Easiest character to pick up in Melee?

[TriffHR]

My friend has tried to get into Melee from my peer pressuring of him to do it because I love the game. The problem is, he doesn't know what character to go with. I told him to just find one you like, but he just wants to use the one that's easiest to use, regardless of tier or how good they are. Any suggestions?

 

[ViVio]

game and watch because he is light and easy to pick up

 

[TriffHR]

game and watch because he is light and easy to pick up

That seems legit enough. He is also flat so that makes him even easier to hold, doesn't it?

 

[The Prince L]

Sheik. I don't think I need to explain.

 

[TriffHR]

Sheik. I don't think I need to explain.

Explaining would help

 

[20YY SS | Saiblade]

Sheik, Puff, or Marth. All easy characters, but Marth becomes fast.

game and watch because he is light and easy to pick up

No.

 

[TriffHR]

Sheik, Puff, or Marth. All easy characters, but Marth becomes fast.


No.

How Sheik/Puff? I found rest was not easy when first picking up Smash (Of course I'm fine with it now), and rest is a necessary move to know if you're not completely relying on wall of pains.

 

[GAMb1No]

Mario is a very simple character, but a high tier character I would say pikachu because it has very simple moves but can become a lethal character once you learn how to use it right

 

[20YY SS | Saiblade]

How Sheik/Puff? I found rest was not easy when first picking up Smash (Of course I'm fine with it now), and rest is a necessary move to know if you're not completely relying on wall of pains.

Nooooo, there are great puff mains that don't rest, wall of pains are a tool you have, but not something you have to do, plus it's very easy, melee is not as simple as you may believe. Puff doesn't require much tech, so it's easy to play her at first. Sheik is easy to pick up because of how her moveset handles, it's very easy to pick up her CG, and overall, her things are easy to pick up and generally good.

Mario is a very simple character, but a high tier character I would say pikachu because it has very simple moves but can become a lethal character once you learn how to use it right

Pikachu is a mid tier character, nowhere near high. Mario isn't simple either.

Overall, I say disregard the simplicity, either main Falco or whoever you find the most fun.

 

[TriffHR]

Mario is a very simple character, but a high tier character I would say pikachu because it has very simple moves but can become a lethal character once you learn how to use it right

Would that translate to Dr. Mario, do you think?

 

[GAMb1No]

Would that translate to Dr. Mario, do you think?

I haven't really tried comparing Mario or Dr Mario as I do not play either of them that often, but I think they are similar enough to switch between

 

[AirFair]

I think Marth or Sheik are good to start with since they are both top tier and at least Marth gets a lot of mileage out of fundamentals.

 

[TriffHR]

Nooooo, there are great puff mains that don't rest, wall of pains are a tool you have, but not something you have to do, plus it's very easy, melee is not as simple as you may believe. Puff doesn't require much tech, so it's easy to play her at first. Sheik is easy to pick up because of how her moveset handles, it's very easy to pick up her CG, and overall, her things are easy to pick up and generally good.

Pikachu is a mid tier character, nowhere near high. Mario isn't simple either.

Overall, I say disregard the simplicity, either main Falco or whoever you find the most fun.

Well, I already found my mains. This is about my friend who just wants to pick up an easy character because thats what he finds most fun, and I came here to find suggestions from people to suggest to him to pick. Pretty confusing for just finding a character lol. Did you find Falco hard to start playing when you first picked him up?

 

[20YY SS | Saiblade]

Neither Doc nor Mario are good, they're both very hard to get good at too.

 

[Plunder]

game and watch because he is light and easy to pick up

Wow almost all of you missed the obvious joke....he's light...so you know HE'S EASY TO PICK UP heh heh

Also Mario and Doc are pretty difficult to get good with fast, they require a deep understanding of DD'ing and WD'ing to even have viable approaches. And using their projectiles is a MUST, and it can take a while to get good with projectiles.

I agree with pretty much everyone....
Sheik is easy, Puff is very easy, Marth is pretty easy

All other top tiers can be too technical and require a lot of initial practice just to not kill yourself accidentally 3 times a match

Anyone not top tier....even if they are easy to pick up will have a glass ceiling depending on player. SO unless your friend is intelligent and above average at fighting games I'd say stay away from any lower tier or lower mid tier.
Having said that I will mention that Ganon is rather easy to pick up and if you chose safe fast options, keep stage control, and have amazing edge guarding you can do rather well with little time invested.

 

[EPsilon933]

As long as it's a tournament viable 8 character, it's a good choice

Peach takes truly 0 skill to play well as. Sheik takes like .01 skill. Peach never has to l cancel, nor combo, nor get comboed. It's nice

 

[20YY SS | Saiblade]

Well, I already found my mains. This is about my friend who just wants to pick up an easy character because thats what he finds most fun, and I came here to find suggestions from people to suggest to him to pick. Pretty confusing for just finding a character lol. Did you find Falco hard to start playing when you first picked him up?

Falco isn't hard at first, but once you learn tech some people may consider it pretty hard. He's an awesome character, and you should really consider him.

