The Neutral-game

Before l begin: Although this is coming from a very Smash 4 perspective, much of what you'll read can be applied to all of the Smash titles. Much of what l'm use as examples applies more to beginning level players, especially at the beginning.

1) An ldea of Spacing
2) The Cell Theory
3) Hate to Burst Your Bubble
4) Shifting Gears

We've all seen AlpharadTV, right? All of the dash attacking on shield, constant rolling, and the abuse Alpha puts the opponents through on his glorious "How To Plays". Can you see what these players are doing wrong, though? Take another look. Don't tell me you don't see anything other than what l mentioned. A lot of these players don't understand that a good offense is the best defense.

But, just wailing on people maliciously isn't enough, you need to learn to space your attacks. Usually, when you hear spacing, you think Marth, right? The tip of the sword is almost always what you want to hit your opponents with, so you adjust your movement to get in the tip, especially with your fairs. That's an idea that you should learn to apply with everyone when neither player has an advantage onstage and you don't want to get hit. Even with Roy. But, you aren't doing this just to attack directly, you're doing this to gain better positioning, to learn your opponent's habits, and to keep yourself safe. This here should give you a better idea.

If you watched that, you'll notice how much False (yeah, that was False, right?) put emphasis on shielding. ln Smash 4, shielding is indeed powerful, as there's not nearly as much shieldstun when hit. In other words, you can act out of them far more easily in 4, giving you more options in defensive play than in the other versions. Someone can easily punish you with a shieldgrab, NOoS (Neutral-air out of shield), or Up-smash OoS when you misspace on their shield.

Some relatively good spacing moves are moves like Ike's forward/down tilt, Marth's dtilt, Rosalina's neutral air, or Sheik's forward air. Think about those moves. Quick start-up time, considerable reach, next to no ending/landing lag. Some of them get some nice combos too (looking at you, Sheik). Here's where most people would stop, but wait, there's more!

So, you understand your own tools fairly well. lf your opponent moves here, you can fair. lf they go there, you can shoot a projectile. And so on. Recently, in my Biology class, we had to learn about cells (as if l didn't already do that in 7th Grade). Trust me, l'm getting somewhere with this. Cells that complex organisms are made of have several tiny organs, called organelles, which each have their own function. For example: The cytoskeleton keeps the cell's structure together and transports proteins around the cell. Lysosomes create enzymes that dissolve particles so the cell can use them. The cell membrane allows some particles inside the cell, but protects it from others. The nucleus, in the center, holds your DNA, code that essentially tells your cells how to do their thing. l hope you can see where l'm going with this.

Each fighter can be seen as a unique cell with it's own organelles that each work a little differently to benefit the fighter. Look at where you can jump and use an aerial or walk/extended dash dance/perfect pivot (please note that those latter techniques aren't necessary, but they are useful) and use a quick tilt, whether defensively or offensively. You can see a bubble, drawn out by your possible movements. That is the general area you threaten with merely your presence. Disjointed hitboxes (i.e attacks with swords, Rosa's halos, the fireball on Mario's fsmash, ect.) are considerably more threatening, as you cannot challenge them with your attacks as easily. Furthermore, characters with projectiles and large disjoints have something akin to a cell wall as well, that is created with the threat and use of their projectiles or disjoints. The entire neutral game can be seen as a battle between your areas of threat.

Each of the fighters have certain weaknesses that can be exploited by other characters and strategies. For example, Sheik has a hard time killing opponents while they are onstage, Bowser can't get past camping easily, and Villager has an extremely slow grab. Usage of your membrane of threat or wall of disjoints in the weak spots of your opponent's area of threat. Or, if you can't find any, prey on their options when you approach them. For example (are you tired of reading that too?): Remember the importance of shields? Well-spaced attacks leave you safe on shield, which is fine and dandy, but what about a grab? A very powerful tactic is a TOMAHAWK GRAB. Seriously, l can't stress the occasional use of these enough. Jump up like you're going to use an aerial, like normal, fast-fall down, and grab. This is such a useful thing to do. Even better for Robin and other characters with a special attack that grabs (known as a command grab). Mix-ups like this are always beautiful things to employ. How does your opponent react when you do things? How can you take advantage of that?

Mix-ups like that allows you to put your cell fighter thing into drive and (hopefully) shove your opponent offstage and keep him there, begin juggling your opponent for damage, hard-reading a defensive option with a powerful attack, or some combination of the sort. Likewise, if you're the one being put into a bad position, use something you haven't done before. Look at your opponent's membrane of threat, what haven't they covered? Are you sure that isn't bait? ln any case, it usually comes down to the ability to abuse the membrane of threat everyone has and how they choose to abuse it.

How was this? Did l totally **** up with this? Might l be onto something with the guide? Has this helped you at all? Do you want to see more? Am l being a little vague? You aren't the only one who wants guidance!