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Video Critique Thread

Litt

Samus
Joined
Feb 2, 2013
Messages
1,863
Location
CT
Do you have any recommendations for a match where this situation comes up a fair amount? I feel like most high level falcons don't do bad sideb's or stomps.

Also, in terms of mid vs high level play, I feel like better falcons stay more horizontal but my opponent was more vertical--- so I'm not sure what I should be analyzing, if you have any suggestions or thoughts on non-high level play analysis.

I just feel like there are a lot of bad things good players don't do that are options I have to deal with at my level of play.
Honestly bud, there is a difference between critique advice and telling people how to play at the next level. The kind of advice you are asking is how do I play at that next level, not what am I doing wrong. This is a question you need to answer yourself unfortunately. The only advice I can give you is, think about if the questions you are asking yourself are even the right questions to improve?

"I just feel like there are a lot of bad things good players don't do that are options I have to deal with at my level of play."

^ Form this into a question to start with. Think long and hard on it, hopefully the answer comes to you.
 
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Mervis

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Sep 25, 2014
Messages
313
No worries bud, ill double post to make you feel better. With regard to the game you linked in that set, https://youtu.be/xHVTMWruzgI?t=12m32s

Here is what I have to say, first refer to Mervis vs Darkrain for what not to do in the MU... #shots. Next your use of bombs is not only above and beyond, but falcon would gladly take bomb hit to take samus out of neutral you need to find better ways to evasion that dont leave you so open. Your combo game in this match is mid to low in terms of reliability and effectiveness to get the job done. Something you need to watch out for is when your opponent drops neutral and is just playing to **** on you. If that is the case, there will be plenty more chances in neutral to punish. There was like one up b the entire game, and it was a preemptive one that got you kneed, then you never used it again. PRACTICE THE WALL JUMP AFTER THE GRAPPLE on battlefield, you will get back on stage or at least have a chance to ledge cancel the up b as to not get Kneed, you can also cancel the grapple with a well timed rising grapple into up air to hit someone holding ledge that doesnt refresh invins.

You have zero answer to punishing side b or stomp on shield, cant let falcon get away with that. You need to properly Di falcons up and f throw. You CANNOT dsmash against falcons with a mid to strong shield, you are just gonna get kneed, period. You werent able to finish your food, your combos didn't tack on enough percent for edgeguarding to be unnecessary, you couldn't pressure his shield enough to poke with other attacks, you couldn't do anything about him pressuring your shield, you got outplayed, and I don't see you beating this falcon for a while. Thats the hard truth of this game, but not to say you didn't do anything well in this set.. you certainly did but keep in mind, this is a critique and not listing of the pros and cons of choices you made. Occasionally I will throw in a THINGS YOU DID WELL section, but you need to understand more of the falcon samus MU for things you could do well to highlight your play in my eyes. Until then it is my opinion that you will be losing to the character over the player for most falcons midish level and higher.
I make playful jabs at you and you write a book about how upset you are at me. Is it my turn to write the book?
 

Litt

Samus
Joined
Feb 2, 2013
Messages
1,863
Location
CT
I make playful jabs at you and you write a book about how upset you are at me. Is it my turn to write the book?
In order to write a book you need to be an expert on something, which you fail at. Leave me the **** alone and stop taking pokes at me, I seriously just don't want any interaction with you at all, get that clear already.
 

Mervis

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Sep 25, 2014
Messages
313
In order to write a book you need to be an expert on something, which you fail at. Leave me the **** alone and stop taking pokes at me, I seriously just don't want any interaction with you at all, get that clear already.
But you write books all the time!
 

Mervis

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Sep 25, 2014
Messages
313
https://youtu.be/EzVVu1anl3c

i'm the samus here, felt comfortable in the fox mu but falco makes it harder for me to move around successfully. any advice on specific things i could be doing better?
For a general outline to improve your play, I would recommend you try to approach a little more. I don't think I saw a single wavedash > ftilt. You are really good at baiting and setting up traps, but you lack offensive pressure. A thinking player can adapt around it and crush you. You have to threaten them with aggressive options too. Granted Samus is a really weak aggressor.
 

Litt

Samus
Joined
Feb 2, 2013
Messages
1,863
Location
CT
For a general outline to improve your play, I would recommend you try to approach a little more. I don't think I saw a single wavedash > ftilt. You are really good at baiting and setting up traps, but you lack offensive pressure. A thinking player can adapt around it and crush you. You have to threaten them with aggressive options too. Granted Samus is a really weak aggressor.
Yes do as Mervis says, more agressive options... like dash attack, I hear it was effective vs Darkrain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD-niqxaN_I
 

Guluheend

Smash Rookie
Joined
Dec 1, 2010
Messages
3
Location
San Diego, CA
Long time lurker, first(ish) time poster. I play samus in San Diego and I'm pretty meh. Give me advice!

I play against a ranked falco who knows the matchup pretty well and I always lose to this mofo. Falco is hard help me win my Samus brethren!

Game 1 is pretty dumb, I felt like I was just easing into the set the first few stocks so feel free to ignore it or check it out and critique anyway BUT if you're only going to watch one game make it a different one. Thanks in advance, and please be kind Barbie :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jREKUv8SVE
 
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FreezyEffects

Smash Rookie
Joined
Jun 28, 2014
Messages
3
Hello, I've posted in this board about two years ago and I feel like I have improved since then. I obviously still would like to get better, here is a BO5 between me and one of my friends (Captain Falcon) who i constantly lose to. Any help will be greatly appreciated, thanks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve7z-YaKDtU
 

Mervis

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Sep 25, 2014
Messages
313
Hello, I've posted in this board about two years ago and I feel like I have improved since then. I obviously still would like to get better, here is a BO5 between me and one of my friends (Captain Falcon) who i constantly lose to. Any help will be greatly appreciated, thanks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve7z-YaKDtU
Hey man where've you been?

