Hey Beginners, it's me again. Thanks you everyone who read my first guide. And if you haven't take a look right here. Other than that, I'm here to bring something to your attention that will facilitate your path from being a beginner to possibly an intermediate. This thing is your Fight Journal.
With many other FGC players a Fight Journal is an external collection of all of your knowledge of the current game mechanics, a diary of your fighting performance, your motivation in playing this game, and more.
What constitutes as a Fight Journal?
Well it can be anything from a mead/ five star notebook to a composition book or even some Evernote pages in your smartphone. It's all about what you're comfortable with in and carrying from place to place. Personally, I've chosen the mead notebook version because it makes me feel nostalgic about my high school years and I don’t like to have my information dependant on if my battery might run out.. But it all depends on you as a player. Also, before we continue please make sure that you only write in erasable materials, so that you can refine things for the future.
Setting it up
How I like to set it up is by creating a table of contents on the page. Mine looks like this:
Table of Contents:
1. Motivation
What I like to do on this page is write the top thirty reasons why I practice smash 4. You don't have to write them all at one time, but this is a good first page to let you know why you're on this path, and give you something your measure progress by.
2. General mechanics
This page is for simple things like how rage or DI works. This allows you not to have to flip too far for a review on certain information.
3. Move Allocation
This breaks into your character. I like naming if certain moves are Air to Ground, Air to Air or my KO moves. This part is going to give you a structured view to see your moves, so that you understand the options that are available to you.
4. Combos/Bnbs
It’s right here that I’ll add combos/ Bnbs that I’d like to master. I add 3 each week from my practice and character forums on smashboards, so that I can increase the combo knowledge that’s available to me.
5. ATs
This page or 2 is for all the ATs that are available to me. I like to write them in the AT’s, but I’d like to write them so much in Layman's terms that they’re easy to grasp in the heat of the moment.
6. Character MUs
(I like to use 1 page each for every character on the roster.
My favorite format to write the match-ups is Dark.Pch’s. Which goes like:
Neutral game
-Neutral Game:
(The best definition of the neutral game comes from Smash Rush’s video.
I like to write 2-5 Thinks that I feel that will affect the neutral game between me and that character. For example: With samus player, I like to Air dodge, Jab, or Perfect shield missiles.
In my journal, it’s written like: “Samus Missiles - Jab, AD, PS.” So I can save space.
-Approaches
Ways that I need to approach the opponent. For instance, for peach the best way to approach, so with other options of approach, I need to write that down and make sure it’s something I don’t forget as my main option.
-Edguarding
I like to write the options that I have to edge guard. Since I have a projectile, I use this space to define the options of me using that projectile to the best, or if I should jump out and attack them. Fighting a Captain Falcon though, I wouldn’t jump out because peach’s recovery wouldn’t allow me to recover if I got punished.
-Recovery
Speaking of Recovery, I like to write EVERY OPTION OF RECOVERY. This mean not only me just getting back to the ledge, but also all of my ledge options. This get it in my mind about how close my opponent is to the ledge, all the options that they have to catch me if I’m going to roll, jump, or attack. This keeps me in mind of my actions.
7. Training regiment
(I like to keep my Training regiment here,so that I ‘m able to constantly check back on to what I’m working on each week. I keep this in my journal also, so that when I pick up my journal it’s all business in my mind because everything I work on is in there.)
8. Things to work on
This is a major part that I like to keep in the end. This allows me to be able to open the back of my journal and immediately look at what I need to work on, and be able to check off them as they come.
I hope that providing this to you had been some kind of help. Your fight journal is your companion through this world of Fighting games. And having it along will keep you on your path. Until next I’m ATLTeemo.
With many other FGC players a Fight Journal is an external collection of all of your knowledge of the current game mechanics, a diary of your fighting performance, your motivation in playing this game, and more.
What constitutes as a Fight Journal?
Well it can be anything from a mead/ five star notebook to a composition book or even some Evernote pages in your smartphone. It's all about what you're comfortable with in and carrying from place to place. Personally, I've chosen the mead notebook version because it makes me feel nostalgic about my high school years and I don’t like to have my information dependant on if my battery might run out.. But it all depends on you as a player. Also, before we continue please make sure that you only write in erasable materials, so that you can refine things for the future.
Setting it up
How I like to set it up is by creating a table of contents on the page. Mine looks like this:
Table of Contents:
1. Motivation
What I like to do on this page is write the top thirty reasons why I practice smash 4. You don't have to write them all at one time, but this is a good first page to let you know why you're on this path, and give you something your measure progress by.
2. General mechanics
This page is for simple things like how rage or DI works. This allows you not to have to flip too far for a review on certain information.
3. Move Allocation
This breaks into your character. I like naming if certain moves are Air to Ground, Air to Air or my KO moves. This part is going to give you a structured view to see your moves, so that you understand the options that are available to you.
4. Combos/Bnbs
It’s right here that I’ll add combos/ Bnbs that I’d like to master. I add 3 each week from my practice and character forums on smashboards, so that I can increase the combo knowledge that’s available to me.
5. ATs
This page or 2 is for all the ATs that are available to me. I like to write them in the AT’s, but I’d like to write them so much in Layman's terms that they’re easy to grasp in the heat of the moment.
6. Character MUs
(I like to use 1 page each for every character on the roster.
My favorite format to write the match-ups is Dark.Pch’s. Which goes like:
Neutral game
-Neutral Game:
(The best definition of the neutral game comes from Smash Rush’s video.
I like to write 2-5 Thinks that I feel that will affect the neutral game between me and that character. For example: With samus player, I like to Air dodge, Jab, or Perfect shield missiles.
In my journal, it’s written like: “Samus Missiles - Jab, AD, PS.” So I can save space.
-Approaches
Ways that I need to approach the opponent. For instance, for peach the best way to approach, so with other options of approach, I need to write that down and make sure it’s something I don’t forget as my main option.
-Edguarding
I like to write the options that I have to edge guard. Since I have a projectile, I use this space to define the options of me using that projectile to the best, or if I should jump out and attack them. Fighting a Captain Falcon though, I wouldn’t jump out because peach’s recovery wouldn’t allow me to recover if I got punished.
-Recovery
Speaking of Recovery, I like to write EVERY OPTION OF RECOVERY. This mean not only me just getting back to the ledge, but also all of my ledge options. This get it in my mind about how close my opponent is to the ledge, all the options that they have to catch me if I’m going to roll, jump, or attack. This keeps me in mind of my actions.
7. Training regiment
(I like to keep my Training regiment here,so that I ‘m able to constantly check back on to what I’m working on each week. I keep this in my journal also, so that when I pick up my journal it’s all business in my mind because everything I work on is in there.)
8. Things to work on
This is a major part that I like to keep in the end. This allows me to be able to open the back of my journal and immediately look at what I need to work on, and be able to check off them as they come.
I hope that providing this to you had been some kind of help. Your fight journal is your companion through this world of Fighting games. And having it along will keep you on your path. Until next I’m ATLTeemo.
- Applicable Games
- Smash Wii U
