feardragon64
Smash Champion
Firstly, I did a few searches and I didn't find anything that "quite" resembles this.
Anyways, moving on...
For those of you who haven't noticed, picking up different characters can improve different aspects of your game because playing them to their maximum potential generally requires a particular skill to be fine toned more than another character's.
For example, it is often said that playing Ike requires a very good ability to mindgame your opponent, and requires it more-so than a majority of the cast. It's a key pillar of his game. Thus, if you pick up Ike and learn to play him well, you should, in theory, fine tone your mind game skills by playing him because you'll be forced to use them in order to win matches against good players. Another example would be Marth. Marth requires very delicate spacing. If someone were to play Marth a lot, their understanding of spacing and ability to do so would greatly increase, in theory(put in theory after all of these in your head for me since it really will depend on the person learning). For Marth, spacing is a key pillar in his gameplay.
Now that I've established that, here's the purpose of this thread. It's simple really. This just aims to create an organized list that shows what each character can offer a player in terms of experience that can be utilized with any character. In other words, playing character x aptly(very important) should increase your skill and/or understanding of y.
So utilizing the examples, playing Marth aptly should increase your skill and/or understanding of spacing.
Every character has something to offer, although some more than others. I think this would be a great way to help people pick secondaries as a way to develop a better understanding of how to improve in a certain area that they feel they're lacking in.
Basically, the reason I'm making this thread is to hopefully inspire people to stop *****ing about everything wrong about the game and just try and improve.
Anyways, please feel free to correct me on this. This is a learning experience for me as well so a lot of the initial information I put down could and probably will be wrong. Some characters I just put down my immediate thoughts to give examples on how the list should go. Correct me with reason. I'm not going to change something if you just give me a one line post saying, "you're wrong." But now the list.
Format
Name
-Ability gained: reasoning
-------------------------------------------------------------
Bowser
-Don't get hit: Because being this size does NOT make it easier to get out of chained attacks
-Tilts: Without them you'd simply wish he could fly
-Up+B Out of Shield to punish: While the invincibility frames only help, playing Bowser really makes you realize how often you can punish attacks that get shielded
Captain Falcon
-Mindgaming: Falcon has crap priority so he needs to bait and punish lag to get anything done
Diddy Kong
-Momentum: This is the central focus of Diddy as his ability to "true combo" with bananas by maintaining momentum is the central aspect of his game.
-Glide-tossing: Often underused by characters who don't have an item to glidetoss with. Playing him will help you understand how effective this can be(even if you don't have a projectile, use the opponent's!)
Donkey Kong
-No Wasted Movements: D.K. has lots of moves for different situations, angles, etc. but you can't really spam any of them very much. Most of his moves are decently punishable if you just throw them out there, but if you use them intelligently he can be annoyingly hard to punish
-Marking your Territory: Phrase stolen from Veggi because it's so perfect. This is basically like stage control but without having to take the entire stage into consideration...just the area that you want
Falco
-Projectile Usage: Falco only has one projectile, but it's amazing. It's easy to spam, but against a good player it's important to know how to maximize it's effectiveness.
-Shield Grabbing: Timing your shield grabs as close to the first frame you can safely grab can actually be difficult if your opponent is spacing properly. Every frame you wait before grabbing is another frame they could be retreating that aerial
Fox
-Bait and punish: Fox lacking in terms of safe approach options so fox is more advantaged by simply punishing his opponent's mistakes
Game & Watch
-DI'ing hits: Being the 2nd lightest character in the game is NOT a good thing
-Creating openings: G&W's smashes are fairly powerful, but also easy to see coming. You need to make your openings because a good player won't make them for you
Ganondorf
-No wasted attacks: Laggy and punishable moveset forces player to make every attack be used with purpose
-Precise Timing: Ties into not wasting attacks. You can't afford to mess up because almost every attack leaves you vulnerable...but you can't afford to miss opportunities to punish either!
