Topic Concerning Reaction Time w/ Melee

[dy831532sssfjhhggb2224523]

Hello SmashBoards,

Aight. So I know that reaction time is a huge factor in gaming, and I want to take my melee skill as far as I can in the little time I have in playing Melee (2 hours a day because of stuff like school and mountain bike team, 3-4 hours mondays+fridays, +5 hours on weekend days)

I asked ChaCha about how to improve my reaction time. I was told a weight exercise (low weight and high repetition) would improve my "quick-twitch" muscle. I don't really have time to look that stuff up to back a claim with more evidence, I do have time to ask smashboards, a bunch of gamers, about ways that are proven and agreed upon about improving my reaction time to do stuff like teching, other advanced techniques, and overall fighting better.

Is there also a way to test my reaction time? I'd love to know so that I can take notes of them and compare them to reaction-improving methods to see if they work, and to know my potential level of gameplay.

I'll be back in a while, I take my leave. Thanks for reading.

 

[stelzig]

You know a common thing people will mention helps you improve your reaction time is playing video games, so....
Of course not all genres are equally good at it, but playing melee itself should help you on reaction time, i'm not sure any type of excersise will help you on top of that.

Edit: There's tons of reaction time tests online, just google them.

 

[TheCrimsonBlur]

Your diet is the number 1 factor in determining your reaction time, much more so than age. Eat healthy. Don't eat pizza before a tournament for ****s sake.

 

[kevo]

I like to exercise a few hours before tournaments. Caffeine works for some people (be careful of the crash if you get far in the bracket), too.

 

[dy831532sssfjhhggb2224523]

Test Results

I have found a site that tests my reaction time. It had the following to
say about the accuracy of itself:

•Users accept the fact that I have made no effort to test, certify, or corroborate the
results of the timer. The timer is a javascript programming exercise, not a scientific
instrument. In writing this javascript, I have relied upon the javascript spec and the
internal computer clock. I have coded the javascript as best as I could, but I have not
timed the timer.


•Users acknowledge that I do not guarantee the accuracy of the timer. The timer is only
as accurate as the computer, browser and javascript engine processing the code.
When more applications are running on the same computer, the timing quality
deteriorates. Computers which are online, or which are playing cds or dvds, or which
receive mail during timing, may lose accuracy. Other similar conditions cause the
timer's accuracy to diminish. (Try to minimize these events.)

Well, this timer may not be fully accurate, as the school computers are pretty "piece-of-Kirby" technology. But, here are my results:

AVERAGE: 0.22480000000000003 seconds

My five test results: (in seconds)
1) 0.219
2) 0.219
3) 0.234
4) 0.218
5) 0.234

I have no clue if this is a good reaction time. All I know is that I seriously doubt
this computer because it froze while I was typing in this box... I may need to
find something new to test.

Today doesn't seem to be a good day for testing either. Had one of those sugary
cereals packed with those preservatives I LOVE so much. Cheetoes and this
tiny brick of marshmellow with extra sugar didn't help either from lunch.
Also the fact that I had only six hours of sleep, in fact a bit less, is a factor
which may alter today's test results. I'm sleepy right now, and in a school-boredom
mode. It's my lunch break and I have nothing to do today, so I tested and posted
results. I think I could have a better reaction time with better conditions. I'll find this
thread later and post on a later date. I may not be able to continue this until two
weeks later.

I get a lot of exercise and normally have a healthy diet. I mountain bike for
+2 hours a day at least 3 days a week. Hard sport on the right trails. My
reaction time should be gradually improving. I also game for most of my
free time as well.

My main concern: Energy drinks, good or bad? I like Monster and I occasionally
take 5-hour energies. I'll alter my diet for smash bros for the sake of improving
my reaction time... a bit obsessed with gaming, but whatever. Peace out
for now.


