Tin Man
Smash Hero
I wanted a thread here so that people would have a resource to refer to when they try and figure out how to improve. I'm going to explain everything I did, and why it was useful. I hope that many of the people who read this will benefit off of it and get better as well 
- Some definitions
Character Skill: Knowledge based off of the attributes, and abilities of the characters in the game. Knowing things like the weight of a character, which could lead to how many chaingrabs you got on a character. Or What air release punishes you have available to you. How to combo certain characters, etc.
Player Skill: Strategic knowledge. This is shown through ones ability to decipher patterns, and punish them accordingly given the situations they are in. Higher levels of character skill mean that you're able to make better plans, develop stronger mindgames, and mix it up to remain as unpredictable as possible.
- Research
I have a felling I'm gonna be saying this a lot. You can't figure out everything by yourself. Doing the research benefits you because its more game knowledge. Knowledge is power. Seriously, the more you know, the better. You ca develop your character skill really well this way. There are plenty of chaingrab and air release threads. There are character guides on every board. Figuring out everything your character(s) can do is essential because you want to be able to maximize the abilities of your character(s). You also want to know what other characters can do to you so that you don't run into a situation where you're knowledge wasn't sufficient enough to get you out of a chaingrab/combo lets say.
- Watch Videos
Because again, You can't figure out everything by yourself. Watching videos of players better than you, playing your character(s) against really good opponents really helps. You get to see the strategies that work get implemented. This shows you how to win. Sometimes, the problem people have is not knowing how to improve. There are people out there with videos on Youtube that you can watch in order to figure out how they overcome a certain matchup. Ideally, you can assume that better players know what they're doing, and have a strategy and purpose for every move. Trying to figure out why they do certain moves in certain situations, and why they work is one of the things you need to look for when watching videos. Trying to implement their strategies will ultimately help you in the long run.
But watching videos of you character(s) top players isn't enough. Watch general top level play. Your character(s) top players also can't figure out everything by themselves). When watching other characters, you can look for strategies based off of what they do, and implement how they approach a certain matchup using you character skill, in order to adapt their strategy to your character(s).
The other part about watching videos is that you need to watch videos of yourself playing, so that you can see what your doing wrong. This can offer a different perspective on your matches. You can even get other people to critique your videos. Hear what they have to say and try and implement they're critique into your game play.
- Go to tourneys
There is no shortcut for tournament experience. Go to as many tournaments that you can go to. Tournament matches offer you an opportunity to play people when they are playing to the best of their ability. Some people have an issue with pressure and choking. The best way to solve this is to get used to it so that it doesn't become an issue anymore. Tournament experience develops your mindset as well. Exposure will make any issues you may have with performing in tournament less and less existent.
- Ask for help
You can't figure out everything by yourself. You're going to need people to help you. Like I said in the video section, you can have people critique your gameplay (ideally people who use the same character since they will have the character skill to tell you how to handle a situation as best as you can with you're character). Friendly people. Ask what they used to beat you. Just ask for help.
- Practice
Trust me when I say that you don't wanna be practicing options in tournament. Practice in friendlies so that you know how to maximize the damage in your combos, so that you can pull off your tech skill, and so that you know how to handle certain situations that require more precision than usual to overcome. You want to be as fresh as possible for the tournament. Lack of practice can lead to you getting somewhat rusty.
- What to look for
This is just some general advice to help develop the player skills of those who read this.
Not hating on MvC3 but I hear some people say that while mindgames are important in that game, once you get the hit confirm, it might as well be training mode until your character is dead, the combo is over, or the combo is dropped. The closest thing to this in Brawl would be the Ice Climbers chaingrab. Once they get the grab, its training mode until one of the 3 situations above happens lmao. Again, not hating.
The point is, for the most part in Brawl, there are no combos. This means that player skill is somewhat more important. So when playing a match, you need to remember that every hit counts. Having character skill can help you figure out the strategies they may be going for. Are they trying to grab you to get a chaingrab, or low % combo? I figure that referencing Naruto is the best way to explain this. They talk about how information is extremely valuable, and is the key in defeating your opponent, which is why there are situations where even if a ninja dies, they may have some way of bringing the information back to their village. And that's the point that I'm trying to stress right now.
You will run into situation where you only have 1 set to figure out how to beat your opponent before he figures out how to beat you. You need to be able to gather as much information as possible. How? That depends on your character really (so develop your character skills, and use them to further your player skill by finding out how to incorporate what I'm about to say). Characters with a projectile can pressure they're opponent with them, and bait a reaction. Realizing how they react to a certain situation will allow you to further develop your strategy so that you know how to beat them the next time they may try to evade/block your projectile.
Pressure your opponents and bait reactions. This strategy however does not work in all situations. Sometimes your going to need to use what you know from beforehand based on how others have responded in the matchup and take risks. At the same time, keep in mind that your opponent is going to try and get information off of you, so you need to mix up you're baits, and punishes. There are several different strategies and situations that can be run into and I'd be nuts to list them all. But that ties into the next section
- EXPERIENCE
The more, the merrier. Knowing how to handle a situation instead of winging it and hoping for the best is always better. Everything I said will develop your experience.
