Although most players are eagerly anticipating the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate later this week, tournaments are still being run for the previous instalment during what many consider to be its twilight hour. And lucky us, because, otherwise, we wouldn’t have seen this cool moment from an event last weekend where low tier hero Yatiyaña “Yeti” Schaper managed to perform a slick Mega Man infinite combo.
During the latest chapter of the regional Kill Roy event series, Yeti went on an absolute tear against the rest of the playing field, beating most of his opponents by a score of 3-0 and suffering just one loss in winners finals. Early in the winners bracket, he went up against Logan “GamerDad” McManus and, after winning two games straight, started the third round with a flash of style.
In the clip below, Yeti lands an infinite combo with Mega Man, which essentially means his opponent had no way of escaping. The core component of this combo is the footstool, or the technique Yeti uses to make Mega Man hop off Marth’s head multiple times during the attack string. Every fighter in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U can footstool other characters, and while they don’t deal any damage, footstools do impart an interesting state when used in mid-air.
As you might have noticed, every time Marth gets knocked out of the air by a footstool, he plummets back down to the stage. Where a player might ordinarily be able to tech in this situation—that is to say, use a technique that breaks a character’s fall and allows them to act sooner—characters that are footstooled out of the air can’t tech. This gives Yeti just enough time to land a few Buster shots with Mega Man and set up another Metal Blade drop, resetting the situation into another footstool pattern that he repeats ad nauseum, or at least until Marth’s damage percentage gets high enough, at which point he finishes him off with an uppercut.
While the opponent is basically powerless to stop this infinite once it gets going, Mega Man players do have to keep a close eye on the Metal Blade. According to some competitors, the Metal Blade has a 25% chance to disappear every time it touches the floor. During the infinite in question, Yeti’s Metal Blade hits the floor five times in crucial points of the combo, meaning that if the item had disappeared at any of those points, the combo would have ended. It’s a relatively small chance, but still something Mega Man players have to keep in mind over the course of regular competition.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate comes out in two days, and with it will come changes to the way footstools work. Most notably, players footstooled in mid-air will now be able to tech upon hitting the ground, taking away infinites for characters like Mega Man, Villager, Pac-Man, and more. Whether or not that’s a good thing remains to be seen, but at least Yeti was able to provide this sweet moment during tournament play before Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is supplanted by its successor.
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