"Mains"

ZoSo · Sep 10, 2007

I'd just like to say that I think this idea of "mains" has gotten entirely out of hand. For example, something I've been seeing a lot of lately is the assertion that a player's skill with a character that they play casually is somehow unworthy of acknowledgement in relation to that of a player who "mains" said character. It wasn't until fairly recently that I realized exactly how much this mentality annoys me.

The whole concept of maining a character really boils down to nothing more than a mindset. It says nothing of the ability of the player, and should not serve to give one player leverage/preference over another, indiscriminate of their relative skill levels. To put it bluntly, if somebody *****, they ****. End of story. It doesn't really matter in the long run as I'm sure the truly talented are content to just beat everybody and don't really care whether they receive their due credit or not. Still, it leaves a sour taste in my mouth to know that PC Chris won't get credit for playing one of the best Falcons/Links/Marios/Marths/[insert character]s in the world due to some arbitrary, imaginary set of qualifications.

I suppose I'm not so much against the idea of having a main (although I have some qualms there as well) as I am against the elitism that it frequently engenders.

I'm not trying to provoke or flame anybody with this post. I just had something to share and I sincerely hope that it will foster some interesting and cathartic discussion.

Demon_machinE · Sep 10, 2007

I agree completly, your skill applies overall, and if you're good at smash you should be able to beat those lower in skill than you with the entire cast, or most of it anyway.

Of course you'll be better with 3-4 characters overall, but ya I like your post.

drunkkunmonkey · Sep 10, 2007

i have to dissagree i believe there are mains its the character you know inside and out the one you practice with the most the one you space with the best the one you give a few dollars if there a lil short in cash. i believe in having more then one main though like i main marth,falco,falcon,and fox. im equaly good with all but anyone else besides them i wont do as good since i dont know any other charcters spacing, it messes up my strats, i wont know a list of possible death combos from the top of my head. yeah i think theres mains and imnto saying you cant be amazing with anyone els ebecause you can. it kinda depends how familuar you are with them to measure out HOW AMAZING you will be with them. i mean yeah pc chris has one of the better captain falcons ive seen but i wouldnt put my money on him against people like g-reg, isai, or darkrain those who main captain falcon

Puffs · Sep 10, 2007

To be honest, my mains are Jigglypuff and Sheik. But I agree with you, you can be particularly talented with one character, and still use all the others just as much and/or well.

Mic_128 · Sep 10, 2007

Mains = Characters you Mainly play as. Simple as that.

EDIT: To be honest, I didn't understand at all what the OP was getting at.

chillindude829 · Sep 10, 2007

Mic_128 said:
Mains = Characters you Mainly play as. Simple as that.

i think you missed the point

BUR5T · Sep 10, 2007

ZoSo said:
I'd just like to say that I think this idea of "mains" has gotten entirely out of hand. For example, something I've been seeing a lot of lately is the assertion that a player's skill with a character that they play casually is somehow unworthy of acknowledgement in relation to that of a player who "mains" said character. It wasn't until fairly recently that I realized exactly how much this mentality annoys me.

The whole concept of maining a character really boils down to nothing more than a mindset. It says nothing of the ability of the player, and should not serve to give one player leverage/preference over another, indiscriminate of their relative skill levels. To put it bluntly, if somebody *****, they ****. End of story. It doesn't really matter in the long run as I'm sure the truly talented are content to just beat everybody and don't really care whether they receive their due credit or not. Still, it leaves a sour taste in my mouth to know that PC Chris won't get credit for playing one of the best Falcons/Links/Marios/Marths/[insert character]s in the world due to some arbitrary, imaginary set of qualifications.

I suppose I'm not so much against the idea of having a main (although I have some qualms there as well) as I am against the elitism that it frequently engenders.