-Tech Chasing: His side b(and sometimes thunderstorming) sets up for a great tech chase which can help you learn how to predict your opponent
Ice Climbers
-Setting up the grab: Because that will be the only thing on the opponent's mind the entire match
Ike
-Tilts: Without them you'd simply wish he could fly and just use aerials
-Reading Your Opponent: Laggy moves. Wanna land em? 'Nuff said.
-IASA Frames: Because you'll realize how amazing they are when you're playing this guy since he would very well be screwed without them
-Incorporating Jab: 2 Frames until hitbox comes out. Need I say more?
Jigglypuff
-DI'ing hits: Being the lightest character in the game is NOT a good thing
King Dedede
-Don't get hit: Because being this size does NOT make it easier to get out of chained attacks
-Spotdodging and Shielding: Spotdodging an attack and punishing with a grab is huge in his game since other methods of avoiding attacks aren't quite as awesome as his spotdodge. Same idea for shielding
-Shield Grabbing: Timing your shield grabs as close to the first frame you can safely grab can actually be difficult if your opponent is spacing properly. Every frame you wait before grabbing is another frame they could be retreating that aerial
Kirby
-Setting up for grabs: Grab game is vital to rack up damage
-Establishing a wall of pain: Bair walling is important to racking up damage at low percents and possibly setting up for early gimps
-Saving Kill Moves: When you don't always have the easiest time landing kill moves, it's important not to let decay get in the way of your kill, even if the move is spammable
Link
-Technical skills: With so many techs that you need to master to make up for his gaping flaws, you need to have a half-way decent tech skill(obviously not melee tech level so please don't mention that...)
-Stay On Stage: If you're not on stage, you will be soon...and you'll be invincible for a few seconds too
Lucario
-Survival: Because every hit is a better chance to come back or stay ahead....and dying makes you loose that advantage
-Spacing: A lot of Lucario's game depends on spacing properly and outranging your opponent
-Momentum: Since so many of Lucario's attacks link/chain together(some in true combos) momentum is a huge part of Lucario's game.
Lucas
-Don't whiff your grabs: I got ya! Oh wait ****- *bowser fsmash*
-Wavebouncing: While not as useful for everyone, because it is useful for him you can make it second nature and add it to your skill-set
Luigi
-Momentum: Luigi's aerials chain together really well. It's important to be able to follow your opponent's DI to link your attacks together and finish with that sweet-spotted up+b!
Mario
-Right move Right time: Mario is a jack of all trades and has a LOT of options so you learn what kind of moves can be used in different scenarios.
-Gimping: While not every character will have the very unique gimping tools that Mario has, playing Mario allows you to play the gimping game a bit more so you can gain more experience with it
Marth
-Understanding importance of spacing: Entire game depends on spacing and often out-ranging/keeping an opponent out
-Up+B Out of Shield to punish: While the invincibility frames only help, playing Marth really makes you realize how often you can punish attacks that get shielded
-Juggling: Marth's juggle game against some characters(Snake comes to mind) is pretty awesome. Learning both how to juggle and how NOT to get juggled(marth is weak from below) can really help your game
Meta Knight(I'll kill you if you spam suggestions for this like dsmash spam or something)
-Gimping: You don't know how easy off stage kills are until you've played mk
Ness
Olimar
-Stage Control: Olimars are usually best playing very campy games...from the center of the stage so they don't have to worry about their horrible recovery.
-Stay on Stage: Reach my pikmin! REACH! *fails and dies*
Peach
-Glide-tossing: Often underused by characters who don't have an item to glidetoss with. Playing her will help you understand how effective this can be(even if you don't have a projectile, use the opponent's!)
Pikachu
-Autocanceled Aerials to Ground Game: Making sure that you make USE of your auto-canceled aerials such as fair to grab the moment you land. This can tie into just simple momentum as well
Pit
-When to Use What: There's a time and place for (almost) everything. Pit has so many little AT's that are pretty situational so you have to learn when is the appropriate time to actually apply something
Pokemon Trainer-Squirtle
-Saving Kill Moves: When you don't always have the easiest time landing kill moves, it's important not to let decay get in the way of your kill, even if the move is spammable
-Incorporating Jab: Comes out on the FIRST FRAME. Need I say more?
