My Neutral Is Bad

[ThatLittleFatGirl]

How do I get better in/what do I need to do in Neutral? I've been told by numerous people that my tech skill is good and my combos are fine and everything, but my neutral game is ass.. Could someone possibly give me a rundown

 

[Archelon]

1. Record yourself
2. Look at every time you get a hit. Think about why you got a hit.
3. Look at every time your opponent got a hit. Think about why they got a hit.
Then you can ask why you got into the situation that was why a hit happened, etc.
P.S. If there aren't any matches of you from a stream, you use a T.V. with a built in VCR recorder or attach a VCR to a TV and record with a rewritable VHS cassette.
Hope this can be helpful.

 

[reverie2]

What Archelon said. You can't really describe in words what makes a good neutral cuz there's so many matchups, so much different spacing you can use for an approach, and it really depends on adapting to your opponent as well. Just try and pay attention to what your opponent does in game. It's something that you learn over time

 

[vizayad89]

Neutral is a rly hard concept to grasp and I've also only recently started thinking about it during matches. I was basically in the same boat as you, though.

Some things that I've noticed have helped me:

Working on spacing and baiting things out with dash-dancing and then whiff punishing.

Focusing on controlling space and attacking the characters "hitmap" (the area around a character controlled by their attacks i.e http://i.imgur.com/vjs046X.jpg)

Focusing on what types of attacks to use and when to use them (Check out SSBM Tutorials new video on the types of attacks and think especially about when/how/why to use them).

Be super careful about what options you choose based on what they have a habit of doing.

Watch top level players and take note of their movement/attacks and analyze the reasoning behind them.

 

[FoxE]

I might be talking gibberish and someone correct me if my information is false.
You have to understand your opponent. Never take your eyes off of them. You need to be able to break through their defense. You have to understand their patterns and find out how to beat it. Then knock 'em off the stage. That's an entirely different thing though.