Ok, have you ever told yourself "I do really well on (abc) day, but then on (xyz) day, I get *****."
Have you ever asked "How do I get kill moves so well on certain stocks and struggle so much on others?"
What about "Where the hell are these amazing combos coming from and why can't I consistantly recreate them?"
Sorry to tell you, but your playstyle is based off of guessing.
There is a major difference between guessing and predicting. There are tons of different methods of fighting that put you at really good positions, but
there are also the ones that put you in bad positions. On your good days, you do mostly the good ones; likewise for the bad. When you're Guessing, you don't have any idea why your style was working or wasn't working. While predicting, you can see where you messed up because of a wrong option you took. Guessing is playing a chance game. In Brawl, Falco's chances in guessing are not good at all with his weak damage hits and lack of kill moves.
So, you're probably asking yourself, "How the hell do I stop guessing and start predicting?"
I've tried to break these things up into to learnable sections. Not knowing why I was have good and bad days frusterated me enough to re-evaluate what was going on. These are all my opinion from my experiences, take them as you will.
[highlight]1) Learning to see patterns in play habits.[/highlight]
This is broken up in many different parts, but there are three important sections.
[highlight]2) Knowing what the best option is in every prediction set up.[/highlight]
For example, if Cpt Falcon threw someone forward and that someone air dodged, Falcon gets a free grab when predicted. Falcon also gets a short hop forward falcon punch in the same prediction(if it doesn't work, pretend it does for the example.) Which option would you choose?
Second example, as Falco, if you jab someone and predict them to shield after it, the best option would be to grab them. You can't Fsmash them for that prediction because the shield they were doing anyways would block it or you would get shield grabbed during the beginning animation of the Fsmash.
This is obviously all Falco specific. Later on we'll discuss different options for different situations.
[highlight]3)Actually implementing these options in play.[/highlight]
Learning to deal with the stress of making educated guesses all of the time is important for your growth as a player. You're not always going to get it right, so have a back up strategy in case it falls through. Try not to stray from smart options into easy options because you messed up a prediction. Learn what annoys the opponent and use it(in other words, your back-up strategy). It will make them more predictable, making life for you a hell of a lot easier. If you've done everything else right, and this prediction doesn't put you in an extremely bad position, then go for it.
I will try to keep this thread going with good setups and other important parts to this aspect of the game. Seeing the Falco self rate thread and all of the posts on the Falco boards, make me think Falco's are too reliable on technical items and weird gimmicks.(splat) I'd like to see more of, "Wow I just got owned by a Falco." not "Wow, I got owned by lasers."
[highlight]Edit Update.[/highlight]
One should never be going for predictions all of the time. A player needs to stay back until they see an opportunity. A player also needs to apply pressure when they're staying back. This strategy should be safe for the most part until a prediction is made. Laser camping until their shield is low is a good pressure strategy.
Don't get me wrong. I don't mean camp until you see one opportunity, hit once, then run back(unless you like that.) People are allowed to attack close ranged and throw in multiple predictions. You don't need to hit the opponent either while distance pressuring. Wolf's back air wall is a good distance pressure strategy for him.
Have you ever asked "How do I get kill moves so well on certain stocks and struggle so much on others?"
What about "Where the hell are these amazing combos coming from and why can't I consistantly recreate them?"
Sorry to tell you, but your playstyle is based off of guessing.
There is a major difference between guessing and predicting. There are tons of different methods of fighting that put you at really good positions, but
there are also the ones that put you in bad positions. On your good days, you do mostly the good ones; likewise for the bad. When you're Guessing, you don't have any idea why your style was working or wasn't working. While predicting, you can see where you messed up because of a wrong option you took. Guessing is playing a chance game. In Brawl, Falco's chances in guessing are not good at all with his weak damage hits and lack of kill moves.
So, you're probably asking yourself, "How the hell do I stop guessing and start predicting?"
I've tried to break these things up into to learnable sections. Not knowing why I was have good and bad days frusterated me enough to re-evaluate what was going on. These are all my opinion from my experiences, take them as you will.
[highlight]1) Learning to see patterns in play habits.[/highlight]
This is broken up in many different parts, but there are three important sections.
- From where is your opponent is approaching(or camping from?)
- Is it usually an aerial approach?
- Is it a running shield approach?
- Is it a running grab approach? etc etc etc
- What are their primary methods of approaching(or camping?)
- Shield, Dodge, Grab, Specials, Smashes, Tilts, Aerials, and Jabs are their options. Learn how they all work.
- What does the opponent do when they're under pressure(being attacked/approached-even a simple run animation reflex)
- Shield-grab, Shield-OOS option, roll, spot dodge, jump, sit in their shield, or even attack are the majority of reflex
- When they're in the air, empty short hops are nice to bait air dodges into Fsmashes. If they don't air dodge, then Falco can double jump and get away.
[highlight]2) Knowing what the best option is in every prediction set up.[/highlight]
For example, if Cpt Falcon threw someone forward and that someone air dodged, Falcon gets a free grab when predicted. Falcon also gets a short hop forward falcon punch in the same prediction(if it doesn't work, pretend it does for the example.) Which option would you choose?
Second example, as Falco, if you jab someone and predict them to shield after it, the best option would be to grab them. You can't Fsmash them for that prediction because the shield they were doing anyways would block it or you would get shield grabbed during the beginning animation of the Fsmash.
This is obviously all Falco specific. Later on we'll discuss different options for different situations.
[highlight]3)Actually implementing these options in play.[/highlight]
Learning to deal with the stress of making educated guesses all of the time is important for your growth as a player. You're not always going to get it right, so have a back up strategy in case it falls through. Try not to stray from smart options into easy options because you messed up a prediction. Learn what annoys the opponent and use it(in other words, your back-up strategy). It will make them more predictable, making life for you a hell of a lot easier. If you've done everything else right, and this prediction doesn't put you in an extremely bad position, then go for it.
I will try to keep this thread going with good setups and other important parts to this aspect of the game. Seeing the Falco self rate thread and all of the posts on the Falco boards, make me think Falco's are too reliable on technical items and weird gimmicks.(splat) I'd like to see more of, "Wow I just got owned by a Falco." not "Wow, I got owned by lasers."
[highlight]Edit Update.[/highlight]
One should never be going for predictions all of the time. A player needs to stay back until they see an opportunity. A player also needs to apply pressure when they're staying back. This strategy should be safe for the most part until a prediction is made. Laser camping until their shield is low is a good pressure strategy.
Don't get me wrong. I don't mean camp until you see one opportunity, hit once, then run back(unless you like that.) People are allowed to attack close ranged and throw in multiple predictions. You don't need to hit the opponent either while distance pressuring. Wolf's back air wall is a good distance pressure strategy for him.