And with all that being said, I hope everyone that reads this will be able to improve : D.
- Some definitions
Character Skill: Knowledge based off of the attributes, and abilities of the characters in the game. Knowing things like the weight of a character, which could lead to how many chaingrabs you got on a character. Or What air release punishes you have available to you. How to combo certain characters, etc.
Player Skill: Strategic knowledge. This is shown through ones ability to decipher patterns, and punish them accordingly given the situations they are in. Higher levels of character skill mean that you're able to make better plans, develop stronger mindgames, and mix it up to remain as unpredictable as possible.
- Research
I have a felling I'm gonna be saying this a lot. You can't figure out everything by yourself. Doing the research benefits you because its more game knowledge. Knowledge is power. Seriously, the more you know, the better. You ca develop your character skill really well this way. There are plenty of chaingrab and air release threads. There are character guides on every board. Figuring out everything your character(s) can do is essential because you want to be able to maximize the abilities of your character(s). You also want to know what other characters can do to you so that you don't run into a situation where you're knowledge wasn't sufficient enough to get you out of a chaingrab/combo lets say.
- Watch Videos
Because again, You can't figure out everything by yourself. Watching videos of players better than you, playing your character(s) against really good opponents really helps. You get to see the strategies that work get implemented. This shows you how to win. Sometimes, the problem people have is not knowing how to improve. There are people out there with videos on Youtube that you can watch in order to figure out how they overcome a certain matchup. Ideally, you can assume that better players know what they're doing, and have a strategy and purpose for every move. Trying to figure out why they do certain moves in certain situations, and why they work is one of the things you need to look for when watching videos. Trying to implement their strategies will ultimately help you in the long run.
But watching videos of you character(s) top players isn't enough. Watch general top level play. Your character(s) top players also can't figure out everything by themselves). When watching other characters, you can look for strategies based off of what they do, and implement how they approach a certain matchup using you character skill, in order to adapt their strategy to your character(s).
The other part about watching videos is that you need to watch videos of yourself playing, so that you can see what your doing wrong. This can offer a different perspective on your matches. You can even get other people to critique your videos. Hear what they have to say and try and implement they're critique into your game play.
- Go to tourneys
There is no shortcut for tournament experience. Go to as many tournaments that you can go to. Tournament matches offer you an opportunity to play people when they are playing to the best of their ability. Some people have an issue with pressure and choking. The best way to solve this is to get used to it so that it doesn't become an issue anymore. Tournament experience develops your mindset as well. Exposure will make any issues you may have with performing in tournament less and less existent.
- Ask for help
You can't figure out everything by yourself. You're going to need people to help you. Like I said in the video section, you can have people critique your gameplay (ideally people who use the same character since they will have the character skill to tell you how to handle a situation as best as you can with you're character). Friendly people. Ask what they used to beat you. Just ask for help.
- Practice
Trust me when I say that you don't wanna be practicing options in tournament. Practice in friendlies so that you know how to maximize the damage in your combos, so that you can pull off your tech skill, and so that you know how to handle certain situations that require more precision than usual to overcome. You want to be as fresh as possible for the tournament. Lack of practice can lead to you getting somewhat rusty.
- What to look for
This is just some general advice to help develop the player skills of those who read this.
Not hating on MvC3 but I hear some people say that while mindgames are important in that game, once you get the hit confirm, it might as well be training mode until your character is dead, the combo is over, or the combo is dropped. The closest thing to this in Brawl would be the Ice Climbers chaingrab. Once they get the grab, its training mode until one of the 3 situations above happens lmao. Again, not hating.
The point is, for the most part in Brawl, there are no combos. This means that player skill is somewhat more important. So when playing a match, you need to remember that every hit counts. Having character skill can help you figure out the strategies they may be going for. Are they trying to grab you to get a chaingrab, or low % combo? I figure that referencing Naruto is the best way to explain this. They talk about how information is extremely valuable, and is the key in defeating your opponent, which is why there are situations where even if a ninja dies, they may have some way of bringing the information back to their village. And that's the point that I'm trying to stress right now.
You will run into situation where you only have 1 set to figure out how to beat your opponent before he figures out how to beat you. You need to be able to gather as much information as possible. How? That depends on your character really (so develop your character skills, and use them to further your player skill by finding out how to incorporate what I'm about to say). Characters with a projectile can pressure they're opponent with them, and bait a reaction. Realizing how they react to a certain situation will allow you to further develop your strategy so that you know how to beat them the next time they may try to evade/block your projectile.
Pressure your opponents and bait reactions. This strategy however does not work in all situations. Sometimes your going to need to use what you know from beforehand based on how others have responded in the matchup and take risks. At the same time, keep in mind that your opponent is going to try and get information off of you, so you need to mix up you're baits, and punishes. There are several different strategies and situations that can be run into and I'd be nuts to list them all. But that ties into the next section
- EXPERIENCE
The more, the merrier. Knowing how to handle a situation instead of winging it and hoping for the best is always better. Everything I said will develop your experience.
And with all that being said, I hope everyone that reads this will be able to improve : D.
