The Video Critique Thread

Table of Contents:

I. Introduction
II. The Law

I. Introduction

Ndayday hasn't been active on the Link Boards lately. For this reason, I present The Video Critique Thread hosted by yours truly. Here's how this is going to go down. I'm going to check this thread... every... day. Please make sure you read this whole post.

In your evaluations, please include...
...timestamps to show proof of your statements (IE: 0:10 is an example of this)
...what the player did well
...what the player didn't do well
...the player's habits
...the player's opponent's bad habits and how the player could have punished them
...what to improve/add to the player's game

II. The Law

Don't post a video without critiquing a video.
There will be no spamming.
There will be no flaming.
There will be no posts that do not critique a posted video (save for the first post).
There will be no eye-gouging, fish-hooking, or shots below the belt.

We should brain storm some criteria:

• What you did well
• What you didn't do well
• Your habits
• Your opponent's bad habits and how you could have punished them
• What to improve/add to your game

I guess ill start things off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmZSbFscXDg

Okay well i had Scabe choose one of my matches. I have to admit i cant find anyone great to play that can actually do well against me and only have it take 3 mins. I have to try more 2 stock matches or hack my wii or something for 3 min+.

I sent Scabe about 8 of them and he chose this one. My Link vs a Meta from AiB. I feel like my Link has stopped advancing so i thought i could use some critique to see what i could change or add to my style. So if you dont mind...

Also thx in advance.

On second thought let me add in a couple of old matches as well. So people dont think i just post videos of me owning people, and to see and to see my style against non Meta players. Dont have to critique these specific matches, but it would be nice to keep these in mind while you critique.
Negi(Link) Vs Jayde(Wolf) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULhnRlWlRZg&feature=related
Negi(Link) Vs Jayde(Peach) 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x6VfazvpZM&feature=related
Negi(Link) Vs Jayde(Peach) 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5pBASKxtvU

Oh i thought that's why you were uploading it. Okay well i can remove it and just post it in the other thread. Np. I guess someone needs fix the first page as well.

What you did well
Honestly, I like how you calmly walked around whenever running was unnecessary. It gives you more options. Try not to abuse it TOO much, but it is nice to mess with your opponents' heads. Plus, it keeps you from getting panicky and trying to overcompensate.

What you didn't do well
There were some times where you stood still or walked right into MK (was this a wifi match?) MK is too dangerous to allow him an opening like that. You need to be ready to shield.

Your habits
You dash attacked him at low damage a couple of times. There's no way this would fly against a better opponent, especially a good MK; they'd nair you instantly. You weren't punished for it, thankfully, but it's something you might want to keep in mind when your opponent is at lower damage.

Your opponent's bad habits and how you could have punished them
I felt like you punished your opponent pretty effectively. I mean, you did 3-stock an opponent in a matchup that's considered a hard counter, so you had to have punished all the openings you had. Maybe note that your uptilt combo on the second stock likely won't work on everyone.

What to improve/add to your game
I would say shield a little more. You leave yourself open a good bit of the time. Your game is also very ground based. I guess the big thing is I am a huge fan of the fullhop bomb pull and other fullhopped projectiles (although I know it's crazy hard to pull off without a custom control scheme). It's nice for spacing if you jump and pull while moving. We also didn't really get to see much in terms of DI since you pwned so hard, so I can't really say anything about that, but hey, that can always use work unless you're Legan or Scabe :D


Hope this helps. I dunno how much it will though. Critiquing is harder when you win handily.

Thx for the critique.

First of all yes it was wifi. Was actually trying to dash past him for a pivot grab but oh well. I usually fail at those anyway.

I always wondered about the dash attack at lower %s. I like doing it at lower %s for combo potential, though i sometimes get as you said punished. Is there a % around which Dash attacks are safer, because atm i have no base for it and just usually go for it if i think it will work. Isn't dash attack into Utilt a pretty good combo starter at lower%s?