Here's the site: http://getyourwebsitehere.com/jswb/rttest01.html

 

[ShroudedOne]

Don't use energy drinks/five hour energy. Those are just bad for you. Other than that, playing more Melee and trying to react to things helps. Magical Drop is also very good for reaction time, too (but I doubt people know about that game). But yeah, more video games, and stay healthy, too. A good night's rest before a tourney is really underrated, but really good.

 

[Sinji]

Always have a healthy meal/

 

[Mew2King]

Your diet is the number 1 factor in determining your reaction time, much more so than age. Eat healthy. Don't eat pizza before a tournament for ****s sake.

I am interested in this. Can you elaborate? As much as possible.

btw on that site, I keep getting about 0.24 most every time, so it's like 14 frames which I heard is below average but some people tell me it's not? idk what to believe, but I am interested in improving it and eating healthier. That's why I'd like you to elaborate on this, with as much [specific] info as possible

 

[TheCrimsonBlur]

I am interested in this. Can you elaborate? As much as possible.

btw on that site, I keep getting about 0.24 most every time, so it's like 14 frames which I heard is below average but some people tell me it's not? idk what to believe, but I am interested in improving it and eating healthier. That's why I'd like you to elaborate on this, with as much [specific] info as possible

Reaction time, and more importantly vigilance, is related to dopamine synthesis, and your diet is a huge factor in determining how well your body can perform the required neurofunctions upon perception.

Do's and Don'ts:

Do exercise regularly. Cardio preferably.
Don't eat a high-carb meal before a tournament. Say no to pasta, pizza (the number 1 killer), etc.
Do focus on protein. Red meat is good for this.
DON'T eat a high-calorie meal before a tournament. This is very important.
Do focus on a high fiber meal. Peanut butter and jelly. Fiber cereals.
DON'T play hungry. Not only is it uncomfortable and you'll be agitated/frustrated, but your vigilance will go down.
Do drink something with electrolytes. Orange juice, gatorade, etc. Drink a lot. Bring some with you to the tournament.
Don't do a low-carb diet. Over the long-term you need carbs for quick access.
Do take naps. If at all possible to take a nap like an hour before bracket starts, take that opportunity. Even 30 min naps are great, but 45-1 hour naps are recommended. Its not worth it if it is uncomfortable though (on the floor).

Age is so overrated. Diet matters much, much more. Age has very small standard deviation for people under the age of 40 (its only until youre 50+ that reaction times truly fall off the cliff). A 30 year old and a 20 year old aren't that different. A healthy person vs. an unhealthy person is a huge mismatch. Try doing all my DON'Ts one day and taking a reaction time test (you'll get like .35+ lol) vs. doing my DOs. It'll be a huge difference.

 

[Geenareeno]

That's really interesting and helpful, but how are you supposed to eat: low carb, high fibre, low cal. The only thing I can think of that is high in fibre but low in carbs in Raisin Bran. Don't the two go hand in hand? As in grain products?

 

[TheCrimsonBlur]

That's really interesting and helpful, but how are you supposed to eat: low carb, high fibre, low cal. The only thing I can think of that is high in fibre but low in carbs in Raisin Bran. Don't the two go hand in hand? As in grain products?

Oh don't worry about grains. They are good as long as you don't overdo it. When I mean high carb, I mean really high carb. The bread on your sandwich won't kill you lol

I forgot to mention but dairy stuff tends to be bad too.

In general, anything that changes your blood sugar dramatically (people have different reactions to different things so just pay attention to how your body reacts) is no bueno.

 

[SnakeMan]

good advice from crimson.


I just wanna say that imo while reaction speed plays a part in this game of course, I think that watching ur opponent, taking note of what thier options are, and anticipating based on their past actions what they will do, is WAY more important.

I f u antincipate, then u can predict, and wont be super reliant on ur reaction speed.

 

[Veril]

wow good stuff CrimsonBlur

Your diet is the number 1 factor in determining your reaction time, much more so than age. Eat healthy. Don't eat pizza before a tournament for ****s sake.

