User blog:Star Solister/SSF2 0.9b impressions

Just some quick notes here and there. I'll add more as I play.

Marth

 * Dair feels hard to land. Ken Combos are more difficult to pull off as a result compared to Melee but are still very effective
 * SHFF is a bit difficult to adjust to
 * Fair, bair, uair, fsmash, dsmash, dtilt, utilt, etc. all feel great
 * Up throw chaingrab is back on spacies, but it's somewhat harder to perform
 * SB comes out very fast, I think faster than Brawl, and wipes a shield even uncharged, so it can be a deadly situational punish tool for people who overshield (grab them out of shield the first few times, then when you know they'll shield again hit them with Shield Breaker and punish accordingly)
 * Dancing Blade feels a lot harder to perform and has a lot less utility than in both Melee/Brawl
 * Feels like a good in-between mix of Melee and Brawl Marth overall

Sora

 * Down throw chaingrab is gone
 * No Firaga (cuts off quick KO options, no more up+B OOS -> Firaga either for quick punish KOs)
 * Nair feels weaker but quicker
 * Up tilt is more combo friendly
 * Flowmotion forward seems like a good KO option near the ledge? can set up an off-stage edgeguard. Really cool move altogether, also helps Sora's recovery a lot
 * Really needs a quick KO option to make up for loss of Firaga, but overall he's still really good

DK

 * Giant Punch is significantly weaker, even when fully charged (before it could KO at like 40%, now it can't KO until 100%)
 * Down throw chaingrab is no longer guaranteed on Fox at low %
 * Feels a lot smoother overall though
 * Everything else is still there (absurd grab range, aerial power, nair OOS, edgeguarding)
 * Victory pose is fucking creepy
 * BUG: Cargo up (carrying the opponent after a forward throw, then trying to throw them up like in Melee/Brawl) results in DK getting stuck in a cargo pose until he's hit out of it. He can't do anything but jump while he's stuck

Fox

 * He's so smooth :D
 * Largely unchanged from 0.9a from what I can tell (maybe up throw got nerfed a little bit?)
 * Everything's still there

Yoshi

 * Extremely smooth
 * Feels about the same in terms of moveset
 * Nair OOS is still amazing

Zelda/Sheik

 * BUG(?): Attempting to play as Sheik from the character select either hangs the game on the loading screen or forces it to take a ridiculously long time
 * Attacks feel a tad bit stronger (especially nair) but that could just be me
 * Very smooth like the others
 * From playing CPU Zelda I can gauge that a lot of her attacks were improved as well (but I hate playing Zelda so I won't be motivated to find out how much they were)

ZSS

 * Forward smash is significantly stronger than in Brawl
 * Down smash -> forward smash KOs as soon as 80% with no DI, maybe 100% with DI
 * Forward air links into stuff
 * Bair/uair are deadly
 * Nair is a good approach option
 * Up smash is really really bad. like really bad. it doesn't even link properly (good thing she has fsmash)
 * Plasma Wire seems to be weaker in comparison (can't KO until ~120%, and only then barely at the ledge when the CPU doesn't DI?!)
 * definitely maining ZSS. smooth, combo friendly, has quick KO options and trapping options, etc.
 * the orange palette swap though :O

Captain Falcon

 * Falcon now gets pushed back when he up + Bs someone, which can be both a good thing and a bad thing. For one, ending an off-stage combo with him is now safer, but on the other hand... One thing I did a lot in v0.9a is, when I caught someone in up + B, I could chase their missed tech with side B very quickly when I came back to the stage and knee them in the face. That doesn't seem as easy now.
 * Up air tip now sends enemies the other way. Again, a good thing in edgeguarding situations sometimes when Falcon's facing the stage/ledge and trying to gimp, but a bad thing if you're accustomed to the 0.9a uair -> uair -> knee combo. The other hitboxes of uair are generally a lot less combo friendly at mid percents :|
 * Down throw doesn't move Falcon anymore, and it sends enemies on more of an angle away (meaning Falcon now has to do a walking CG instead of a stationary one). Up throw is the same.
 * Feels largely the same, except he lost/gained a few options for different situations. New knee effect is rad

Chibi-Robo

 * Smooth, combo-friendly
 * Up air is godly
 * Grab range is ridiculous
 * Has a lot of solid damage racking options (neutral air can do upwards of 17%!)
 * Forward smash is absurdly weak, but up smash and down smash have respectable power
 * Meteor is really strong and leads into a smash followup
 * Dash attack is so weak it jab resets opponents laying down lol
 * Overall a very very solid character with a lot of potential imo

Jigglypuff

 * Rest feels a little bit neutered (could KO Fox outright at around 30-40% before, now he lives to about 50%)
 * Everything else is the same, still the same old Puff

Ichigo

 * Huge nerf to down smash as an edgeguarding tool: Startup is increased significantly due to the new Shunpo effect; several hitboxes no longer meteor smash, and the ones that do do so very weakly and are poorly placed (at the very bottom edge of the attack?!) Despite its now-inability to edgeguard properly, it can be used as an effective mobility tool to get on top of platforms and ambush enemies, or on-stage to get enemies off of you
 * Nerf to Getsuga. It's debatable but I think it's a nerf, especially in the edgeguarding department. The old Getsuga could outright KO people trying to recover, while this one only pushes them away slightly, giving them more chances to come back (especially if they're like DK and have super armor on parts of their recovery.)
 * New down throw is pretty nice, sets up jab reset combos easily on bad opponents who don't tech
 * The Shunpo (flash step) effects on a lot of his moves feels very nice and gives him the mobility he lacked before
 * Ichigo's real "Shunpo" move (side special) got a pretty good buff, in that it now goes through enemies and sends them at an angle towards you. This can open up pretty big combos
 * Despite his down smash nerf, the overall decrease in the lagginess of his moves, extra mobility options in several of them with flash step effects, and his new tools altogether make Ichigo a MUCH better character than he was in v0.9a

Sonic

 * Gigantic nerf to Light Dash. It now only serves as a half-decent recovery, no longer providing a way to extend the hitbox of aerial attacks to start combos, and does very little damage while leaving Sonic completely helpless. I know I complained about Light Dash back in September 2013, but this wasn't the way to go balancing it!
 * New bair effect is sexy
 * Seems to have gotten a decrease in air speed(?)
 * Sluggish feel compared to v0.9a

Tails

 * Finishers (smashes) are still very strong
 * Tail spike got neutered hard (feels more like a slap on the wrist than a smack into the abyss)
 * Slowed air speed (?)
 * Similar to Sonic, Tails has a very sluggish feel in the new demo overall compared to v0.9a, although that could just be my unfamiliarity with the character
 * The bug in v0.9a where Kirby's version of Tails's move did like 60% damage was fixed by the way :)