low)
64 (high)
64 (high)
59
55
60
Observations: Not mashing got both the highest and lowest result, while mashing has a bit more consistency on hits and thus the overall higher average on hits. This is where it’s visually hardest to tell exactly what mashing does or does not do since big characters are hit by so many of the orbs of DS at the same time. The average says mashing improves your chances on more hits, but there was the single 66 hitter with no mashing that can detract from that.
1 major thing i noticed is that if i were to get that last lucky hit on DS that allows you enough time to do 3H again after the super, is that if I was mashing it added 2 hits to the final total, and when i didnt mash and got the lucky last hit it added 1 hit to the total, which again would seem to support that mashing does in fact alter how DS hits.
Overall when I watch things like the way small characters react to mashing vs not mashing, the increased averages against small and large characters and the extra hit on the final lucky bounces of DS, I’m still inclined to say that mashing does in fact add hits to DS. That being said, there’s also evidence here that it’s all based on a lucky bounce here and there. It may be that mashing DS causes some odd reactions in the coding and makes the characters bounce more or it could mean jack shit.
At the end of the day the Guide, the wiki, and official sources say you can mash DS for extra hits. My little study shows that for the most part in the long run it does help, but at the end of the day your reward for mashing is pretty minimal (the best case seems to be 2 extra hits). So take that for what you will.
TL : DR version:
Mashing may or may not get you an extra hit in the long run. Mash if you feel like it, don’t feel bad if you don’t: There isn’t enough solid evidence to prove mashing does or does not affect Dimension Slash just yet.