To start it all off, you seem to have cement shoes. Yeah, Samus is pretty good at her CC game and zoning, but you still have to keep it ambiguous. When you are in footsie range, you have to keep on the pressure and force him to make mistakes.

Secondly, you need to work on your edgeguarding on Falcon. It's actually a very simple flowchart. If he is going low then you edgehog him. If he's coming in around stage level, possibly to the side plat, uptilt. Uptilt also covers the ledge so the only way Falcon is going around Samus is if he goes waaaay high. Uptilt covers edge, fadeback to edge, and mid-high up-b heights. The tricky part is when Falcon goes high. Double jump Nair/Bair sends him back into another up-b situation, which can sometimes be tricky. Learn this flowchart and never ever EVER let Falcon back on if he's off stage.

Not going to go too into detail about this next issue, but work on your recovery and DI options. You died prematurely several times which is a huge blow to Samus' strengths. You seem to have a strange reaction to certain situations that get you cornered or off stage. Just try to not be habitual if your DI is not working out. Try new things.

Now your punish game is pretty solid. You do a lot of strange things that I wouldn't agree with, but it worked out for you in a lot of situations so you definitely have a good style going.
 

dietsnapple89

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jul 13, 2006
Messages
75
Location
Oak Brook
Hey man where've you been?

To start it all off, you seem to have cement shoes. Yeah, Samus is pretty good at her CC game and zoning, but you still have to keep it ambiguous. When you are in footsie range, you have to keep on the pressure and force him to make mistakes.

Secondly, you need to work on your edgeguarding on Falcon. It's actually a very simple flowchart. If he is going low then you edgehog him. If he's coming in around stage level, possibly to the side plat, uptilt. Uptilt also covers the ledge so the only way Falcon is going around Samus is if he goes waaaay high. Uptilt covers edge, fadeback to edge, and mid-high up-b heights. The tricky part is when Falcon goes high. Double jump Nair/Bair sends him back into another up-b situation, which can sometimes be tricky. Learn this flowchart and never ever EVER let Falcon back on if he's off stage.

Not going to go too into detail about this next issue, but work on your recovery and DI options. You died prematurely several times which is a huge blow to Samus' strengths. You seem to have a strange reaction to certain situations that get you cornered or off stage. Just try to not be habitual if your DI is not working out. Try new things.

Now your punish game is pretty solid. You do a lot of strange things that I wouldn't agree with, but it worked out for you in a lot of situations so you definitely have a good style going.
I'd just add that when Capt. Falcon goes high, its better to get on a platform. Jumping and Nairing/Bairing works, but if you miss then Falcon will fall quickly back to stage and be able to have positional advantage and will start spamming Uairs if you don't fast fall back to the ground. By standing on the platform, if he goes high, you can normally cover most fadebacks and if he tries to go for the stage by using Fsmash or Dsmash.

When falcon goes low/equal level of the stage, sometimes falcon is at a range where up tilt barely misses him even if you time it the best you can. I think in these situations, its better to grab ledge then do a ledge hop bair back onto the stage.
 
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FreezyEffects

Smash Rookie
Joined
Jun 28, 2014
Messages
3
I'd just add that when Capt. Falcon goes high, its better to get on a platform. Jumping and Nairing/Bairing works, but if you miss then Falcon will fall quickly back to stage and be able to have positional advantage and will start spamming Uairs if you don't fast fall back to the ground. By standing on the platform, if he goes high, you can normally cover most fadebacks and if he tries to go for the stage by using Fsmash or Dsmash.

When falcon goes low/equal level of the stage, sometimes falcon is at a range where up tilt barely misses him even if you time it the best you can. I think in these situations, its better to grab ledge then do a ledge hop bair back onto the stage.
Thank you both for all of the advice, I'll try to implement it into my gameplay! On the topic of falcon recovering very high, I typically find myself jumping/ double jumping to hit him with a nair or bair but he mostly just fades back and is able to grab ledge or like you said he will fast fall it then chain me with up airs.
 
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Mervis

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Sep 25, 2014
Messages
313
Thank you both for all of the advice, I'll try to implement it into my gameplay! On the topic of falcon recovering very high, I typically find myself jumping/ double jumping to hit him with a nair or bair but he mostly just fades back and is able to grab ledge or like you said he will fast fall it then chain me with up airs.
Honestly that **** gets me too. You have to go offstage a little to really secure the nair/bair which can be a bit scary if you miss. Bair is a little more disjointed and hits harder so it's the better option, just a little more difficult to time. It's also better that if you miss he lands on stage rather than edge so be slightly below him when you are intercepting with an aerial. Honestly Falon's recover is really underrated against Samus. He can seriously weave around her well.
 

