Here's a medium length guide on the basics of how to beat Squirtle.
Hello.
I'm Tap from MI, 9th in the state atm but win(s) over Tetra, Lain, Lordy, Ripple, Scythe, Sago, Kels, but most importantly Dirtboy, I believe a perfect record this season. Yoshi player.
I'm going to explain why Squirtle is very ****, and why WG camping might be his only good tool.
NEUTRAL GAME: People believe Squirtle moves fast, and you're right, he does, but it takes a long time for him to gain the momentum to move across the stage so quickly, his shell shift being his main option of moving around quickly. When he does his shell shift in neutral, you can expect 3 things, and really, only 3. 1: A RAR aerial. 2: Another shell shift turnaround, which puts us back into the beginning. He might do it again, he might RAR, or 3. Hydropivot. This is where Squirtle empty pivots out of his shell shift, and usually results in a grab or smash attack (mainly downsmash in my experience). All of these options are not great, hydropivot probably being the best because he can literally do anything out of it afaik. Option 1 is **** because, well, it takes forever for him to actually get there. In Yoshi's case, I can upsmash for free because it's frame 9 and covers a lot of area. I'm also free to dash dance around this aerial and either react to the aerial (because the Squirtle will usually put it out immediately) with shield if I can't get the grab into wavedash ftilt, up tilt, down tilt, or grab if I can get the DD grab. Option 2 is **** because he's not doing anything really. If I upsmash, it ends before he has the time to hit me, like how Wario can just DD or nair I assume. I don't want to speak TOO much about what other characters can do though because I don't play them, just trying to give some ideas. Option 3 is ok, but down smash has a lot of start up and grab is death if he misses because Squirtle is in a really really tough spot. In my opinion I think short hopping/DD covers all of these options. When Squirtle isn't doing that, he's probably WG camping. If he's WG camping, you most likely want to see how your hitboxes interact with it. Like Fox dair I assume goes throught most of WG? I don't quite know. I try to get behind Squirtle or punish his low land lag on it. Squirtle can have a good tool, and this is it.
PUNISH GAME: In terms of Squirtle's other moves when he eventually gets in, he's going to combo you up to rack up quick damage and maybe kill with the up b, or combo you out, off stage. Let's talk about up first. SDI the up airs away and fade to the ledge, or fall with an aerial if you have a good one. If you get hit with the up b, SDI the waterfall out as far as you can, you'll most likely fall out as it's very easy to SDI. If you get hit with only the last hit, you should've SDI'd the up air out, this is the punishment you take, sadly. If Squirtle pushes you off stage, really you just have to try and recover the same way you would against a Kirby. As a Yoshi player I don't have an issue getting back, what with DJ armor, so I don't have much advice to give there frown emoticon. If Squirtle needs to finish his kills, there are two things he's looking for. Crawl tilt, which has light armor, or dtilt, which is a nice multi hit. Crawl tilt is bad because crawling requires crouching, which takes a while, and crawling/ crouching is obvious. Just stay away if he's crawling. If Squirtle hits you with down tilt, try and SDI the 2nd hit or both hits as far out as you can, you'll avoid an aqua jet. If you're at high enough percent he might just go for the fair or up air, which both aren't very good at killing, since fair sends at Sakurai angle and up air is just weak. Then we have punish game on Squirtle. Squirtle is very light, so you wan't to try to always kill off the top. The best way to rack up damage is to abuse Squirtle's straight ass tech roll. It's the worst thing about the character. So let's say Squirtle is coming back from the edge or coming down or something, or you bait a side b. You can either spot dodge, and chase down his side b which has high end lag, or if you have a meteor or grab that leads to a meteor like Yoshi, use it. As Falcon, I would always dair his side b if I have the chance. If he techs it, easy tech chase. If he doesn't, that's another dair, or at high percent, knee. If you knock Squirtle off, I'm sorry, but that SHOULD be a kill. If Squirtle is high above the ledge than yes it's difficult, especially if he has a jump. Stay on stage until he dips low. But you should also be aware of his side b. If he uses it and doesn't try to sweet spot the ledge with it, you can punish it pretty easily unless he is very high up, considering his side b only has 2 angles and has very very little disjoint, if any. If he dips low, grab the ledge. If he uses his jump, drop ledge and jump on stage, then grab ledge again. Usually the result of all the timing will result in the 50 50 where he sweetspots or goes above the ledge. If he sweetspots and you're on the ledge, that's a stock. If he lands on stage, that's 30 frames of lag to punish. On stages with walls, don't be afraid of his wall cling. Just wait it out. His wall jump is very ****ty. This automatically puts you in the 50 50 situation. If he dips low WHILE using side b offstage, as Wario or Yoshi, I would nair it. Easy. Dead. Or as other characters you can bair him, like Wario or Rob or Snake or, yknow, anyone with a good bair.
I kinda lost myself so if I missed something let me know. I think I covered everything about him, maybe not in too much detail, but enough that every Squirtle shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Hello.
