GGST/Bridget/Counterstrategy

Fighting Bridget

Bridget is a pixie character with an emphasis on space control. Her goal is to use her strong neutral tools to score a knockdown so that she may run her strong pressure and mixup game. Her drawbacks are her low health and her low damage, meaning she is succeptible to comebacks over a single mistake.

Round Start

Bridget has many potent roundstart options, but there are a key few she is more likely to be RPS Rock Paper ScissorsA situation wherein an attacker and a defender have options that only beat certain responses from their opponent. For example, on wakeup a defending opponent may use a reversal to stop an attacker from using an attack, but the attacker can also block to defeat the reversal. If the attacker blocks, the defender can use the opportunity to take the offensive.ing with. The most obvious to consider are the long-reaching f.SGuardAllStartup10Recovery18Advantage-9 and 5HGuardAllStartup11Recovery29Advantage-17, but these are easily countered. In addition to losing to many common roundstart options, they are vulnerable to low profiles, including 6P. More importantly, however, their lengthy recovery leaves Bridget open to a massive punish if they are evaded. Bridget may instead opt for 2SGuardLowStartup11Recovery20Advantage-9, having less range but hitting faster, twice and low, beating more options than its siblings. Its weakness is again its recovery, being even easier to evade and punish, and it can also be succeptible to low crushes. Despite that, it remains a strong cover against many options, and should be taken into account.

If Bridget doesn't want to gamble, she may opt for a safer choice. Among the most notable are 5PGuardAllStartup8Recovery14Advantage-6 and 2PGuardAllStartup7Recovery9Advantage-3, strong counterpokes that can be incredibly dominant. Though minimally rewarding, their fast startups and long range make them effective at stuffing very many common options from the opponent, creating space and tacking on a bit of damage as a bonus; an attentive player may even confirm a counter hit into corner carry and oki. Since there are few options that beat 2P or 5P outright, the best counterplay is to walk back into a preemptive whiff punish. Otherwise, Bridget may simply walk back and see what you do. She can easily whiff punish higher recovery moves on reaction with 5H or otherwise simply move into a safer space to begin neutral. As a fragile character, it often pays for Bridget play more carefully and take less unnecessary risks, so bear this in mind when considering what options she may take.

Neutral

In neutral, Bridget will mainly be poking from a distance with her long range normals. She wants to catch you pressing a button so that she can transition into her close range pressure using her special moves. Bridget’s pokes have long recovery times on whiff. f.S has 18 frames of recovery, 2S has 20 frames of recovery, and her 5HGuardAllStartup11Recovery29Advantage-17 has 29 frames of recovery. If she ever whiffs a button in neutral, take this time to advance on her or try to whiff punish them if you can. This tactic also applies to her anti-air normals, namely her 6PGuardAllStartup10Recovery20Advantage-12 and 2HGuardAllStartup11Recovery24Advantage-18. They’re strong, large anti-airs that control a lot of vertical space. Bridget gets a huge reward off of counter hit 2H, so be very careful with your vertical approaches. The problem with Bridget’s anti-airs is that they’re very committal as well as very minus on block. 6P is -12 on block with 20 frames of recovery and 2H is -19 with 24 frames of recovery. Baiting these anti-airs out can put Bridget in a very dangerous spot, especially if you manage to score a counter hit. Also remember, aside from 2S, her pokes are vulnerable to 6P. Use a combination of whiff punishing and 6P to disincentivize her from relying too heavily on her pokes until she adapts and starts using other options, which opens the space up for you to approach more aggressively.

Bridget tends to struggle against characters that can contest similar ranges as her, such as Ramlethal. Other characters that work well at longer ranges like Happy Chaos, Axl and Testament can keep Bridget from being able to use 214 Yo-Yo and force her to use other options that give her opponent more opportunities to interact. Faust is able to crawl under a lot of Bridget’s neutral pokes. She does tend to do really well against characters that struggle to stop her Yo-Yo Setups, like Nagoriyuki or Goldlewis.

