Playing at your best.

[Hylian]

So...Do any of you ever feel like you are playing perfectly? I was playing my brother the other day and our matchs are usually pretty tense and we make alot of money matchs..anyways we were playing one twoards some of our last games and all of a sudden I felt like I was playing fox perfectly...He can usually go even with my fox but for some reason I was suddenly able to flatland infinite combo VERY well. I ledge hopped a dair and got him with it leading into a 50-60% flatland infinite into an upsmash kill...It was very satisfying and I tried again next life and got him in another one..It made me wonder why I was playing so well when I don't play that well vs worst players...Usually I play with people worse then my brother and I always seem to mess those things up..but when playing someone my skill level I seem to play MUCH better. I want to know why this is...is it just because playing with worse people gets you to develop bad habits? You seem to play slower against them not having to think as much..when I am always on edge I play much better which makes me want to use this mentality at upcoming tournys like EVO and Host 2...

My question is for the most part when are you playing at your best..against a specific person? On certain days? Certain times of days? Just wondering and feel free to add more if you want.

[Justin]

I've never felt like I was playing perfectly, but about a week ago I was playing a 1v1 against my rival (I call him that because he is the main person who I usually lose to and/or have a hard time against). Well he was using his main, Marth and I was using Fox, my main and he had two stock remaining with about 45% and when I spawned from ****ing up on a ledge-tech which had been going on for atleast 5 fsmashs, I just turned it on and before I knew it he was at one stock with about 80% and I was barely hitting 40% on my last stock.

I kind of died out though because at the end of the match I connected with a shffl bair and sent him off the stage even though he DI'ed it perfectly. I jumped off and attempted to shinespike him, but I got ahead of myself and shined too soon so I missed it and had to use my upB to get back to the stage. The only problem was he used his upB aswell and I guess it was a race to see who could grab the edge from their upB first and yeah...Fox's firefox is slow...I lost.

[Silver Sytos]

I feel the same way, you need to fight people about your skill level or above, because competition really does bring out your best game.

[Fefnir Cerveau]

The time of day probably matters for everyone, since it makes for physical aiments of the player, but sometimes I do well on some days.

I think I do better against better people though. It forces me to play in a higher level that I don't have to. I screw up under pressure at those times too, but overall, I think I'm doing better. Or at least forced to.
Playing the best in hawaii(imo) requires my Fox to move a lot faster to keep up.

[takieddine]

I play best when having binged on smash for hours...or is that just everyone else getting tired of smash >_<

[WhiteOblv]

prolly jus everyone else gettin tired if you think about it.

[btk Ace]

playing perfectly is the same thing as being in the zone?
cause that happends to me a lot then
just being so focused that you don;t noitce anything else
there could be someone lighting my sock on fire
and I wouldent notice

In Zone Biotch

[Hylian]

That is another way to put it yes.

[FastFox]

You were probably just having a good day.

[Hylian]

Yeah I thought that too but I want to play like that all the time >_>....

[btk Ace]

theres a diffrence between having a good day and having a good day frequently
if you are always doing good then you are good

[technomancer]

It's the DBZ theory of SSBM. Playing against better people raises your powerlevel. Also if you know you can beat someone, there's no real reason to bust out the awesome techs when you can do the easy safe stuff just fine and show off your mindgames.

[Pariah]

I don't think I'm at my peak with Fox.

The other day I was playing with this really good guy from school, and we were both down to 1 stock. He was using Link.

So I did an up smash and got ready to knock him out with an Uair, then (we were on the Poke Float-thing) a float comes and knocks me off target.

Normally I could've saved myself, Uair again and still hit him good, but I slipped up and he got a meteor smash on me. Simply enough, that day was like my off-day. ;_;

[super_nintendo]

I always think I can improve with my Fox, espically when it comes to shining. However, somedays I just get up and play and after I match I just think to myself "that was easier than expected!"