Pokemon Trainer -Ivysaur
-Spacing: Ivysaur deals with his opponents by outspacing them essentially. He has moves for every angle and every direction. All you have to do is use the right one at the right time and you'll vastly outrange a majority of the cast. Straight and simple way to learn spacing
Pokemon Trainer-Charizard
R.O.B.
-Glide-tossing: Often underused by characters who don't have an item to glidetoss with. Playing him will help you understand how effective this can be(even if you don't have a projectile, use the opponent's!)
Samus
-Saving Kill Moves: When you don't always have the easiest time landing kill moves, it's important not to let decay get in the way of your kill, even if the move is spammable
-Ledge Game: [/i]Projectiles, zair's with aerials, stalling, walljumps, you name it. Samus can show you how to use all kinds of different options while on the ledge[/i]
Sheik
-Racking Damage & Gimping: Sheik has no reliable powerful moves and relies on getting gimps and racking up very high amounts of damage to get her kills while taking Much less damage than she takes
-Fluidity and Adapting: This ties into damage racking. Chaining attacks together is important to quickly racking up damage
Snake
-Stage Control: Because that's what snake IS
-Tech Chasing: His dthrow sets up for a great tech chase which can help you learn how to predict your opponent
-Recovering: A VERY predictable recovery. If you don't recover smart, even if you get back to the stage, your damage is going to sky rocket
-Ground game: Because in comparison to his ground game, his air game is crap
-Planning Ahead: Being able to set up mines and place grenades lets Snake really look ahead and allows him to plan much further ahead than most other characters.
Sonic
Bait and Punish: Similar to falcon, his priority isn't that great. Because of this, you have to learn how to bait an attack so you can safely approach and punish.
-Reflexes: His running speed his fast, but you need to have equally fast reflexes to make split second decisions to keep the momentum up since you usually have to be thinking one step ahead of your opponent
Toon Link
-Maintaining momentum: Toon Link lacks the range that others have so the player must make the most of the time that he is able to get "in" his opponent's safe zone
-Setting up: Projectile play and hookshot are often used simply as a way to set up for the use of his close range moves because his close range moves do not stand on their own
-Saving Kill Moves: When you don't always have the easiest time landing kill moves, it's important not to let decay get in the way of your kill, even if the move is spammable
Wario
-Not getting grabbed: Gifted with amazing aerial mobility, but cursed by his grab release and short range aerials. This teaches you the importance of DI'ing backwards after aerials, spacing yourself, and not blindly attacking
Wolf
Yoshi
-Don't whiff your grabs: I got ya! Oh wait ****- *bowser fsmash*
-Technical Abilities: Yoshi has some of the few moderately difficult AT's in brawl.
-Uncomfortable Situations: It's obvious that Yoshi is simply very unique from the rest of the cast. He lacks an up+b, much of his physics are fairly odd. His shield doesn't work quite the way a normal one works, etc. etc. Most people avoid Yoshi, so playing him every so often can help you get used to playing out of your comfort zone.
Zelda
-Precision: If you want to land that kill you better sweetspot those aerials you're throwing out
-Prediction: Ties into precision because you need to be able to follow your opponent's DI in order to sweetspot your aerials. Also, with a lot of laggy attacks, prediction becomes key to hitting your opponent
Zero Suit Samus
-Incorporating Jab: Hitboxes comes out in ONE Frame. Need I say more?
---------------------------------------------------------
Also note, do not spam this thread with "LOL MK TEACHES YOU HOW TO SPAM WHORENADO AND DSMASH LOLOL" or "ROFLAMO DDD IS JUST CHAINGRABBING NUB"
I will kill you.
Or maybe just report you as spam >>
Anyways, GO!