Dealing With Yo-Yo Setups

Eventually, Bridget wants to get in a position to safely set up her yo-yos with the 236GuardAllStartup15RecoveryTotal 38Advantage-4 or 214GuardAllStartup130RecoveryTotal 30Advantage~ version of Stop and Dash (Yo-Yo Throw). Both Yo-Yo Throws have an S and H version. Bridget tosses the yo-yo directly in front of her with the S version, while the H version sends it upwards at a diagonal angle on the ground, and downwards at a diagonal angle in the air. Depending on which input is used, the yo-yo either hits as it’s sent out (236) or on its return (214). The yo-yo automatically returns to Bridget’s hand after a set amount of time, or if Bridget is hit or blocks an attack. The 236 yo-yo stays out longer than the 214 version.

Whichever version of the Yo-Yo Throw she uses will determine her neutral and her pressure. Of the two yo-yos, 214 is the more dangerous one and the one you need to be especially wary of. If you just walk back out of its range, Bridget can just start pushing you towards the corner where her mix is a lot more potent. If you try to advance on her after the yo-yo has been thrown, she’ll have an opportunity for mix. You’ll need to know the differences between the two Yo-Yo Throws so that you’ll know when you can challenge her.

At longer ranges you can see that:

236 YT will be glowing/sparking and expanded so you can know to block and not worry about it coming back. This leaves Bridget slightly negative (unless you got hit) but either way the range almost makes both null, it's just an excuse for Bridget to have a yo-yo out so that she can have access to Rolling MovementGuardAllStartup20~38Recovery0Advantage+16 (Airborne). It only has 15 frames of start up, 3 frames of recovery and is -4 on block, so it can’t really be punished.

214 YT will always be in its shrunk form until it reaches its max distance. A rule of thumb for this set up is that if you are between Bridget and said yo-yo, you'll be at a disadvantage because it will come back and hit to either put you in a combo or just pressure in general, which is scary. This version of the YT has significant start up, with 130 frames, as well as 30 frames of recovery. Bridget can’t ever safely set this up except for during okizeme. Never let her get away with sending this out for free. Always try to advance or punish if you ever notice she sends this out.

Up close, it can difficult to tell which one she throws out. This can leave you prone to getting hit as a frametrap from trying to mash/move out of the way. At closer ranges, look for hitstop after she throws a yo-yo. If there is hitstop after she throws it, you’ve blocked a 236 YT. If there isn’t any, then she's thrown a 214 YT and you need to try to take your turn back. You never want to just dash and block a 214 Yo-Yo in neutral. This just lets Bridget perform her setups for free. 214 Yo-Yo always returns after a set time of two seconds. If you’re not in range to punish the start up of it, you can simply avoid it by jumping and doing a backwards air dash over it while tossing out a far reaching aerial normal, such as Ramlethal’s j.S. You don’t lose space, and if Bridget attempts an aerial approach, she'll fly directly into your aerial normal. Alternatively, you can just stay out of its range. 214 Yo-Yo doesn’t go full screen, so as long as you’re not within its range, you won’t have anything to worry about. You could also throw out a long range attack that forces Bridget to block, which will make the 214 Yo-Yo return to Bridget without causing damage. You have a number of options, but under no circumstances should those options be to sit there and wait for the 214 Yo-Yo to return. A good Bridget player will always exploit that.