The single biggest factor is sleep hygiene. Getting less than 8.5 hours of sleep will diminish your reaction time substantially. Sleep debt accumulates over time and isn't immediately removed by a single good night's sleep. Trying to maintain a consistent sleeping pattern that allows for 8.5 hours of sleep is ESSENTIAL to optimizing your reaction time. If you can't do this, adrafinil is an unscheduled stimulant medication that will temporarily erase the effects of sleep debt (not used in America since there's modafinil, which is better in every way except that its restricted to schedule IV iirc). I'm not recommending this, but it is technically legal to use and overall way safer than what a lot of smashers (technical melee players in particular) utilize for that competitive edge. Caffeine and planned out carbohydrate intake without a lot of refined sugars should be obvious. Coffee >>>>>> Red bull.


Tl;dr: Sleep or eurogic stimulants ftw.

I disagree with you on the hour long nap suggestion. Napping should be limited to under a half an hour and imo meditation is greatly preferable. Limiting distractions is also very important. Visual reaction time is way slower than auditory or tactile. Whatever you can do to get people near you to stop trying to interact with you. I personally hate that ****, and absolutely cannot talk and play well at the same time. A lot of substances influence your reaction time. A LOT. There's more than I care to list at the moment.

btw on that site, I keep getting about 0.24 most every time, so it's like 14 frames which I heard is below average but some people tell me it's not? idk what to believe, but I am interested in improving it and eating healthier. That's why I'd like you to elaborate on this, with as much [specific] info as possible

The average for visual reaction time is 0.25.

@Crimson Blur: I'd love to discuss reaction time with you if we run into eachother at some point. I'm a nursing major and tremendous pharmacology geek, plus I've worked with some of the actual neurological assessments used to measure reaction time.

 

[Pluplue]

All you gotta do to boost your reaction time is play that kirby super star mini game where you have to press A when it makes a noise. its super tough

 

[Oracle]

Just play kaizo mario once a day and your reaction time will be godlike (though you may develop anger issues)

 

[choknater]

really great stuff crimson, thanks

i want the reaction time of a fly, hahahah.

 

[ShroudedOne]

God. Flies have annoying reaction time. I can never kill them.

 

[Sinji]

lots of sleep

 

[dy831532sssfjhhggb2224523]

Thank you all for the discussion.

What is kaizo mario? I'd like to get in on that. I don't think I'll develop anger issues from a game, I do care a lot about improving my gameplay, but I'm not into games enough to let them anger me. They're just a hobby, just games. I'm not easily angered.

TheCrimsonBlur is a genius!

Also interested in Magical Drop.

Got to go. Thanks again.

 

[Massive]

Flies have a average reaction time of ~30 ms (.03 s) with adequate ambient temperature/oxygen supply.

They also weigh in around 1 milligram or so, so it requires very, very little energy for them to change path rapidly or sporadically.

Actually related to the conversation edit: I have actually been eating a low carbohydrate diet for the past several months (for reasons completely unrelated to smash) and I can attest that while it has not had any noticeable effect on my reaction speed it has improved my focus by a very noticeable amount.

 

[Fuss]

You know this game is intense if people are dieting to do better.

 

[Mew2King]

Can we discuss short term vs long term?

example, will eating healthy a month ago or a week ago have any, (or any significant, or just any at all) impact over me right now, or me in the past week?

What I usually drink is milk. I rarely drink water even though I should drink more, but I also stay away from Soda.

I wasn't exactly a healthy eater most of my life. I usually just eat anything, but I'm trying to change this. I also don't exercise because I like sitting in front of my computer all the time. I know that's bad.

From what I have gathered from you, good things to do are
-PbnJ
-Cereal(fiber) (I eat cereal and oatmeal all the time... which is better?)
-Orange Juice
-Raisin Bran

can you name anything else?

and the short term vs long term thing? best things to change?

CrimsonBlur Veril in case you guys namesearch

can you name the high-carb, and high-calorie meals? This is just for short term right like 24 hour period? or what. The more you explain the better cuz I'm saving all this stuff to notepad.