[dReAMCloUd - Assault K 40]

Yo Hylian....I know what you mean by that....I think it's more how long you've been playing and how effortless things become. For example, the other day I was playing with a buddy of mine as I usually do and things weren't going so well in the beginning.......my shdl's weren't being chained, perfect wavedashes forward weren't coming that easily, **** WAS JUST OUT OF WHACK. Anyway, as we continued to play I focused on shdl'ing continuously.......soon enough I got that down, strangely enough however that improved my timing in every other aspect of fox..... I was waveshining so fast that I would actually pass my opponent after shining them and then be able to shine them off the ledge before they knew what happened to them the first shine. Anyway, it's like most other things you've got to be in the zone and to be in the zone you've gotta relax and at the same time just constantly move your fingers....eventually one comes back to playing at a higher level every time you pick up the controller. The true test though is being able to get to that high level in a shorter period of time........just picking up the controller for 5 minutes and then playing very quickly, unfortunately it takes a lot longer for most of us, but as always practice shortens that downtime and increases the starting level at which we play. If you go to a tourney you'd wanna prepare by playing for at least an hour before it even begins to reacquaint yourself with whatever charac you plan on playing. Also you don't want to play with somebody much worse than you, rather you want to start playing with someone of equal or slightly above......then playing everybody else doesn't really matter cuz you're already in the "zone."

Be Like Water

[Ghettoman]

I actually play my best against people that aren't at my level. I went to my first tourney like 2 weeks ago and did terrible. I was way too nervous to get off any combo i normally would get. My freinds aren't exactly up to par with me most of the time, I had never actually fought people that were at my level or higher before.

[_Phloat_]

I hope that doesn't happen to me, I am going to a tourney, and I really want to at least make it out of the pools :)

But, yes, I feel there is a time when you do your best and times you just...don't

I seem to do better when I am relaxed, and have not much spare energy, I like to play after I run for lacrosse, It just seems to help me...

Anyways, nice idea for a thread, and I hope to hear some of you guys' stories..

[Hylian]

When you first go to a tourny make sure and play some friendlys before your tourny matchs. You will be nervous and your hands will be shaking trust me. After a few matchs with people that goes away though.

[Moggie]

I actually find that it's MUCH MUCH MUCH easier to be a technical Fox when you don't have an AC or fan on where you're playing. That way, your hands aren't cold , and when your fingers start to warm up, you can do the faster, more technical moves much more easily.

Seriously, try playing with your AC and without, you will notice a difference.

[FastFox]

Yeah, warm hands/fingers are definately a contributing factor. I hate stiff fingers.

[Hylian]

Trying to double missle with cold fingers = phail./

[offcell]

I think your brother just couldn't recollect himself after you started playing "perfectly." This is just my opinion, but he might have gotten overwhelmed from the start of your combo and wasn't DI'ing properly. You basically got his rhythm and he wasn't adjusting it.

Perfection is something that is strived for, because, well we all know noone is perfect :p

[LuCKy]

i understand compleatly like yesterday i was mm my friend pbody lol for 2 dollars and my fox felt so perfect most of the time its a pretty close match between his falco and my fox but out of nowhere i went crazy and almost 4 stocked him and even landed the thunder's combo wich i cant do on a daily basis.but when i play people that i know im better than i seem to do stupid ****.......like rush them like a dumb*** i dont know why yet but.......i got to stop and take every opponet seriously.

[Hylian]

I think your brother just couldn't recollect himself after you started playing "perfectly." This is just my opinion, but he might have gotten overwhelmed from the start of your combo and wasn't DI'ing properly. You basically got his rhythm and he wasn't adjusting it.

Perfection is something that is strived for, because, well we all know noone is perfect :p

This could be true..I kept my pressure game up and he couldn't react to it >_>.

[offcell]

Yea pressure is a nice thing to put on your opponent. If you try to overwhelm them, they might just stop trying because they're getting beat so hard. It's happened to me before. (Then again, I was playing against forward, so it was hard not to be overwhelmed...I practically had no chance to breathe. He was always up on me and I couldn't break him :p) I try not to let that happen nowadays because like, you shouldn't let that happen. lol. DI just seems to slip my mind when I start getting raped. It's a bad excuse, I know.

[Seison]

It's the DBZ theory of SSBM. Playing against better people raises your powerlevel. Also if you know you can beat someone, there's no real reason to bust out the awesome techs when you can do the easy safe stuff just fine and show off your mindgames.

Amen to that.

Hylian, I know what you mean, but I don't think anyone plays a "perfect" fox. for one, perfect is relative, and two, even the best players out there don't play flawlessly.

Having said that, I agree with idea of on and off days, or even on/off rounds. When I play a certain friend of mine, it's usually pretty even, though on average he usually does better than me. however, sometimes I just completely rape him and make him cry. I think these "miraculous" inconsistancies in our play are a combination of both our own on/off days and our opponents.