As for the Utilt "combo." I usually try this against everyone i play sometime or another. Lots of people get out of it after a few hits. Some are stupid and just try over and over to counter me. I only use utilts because they are fast so i can get out if things go wrong. I find it works really well on Olimar, who doesn't want to waste his second jump and possibly leading to a gimp. If i ever really get a good read on someone i sometimes follow people around walking the Utilt after they used their second jump.

As for the shielding that could be why i suffer from having a really shield game. Its usually just wifi, but i have a hard time pulling shields up in time. I can usually spot dodge faster then i can shield, and that usually gets me into trouble against multi-hit moves. But other wise is usually reliable.

I also didnt really realize the standing bomb pulls until you said something. I always tell myself its better to SH bomb pull atleast, but maybe i dont do it. I'll have to check my other matches to see if that's how i always play.

Anyway thx for the tips.

Edit: You're right i do stand around when i bomb pull. I find myself doing it because i feel safe, and i dont feel like i can do anything to follow up. But i also do it at some wrong times. I guess i have to be more self conscious about it.

Double post but oh well.

Just for Scabe. Go ahead and critique it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f3HxT-Q3dk

Thx for the critique.

Yeah that death was kind of a surprise to me. I didn't really see it coming and I'm pretty sure i was DIing into the direction i was being launched at. I think my mind set was after the utilt step back into either a grab or then into an ftilt. Being a wifi match, i usually start doing things before my previous action is even over. Which usually works in my favor, unless they do something i didnt see coming. Basically a bad read in my opinion.

Yeah also the jab locks. Which is something that i just started doing. Looking back on this after few days later after i was basically kicking myself for the lost opportunity and at the same time the punishment i received for doing something stupid. I also missed an arrow lock after the close range boomerang (1:50).

I think i tend to get a little lazy/ reckless near the end of matches where I'm in such a lead. Unless of course I'm close to a 3 stock, then i just keep pushing. But once i lose that first stock the steam is pretty much gone if i don't feel really threatened by them. I probably become too reckless with people. This also happens with DI but in pretty much every match. If i dont think its going to kill me, i usually dont bother momentum canceling, which can sometimes lead to a gimp. I think the Dairs at the end were sorta just because i wanted to land one.

As for finding someone good to catch replays for me. Its rather hard to maintain presence in a community when half the year I'm completely gone busy with school and projects. Most of my college career has been easily balanced with games and school. But these last years have just been so busy i cant even find time to properly get enough sleep let alone game time.

Anyway thx for the critique. The discussion really helps me think and realize about my play style that i wouldnt have on my own.

Also i hope other people make use of this thread so i can pay back with critique of my own, or pay forward.

I haven't played in over half a year except a few cpu matches to kill time. I'm rusty and not familiar with the controller in this so I do some dumb things (hesitating, landing next to the opponent and some miss directed attacks, etc). If people could give me a general critique that doesn't involve Diddy MU info- because CPU's do not show a match up, that would be appreciated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NEuAB7ORJQ

hmm its rather hard to critique against a CPU. I found playing as Link against them is actually rather simple. Half the time they get hit by spammed Dairs while they try to out prioritize it. That and they don't recover very well. Making hard to judge overall since you didnt really have to damage rack or really set up for the kills. Since the CPU kinda did it for you. Also since the CPU was so easy for you, it is also hard to see how your recovery is for Link. Since its probably the weak point of Links.

Things you can add to your style:
Easy things like adding in more tilts. You used alot of smashes in this match, and while smashes for Link are rather important, trying to toss in some tilts will only help your gameplay. Mostly due to moves becoming stale, racking up damage with tilts can save your knock back of your fsmash or dsmash for killing.

You could also try adding in jab cancels. i usually do grabs after a jab cancel but you can also work more jabs in after jab canceling. Other things you could add are pretty much anything aside from Links projectiles, Dair, Uair, and ftilt. Everything else can work.

