Fun fact: in Fire Emblem, Roy has a reputation of being one of (if not THE) worst lords in the series. His stats are are either average or bad, he has no ranged options, low movement, and worst of all, he doesn't promote into a Master Lord until the 3rd to last chapter, meaning he’s essentially at half power until the game is practically over. THAT SAID, once he DOES promote, he basically one/two shots every enemy in the game - even freakin' dragons - using a legendary super-sword that fires explosions. So thematically, it kinda fits that he was bad for so long.
Doesn't help his personality is nothing like his Smash iteration. He's actually pretty dull, but it's like that for everyone in his game. It was meant to be more simple and kid friendly compared to the complex, darker stories of the last few games before it.
You touched on it at the end, but I also think Roy's prior underdog status (especially from Melee) is what enticed people to at least try Roy again. And when they did, they realized how amazing his kit feels now that it's all put together.
As someone who played melee long before becoming aware of its competitive scene and being completely oblivious to things like frame data or hit boxes or any advanced, or hell, even basic tech. Roy was simply Marth with fire and therefore the coolest thing ever.
Here before the premier, I remember maining Roy before Pythra's release. He is so fun to use and a lot of his tech and setups are easy to grasp like jair and wave-bouncing. Very satisfying to play, although I don't main him anymore he is still fun to play
@@jak3w You good, jair is Jab -> Back Air. Only Roy and Chrom can do it because their jab is single it. Around 80% they will start jabbing on the ledge to catch a neutral getup, enemies hit by the jab will be hit by the turnaround, RAR, or attack cancel back air as their back air turns then around. Essentially jair is Roy/Chrom kill confirm at ledge using their unique jab to lead into a back air
Before premiere: It's simple. 1: He has high mobility, and high mobility in a platform fighter is always really attractive. 2: His playstyle is simple enough for anyone to grasp. 3: His buttons are unusually safe and destructive for someone of his speed (which is why everyone refers to him as a masher character) 4: He can cheat. With high Rage, Side-B kills at ledge at around 40-60% on most high and top tiers, while F-Smash is about the same power with less windup. On a lesser note, landing those sweetspot moves on Roy's attacks feels SUPER good, like you're really slicing their soul away with every hit. Gets even better if you connect that sweetspot F-Smash. After premiere: Yep. He’s just really satisfying and comfortable to play.
I agree. He's probably the only character that can get away with playing so stupidly agressive lol. He's actually probably my hardest matchup but the good thing is that he's helping me learn to be more patient and calculating.
I'd love to see Wolf next in this series. On the other hand, I'd love to see a Why Nobody Plays on Pichu, discussing his extreme downfall from the early days of Ultimate
The reason noone plays Pichu is just the Pikachu video + the additional talking point of "Pichu's neutral doesn't exist. Advantage & disadvantage are the only phases of the game".
@@itsyaboychipsahoy.7989 I think that’s overly reductive. Pichu has a very different gameplan from Pikachu and the tools they share in common are used to different ends. Pikachu is a methodical defensive stalwart that is excellent at controlling space with his safe aerials and tjolt while being very threatening offstage, while Pichu uses his insane frame data and bevy of combo routes and mixups to constantly press advantage and keep the opponent in an endless vortex that’s extremely difficult to shake out of. In this sense while there’s a lot of overlap between the two there’s also a lot of divergence that’s worth exploring. Pikachu is clearly a stronger character (by virtue of not being nerfed to the ground, RIP pichu ftilt) but imo the gulf is not nearly as wide as some would have you believe.
Void says in his opinion the pichu nerfs weren’t even that significant, and you had to play perfectly to do good with pichu, as one mistake costed you the game.
I randomly used Roy one time after playing a lot as Sheik, and I cant describe how amazing it felt. The clean hits, the super easy kills, the disjoints, the damage, it felt like heaven. Roy is likely one of the most fun and strong characters to use in this game, If a new smash bros comes out in the future i Hope the devs put this amount of fun in most of the cast. just make everyone broken in their own way.
Roy imo has some of the best game-feel for people who are at sub tournament level for competitive smash. Everything feels impactful, powerful and useful to rack damage and take stocks, and no deficit feels impossible to overcome.
One more thing about Roy is how nice it feels when he lands (sweetspot) hits. They legit feel powerful and with the split second slow mo, special effects and the sound, it's really satisfying. You feel like a king when you land that f smash or back air and the opponent blasts off.
As someone who mains Roy in Melee, it made me really really happy to see him finaly being good, his attacks feels very strong and he is still very fast I sadly don't main him in Ultimate because of how different he feels to me
I think the best way to describe Roy’s bread and butter is this: he’s the opposite of heavyweights, in the sense that he can play extremely aggressively with his disjointed range and fast attacks, whereas heavies have to play patiently and wait for their opponents to make a mistake.
Yea, Roy is just really fun to play. I don't like waiting around when playing games because I have no patience so Roy and Chrom are really fun for me to play. I don't main them and I don't play competitively but they're fun to pull out and just harass my friends with
As a Roy/Ike main, us Roy mains randomly alternate between two modes, the first of which is where we are an unstoppable combo monster that will destroy you so hard you lose a stock irl, or we are attacking literally nothing and will die by using down air somewhere off ledge. We have no control over when we switch between these modes
Bit of a weird pick but I’d love to see a why nobody plays about Sora. He was by far the most requested character but by now it seems the only people using him are completely new players or incredibly dedicated mains and kh fans. I think a lot of that has to do with how his moveset was designed and how satisfying he is to play. Either way I think he makes an interesting case and deserves a bit more attention, both good and bad.
If you want a short answer, he’s a lame character with technical combos that has uniquely unpleasant movement, as well as being the least competitively viable of the FP2 characters
@@ImLuna_az I mean lame is subjective, I don’t entirely disagree I just think Vars has a really interesting way of breaking it down that I’m curious to hear
I think the main problem is that his combos are really inconsistent and will or won't work based on tons of things like enemy percent, size and other properties. It means he doesn't have a lot of reliable stuff that works at reliable times on a lot of the cast. That and he's rather slow and floaty which means speedsters and such can get in on him and start knocking him around. And for all his issues he's not that explosive. Like Kazuya has a lot of eh properties, he can be slow and get comboed a lot, but then he catches you and you're done.