 

[Plunder]

As long as it's a tournament viable 8 character, it's a good choice

Peach takes truly 0 skill to play well as. Sheik takes like .01 skill. Peach never has to l cancel, nor combo, nor get comboed. It's nice

Except if you play a good Falcon or Falco, then it can be air wobbles and pillars for days. You have to have great DI and SDI to survive long.

Most of the locals (including the 2 stellar mains) here think Peach is one of the most technical characters of the top tiers, I personally find her difficult to play correctly.

 

[TriffHR]

As long as it's a tournament viable 8 character, it's a good choice

Peach takes truly 0 skill to play well as. Sheik takes like .01 skill. Peach never has to l cancel, nor combo, nor get comboed. It's nice

Turnip game OP?

 

[EPsilon933]

Except if you play a good Falcon or Falco, then it can be air wobbles and pillars for days. You have to have great DI and SDI to survive long.

Most of the locals (including the 2 stellar mains) here think Peach is one of the most technical characters of the top tiers, I personally find her difficult to play correctly.

DI just takes a bit of common sense level intuition. It's fine

Peach? Technical? Difficult? Blasphemy!

Turnip game OP?

Very OP

 

[20YY SS | Saiblade]

Turnip game OP?

At a low level CC Dsmash is op as hell too.

 

[Shadow Light Master]

Sheik, easily. She isn't ridiculously light like Puff, and you won't have to play super defensively. Marth is a good choice too, but you NEED to space well with him. I guess maining Marth would teach you an important fundamental early on. But Sheik is pretty braindead at a lower level IMO.

 

[JFB (JurgaBurgaFlintines)]

I would either say Marth or Jigglypuff.

I say Marth because he is a very fundamental-based character. Knowing how to do basic techniques of the game will take him a long way. He also has several advantageous matchups, including Fox and Falco (Which you see frequently in tournaments).

I also say JigglyPuff because she is a simple character at a low level. Putting Rest aside, Jigglypuff can basically wall out characters with her Back Air and Forward Air. She can duck under certain character's grabs and projectiles (Ex: Marth's JC Grab and Falco's Lasers). Also, Jigglypuff uses several less inputs than, say Fox which would make things much more easy for your friend.

 

[MEnKIRBZ]

I would either say Marth or Jigglypuff.

I say Marth because he is a very fundamental-based character. Knowing how to do basic techniques of the game will take him a long way. He also has several advantageous matchups, including Fox and Falco (Which you see frequently in tournaments).

I also say JigglyPuff because she is a simple character at a low level. Putting Rest aside, Jigglypuff can basically wall out characters with her Back Air and Forward Air. She can duck under certain character's grabs and projectiles (Ex: Marth's JC Grab and Falco's Lasers). Also, Jigglypuff uses several less inputs than, say Fox which would make things much more easy for your friend.

did you just say marth has advantageous matchups over fox and falco????

What is life

 

[JFB (JurgaBurgaFlintines)]

When I say he has an advantageous matchup over both, it is ever so slightly in his favor (Like 50.5:49.5) or dead even.

 

[EPsilon933]

did you just say marth has advantageous matchups over fox and falco????

What is life

On FD, I'd believe him. On other stages, those match ups feel even

 

[Born in 1839...]

I thought it was , but other people are saying different characters.
Anyways, the clear winners are: () No particular order.
There's your answer. Pick from one of those three.

 

[Ness Gymrae]

Sheik, Puff, or Marth. All easy characters, but Marth becomes fast.


No.

Game and watch can be easy. I used to play Roy all the time, but I selected G&W once and I beat my friend easily. better than what I have done with Roy. It depends on how you play.

Back to the point: I suggest G&W, Marth/Roy, or Kirby. They were all easy for me.

 

[Plunder]

Game and watch can be easy. I used to play Roy all the time, but I selected G&W once and I beat my friend easily. better than what I have done with Roy. It depends on how you play.

Back to the point: I suggest G&W, Marth/Roy, or Kirby. They were all easy for me.

He came easy to me as well, but you have to play G&W in a very specific way at a mid-high level to not get 4 stocked by Fox/Falco/Peach/etc. Sure with friends and low level players he seem alright but he has so many serious flaws that I wouldn't recommend him to anyone just starting out in a competitive environment unless they feel really confident with him.

Also before anyone else slams you about it...Roy and Kirby I would highly recommend not even considering. Even for as bad as G&W is I think he is far far above those 2, Kirby can be viable but the amount of effort you have to put in is ridiculous and you have to be good with movement and WD'ing. Roy is a lost cause because of how easy he is to combo, CG, and CC.

 

[Ness Gymrae]

He came easy to me as well, but you have to play G&W in a very specific way at a mid-high level to not get 4 stocked by Fox/Falco/Peach/etc. Sure with friends and low level players he seem alright but he has so many serious flaws that I wouldn't recommend him to anyone just starting out in a competitive environment unless they feel really confident with him.

Also before anyone else slams you about it...Roy and Kirby I would highly recommend not even considering. Even for as bad as G&W is I think he is far far above those 2, Kirby can be viable but the amount of effort you have to put in is ridiculous and you have to be good with movement and WD'ing. Roy is a lost cause because of how easy he is to combo, CG, and CC.