I'm not trying to provoke or flame anybody with this post. I just had something to share and I sincerely hope that it will foster some interesting and cathartic discussion.

i diznont think this homey understands wizzy a main is even. all a main is, is tha charactar T-H-to-tha-izzat you use tha most, nobody ever said that if a bad kid plays fo` a day wit his main T-H-to-tha-izzat he is gonna bizzle isai ballin' as mewtwo or pichu from tha streets of tha L-B-C. i dizzle kniznow how you gots tizzy idea . Boom bam as I step in the jam, God ****.

Blackadder · Sep 10, 2007

BUR5T said:
i diznont think this homey understands wizzy a main is even. all a main is, is tha charactar T-H-to-tha-izzat you use tha most, nobody ever said that if a bad kid plays fo` a day wit his main T-H-to-tha-izzat he is gonna bizzle isai ballin' as mewtwo or pichu from tha streets of tha L-B-C. i dizzle kniznow how you gots tizzy idea . Boom bam as I step in the jam, God ****.

...what?
I'm a pretty big fan of rap music, but I have No idea what you said there.
You started using english, and seem to have slowly decended into "Shizzle" and completly lost me.

Anyways, all I gotta really say is there isn't much wrong with having a main.
It's just who you use most, nothing more. It doesn't reflect skill or grace, it's just a way to say "I like Link in Melee!" and not much more. It's just who you use.

Uck · Sep 10, 2007

So your saying that you would like the community to understand that a player can be acknowledged and respected for more than the character they mainly use?

That somehow a person who doesnt play with his main squeeze gets the equivalent of a cold shoulder?

I think I understand what your saying.Whenever I switch from the main character I play I get the "come on I wanted a real match look". If I beat them theyll still want me to switch back to my "main".Now I do love my main character but I see what your getting at.

luigidude90 · Sep 10, 2007

to be honest i thought mains just meant your favoured character, mine would obviously be luigi but i see where your coming from.

Cort · Sep 10, 2007

Woah, a good melee discussion topic?

lol @ Mic's post. I think there's a lot of symbolism right thar.

Yeah, mains are dumb. Just play the game.

Just be a SSBM main.

KevinM · Sep 10, 2007

I'm a cort main <3

Good **** Dave

Aesir · Sep 10, 2007

ZoSo's trying to say is basically because someone mains one character we shouldn't disregard all their characters.

example PC is an an amazing fox/falco player. but people don't seem to realize he has a lot of other equally amazing characters. For him I think it just comes down to comfort level.

Drift · Sep 10, 2007

I think he means the tier list. Like Mario and Falcon are lower on the tier list so Falco players won't get as much credit as a Mario beating a Falco etc;.

Shmooguy · Sep 10, 2007

So ZoSo you're saying that just because Noob Smasher A mains Link, he shouldn't be considered a better Link user than Pro Smasher B just because Noob Smasher A mains Link and Pro Smasher B doesn't?

I don't know anyone who has that mentality. For example, everyone on the WC knows that Ken's anything will beat everyone elses main; Ken's luigi can beat other luigi mains easily and that's never disputed.

Correct me if I misunderstood, but this seems more like a specific/personal problem more than an overarching/general thing.

BigRick · Sep 10, 2007

ZoSo said:
To put it bluntly, if somebody *****, they ****. End of story.

And he should be put in jail.

drunkkunmonkey · Sep 10, 2007

BUR5T said:
i diznont think this homey understands wizzy a main is even. all a main is, is tha charactar T-H-to-tha-izzat you use tha most, nobody ever said that if a bad kid plays fo` a day wit his main T-H-to-tha-izzat he is gonna bizzle isai ballin' as mewtwo or pichu from tha streets of tha L-B-C. i dizzle kniznow how you gots tizzy idea . Boom bam as I step in the jam, God ****.

its funny but i understand every word he just said lol

Brookman · Sep 10, 2007

I main young link, mario, bowser, and pichu.

I have faith that with my hard work and lots of trainings I will be able to incrase my power level and learn new jutsus that will allow me to defeat the highest ranking ninja, ken. I will shinku hadouken my way through tournaments with mewtwo, cause taj has proven that mewtwo can beat the good characters, that means anyone can do it.