I'm Tap from MI, 9th in the state atm but win(s) over Tetra, Lain, Lordy, Ripple, Scythe, Sago, Kels, but most importantly Dirtboy, I believe a perfect record this season. Yoshi player.
I'm going to explain why Squirtle is very ****, and why WG camping might be his only good tool.
NEUTRAL GAME: People believe Squirtle moves fast, and you're right, he does, but it takes a long time for him to gain the momentum to move across the stage so quickly, his shell shift being his main option of moving around quickly. When he does his shell shift in neutral, you can expect 3 things, and really, only 3. 1: A RAR aerial. 2: Another shell shift turnaround, which puts us back into the beginning. He might do it again, he might RAR, or 3. Hydropivot. This is where Squirtle empty pivots out of his shell shift, and usually results in a grab or smash attack (mainly downsmash in my experience). All of these options are not great, hydropivot probably being the best because he can literally do anything out of it afaik. Option 1 is **** because, well, it takes forever for him to actually get there. In Yoshi's case, I can upsmash for free because it's frame 9 and covers a lot of area. I'm also free to dash dance around this aerial and either react to the aerial (because the Squirtle will usually put it out immediately) with shield if I can't get the grab into wavedash ftilt, up tilt, down tilt, or grab if I can get the DD grab. Option 2 is **** because he's not doing anything really. If I upsmash, it ends before he has the time to hit me, like how Wario can just DD or nair I assume. I don't want to speak TOO much about what other characters can do though because I don't play them, just trying to give some ideas. Option 3 is ok, but down smash has a lot of start up and grab is death if he misses because Squirtle is in a really really tough spot. In my opinion I think short hopping/DD covers all of these options. When Squirtle isn't doing that, he's probably WG camping. If he's WG camping, you most likely want to see how your hitboxes interact with it. Like Fox dair I assume goes throught most of WG? I don't quite know. I try to get behind Squirtle or punish his low land lag on it. Squirtle can have a good tool, and this is it.
PUNISH GAME: In terms of Squirtle's other moves when he eventually gets in, he's going to combo you up to rack up quick damage and maybe kill with the up b, or combo you out, off stage. Let's talk about up first. SDI the up airs away and fade to the ledge, or fall with an aerial if you have a good one. If you get hit with the up b, SDI the waterfall out as far as you can, you'll most likely fall out as it's very easy to SDI. If you get hit with only the last hit, you should've SDI'd the up air out, this is the punishment you take, sadly. If Squirtle pushes you off stage, really you just have to try and recover the same way you would against a Kirby. As a Yoshi player I don't have an issue getting back, what with DJ armor, so I don't have much advice to give there frown emoticon. If Squirtle needs to finish his kills, there are two things he's looking for. Crawl tilt, which has light armor, or dtilt, which is a nice multi hit. Crawl tilt is bad because crawling requires crouching, which takes a while, and crawling/ crouching is obvious. Just stay away if he's crawling. If Squirtle hits you with down tilt, try and SDI the 2nd hit or both hits as far out as you can, you'll avoid an aqua jet. If you're at high enough percent he might just go for the fair or up air, which both aren't very good at killing, since fair sends at Sakurai angle and up air is just weak. Then we have punish game on Squirtle. Squirtle is very light, so you wan't to try to always kill off the top. The best way to rack up damage is to abuse Squirtle's straight ass tech roll. It's the worst thing about the character. So let's say Squirtle is coming back from the edge or coming down or something, or you bait a side b. You can either spot dodge, and chase down his side b which has high end lag, or if you have a meteor or grab that leads to a meteor like Yoshi, use it. As Falcon, I would always dair his side b if I have the chance. If he techs it, easy tech chase. If he doesn't, that's another dair, or at high percent, knee. If you knock Squirtle off, I'm sorry, but that SHOULD be a kill. If Squirtle is high above the ledge than yes it's difficult, especially if he has a jump. Stay on stage until he dips low. But you should also be aware of his side b. If he uses it and doesn't try to sweet spot the ledge with it, you can punish it pretty easily unless he is very high up, considering his side b only has 2 angles and has very very little disjoint, if any. If he dips low, grab the ledge. If he uses his jump, drop ledge and jump on stage, then grab ledge again. Usually the result of all the timing will result in the 50 50 where he sweetspots or goes above the ledge. If he sweetspots and you're on the ledge, that's a stock. If he lands on stage, that's 30 frames of lag to punish. On stages with walls, don't be afraid of his wall cling. Just wait it out. His wall jump is very ****ty. This automatically puts you in the 50 50 situation. If he dips low WHILE using side b offstage, as Wario or Yoshi, I would nair it. Easy. Dead. Or as other characters you can bair him, like Wario or Rob or Snake or, yknow, anyone with a good bair.
I kinda lost myself so if I missed something let me know. I think I covered everything about him, maybe not in too much detail, but enough that every Squirtle shouldn't be too much of a problem.
