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Official Captain Falcon Video Critique Thread

MikeHaggarTHAKJB

Smash Master
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Apr 12, 2008
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0Room

Smash Lord
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I should probably get back to this, I've just been so busy recently :/
sorry guys

Mike
the one thing that stands out to me as
OMG DO THIS

Pay attention to his playstyle change. At the end of every match you lost, he was playing aggressive until the last stock.
then suddenly, camping with lasers.

You need to adjust for that, and make him come to you if you can. Aggressive players will usually do that, But you kept playing like he was aggressive and made a lot of mistakes because of that.

Rocky I did end up watching your stuff a while ago but I forgot what I saw
So I'll have to watch them again when I have time
 

FerrishTheFish

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA3PWvlroqI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pFGbZLaslw

2 sets from a tourney 2 weeks ago. Critique/comment please :)

I especially want some pointers on the ICs MU. While the instinct based style I currently have works well enough to take sets off all the top icies in europe I don't want to even drop games :)

(also, you can marvel at how ridiculously stupid the puff matches are loool)
I'm no expert, but I do play a Sheik and a Jiggs pretty regularly, so here goes:

First, general tip: If you follow an opponent off the edge, typically your best recovery option is, when possible, dodging back onto the platform. Here you could have short-hop stomped Jadde to his premature death had you dodged rather than up-B back on.

The matchup against Sheik is so unfair, I can't really give too many general tips. However, I notice a few things you could improve.

Firstly, you tended to try to edgehog Sheik. Sure, it worked out for you half the time, but half the time ain't good enough. If you stand a proper distance from the ledge, an up-tilt can be a very effective tool. Sheik really has to either sweetspot the ledge or recover onto the platform if she's far enough away, and a well-timed up-tilt takes care of both options. If you really want to be flashy, you can try short-hop stomping. The timing is to press A (or jump) just before Sheik disappears. I've also had some success with the down-tilt, but the up-tilt is more effective.

Secondly, hopping up from the ledge with an aerial is waaaay risky vs. Sheik. Sheik's aerials all have range/priority/whatever that will generally tear through yours, leaving you far away from the ledge without a second jump. Keep it in for the sake of unpredictability, but be more careful with it.

Thirdly, little tip. Sheik's down smash actually has a fair bit of lag, because her hitbox disappears before her legs stop twirling. This means: knee if she whiffs, wavedash -> grab if she hits your shield, e.g. here.

You were pretty much reading this guy like a book. It's a shame this matchup is so gay.

The matchup against Jiggs is also pretty tough. A few tips:

Firstly, DO NOT engage. That is, do not be the one who attacks first. Jiggs is so mobile that, barring special circumstances, just throwing out the odd aerial will get punished hardcore.

Secondly, keep the pressure on. See how Smasher89 got antsy whenever you were close enough to dash -> jump -> nair him and kept throwing out aerials? That's because he knows that his days as Jiggs are numbered. By knees. Somewhere around five, to be exact. Your job as Falcon is to keep the threat of a knee, or perhaps a nair -> knee, hanging over his head at all times without actively going for it (feel free to nail him if he gets lazy, of course). Raptor Boost is your friend here, because you can DD barely within Jiggs's jump -> bair range and Raptor boost if he goes for it. Get in his zone and back out fast enough to bait him into missing. You actually do this fairly well, but what you don't do well enough is get right back in and punish. This is important, because the timeframe in which you are free to punish is somewhere between tiny and nonexistent, so you need to exploit every possible opportunity--not easy, I know.

Thirdly, stay OFF platforms. Being on a platform gives Jiggs free reign over you. He can float up right underneath like Jaws and nibble away at your ankles, secure in the knowledge that you can't possibly duck below the platform and retaliate faster than he can attack again.

Your technical and mindreading skills are really good, so these are all relatively minor chinks in your Captain's manly chest.
 

0Room

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Ah, Rocky, now I remember your matches.
Ferrish I appreciate the insight! I like a lot of this stuff but I just wanted to add some minor tweaks because I do play a sheik a lot.

Firstly, you tended to try to edgehog Sheik. Sure, it worked out for you half the time, but half the time ain't good enough. The up-tilt is more effective.
Personally I do feel like the utilt is a little weird in this MU, the timing is strange and sometimes the first explosion will cancel your hitbox if she's close when she upB's. Personally I think the best thing you can do is let go and regrab the ledge, continuously refreshing invinc frames like you would against a Marth.