Edit: This is just for my own reference to see what post I last looked at for update. Next post to read and update on:
58
Anyways, moving on...
For those of you who haven't noticed, picking up different characters can improve different aspects of your game because playing them to their maximum potential generally requires a particular skill to be fine toned more than another character's.
For example, it is often said that playing Ike requires a very good ability to mindgame your opponent, and requires it more-so than a majority of the cast. It's a key pillar of his game. Thus, if you pick up Ike and learn to play him well, you should, in theory, fine tone your mind game skills by playing him because you'll be forced to use them in order to win matches against good players. Another example would be Marth. Marth requires very delicate spacing. If someone were to play Marth a lot, their understanding of spacing and ability to do so would greatly increase, in theory(put in theory after all of these in your head for me since it really will depend on the person learning). For Marth, spacing is a key pillar in his gameplay.
Now that I've established that, here's the purpose of this thread. It's simple really. This just aims to create an organized list that shows what each character can offer a player in terms of experience that can be utilized with any character. In other words, playing character x aptly(very important) should increase your skill and/or understanding of y.
So utilizing the examples, playing Marth aptly should increase your skill and/or understanding of spacing.
Every character has something to offer, although some more than others. I think this would be a great way to help people pick secondaries as a way to develop a better understanding of how to improve in a certain area that they feel they're lacking in.
Basically, the reason I'm making this thread is to hopefully inspire people to stop *****ing about everything wrong about the game and just try and improve.
Anyways, please feel free to correct me on this. This is a learning experience for me as well so a lot of the initial information I put down could and probably will be wrong. Some characters I just put down my immediate thoughts to give examples on how the list should go. Correct me with reason. I'm not going to change something if you just give me a one line post saying, "you're wrong." But now the list.
Format
Name
-Ability gained: reasoning
-------------------------------------------------------------
Bowser
-Don't get hit: Because being this size does NOT make it easier to get out of chained attacks
-Tilts: Without them you'd simply wish he could fly
-Up+B Out of Shield to punish: While the invincibility frames only help, playing Bowser really makes you realize how often you can punish attacks that get shielded
Captain Falcon
-Mindgaming: Falcon has crap priority so he needs to bait and punish lag to get anything done
Diddy Kong
-Momentum: This is the central focus of Diddy as his ability to "true combo" with bananas by maintaining momentum is the central aspect of his game.
-Glide-tossing: Often underused by characters who don't have an item to glidetoss with. Playing him will help you understand how effective this can be(even if you don't have a projectile, use the opponent's!)
Donkey Kong
-No Wasted Movements: D.K. has lots of moves for different situations, angles, etc. but you can't really spam any of them very much. Most of his moves are decently punishable if you just throw them out there, but if you use them intelligently he can be annoyingly hard to punish
-Marking your Territory: Phrase stolen from Veggi because it's so perfect. This is basically like stage control but without having to take the entire stage into consideration...just the area that you want
Falco
-Projectile Usage: Falco only has one projectile, but it's amazing. It's easy to spam, but against a good player it's important to know how to maximize it's effectiveness.
-Shield Grabbing: Timing your shield grabs as close to the first frame you can safely grab can actually be difficult if your opponent is spacing properly. Every frame you wait before grabbing is another frame they could be retreating that aerial
Fox
-Bait and punish: Fox lacking in terms of safe approach options so fox is more advantaged by simply punishing his opponent's mistakes
Game & Watch
-DI'ing hits: Being the 2nd lightest character in the game is NOT a good thing
-Creating openings: G&W's smashes are fairly powerful, but also easy to see coming. You need to make your openings because a good player won't make them for you
Ganondorf
-No wasted attacks: Laggy and punishable moveset forces player to make every attack be used with purpose
-Precise Timing: Ties into not wasting attacks. You can't afford to mess up because almost every attack leaves you vulnerable...but you can't afford to miss opportunities to punish either!
