*Flashbacks of Subspace* Robotic Obliteration Buddy guide

[Another Felix]

Was bored and inspired by both Godot's guides and insomnia, so decided to do a guide for my main, the super fighting robot and savior of the video game market in the west, R.O.B.

This is just a basics guide, so small thoughts on what each move does and its purpose, as well as general playstyle tips.

R.O.B. is a character who thrives on stage control and zoning. He's not strong at combos, but he does have a fairly strong neutral game as well an excellent grab game. Most of his combos are from grabs, particularly the infamous Down Throw -> Up Air (which i refuse to call the Beep Boop because that's insanely stupid).

Moves and what they're used for

His grounded neutral A is an option to relieve some pressure and provide some breathing room. It's a very quick and light damaging 2-hit combo.

Forward Tilt provides largely the same function as his jab, but with slightly longer reach and slightly longer endlag. Has the benefit of being able to be angled, so can somewhat prevent air assaults.

Up Tilt is a situational juggle tool with R.O.B. raising the roof (Doing this 3 times in a row is his best taunt). This move only hits vertically above R.O.B., so it's good on stages with low platforms (most legal ones, like Battlefield or Smashville) It knocks opponents upward, which can often be chained into itself one or two times, or possibly into an aerial or an Up Smash.

Down Tilt is his best tilt. It's a short range, low angled poke in the direction R.O.B. is facing. What makes this move so good is the fact that it has deceptively long range, comes out incredibly fast with almost no recovery time, it can hit multiple times rapidly, and has a decent chance to trip which can usually be followed up by a grab, which he can greatly benefit from.

Forward Smash is his worst Smash attack. He fires a very short range laser burst which can be angled up or down, so decent for poking a ledge. But it is fairly weak in terms of knockback unless hitting with the sweetspot, which is at R.O.B.'s face. And even then, it's not all that powerful. Wouldn't recommend using it unless you know you can hit with it.

Up Smash is R.O.B.'s best grounded kill move in terms of raw power. It launches those hit by it vertically and carries an insane amount of knockback. However, the hitbox for the move is directly above him, so it usually requires a hard read on a jump or platforms. It is possible to combo Up Tilts through platforms into this move. There are hitboxes on both sides of him that pop opponents directly into the blast, so it can be used to hit a tripped target.

Down Smash is the best option against someone who likes to roll behind you. It lasts a fairly long time and hits both sides, doing pretty strong damage and good horizontal knockback, becoming a kill move at higher percents. Be careful though, as it does have some endlag, so it's easy to punish.

Neutral Air is perhaps his best move. The Flame Wheel. He pauses for a moment before performing a front flip with his jets engaged. If you've fought a good R.O.B., this move was used a lot. It has a very large hitbox, autocancels upon landing so short-hop Nair is a strong option, is very difficult to challenge, and is safe on shield when spaced properly. You will want to use this move frequently because it's difficult to punish if you know what you're doing. But be warned: You're opponent will likely adapt, so make sure you can cross up (land the way they aren't facing since that forces them to take more time to punish), space properly so you can hit shield and stay safe, and don't be afraid to empty jump and then go for a grab if they shield. It can also kill at high enough percents.

Forward Air is a decently sized overhead swing which is mostly used to hit opponents in front of you or on platforms. You can retreat while performing this, so it can be used to hit someone on a platform if you can fall to a lower one safely, on Battlefield or Miiverse mostly. Can also be used for Fair strings like Sheik, but it doesn't autocancel, doesn't come out as fast, and can't be chained as much. It can carry people off stage though, so try it against characters with bad recovery moves (My most in a row was 5 on a Link)

Back Air is a slow burst behind him which also propels him forward a bit. Very powerful, but slow and telegraphed kill move. Good for gimps. Can be used immediately on a short hop without fastfalling to have the move end right before landing, thus no landing lag, but still fairly unsafe.

Down Air is an insanely powerful meteor. After a bit of windup (which can also be , R.O.B. shoots a burst of exhaust downward, propelling anything hit down. There are 2 hitboxes on this move: The exhaust launches downward, while R.O.B.'s base pops them upwards for some reason. Just learn where the correct hitbox for the spike is and you've got one of the best offstage kills for a character no one uses.

Up Air is his juggle tool and an insanely good one and kill tool, all in one derpy package. This move is where he got the stupid Beep Boop thing. Yes, it can combo out of his throws, does a lot of damage, and kills fairly early on stages with low upper blast lines. Once people get to higher percents though, it doesn't true combo, but people will generally jump and airdodge, which you can read for a free Up Air punish. Reading opponents is something you need to learn yourself.

Forward Throw is simply a quick "Get Away" move. Decent damage, won't really kill, but will give you back space.

Back Throw is another quick release "Get Away" throw, the bane of Little Macs everywhere. Unlike Forward Throw, this will kill eventually near the ledge.