Secondly, hopping up from the ledge with an aerial is waaaay risky vs. Sheik. Wavedash -> grab if she hits your shield
As a general rule, this is true. However, it depends on how the sheik plays. If the sheik does dsmash early, you can actually slip through the legs [the dsmash hitbox actually spins!] and grab the ledge, then do an invinc knee. Invinc Knees will **** if the sheik doesn't catch on, or is already stuck doing a move [like dsmash]. But as a rule, yes, ledgehops are scary.

You were pretty much reading this guy like a book.
If you notice, he actually let you do that. That first match he didn't do anything, he just let you do your thing, and he looked for patterns, habits, anything he could use against you. After that, he really fought back, and you had already exhausted your tricks and skills for the most part. I thought it was strange until I saw about the third match, then it clicked.
That is a dastardly man right there.


I haven't watch the Jiggs video yet. I should do that.
 

Wenbobular

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The algorithm for edgeguarding Sheik is refresh invincibility -> time the stand -> stomp anything that lands onstage, wavedash back if she goes perpendicular to the ledge
 

FerrishTheFish

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Personally I do feel like the utilt is a little weird in this MU, the timing is strange and sometimes the first explosion will cancel your hitbox if she's close when she upB's. Personally I think the best thing you can do is let go and regrab the ledge, continuously refreshing invinc frames like you would against a Marth.
Hax (the best Captain vs. Sheik player in my opinion) uses your method topped off with a ledge-hop knee almost exclusively, but if we all had Hax's timing we wouldn't be on this thread O_O The u-tilt is safer against a Sheik who is far enough away to not cancel the u-tilt but close enough to maybe hit an edgehogger--not an uncommon situation.

The u-tilt is definitely my preferred move for edgeguarding in general, and is way better than getting ledge-exploded even in the worst case scenario (i.e., miss). I still think it is a viable option.

'Course, you can also read pre-explosion DI--usually up and/or toward the stage--and stomp Sheik out of her up-B before it gets off the ground (a pun! 8D).
 

Walt

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I just grab the edge right before the explode and knee/stomp on reaction to where she goes. sheiks recovery is godawful.
 

FerrishTheFish

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sheiks recovery is godawful.
You think? Personally, I like everything about it except the fact that it comes attached to a Sheik. It's multidirectional, has a ton of invincible frames, and is a surprisingly powerful attack. Sure, it's a little slow, but that don't make it easy to punish.
 

0Room

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Yes it does xD
Literally, beating Sheik revolves around pushing her offstage and abusing that bad recovery.

It has a lot of good points but at the same time it is easily exploitable and you can answer it really easily and effectively.
 

Wenbobular

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Well it's like one of the most easily exploitable recoveries as Falcon
Possibly second to Marth though haha
Stomp knee > laggy landings
 

Walt

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Yes it does xD
Literally, beating Sheik revolves around pushing her offstage and abusing that bad recovery.

It has a lot of good points but at the same time it is easily exploitable and you can answer it really easily and effectively.
This. Sheik can reasonably die at like 30% if she gets off stage at a bad spot. Her recovery is about as good as Ness's.
 

Wenbobular

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Your individual movements have decent speed but you're not very fast running out of aerials or moving / buffering out of techs

Also never let a Marth Fsmash your shield untippered within shield grab range and do nothing
Ever
Unless he's your teammate I guess ~_~

Advice given from about 30 seconds of watching but it should be enough for you to work on for a while ... xD
I'm all about critiquing speed over decisions because I think you can only really make the best decisions while being reasonably close to the human technical limit
Falcon doesn't really have anything in particularly hard, so I say go practice moving out of your aerials faster and come back

Also you seem to undershoot aerials (seeing two very undershot knees that were easily DD grabbed in the 30 seconds I've looked, typed, then checked back)
Overshooting is better but sometimes they just run under you ... something to keep in mind
Falcon's full length aerial distance is humongous (like almost literally half of Battlefield with Nair)
 

Roneblaster

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slasher what i saw the most "wrong" in ur play was what looked like lack of confidence. this is one of the things that troubles me the most when i play.

when going against a character like marth, his range causes big problems. What you have to do is make each decision and blast through it. what i mean is if you do something and then change your mind half way through, marth is gonna hit you with his big ****ing sword.

another reason confidence would be beneficial in this MU is because falcon comboes marth so damn well. When you get a hit be ready to keep going. everytime you hit marth you should be looking for a way to get an upair in there. because when you get that upair the possibilites are endless. Then if you do get the upair max it out. If you're ahead be safe; dont go for the ridiculous not-guaranteed **** off stage. that is unless ur way ahead on hes on his last stock, then suicide to get the kill.