Things related to this match:
0:30 you jump on to the platform while diddy is standing up there. I dont think this is a good idea. Link doesn't have too many moves which are fast to start up, and since Link relies alot on spacing, it might be better to not follow people on small platforms like BF. Aerials would work okay like you did for most of the match. But usually what works best for me is just to Utilt them from below. You could use U smash but its alot easier for them to get down and attack you during your lag.

1:47 You connect an Fair to an arrow. This provided you with a window where Diddy could do nothing but stand straight up from the arrow lock. However, you only used a jab. You could have taken advantage of it and charged a smash or spin attack to do more damage.

2:05 You hit diddy with a Usmash. While it did work and cover your fairly well. An Utilt would have probably worked just well, and probably done about the same amount of damage. Only thing is that it would have been safer, and possibly knocked diddy on to the top platform making him get stunned up there for a second that could have possibly lead to an Uair or something. Overall doing more damage and leaving yourself less open to an attack if, diddy actually did decide to attack while he was standing behind you.

2:25 Nice use of the bomb shield.

I think thats pretty much it from me. I hope it helped a little.

^Thanks, I tried to play the CPU in a cautious way more like vs people. CPU's are suckers for Dair and gimps. When I landed next to Diddy it was meant to miss the platform but I misjudged it. Good advice, I need to sharpen my Link again. Thankyou.
I've been inactive for so long that I don't feel qualified to give critiques. Sorry for asking for one without giving any.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV4DXujNV7k

It's not the best example of my Link, but it's still fair.

New way to post vids?

Hi everyone, how is it going?

I don't know if this post will be correct but I'll do it anyway, hope not to bother anyone. If I want to post some vids to get criticize, I have to evaluate the preview match so I can post my vids?

Thanks for your time, and I hope I did not bother someone. Bye

I really dont think you have to evaluate anything. If you wanted something critiqued just post it.

As for quirky. Beyond the whole suicide fest, there isn't much to critique. At most i would say its not great to be stationary for very long. Which usually includes charging arrows when your opponent is on the stage. Though it may work sometimes, its not the greatest idea when your opponent either has a projectile of their own or a reflector. It leaves you open and if they have a reflector they can prepare to reflect it. If you want to use arrows, a quick draw is usually better, or at least an uncharged arrow.

@ Quirkynature mirror match:
Things you need to work on in order of importance:
Recovery- Practice finding the edge sweetspot and airdodging to Zair tethers. You airdodge and fall, there's a 'half circle' area around the edge where Zair will tether it.
Always practice DI, of course.

Camping- Don't stand in place. Short hop moving camp, landing cancel quickdraw arrows, angle boomerang throws and use bombs for mindgames. Mix up projectiles for better results. In a mirrormatch: arrows are fastest and cancel boomerangs which are slower. Boomerangs push bombs away and have good stun but otherwise low priority. Any standard attack and Zair will cancel the boomerang if the hitbubbles hit the boomerang it's self. Bomb's out-prioritize everything but boomerangs and well placed Zair. There are many ways to catch bombs (yours and theirs) too.
But shielding beats absolutely everything except grabs. Up close use more Zair. From far, move and try to maximize your projectiles and beat/avoid the opponent's spam.

Avoid/Shield and counter- Brawl is based heavily on this system. Learn when the 'attack' part of moves end and punish quickly after shielding/avoiding it. Don't retreat or hesitate to take a free shot and that Link gave you a lot of them. Link has bad ending lag on ground moves and start lag on air attacks/range attacks. Landing canceling aerials (Bair/Nair/Fair/Zair) lets you land with normal lag and almost immediately do another action. Zair's Link's best move because it's fast to start, has piercing priority, very long reach, extra shield pressure, and landing cancels. In other words, difficult to shield/avoid and punish; use Zair a lot once you're too close to spam safely.
Grabs register from where Link was when the grab starts; if there's shield pushback the grab will connect if timed fast and right. Use grabs almost exclusively as lag punishers, if one misses it has terrible lag. And make sure the opponent cannot dodge before the grab connects and is 'grounded'.

