G&W mains, I need your help.

[Ze Diglett]

I wanna use this character. I really do. Not only is he super fun, but he does well against characters that give my mains hell like Mario, Falco, and Pikachu. I tried him before, and I'm picking him up again in hopes of it working out.
But it just isn't. I can't use this character any better than my others for the life of me, save for those situational matchups I mentioned earlier. I've read every guide (not that there are many to begin with), I've watched good G&W's play, I know what moves are good, but still nothing's changed. I've been trying G&W for a few months now and still can't win with him, even against characters he supposedly beats easily like Link and Mega Man. Am I really doing something horribly wrong, or is G&W really that difficult to control?

 

[jsqrc]

You're going to have to show us some recordings/replays of your play so we can see where you're having trouble. G&W isn't an easy character to play (unlike other characters), so it's okay to have some difficulty playing him initially.

 

[NouveauRétro]

Yeah, not enough detail. You doing the 50% combos? Mastered toot toot? Not approaching with fair and dash attack like a n00b? Going deep end to edgeguard everyone bar none? Umashing every time your opponent is right above you(lol)?
Get a vid, like this;

So yeah, if you could get a set where you played G&W or something...

 

[Kofu]

He doesn't easily beat Link BTW. The MU is close to even.

 

[Ze Diglett]

Yeah, not enough detail. You doing the 50% combos? Mastered toot toot? Not approaching with fair and dash attack like a n00b? Going deep end to edgeguard everyone bar none? Umashing every time your opponent is right above you(lol)?

Well, to answer your questions: not even close; not yet; hell no; kinda; yes.
In certain matches, I have no idea what I'm really doing with this character and feel like I'm doing something seriously wrong, like approaching with DA and FAir and misspacing my grabs and getting punished hard for it. I've read every respectable guide I can find, which kind of helps, but I still have no idea what his good approach options are and basic-ass stuff like that.
I also don't have any footage of me as G&W (save for one casual match with friends that's on Skyworld) since my gameplay is simply too embarrassing and only plan to use him casually, so I probably won't go into any techs with super complex execution that I'd need to lab for hours on end to pull off correctly half the time, like foxtrotting.

 

[Raithen]

-Use a lot of fast fall bairs. Space it so it's as safe as you can be on shield.
-Dash attack landings and when they are on ledge with no invul.
-Cross up jump into bair

Then of course if they shield a lot just a lot of grab d-throw.

Use those four things and let me know how you go.

 

[Ze Diglett]

I think I've identified the problem with my gameplay with this character: I'm trying to approach. Period. Should I not be doing that? I feel like I shouldn't be, seeing how this character doesn't seem to have any good approach options at all. And if not, how should I be playing in the neutral?

 

[Kofu]

I think I've identified the problem with my gameplay with this character: I'm trying to approach. Period. Should I not be doing that? I feel like I shouldn't be, seeing how this character doesn't seem to have any good approach options at all. And if not, how should I be playing in the neutral?

Most of Game & Watch's basic movement options (foxtrot, low jump) are low commitment by themselves. You basically just want to work to get close with them. USmash is a nice baiting tool, Jab 1 is really short, and dash attack can catch landings. Depending on the MU I like to use full hop aerials to approach, or at least make the opponent react. Mainly BAir.

 

[AegonTheConqueror]

This^. With a full hop reverse aerial rush, you can pull out two Bairs which I like to do. Even three with the second jump. I like to throw one bair above them to catch any jumps they try to do, and a second one on they're shield. Usually when they see the first bair miss they'll release their shield. On this link I posted I do that strat around 00:26.

http://youtu.be/tvVoL9Utybc

Link is a pretty tough matchup if they don't spam their bombs.