As a chroy main, this video meant a lot to me. I understand it on this level, but as you mentioned, a vast majority of involvement be it players or spectators are casual, and as such they have a strong dislike for my characters, and believe it to be very easy, whats more, they genuinely dont wish to understand the character on a deeper level. So this felt like a personal victory for me who receives so much hate on a constant basis for beating people fair and square most of the time.
*Plays one of the easiest most forgiving characters on the entire SSBU roster* *Cries because "casual fans don't understand me"* Dude you are a casual fan. Play anything other than Garen McSwordsman and come back when you have a nuanced character roster.
@@aisushitai2680 Dude, don't be toxic. Swordies universally get a lot of hate since they are easy to pick up, so no one really looks into some of the skill needed for a lot of the setups. It's understandable for them feel happy that there's someone explaining their character's ins and outs, instead of being hated on because people don't want to learn the matchup. And also, some people just enjoy swordies, so don't be a doucheweed, and can it
@@aisushitai2680 yoo chill roy ain't no game and watch you have to know to actually do shit, jab to back air isn't as easy as ppl make it out to be, side B has a lot of endlag so if you miss you can get even F smashed, his F smash kills a lot but its very punisheable if you know what you're doing, you have to do a lot of spacing and fast fall, its not what i'd call easy, you have to learn plenty of combos and stuff, its not steve where you just have to know how to do up air block up air up air, roy IS forgiving, but not easy 💀💀. His recovery is exploitable, as a swordie he doesn't have that much range compared to other fighters (the difference is disjoint, not range lmao), half of the sword deals like, half the DMG half the knockback too, just get better lmao
As an avid roy main since about August 2019 when I finally got out of my character crisis you definitely hit most if not all the nails on the head with this one I definitely think a part of his popularity, outside of his kit and aesthetic is because he was so utterly shafted for both melee and sm4sh that people wanted to try him again, and though he's really not that much different from his sm4sh counterpart, the physics engine of ultimate gave him so many indirect buffs he's definitely top 3 swordies material if you ask me. Well done again vars, love watching your content across all 3 channels!
I main Roy because Fire Emblem 7 was my first game, so I'm biased to the Elibe series. I use the Eliwood alt for him. But when I moved from 4 to ultimate, It felt beautiful to have him feel so smooth to play.
Another commenter already mentioned this, but a “why no one plays Sora” would be fascinating. I was one of the many who wanted Sora for a very long time, and I do “main him” in the sense that he’s part of my top 10 most played characters (I’m a casual who plays semi-competitively with friends). But I can’t help but feel disappointed with how Sora turned out moveset and “feel” wise
Roy is very fun, his playstyle reminds me a lot of PM Roy which I played a lot of, sometimes however I get punished hard because the shorter range which is why I just go with Chrom when I'm doing badly.
This makes me super happy. Enjoyed him more than Marth in Melee, and played him and Mewtwo endlessly when they returned for Smash 4. Glad he's clicking for people in Ultimate after being overshadowed by Marth for so long.
Really only keep up with melee but something I remember hearing is that Roy's kit has always been good, it's just that the engine in the previous games didn't work well for him Not sure how true that is but it's an interesting thought that all he needed was just an actual game
I'm sure Roy's kit in Melee was genuinely awful. Had a lower damage output than Marth yet a laggier frame data. The amount of buffs he received on Smash 4 are insane: Very high movility instead of low one, higher weight, An amazing jab, much more kill options on F-tilt, U-tilt, F-Air and B-Air, great tech chase with d-tilt alongside his improved dash, lower endlag on all his aerials and considerably higher damage output.
In melee some of his most important moves didn't even come out on the right span of frames so they ended just as they were supposed to be fully extended. I don't think it's an engine thing
Seeing Roy being a top tier in Ultimate makes me so happy. He was one of my favorites in Melee and I played him a lot in Smash 4. It's great to see him getting so much attention in this game.
I mained Roy and went nearly undefeated at local tourneys back in the days of Smash 4. I gotta say I don't see a difference in playstyle between then and now, but the fact that more people are playing him and he's finally getting recognition as a good character is making me happy lol
What I find interesting is that Roy, despite all his strengths, isn't more common. He sees about the same usage as like Pyra and Mythra, which is notably lower than like Rob, Wolf and Palu. I'd also like to see a discussion about Aegis's usage. They are kind of funny in how they were initially super hyped and Sparg0 was going the distance, then everyone dropped them, and now lots of people are picking them up again. It's a very odd swing.
Is just people adapting to using Pyra, as well as better usage of Mythra's foresight. Before the nerfs Mythra would do everything for you, but now you need to know how to close stocks and recover with her alter ego while trying to lower your vulnerability periods. Also, I'm very sure MkLeo also uses Pyra and Mythra quite a bit, specially on recent times.
@@N12015 Eeeeh, I feel like that's just Leo. The rest of the Aegis users still use Pyra only to a pretty rudimentary degree and I haven't seen much clutch intentional usage of foresight either. Leo has been using them a lot but only recently. He dabbled with them on release but dropped them mostly for a long time.
The Aegis aren't that popular with smash players. Roy is overrated, so many players (including me) dropped or will drop him after awhile for a better character.
@@juniperrodley9843 Yeah, he's done very well with them. It's just that he only began to use them again quite recently. There was a pretty long dead period where nobody seemed too interested in them.
I started playing as Roy in Melee because I didn't particularly like Marth and Roy was more fun to play IMO so I always was frustrated to see him be ignored in favor of Marth for so long. When he returned in Smash 4 I was elated and went right back to playing as him regularly alternating with Lucina and Luigi who has been my main since Smash 64. I think I finally understand what Luigi and Roy have in common that draws me to both their playstyles and it's the air-game and the aggressive pressure I can put on my opponents. Now that Roy is a top tier sword fighter I feel very vindicated for my preference. Great video!
