Obviously many of you players want to be seen as a cut above the rest - you want to be the best - or perhaps the best with your character - or perhaps the flashiest - or perhaps the most unique - or perhaps the most aggressive... Whatever your goal is in gaming there is always one consistency for players - to have your name known.
But how do you do that? How do you separate yourself from all of the other people who play the same character as you? How do you ensure that your name is the one synonymous with the character and that you are respected and recognized as a good player?
Well here is where I tell you how that's done and help you step your game up beyond the fundamentals and transform yourself into something more. So let's break this down into a few of the base aspects of any players game. These are organized (in my mind) in order of difficulty to add to your game.
Technical Skill
Technical ability covers spacing, timing, and speed. Obviously every player who is anybody has got this covered. Precision is key - this is the aspect of your skill that will come easiest. Your game play should NEVER focus on technical ability - almost nobody is impressed by technical ABILITY (especially in brawl) but something people CAN be impressed by is technical APPLICATION. Efficiency should be the name of the game here - but many focus their attention in other areas for flashiness or added flair. There is no problem with added flair from time to time as long as efficiency is never sacrificed.
In order to assure yourself efficiency and precision you must learn what each character can do and how fast they can do it - learn where each character can be punished and where they can't. These are your smash basics. Basically take smash 101 all the way through the 700 classes (college people - you get me - other people... just learn the game all the way through)
Variety
This is often mislabeled as "mindgames" by some of our less skilled/experienced players. Variety means what it says. You can have an overall great game plan but if you are overly repetitive you will be punished for it by good players. I often say "anything that can be predicted can be punished" and it's important to keep that in mind.
This is essentially where you start to go from a solid base player to becoming one of the greats. Having a good variety in your approach, your reaction to your opponents attacks, your reactions to players in the air or off the edge, your actions when you or your opponent respawn with invincibility or in any other area of game is CRITICAL to high level play. Variety is where we separate the men from the boys as it were - players who have little variety can still perform well - but it's a huge hindrance.
Adaptability
This is an amazingly important aspect of competitive gaming and it goes hand in hand with variety. The ability to adapt is one of the most difficult things to learn because the only way to get it is through experience. Basically you should have a game plan that doesn't just pertain to one play style.
This is where we start to get intricate. Players reading other players, seeing through their variety and approaches, and adapting to what the opponent can really do. This is not a response to a CHARACTER - this is a response to a PLAYER.
This is also an area where you really see the players who perform well - this is where you become a serious force in the tournaments. If you are good at quickly adapting to your opponents play style and answering with something effective on your end - and re-adapting based on how they adapt and so on and so on - you're going to be doing some serious damage to your opponents.
Originality/Creativity
By this I do not mean your personal "tricks" - which are also mislabeled "mindgames". This to me is the real game breaker. This is what will make me remember playing you and this is what will seperate you from the rest more than any other aspect. This is something that you should be working on from the time you start playing as a character all the way through to when you think there is nothing else to learn. There is always some variation of something you haven't tried.
This is one of the hardest things to teach a newer player. A lot of you reading this simply watch matches and add what you like into your own game or ask other players for help - and there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with doing this. HOWEVER you should all also notice that the players who are on top are RARELY the ones going out and asking others what to do in what situation or how to best punish certain things. It isn't because they have some magical power and they don't require any outside source - it's because they are the players who will think about the situations on their own and come up with their own solutions. They will see what others have done and adapt it to their own play style or alter it to their preferences or liking. Players who do this are often (not always) players who discover new techniques - or new ways to use old ones.
ALWAYS be on the look out for something new - but please don't misinterpret what I'm saying here. Do not limit yourself for the sake of creativity - but even if what you are trying isn't seemingly the most effective you should still try it out and find out for yourself. Experiment in your friendlies - that's what they are for after all. Experiment, experiment, experiment.
Conclusion
So in conclusion we've got our standard technical application as a base for you as a player. Ensure that you as a player have full control over your character - this is something that can be practiced alone. Once you've gained full control you should work on adding in variety. Don't always react the same way to certain situations - work on mixing it up. This is difficult to practice - but almost impossible alone. You'll start entering the realm of "experienced players" at this point. Once you've got your techs and you learn how to add the variety you begin to enter the next level. Here you aren't playing against character or circumstance, you are playing against another specific player. This is where you start to really adapt to what is going on in the mind of both players. After you've inserted some amount of variety and begin to play the player not the character you've become at very least a good player - and some very good players stop here and are content. You're name should be out there by this point - recognized as a very good player. In order to truly separate yourself from the rest of the sea of names you have to be unique. You shouldn't play exactly like the other people playing your character - but you obviously shouldn't go so far as to limit yourself in order to make that distinction. Be creative, don't be afraid to break the mold. Basically...