JMoney$

Smash Cadet
Joined
Jan 9, 2015
Messages
25
Location
Puyallup, Washington
I'm back, guys! :p Got 2nd at a tourney to Animal a little bit ago. Here is my Losers Finals set:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb1lStpQMsw (Samus vs Fox)

I would greatly appreciate any tips, advice, or constructive criticism for my gameplay.
Dude you were looking pretty good game 3! Your style is a lot different then mine as I like to wavedash oos A LOT. But yeah you need to look for wavedash back/down Smash vs Fox. It's super good in this matchup if you can get them to come at you just cc and punish! ...ok there's a lot more to it than that, but if you are able to play more patient than the Fox you can take up most of the stage and when they come at you wavedash back, cc and dSmash. You might be surprised at how effective this is.(; I practice against an aggro Fox and it drives him crazy (really makes them have to pick their spots/ play patient), he always comes in with nair and gets cc'd. Now his only way to approach is with shines, and bairs(sometimes up airs). But all in all you looked pretty good man. Only other advise was sometimes you were very stationary in your shield but you would get away with it because he would come right at you and get UpB'd oos. Good Fox's will bait that or fade back and then grab you. Try to wavedash oos a little more. and Do what I said in the beggining. It's super good in this matchup! Make em take the bait
 

bubbaking

Smash Hero
Joined
Mar 30, 2010
Messages
6,895
Location
Baldwin, NY, USA or Alexandria, VA, USA (Pick one)
Thanks for the advice! I'll definitely keep that in mind. I usually do WD OoS a bit more, but this Fox was hitting my shield a little aggressively, so I decided to let him have what for. :p I am also working on increasing my mobility, so I guess we'll see how that goes down soon.

Long time lurker, first(ish) time poster. I play samus in San Diego and I'm pretty meh. Give me advice!

I play against a ranked falco who knows the matchup pretty well and I always lose to this mofo. Falco is hard help me win my Samus brethren!

Game 1 is pretty dumb, I felt like I was just easing into the set the first few stocks so feel free to ignore it or check it out and critique anyway BUT if you're only going to watch one game make it a different one. Thanks in advance, and please be kind Barbie :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jREKUv8SVE
Game 1 really looks like you should have done some handwarmers beforehand, lolz. :p You also had this weird habit of standing still at some points until Falco approached so you could spot-dodge or powershield, but this backfired on you sometimes. It looked weird because you generally had pretty decent mobiity, but then there were just odd moments where you stood COMPLETELY still for a bit.

2:18 - At this point of the game, I can see that the Falco is actually pretty experienced at the Samus MU and is deliberately aiming to bait your upB's, so you shouldn't do them preemptively anymore. Notice how I didn't say not to upB anymore, only not to do them preemptively. You can still do reactionary ones to punish unsafe pressure, but you shouldn't aim to stuff his approach with it until he shows proactiveness on his end. Usually, when Falcos are baiting your upB like this, then they aren't going to go for grab set-ups (laser grab, shinegrab, etc). Conversely, when a good Falco sees that you are sticking to your shield and reacting instead of acting first, he will start grabbing. It is up to you to notice the way the match is flowing and adapt accordingly. At this point, the Falco is simply baiting you, so don't oblige him with preemptive upB's.

2:26 - This is infuriating. That was a good upB because that early dair was very unsafe, but he SDI'd down (probably because he was already holding down from dair and was going to shine or spot-dodge) and teched immediately. It's time to start WDing OoS more because it's clear that this Falco is experienced enough to know when his attack is unsafe so he can prepare for the upB. If you keep upBing this type of Falco, they will punish it even on-hit.

2:32 - Even more evidence. The Falco knew that his early nair was extremely unsafe, so he SDI'd out of the upB immediately so that there was no follow-up on your end and the situation was reset to neutral (where Falco has the advantage).

2:34 - He baited the living daylights out of you here. Again, you shouldn't have gone for the preemptive upB.

2:48 - If Falco tech-rolls to the side like that, it's a free dsmash or dtilt. He should have either broken out of tumble or teched in-place.

2:58 - You can't just come in high like that. Falco can always FH dair or bair you with no risk to himself. You either have to fake him out or go low.

3:32 - Do you know why SkSk destroyed you so hard at the beginning of his last stock? When you took his first stock, you quickly DJ'd and wavelanded off the inner side of the right platform (the closest one) to escape his invinciblity. When you took his second stock, you did the same exact thing on the left plat (the closest one at that time). When you took his third stock, once again, you DJ'd and wavelanded off the inner side of the right (the closest) plat, so being a good Falco, SkSk probably noticed this habit and completely capitalized.

4:02 - Not sure what that jump was, but you get a free dtilt or dsmash after dair. You might also get grab, but I'm not sure.

4:10 - I like the idea, but I would have gone with DJ fair to possibly land some kind of conversion. Naturally, we have different playstyles, and I noticed earlier that you like to drop-through fair and land on the ground for positioning where I would have dropped thru > DJ fair'd to try to land a combo or pressure. This difference is fine, but I think here, going for a combo/pressure situation would have been optimal because you are already at dangerous %'s on your last stock. The Falco was also on his last stock at mid %'s, and he's fragile, so one good combo into a good finisher to send him offstage could have netted you the game. Just something to think about.

4:12 - Right now, this Falco is the king of baiting you.

When you were moving around, I liked your mobility and your grabs. I also really liked that pivot fsmash to remove his 3rd stock. I just think you need to stop letting him bait you, although you may have adapted in later games, idk.

Lolz, I know you said you didn't want someone to only watch the first game, but I just completed a 7 hour inter-state drive, it's 6 AM, and I'm suddenly really tired. :tired:
 

Guluheend

Smash Rookie
Joined
Dec 1, 2010
Messages
3
Location
San Diego, CA
Hey I really appreciate the lookover, EVEN IF IT WAS GAME 1. But really, made me re-watch it with a focus on the baits and goddamn.. I definitely struggle with this quite a lot and i'm slowly developing patience. Thanks :)
 

itsbme

Game on!
Joined
Aug 16, 2008
Messages
262
Location
U.S.A.
Slippi.gg
BME#828
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MFH86Y2Z50

That is me vs. zin0 in a friendly. Usually he beats me, but I got lucky with Samus!