Probably a hot take but Roy’s way easier to play at all levels of play than Pyra and Mythra imo. Aegis get a ton of shit from a lot of the community but they’re more precise than you’d think, especially Mythra since her shield safety isn’t actually that great and lack of consistent true combos (sure Mythra has a crazy advantage state but that still requires proper reads and covering options that can be a little underwhelming against characters with really good disadvantage states). Of course combine that precision with a very exploitable recovery and they are far from brain dead. I think this is also reflected in usage since Roy statistically has quite a bit higher usage than aegis at all levels, and that’s something you just don’t see if aegis was the dumb easy win top tier she’s often made out to be
I call aegis super fundies characters cuz they have great tools and can carry you really far, but only if you know how to REALLY play the game. even with Pyra stray hits and foresight, they play the game out like most of the other neutral based/ledge trappy top tiers. There wins aren't that free.
@@Za_Phantom I’ve been saying this the day she came out, she’s literally another palu/wolf/joker. Unlike all the Steve players, the only people who have done really well with pyra/Mythra are top players who were already doing really good
Getting called out wtf. I love Roy so I secondaried him since launch, oh boy do I not regret it. Nowadays since my Ike got way better I usually just pull Roy out for Min Mins or Pikachus but he's still my boy.
6:24 uh, just noticed, but Editor put you talking about Blazer in the Double Edged Dance section LOL, there ended up being no section about UpB from a video perspective (just figured i'd point that out, easy mistake to make when you aren't super familiar with smash stuff, both are mutlihits but one is DEFINITELY not a super armored OOS option)
I played Roy before Joker came out. I wasn't aware of the meta or anything, I just found him really fun to play and cool. But the whole time I knew I was just waiting on Joker, because he was my dream pick.
Bro my friend plays Roy and I was doing a tournament for my birthday and we both met in loser bracket. I was winning but then he f smashed me at 50 and I died and lost the tournament. This character has no weaknesses.
Roy is good because he is very simple to play and understand, but incredibly effective. To quote Dracula Flow, "On and off the court, straight fundamentals. No funny business."
I really appreciate that you compared him to sm4sh cloud. They're both the right balance of good and easy that they end up being the most effective characters at mid-level play
Just one little critique on the video. The transition from side-b to up-b was very subtle and I didn't notice you switched to talking about up-b until you mentioned armor. You also only show visuals of side-b during this section. Other than this, great video!
Hey dude. Just found your channel and I love it. I know it could be like a obvious guess but I think a why no one plays Bayonetta could be an interesting video. And even talk about the small dedicated players that still play her from the transition of smash4
I used to have a friend until he picked up roy, when he did he kept making fire emblem references, so I too decided to make my own fire emblem reference, so I lit him on fire and stabbed him 37 times in the throat, he doesn’t main roy anymore
I'd love to see a video on Pokémon Trainer in the future! They're such a cool and unique character but surprisingly don't get that much representation in the competitive scene (at least at the top level).
I assume a big part of it is that you effectively have to learn 3 characters at once, making them much more of a commitment to learn than a lot of characters. Not only does this mean getting comfortable with 3 movesets and being able to switch between them on the fly, but also kind of learning 3 times as many matchups - you have to know what Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard can each do against your opponent. They're definitely really rewarding and super fun when you start to get that down, but I can understand why most people would opt for a more straightforward character instead.
@@SSM24_ Or, y'know, Aegis? You only need to compute two characters and their pros and cons are straightfoward (Strong but Slow for Pyra, speedy yet low damage for Mythra). Squirtle is the lightweight combo pokemon, Ivysaur is the mid-weight stock-taker and Charizard is the heavy-weight tank with good recovery options. So, I see your point. Roy is also a very straight forward, fast and strong character. If I ever mained any of the FE characters, I'd choose Roy alongside Byleth.
Roy was my favorite character to play in Melee, and I treated him exactly as you describe: A rushdown close-quarters brawler who _looks like_ a zoning swordfighter. He happens to do a little damage if he _barely_ misses his opponent.
Roy is Little Mac with a sword. Which automatically makes his combo game more viable. You could really say Roy is what happens if Marth and Little Mac did the fusion dance.
3:43 this is false, a good amount of moves are negative on hit and can get punished if the opponent isn't damaged enough to be sent beyond the range where they can quickly attack you, although I don't think it's really a problem for roy's normals
When I was a kid my friend loved Marth on Melee and I picked up Roy as his rival I've played Roy since melee and have like 200 hrs I'm glad to see him in ultimate kicking butt the struggles
@@l.n.3372 Roy was originally Going to be the main character in Fire Emblem Maiden of Darkness for the N64DD. During the making of Melee, Sakurai was instructed to put Roy in Smash before the game was finished. So he looked at his early concept art and made a move set based on that. However Maiden of Darkness was canceled, so Roy became the the lead of Binding Blade instead. Unfortunately Intelligent Systems changed his character into a duller Marth. Even Sakurai was disappointed of how Roy was in Binding Blade. It doesn't help ether that Binding Blade was the first Fire Emblem to be made without the original creator. So Roy in Smash represents what he could have been if Maiden of Darkness wasn't canceled.
as someone who's played Roy in just about every smash game he is in. Part of me is happy that more people are playing him but at the same time it annoys me a little because i know a decent number of people only play him cause he's good and not because they like him
I'd like to see you make a video on Chrom, cuz I think it'd be interesting to see an analysis on why he doesn't see as the same representation and results that Roy achieves despite having the same moveset as him.
They have the same gameplan, which gives Roy the edge because holding forward towards the enemy basically always means his hiltboxes will land. This in turns gives Roy better damage and knockback most of the time. And although Chrom up-b is a goofy ahh sacrificial KO move, that also makes it a goofy ass recovery, since he has no other options and not getting to ledge means he starts playing "The Floor Is NFTs".
