The 'Shroom:Issue LXXVIII/Brawl Tactics

Brawl Tactics by

Hello Brawlers, welcome back to Brawl Tactics once again with me, Timmy! This is my second article, and I'm glad many of you enjoyed my first one! Expect this article (and many of my future articles) to be long as well!

Well, this time around, I'll be covering a specific character! So who's the lucky character? I'm covering the famous damsel in distress, Princess Peach! There's no time to get kidnapped during the Brawl, and this princess is more than capable of handling herself!

Peach is THE most unique character (to me anyways) in Brawl. Why, you may ask? The answer is her ability to float. This ability came from Super Mario Bros. 2, and it functions the same way in both games; Peach can extend her time in the air. This simple, yet amazing benefit is what makes Peach's playstyle so unique. Of course that's not to say she doesn't have flaws; just like every character in the game. First, let's see what her pros and her cons are. I will bold the best pros Peach has, and the worst flaws that she has.

Peach's Pros
 * 1) Float allows her to be VERY versatile
 * 2) Amazing comboing ability and racks up damage VERY easily
 * 3) Great horizontal recovery
 * 4) Great range overall
 * 5) Has an item projectile and has a (small) chance of pulling up either a Bob-Omb, Beam Sword, Mr. Saturn or a deadly Turnip
 * 6) Can easily pressure a shielding opponent

Peach's Cons
 * 1) Can have difficulty killing
 * 2) Is a tall, slow, and very light character
 * 3) Mediocre vertical recovery

Now, let's explain the bolded pros/cons in detail, and non-bolded ones as well, although the latter do not require as much explaining.

Peach's float is a godsend. It can make her difficult to hit, it greatly helps her aerial game, it definitely aids in recovering horizontally, but the BEST benefit has to be allowing her to essentially perform aerials on the ground. Float keeps her opponents guessing, and with her amazing aerials and great ground game, it's not surprising if she catches you off-guard. How do you do aerials on the ground? Well, it's simple! When you hit the jump button, press down on your control stick quickly. This allows her to choose what height she floats at, and doing so can help you move around with such precision. It also makes her unaffected by terrain, and as long as Peach is floating, she can do aerials with an item in her hand. This goes along well with doing aerials with a turnip in her hand, because she can play some serious mindgames with it. Her float lasts for about 3-4 seconds, and to regain it you have to land on the ground again, and letting go of the jump button or using a Special move will end the float early. To sum it up, Peach's ability to float is essential.

Peach is one of the few characters who can combo despite Brawl's very low hitstun, and the go-to move for comboing is Down Air. Since heavier characters take less knockback, they're much easier to combo. Down Air combos into MANY other moves, as shown here at about 0:53 (and there are many other examples shown in here as well), and she will get you to a high percent before you know it. That's not to say that Down Air is her only move to start combos with... Down Throw can lead into a Forward Tilt, which can then lead into an Up Tilt. Up Air can keep your opponents juggled at low percents, and Up Tilt is great for finishing combos.

A projectile is always good to have, but an item projectile you can throw an anytime is even better. Turnips may not seem so powerful, but as said earlier, when using them in conjunction with aerials while floating, it gives her an edge over the rest of the cast. She also has a very slim chance of pulling up either a deadly turnip (which does around 36%), a Bob-Omb (note that it cannot be caught by either Peach or her opponent once it's thrown, so beware), a Beam Sword to grant her awesome range, or even a Mr. Saturn to deplete a shield.

Peach's shield pressure game is awesome. Since Brawl is more defense oriented (thanks to low hitstun and low shield stun), normally you get punished by your opponent for attacking their shield. Well, when her attacks are placed correctly, it can be difficult to counter-act against Peach. Peach can break a shield easier than you think, as shown here from about 1:20 to 1:48.

Peach has more than enough distance covered horizontally with her float and Parasol. Peach Bomber and her second jump can help in recovery too, but the former has some lag, which isn't really the best option. However, take note that with her Parasol, she cannot grab the ledge facing backwards UNLESS it is closed.

Peach's range overall is pretty good, though her Frying Pan, Up Smash, grabs, Neutral Air and first hit of her Jab can come up short in range. Make sure you know what you're doing with these moves!

While Peach has some great things going for her, just like every other character in the game, there are also some things that can hold her back.

Peach only has one reliable consistent move to kill; that is her Forward Air. However, a common mistake many Peach players make is that they let it get affected by Stale Move Negation (which was covered the last time I wrote up an article for Brawl Tactics!). There's nothing wrong with using it at early percents though; it's a great move!. But when it comes around the time to kill, make sure it's not affected by Stale Move Negation, or find some other way to kill. Note that her Forward Air is relatively slow as well.
 * Her other moves are either unreliable, or are lacking in knockback. Up Smash is a great killer (one of the strongest Up Smashes in the game actually!), but you have to hit with the sweetspot (which is the hand/arm hitbox, but the latter is more powerful) and its range is small too, so you have to find opportunities when your opponent is above you to land it. However, just a single Up Smash kill might be all you need to win, if you can be tricky and smart with it.
 * Forward Smash and the items/turnips are unreliable due to how random they can be. Your best bet to kill with Forward Smash would be the Golf Club, and another note about her Forward Smash; you never get the same weapon with it twice in a row. So if I got the Pan, the next time I Forward Smash, it's either the Golf Club or the Tennis Racket. The Tennis Racket is not good at killing unless you hit with the VERY tip of it, or your opponent is at a very high %. The Pan hits your opponent at an upward angle, but the small range doesn't help. The very small chance of getting the deadly Turnip or the Bob-Omb/Beam Sword make Peach's Down Special extremely unreliable for killing.
 * Her other KO moves, are generally lacking that extra knockback needed to outright KO an opponent. Her KO moves that fall under this category are...