So I only play on Netplay, and I just started trying to learn Samus. She's fun to use and I enjoy playing with her. I need to work on a lot if I want to do better. But anyway, I'm welcome to all advice. Hopefully this video shows you all some things that are good to do and not good to do. I don't know why I let him get away with dash dance. I don't really play a lot against good people so maybe that's why haha. Anyway, it's fun to see how each player uses Samus in their own way.

P.S. I like walking with Samus.
 

Spazzy

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jun 26, 2014
Messages
162
Location
Fairhope, Alabama
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ANReqmvZiU I'm Lansky, tell me my problems.
Work on approaching is one thing, I saw you doing double jump or just full hop to dair. Samus is a grounded character and she can get punished easily when she's airborne. Work on wavedashing around for movement, and incorporate f-tilt with your wavedashes. Upsmash is not a good move but if you it was a missed input for uptilt, I understand that. Don't grab in neutral, it can lead to an easy punish for your opponent.
 

bubbaking

Smash Hero
Joined
Mar 30, 2010
Messages
6,895
Location
Baldwin, NY, USA or Alexandria, VA, USA (Pick one)
0:30 - Interesting choice, trying to poke with dangled fsmash, but it's not safe.

0:32 - I think this is a really bad habit among mid-level Sami like us. We get sent off at upper-mid %'s so we choose to DJ back immediately and aggressively cover our landings with a dair, hitting Falco if he tried to intercept us. However, dair's start-up can be stuffed. Additionally, patient Falcos like Sickolas here can just wait for the landing to punish the lag. You're actually lucky he only baired you. If he wanted to optimize this punish, he could have daired or shined you first. When we get sent off like this, if the Falco is good, we need to simply accept our disadvantageous position and find good, slippery ways to get to the ledge or the ground. We will lose if we try to force our way back to the ground with force.

0:37 - I think fast-falling for the ledge would have been much safer in this situation. Yeah, you'd be at a disadvantage on the ledge, but at least you'd be safe for the moment and could try to use ledge invincibility to mount a counter-offense. Just landing in front of Falco doesn't seem like a good idea.

1:04 - Coming down from the plat against Falco in this situation is an option you have to mix up. First off, if you are on the plat when Falco is grounded in the center of the stage, you are kinda at a positional disadvantage. Falco can easily get under you and stuff missile as he did here. You may have been able to trade if you came down with nair instead. Or you could have pretended to drop through and then DJ waveland off the plat instead with a bair to cover yourself. There are lots of options, but you should be aware that shooting coming down for a MC is both expected and very easy to stuff. Sometimes, it's better to just not go on the plat at all unless Falco is across the stage. While grounded, you control large portions of the stage, but on a plat, you trade a lot of control for niche options that could catch Falco by surprise.

1:06 - That's a bad habit of always instantly DJing back above the stage, and it got severely punished this time.

1:08 - Since that was an early cross-up nair, you should have WD'd OoS instead of simply dropping your shield. You would have reset the situation to neutral with a WD back, or you could have started up your own pressure/gained stage control with a WD in. Just dropping your shield, though, let Sickolas bair you.

1:10 - Bad habit of always DJing back to this plat. You're putting yourself into a bad spot here. You should try going for the ledge sometimes.

1:11 - And that is a panic dsmash (similar to Peaches spamming it on plats above people's heads). It will only catch impatient Falcos. Experienced Falcos like this one can just punish it on-reaction.

1:13 - What was that? You DJ'd back with fair (which could have been completely stuffed by Falco's bair, btw), and you quickly get your shield up....but then you drop it immediately after? O.o You have upB and WD OoS. No reason to just drop your shield here.

1:18 - That's a really bad habit of always jumping in high to recover, and if there's a character who can always cover it, it's Falco.

1:25 - So far you've only ever been on the ledge twice. Both times you ledge-rolled in. I hope this doesn't become a habit. Sickolas punished this one pretty hard.

1:36- That's a free dsmash/dtilt, lolz.

2:44 - There was no need to upB so preemptively here. You were doing a pretty good job of punishing his early aerials before with upB OoS. Sickolas has already shown his capability to wait for commitments from you to punish, so don't indulge him.

2:45 - As BS as it is, you can't really hit spacees with ftilts at low %'s unless it's spaced. Otherwise, you'll just get CC'd and punished hard.

3:00 - I feel like you are trying too hard to put missiles out and not hard enough to take up good positioning to make the Falco uncomfortable.

3:03 - This is almost never a good idea unless the Falco is in lag or was knocked down. Soaring to plat with nair is incredibly punishable. Instead, I suggest you replace nair with fair. Falco's worse-than-average shield will probably be poked, and even if it isn't, fair is safe on block and you can drag it down while it's hitting to make sure that it's safe, unlike nair.

3:14 - You're on your last stock against Falco's two stocks while he's at mid %. It's time to make some plays. Right after you connected with your upB and grabbed the ledge, I think you should have pushed on quickly with some kind of offensive. Ledgedash dsmash or ledgehop aerials from the ledge probably would have connected and given you a huge advantage, but instead you rolled on (again).