@@kone7549 By that same comparison, Chrom has far better ledgetrapping compared to Roy - Jab, Fsmash, and FTilt can all hit ledgehangs far more consistently, whereas Roy's Jab not only hits a small group of characters on ledge but will also sour when it DOES hit, the same goes for Roy's Fsmash. Chrom also can true combo into Jab Loops - which not only can catch airdodges but it starts with Jab > Nair 1 (fastfall immediately after Nair 1 connects) to repeat it at least 1-2 more loops for a Jab > Bair confirm (the most notable usage). While Roy's Jab Vortex technically isn't true to hitstun like Chrom's Jab Loops (because Chrom's Jab actually deals more hitstun than Roy's and has up to TWICE the frame advantage at 100%), it can still catch airdodges as well but it's also a bit tougher because Roy's Nair 1 doesn't deal enough hitstun compared to Chrom's (on top of that, Roy can only perform it by landing the sourspot of Nair 1, and not the sweetspot). There are various other differences that would necessitate a bit more character room, but outside of recovery, Chrom is actually just as effective as Roy and unlike Roy, he can also play defensively as a traditional swordie or wall & juggle more effectively as well. I love both of them and their my favorite swordies in Smash, they both can complement each other in the hands of a great player, like TK3 from Japan. Thanks for sharing!
I'm a captain falcon main and I still feel like I'm better with Roy. He really is just so intuitive to use at a decent level and I think that disjoint has another advantage. I don't like the inherent risk brawlers have to take since they have to get close before they attack, but the slower hits of characters like Ike and Byleth are even harder for me to manage. Roy doesn't have the mobility of captain falcon, but he can still fight close range very effectively. He doesn't have the range of Ike or Byleth, but it still allows him to attack from farther away and thus with a little less risk. Roy might not be a braindead character, but he does give your brain time to rest more than a lot of other characters.
My brother plays Roy a lot. We aren't competitive level by any means, but we are both trying to learn and get better. However, while I play other characters, I tend to main Hero bc he was the first ultimate character I picked up and I love the artstyle and even his playstyle. I've noticed that at our current skill levels its becoming very difficult for me to beat him as Roy when im Hero. Sometimes my menu will allow me to get the upper hand if I can catch him or win neutral and use that to keep advantage, but generally it's much easier for him to get in with a short hop and bully me for a while. Thankfully Hero is difficult to kill with his recovery options, but yeah. This video did a lot to explain Roy's strengths to me in better detail than I previously understood.
12:07 "Roy is to smash ultimate what cloud was to smash 4" Sorry but cloud was way worse in what he could abuse in that game XD EVERYONE had a pocket cloud, he would've been the game killer if bayonetta didn't come along and do it lmao
Dang, Vars is really going out with fire boys with Roy and Bennet from Genshin in Vars II xD Nonetheless, your videos are still a banger to watch and listen to! continue like that! :0
Roy para mi siempre fue un personaje llamativo para jugar pero pésimo para ganar en melee, aun así lo eh utilizado desde melee, project m y ahora en ultimate y me hace realmente feliz ver como Roy paso de ser el peor sword fighter en melee a uno de los mejores en ultimate. Es bellísimo!
Great Video. I Like this series, I picked that up 1 week ago and watched all Off them since then. I would Like to See "Why No one plays Meta knight in ultimate?"
Fun fact: in Fire Emblem, Roy has a reputation of being one of (if not THE) worst lords in the series.
His stats are are either average or bad, he has no ranged options, low movement, and worst of all, he doesn't promote into a Master Lord until the 3rd to last chapter, meaning he’s essentially at half power until the game is practically over.
THAT SAID, once he DOES promote, he basically one/two shots every enemy in the game - even freakin' dragons - using a legendary super-sword that fires explosions.
So thematically, it kinda fits that he was bad for so long.
Roy in Melee and 4 was basically pre-promoted Roy
Doesn't help his personality is nothing like his Smash iteration. He's actually pretty dull, but it's like that for everyone in his game. It was meant to be more simple and kid friendly compared to the complex, darker stories of the last few games before it.
@@yoder6162 Smash Roy is such an energetic and firey tough guy while Binding Blade Roy is more of a cripplingly depressed and insecure teenager
I love that sword. It doesn't shoot fire; it shoots EXPLOSIONS. Plural!
FE Roy be like: "Damn my bases are trash, at least my growths will be good right? RIGHT?" "Left"
You touched on it at the end, but I also think Roy's prior underdog status (especially from Melee) is what enticed people to at least try Roy again. And when they did, they realized how amazing his kit feels now that it's all put together.
As someone who played melee long before becoming aware of its competitive scene and being completely oblivious to things like frame data or hit boxes or any advanced, or hell, even basic tech. Roy was simply Marth with fire and therefore the coolest thing ever.
exactly why I picked him up: everyone loves an underdog
He went from an underdog that requires skill to an oppressive easy-mode bully lol
Ye
@@HakumeiTenshi t
"Landing a hit on your opponent is never a bad thing"
Luigi players:
There are still plenty of great combos he can pull off after 0% but they aren't as effective as the classic 0-death.
@@Zekken_The_Lodestar They mean the fact that Luigi can down-B while you're comboing. He can basically say 'Okay, your advantage is gone.'
Because he's our boy
Here before the premier, I remember maining Roy before Pythra's release. He is so fun to use and a lot of his tech and setups are easy to grasp like jair and wave-bouncing. Very satisfying to play, although I don't main him anymore he is still fun to play
Yo literally The best dude on my esports team plays Roy and Pythra
@@AutisticJesusGaming Lol a good combo. I don't main Pythra anymore but both are very fun to play.
Dumb question, I don't play any sword characters what is a jair and how do you do it? I assume it's jab air?
@@jak3w You good, jair is Jab -> Back Air. Only Roy and Chrom can do it because their jab is single it. Around 80% they will start jabbing on the ledge to catch a neutral getup, enemies hit by the jab will be hit by the turnaround, RAR, or attack cancel back air as their back air turns then around.
Essentially jair is Roy/Chrom kill confirm at ledge using their unique jab to lead into a back air
@@alexandermcmillan8056 appreciate you, do you have to rar the bair? Seems like a tight window
Before premiere: It's simple.
1: He has high mobility, and high mobility in a platform fighter is always really attractive.
2: His playstyle is simple enough for anyone to grasp.
3: His buttons are unusually safe and destructive for someone of his speed (which is why everyone refers to him as a masher character)
4: He can cheat. With high Rage, Side-B kills at ledge at around 40-60% on most high and top tiers, while F-Smash is about the same power with less windup.
