Mango is my favorite player, and has been for over a decade. So I wanted to do a little write up in the hopes other people can see it, and who knows maybe it'll improve the meta.
Mango almost always short hop->fast fall through the platform in neutral to get off platforms, and it IMO slows him down and telegraphs his movement. Here's a recent set, but you can watch any mango set because once you see it, it cant be unseen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gsMk7IQTno
Here are some time stamps from just the first match alone to illustrate:
(1) , (2) , (3), (4) ,(5) (this one is particularly egregious), (6)
BUT, he very often will shield drop out of shieldstun like here , and he will shield drop endlessly mid combo like here and here
interestingly there's also this moment where he does something way better/smoother and particularly noticable because i was expecting a shorthop FF.
So what am i getting at? Am I trying to tell the GOAT how to play? nope. Its just something I noticed because I was trying to figure out why Mango almost looks clunky on platforms compared to his contemporaries , and then I realized I've been watching it his entire career. It seems like he's fine shield dropping or using other options if his brain is already focused on the next task like a combo but in neutral he's strangely stagnant on platforms. This was also brought to my attention by the recent post highlighting that double tappping down on the control stick allows you to fast fall through plats. I think this also contributes to why mango does so well vs zain on FD, he's just smoovin without having to deal with platform shenanigans. I guess what I'm saying is, theres so much melee left to be played.
Or maybe Armada was right...
Anyway, all discussion welcome.