If ur behind get fancy with it everytime and do the utmost.

im high as **** right now. ill be interested to see if this advice still sounds good in the morning when i sober up
 

Wenbobular

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The safest combo is Uthrow -> they DI away -> double Uair offstage for the lamest looking kill ever
 

0Room

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Well personally Slasher I feel like your strength was always in your DD and spacing
Unfortunately you're not using that at all in the video you posted.
You're always approaching and doing stuff, not letting your opponent come to you.

So I would say if anything that's what I would point out.
 

0Room

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I dunno what you want me to critique
You played it exactly the way I would.
Using your mobility, watching percents and doing your throw->knee at the right time

Just
stop getting edgeguarded [?]
 

Wenbobular

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Sheik has pretty good edgeguarding you're not supposed to really get back vs competent Sheiks <_<
 

0Room

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Right
But you're playing a human so they could always mess up

I was just saying there really wasn't anything substantially wrong that I saw
 

Windrose

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I dunno if I submiited this video of me playing against a Sheik but it was from the same tournament as my last submission (which was in December :p)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUb8aORpUvg&feature=related#t=7m08s
@8:00 you u-throwed sheik and tried to knee at ~60% ish...you probably should've u-aired :S. I usually don't try for the uthrow-->knee until 80ish (but I don't know the exact percent range for the guaranteed :S, i know it works for sure at around mid 80-low 100).

You're very good at getting out of the jab reset! @_@ That's pretty neat.
 

j00t

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@8:00 you u-throwed sheik and tried to knee at ~60% ish...you probably should've u-aired :S. I usually don't try for the uthrow-->knee until 80ish (but I don't know the exact percent range for the guaranteed :S, i know it works for sure at around mid 80-low 100).

You're very good at getting out of the jab reset! @_@ That's pretty neat.
That was supposed to be a full-hop knee, heheh. It probably still wouldn't work, so thanks for that tip.
 

0Room

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Walt I'm sorry
but I lol'd so hard at your first match vs Tang

oh that was so horrible for him to do.
I mean this in the best possible way
but you got wrecked in all of these videos

Granted I would not do much better, they're obviously very good players [esp. Tang]
but goddamn lol

<3 you bro
 

Wenbobular

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Haha, Mitcho' Tang doing his best impression of a statue or something...

I think a couple times he stalls real low, at which point you should grab the edge and ledgehop knee; if they're really good at angling the Firefox get on the stage and time an uptilt

Try wavelanding on the edge sometimes

Tang wasn't DIing away hard enough with Marth to try techchasing, either Nair if you're fast enough or just regrab

I'm not really good at evaluating neutral game decisions though ... ~.~;
 

0Room

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Yeah personally I feel like the biggest problem that you had was freaking out.
Which is understandable, given who you played, but even so that's what it was. You freaked out and did a lot of silly things, especially in the first game vs Tang. You almost dropped the end of the game vs Tang's Marth because of that.
You just need to calm down and try to think clearly.

I say that because you did a lot of things quickly, and erroneously: lots of full hops at the end of your game vs Joe, and you have some techs that you missed because you were too busy going "GO NOW" instead of waiting and trying to watch the tech. So I think that overall, that was probably your biggest problem. I feel like all of the other things were symptoms of that.
So, next time, be sure to try to calm down and think more clearly.

Wenbobular, I feel like he was channeling Cactuar's fox: Sit around, wait for you to make a mistake, punish. :p
 

Walt

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Those full hops were actually me messing up wavedashing which is something I do when nervous, but I found I do it a lot less when I turn rumble on cause I feel when the jump happens instead of thinking about it. And yeah, playing slower is actually something I've been working on since then but I'm still having trouble just standing still for a second when watching the tech/decision/what have you. I just wanna mooooove man.


Thanks for checking out the matches 0room, good to see someone else seeing the same problem I think I'm having mahdoo.
 
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