An overview of Mr. Game & Watch’s skill level
i am constantly slandered for using my flat 2d boi. in fact, when i do play him, it usually goes like this:
I win: doesn't count you played g&w
I lose: how did you lose you suck
As a G&W player myself (I second captain falcon guys I still have aura don’t hate me), I will try to be objective about why people feel that way, but also why I don’t think it’s that simple.
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Mr. Game & Watch is a very good and very forgiving character, and he’s also easy to pick up compared to a lot of characters. A lot of his kit is amazing:
- Up B out of shield is just busted
- Up B is also very very good for recovery
- nair is huge
- bair is huge and great for spacing
- amazing frame data
- oil panic is straight up just the move in the game when charged strongly (huge fast hitbox that can kill as early as 20-30% or even lower)
- down smash is huge and recovers very fast, also buries
- dash attack is fast, stays out way too long, and hits below the ledge making for an incredibly easy 2-frame
- did I mention up B out of shield is busted
So he can feel annoying to fight, especially in casual games where people don’t always punish well.
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At the same time, once you play against someone who actually knows the matchup, he can struggle:
- he doesn’t have good approaching options, so he often has to wait and react
- almost no actual true combos
- kill options are almost entirely hard reads
- dies at 50 getting breathed on too hard
- His only spike is very hard to hit
- juggling with up air for racking up damage is harder than it looks and needs DI reads and dodge baiting to keep it going
- bucket is slow to come out and requires a hard read, unless it’s something like ness neutral B or is just is slow
G&W play is mostly about spacing and predictions, but he is also very forgiving, especially with his up B out of shield. A good example of this is how I struggled for literal weeks and still struggle to beat my friend who plays Lucas of all things, even though it is winning for g&w matchup wise. He always punished predictability and I had to learn proper spacing.
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So overall, yes, G&W is just easier and more forgiving to play than the most characters. Like Steve to a lesser extent, he is good, not skill-less. A win with him is still a win.