I could go on and on about how much the tier list is stoppid but honostely I think I've made my point.

kirby 4 lyf

Shmooguy said:
So ZoSo you're saying that just because Noob Smasher A mains Link, he shouldn't be considered a better Link user than Pro Smasher B just because Noob Smasher A mains Link and Pro Smasher B doesn't?

I don't know anyone who has that mentality. For example, everyone on the WC knows that Ken's anything will beat everyone elses main; Ken's luigi can beat other luigi mains easily and that's never disputed.

Correct me if I misunderstood, but this seems more like a specific/personal problem more than an overarching/general thing.

No, just because you don't see it doesn't mean it's not there silly. when someone asks who the best player for a certain character is (say, peach) people always leave out PC chris, or m2k, because they "main" fox or marth, or whatever character they happen to be winning with at the moment.

I'm pretty sure that your sweeping generalization has some foundation in reality, but you should maybe look around a little more before going down that road again.

Skler · Sep 10, 2007

I understand what this post means and also understand why so many people have no idea what it's talking about.

If a pro is good at every character they are better than a random main of that character and should be considered one of the best <insert character name> players. Just because Ken doesn't main bowser doesn't make him worse than any bowser mains out there. However, he will never beat KevinM because KevinM is too good.

theONEjanitor · Sep 10, 2007

yeah Chu Dat plays one of the better Pikachu's in the nation.
but he'll always be known for his climbers
and ken mains marth, but his fox is probably top 10 in the world

i only say i "main" Marth because I'm leagues better with him than any other character.
I actually play every character on the game except Yoshi and Ness.

Brookman · Sep 10, 2007

Players like PC have the ability to do well with every character because they just understand how the game works, and have a solid grasp of characters and their match ups for whatever reason. (experience?)

Maining a character is not the issue here, it's just that people will ask "who is the best this" and will say things like "azen doesn't count" even though azen had the best everything, even though I think ken beat him in every character ditto at some point. I could also be completely wrong about that.

fairy tales are good though.

TheZhuKeeper · Sep 10, 2007

ss's roy is amazing because it's green. yes that's right guys, he mains green.

Cort · Sep 10, 2007

Cactuar also mains green.

`Jammin' Jobus · Sep 10, 2007

i used to force myself to pick a main, then i just said **** it and now i play every character

Rapid_Assassin · Sep 10, 2007

I know the points that Zoso is trying to get at here:

1. I've seen in arguments over who is the best (insert random character here), someone would mention a random pro, and then someone else would say "Oh, he doesn't count. He doesn't main that character." Well, yes he does count. Or "PC Chris isn't the best Falco anymore because he hasn't played him in tournament in a while." (there's too much wrong with this statement to bother explaining it) Pros don't use certain characters in tournament because they main that character, they use the character they think would give them the best results. Even though Pc Chris has one of the best Links in the world, he probably won't pull it out in tournament on one of the best Fox players in the world because his high tiers would probably give better results. Also, why should anyone be surprised that any of the top 20 players in the country are good with random characters that they don't main?

2. It seems to be a current trend among crappy players to somehow justify their losses by saying "oh, that's your main." I don't know how many times I've been to a tournament and played against some awful *** player with a random character, just for the first thing to come out of his mouth to be "Is that your main?" Does it really make a difference if I main whatever character beat you? Of course, the more experienced players would probably say they'd rather lose to my main, or maybe one of the 5 other characters that I don't completely suck balls with.. If you are good enough for me to have to use my main to beat you, or can beat me no matter what (aside from massive sandbagging), you don't need to ask that question. The kind of logic that goes on with many of these players is that it's somehow "not as bad" to be 4 stocked by someone's main than by some other random character. In a way it makes sense. But if you are being 4 stocked by anyone, you are doing something wrong enough for it to not matter if they main that character.

BigRick · Sep 10, 2007

Mew2King has the best everything.

This is why he's king!

