Name (aka Handle):
JayVoltage

How old are you?:
16 years old

Which characters do you play in SSF2? Why do you play these characters? (Note: do not list characters that are not currently in the game):
I play a variety of characters and play them when they have the advantage in MU, but my main characters are Marth and Mario

Marth
Marth would be my most played character due to the fact of tippers which only got better after the patch. Landing a tipper gives the player a huge reward for the player's spacing which generally results in a stock when hitting a tipper f-smash. There are also benefits with his non-tippers which give Marth an exceptional combo ability which leads to the combo which every Marth player strives for; the Ken Combo. Marth's neutral game isn't terrible even though lacking a projectile since he can space out the opponent with a wall of F-Airs and Up-tilts.

Mario
I play Mario as well due to Mario's great aerial game with his fall speed and aerial attacks making Mario a great fighter in the air. His ground game is still good with Mario having a variety of kill moves from all his smash attacks. He also has a decent projectile which is very effective for controlling space and his amazing combos. Up-Air combos with each other for days which can lead to the Dr. F-Air which was a very high kill potential.

How much experience do you have with official Smash titles? (SSB64, Melee, Brawl. Include in this answer which characters you play/played.):
I have played SSB64 , Brawl and sm4sh. In SSB64, I mained as Kirby due to his multiple jumps and extremely good Up-tilt, in SSBB, I played as Snake for his traps which forced a defensive player to be even more cautious and as for sm4sh, I unfortunately play as Diddy Kong. Down Throw -> Up-Air -_-

Have you ever attended any Smash tournaments? If so, give some details about the tournament (number of participants, which games, etc). How well did you place?
I have not attended or participated in any Smash tournaments but I plan to do so in the future.

When did you start playing SSF2?
I began playing SSF2 all the way back in 2008 when I was only 9 or 10 years old. Obviously, I wasn't a competitive player but the idea of Smash Bros. was extremely addictive for and the fact that there were characters that weren't released in the real games made the game very enjoyable as a child.

What is your favorite stage in SSF2? Explain.
Favourite stage hands down is PS3. Not because it looks beautiful (kudos to whoever designed the stage), but because it is a great neutral stage which is flat and long with two small platforms. This stage format complements my game style since it allows me to continue combos and also, the platform is at the right level which Marth can guarantee a tipper F-smash and the lower than usually ceiling also complements Marth's tipper Up-Airs.

Who, in your opinion, should be placed first on the SSF2 tier list? Under competitive settings why would this character perform on a higher level than all others?
I think that Link should be placed first on the tier list because of his ability to rack up percentage with his amazing projectiles and disjointed tilts and aerials. And when you are at kill percent, Link should find no trouble finishing you off with his large assortments of kill moves such as F-smash, Up-Air, Up Special, D-Air, F-Air, D-Smash, F-tilt and even back throw. Link, if he decides to, can also play a campy style constantly spamming projectile forcing you to approach. His gimping ability is also high due to his Boomerang, Arrows and Up Special.

Who, in your opinion, should be placed last on the SSF2 tier list? Under competitive settings why would this character perform on a lower level than all others?
Chibi-Robo should be placed last on the tier list because of his limited moveset which only consists of grab, B-Air and Up-Air. Even though Chibi-Robo has a very large grab range, all grabs can be DI'd behind Chibi-Robo to avoid one of his only kill moves, Up-Air. Chibi-Robo also falls very quickly which makes him very vulnerable to Zero to Death combos. And even though Chibi-Robo has great horizontal recovery with his tooth brush, the same can't be said about his vertical recovery.

If you could make only one change to SSF2 as it currently is, what would it be and why?
If I could make one change to SSF2, it would be giving characters landing lag on their recoveries. At the moment, it is more difficult to punish wiffed recoveries than it should be due to the minimal landing lag. Landing lag would force players to wisely choose the best option to recover as well as make some a usable options (Marth's DS) less safe. But I am sure the devs already know this and are trying to make the best game they can :]

What is your view on items in competitive play?
No. Leave the item switch off. Items add a huge random factor to the game and also changes the game from "who is more skilled?" to "who has the smash ball?"

