I know, but when there's two guys in that general direction I always seem to get the one farthest away from the action. :lol:

thats not always a bad thing, as long as you don't lose the ball

I know someone else asked, but what's the best way to counter the lob - pass - one timer offense? Other than trying to anticipate who it's going to and hitting them first? I have a hard time getting the right player, as Groucho mentioned, next to the guy I want to hit. It just gets so annoying since when I try it, I always seem to get crushed perfectly.

Also I am so odd at this game. I played someone whose record was like 100-20 and I beat them in 2 straight games. Then I play someone with a worse record and lose 2 straight. I feel like I'm never going to shed this losing record.

I actually successfully scored jumping over the goalie with Toad though. That was fun, although I don't know how to replicate it.

That's good to know. I figured it was just cycling through the players.

I tried the whole anticipating the pass kind of thing and I just end up running and circles and cycling through defenders one step behind the pass. And the damn thing about this was the guy had a terrible record. I was like 16-8 online at the time. I didn't win a game the rest of the night because he had me so screwed up. Course, I was trying to duplicate what he was doing with no success and just getting worse.

I don't know. I got so pissed during that game because he was also doing Super Strikes that I again could not stop because of lag. I put down the controller to keep from breaking something and just let him tackle me off the face off, Super Strike and score five more. So... so... angry. I don't understand why some games have so much lag and others just zip right along without problems. And he was the ONLY guy I've ever played to use Diddy Kong. There may be something there. I dunno.

I've gotten good at stopping the Birdo Egg Shot. Just take a defender and line him up between Birdo and the goal. The giant egg will take out your defender, but the goalie will be fine. I've even given up trying to hit/tackle Birdo, I just let him charge up his skill shot as long as I've got a defender there.

I still need to figure out if you can stop the Hammer Bros skillshot in the same manner as Birdo. I haven't tried that yet.

Also trying to learn and combat the lob passing. Can someone describe how to "charge" the ball prior to doing the lob pass? Is it hold down B, then press A to pass prior to letting go of B to shoot?

Current team:
Mario (thinking about switching to a shooting specialist like Wario though)
Hammer Bros (wing)
Toad (wing)
Dry Bones (defense)

you're very close in regards to the lob pass, but you have to hold Z while doing that

my code is 296460 695321, my mii's name is Ken. added everyone from the main post

Push and hold Z prior to hitting B or after?

you just have to be holding Z prior to hitting the A button. It makes no difference when you start holding Z, as long as its being held as you pass the ball

YES! I finally won my first online match!!! (Not for the tourney though)

It was someone with a worse record than I had, but it was still very close. We played all 3 matches - him winning the first and me winning the final 2, both in SD. It was quite exhilarating.

There is nothing more hectic than sudden death. When you're both charging up shots, getting tackled at the last second, clearing the ball when the goalie is stunned. It's just one of the most intense situations in games I have played.

Had my FIRST winning online session last night. Went 8-6 for the evening after starting out 0-4, and 4 of my 6 losses were by one goal. My second match was against someone who's record was 29-4. I actually had the first game tied at 1-1, but I think that just pissed him off because I was shutout for the rest of the series, losing 4-1 and 5-0.

I also had my first match against a non-typical team, Waluigi and 3 Toads. All he did was try to jump over players and the goalie and he was quite good at it. I lost the first game 3-0, but once I figured out his strategy it was easy to counter by staying back on defense and hitting the crap out of him. I won the next two games 2-0 and 3-1 to take the series.

I've also swapped out Hammer Bros. and put Birdo in his place on the wing. I've discovered that online players are too good at countering Hammer Bros. deke and skillshot, so using Birdo gives me better hitting ability and a better chance at scoring with a regular shot, especially if it's charged.

Current lineup:
Mario
Birdo (wing)
Toad (wing)
Dry Bones (defense)

That's kind of my thought lately too. I started online with Yoshi, a Hammer Brother, the mole guy and Dry Bones on defense. Now I'm trying out Donkey Kong, two Birdos and Dry Bones. It should be said I've been too busy trying to learn the lob, volley and bicycle kick crap and have been sucking royally with this new strategy altogether.

I'm still not convinced that there's a better online captain than Mario or Luigi, but I keep trying. The Super Mario power up that charges into a Super Shot is nearly impossible to defend. And if the opponent has any lag on the goalie side of the thing, that's an easy 3 or 4 goals. And since most of the time I try to check as much as possible, I end up giving my opponent two or three of these per match. I've got to stop checking all the time...

umm, no, its actually one of the easiest ones to defend against :/

Hmm. I give. I've stopped it a few times but when it starts happening I end up mashing buttons so I have no idea what actually worked. If I had to guess, I'd say it was the steal button that worked. Am I warm?

what you do is just stay in the goalies box until the start charging up. as soon as they start charging, their character ALWAYS shrinks, giving a good 2-3 seconds to hit him free

I guess it's because I've already been stomped that I have trouble because I try to stay close and wait for the charge. But backing off makes more sense. Logical even. Oh well. I get caught up in the chaos of the moment.

I don't believe even the star gives you a free supershot. Just wait until they are charging and then whack them.

yea man

what people try to do is squash all the opposing team, then take the shot. if you're in the goalie's box, and he tries to get you, well, he's going to lose.


acting stupid in the goalie box works even better. lulls them into a false sense of security

if I wind up gettin the ball from the other team while mario/luigi is super, I just charge the ball, wait for him to come after my character, then air pass it down field

the star can actually give you a free supershot.

depends when you activate the star and engage your shot (the time between the two)

I played against a team last night that was Diddy Kong and 3 Birdos... that Birdo deke move is a pain - any easy way to deal with it? I started faking like I was going to hit, then when they pull the deke out I just hit or steal right after - but it doesn't always work.

I also dislike playing against Luigi, as I use Yoshi, and when playing against Luigi, Yoshi's team is Orange. It takes some getting used to.

My current team is
Yoshi
Toad
Drybones
Hammer (or Birdo)

I wasn't using Toad before, but I really liked using him.

:eyebrow: Friend codes updated up to this point. :eyebrow:

I've been using

Waluigi
Hammer Bros
Birdo
toad/ghost/dry bones

A few interesting tidbits from my wifi play last night:

Faced another interesting team, Donkey Kong and 3 Hammer Bros. The guys overall record was 0-14 with 27 points scored. Then I go and lose game one 1-0 :mad2: I won the next two games 5-0 and 6-0 through.

I didn't realize this, but once I disconnected right after I saw my random opponent's record (which was like 30-5) and I swear it gave me two additional losses and took points away. This was before I even picked a captain. Can that be right? I thought it only did that if you were in the middle of a match.