Ledgestalling moves- There's a guide on this somewhere. Learn to ledgestall, this and jumping are your best edge return options. Also Zair edge hog. Once you get the buffering down it's not too hard (until then it's a nightmare).

Shield dash, jump OoS, and airdodge instead of rolling if you can. The last third of link's rolls are vulnerable lag.

That's all I can think of now. 'Hope it helps.

Here's some stuff to critique.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSB7OECn1GU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZqBaGSNW8E

If you want the Link textures, just lemme know. I made them and I haven't uploaded them anywhere, so...
I'm kinda rusty, so forgive the numerous mistakes.

What you did well
I love watching a lot of you guys. It's cool to see how deep of a character Link is and just how differently he can be played.
I loved the bomstool > fair in the first match.
I also loved how, as the battles progressed and it was obvious both of you were very good at spotdodging, you started mindgaming by holding in charged smashes until after he had spotdodged.
Minus a couple of nasty slipups I thought you did a good job of keeping onstage and being unpredictable with your recovery and actually getting back on.

What you didn't do well
Some of your deaths made me sad I'm sure you know all of this already though); B up'd too soon first death in match 1 (you probably had it buffered and he fireballed you) and you missed the edge your first life of match 2 and he was there to take advantage of it. Second death you could have baired and saved your double jump and made it back I think (is nair actually useful for MCing? I thought bair and sometimes dair were usually better choices).

Your Habits
At one point you got a little grabhappy I thought (near the end of match 2). You tried a couple of pivotgrabs back to back I think. Unless it was a mindgame, I wouldn't think it'd be a good idea to try that.

Your opponent's bad habits and how you could have punished them
I dunno, I thought he was a pretty solid Mario player. I didn't see a whole lot of flaws in his gameplay, but my eye is a little less trained than some. Plus, I'm more of an instinctive kinda player, I read people subconsciously moreso than consciously. His biggest "habit" was his spotdodges started becoming predictable, and I thought you took advantage of it rather well.

What to improve/add to your game
Haha, what am I supposed to say here? You're the established Link player; I'm the new guy. Knock off more of that rust I guess. I would also recommend personally training that Huggles fellow; surely that will make you a better player :D

Haha, hope this helps. Would you like me to put these up in the video thread for you? I thought they were really good. And by the way, I did really like that OoT Link texture. That was one of my favorite games ever, and definitely my favorite Zelda game.

I agree with mostly what huggles said.

I also liked the use of arrows to cancel out Mario's Fireballs and the Zair to DAC.

The only thing i would like to add is about adding to your game.

It seems like you rely on your smashes a lot for your damage racking. It would be nice to see you add in more tilts. Like when you use Usmash when ever Mario was behind you. While it does have a better chance of hitting him if he spot dodges or something. Though if he does happen to dodge it or be just out
of range, you are left wide open for some punishment. I like using Utilt over Usmash for most cases, unless its for a DAC or something.

Other then that i didn't see any jab cancels during the matches, if i remember correctly. Maybe you could try to add that in as well.

Nice Link over all.

@ Wafflez:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZqBaGSNW8E

Good well rounded Link.
You chose to attack from close range with sword attacks instead of at their tip where Mario can't reach. Most of this was DACs. Some times this led to Mario punishing your spot dodges.
Off the edge you made a few mistakes and use jab cancels more, like other people said. Otherwise, not bad.
Nice Spin attack taking his second stock. Awesome textures too.

Scabe said:

Do you play WiFi much? It seems like the lag was bad, or you aren't so use to WiFi.