Dealing With Rolling Movement/Aerial Approaches

After a yo-yo has been sent out, Bridget can use her special move Rolling MovementGuardAllStartup20~38Recovery0Advantage+16 (Airborne) to dash through the air towards whatever yo-yo is active. This is Bridget’s mixup/pressure tool, and is central to her strongest okizeme. She can run very strong mix-ups with this, as she can cancel into certain actions during the movement like jumps, air dashes, or aerial attacks. She can cancel the air movement early using a whiffed Air Throw or j.PGuardHighStartup6Recovery10Advantage+1 (IAD j.PP) to go for a low or a throw, or cancel it later for an overhead attack. Bridget recovers immediately after Rolling Movement connects with her opponent, making it so advantageous on block that she can gaplessly chain into an air normal or even land and frame trap with 2KGuardLowStartup5Recovery11Advantage-2. From lower yo-yo setups, she can even jump cancel the air moves for a fuzzy overhead mix-up. This is the foundation of Bridget's setplay.

You need to avoid Rolling Movement as much as you can. Do your best not to block it, blocking it will allow Bridget to put you in a free 50/50 situation. Rolling Movement has a 20 frame startup, making it really easy to 6P from a farther distance. However, Rolling Movement can be used as additional air action Bridget can use on top of any of her universal options. She can use it like an airdash after using up her universal air options, like I-No's hoverdash to high profile certain moves in neutral, or even like a divekick to punish attempted anti-airs. The potential behind Rolling Movement's ability to drastically alter Bridget's air momentum is enormous. This makes it harder to anti air than you’d expect. You’ll have to experiment with the anti air options your character has to find the best way to deal with her movement.

Another aerial option Bridget has in neutral is Roger DiveGuardAllStartup25Recovery15Advantage-5. In this move, she dives directly down in the air while holding her bear, Roger, performing a two-hit attack. Bridget flies upwards and then back down during this move, allowing her to bait and punish anti-airs, making it harder to challenge her jump-ins. It’s also very safe on block unless used at point blank range. Roger Dive has 25 frames of startup, so it's easy to react to. It’s also not an overhead, meaning you can block it low. The strength of this move comes from its ability to maintain Bridget’s horizontal momentum, allowing her to set up Ambiguous Cross-ups, including from Rolling Movement or the later frames of 6HGuardAllStartup13Recovery13Advantage-12. However, again, this is slow and reactable. The cross up can be blocked with Faultless Defense to make it more punishable.

Rolling Movement is only completely safe off of knockdowns from 2DGuardLowStartup13Recovery15Advantage-6, or by using a returning yo-yo from 214 Stop and Dash. It’s extremely important to avoid getting knocked down by Bridget’s 2D. If she lands it, she’s able to loop into constant 50/50s that are almost completely safe. This is her win condition. You need to avoid this at all costs. Save your burst for whenever you get hit by a 2D. You need to time your burst carefully. Once she starts running her oki, she has many points where she’s burst safe.

In neutral, don’t try to use big, slow normals with large hitboxes to control space. Bridget can easily whiff punish you thanks to the versatility of Rolling Movement and the reach of her f.S and 5H. If Bridget has Tension, she can also whiff punish with her Overdrive Return of the Killing MachineGuardAllStartup9+1RecoveryTotal 37Advantage+16. This is a niche option however. It starts up relatively fast, but it has slow travel speed, making it hard to use from far away. Bridget has other and better options to get around zoning, and aside from dealing with certain projectiles like Goldlewis’ Thunderbird, it’s generally not worth going for.

Mix up your approach options post Yo-Yo Throw. Try and react to what Bridget does. 6P her pokes and Rolling Movement while out of range of her 2S. Bait out her anti-airs. Bridget has strong tools to cover approach options, but she can’t cover everything all at once. Just don’t overly respect 214 Yo-Yo Throw and stay in one place.

Dealing With Kick Start My Heart

Kick Start My HeartGuardAllStartup10Recovery9Advantage-20~+4 is a special move where Bridget rides her yo-yos forward. This is a fast approach tool, as well as used as a setup for okizeme. Its movement can be increased or decreased by holding either forward or back, allowing Bridget to vary her approach times. Kick Start My Heart has two follow ups:

BrakeGuardAllStartup7Recovery19Advantage-6 has Bridget perform an attack while halting her momentum. Brake is best used as a poke, as it has a long hitbox. It can also be used as a frametrap, however, it’s -6 on block, so if used up-close, it can be throw punished.

