New to Melee: Where to Start?

[Jackson]

Hey guys. I'm an avid Brawl player and I consider myself to be pretty good. I wanted to try a bit of Melee though, even though it seems really hard to get into. So. I understand that there is a LOT to learn to be good at this game. What do you guys think is most important to start with? L cancelling? Wavedashing? Just learning a character? Feel free to give any kind of advice.

Thanks. Sorry if a similar thread has been made before.

 

[Red Dress]

Foundational basics! Always the basics! Brawl's physics are really so different from Melee's physics.

• Moveset - Smashes, Tilts, Aerials, Specials, Grabs
• Movement - Dashing, Short hopping, Full Hopping, Rolling, Teching
• Spacing/zoning - Approaching, Running away, Stage control
• Risk-reward - Using quick attacks vs. laggy attacks, trading attacks
• Reading the other player - Punishing rolls, spot-dodges, getup attacks/techs.

ATs are supplements to a person's gameplay. Without a solid foundation ATs are rather useless. What is the point of learning how to wavedash when you don't understand general movement knowledge or spacing?

Do drills with a clear goal: Short hop 50 times in a row, fast fall from a full hop 50 times in a row, learn the exact spacing for each move. Only once you have a grasp on movement then start learning ATs.

• L-Canceling - 50 times in a row.
• Dashdancing - In place for a minute, across the stage.
• Wavedashing - 50 times in a row, pulse walking, OoS.
• Jump Cancelled Grab - 50 times in a row.
• Boost Grab - 50 times in a row.
• Shield Dropping - 50 times in a row.

 

[Jackson]

Foundational basics! Always the basics! Brawl's physics are really so different from Melee's physics.

• Moveset - Smashes, Tilts, Aerials, Specials, Grabs
• Movement - Dashing, Short hopping, Full Hopping, Rolling, Teching
• Spacing/zoning - Approaching, Running away, Stage control
• Risk-reward - Using quick attacks vs. laggy attacks, trading attacks
• Reading the other player - Punishing rolls, spot-dodges, getup attacks/techs.

ATs are supplements to a person's gameplay. Without a solid foundation ATs are rather useless. What is the point of learning how to wavedash when you don't understand general movement knowledge or spacing?

Do drills with a clear goal: Short hop 50 times in a row, fast fall from a full hop 50 times in a row, learn the exact spacing for each move. Only once you have a grasp on movement then start learning ATs.

• L-Canceling - 50 times in a row.
• Dashdancing - In place for a minute, across the stage.
• Wavedashing - 50 times in a row, pulse walking, OoS.
• Jump Cancelled Grab - 50 times in a row.
• Boost Grab - 50 times in a row.
• Shield Dropping - 50 times in a row.

Thank you, very helpful.

 

[Wing T]

I just started getting into melee as well and there's a couple things I would add that might seem obvious to any long time player, but none the less are important to know if you are new to the game.

1. Saving your jumps = living. Getting back to the stage is no cakewalk with many characters, especially if you are accustomed to brawl physics.

2. Stage control. It's a lot more important IMO than in brawl. Camping the ledge when your opponent is in the center isn't an effective strategy unless your name is M2k. It's not a particularly effective strategy in brawl either, but many metaknight players have that habit so I thought I'd go ahead and warn you.

3. Combos are obviously about linking attacks, usually characters have 1 or 2 moves that more effectively lead to others (i.e. shines for spacies, or Marth's u-tilt). Figure those out and combos won't seem so difficult.

4. BEFORE you attempt any other ATs, master short hop and L-cancels. If you master the short hop, then SH nair, SH bair, and wavedashing will be much easier. Master L-cancelling and it will greatly improve your timing. Put the two together and then you've got one of the more crucial and difficult to learn ATs: SHFFL (short hop fast fall L-cancel).

5. Practice all options from the ledge. You need to know exactly what your character's capabilities are when trying to recover or regaining stage control.

 

[Jackson]

I just started getting into melee as well and there's a couple things I would add that might seem obvious to any long time player, but none the less are important to know if you are new to the game.

1. Saving your jumps = living. Getting back to the stage is no cakewalk with many characters, especially if you are accustomed to brawl physics.

2. Stage control. It's a lot more important IMO than in brawl. Camping the ledge when your opponent is in the center isn't an effective strategy unless your name is M2k. It's not a particularly effective strategy in brawl either, but many metaknight players have that habit so I thought I'd go ahead and warn you.

3. Combos are obviously about linking attacks, usually characters have 1 or 2 moves that more effectively lead to others (i.e. shines for spacies, or Marth's u-tilt). Figure those out and combos won't seem so difficult.

4. BEFORE you attempt any other ATs, master short hop and L-cancels. If you master the short hop, then SH nair, SH bair, and wavedashing will be much easier. Master L-cancelling and it will greatly improve your timing. Put the two together and then you've got one of the more crucial and difficult to learn ATs: SHFFL (short hop fast fall L-cancel).

5. Practice all options from the ledge. You need to know exactly what your character's capabilities are when trying to recover or regaining stage control.

Thanks to you as well, that's great info. Yeah, in Brawl you can usually recover easily, but not so much in Melee.

 

[Fyrefox]

The game generally has the same control mapping has Brawl does (if you use a GameCube controller that is). You just learn as you play more often.

The story mode in the game can get incredibly boring as you continue to play it to unlock characters, or just want to get trophies, I started with the Event matches (I think that's what they're called) and just completed them first. Side note, the events in Melee are much better than the ones in Brawl, just my opinion.

As for unlocking the characters, they're not really hard to unlock, though unlocking some of the characters could be rather time consuming.

Melee is the best Smash Bros. installment to this day in my opinion not counting the upcoming installment, I'm sure you'll have fun with it.

 

[Massive]

If you're coming from brawl, you should have some cursory understanding of the basics, so I can probably point you at the approach I usually recommend with newer players.

Check it out.

 

[Jackson]

If you're coming from brawl, you should have some cursory understanding of the basics, so I can probably point you at the approach I usually recommend with newer players.

Check it out.

Useful, thanks.

 

[Bones0]