Down Throw is the piledriver where R.O.B. repeatedly slams the target into the floor. Good damage and generally free followup with aerials, Up Air being the most used.

Up Throw can also be followed up with aerials, but is also a kill move. And rejoice, as this move used to kill at 120% (Mario on FD with proper DI), then come Mewtwo, it was nerfed to only kill after 180% or so, but is now back to killing at around 130%, which is fairly reasonable and not hard to bring someone to with his fairly high damage output.

Neutral B is the Face Laser. It fires a beam which can be angled upwards or downwards and can be reflected off solid surfaces (If you can jump and fall through a platform, it will only reflect off the top of it). After a brief period of not using this move, it charges up and fires a much larger, slower, more powerful laser. The small laser moves very quickly and pops targets up vertically, but isn't particularly strong. It can be used fairly often, so try to get the hang of aiming. Don't use uncharged lasers to attempt to gimp. All that will do will refresh their recovery. The fully charged laser does good damage and knockback, so it's a good long range gimp tool. It's hard to see, but the light on R.O.B.'s head will start flashing when the laser is fully charged. There's also a flaming hitbox at R.O.B.'s face when he fires the small laser which knocks opponents away and does some pretty good damage, but is very unreliable as the move has fairly long startup and recovery.

Side B is the Arm Rotor. R.O.B. rapidly rotates his arms horizontally, reflecting all projectiles when starting and doing many rapid hits, ending with an uppercut that can kill if landed properly. He can also move while using this, so you can retreat if necessary. Be very, very careful using this move. It has an insanely long recovery time and is fairly easy to shield and punish. It can be used to punish laggy aerials or hard reads, but it's not the best option. I mostly use it to reflect strong projectiles.

Up B is the Robo Booster. R.O.B. takes to the sky. Always, always go for the ledge when using this move. If you try to recover on-stage, there is a good chance you will just be knocked away again and will lose fuel, which recharges when on ground. You can cancel this using any aerial (forward air and Nair are the fastest)

Down B is the Gyro (her name is Bernice) and this is what makes R.O.B. different from all the other characters. Yes, he's not the first or the best to pull out and use an item like this, but his is the only one that isn't a conditional projectile. R.O.B. charges up a gyro and shoots it out. The longer the move is charged, the further and faster it moves. If it hits shield, it will immediately disappear and R.O.B. can spawn a new one. One thing to learn that you need to practice to understand is the distance the gyro goes at different levels of charge. I can sort of do it on instinct now, but it takes practice. The Gyro is a persistent hitbox on the field which can be picked up and used by either player, with it only doing damage to the one who last possessed it. It can set up some amazing stage control options, particularly when an opponent is on the ledge. If positioned right, the gyro can cover some ledge get up options while R.O.B. can cover the others, with either a smash attack or a smart aerial (Bair or Dair for kills, usually). Two critical techniques that can make positioning the gyro easier is Z Pickup as I call and Z Dropping. Z Pickup is when you press the grab button (I use a Gamecube Controller, so grab is Z for me) immediately as you jump to pick up the item. Z Dropping is simply pressing Z in the air without inputting a direction to drop the item in a vertical line. Gyros cause a fair amount of hitstun, so it can lead to a lot of situational followups, all of which are dependent on how you read the situation and opponent's actions.

General Matchup and playstyle stuff

He's best when he can easily zone and apply pressure from a distance, but also being able to punish opponents and perform basic mixups/crossups to throw them off. His best matchups are against slow, heavy characters (like Bowser and Ganon) and anyone who can't get in against his projectiles. He struggles against anyone who can continually apply pressure while continuing to be safe, so most rushdown characters like Sheik, Diddy Kong, or Yoshi, and he is unfortunately perfect combo weight for said characters. And anyone who can wall him out with very disjointed hitboxes (Villager for more reasons than one) can be a challenge.

Ironically enough, SmashBoards seems to think that R.O.B. has an even MU with Sonic, the character who is supposed to rush in constantly. I guess the gyro prevents most turtle Sonic stuff. Very little MU experience with this myself.

Stages

R.O.B. likes stages where he can easily set up a gyro and where he can use his strong vertical killing power. In my opinion, his best stages are Battlefield/Miiverse/Dreamland 64, Smashville, and Town & City. They've all got the ceiling and platforms he likes.

Depending on what's legal, I usually ban Castle Siege, Duck Hunt, and Lylat Cruise. The first just being an extremely janky stage, the second just not favoring him at all and the grass frequently hiding the gyro, and the third screwing with gyro placement due to tilting and ledges.

This could just be me, but I have trouble seeing the Gyro on Final Destination as R.E.D. R.O.B, and I've had trouble seeing it with the other colors too. See if you can go to an omega stage, probably Palutena's Temple, if they select FD and you have trouble seeing.