ShootGuardAllStartup3Recovery29Advantage-35 has her leap forward with a fast upwards strike. It deals more damage than Brake, however, it’s -33 on block, making it very punishable. It’s rare you’ll see Bridgets use this to attack unless they have Tension to Roman Cancel it. By Roman Canceling it, Bridget maintains its aerial momentum and can put you in a high/low mix by either opting for one of her aerials or going for a low option. Combined with Kick Start My Heart and ambiguous drifting it becomes several frametraps in a row, with a mix-up, into a pressure reset, from long-range, for as little as 36% Tension.

In neutral/during blockstrings, an option you have after blocking Kick Start My Heart, even if she delays the start up to make the block advantage plus, is throw. Her fastest button is her 5 frame 2K, which loses to throws. She can bait the throw by backdashing, so throwing shouldn’t be your go-to option every time you block Kick Start My Heart, but it is an option worth representing. Doing a delayed grab will keep her from being able to immediately throw you after blocking Kick Start My Heart. You can also dash-block towards Bridget during Kick Start My Heart’s start up, and then throwing afterwards becomes a true punish. There’s not really any downside to dash blocking

Offence

Bridget's only invincible reversal is StarshipGuardAllStartup9Recovery39Advantage-28. You can really vaporize Bridget if you successfully bait this out and counter hit it. Neither of her Overdrives are invincible reversals. She also has a 5 frame 2KGuardLowStartup5Recovery11Advantage-2 that she can mash during gaps in her pressure. If she tries to escape the corner with an air dash, she can use Roger DiveGuardAllStartup25Recovery15Advantage-5 to bait out an air throw or beat a 6P.

Defence

Dealing with Rolling Movement Okizeme

If you’ve been knocked down by 2D and you don’t have burst, as mentioned before, you’ll be put in Bridget’s blender, where she’s able to loop constant 50/50s. It’s impossible to account for every possible mix up that Bridget can do. You’re just going to have to block either high or low in relation to Bridget’s attacks. One option she has is j.DGuardHighStartup15Recovery16Advantage+0 (IAD), which hits overhead. Another option is whiffing a j.KGuardHighStartup7Recovery18Advantage~ into an immediate 2K for a low option. Keep an eye out for a whiffed j.K as an indication that she’ll go for a low option. Rotating these two options will allow Bridget to beat a lot of wake up options. They’re both safe jumps that beat invincible reversals and they both catch backdashes.

If Bridget does go for a 2K, she can gatling into either 2D or 6H. There’s a gap between both of these that loses to invincible reversals but the timing can be tight. Bridget can also bait reversals out by simply not doing anything after the 2K. 2K is -2 on block, so if you think she's going to bait the reversal Overdrive, you could go for a throw punish instead.

When defending against her Rolling Movement mixups, using Faultless Defense is extremely important. Without it, she can make her pressure strings and mix gapless without ever giving you a chance to mash out. However, using Faultless Defense will push her out enough to create gaps in her pressure.

For example, if you use Faultless Defense against both hits of a c.S from a blocked j.D, this messes up the spacing for gapless rolls, allowing you to mash 6P if she goes for another Rolling Movement. Bridget can beat this by delaying her Rolling Movement slightly in order to whiff push 6P, but this in turn allows you to either 6P or poke on reaction, or jump away to escape the situation. This also applies to if you block a low option that Bridget opts for on your wake up (such as a meaty 2K). In fact, using Faultless Defense when blocking a low option isn’t even always necessary.