 

[leffen]

I have ~0,155 on average on these tests and I don't do much of the things you just mentioned (the only one really is not eating high carb meals and drinking juice much lol).

I should really try to do more cardio + sleep more and see how far I can really push myself

 

[Mew2King]

yeah americans tend to have bad reaction time vs other countries i think cuz of the diet they were brought up with. Sucks for us, especially me since I've done this my entire life since I never knew and all I wanted to do was play video games my entire childhood (and most of my life).

 

[leffen]

I think reaction time is a bit overrated though, many times if you assume at least 12 frames then its still too much for A LOT of things (you basically cannot react to a specific firefox angle a large amount of times).

Tech chases should be on reaction by everyone though... esp Sheiks and Falcons.

 

[Mew2King]

i can tech chase falcon on reaction but i sometimes mess up, and space animals i rarely can do on reaction unless I'm playing REALLY on point. I usually guess vs spacies.

 

[-Philip Coast Philip-]

All you gotta do to boost your reaction time is play that kirby super star mini game where you have to press A when it makes a noise. its super tough

samurai kirby, the secret best tournament game ever.

and one other thing to consider, and i could be wrong, but it seems there's not only a reaction time but an adaptation time as well. for example, if you take a reaction test that times how fast you can click a button when a circle changes color, your mind might subconsciously be checking "ok, the circle changed physically, ok how, ok in color, ok is it the right color, yes, ok i react, how, i click, ok yes"... at least it seems like this sometimes.

when i react instantly to something falling, or something thrown at me, however, i've trained my muscle reactions to know and recognize "i need to catch that" even before i distinguish what it is, or why it's falling, or how to catch it, or whatever - i just know to follow and predict that object's path, and to get my hand on it: my tactile response will give me weight feedback on how to correctly balance it after that point, and my visual response will let me know if it's being stabilized or not. the other questions i might have about the object's purpose in life and the grand scheme of things, can be figured out while all this is happening, but they're initially not my primary concerns.

in smash brothers, when i see a character start to move in a certain way, my brain already knows which animation frames are happening next, and where my character needs to be and be doing in response to that. perhaps this is my 'reaction' time, but it's less of my ability to adapt and to know what to do in the situation, and more of my ability to focus on and recognize what exactly is happening, and to know how to handle that situation afterward (in terms of my mindset concerning what i predict my opponent is thinking and how i've perceived his responses in reaction to how i've portrayed myself to him (i.e. mindgames; the looking-glass self)).

how diet affects that, i don't really know the details. i know sometimes i don't feel i have the ability to concentrate in this way, if my physical health isn't that great, or to be able to manage multiple sensory inputs at once, or focus on what i need to be, or to endure in this intensity of focus.

so if my biology can help me with my ability, my cognitive 'muscle memory' will be able to perform better with less distractions or fatigue. (if i'm tipsy or tired, doesn't matter how much i can know something, my body just isn't up to the task atm, nameen).

hope that helps.

 

[Silent Wolf]

if you want better reaction time in melee the best thing you can do is practice melee. being used to how every animation for every move looks in the beginning as well as knowing what to expect in all situations plays a huge part of reacting in melee.

 

[Pachinkosam]

You know this game is intense if people are dieting to do better.

amen dude!=0

 

[Mew2King]

I'm talking food-wise guys

 

[Superspright]

Play Quakelive/Quake3Arena. Play Warsow. Play any first person shooter with serious twitch shooting in it. Watch how good your reaction time gets. Especially Warsow. It is MUCH faster. Get good at either of those games and smash will seem slow by comparison. lol

 

[Archangel]

I agree with silent wolf. I even started playing on Lightning mode to practice reacting to things at 1.5x normal speed. After doing it for hours normal speed seems like 1/2 speed. Makes reacting suddenly easier. I can dodge things by dashing left or right...it's amazing.

Also I'm gonna take Leffen's money.

 

[Blistering Speed]

What I usually drink is milk.

Don't change this.

