Bowser (SSBM)/Edge attack (fast)

Hitbox visualization of Bowser's fast ledge attack.

Overview[edit]

In the blink of an eye, Bowser climbs onto stage, before retracting into his shell and flying forward while spinning, in a manner not too dissimilar to his down smash or up special. The move is, without question, the best ledge attack in the game for a multitude of reasons and a large part of his ledge game, as well as a not-insignificant part of his overall game plan.

There are several attributes that make the move unique in all of Melee and which bolster its viability. For one, it's the only ledge attack in the game that grants the user intangibility while the hitboxes are active, as well as granting him over half a second of intangibility, the most in the game. It's also the fastest ledge attack, having hitboxes that come out after ⅒ of a second, which makes it unreactable. Additionally, it has the most active frames of all less than 100% ledge attacks, lasting almost half a second, and incredible range, covering ⅓ of Yoshi's Story.

It can be used against opponents that are attempting to keep Bowser from getting off the ledge and back on-stage, and can even lead to a tech chase, as it can tumble any character lighter than Ganondorf at 0%, although this can be mitigated by crouch canceling. If an opponent is standing too close to the edge, there's a decent chance Bowser will hit them with the reverse hitbox, thus being knocked off-stage. The move is also incredible at edgeguarding: it can cover both attempts to land on-stage or grab ledge, and will likely hit the opponent with the aforementioned reverse hitbox. Overall, it's Bowser's go-to ledge option the majority of the time, partially because the move itself is amazing, and partially because his other options are too risky, either leaving him vulnerable to his opponent (in the case of his fast ledge getups) or having the potential to kill him (in the case of his ledgedash) while giving him minimal intangibility.

Bowser can easily set the move up by fortress hogging, which is an easy way for him to grab ledge from stage. He can even do an up special from shield, fortress hog, then perform this move as a way to punish opponents attempting to pressure his shield. Like was mentioned previously, this can potentially lead to a tech chase, making shield pressure against Bowser a risky endeavor, even for the spacies, who have arguably the best shield pressure in the form of both of their shines.