Geiger’s ground super used to be the most powerful single move in the game. You could escape corners Scot-free, whiff punish just about everything in the game for two damage and a knockdown, and more. It had a lot of room for creativity and fun since it was the only super that did nothing more than move your character a set distance. It was very oppressive though, so it’s understandable that it was nerfed. But to me, the fun of the super was that it let the player carefully assess the situation during the time stop and decide how to respond. I think there are better ways to nerf it than forcing Geiger to do a Flash Gear at the end.
- Add a start-up time
- Geiger’s old super allowed him to escape the corner with pretty much zero risk. If his super’s first 10 frames or so had him stand still with no invincibility, then teleporting away from an opponent at close range would be about as difficult as hitting them with a normal.
- Reduce the range when escaping the corner
- Geiger’s super travels so far that Geiger could still escape to a comfortable distance if the opponent stood near him after knocking him down, even if they stood still in order to react to super. If Geiger had the option to either travel a reduced distance (maybe 2/3 the old distance) or go through the long startup from idea 1, then a successful escape wouldn’t immediately put him at his preferred range.
- Can’t use ground super with a projectile on screen (my favorite idea)
- Probably the most oppressive thing about Geiger’s old super was how it combined with his projectiles. It was impossible to jump over them, destroy them, or use a projectile-invulnerable move to get past them without getting hit for one or two damage. If Geiger had to wait for his projectile to be destroyed or travel off screen before he can use Time Stop, then his opponents could simply neutral jump over his projectiles without worrying about getting hit. This change would still allow Geiger to use his super in meaningful conjunction with his projectiles.
** Frame traps: This change would give Geiger the ability to easily activate super the very instant his projectile is blocked. If ground super has a 10 frame start up and the existing 7 frame recovery, then Geiger would have a frame advantage of +9 on block after an immediate super, allowing him to frame trap with A and fA, or combo into them if his opponent got hit somehow.
** Fireball wars: He would still have an advantage in fireball wars whenever he has super, albeit not as massive as the old version of his super. If both characters shoot a projectile at roughly the same time and Geiger uses super ASAP, he could be at a frame disadvantage. He only gets to punish projectiles either if he hasn’t thrown one, or if his opponent waits for the gear to get in their face before breaking it with their own projectile.
With these changes (or perhaps just one or two of them), I think Geiger’s super would be fun and interesting again without becoming oppressively powerful. Tell me what you think!