Bowser

I should not be allowed to write public notes but screw it I'm bored Bowser can, in theory, cover a lot of ground, move around with surprising quickness both in the air and on the ground, and has the side-b 50/50 to make even late punishes scary if you choose to shield to take advantage of his meager shield frame data. However, if you choose to brawl back at the right times, Bowser simply doesn't have the startup frames to make most approaches work and has to rely on his opponent choosing wrong on when Bowser decides to swing or play safe. This gives you a lot of leeway once you've gotten to confirm percents, as you can now reliably threaten the thing that kills and get the percent up to where Bowser's weight can't save him. If your character lacks any sort of frame data, they likely compensate with range (i.e. Byleth, Seph, K Rool kinda but he genuinely gets farmed sometimes) and can safely pressure Bowser from a distance all game until he either dies of a thousand cuts or gets in at a bad time and is forced to eat a punish. Be patient, unless you're ROB or Steve and have both startup and range to make neutral and disadvantage hell for Bowser. Also, his recovery, while decent due to mash mixups, is still a very straightforward recovery. As long as you're tied or better in stocks and remember that he has to start up-b from waaaaay out there to force a stage tech scenario, eventually, you can just force him to go too low to make it to stage or unable to mix up to avoid a bair or something. It's not super disjointed or anything, only slightly on his upper spiky half. A good hit from the sides, slightly below, just kinda deletes him after a few successful reps. Do be careful if you get clipped by the up b as Bowser makes it to ledge, though, as Bowser can then choose to either dropdown fair or dair to punish your recovery, based on your timing. If you're down in stocks, don't play careless at ledge with a character that doesn't make it back from a Bowsercide. See this spreadsheet for reference: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sPaxcXMOoiJ7-GZtxffN7bic6R0-KJ7nQSoR1bLoqA8/edit?gid=0#gid=0 (Note: This doesn't include Hollow Bastion but it's the same stage to blastzone height as the Smash stages, so if you can't recover on BF you can't make it back to Hollow) I've seen too many people shield expecting a fair or getup attack only to take 23% or straight up die. The upside is, if you're up in stocks, you can genuinely scare Bowser into never using side b in the vicinity of ledge, especially if you're more than 30% below Bowser's current percent, since it gives the grabbed player higher control of where Bowser lands (hint: don't let him land anywhere!). If Bowser has a lead, high percent stocks are just a resource to burn for side b finishers, unless you can 0td him reliably like Luigi. This includes off combos that take you offstage, since a well timed jab or fair can put you at a nasty angle. If you're down and can't reliably hit Bowser offstage, giving up the neutral or jump at ledge in search of a better option might be the correct choice. Characters that rely on movement over shielding are genuinely kinda hard for Bowser, even if you have no good startup like Ridley, just because you can outspace him and likely juggle him with your tools. Greninja is, for similar reasons, a nightmare, except he actually just wins straight up anyway because he has shield safety, a grab game, and several other ways to abuse Bowser's kit. If you play any character featured in this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky_IKjayfzk) then don't ever ledge getup attack at low mid%. Some characters' damaged animations allow the grounded down b scoop box to combo into the initial spike frames. DI can help with this, perhaps, but I haven't tested it, and either way, you're taking like 30% and opening yourself to having to land versus Bowser, so consider something else unless you're suuuuuuper sure he's trying to hit you on a jump startup or something. Honestly, doing getup attack at mid-high% is also just a bad idea since Bowser can genuinely just dsmash and kill at absurdly low percentages. If you're GnW you can up b a Bowser down b on reaction, and if you ever get your shield broken as GnW leave your setup and get a hot cup of coffee because you are falling asleep