Your Samus was pretty nice to look at, and it seemed like you had a better handle on general mobility in the second half of the game. However, there were a couple of bad habits that you need to work on, especially where recoveries were involved. Also, try to incorporate more WDs OoS into your game. It's a great way to reset the situation to neutral or quickly create a counter-offense in situations where your upB won't connect or is too risky.
 
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Spazzy

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jun 26, 2014
Messages
162
Location
Fairhope, Alabama
Your Samus was pretty nice to look at, and it seemed like you had a better handle on general mobility in the second half of the game. However, there were a couple of bad habits that you need to work on, especially where recoveries were involved. Also, try to incorporate more WDs OoS into your game. It's a great way to reset the situation to neutral or quickly create a counter-offense in situations where your upB won't connect or is too risky.
Thanks a ton for this review, I really appreciate all the work you spent
 

Litt

Samus
Joined
Feb 2, 2013
Messages
1,863
Location
CT
me in the amateur crew battle at our recent arcadian tourney. anyone have tips on beating ganon on yoshi's as samus? i wish i'd been able to clutch this one out :/

https://youtu.be/Yj_UdwYOm4g?t=48m38s
Here is a tip vs sheik... you got baited so hard the first stock it wasnt even funny. You gave up like 80% just from approaching needlessly

vs. ganon... you got baited by his ledge jump, got fairs and daired from trying to trade at high percents, and you kept trying to up b despite being on your last leg in the set and at 80%... this isnt just bad play vs ganon its not smart in general unless you are on point ledge canceling those up bs... you werent and thus you got punished. Only advice wait more during edgeguards and make them more efficient, you kept knocking ganon on stage and him knocking you to the blast zones.
 
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Litt

Samus
Joined
Feb 2, 2013
Messages
1,863
Location
CT
welp I finally make it out to a tourney with a recording set up and do pretty damn well, would appreciate a critique on WF and GF against slox. Ignore game 2 of GF for some reason I thought i wasnt play slox and jiggs would be a good idea lmao.

Litt (Samus) vs Zoso (Marth)
https://youtu.be/BQXTesPlDIk

WF Litt (Samus) vs Slox (Falcon)
https://youtu.be/XeTb9ZYuR-Y

GF Litt (Samus) vs Slox (Falcon)
https://youtu.be/s8i-mnG-Eu8
 

bubbaking

Smash Hero
Joined
Mar 30, 2010
Messages
6,895
Location
Baldwin, NY, USA or Alexandria, VA, USA (Pick one)
Hi! My tag is Wheatley and I'm rather new to the competitive scene. Here's my only video. This peach I'm facing is one of the best in my area.
https://youtu.be/30hYierWstU?list=PLSb5ERyiqAA6uIN0vNuSRLy6BQTCKTQHr
I would suggest working on your mobility a little bit. A lot of your movement looked sluggish to me.

0:04 - Not sure if this was an error in trying to input another special here, but a missile was both a bad punish and a punish that shouldn't have worked. With a turnip in her hand, Peach can't dsmash, so you could have CC dtilt/dsmashed if you wanted.

0:12 - Work on your ledge get-up options, especially your invincible ones. When Peach is floating right above the ledge, there isn't much reason to go for a regular ledge get-up. An invincible ledgedash is faster, and a hax-dash can fake her out. Also, if you wait for her to come down near the ledge, you can always ledgehop fair her into upB or an appropriate mix-up.

0:20 - Don't DA in neutral, especially with this much space between you and your opponent. It's easy to avoid, and it's pretty laggy so it's easy to punish.

0:24 - I'm not sure, but it looked like you tried to shoot another standing missile right under Peach. In any case, you shouldn't have stood there. When Peach is coming in directly overhead, you need to be mobile. Alternatively you can upB her, but just standing there is not a good idea.

0:28 - Not a good distance to ftilt from. Ftilt is extremely unsafe from this range. The Peach preemptively shielded because she didn't want to get dtilt/smashed. Knowing this, you have quite a few options you can go for. The safe option, if you want to hit Peach, is to jab pressure her, especially since her back was facing you. Alternatively, you could WD through her to gain control of center stage, grab her, or bomb pressure her, but ftilting her was really bad right here.

0:30 - Gotta sweetspot that DJ back to the ledge.

0:35 - Again, you have much better options than the regular ledge get-up actions, especially when Peach is too close to the ledge.

0:48 - Like, why did you not only stand there, but also keep shielding, while Peach charged a smash way below you? Completely safe from whatever she was doing, you could have easily tried to punish or at least maneuvered to a better position.

0:52 - Why missile there? Peach is above you. You need to be more mobile.

0:56 - The Peach is reading you because you tend to early DJ back to stage and try to nair your way back down. This just loses to a large host of anti-air moves, including Peach's usmash. You've gotta mix up your recovery.

1:06 - Nice grab!

1:08 - This is part of what I meant when I said your movement looked sluggish to me. After nairing, you should FF to get down to the plat as quickly as possible so you can either follow up your attack or avoid a counterattack from the opponent. However, you kind of just drifted through the air without FFing and it left you in a bad spot, even after you'd just connected with the nair.

1:12 - Really weird that you DA'd here. Peach had already hit the top of her FH in the middle of the stage and you looked at it...and then DA'd. Not only was she really far away, but the DA was incredibly late as well.

1:14 - You can't just spam whiffed ftilts in this MU (or any MU, really), especially when you're at high %'s. You have to be more mobile.

1:19 - So you DO know how to ledgehop fair...