On a lesser note, landing those sweetspot moves on Roy's attacks feels SUPER good, like you're really slicing their soul away with every hit. Gets even better if you connect that sweetspot F-Smash.
After premiere: Yep. He’s just really satisfying and comfortable to play.
you forgot two things:
fire and Flare Blade.
I agree. He's probably the only character that can get away with playing so stupidly agressive lol.
He's actually probably my hardest matchup but the good thing is that he's helping me learn to be more patient and calculating.
The Sweetspot F-Smash after a roll read is amazing
5: Roy's our boy.
Ye
I'd love to see Wolf next in this series. On the other hand, I'd love to see a Why Nobody Plays on Pichu, discussing his extreme downfall from the early days of Ultimate
The close range bursty style, and also so prominent on the scene, Wolf would be pretty nice !
The reason noone plays Pichu is just the Pikachu video + the additional talking point of "Pichu's neutral doesn't exist. Advantage & disadvantage are the only phases of the game".
@@itsyaboychipsahoy.7989 I think that’s overly reductive. Pichu has a very different gameplan from Pikachu and the tools they share in common are used to different ends. Pikachu is a methodical defensive stalwart that is excellent at controlling space with his safe aerials and tjolt while being very threatening offstage, while Pichu uses his insane frame data and bevy of combo routes and mixups to constantly press advantage and keep the opponent in an endless vortex that’s extremely difficult to shake out of.
In this sense while there’s a lot of overlap between the two there’s also a lot of divergence that’s worth exploring. Pikachu is clearly a stronger character (by virtue of not being nerfed to the ground, RIP pichu ftilt) but imo the gulf is not nearly as wide as some would have you believe.
Void says in his opinion the pichu nerfs weren’t even that significant, and you had to play perfectly to do good with pichu, as one mistake costed you the game.
@@itsyaboychipsahoy.7989 Pichu does have neutral, and their disadvantage, although they take self damage, is really really good.
I randomly used Roy one time after playing a lot as Sheik, and I cant describe how amazing it felt.
The clean hits, the super easy kills, the disjoints, the damage, it felt like heaven.
Roy is likely one of the most fun and strong characters to use in this game, If a new smash bros comes out in the future i Hope the devs put this amount of fun in most of the cast. just make everyone broken in their own way.
I totally agree with your last sentence
simply, the ICEFROG method. If everyone is overpowered, no one will be.
then every character would be mashy too
every character is already broken in their own way. thats why character complaints are so rampant.
@@MangoRiko L take
Roy imo has some of the best game-feel for people who are at sub tournament level for competitive smash. Everything feels impactful, powerful and useful to rack damage and take stocks, and no deficit feels impossible to overcome.
He’s popular because he’s really good, very smooth to play, powerful, and fun
One more thing about Roy is how nice it feels when he lands (sweetspot) hits. They legit feel powerful and with the split second slow mo, special effects and the sound, it's really satisfying. You feel like a king when you land that f smash or back air and the opponent blasts off.
As someone who mains Roy in Melee, it made me really really happy to see him finaly being good, his attacks feels very strong and he is still very fast
I sadly don't main him in Ultimate because of how different he feels to me
I’m just glad we didn’t get stuck with another marth clone
@@ImJustTooBased : I mean we already have one (Lucina)
I think the best way to describe Roy’s bread and butter is this: he’s the opposite of heavyweights, in the sense that he can play extremely aggressively with his disjointed range and fast attacks, whereas heavies have to play patiently and wait for their opponents to make a mistake.
Yea, Roy is just really fun to play.
I don't like waiting around when playing games because I have no patience so Roy and Chrom are really fun for me to play. I don't main them and I don't play competitively but they're fun to pull out and just harass my friends with
I've been a roy main since his return in smash 4, so it's really awesome to see how he's soared from underwhelming but fun to being dominant
As a Roy/Ike main, us Roy mains randomly alternate between two modes, the first of which is where we are an unstoppable combo monster that will destroy you so hard you lose a stock irl, or we are attacking literally nothing and will die by using down air somewhere off ledge. We have no control over when we switch between these modes
Bit of a weird pick but I’d love to see a why nobody plays about Sora. He was by far the most requested character but by now it seems the only people using him are completely new players or incredibly dedicated mains and kh fans. I think a lot of that has to do with how his moveset was designed and how satisfying he is to play. Either way I think he makes an interesting case and deserves a bit more attention, both good and bad.
I second this
If you want a short answer, he’s a lame character with technical combos that has uniquely unpleasant movement, as well as being the least competitively viable of the FP2 characters
@@ImLuna_az zero chill, haha
@@ImLuna_az I mean lame is subjective, I don’t entirely disagree I just think Vars has a really interesting way of breaking it down that I’m curious to hear
I think the main problem is that his combos are really inconsistent and will or won't work based on tons of things like enemy percent, size and other properties. It means he doesn't have a lot of reliable stuff that works at reliable times on a lot of the cast. That and he's rather slow and floaty which means speedsters and such can get in on him and start knocking him around. And for all his issues he's not that explosive. Like Kazuya has a lot of eh properties, he can be slow and get comboed a lot, but then he catches you and you're done.
As a chroy main, this video meant a lot to me. I understand it on this level, but as you mentioned, a vast majority of involvement be it players or spectators are casual, and as such they have a strong dislike for my characters, and believe it to be very easy, whats more, they genuinely dont wish to understand the character on a deeper level. So this felt like a personal victory for me who receives so much hate on a constant basis for beating people fair and square most of the time.
*Plays one of the easiest most forgiving characters on the entire SSBU roster*
*Cries because "casual fans don't understand me"*
Dude you are a casual fan. Play anything other than Garen McSwordsman and come back when you have a nuanced character roster.
@@aisushitai2680 Dude, don't be toxic. Swordies universally get a lot of hate since they are easy to pick up, so no one really looks into some of the skill needed for a lot of the setups. It's understandable for them feel happy that there's someone explaining their character's ins and outs, instead of being hated on because people don't want to learn the matchup. And also, some people just enjoy swordies, so don't be a doucheweed, and can it
@@matthewhamilton2287 I was specifically talking about Roy, but get butthurt too if you want with your anime flavored He-Man main.