Show me something NEW.
But how do you do that? How do you separate yourself from all of the other people who play the same character as you? How do you ensure that your name is the one synonymous with the character and that you are respected and recognized as a good player?
Well here is where I tell you how that's done and help you step your game up beyond the fundamentals and transform yourself into something more. So let's break this down into a few of the base aspects of any players game. These are organized (in my mind) in order of difficulty to add to your game.
Technical Skill
Technical ability covers spacing, timing, and speed. Obviously every player who is anybody has got this covered. Precision is key - this is the aspect of your skill that will come easiest. Your game play should NEVER focus on technical ability - almost nobody is impressed by technical ABILITY (especially in brawl) but something people CAN be impressed by is technical APPLICATION. Efficiency should be the name of the game here - but many focus their attention in other areas for flashiness or added flair. There is no problem with added flair from time to time as long as efficiency is never sacrificed.
In order to assure yourself efficiency and precision you must learn what each character can do and how fast they can do it - learn where each character can be punished and where they can't. These are your smash basics. Basically take smash 101 all the way through the 700 classes (college people - you get me - other people... just learn the game all the way through)
Variety
This is often mislabeled as "mindgames" by some of our less skilled/experienced players. Variety means what it says. You can have an overall great game plan but if you are overly repetitive you will be punished for it by good players. I often say "anything that can be predicted can be punished" and it's important to keep that in mind.
This is essentially where you start to go from a solid base player to becoming one of the greats. Having a good variety in your approach, your reaction to your opponents attacks, your reactions to players in the air or off the edge, your actions when you or your opponent respawn with invincibility or in any other area of game is CRITICAL to high level play. Variety is where we separate the men from the boys as it were - players who have little variety can still perform well - but it's a huge hindrance.
Adaptability
This is an amazingly important aspect of competitive gaming and it goes hand in hand with variety. The ability to adapt is one of the most difficult things to learn because the only way to get it is through experience. Basically you should have a game plan that doesn't just pertain to one play style.
This is where we start to get intricate. Players reading other players, seeing through their variety and approaches, and adapting to what the opponent can really do. This is not a response to a CHARACTER - this is a response to a PLAYER.
This is also an area where you really see the players who perform well - this is where you become a serious force in the tournaments. If you are good at quickly adapting to your opponents play style and answering with something effective on your end - and re-adapting based on how they adapt and so on and so on - you're going to be doing some serious damage to your opponents.
Originality/Creativity
By this I do not mean your personal "tricks" - which are also mislabeled "mindgames". This to me is the real game breaker. This is what will make me remember playing you and this is what will seperate you from the rest more than any other aspect. This is something that you should be working on from the time you start playing as a character all the way through to when you think there is nothing else to learn. There is always some variation of something you haven't tried.
This is one of the hardest things to teach a newer player. A lot of you reading this simply watch matches and add what you like into your own game or ask other players for help - and there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with doing this. HOWEVER you should all also notice that the players who are on top are RARELY the ones going out and asking others what to do in what situation or how to best punish certain things. It isn't because they have some magical power and they don't require any outside source - it's because they are the players who will think about the situations on their own and come up with their own solutions. They will see what others have done and adapt it to their own play style or alter it to their preferences or liking. Players who do this are often (not always) players who discover new techniques - or new ways to use old ones.
ALWAYS be on the look out for something new - but please don't misinterpret what I'm saying here. Do not limit yourself for the sake of creativity - but even if what you are trying isn't seemingly the most effective you should still try it out and find out for yourself. Experiment in your friendlies - that's what they are for after all. Experiment, experiment, experiment.
Conclusion
So in conclusion we've got our standard technical application as a base for you as a player. Ensure that you as a player have full control over your character - this is something that can be practiced alone. Once you've gained full control you should work on adding in variety. Don't always react the same way to certain situations - work on mixing it up. This is difficult to practice - but almost impossible alone. You'll start entering the realm of "experienced players" at this point. Once you've got your techs and you learn how to add the variety you begin to enter the next level. Here you aren't playing against character or circumstance, you are playing against another specific player. This is where you start to really adapt to what is going on in the mind of both players. After you've inserted some amount of variety and begin to play the player not the character you've become at very least a good player - and some very good players stop here and are content. You're name should be out there by this point - recognized as a very good player. In order to truly separate yourself from the rest of the sea of names you have to be unique. You shouldn't play exactly like the other people playing your character - but you obviously shouldn't go so far as to limit yourself in order to make that distinction. Be creative, don't be afraid to break the mold. Basically...
Show me something NEW.
