Keep Losing? Try this...

[mlown]

reading this at work makes me wanna go home and.......

mwa hahahahahahaha

 

[IceColdEdge]

I'm a tekken/sc player and am just learning smash for the first time... But this is an excellent read... The underlying concepts can be applied to all games... I will take this advice to heart.

- I.C.E.

 

[Cooper736]

Wow, read this for the first time, and I have to say I'm very impressed. The length may be daunting at first, but it's not nearly as bad as some other threads out there.... Not to mention the fact that many competitive smash newbies such as myself will want to read something comprehensive anyway if they want to get better. I'd much rather read a two-page document about how to play better than simply hearing the phrase "don't get hit or spam smashes."

That said, I really appreciate a few of your points. I'm a Toon Link main, so spacing really comes naturally for me. However, for lack of real people to play against, I've gone to Lv. 9 CPUs, and you're right: it does mess up my game. I've gone to their level instead of a human one. Instead of worrying about playing smart and dishing damage where I can, I've become obsessed with smashing, playing way too offensively, and basically running into the same traps again and again. When I next pick up my GC controller and sit down to play Brawl, I'm going to go against a Lv. 3. Needless to say I won't be getting much of a challenge, but from what you've said, and that isn't the first time I've heard it, I'll be getting a much better workout than from dealing with perfect shielding and worrying about which smash to use next, rather than how to counterattack a smashwhore.

I do have one question though: should I be worrying about my connection percentage? After a battle, I believe you can see how many of your attacks actually connected. When you were talking about making every hit count, that was the first thing that popped into my head. And if I'm working on combos and spacing, would you suggest doing that?

 

[cwjalex]

I do have one question though: should I be worrying about my connection percentage? After a battle, I believe you can see how many of your attacks actually connected. When you were talking about making every hit count, that was the first thing that popped into my head. And if I'm working on combos and spacing, would you suggest doing that?

Connection percentage doesn't matter at all. What I mean by making every hit count is that you have an intended landing spot for every attack or movement. You want to have complete control over your character. The cpu might move out of the way, but you still want your attack to land exactly where you intended.

 

[C@sH Mooney]

don't get hit.....

 

[leeper]

Hey mate... Really good read.

This has actually lessened my concern about brawl a great deal... It seems as though it is a different game but still very technically challenging - just in a different way to melee....

I really hope Brawl players take this on board and it works to strengthen the brawl crowd...

Also I will be playing soon as I caved and ordered a freeloader heh >.< - This thread sort of made me feel like I was starting the game with an 'edge' (when I eventually get it)

 

[xxvic1ousxx]

Simple and to the point; very informative. A lot of players tend to forget to master the fundimentals and jump straight for the advanced techniques. Hopefully, this will help some players to better themselves.

Another thing one should take into account as well as the basics, are probably your character specific traits. Every character has their speed, strength and ability to give and take damage, as well as knockback. Knowing these character specific traits effect how you apply the games fundimentals.

 

[Lag]

good advice. thanks.

 

[Cooper736]

I was thinking about this this morning: when you say it's best to practice against Lv. 1-3 CPUs, it's to get the hang of range and delivering your hits. I was playing and I got decent with some good maneuvers I hadn't tried before, but I still fell into the trap of worrying too much about beating my helpless opponent, as opposed to actually practicing. The point of playing a low-level opponent is to use effective combos, avoid attacks, and only go in close when you know it's safe, correct?

 

[Time/SpaceMage]

That was a good read. I've realized for awhile that I still have knee-jerk reactions and watch my own character too much, and it was good to see it elaborated on. I'll remember to keep my focus on the opponent.

Oh right, the issue I have about watching my opponents is that I can only watch one at a time, haha. In a 2v2 or FFA it's a lot harder to see those attacks in advance.

 

[wjang]

defiantly not too long, definitely super helpful
can't thank you enough for this!

 

[N1c2k3]

Good read. Nothing really new here if you've been around the boards for a while. There's a few other threads that contain the same and and more info, better spoken. Go find G-reg's thread those of you who haven't seen it already. Guess it's good to make some new ones every once in a while for the influx of new players. Lord knows they need it...

 

[Fatmanonice]

Keep Losing? Try this...

Play Marth.

Heh, too true. Here's the alternative: Keep losing 4 player matches? Use Ike. Both characters are grossly overused.

Also, a question for the OP:

When practicing against low level computers, should your goal be to avoid damage as long as possible or string out KO's as fast as possible using most or all of a character's moveset? Perhaps a little of both?

 

[SoliceTK]

This is good info Cwjalex, thank you for putting this up and thinking about us little guys and gals.
I like how you broke it down and made it so simple, looking forward to more good reads like this around here.

 

[estion11]

Good Read! To add to the part about practicing against cpus it also helps to only use one move against them until you can use that move effectively. I used to be a hardcore tekken player and I would play through on hard only using jabs and crouch jabs, and it helped my game immensely

 

[BDawgPHD]

There's a lot about the Brawl meta game that I'm slowly learning and picking up on, and the bare bones of it comes straight down to the basis of the argument of this thread.