2:00 IS THE FUNNIEST THING EVER. You guys both do the exact same thing. [/COLOR]

0:20, 0:40 You roll alot, sometimes you'll roll twice, and roll behind your opponent whenever he's behind you. It's not that bad, since your opponent didn't punish you for it, but it's just a thing to watch out in the future. Just limit your rolling.

You also have a bad grab habit like I do. It seems as if you try to grab whenever your opponents land in front of you. And alot of times your grabs missed. Try Ftilt instead in those situations just to see if it hits.

Click to expand...

Both. The lag was bad, and I don't play Wifi much. Most of the wifi matches I play are either with really pathetic people or they're taunt matches, in which case it's 3 v 1 (I'm in the majority).

Yeah, at 2:00 I was actually lol-ing. It happened in another match, but that one was more than 3:00 in length. Actually, the two matches I won were more than 3:00 in length. Hmm..

When you say punish my rolling, I'm thinking you're referring to a D-smash.

I do grab a whole lot. Especially in offline matches. Almost half my metagame hinges on followups from throws or releases.

I have to seriously work on my Link, and I thank you, Anonano and Ryos4 for the critique. I'll work on it, and my next wifi I'll try to get one with you, see exactly how much I can get my butt kicked.

quirkynature said:

Both. The lag was bad, and I don't play Wifi much.

Click to expand...

Hmm.

quirkynature said:

I still have a ways to go, but when I'm brawling, it's usually on Wifi.

Click to expand...

inb4swfsaysmypostistoosmall

Volcanic Doomfire said:

Hmm.



inb4swfsaysmypostistoosmall

Click to expand...

Both are true as of the present. I used to have tons of time during the Spring semester. With the summer classes going on, it's become rather hectic.

Go ahead, call me a hypocrite.

Wafflz vs Kyte

Hi everyone, according to the rules of this threat I'll try to help (I'm not correct person to tell you what to do or not to, but I have to do it so you guys critique my vids)

What you did well

- (0:38) Nice timing all the time you did Zair to DAC.
- (1:07) Charging smashes to punish your opponents dodges.
- (2:05) Good spacing, link should not be close to his enemy that much.
- You don't dodge that much, it's a good thing, dodge can be punished easily.
- (3:37) Good thinking about combining different moves to hit.
- (3:50) That mind game surprise me too.
- You waited with a cool mind in the hole match, link can have no rushes to attack.

What you did not do well

- (0:42) Do not jump in front of your opponent throwing thing with short hop, link can be punished easily.
- (0:45) Why did you jump backwards? you could just jump, I think that was a control problem.
- (2:08) Don't throw thing when your opponent it's close to you and it's running direct to you, and don't continue after that with an arrow (again in 2:52).
- (2:25) You always do Zair to a direct attack, if you keep on doing it, that will be predictable.
- (3:08) Wrong DI I guess.
- (4:02) I think that was unnecessary, and it let you in a bad position.
- (4:07) That little jump over there can cause instant death, I bad habit i have too, don't do it.

Your opponent bad habits.

- To much dodge, it can be punished with more charged smashes and good timing.
- He always jumped and dodge, try to punish it.
- Never did a two fire balls in the same jump, Zair can go through fire balls.
- He was approaching with rolls, you could punish it by charging smashes.
- Most of the times he ran into you and did the dash attack, shield it and punish, I did not see much of shield punishes coming from link.

What you should improve

-Try to make more full jumps and get the best of them, throwing thing twice or making mind games.
- Don't be afraid of bombs, there are so much things you could do with them, just don't get rid of them to fast.

I guess that's all I can say, I know I'm not the better person to critique you guys, but I hope I helped someone. Thanks.

By the way, I would love to get this vid criticized, the three fights against him was a tourney matches. Thanks

@Parade17

First off great Link.