To sum up Peach's inability to kill, you MUST be PATIENT to score a KO with her. It's easy to say that her KO ability got nerfed pretty badly from Melee to Brawl.
 * All aerials (Down Air is the weakest of them, and it's better for comboing anyways)
 * Forward Tilt
 * Down Tilt
 * Up Tilt
 * Toad (you'd have to well predict an attack)
 * Forward Throw (barely kills though)

Peach is not winning any awards in terms of speed or endurance either. Her speed is rather lacking, both in the air and the ground (not too bad compared to some others though), but she also falls slowly, which can make landing a difficult task sometimes. She's also one of the lightest characters in the game, so don't be surprised if you die with her at low percents. Being a tall target doesn't do her any favors either, and her crouch is nearly useless.

Her vertical recovery is not so great either; having the shortest double jump in the game doesn't help, and her Parasol doesn't reach too high (was buffed from Melee though). As said earlier, another unfortunate thing about her recovery is that the Parasol will not allow Peach to grab the ledge facing backwards UNLESS it is closed, so be wary.

Now that all of Peach's pros & cons are covered, I'll cover some of Peach's best moves and go through those in detail as well!

Jab: This move is lightning quick, hitting on an impressive Frame 2 (and note Brawl goes 60 frames per second). This move is like your panic button; if you're scared, you may want to try this move. It's her go-to move and interrupts other attacks easily! Fun fact: the 2nd hit actually has the same range as the Golf Club, meaning that the range is pretty good!

Forward Tilt: Another great ground move, this move is a pretty fast one, and it's relatively powerful as well! It's good for combos at low percents, and is a decent killer. The sweetspot of this is the beginning of this move, not the delayed hit. Note that it sends your opponents upwards, so you may want to try this out for killing on a stage with a low ceiling, like on Halberd! Just beware of the ending lag.

Up Tilt: Peach's brand new Up Tilt, changed completely from Melee, is an awesome move! With her magic, Peach's hand produces a heart. While the knockback is rather awkward (as in, at low percents, it doesn't necessarily combo that well, and it kills relatively late), this is her anti-aerial move. It's fairly quick, and thanks to its awesome range, it is capable of countering EVERY Down Air in the game. This is her go to move if your opponent is above you, and a great way to finish a combo.

Neutral Air: Peach twirls her hands around, for such a long time. This move is PERFECT to catch someone who is sidestepping or rolling, and even when shielded, it eats away a good chunk of their shield. It's also an extremely quick move, and can save Peach from getting combo'd herself. Only downside is that the long lasting duration can leave you vulnerable if you miss, and the range isn't the greatest, but it's still an awesome move.

Forward Air: Peach's most reliable killing move. Don't let it get weakened from Stale Move Negation around KO percents. It's relatively slow, but it packs quite punch. Great at killing horizontally, and at low percents it's good if you need to keep your opponent away from you.

Back Air: This can be seen as a mix of Peach's Neutral Air and Forward Air; it lasts long, has the middling range between the 2 moves, it's relatively quick and it's fairly powerful!

Down Air: As said before, this move is INSANE for comboing. It's Peach's best move for racking up damage, and it leads into many other moves! Get creative and make your own combos with this move! It's relatively quick, and if your opponent is at an extremely high percent, the last hit can kill, but again, it's much better suited for combos.

Turnips: Obviously an item projectile is good, and your opponent will have the mentality to avoid getting hit by the turnip once they see it in your hands. You can either throw the turnip, or go in and float with an aerial. They're also great for interfering with recoveries; you can repeatedly throw turnips until they die. Don't forget about that slim chance of getting the deadly turnip or 1 of the 3 items mentioned earlier!

Finally, her Final Smash will be covered. The Peach Blossom. Well... it's kind of bad, at least in a 1 vs. 1, but I wouldn't necessarily call it the worst in the game, like most people tend to say.
 * First off, let's cover what it does. When Peach uses it, the camera zooms in on her, peaches fall for anyone to eat (13 peaches fall and each of them heal 5%), anyone who's grounded will fall asleep, and your opponents will take either 40%, 20%, or 10% depending how close they are to Peach. Note that the higher your foes' damage is, the longer they sleep.

However, smart players stay airborne or on the ledge; they'll just take the damage and then heal off from the peaches once it's over. Even if they do fall asleep, Peach can't guarantee herself a KO unless she grabs a powerful item in the meantime, or they're in the position to get hit by a sweetspotted Up Smash on a platform above her, and note the Up Smash range only hits up to the height of the left and right platforms of Battlefield. She may as well just heal up in this case.
 * In a 2 vs 2 however, if she is paired with a strong character (such as Ike, Luigi, etc.), she can make the opposing team fall asleep and have her partner KO the other 2 with their strongest attack, then they can heal up! If team attack is on, just have your partner hang on the ledge or stay airborne as long as possible, then wait for the right time to use it. Have your partner follow up with the same strategy.

Well, that's it for this month, Brawlers! Hope you enjoyed my take on the beloved Princess Peach, and hope you enjoy using her! I'll see you around next time on Brawl Tactics!