From what I have gathered from you, good things to do are
-PbnJ
-Cereal(fiber) (I eat cereal and oatmeal all the time... which is better?)
-Orange Juice
-Raisin Bran

can you name anything else?

Labelling a food as good or bad is the wrong idea. It's all in balance. That said, PB and oatmeal are the only things I would class as "healthy" on that list.

and the short term vs long term thing? best things to change?

As much veg as you can choke down, 1-2 servings of fruit a day, high protein. Fill in fats and carbs to make up the rest of the calories however it suits you, adding up to below, at or above maintenance depending on your weight goal. Saturated fats as a minority and avoid trans fats all together. Enough water for 5 clear pisses a day. Some people find heightened clarity whilst in a state of ketosis but this isn't something I'd advocate. You need to establish healthy eating patters before messing with that ****.

can you name the high-carb, and high-calorie meals? This is just for short term right like 24 hour period? or what. The more you explain the better cuz I'm saving all this stuff to notepad.

Look at nutritional information on stuff. Easy, cheap stuff to keep you at a caloric surplus for travelling is bagels, nuts, milk etc.

If you're actually wanting to make a change relating to exercise, fullbody, well structured weight training program 2-3x a week to begin with (preferably linear progression as you're a novice) and LISS on off days.

 

[Mew2King]

not worried about weight. I'm underweight slightly, and I've been that way my whole life. Just want to improve health/reflexes/good stuff.

 

[Blistering Speed]

Then follow what I said, eat at maintenance, and get a lot of sleep.

 

[EthereaL]

I am interested in this. Can you elaborate? As much as possible.

btw on that site, I keep getting about 0.24 most every time, so it's like 14 frames which I heard is below average but some people tell me it's not? idk what to believe, but I am interested in improving it and eating healthier. That's why I'd like you to elaborate on this, with as much [specific] info as possible

Close all of your background programs before you do, they mess up the ORT.



Regarding reaction time, diet can help. The healthier you are, the faster you can react. Work out, drink a lot of water. Caffeine can help (in very small amounts, you don't want to crash).

Disregarding health...reaction time can only improve through

1. overclock training (and you thought Lightening Melee was useless, ha), and
2. sheer experience (at whatever you're reacting to, if you see "X" thing amount of time, it becomes a reflex to react to it)

Nothing else really improves it, your reaction time is influenced heavily by genetics.

www.mensfitness.com is a really good website for nutrition/etc. information if you're looking to be healthier, M2k.

 

[stelzig]

For a test of reaction time where you don't have to just click when something changes color this website will ask you to press the number (between 1-4) that shows. It's in danish, but all you need to understand is "start" and then click that

http://www.dr.dk/Tema/Hjernen/Alle+tests/Procedural_indaering.htm

It has some other tests like odd one out as well, but I figured this was the most interesting.

 

[Anth0ny]

Want good reaction time? Do what Daigo does.

I am taking more holistic approach to my professional life by taking care of my body. I’ve changed my diet to macrobiotic, and have been working out to build balanced muscle. I don’t even drink any more except for special occasions. I have set a strict schedule for myself consisting of 8 hours of sleep, 1 hour of gym training focusing on weight lifting or jogging, 1 hour of bike ride between home and the arcade for each trip, 9 hours of game practice, and the rest is spend for eating, shower, and the likes. [Editor's Note: You gamers that want to become pros, this is real tawk.]

 

[Massive]

Want good reaction time? Do what Daigo does.

Nobody but Daigo can do what Daigo does. Melee isn't big enough to have professionals who don't have to work and get to practice all day, lol.

 

[EpixAura]

I got about .3 secs on average, which is awful. But on the other hand, I've only gotten 8 hours of sleep in the last 60 hours, all I've had today was a bowl and a half of cereal (It's 6:00 PM) and 1 cup of water, and am playing an online game, which may make my computer slower.
Time to see how much these factors matter. I'll take it again after doing things right, lol. (I'll still get .3. I know I will.)