What you did well:
-(0:09-0:14) pretty sweet opener. Mind gamed the MK to jump into your Up special. Have you ever run into problems doing that? Also i liked the bomb toss up. Though im amazed MK didnt do anything about it.
-(0:18-0:20) Nice foot stool to get out of that failed Bair.
-(0:55-1:00) Nice show of how awesome a Uthrow bomb can be off stage.
-(1:55-2:00) Good airdodge to zair recover.
-(2:24-2:28) Great jab cancel>grab release>Dash attack. Though i think there could have been better options then a dash attack. Maybe fast walk Ftilt or possibly Usmash idk.
-(2:34) Nice read on the dair kill.

What you did not so well
-(0:43-0:46) Shows the dangers of the bomb toss up if they decide to chase you off stage. Could have easily lost a stock if Meta chose a better attack option.
(2:00-2:05) Bad choice in try with Link especially against a MK. Cost of a stock. If anything run off bair instantly so you dont waste your second jump which could have prevented your death.
-(1:40-1:45) Seemed like a bad use of your second jump that could have costed you more then it did.
-(3:23-3:27) I think you missed a jab lock opportunity that could have won you the game right there.
-(3:35-3:40) You might have tried to recover a bit too early, if you allowed yourself to fall a bit further you might have avoided the gimp. Though he could have tried to edge hog you after who knows.

Opponents bad habits:
Didnt really pay attention to your opponent as i dont really know what MK could do better. Cept maybe not just into so many of your Dairs.

What you should improve:
-Work on recovery options, possibly check out Sasook's guide to recovery in AiB.
-I am guilty of this as well but, you used your second jump a little too freely against MK which constantly put you in a bad position
-Make use of Jab lock opportunities when they arise.

Other then that pretty sweet Link, lots of interesting stuff like the FH bomb pull>Arrow>Uspecial edge play. I've tried doing something like that before but arrow always got stuck on the ledge, probably due to SHs instead of FH.

First off, parade17, amazing match. Meta Knight is a big pain to Link and you showed true skill handling him. Props to you.

0:09: I liked the QDA prediction. And, then the bomb mindgame.
0:49: Ledge-hopped F-air. Good one.
0:50: Ah, yes, the Gaynado.
0:57: D-air KO. I didn't expect that.
1:41: You just ducked once and sprinted the other way. Were you trying to pull out a bomb? I think you did this once before, too.
1:57: That's a lot of D-airs. I spam it, too, but against an MK?
2:26: Good grab, but no pummel or throw. What happened?
2:51: I loved how MK was knocked back into the bomb. IDK if it was intentional or a chance occurrence...

I noticed during the match you didn't F-smash or F-tilt. You had U-tilts, and a few U-smashes and even a well placed D-smash. I'm going to answer my own implied question and say: against an MK? F-smash? Lag begs to be punished.

Amazing match. I'm going to look up more of your matches.

Well Fsmashing is relatively a good move against MK. Out ranges him a great deal. Only problem is yes the lag. However, with Link everything kinda lags. Fsmash seems to be useful as long as you space properly, it also helps to combo into it or punish with it.

Thanks for the words

Hi guys, how is it going?

First of all, I would like to thanks the words from Ryos4, Quirkynature and off course Scabe, thanks for those words to my link. I really love that you guys liked him and that makes me want to improve even more so I wont let down the people that thinks he isn't bored to watch.

Second, I'll try to keep in mind every single thing you said about what I didn't do well, and what can I improve, I'm sure that will come very handy.

And to finish, to Scabe, do you really think I can post my vids in that thread? it would be an honor, so if you think I can, which it's the thread name? so I don't post them in the wrong one. And thank you so much. Bye bye

this thread
http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=275902

FVCT~ Frio's Video Critique Thread
For a quick and easy to follow critique. ​

What is it?

Too lazy to read those long and boring critiques on the brawl character boards? Well you're in luck. Just send me a video of you playing from Youtube and I'll re-upload it with a critique commentary on My Channel. I'll PM you when I re-upload your video on my channel.

Is there videos you have already uploaded showing what you do and how you do it?

How bout you pick one. there are too many. lol.