-Tech Chasing: His side b(and sometimes thunderstorming) sets up for a great tech chase which can help you learn how to predict your opponent
Ice Climbers
-Setting up the grab: Because that will be the only thing on the opponent's mind the entire match
Ike
-Tilts: Without them you'd simply wish he could fly and just use aerials
-Reading Your Opponent: Laggy moves. Wanna land em? 'Nuff said.
-IASA Frames: Because you'll realize how amazing they are when you're playing this guy since he would very well be screwed without them
-Incorporating Jab: 2 Frames until hitbox comes out. Need I say more?
Jigglypuff
-DI'ing hits: Being the lightest character in the game is NOT a good thing
King Dedede
-Don't get hit: Because being this size does NOT make it easier to get out of chained attacks
-Spotdodging and Shielding: Spotdodging an attack and punishing with a grab is huge in his game since other methods of avoiding attacks aren't quite as awesome as his spotdodge. Same idea for shielding
-Shield Grabbing: Timing your shield grabs as close to the first frame you can safely grab can actually be difficult if your opponent is spacing properly. Every frame you wait before grabbing is another frame they could be retreating that aerial
Kirby
-Setting up for grabs: Grab game is vital to rack up damage
-Establishing a wall of pain: Bair walling is important to racking up damage at low percents and possibly setting up for early gimps
-Saving Kill Moves: When you don't always have the easiest time landing kill moves, it's important not to let decay get in the way of your kill, even if the move is spammable
Link
-Technical skills: With so many techs that you need to master to make up for his gaping flaws, you need to have a half-way decent tech skill(obviously not melee tech level so please don't mention that...)
-Stay On Stage: If you're not on stage, you will be soon...and you'll be invincible for a few seconds too
Lucario
-Survival: Because every hit is a better chance to come back or stay ahead....and dying makes you loose that advantage
-Spacing: A lot of Lucario's game depends on spacing properly and outranging your opponent
-Momentum: Since so many of Lucario's attacks link/chain together(some in true combos) momentum is a huge part of Lucario's game.
Lucas
-Don't whiff your grabs: I got ya! Oh wait ****- *bowser fsmash*
-Wavebouncing: While not as useful for everyone, because it is useful for him you can make it second nature and add it to your skill-set
Luigi
-Momentum: Luigi's aerials chain together really well. It's important to be able to follow your opponent's DI to link your attacks together and finish with that sweet-spotted up+b!
Mario
-Right move Right time: Mario is a jack of all trades and has a LOT of options so you learn what kind of moves can be used in different scenarios.
-Gimping: While not every character will have the very unique gimping tools that Mario has, playing Mario allows you to play the gimping game a bit more so you can gain more experience with it
Marth
-Understanding importance of spacing: Entire game depends on spacing and often out-ranging/keeping an opponent out
-Up+B Out of Shield to punish: While the invincibility frames only help, playing Marth really makes you realize how often you can punish attacks that get shielded
-Juggling: Marth's juggle game against some characters(Snake comes to mind) is pretty awesome. Learning both how to juggle and how NOT to get juggled(marth is weak from below) can really help your game
Meta Knight(I'll kill you if you spam suggestions for this like dsmash spam or something)
-Gimping: You don't know how easy off stage kills are until you've played mk
Ness
Olimar
-Stage Control: Olimars are usually best playing very campy games...from the center of the stage so they don't have to worry about their horrible recovery.
-Stay on Stage: Reach my pikmin! REACH! *fails and dies*
Peach
-Glide-tossing: Often underused by characters who don't have an item to glidetoss with. Playing her will help you understand how effective this can be(even if you don't have a projectile, use the opponent's!)
Pikachu
-Autocanceled Aerials to Ground Game: Making sure that you make USE of your auto-canceled aerials such as fair to grab the moment you land. This can tie into just simple momentum as well
Pit
-When to Use What: There's a time and place for (almost) everything. Pit has so many little AT's that are pretty situational so you have to learn when is the appropriate time to actually apply something
Pokemon Trainer-Squirtle
-Saving Kill Moves: When you don't always have the easiest time landing kill moves, it's important not to let decay get in the way of your kill, even if the move is spammable
-Incorporating Jab: Comes out on the FIRST FRAME. Need I say more?
