Yeah, I think the button-copy theory seems pretty solid now. It'd be nice if we had a vid of a CP actually crouch taunting, so we'd have solid proof.
Not to intrude, but...
CPUs crouch taunting before anyone doing it in my copy of Brawl happened. I actually took notice of it after some guy at a tourney teabagged me after one of those gay Marth dittos.
I believe it's some sort of angorithm that uses habits of competitive players (and a little bit of not doing so). Also, there were times when a CPU seemed to crouch taunt, but was "faking out" a Dtilt.
Also, CPU Metaknight tornado spams.
Do I use MK? Nope. Whoever programmed those nasty CPUs did a good job.
They also sandbag, allowing you to 0-to-death them every now and then. Like this shameful showing by a G&W:
Lamest 0-to-death combo ever.
I find their behaviors to be erratic and sometimes they SEEM to be learning of new techniques. I however don't believe that theory.
Why? Because the CPU 9s for Marth and Toon Link (which are the most frequently used characters in my game data because it's my Wii) are ********.
Marth plays like he came out of Melee and thinks he can chain Fair to a Ken Combo, but also thinks that it's cool to shorthop Dancing Blade as an approach.
Toon Link thinks charging arrows is cool and that Dair spam is okay.
Yet my Marth has taken on the "patient, disputed campy" playstyle portrayed by EL for Brawl, using mostly tilts and retreating aerials, not trying to chain into Fsmash or use Dancing Blade in the air. <_<
My Toon Link likes to poke with shorthop Zairs, SHDAs, lag canceled arrow retreating aerials, bomb pulls, etc. A campy Toon Link that likes to play the "Who can get whom offstage and to a gimp from Nair or Fair first?" I rarely ever use Dair.
That's led me to believe that the CPUs do not improve at all, but that some are more polished than others (like I think Fox and Mr. Game and Watch have a very solid CPU
overall), and that those CPUs reflect move choices similar to a competitive gamer's. That's led some of you to believe they play off your style because you play an efficient style copied down by the CPUs to reflect a competitive game somewhat.
For example, Peach's metagame was not reflected by the level 9 in Melee (the CPU by the way, was awful), because no metagame of her's existed until Mike G. came along. The level 9 CPU in Brawl however, plays a lot like a competitive Peach straight out of Melee. Coincidence? I think not.
This would explain why newer characters have terrible CPUs (err, Toon Link, Snake, ROB), but older vets like Peach and Fox have better ones. Also, some may just of been unpolished on purpose to ease difficulty (Falco and Marth among some).
The level of consistency however, varies. Like said before, the old vets like Falco and Marth have terrible CPUs, but are contenders of high-level play in both Melee and Brawl. Also, not all newcomers have unpolished CPUs. Meta Knight (sans the lack of Shuttle Loop usage) and Wolf have very well-crafted CPUs overall (but they tend to "sandbag" and play idiotically at times).
TL;DR:
You people are all just paranoid. Let's go play real people whenever we can, mmkay?!
. Then later I was playing as Luigi against Kirby, and I was gimped in the same fashion and the Kirby crouched repeatedly instead of a taunt. Some other characters have been doing the same crouching after kill behaviour as well. I also record a ton of replays so they may be adapting to my replays