Here's to hoping for permanent "on-days" ... cheers.

[TwilightKing]

Even though I am very far from mastering fox I do feel VERY good when playing against someone my level. I think its because Fox is a speed focused player and when you play people slower or worse than you, you tend to adjust to their speed and mentality. Well thats me atleast.

[Negative Zero]

I find that music helps me get to that point. The song Zelgadis made for Shined Blind worked pretty well for a while.

Edit: By the way, Hylian. I was trying to learn the Double Missile the other day while on the phone with a friend. I'd been working on it for a while, and he jokingly made the suggestion that I hit the B button with the bottom of my thumb. That is, the area under the joint. He was joking, but it actually worked. Do you claw the controller with Samus, too? Because with this way, I can double missile on command, cold fingers or not. I still can't do it with the tip of my thumb. My biggest problem now is that I can't do it without slowly going forward because I hold forward too long.

[Tristan_win]

One of the biggest things I've notice is that when I play someone near my skill level I need to serious worry about dieing and so I tend to play better. Maybe that's the case when you fight people worst then your bother.

[MVPaintballer]

I play in this zone when im down.

[SHINE FX]

I don't know. I usually play better when I'm not thinking for some reason. Normally, people would think that I act more impulsively when that happens, but my mindgames actually improve. When I focus too much, I guess I just act impulsively or something...

[Chaos_Shadow35]

Of Course, my skills are not perfect, and I know that I have to practice a lot if I want to become better. Although, sometimes, I just feel like I'm doing extremely great. I can make my opponent confused, leaving him opened for combos, and then, when I have the chance to attack him, I do it, and it won't stop.

Of course, it's not always like this, but well, sometimes I do great. I'm improving on my combos and stuff, but I'm still far from perfection, since it doesn't exist!

[Wilhelmsan]

When I played Hylian a couple of weeks ago, a lot of things clicked. I was suddenly able to effectively triangle jump :D

[Tmx]

Strangly yes. Its random, but at times its like..after dying once, you get that 1/50 feeling and you just start an ace moment and fly across the stage like Luigi on his birthday.

Most memorable "Random perfect" moment would be when I was playing my friend, Link user. Killed me by edgehogging with his Up+B. Spawned back..he's at 20%. Rushed at him, knocked me back with another Up+B, and at that moment..a few wavedashes, JC grabs, and multi-aerials later. He's 2 stocks down with 60% and I haven't died since.

Strange? Yes.
Random? Yes.
Awsome? You bet your assets it was.

[Hylian]

When I played Hylian a couple of weeks ago, a lot of things clicked. I was suddenly able to effectively triangle jump :D

Haha yeah you did much better then you did when you played me at EVO. Aside from that one 4-stock of course XD. But it was pretty funny when I said I was going to 4 stock you and then you 2 stocked me...murphys law lol. I didn't get my 4 stock till the next day >_<!!!

[The_Marth_Madness]

Sadly I do better against better people, and alot worse against others. I lose interest and kind of drift off. But against people of my skill, or higher, i go beat mode.

[Press22]

Use that to your advantage today, me and my friend were playing my fox vs marth and he had 2 stocks on me and I perfectly killed him (i was at 0% with 1 stock he was at 0% with one stock) and I played so perfect that he coulden't hit me, and no he dosen't suck.

[Prominent]

I do really well whenever I play my buddies who trained KDJ, matches are getting closer and closer, and every time I'm pushed to think faster and not screw up...most of the time I feel like I'm playing perfect and still losing, that's when it's no fun :<

[Abulize]

I forgot who and what the quote was. It was something along the lines of... "If you think too much your opponent may catch you off guard with randomness." I think that's why you might do worse against people who aren't up to par with you.

As for the topic there are some days I feel like I'm pretty much on fire and then other days I'll mess up wding. I haven't mastered any of Fox's combos but when I pull them off it feels good :laugh:. I'd say the dependent factor to my smash abilities is if I'm warmed up or not. The time doesn't really matter because I can play Smash for hours :p.

[Gerbil]

Actually there have been several times where I've felt like I was at the top of my game, perhaps the most recent was at SoD4, when I got matched against my, I guess you can call him teacher? Anyways, he introduced me to Smash, I've been playing with him for over a year, and he has beat the crap out of me everytime. But not this last time!! MUAHAHA O.o