ZoSo · Sep 10, 2007

BigRick said:
postcount++

All spam is to be relegated to the tier list thread.

It seems like a lot of people don't really understand what I was getting at in the least, but I'm too lazy to explain it.

Micheloxx · Sep 10, 2007

wel man, skills first, stuff second

Shmooguy · Sep 13, 2007

Brookman said:
No, just because you don't see it doesn't mean it's not there silly. when someone asks who the best player for a certain character is (say, peach) people always leave out PC chris, or m2k, because they "main" fox or marth, or whatever character they happen to be winning with at the moment.

I'm pretty sure that your sweeping generalization has some foundation in reality, but you should maybe look around a little more before going down that road again.

oh i see what the OP was talking about now. yeah that makes sense.

Brookman said:
I think ken beat him in every character ditto at some point. I could also be completely wrong about that.

im pretty sure it's true. i think he only lost 3 out of the 26 dittos but i don't remember which characters.

BIG-T · Sep 13, 2007

There are some ppl who are better because of who they main. Thats why I dont respect Marth players that get owned if they venture off to any other characters -_-

Brookman · Sep 13, 2007

BIG-T said:
There are some ppl who are better because of who they main. Thats why I dont respect Marth players that get owned if they venture off to any other characters -_-

ur dum .

shmooguy, I remember it being bowser, m2, kirby (not really sure about kirby)

BIG-T · Sep 13, 2007

Brookman said:
ur dum .

shmooguy, I remember it being bowser, m2, kirby (not really sure about kirby)

ur gay .

Zankoku · Sep 13, 2007

rofl, morons with ATTITUDE!

Brookman · Sep 13, 2007

Ankoku said:
rofl, morons with ATTITUDE!

If only you had any ideaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

KevinM · Sep 13, 2007

Hey brookman, look at me message from school, oh snapz i'm a rebel...

On a side note, i've understood what Dave's been trying to say for a while, and haven't taken his advice to heart.. i gotta start working on that.

It's a slow process

Brookman · Sep 13, 2007

I'm not really sure how anyone could misconstrue the point that zoso is trying to illustrate. Not like it matters so much anyway, but I dunno, it's pretty much as simple as reading. <----LOL, simple as reading. ^_^

Big_R · Sep 13, 2007

Even pc said it in a thread. He said he'd like a low tier tourny so he could get the triple crown or something. Then he said later he forgot ppl main low tiers and that he may not win. i forgot where i was goin with this.

marthmaster04 · Sep 13, 2007

Imo a Main(S) is just the character(s) you use the most.

Brookman · Sep 13, 2007

Big_R said:
Even pc said it in a thread. He said he'd like a low tier tourny so he could get the triple crown or something. Then he said later he forgot ppl main low tiers and that he may not win. i forgot where i was goin with this.

It was in my tournament thread, and that was just PC being modest. :lick:

marthmaster04 said:
Imo a Main(S) is just the character(s) you use the most.

Mic_128 said:
Mains = Characters you Mainly play as. Simple as that.

EDIT: To be honest, I didn't understand at all what the OP was getting at.

chillindude829 said:
i think you missed the point

Anyway, your opinion is nice, but this topic is not "what's your opinion on what a main is" though this topic hasn't garnered any discussion at all based on the actual topic, so I guess it doesn't actually matter.

Delphiki · Sep 13, 2007

Here is the only valid argument I have for claiming the little guys can be 'better' with a specific character than the top level professionals. It depends on your definition of 'better'.

Does skill with a certain character mean you

A) win or perform the best with that character , or does it mean

B) you have more originality, experience, and knowledge, RELATIVELY, with that character

Like what Rapid Assassin was saying, but let's take it a bit into the extremes. Let's say, for argument's sake, that Chu Dat has never in his entire life used Donkey Kong. He still has the ability to pick DK and beat very good players. Does that mean he has a very good Donkey Kong? Or is the skill to be attributed only to Chu, and not specifically to his DK?

"Mains"

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Smash Hero

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Smash Champion

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Smash Master

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