Pokemon Trainer -Ivysaur
-Spacing: Ivysaur deals with his opponents by outspacing them essentially. He has moves for every angle and every direction. All you have to do is use the right one at the right time and you'll vastly outrange a majority of the cast. Straight and simple way to learn spacing
Pokemon Trainer-Charizard
R.O.B.
-Glide-tossing: Often underused by characters who don't have an item to glidetoss with. Playing him will help you understand how effective this can be(even if you don't have a projectile, use the opponent's!)
Samus
-Saving Kill Moves: When you don't always have the easiest time landing kill moves, it's important not to let decay get in the way of your kill, even if the move is spammable
-Ledge Game: [/i]Projectiles, zair's with aerials, stalling, walljumps, you name it. Samus can show you how to use all kinds of different options while on the ledge[/i]
Sheik
-Racking Damage & Gimping: Sheik has no reliable powerful moves and relies on getting gimps and racking up very high amounts of damage to get her kills while taking Much less damage than she takes
-Fluidity and Adapting: This ties into damage racking. Chaining attacks together is important to quickly racking up damage
Snake
-Stage Control: Because that's what snake IS
-Tech Chasing: His dthrow sets up for a great tech chase which can help you learn how to predict your opponent
-Recovering: A VERY predictable recovery. If you don't recover smart, even if you get back to the stage, your damage is going to sky rocket
-Ground game: Because in comparison to his ground game, his air game is crap
-Planning Ahead: Being able to set up mines and place grenades lets Snake really look ahead and allows him to plan much further ahead than most other characters.
Sonic
Bait and Punish: Similar to falcon, his priority isn't that great. Because of this, you have to learn how to bait an attack so you can safely approach and punish.
-Reflexes: His running speed his fast, but you need to have equally fast reflexes to make split second decisions to keep the momentum up since you usually have to be thinking one step ahead of your opponent
Toon Link
-Maintaining momentum: Toon Link lacks the range that others have so the player must make the most of the time that he is able to get "in" his opponent's safe zone
-Setting up: Projectile play and hookshot are often used simply as a way to set up for the use of his close range moves because his close range moves do not stand on their own
-Saving Kill Moves: When you don't always have the easiest time landing kill moves, it's important not to let decay get in the way of your kill, even if the move is spammable
Wario
-Not getting grabbed: Gifted with amazing aerial mobility, but cursed by his grab release and short range aerials. This teaches you the importance of DI'ing backwards after aerials, spacing yourself, and not blindly attacking
Wolf
Yoshi
-Don't whiff your grabs: I got ya! Oh wait ****- *bowser fsmash*
-Technical Abilities: Yoshi has some of the few moderately difficult AT's in brawl.
-Uncomfortable Situations: It's obvious that Yoshi is simply very unique from the rest of the cast. He lacks an up+b, much of his physics are fairly odd. His shield doesn't work quite the way a normal one works, etc. etc. Most people avoid Yoshi, so playing him every so often can help you get used to playing out of your comfort zone.
Zelda
-Precision: If you want to land that kill you better sweetspot those aerials you're throwing out
-Prediction: Ties into precision because you need to be able to follow your opponent's DI in order to sweetspot your aerials. Also, with a lot of laggy attacks, prediction becomes key to hitting your opponent
Zero Suit Samus
-Incorporating Jab: Hitboxes comes out in ONE Frame. Need I say more?
---------------------------------------------------------
Also note, do not spam this thread with "LOL MK TEACHES YOU HOW TO SPAM WHORENADO AND DSMASH LOLOL" or "ROFLAMO DDD IS JUST CHAINGRABBING NUB"
I will kill you.
Or maybe just report you as spam >>
Anyways, GO!
Edit: This is just for my own reference to see what post I last looked at for update. Next post to read and update on:
58