@@aisushitai2680 yoo chill roy ain't no game and watch you have to know to actually do shit, jab to back air isn't as easy as ppl make it out to be, side B has a lot of endlag so if you miss you can get even F smashed, his F smash kills a lot but its very punisheable if you know what you're doing, you have to do a lot of spacing and fast fall, its not what i'd call easy, you have to learn plenty of combos and stuff, its not steve where you just have to know how to do up air block up air up air, roy IS forgiving, but not easy 💀💀. His recovery is exploitable, as a swordie he doesn't have that much range compared to other fighters (the difference is disjoint, not range lmao), half of the sword deals like, half the DMG half the knockback too, just get better lmao
As an avid roy main since about August 2019 when I finally got out of my character crisis you definitely hit most if not all the nails on the head with this one I definitely think a part of his popularity, outside of his kit and aesthetic is because he was so utterly shafted for both melee and sm4sh that people wanted to try him again, and though he's really not that much different from his sm4sh counterpart, the physics engine of ultimate gave him so many indirect buffs he's definitely top 3 swordies material if you ask me.
Well done again vars, love watching your content across all 3 channels!
I main Roy because Fire Emblem 7 was my first game, so I'm biased to the Elibe series. I use the Eliwood alt for him.
But when I moved from 4 to ultimate, It felt beautiful to have him feel so smooth to play.
Another commenter already mentioned this, but a “why no one plays Sora” would be fascinating. I was one of the many who wanted Sora for a very long time, and I do “main him” in the sense that he’s part of my top 10 most played characters (I’m a casual who plays semi-competitively with friends). But I can’t help but feel disappointed with how Sora turned out moveset and “feel” wise
People who say they're pro Roy players are the equivalent of people saying they're pro Garen players in League of Legends.
Roy is very fun, his playstyle reminds me a lot of PM Roy which I played a lot of, sometimes however I get punished hard because the shorter range which is why I just go with Chrom when I'm doing badly.
This makes me super happy. Enjoyed him more than Marth in Melee, and played him and Mewtwo endlessly when they returned for Smash 4. Glad he's clicking for people in Ultimate after being overshadowed by Marth for so long.
Really only keep up with melee but something I remember hearing is that Roy's kit has always been good, it's just that the engine in the previous games didn't work well for him
Not sure how true that is but it's an interesting thought that all he needed was just an actual game
I'm sure Roy's kit in Melee was genuinely awful. Had a lower damage output than Marth yet a laggier frame data. The amount of buffs he received on Smash 4 are insane: Very high movility instead of low one, higher weight, An amazing jab, much more kill options on F-tilt, U-tilt, F-Air and B-Air, great tech chase with d-tilt alongside his improved dash, lower endlag on all his aerials and considerably higher damage output.
In melee some of his most important moves didn't even come out on the right span of frames so they ended just as they were supposed to be fully extended. I don't think it's an engine thing
Played Roy since Melee and seeing a lot of people playing him makes me happy.
Great video and great series dude! I'd def like to see Wolf next.
Love this series! Keep it up. Ness would be my pick for next entry
Agreed. Need is hard to get at first but once you do you’re a MONSTER.
Seeing Roy being a top tier in Ultimate makes me so happy. He was one of my favorites in Melee and I played him a lot in Smash 4. It's great to see him getting so much attention in this game.
Excited for the why would anyone play series, where you diss on characters and their players.
I mained Roy and went nearly undefeated at local tourneys back in the days of Smash 4. I gotta say I don't see a difference in playstyle between then and now, but the fact that more people are playing him and he's finally getting recognition as a good character is making me happy lol
You put so much effort into this content, thank you this was another great informational video 🤗
Your videos are so good to watch while eating, I can look at my food for a while and still get context OwO
As someone who plays Roy (back when I played this game) Roy is fast, great pressure, amazing for dealing with grapplers and my favorite risky fighter!
What I find interesting is that Roy, despite all his strengths, isn't more common. He sees about the same usage as like Pyra and Mythra, which is notably lower than like Rob, Wolf and Palu. I'd also like to see a discussion about Aegis's usage. They are kind of funny in how they were initially super hyped and Sparg0 was going the distance, then everyone dropped them, and now lots of people are picking them up again. It's a very odd swing.
Is just people adapting to using Pyra, as well as better usage of Mythra's foresight. Before the nerfs Mythra would do everything for you, but now you need to know how to close stocks and recover with her alter ego while trying to lower your vulnerability periods.
Also, I'm very sure MkLeo also uses Pyra and Mythra quite a bit, specially on recent times.
@@N12015 Eeeeh, I feel like that's just Leo. The rest of the Aegis users still use Pyra only to a pretty rudimentary degree and I haven't seen much clutch intentional usage of foresight either. Leo has been using them a lot but only recently. He dabbled with them on release but dropped them mostly for a long time.
@@TheEmperorGulcasa He actually used them to a lot of success in some recent sets against Dabuz. His foresights there were monstrous...
The Aegis aren't that popular with smash players. Roy is overrated, so many players (including me) dropped or will drop him after awhile for a better character.
@@juniperrodley9843 Yeah, he's done very well with them. It's just that he only began to use them again quite recently. There was a pretty long dead period where nobody seemed too interested in them.
I'd genuinely be interested in seeing your take on Palutena!
Roy mains preparing for their usual neutral with their dash dances, mind games and combos (they have schizophrenia)
People don't want to mention the main reason. Roy is mashy.
I started playing as Roy in Melee because I didn't particularly like Marth and Roy was more fun to play IMO so I always was frustrated to see him be ignored in favor of Marth for so long. When he returned in Smash 4 I was elated and went right back to playing as him regularly alternating with Lucina and Luigi who has been my main since Smash 64. I think I finally understand what Luigi and Roy have in common that draws me to both their playstyles and it's the air-game and the aggressive pressure I can put on my opponents. Now that Roy is a top tier sword fighter I feel very vindicated for my preference. Great video!