1:20 - ...but why are you choosing to combo into upB here? You're down and Peach is at high %'s. Seems like a perfect time to go for the kill with something else. That upB was a punish that would always work but should have given you no reward. The only reason she ended up like she did was overzealous SDI.

1:30 - Can't just sit there trying to CC at 110%. Gotta be more mobile.

1:43 - He read you completely. You always DJ early out of hitstun.

1:51 - Why are you holding shield at this distance?

1:55 - Literally FIVE things were wrong with this scenario:
  1. You burned your DJ out of hitstun immediately.
  2. You tried to fall from the sky with a nair...an early nair that would take years to reach the ground. Both this and the early DJ had already been hard-read by your opponent before.
  3. You didn't drift in and grab the ledge.
  4. You didn't sweetspot the ledge with upB.
  5. Your DI for the fair was horrendous. You shouldn't have died below 90 from a fair.

2:14 - Don't jump into a Peach standing right above you on a platform.

2:17 - You've been rolling a lot, even though Samus has the worst roll in the game by a very large margin. At first I thought it was a technical error, but you've done it a lot and you never WD OoS. Learn how to WD OoS.

2:18 - At first glance, it looks like your bad roll got punished directly. However, upon closer inspection, one can see that you crouched right before you got hit, even though you're at decently high %s on your last stock. If you crouched, that means you had enough time to move away or shield. You really have to rely a lot less on your CCs and a bit more on your mobility and OoS game.

Hopefully, I didn't seem too harsh. If Samus is going to be viable in Melee, she needs to utilize her superb ground mobility and OoS game along with her CC abilty. You seem to have the CC part down pat (you landed a good deal of your CC dtilts), but you really need to work on the other things.
 
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Litt

Samus
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I would suggest working on your mobility a little bit. A lot of your movement looked sluggish to me.

0:04 - Not sure if this was an error in trying to input another special here, but a missile was both a bad punish and a punish that shouldn't have worked. With a turnip in her hand, Peach can't dsmash, so you could have CC dtilt/dsmashed if you wanted.

0:12 - Work on your ledge get-up options, especially your invincible ones. When Peach is floating right above the ledge, there isn't much reason to go for a regular ledge get-up. An invincible ledgedash is faster, and a hax-dash can fake her out. Also, if you wait for her to come down near the ledge, you can always ledgehop fair her into upB or an appropriate mix-up.

0:20 - Don't DA in neutral, especially with this much space between you and your opponent. It's easy to avoid, and it's pretty laggy so it's easy to punish.

0:24 - I'm not sure, but it looked like you tried to shoot another standing missile right under Peach. In any case, you shouldn't have stood there. When Peach is coming in directly overhead, you need to be mobile. Alternatively you can upB her, but just standing there is not a good idea.

0:28 - Not a good distance to ftilt from. Ftilt is extremely unsafe from this range. The Peach preemptively shielded because she didn't want to get dtilt/smashed. Knowing this, you have quite a few options you can go for. The safe option, if you want to hit Peach, is to jab pressure her, especially since her back was facing you. Alternatively, you could WD through her to gain control of center stage, grab her, or bomb pressure her, but ftilting her was really bad right here.

0:30 - Gotta sweetspot that DJ back to the ledge.

0:35 - Again, you have much better options than the regular ledge get-up actions, especially when Peach is too close to the ledge.

0:48 - Like, why did you not only stand there, but also keep shielding, while Peach charged a smash way below you? Completely safe from whatever she was doing, you could have easily tried to punish or at least maneuvered to a better position.

0:52 - Why missile there? Peach is above you. You need to be more mobile.

0:56 - The Peach is reading you because you tend to early DJ back to stage and try to nair your way back down. This just loses to a large host of anti-air moves, including Peach's usmash. You've gotta mix up your recovery.

1:06 - Nice grab!

1:08 - This is part of what I meant when I said your movement looked sluggish to me. After nairing, you should FF to get down to the plat as quickly as possible so you can either follow up your attack or avoid a counterattack from the opponent. However, you kind of just drifted through the air without FFing and it left you in a bad spot, even after you'd just connected with the nair.

1:12 - Really weird that you DA'd here. Peach had already hit the top of her FH in the middle of the stage and you looked at it...and then DA'd. Not only was she really far away, but the DA was incredibly late as well.

1:14 - You can't just spam whiffed ftilts in this MU (or any MU, really), especially when you're at high %'s. You have to be more mobile.

1:19 - So you DO know how to ledgehop fair...

1:20 - ...but why are you choosing to combo into upB here? You're down and Peach is at high %'s. Seems like a perfect time to go for the kill with something else. That upB was a punish that would always work but should have given you no reward. The only reason she ended up like she did was overzealous SDI.

1:30 - Can't just sit there trying to CC at 110%. Gotta be more mobile.

1:43 - He read you completely. You always DJ early out of hitstun.

1:51 - Why are you holding shield at this distance?

1:55 - Literally FIVE things were wrong with this scenario:
  1. You burned your DJ out of hitstun immediately.
  2. You tried to fall from the sky with a nair...an early nair that would take years to reach the ground. Both this and the early DJ had already been hard-read by your opponent before.
  3. You didn't drift in and grab the ledge.
  4. You didn't sweetspot the ledge with upB.
  5. Your DI for the fair was horrendous. You shouldn't have died below 90 from a fair.

2:14 - Don't jump into a Peach standing right above you on a platform.

2:17 - You've been rolling a lot, even though Samus has the worst roll in the game by a very large margin. At first I thought it was a technical error, but you've done it a lot and you never WD OoS. Learn how to WD OoS.

