Link VS L9 CPUs

-Villager: ya know, I thought this guy would prove to be broken when I saw the first trailer, but turns out that HAL already made this character. I think his name was Meta Knight. He was susceptible to walling then too.

In all seriousness, Villager does have something that sets him apart from Meta Knight: rather than being somebody who simply punishes blinking like mad via coordination melee strikes, Villager is a trap maker character. It's his bad luck in this video that Link himself would want to follow a mentality that allows for busting enemy traps before devising his own. Fortunately for Villager, good game design dictates that each character have emergency methods of fending off standard weaknesses, so he has 3 anti-armor attacks, although they're all close range attacks: the Forward Smash, a bowling ball drop that while having short reach and definite startup issues will hit like a truck; the Up Smash, a fireworks display that's just a typical Up Smash; and the grab, a bug net that does have its own startup issues as well, and the throws don't kill, but hey, getting that pesky armor away can be a godsend.

It's not enough to keep him from being wrecked in a single attempt, but the thought is certainly there. It's not even hard to blame this on my general experience using Link. I get a KO because of explosives, but I had 2 KOs before then so no problem.

-Rock Man: now this guy actually did take more attempts, and even the successful run was a close call for this. I'm still confused on what happened with this guy, but if I had to guess, I think it's safe to say that Rock is pretty agile for a Frail Sniper. Then again, he would have to be, because while he has plenty of long range attacks, it's only the close range abuse that Link even needs to fear thanks to the game design policy of making sure that anti-armor is risky but also rewarding.

Oh, turns out close range isn't a necessary trait for balanced anti-armor. Rock's Forward Smash proves that much. It's an impromptu charged shot that is capable of hitting from far, but it comes at the cost that it's the freaking Forward Smash and thus can only be used on the ground, when it also can't be aimed diagonally. Rock's Side B also qualifies as anti-armor. That attack doesn't seem so different from the Metal Blade--the mere method of hitting is way too similar--but it turns out that if it manages a direct hit, it acts as a sticky bomb that explodes after a few seconds. So the opponent will want to dodge it. Mercifully, it only fires straight, but Rock can still fire it from the air. The explosion can also affect Rock, but then again, the guy is agile anyway.

This whole thing is surprisingly....fascinating.

-Pikachu: good job unconditional flinching was nerfed to the point where counterattacks are actually feasible, and getting past projectile spam isn't the nightmare it once was. This popular, cute electric mouse called a Fragile Speedster would become an ugly affair if not for that.

-Mario: the Trope Namer for The Mario, who has been buffed from what I gather, surprisingly took one attempt. I must have done particularly well, given how bad it is to be outsped at all and how much worse it becomes when the guy doing the outspeeding has MORE anti-armor options. Like I say, just play to your character's strengths and mitigate their weaknesses at the same time, because The Mario relies on versatility to be a threat. Obviously, it's harder with a character like Link, so it's a shock that the effort needed to record this was minimized, let alone to the point where I took only 44% altogether.

-Link: ah, the mirror match, and this took more attempts than the other characters COMBINED. Though some were simply due to bad luck. I can't even say much about mirror matches, because they're...well, mirror matches. All I have to say is have solid understanding of Link and you'll prevail.