Is there any meaningful way for me to practice by myself?

[Phoxhound]

I'm playing on 3DS and my lag online is enormous, my button presses come out a full second after I input them so there's absolutely no way I can play online. I'm not really in a position to meet up with people to play frequently since I'll be moving several times in the next few months, and my friends who play smash are not serious at all; I can roll over them without any real effort. But I'm basically just a good casual player and I'd like to get some practice in preparation for getting into competitive. How can I improve when playing online is absolutely not an option due to lag?

 

[dragontamer]

You say you live near Baltimore. I hear Xanadu games / VGBootCamp exists in the area.

 

[Pyr]

Level 3 computer. Practice inputs/combos/followups/etc. Study matchups online. If possible, start a local scene or join it if it already exists. Go old fashioned and play with someone in the same room as you.

 

[dragontamer]

Old fashioned? In-person is the only real way to play fighting games. All online matches have lag. Hell, the wrong TVs give dozens of miliseconds of lag that can change games, let alone everything that happens on a network stack.

 

[Phoxhound]

You say you live near Baltimore. I hear Xanadu games / VGBootCamp exists in the area.

I'm moving out in 2 days.

 

[Dope_Dizzle]

I usually practice with a level 7 cpu so I don't develop a bad playing style from fighting 9's

 

[Pyr]

Old fashioned? In-person is the only real way to play fighting games. All online matches have lag. Hell, the wrong TVs give dozens of miliseconds of lag that can change games, let alone everything that happens on a network stack.

I know this. I've just run into a lot of "Online capabilities or I don't play" in everything, including fighters.

 

[HeroMystic]

As a person in a similar situation (moved away from a tourney scene I enjoyed in in FL, and my work schedule stops me from going into anything happening in TX), it's best to watch videos and go into the lab (training mode) to practice it. I learn about other characters and fool around with them some to get familiar with their moveset.

Honestly, Smash 4's Online Mode is not bad. In fact, it's leagues better than Brawl, and input delay is only by a few frames (we're talking 1-3 frames). The reason why I don't play For Glory is because the players that go there are terrible. However, if you want to practice with anyone and you don't have a local scene, I'd use this to keep your fundamentals in check.

 

[c4p1v4r4]

I usually practice with a level 7 cpu so I don't develop a bad playing style from fighting 9's

What do you mean about with "bad playing style"? Something like getting used in how they play?

 

[HeroMystic]

Level 9 CPUs read your inputs and make frame-perfect actions, so fighting them are very different from fighting an actual human player.