If you keep blocking Bridget’s mix, eventually she will be pushed out and forced to use 236 Yo-Yo Throw to continue pressure. If you don’t do anything after blocking 236 Yo-Yo Throw, she can attempt to keep mixing you forever, especially if she has Tension. If you carelessly mash after 236 Yo-Yo Throw, you can eat a counter hit 5H. Using 6P will allow you to beat 5H, though keep in mind that she can choose to run up > 2S to beat 6P. You could also IAD or otherwise jump after blocking 236 Yo-Yo Throw. This is strong, but will open you up to getting anti-aired, in particular, by 2H. If Bridget expects you to jump or 6P and she opts for 2H after the Yo-Yo Throw, you can mash any poke to beat them. However, if you stay patient, you can play standard Rolling Movement RPS.

Defending Against Bridget's Pressure and Mix Ups

When defending against close range pressure from Bridget, always make sure to use Faultless Defense, especially if she manages to get a meaty Yo-Yo out. Her S and H normals push her out far, so she has to rely on stagger pressure with her multi-hitting c.SGuardAllStartup7Recovery13Advantage+1 if she wants to maintain her pressure. Her 5DGuardHighStartup20Recovery26Advantage-15 reaches far and she can convert into a combo from a meaty Yo-Yo setup, but using Faultless Defense will push her out of range for her to be able to use this to mix you.

During her blockstrings, you need to watch out for Rock the BabyGuardGround ThrowStartup27Recovery28AdvantageN/A. This is a command grab that has Bridget leap forward with Roger, who’ll grab and damage you. It can be special canceled during blockstrings, and since Bridget leaps forward, this can be used from a distance to take you by surprise. It does have 26 frames of start up, it can be interrupted with many normals, including 5P, 5K, or even a well-timed c.S. You could also backdash and punish the recovery. Fuzzy jumping during gaps in her pressure will cause her to whiff, and you can do this to cover both Rock the Baby or a regular throw. If she whiffs either a command grab or a throw, fall down with j.H to punish it. Be sure to chicken block when jumping to protect yourself in case she staggers with a normal or special instead. With Tension, she can Roman Cancel Rock the Baby and put you in a potential high/low mix up. You’ll just have to guess here.

When Bridget knocks you down or hits you with any of her ranged normals, she can use Kick Start my Heart without any follow-ups to scoot right next to you. It may not look like it, but she is in an advantaged oki position, and depending on the range, she can hit you with a meaty button. (This also applies to many combos that end with Kick Start my Heart.) This means she can put you into an oki-loop. It is consistent, it puts her right next to you and allows her to repressure you with a meaty c.S. If c.S hits, she can wall-break from it, so you should expect it to be the standard option and respect it accordingly, unless you want to hand out free wins to Bridget. She could also go for a throw, or repressure you from a distance with 2S. Bridget can loop this strong and relatively safe pressure. You don’t ever want to mash because she can easily frame trap off c.S with a delayed 2S. The best thing to do is to simply block it, and use Faultless Defense to push her out when she’s in your face. Bridget's normals might reach far, but they also push her out far as well, and Faultless Defense will push her out even farther. Look for an opportunity to counter poke one of her attacks.

She may attempt to repressure you with Kick Start My Heart again. If she does, she’ll either use Brake in your face, or mix you up if she has the Tension to RC Shoot. You could take a risk and try to poke Kick Start My Heart with a long reaching, low recovery normal like Nagoriyuki or Giovanna’s 5K, but it’d be safer to simply jump and chicken block, which would protect against all options from Kick Start My Heart. If she doesn’t do Shoot, you can use this opportunity to IAD out of the corner. If she DOES do Shoot, you’ll block it and can punish it if she doesn’t have the Tension to RC. If you have Tension, you could also use Drift BRC to move yourself forward and punish the recovery of whatever Kick Start My Heart Follow Up Bridget does.

If Bridget ends her blockstrings with a Yo-Yo, that means her pressure is over and the situation has returned to neutral. You can dash block after pushing her out, and then try to safely advance or attempt to run your offense if you close the distance enough. Remember to mix up your options. Don’t just stand there post Yo-Yo toss, you’re just handing over another free opportunity for mix to Bridget.