2:18 - At first glance, it looks like your bad roll got punished directly. However, upon closer inspection, one can see that you crouched right before you got hit, even though you're at decently high %s on your last stock. If you crouched, that means you had enough time to move away or shield. You really have to rely a lot less on your CCs and a bit more on your mobility and OoS game.

Hopefully, I didn't seem too harsh. If Samus is going to be viable in Melee, she needs to utilize her superb ground mobility and OoS game along with her CC abilty. You seem to have the CC part down pat (you landed a good deal of your CC dtilts), but you really need to work on the other things.
Dude no critique on my set vs zoso where i 2-0 him? ;p

Litt (Samus) vs Zoso (Marth)
https://youtu.be/BQXTesPlDIk
 

Litt

Samus
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Sorry, I actually didn't see that post. I'll take a look at your sets. Good stuff making it to GFs!
Thanks dude, i could deff use some help vs Sl0x falcon. Normally i do pretty decent, but was just overwhelmed against his falcon
 
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GF Litt (Samus) vs Slox (Falcon)
https://youtu.be/s8i-mnG-Eu8
Watched this one.

I think you're unable to read the falcon's movements well and that forced you to play into an even more defensive state than you're used to. What you need to do is slow the Falcon down - notice how he slows down when sees you in an advantageous situation/he can't read your movements, and that makes him telegraph his movements to you better, to which you usually get the upper hand on. So you need to force/bait him to act by running up and shielding in front of him, or you need to bait him more by dash dancing and wavedashing around in place more with your own movements, so that he'll want to get greedy and initiate but since he won't be able to read your movements (it's a gamble here) his movements are more probabilistically punishable because they AREN'T going to be punishing YOU (instead you can capitalize on his wasted/telegraphed movements). Also (and this is good advice when behind too) you need to throw out more objectively reliable moves aka faster + less punishing (for both you and him) moves, aka flying nairs where you think he might be. You can't go for the hard read when you're behind like that if he has nothing to lose by not playing the game (you were too far behind in the first match to be fishing for fsmashes or whatever, although it's possible to do, just more difficult at that state).

Some mistakes (I get that you might be tilted but let's cover options you don't have to make again next time):

0:27 i'd argue wd oos was unnecessary here although i understand the reaction
0:31 you went back in for the bair but just drawing out that exchange you would have made falcon whiff his fair and you probably coming out with a net trade
0:42 falcon goes into shield, there's an odd interaction here because technically you didn't need to give up that stance but you did.

I'm noticing some missed shield jab pressure situations here as well. No need to get in front of falcon to grab him. Just pressure him and he'll move.

0:45-46 habit. you jump to (ai?) land unnaturally on the platform, which is fine, but in the split-second window it uses up, falcon approaches, and if you hadn't used such advanced tech there you could have nair-reacted and screwed up his aerial. BUT, maybe he read you well there from playing you the past few matches already.

0:55 not sure if you knew but from this position falcon will recover onto stage and will be unable to dodge any attack you throw out because of his fall angle. It would have been better to just jump nair in place and catch him early to edgeguard again, or to not miss an fsmash and that would have killed him.

1:06 correct me if i'm wrong but the fmash here was fishing. you don't lose from it, but you might have been able to extend that trade out slightly and gain from it by going right and considering a quicker attack.

right after the wd behind ftilt was nice tho
bomb was good

smooth triple missiles on platform

1:38 alright, dash attack towards ledge, interesting choice.

how often do you play falcon? his edge recovery could have been punished hard at 1:53. i only say that because you jumped early. if you were ledge regrabbing for the heck of it then i'm sorry.

skipping the rest of the match

character select: inferior character was chosen.

3rd match:

start of match: not sure if the backthrow was a mistake but always throw falcon up at that percent, you can almost always get a dair off on him - it's just more percent, if anything

upairs are nice but he's all over you and it's hilarious he's disrespecting you like that
that bair was tight 6:03 nice ko
so you see he starts to slow down a bit more when you get up close to him while your trades stay neutral, which is good, because they're not unfavorable at least
ah, how respectable was that taunt.
yeah those fmashes aren't winning you anything
good neutral and punish for the middle of the match

in all, i'd say, if you can't read the opponent try and slow them down some way by forcing them to move either to you or to make you move (if you're in shield). also your uairs are good, you can also uair falcon in the air as well but harder to get off. finally, upsmash is another option against falcon and so is rolling behind him when he tries to approach you and you're in shield.

oh, there was a platform dropped fair somewhere in the first match on the left platform which was telegraphed and allowed falcon to punish you, just don't do that
 

BillNyeTheSamusGuy

Smash Journeyman
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Messages
463
As soon as the fox caught on that all you were going to do is defend and throw out bombs, he started giving you more respect in neutral, which is where your micro game comes in, grabs, tilts, jab pressure on shield, ect... but you never engaged in that way...
Litt Litt It took a year and I finally have a vague implementation of the micro game: https://youtu.be/6PR6-30WIg0

Am I positioning myself poorly after throws? You can only follow up so much but I feel like I could maintain advantage better than I did after throw follow ups. Also my edgeguarding was crappy. Also also, were there any egregious neutral game flubs or any openings I failed to capitalize?
 