I don't even play Smash but it's interesting to hear about this stuff from a game design perspective. Thanks for these videos
I thought it was just because Roy is their boy.
Probably a hot take but Roy’s way easier to play at all levels of play than Pyra and Mythra imo. Aegis get a ton of shit from a lot of the community but they’re more precise than you’d think, especially Mythra since her shield safety isn’t actually that great and lack of consistent true combos (sure Mythra has a crazy advantage state but that still requires proper reads and covering options that can be a little underwhelming against characters with really good disadvantage states). Of course combine that precision with a very exploitable recovery and they are far from brain dead. I think this is also reflected in usage since Roy statistically has quite a bit higher usage than aegis at all levels, and that’s something you just don’t see if aegis was the dumb easy win top tier she’s often made out to be
So true except for the lowest level where pyra f smash carries you
I call aegis super fundies characters cuz they have great tools and can carry you really far, but only if you know how to REALLY play the game. even with Pyra stray hits and foresight, they play the game out like most of the other neutral based/ledge trappy top tiers. There wins aren't that free.
@@Za_Phantom I’ve been saying this the day she came out, she’s literally another palu/wolf/joker. Unlike all the Steve players, the only people who have done really well with pyra/Mythra are top players who were already doing really good
@@benjaminwalker9369 pyra fsmash is dog what are you on about
@@zin5582 yeah ik but when it bad you run into it and lose cause it bad
He’s like Mike Tyson. Hits fast and heavy.
Why everybody plays Roy?
He's the boy!
I don't even play him in tournament but he's my favorite, one of the best things to ever happen to Ultimate.
Fun fact: Roy was not even in the top 10 most used characters in tournaments for 2022
Getting called out wtf.
I love Roy so I secondaried him since launch, oh boy do I not regret it.
Nowadays since my Ike got way better I usually just pull Roy out for Min Mins or Pikachus but he's still my boy.
6:24 uh, just noticed, but Editor put you talking about Blazer in the Double Edged Dance section LOL, there ended up being no section about UpB from a video perspective
(just figured i'd point that out, easy mistake to make when you aren't super familiar with smash stuff, both are mutlihits but one is DEFINITELY not a super armored OOS option)
Good Vid! Lovin the series so far. Shout out to Kola
This series is great, I can't wait for the Wolf video!
I played Roy before Joker came out. I wasn't aware of the meta or anything, I just found him really fun to play and cool. But the whole time I knew I was just waiting on Joker, because he was my dream pick.
Bro my friend plays Roy and I was doing a tournament for my birthday and we both met in loser bracket. I was winning but then he f smashed me at 50 and I died and lost the tournament. This character has no weaknesses.
Roy is good because he is very simple to play and understand, but incredibly effective.
To quote Dracula Flow, "On and off the court, straight fundamentals. No funny business."
As a Roy main since 2015, this excites me!!!
Roy’s been my boy since I first unlocked him. I sincerely enjoy playing him more than any other character. His play style suits me the best.
I really appreciate that you compared him to sm4sh cloud. They're both the right balance of good and easy that they end up being the most effective characters at mid-level play
Just one little critique on the video. The transition from side-b to up-b was very subtle and I didn't notice you switched to talking about up-b until you mentioned armor. You also only show visuals of side-b during this section. Other than this, great video!
Hey dude. Just found your channel and I love it. I know it could be like a obvious guess but I think a why no one plays Bayonetta could be an interesting video. And even talk about the small dedicated players that still play her from the transition of smash4
Would like to see a ‘why I play’ series. Would be interesting to see what you like in a character
I used to have a friend until he picked up roy, when he did he kept making fire emblem references, so I too decided to make my own fire emblem reference, so I lit him on fire and stabbed him 37 times in the throat,
he doesn’t main roy anymore
Anyone else notice that the blaze section is using the wrong footage?
Roy’s been my boy since Melee
I've Mained Roy since smash 4 and when ultimate came around it was so good to see him be good finally
I'd love to see a video on Pokémon Trainer in the future! They're such a cool and unique character but surprisingly don't get that much representation in the competitive scene (at least at the top level).
They're also top tier according to Hungrybox, as they're essentially three characters in one (like Pyra/Mythra being two-in-one).
I assume a big part of it is that you effectively have to learn 3 characters at once, making them much more of a commitment to learn than a lot of characters. Not only does this mean getting comfortable with 3 movesets and being able to switch between them on the fly, but also kind of learning 3 times as many matchups - you have to know what Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard can each do against your opponent. They're definitely really rewarding and super fun when you start to get that down, but I can understand why most people would opt for a more straightforward character instead.
@@SSM24_ Or, y'know, Aegis? You only need to compute two characters and their pros and cons are straightfoward (Strong but Slow for Pyra, speedy yet low damage for Mythra). Squirtle is the lightweight combo pokemon, Ivysaur is the mid-weight stock-taker and Charizard is the heavy-weight tank with good recovery options. So, I see your point. Roy is also a very straight forward, fast and strong character. If I ever mained any of the FE characters, I'd choose Roy alongside Byleth.
Roy is not a glass cannon, he’s just a cannon
Roy was my favorite character to play in Melee, and I treated him exactly as you describe: A rushdown close-quarters brawler who _looks like_ a zoning swordfighter. He happens to do a little damage if he _barely_ misses his opponent.
Roy is Little Mac with a sword. Which automatically makes his combo game more viable. You could really say Roy is what happens if Marth and Little Mac did the fusion dance.
3:43 this is false, a good amount of moves are negative on hit and can get punished if the opponent isn't damaged enough to be sent beyond the range where they can quickly attack you, although I don't think it's really a problem for roy's normals
Getting hit can also take you out of kill confirm percentages so you survive longer.
When I was a kid my friend loved Marth on Melee and I picked up Roy as his rival I've played Roy since melee and have like 200 hrs I'm glad to see him in ultimate kicking butt the struggles
I’d love to see why no one plays mii brawler
Binding Blade fans in shock. Roy can be a top tier character after all!
I know right, if only he had this kill power in his main game
@@Sh1ranu1
Zephiel in shambles. Jahn is terrified.
