Is it possible to be good if I'm bad at timing?

[2dsystem]

I've kinda been wanting to get into smash competitively, but I've always found it hard to do things like short hops, since you have to be very quick with your button presses, and things like L-cancelling and DI seem next to impossible, since the window of opportunity for those things are so fast, and by the time I've been hit and realize that I should be doing these things, it's already too late and I just get punished even harder. Is there any way to overcome this? Or should I just relegate myself to playing casually? (sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, I'm kinda new here)

 

[Octorockandroll]

Good is of course relative, but I'm going to say no. Too many universal mechanics in this game are heavily timing based, especially the defensive options. You could try picking a more offensive character who doesn't need them quite that much, but you're better off working on your timing.

 

[2dsystem]

what would be a good way to do that though? Is it better to practice in training mode or online matches? or should I try something ese, like Osu or something?

 

[Octorockandroll]

what would be a good way to do that though? Is it better to practice in training mode or online matches? or should I try something ese, like Osu or something?

Osu can probably help with coordination and anticipation, but really the best way is to just play local against good opponents. Yeah, you're gonna get bodied with your bad timing, but thats just how you improve and honestly its pretty much unheard of for a new player to start competitive and not get destroyed no matter how much training they do beforehand. Experience is the best teacher.

 

[2dsystem]

Ok well locals isn't really an option for me since I don't have a car or many friends who play smash, but so I guess getting bodied in online over and over would be my best bet?

 

[T-Donor66]

Short hop aerials can be done in Ultimate by pressing attack and jump at the same time.

 

[Haarberger]

My timing lacks too, when it does work I can't really tell how I was thinking, which kills the consistency directly.
Timing use to work better in other games but somehow Smash gives it a push backwards.
Could be that everything being cluttered on the screen like details, animations and lights makes it distractful as everything's on a static view.

 

[Vortexmonkey]

Ok well locals isn't really an option for me since I don't have a car or many friends who play smash, but so I guess getting bodied in online over and over would be my best bet?

You can always practice with the computers also. I've heard they've gotten better since 4

 

[RepStar]

Big fat No.

 

[Marmotbro]

That's just a thing that comes with practice, my man. I recommend locals whenever you get the chance and if not that then CPU. Online has lag and delay which can kill the timing of a seasoned pro.

don't think about your timing when you play, that will just stress you out. Focus on the game and enjoy yourself, you will improve with time. Also its worth noting a lot of the tech skill is muscle memory and a lot of the other stuff that requires timing (perfect shields, DI,) is prediction as well.

 

[Sunredo]

I used to be real bad at timing too until I got into traditional fighting games. The way the game is presented and handled there is a lot easier to digest. It's also easier to determine when to execute certain moves, when to start blocking, etc. Despite smash being totally different with it's controls and mechanics, all this skill learned from games like Guilty Gear and Third Strike carries over in a way. There's a lot that just isn't that easy to notice in smash unlike with traditional fighting games. A big one is controlling space, but a slightly smaller big one is mind games. You can play rhythm games but high level rhythm game songs are about recognizing a whole bunch of patterns and keeping up with them. Whereas high level traditional fighting game players think about what their opponent is going to do next and act accordingly. One of the biggest examples of this is of course:

With all of this being said I don't think your issue is necessarily timing, but rather you aren't trying to get into your opponents head to figure them out enough. A player could be perfect when it comes to execution but if they're predictable then they're not going to be beating many other competitive players. The reason why CPUs are so much better this time around is because they made the CPUs less reliant on execution and more on reads, making them a lot more like a real person.

Now, I'm not saying you have to drop smash for traditional fighting games, or even play traditional fighting games at all. I'm saying that traditional fighting games makes player mistakes and tendencies more apparent. This doesn't mean Smash is worse or better than traditional fighting games, it just means it's harder to notice where you went wrong in replays and such.

On a final note; this post was made under the assumption you don't play traditional fighting games, at least not regularly. If you do then I hope this post at least make it easier to get better at them or/and Smash. If you got questions, ask away. If you want fighting game recommendations just message me. I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

And one very last thing, if anyone notices something wrong with my post please tell me, I don't want to be spreading bad advice because of my naivety.

 

[Erimir]

I'm gonna say you won't be able to be really good at this game without the ability to do advanced techniques. You won't be able to win tournaments. If you want to just be good enough to beat most people (online, or with random people offline), it's possible, but you'll probably need to pick your character with that in mind. Heavily combo-oriented characters will probably be a bad choice.

With all of this being said I don't think your issue is necessarily timing, but rather you aren't trying to get into your opponents head to figure them out enough. A player could be perfect when it comes to execution but if they're predictable then they're not going to be beating many other competitive players.

Right. On For Glory in Smash 4, you can encounter plenty of Bayonetta or Ness or Captain Falcon players who can execute some combos once they get it started, but who are bad at other aspects of the game. They have the timing down for some techniques or strings but they are too predictable and not good at adapting or reading, etc. Figure out how to stop them from getting their combos started or how to break out of it and they don't know what to do.

I'm not great at combo strings and can't do all the advanced techs, but I've beaten plenty of people online who are better than me at those aspects.

But I'm not about to be winning any major tournaments either because truly high-level players will have both the technique and the mindgames and such.

Another thing is that if you want to get good at those aspects, you will need to practice them. I don't put that time in because I'm not that serious. If you haven't actually put any time in practicing that stuff to get the timing down, you might not be as bad as you think - you just don't realize how much practice some of those better people are putting in. It's not all stuff most people can just get without practice.

But yeah you can't be a high-level tournament player without that stuff. You can definitely get to "Elite Smash" on Quickplay without it, however. So it just depends on what you mean by "good".

 

[2dsystem]

Thank you guys for your input. I've been practicing online and against computers the last few days, and I gotta say, trying to read my opponent has actually been a ton of help. The best is when I launch them up in the air, and I predict where theire gonna try to fall and i follow them and get that sweet arial attack. Short hopping, perfect shielding, L cancelling, and DI are still a little difficult for me to get used to (DI and short hopping are a little easier to do intentionally) but I've actually been finding a decent amount of success just simply figuring out what my opponent's going to do next and reacting to that. I didn't realize how important that actually was TBH, so thanks for the input!