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Litt

Samus
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Litt Litt It took a year and I finally have a vague implementation of the micro game: https://youtu.be/6PR6-30WIg0

Am I positioning myself poorly after throws? You can only follow up so much but I feel like I could maintain advantage better than I did after throw follow ups. Also my edgeguarding was crappy. Also also, were there any egregious neutral game flubs or any openings I failed to capitalize?
Your jabs cancels are crisp as FAK but a better marth can drop sheild cc grab them since most were not spaced, need to be doing more with the jabs than waiting for one to poke or hit into dsmash. As for things in netural, you like to just stay in shield a lot after a stock and got grabbed nearly every time for it, just short hop backwards when marth comes near you into a waveland backwards to give up space and waste some time for the invins to go away after you stay in shield, that is if you are not comfortable going to ledge. Last little tip is to fast fall fair to break out of the marth fair combos, his fair goes from top to bottom so Di away and if he committs to another one, ff fair. Oh and you grabbed wayyyyy too much, but i mean you won so no harm no fowl.

One more one more thing: Nice use of Ais, try working in the full hop ones instead of short hop to save some more time in the future on battlefield, but very nice one game 1 on fd from ledge

Game 2 you do pretty well first stock but just fail to close it out and start smash attacking his shield a lot which he was clearly looking for, then that one edgeguard on you and it pretty much was the game, hard to come back from that.

You really need to stop just staying in shield in neutral, at least throw some spot dodge in there or something. Your biggest issue is throwing out too many dsmashes and not moving enough. It is clear you have a micro game but it needs refining with movement and slightly better spacing, but there is no connection between your macro and micro game, its one or the other and it makes it easier to read/punish.
 
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Yo. I actually only rarely play melee - probably 2-3 'periods' a year, ...so maybe a few dozen smash events a year. Been doing this for the past 5 years. #NoJohns

I want to try and get better. But I realized - after a long time - I was never good at this game. But I think I figured out why. So I'm learnng to respect the neutral.

Anyway, I'm a 2/10 on matchup knowledge for Marth, 3/10 for Sheik, Jiggs, and Peach. Today's matchup is marth.

I went into the tourney cold. Yeah yeah lot's of mechanical errors (dairing when I meant to nair) and I also just stood there half the time because I couldn't figure out the proper button timings lol (I usually take hours to warm up). So I remember/learn things as I go. (Meant to waveland away on my very last stock before Marth hit my with his UaIr but Idk if he still could have fsmashed me anyway.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPPXw046JBA I get better as I go. Would appreciate any advice.
 
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Litt

Samus
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Messages
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Yo. I actually only rarely play melee - probably 2-3 'periods' a year, ...so maybe a few dozen smash events a year. Been doing this for the past 5 years. #NoJohns

I want to try and get better. But I realized - after a long time - I was never good at this game. But I think I figured out why. So I'm learnng to respect the neutral.

Anyway, I'm a 2/10 on matchup knowledge for Marth, 3/10 for Sheik, Jiggs, and Peach. Today's matchup is marth.

I went into the tourney cold. Yeah yeah lot's of mechanical errors (dairing when I meant to nair) and I also just stood there half the time because I couldn't figure out the proper button timings lol (I usually take hours to warm up). So I remember/learn things as I go. (Meant to waveland away on my very last stock before Marth hit my with his UaIr but Idk if he still could have fsmashed me anyway.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPPXw046JBA I get better as I go. Would appreciate any advice.
Way way way too many bombs coming down, movement is pretty good but the majority of your play looks predictive instead of using the refined movement which you clearly have to map out your opponents abilities/tendencies more. You choose repetitive and poor ledge options of jump or roll on and need to mix those up. There looks like a lot of fearful tossing out of moves especially when you are down, which shouldn't be the case when the marth is hardly grabbing you. Long range game is pretty nonexistent as well but that may be in part to the overly aggressive marth. Really poor recovery options when marth is holding ledge and just let go bairing you, just fast fall up b or zair instead of bomb jumping every single time. like 6-8 unsucessful charging fsmashes waiting for marth to jump up... after 1-2 you should realize not gonna work and move on from that strat. To end game 1, my gawd switch up your recovery already but you just keep getting baired by marth in the same spot.

Game 2, not a bad start but you always throw out grabs predictively but never when marth clearly burns both jumps in neutral to try to bait out something from you just sitting in shield. As soon as marth kills a second jump you will almost always be able to grab him. Marth started realizing how to bait your up b and punish you for it, again no change up on same bomb jump getting baired. Marth starting to powershield missiles more and you are getting caught, change up to short hop homing because it makes him deal with them differently. Wasted your charge shot last stock which you needed to build fear and get spacing from the marth, do alright wracking up some percent but then leave the ground for no reason and then get thundercats HOOOO for the loss. I would not say you got better as you go, but you were able to get a better read on your opponents play style/capabilities into the second game of the match, but even still it was too late and you were making most of the same mistakes in neutral that you were in game 1. Biggest piece of advice for you is take the time to work a dash dance into your game for more micro movement before committing to grabs or anything really. You say #nojohns but then it takes you hours to warm up... wanna know how long it takes me even going into a tourney cold after a year and a half? 10-15 minutes. After 10-15 minutes you are warm, but refer to your own DK trend line for a realistic interpretation of where you lie along the skill mastery of the game/the character and be honest with yourself after reading my comments/rewatching the match.

 
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Litt

Samus
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Alright I'll try and learn from it thanks.
Hahah sorry I couldn't resist calling out the johns or using your DK Line against you, but really your movement is nice but ledge options need variety and executional work because it seems that is where you are least comfortable, and just work on a good balance between reactionary and predictive play especially when you are the slower character with better zoning tools
 
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