Thanks for showing me the flaws... I was unsure about the confidence I had with the characters I had in mind.

 

[zero sum]

don't know why people are saying marth and puff; both of those characters are really hard lol. out of the tournament viable characters:

the easiest characters at the absolute lowest level are probably peach/sheik because no one knows how to deal with peach's down smash because it's really a silly move and sheik's punish game is really simple and intuitive for most people. sheik arouses a lot of salt out of bad players and samus mains though, though, so be wary of that.

falco is probably the easiest character to pick up and get results with once you're minimally competent at the game and hit a certain tech skill floor (which in all honesty isn't that difficult if you can grind it out for an hour or two a day over a couple of weeks). i think people vastly overstate how difficult playing falco is at low-/mid-level tbh; as long as you have your movement down you probably don't need anything more technical than shine grab/wavedash out of shine/shine oos, which is more technical than most other characters but it's honestly not especially difficult with some practice, especially not the former two.

out of non-tournament viable characters i always say that dr mario is probably the easiest character in the game to play that's still any good in a competitive setting. very simple and intuitive at least at the level your friend is probably at right now. if he wants to get really competitive though i'd suggest he switch mains after he feels like he has a pretty good handle on how to play

 

[X WaNtEd X]

My suggestion for your friend is to try all the top tier characters and pick the one he feels most comfortable with. "Easy" is a relative term and varies from person-to-person. You can't really objectify what characters will be easy for someone to start. But there are definitely some characters that are easier for most people. These would be .

Remember, this doesn't mean any of these characters will be the easiest for your friend to start with. I've met people that were more naturally inclined towards , and he's considered one of the hardest characters in the game to control. So please, encourage your friend to give all 8 top tiers a fair chance before deciding on a main. And once your friend does decide a main, encourage him to stick with that main without changing around characters for awhile. It's really important to build muscle memory for your character when you first start and it's really hard to do that if you're constantly switching to your secondaries. Too many beginners try to have secondaries when they can barely even handle their main.

But eventually, he should give mid tiers and other lower tier characters a shot. Some people, such as myself, will discover they have an affinity for a mid tier once they've learned the basics. But learning the basics as a mid tier is usually really hard so he shouldn't start out as one. Unfortunately, the year is 2015 and not 2009. You have to be pretty damn good to play lower tiered characters. But who knows, maybe your friend might just be naturally gifted with Samus but not realize it until he's played a few months of Marth or something.

 

[pagedMov]

Easiest character would probably be Marth, because his f-smash is the ultimate noob killer. But if you want him to actually learn what Melee is all about...
F O O O O O O O X

 

[Kotastic]

Link, spam up-B for dayz.

That's kinda how I started lol.

 

[Dolla Pills]

Once I got my techniques somewhat consistent I found Ganon was a really good pick since he's easy to control, has fundamental gameplay, and is not overly complicated/technical. I would suggest your friend try him out if they already have a basic grasp of the game.

 

[mgets]

I'd say if he wants to get serious about the game you should just start by learning spacies. Learning spacies is the best bet because of their difficulty and once you learn them it's easy to transition to most characters. Marth is also really easy to pick up and do well just by c-sticking and he teaches spacing more so than most characters just by playing him.

 

[o0silentshadow0o]

Well when you say "easy to use," that falls into these categories: Good recovery, simple and effective attacks, hard to punish, low inputs, decent weight to survive attacks, hard to combo, and trade heavy. So I think the character that falls into all of this is Peach; her jump/float alone makes her recovery good, with the added benefit of an almost un-punishable Up-B, unarguably makes her recovery insane. Plus since she is floaty she is very hard to combo allowing her to take less percent, with combination with her weight, she becomes very hard to kill. Her D- Smash is simple extremely effective, and almost impossible to punish, her dash attack is incredible, her aerials are amazing (combination with float becomes god like), and her Forward throw actually kills. Keep in mind everything I mentioned do not need much skill, and can be picked up easily. Plus she has her Turn-ups which are stupidly good.

Look even though I am a Sheik main, and my view might be "bias," I still do not agree that she falls into the category of "easy to use," since she requires very precise attacks, effective movement (with shield dropping being almost a requirement), not to mention how ridiculously punishable and easy her recovery is to edge guard. I play Falco, and I find him easier to use then her.

 

[ChaikaBestGirl]

Sheik. I don't think I need to explain.

I'll have you know that just because I am offended doesn't mean you are incorrect

 

[ShAd3]

I personally would say Falco (even tho i hate him lol) because a lot of newer or lower leveled players usually struggle with Falco's lasers so its easy to rack up damage or just get in on people. and i would also say sheik because again a lot of lower leveled players cant help getting d-throw tech chased or they just don't know how to get around it.

 

[ChaikaBestGirl]

I personally would say Falco (even tho i hate him lol) because a lot of newer or lower leveled players usually struggle with Falco's lasers so its easy to rack up damage or just get in on people. and i would also say sheik because again a lot of lower leveled players cant help getting d-throw tech chased or they just don't know how to get around it.

You make it sound as if they are just good at beating inexperienced players (i mean yeah they are) but I think the question OP is asking is easiest to learn and pick up, not who destroys people learning