 

[Pustulio]

Keep losing? Try this........

STEROIDS!!!!!!!

 

[KillerTEC]

Although I don't keep losing, you taught me something... I need to work on my spacing...

 

[BDawgPHD]

Keep losing? Try this........

STEROIDS!!!!!!!

How about....

Keep losing? Try this...........

MORE COWBELL!!!

 

[Fatmanonice]

I tried using this advice yesterday. At first, I was greatly disappointed because I wasn't winning matches left and right like I was by going into a fury of attacks but things started to turn around once I paid more attention to what my opponent was doing. Attacks became much easier to dodge, I got hit much less, and I would last much longer even with high percantages. When I would die, it would be accidently getting stuck in a crowd rather then running into smash attacks. Speaking of which, most are very easy to dodge if you pay attention because almost all of them have tell-tale signs before they strike. Ike and Lucario are the worst examples of this and paying attention to them can give you a huge advantage in battle (at least against people who spam them). Like the OP said, using this won't guarentee you'll win every match you go into but it definately makes you a better player and you don't have to rely on tired old routines. Thanks for the advice.

I have another question to ask though. Marth's Fsmash is retardly fast, what's the best way to approach it?

 

[N1c2k3]

Shield....

 

[hizzlum]

Nice advice, helpful and help with defensive mindgames

 

[Abdu]

I feel like a noob after reading this, good thing i read it.

 

[A New England Winter]

I have a bit of an issue with spacing, thankfully it's getting better. (It better...I main Ike, Lucario and Toon Link!)

I do, however, take some big risks waaay too often, like TL's Dair spiking or Lucario FAir chase off to nowhere, and sometimes, it gets me killed. I've definitely got to work on that.

 

[Rat]

This was a great read.

Good information. I wish someone would have told me this when i started playing. I would have saved much time.


On a side note:
Why do people complain about length? Too long is like 1000 pages. But that's a weekend. 2 pages of text? With paragraphs (quite novel in a forum) and well thought out ideas? Yeah that's tough.

you should check this out:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=rN2VqFPNS8w

 

[Vro]

Agreed, don't get hit.

 

[Skrye]

In summation...don't get hit.

Never were truer words spoken of this game.

 

[Skalor]

Thanks for this. Made me realise a few basic things i should have figured out

 

[Tien2500]

Good read. I noticed this a lot yesterday while I was playing. Its especially noticable with Toon Link (in regards to overcommitting to moves.) Notice how often mediocre toon link players will go for the second part of their Fsmash after completely missing with the first when it is in no way advantageous.

 

[tutata]

This is a great read especially for those that think fighting computers gets them anywhere.

 

[Lionheart+]

Great advice awjalex. This is some basic stuff, but really informative and essential to the development of any smash player. especially spacing..

 

[TriforceCore]

This is the most basic of basic that player need to know to even consider becoming competitive. Good read indeed

 

[1170]

Hmm. An interesting read. I guess this goes along with not learning AT's until one needs to use them (not learning them overly early, i.e. learning to wavedash before learning to space properly). Focus on the stuff that needs to be worked on now, not a year from now.

 

[DarkStar92]

Very good threat

 

[Ant13]

Thanks for this. I knew spacing was important, but the amount of detail you went into to get the point across really was helpful. I'm relatively new to the whole Smash thing and have a general idea of how to do all the fancy pants stuff. Now... I think I'll keep my current knowledge where it's at and focus most of my attention to the basics.

The amount I appreciate this couldn't be conveyed with simple words, but I'll settle for another thanks.

Thank you.

 

[Vyse]

I really appreciate the feedback guys...I was almost afraid to post this because I didn't know how it would be received.

Understandably, as it is something that has been said before many times. But it's necessary to bring to the fore again with the release of a new smash bros game, and new players that don't necessarily have the skills of advanced Melee player, but are eager to learn the right way.

Even for me, it was a good refresher. Brawl as they say is a lot more campy, so this is exactly what the doctor ordered.

EDIT:

It should also be emphasized that players trying to incorporate this into their games WILL be worse off at first. I experienced it too with Melee in the early days, but with enough practice you'll slowly, but surely, get a lot better at the game.

And as for practicing, there is no substitute for human reactions. Do not think that being able to defeat 3 lvl 9 cpu's will make you a better player, because it most definitely won't. A human with human reactions is necessary for training with.

At worst, like cwjalex said, practice with very low level cpu's (Preferably lvl 1's) They let you practice spacing without having to deal with unrealistic reactions.

 

[Kust0m]

some good points in there, good read overall

 

[rmporter35]

This was exactly what I needed to read. Good information. I will work on the basics...

 

[Devil7]

I had a guy tell me damage was an afterthought and heavy characters should ignore damage.

 

[OmegaXF]

good advice