Do you have or can you download Skype? You don't need a mic or webcam.
Yes I do have Skype.

Why do you want to join the Smash Flash Back Room? What will you contribute? Why are you an exceptional applicant? Be as detailed as possible.
I want to join the Smash Flash Back Room because I want to learn more about the game I am so interested in and also give my thoughts about it. If I joined, I would contribute to the competitive aspect of SSF2 such as MUs and thoughts on characters. I would be a great applicant because I would be able give insight about the game and can play the game competitively quite well.

Additional information (Include in this section anything relevant to your application. This could include links to videos of yourself playing.)
If asked for, I can share replays and combos with a variety of characters but my best are with Marth...

1. You are playing Marth in a tournament. You are playing a Black Mage player who will also not change characters. Using this ruleset, where do you expect to play the first match?

2. What would you ban for the set? What do you think they would ban for the set? Where would you counterpick if you lost the first match, given what you think they would ban?

3. Analyze the Marth vs. BM matchup in detail and give a ratio for who has the advantage.

1. With the choice of stages, the first match played between Marth and BM would most likely be striked to Smashville. This is because Smashville offers the Marth player almost the same amount of power he has when playing on FD which Marth is renowned for in Smash and allows Marth to perform large combos and maintain neutral position with BM which is extremely important in the game. The platform is also an important factor since the platform can mix up everything such as the combos, recovery and approaches. And Smashville would never allow BM to be boxed out from centre stage with Marth's aerials and still lets BM approach easy and do Stop and Haste things.

2. Playing as Marth and considering I only have one ban, I would ban Lunar Core due to the stage layout just being generally not in Marth's favour. The main point as to why I would ban it is because of the stage being very difficult to recover onto from the right side as well in some occasions on the left. When trying to sweet spot the ledge, Marth often mis-spaces and gets caught under the thin lip. The slants on the stage makes the neutral game very awkward since it forces Marth to approach in different and strange ways since the slant renders Marth unable to short hop double F-Air from on side to the other which is Marth's most viable approach option. The stage has minimal interference to BM due to his excellent recovery and not effecting BM's neutral game and if anything, allows BM to camp away from Marth and can always reset the situation by running away. BM would either ban Battlefield or Wario Ware since these stages favour Marth so much and keep BM very pressure. Battlefield is a good stage for Marth since the lower platforms are at the perfect height to land tipper F-smash and the tri-platform layout can extend combos impossible on FD/3DS sometimes. The layout also allows Marth to wall out BM from centre stage with his 360 degrees area of effect aerials which pressures BM so Battlefield would be banned. Wario Ware is another potential ban choice since the stage is so small length wise and the blast zones being relatively close the stage. This means Marth's monster tipper would kill extremely early and unfortunately for BM, the lower platforms are also guarenteed tippers. The stage layout with platforms stacked on either side of the stage also gives an advantage will Marth's reach and space control and the layout just being no benefit to BM since the player can't "go in" against Marth's disjoint. So if the Marth were to lose the first game, I would counter pick either Battlefield or Wario Ware, depending on which stage they didn't ban.

3. The Marth vs. BM is a spacing game like every Marth game agaisnt every character. However, approaching BM is more difficult than most of the cast since BM has massive disjoint in his F-Air and can prevent approaches with Stop and Haste but this is also the same with BM's approach since Marth can wall out BM with aerials. So when going in, Marth will be approaching with an aerial to perhaps bait out BM's shield or counter attack so Marth utilise this by grabbing the shield or fading back with a jump or fast fall into a shield grab for the latter. And when BM is at kill percent, Marth should almost have no problem finishing him with tipper F-smash, Up-Air and B-Air. It also helps than even though BM's recovery is great, it has no active hitbox so Marth is able to intercept easily and finish the stock with a tipper F-Air, B-Air and even D-Air. Though Marth must be cautious when doing this since BM can teleport earlier than expected and Marth can find himself being the one edgeguarded. BM on the other has plenty of options to edgeguard Marth due to his sub par recovery and is easily gimped with D-Air and F-Air. BM will have a harder time killing Marth onstage but should fine no trouble getting him offstage with Dash Attack, B-Air and most reliably, Grab. Also, when one character is above the other, it is very difficult to return to the ground and can lead to plenty of percent gain because of their Up-Airs. Marth is able to string plenty of Up-Airs to keep off the ground while BM is able to juggle with his Up-Airs. These reasons lead me to believe that the matchup between the two characters is a 50-50 by how the game can be easily turned around. So to summarise:

Marth
- Space out BM.
- Keep BM always pressure to hold the upper hand.
- Once BM is offstage, keep BM off and intercept recovery when teleporting or read where he lands to punish accordingly
- Don't commit to anything unnecessary since it can lead to a reversed situation easily.

Black Mage
- Don't get hit. Will lead to much percent loss.
- If you manage to hit Marth offstage, go out there and gimp him with D-Air for an early kill. Most of the time you can easily get back onstage with your good recovery.
- If you find yourself getting cornered and pressured by Marth, get out of there ASAP and return to neutral game.
- Don't spam Meteor and Haste praying to get a hit. Be smart because if you miss and you are at high percent, it will most likely lead to loss of stock.

1. What is Marth's hardest matchup on Final Destination/Nintendo 3DS?

2. What is Mario's hardest matchup on Sky Sanctuary?

Please be detailed in your responses.

Oh just to let the Back Room members know, I'm still considering a lot of things for my answer so I haven't replied yet but will so very soon. But I just want to know if wait till the next patch or should I answer the question now?

You should answer ASAP

1. On Final Destination or Nintendo 3DS, Marth's hardest matchup is probably Naruto. Naruto is able to wall out Marth even with Marth's disjoint with his large army of clones. On FD/3DS Naruto can simply shut down Marth's approach by either laying a clone mine, throwing a clone or performing an aerial down special to rain down clones which makes Marth play as patient as possible and search for an opening. If the game were to be played on a stage like Battlefield which has platforms or even Smashville, Marth would be able to avoid Naruto's clone pressure and reset the situation quicker than on a stage with no platforms since Marth could always retreat to a platform. And every time Marth is hit away with a clone or has to deactivate a clone mine, Naruto can take the opportunity to charge up his ridiculous Rasenshuriken which could KO Marth as early as 60% and again, there are no platforms to easily evade the shuriken so Marth is even more liable to get hit by it. Also, Naruto's Up-Tilts and Dash Attacks chain forever on a flat stage and with Marth being a floaty and D-Air being an unreliable escape option (Up-Special works but since Naruto's attacks are so fast, he can react and punish with Up-Tilt and Dash Attack again), Marth gets comboed into high percent very easily. But the same isn't said for Marth since Marth is unable to continue his combos which might require platforms to reach Naruto for the next follow up.


2. Mario's hardest matchup on Sky Sanctuary Zone might be Zero Suit Samus. She is able to control all the space above her with her Up-Special and Up-Tilt which makes the MU a pain since ZSS is made up with two long platforms across the stage and makes Mario, a character relying on quick and up-close combos, unable to go in. Also, Mario's main approach, Short Hop Fireballs are neutered with ZSS's Side-B (but for some reason, when Mario Fireballs from the raise in the stage and ZSS tries to Side-B it, the fireball can sometimes go under Side-B and still hit ZSS), D-Tilt and D-Smash. And Full Hop Fireballs are useless since the stage catches them in most cases. These reasons pretty much mean ZSS has fairly good MU against Mario in general but with the long platforms, it makes it even worse. ZSS also has it easy when edgeguarding Mario becuase of how she is able to intercept Mario's recovery with a N-Air or B-Air and then with her huge double make it back onto stage. But the flat sides Sky Sanctuary Zone also helps ZSS with her already god-like edgeguard since it means Mario is forced to ride up the wall and when spaced properly, gives ZSS a free D-Smash and then into a free punish into F-Smash, D-Special or whatever. And though a minor reason of why the MU is bad, the little rises on the stage can sometimes interfere with Mario's punishes when he goes and does run up Up-Smash or Dash Attack but this is minor since it affects every character.

Umm... Bump?