@@l.n.3372 Roy was originally Going to be the main character in Fire Emblem Maiden of Darkness for the N64DD. During the making of Melee, Sakurai was instructed to put Roy in Smash before the game was finished. So he looked at his early concept art and made a move set based on that. However Maiden of Darkness was canceled, so Roy became the the lead of Binding Blade instead. Unfortunately Intelligent Systems changed his character into a duller Marth. Even Sakurai was disappointed of how Roy was in Binding Blade. It doesn't help ether that Binding Blade was the first Fire Emblem to be made without the original creator.
So Roy in Smash represents what he could have been if Maiden of Darkness wasn't canceled.
as someone who's played Roy in just about every smash game he is in. Part of me is happy that more people are playing him but at the same time it annoys me a little because i know a decent number of people only play him cause he's good and not because they like him
Super true.
I'd like to see you make a video on Chrom, cuz I think it'd be interesting to see an analysis on why he doesn't see as the same representation and results that Roy achieves despite having the same moveset as him.
They have the same gameplan, which gives Roy the edge because holding forward towards the enemy basically always means his hiltboxes will land. This in turns gives Roy better damage and knockback most of the time. And although Chrom up-b is a goofy ahh sacrificial KO move, that also makes it a goofy ass recovery, since he has no other options and not getting to ledge means he starts playing "The Floor Is NFTs".
@@kone7549 By that same comparison, Chrom has far better ledgetrapping compared to Roy - Jab, Fsmash, and FTilt can all hit ledgehangs far more consistently, whereas Roy's Jab not only hits a small group of characters on ledge but will also sour when it DOES hit, the same goes for Roy's Fsmash.
Chrom also can true combo into Jab Loops - which not only can catch airdodges but it starts with Jab > Nair 1 (fastfall immediately after Nair 1 connects) to repeat it at least 1-2 more loops for a Jab > Bair confirm (the most notable usage).
While Roy's Jab Vortex technically isn't true to hitstun like Chrom's Jab Loops (because Chrom's Jab actually deals more hitstun than Roy's and has up to TWICE the frame advantage at 100%), it can still catch airdodges as well but it's also a bit tougher because Roy's Nair 1 doesn't deal enough hitstun compared to Chrom's (on top of that, Roy can only perform it by landing the sourspot of Nair 1, and not the sweetspot).
There are various other differences that would necessitate a bit more character room, but outside of recovery, Chrom is actually just as effective as Roy and unlike Roy, he can also play defensively as a traditional swordie or wall & juggle more effectively as well.
I love both of them and their my favorite swordies in Smash, they both can complement each other in the hands of a great player, like TK3 from Japan.
Thanks for sharing!
Chrom has a boring design. Roy has red hair.
I'm a captain falcon main and I still feel like I'm better with Roy. He really is just so intuitive to use at a decent level and I think that disjoint has another advantage. I don't like the inherent risk brawlers have to take since they have to get close before they attack, but the slower hits of characters like Ike and Byleth are even harder for me to manage. Roy doesn't have the mobility of captain falcon, but he can still fight close range very effectively. He doesn't have the range of Ike or Byleth, but it still allows him to attack from farther away and thus with a little less risk. Roy might not be a braindead character, but he does give your brain time to rest more than a lot of other characters.
Fatality has described Roy as basically a better version of Falcon so this checks out
My brother plays Roy a lot. We aren't competitive level by any means, but we are both trying to learn and get better. However, while I play other characters, I tend to main Hero bc he was the first ultimate character I picked up and I love the artstyle and even his playstyle.
I've noticed that at our current skill levels its becoming very difficult for me to beat him as Roy when im Hero. Sometimes my menu will allow me to get the upper hand if I can catch him or win neutral and use that to keep advantage, but generally it's much easier for him to get in with a short hop and bully me for a while. Thankfully Hero is difficult to kill with his recovery options, but yeah. This video did a lot to explain Roy's strengths to me in better detail than I previously understood.
would love to see this on wolf!
I always hear “recent entries” as “recent centuries” and become briefly confused.
id add that his visaul identity helps him a lot. He's a super cool character.
I first thought that there shouldn't be so much Fire Emblem characters in Smash but after playing a FE game.
I WANT MORE
10:20-10:30 Clean edge guarding dawg.
12:07 "Roy is to smash ultimate what cloud was to smash 4"
Sorry but cloud was way worse in what he could abuse in that game XD EVERYONE had a pocket cloud, he would've been the game killer if bayonetta didn't come along and do it lmao
This man speaks without punctuation
Roy has been my fav character since Melee👌🏽
Got Roy from a random pick and he felt surprising good to use
Didn't except him to be so fun
This was great. Do wolf next 🐺
Just got back into smash after a few years... it's funny to hear everyone plays roy.. I remember people saying he was super bad before. Lol
roy is not a glass cannon, only issue with this amazing video
1:30 he’s a swordie and he hits like a truck. This can also be said for other characters. *shows bowser*
Hmm yes bowser is my favorite swordie
Uh... because he hits like a truck without sacrificing frame data, and he's our boy.
And there are those beginners like my friends who spam side-b on Roy.
2:47 well that didn’t age well
Dang, Vars is really going out with fire boys with Roy and Bennet from Genshin in Vars II xD
Nonetheless, your videos are still a banger to watch and listen to! continue like that! :0
please make one on steve! I'll even personally send you a multi-paragraphed document to help out if needed.
I always knew Roy would forever be my boi.
i can't wait for the Steve episode, cause i really wanna know why he's so op
"He's a swordie and hits like a truck" shows bowser
Its awesome that they did roy some justice in smash bros. Now they need to do the same for his own game.
I GUESSED IT WILL BE ROY NEXT
Roy para mi siempre fue un personaje llamativo para jugar pero pésimo para ganar en melee, aun así lo eh utilizado desde melee, project m y ahora en ultimate y me hace realmente feliz ver como Roy paso de ser el peor sword fighter en melee a uno de los mejores en ultimate. Es bellísimo!
Great Video. I Like this series, I picked that up 1 week ago and watched all Off them since then.
I would Like to See "Why No one plays Meta knight in ultimate?"