Keeshu

Curious, What secondary character would you like to see a Sephiroth secondary? (and is that different from what the Sephiroth "should" secondary?)

Also spoiler 'cuz I want to ramble about smash about random things for probably too long =p

Took a break from smash, been getting more exercise and sleep lately. Now I've been doing 5 matches a day with Marth to get my "fundies" back up to speed. Holy crap I didn't realize how burnt out I was! Just got out of a match with a decent Pikachu player as we adapted to each other over time with every match being incredibly close. Now I remember why Smash feels like one of the most fun things to do in life! = )

Curios: Would you rather fight/watch Lucario or Sonic?

Sleepy bedtime question: What are the qualities of competitive smash that you love?

Taking a break from trying to really main people and just focusing on learning nuances of various characters more. Picking up Sheik thinking they had some good fundies, and is an excuse to get better with combo characters but kinda realizing just how cheesy it can be to be such a fast bursty character that it's unreactable like Sonic, 2213 Mii Swordfighter, or just too fast to react to like Fox. Though unlike all these characters I feel like such a bully if I do well with Sheik because it feels like an agonizingly long time I'm just wailing on people where they don't get to play the game.
I find this kinda weird because Sephiroth who I try off and on to main is a character that's all about hitting the opponent without getting hit since is his still one of the fastest movement speed wise, and has crazy range, and I never feel like a bully with him due to his sluggish frame data. Though he just does all the damage in one hit, and it's back to neutral so the opponent has lots of opportunities to move around.

All that said though, my Sheik isn't all that great right now. Basically trying to go for all the normal B&Bs with Sheik and they always get sent too far for me after the second or third hit and it's really confusing me why nothing works. 'course This is just my first week with Sheik (outside of casual play with friends), so my execution is rather sloppy (and I still struggle to consistently short hop when I need to). So I've just been relying on the bajillion soft-reads just nickel & diming people until they are above 100% since I can always place myself in a way that the opponent can't really do anything to fight back.
That said I did get a few 40-50% combos and that felt pretty great when that happened since I've failed doing that so many times it was feeling kinda hopeless. Also since it's nice to do more than 7-15% in a combo because of how little damage Sheik does per hit.

Is this kind of the struggle with everyone else? Or is this just kind of a Swordy main tries combo characters kind of struggle?

Someone kinda realized I was being too predictable when I try to be competitive, so I've been playing casually a bit and realizing I've been improving much faster now. I guess because I've been so rusty, I need to re-experiment with a lot of things again to get back to the skill I was at before, and remember why I love playing smash in the first place.
Though of course doing this, it's plunging me back into a character crisis. I've tried separating characters into different groups for what I love to do, but it's still difficult. What kinda of categories do you separate your characters into? Or was it much easier for you to stick to a main?

(also I hereby ban myself from talking about choosing smash mains for the rest of the year. Warning: long post. I got far too carried away. I should be spending this time training/ enjoying the game!)

I recently had the realization that when I play casually I play better than when I play competitively. Does this happen to anyone else?
I'm about mid-level in skill since I've been stuck there for couple thousand hours between Sm4sh and Ultimate. Trying to get to high level and improve in many aspects (especially execution) so I can do cooler things. Partially relieving that I play better casually (probably because I'm like "this seems like it'd be a weird interaction that only these characters can do with each other, let me try that" a lot the time). Though it's mostly frustrating because it makes me think I'm unable to focus, and that when I play competitively I'm probably being far more predictable because I'm always trying to do the "proper" things just with poor execution so they can't even do the things they're suppose to.

Was feeling a little burnt out, so decided to look around at characters for a little breather. I got stolen away to play Monster Hunter World for most of March, and since the Rathlos armor is the coolest skin for Swordfighter, I figured I'd give him a second chance, since I didn't really give him much time to learn. I just never see the character, so wanted to learn it more in-depth anyways. Originally I was doing gale, chakram because they make sense at first, and because everyone suggested it.
Then I went 2212 for fun trying to imitate the Insect Glaive and Lance (my 2 favorite weapons currently). Insect Glaive being all about that mobility, with Lance with the nonstop aggression charging at the opponent so they can't get away, then countering stuff when they get attacked. Treated the light shuriken like the insect you get to send out at point for little damage, and up B as vault & descending thrust.
Then I looked at some footage of what other people were doing with swordsman and they're doing 2213. Basically replacing counter (I love Mii sword's counter, but counters feel gimmicky and unimaginative to use in smash), with Power Thrust, for a longer more comital version of the gale stab. However, being able to swap between the two of them, on top of your sword and shuriken, and it feels like you can constantly have the threat to burst the opponent at any moment, and no one can really run away from you. Safe to say I'm really happy the Mii Swordfighter meta has developed into a more aggressive and in your face gameplay style compared to the slower campy playstyle when I first glanced at them when Ultimate was newer.
Safe to say I have another (un)fortunately really friggin fun character I love to play. I now have another distraction from trying to improve with my main Sephiroth

Been trying to main Sephiroth, but it's been many months, and because of the character he is presented as, I just keep getting too overconfident and struggle to focus on improving. Especially since his long range and speed make it easy to shut down so many opponents, and makes me wonder if he carries me against the most skilled smashers I play against. I feel like I haven't made any meaningful progress to improve myself playing him this year (and to be honest, ever since he was released. I actually feel like I've gotten worse overtime)

I want to at least master all of the basic movement tech, so I'm planning on using someone else for a bit to get good at that (stuff like rar and b-reversing stuff. I still struggle to short hop 100% all the time). These are the characters I've been thinking about:

Gonna commit to this checkpoint thing when it comes to improving at smash. This month did not go well at all in terms of improvement, maybe next month will be better. Tempting to not post, but figured I would anyways for the people that also struggle to concentrate to get started improving at the game.

There a tier list or something somewhere talking about which characters let the opponent "play the game" compared to other characters?

Gonna try posting monthly "checkpoints" to see my progress with Sephiroth since I'm actually trying much harder this year to improve with Sephiroth.

2023 was just one of the worst years I've had in a while. Was sick so often, and couldn't keep on my schedule.
2024 is starting off great. I'm back on my schedule, so I have more time due to it being used efficiently now. One thing I plan on doing is getting better at Smash. I've been complacent with my skill level for too long!

talk about characters I plan on using for 2024:

How 'bout you guys? Got any smash related plans for 2024? = )

Attempted to main Sonic for 1 month. So here's my thoughts. (Oh and apparently I've been around Smashboards for 10 years, neat. Not active the whole time of course, but I have some nice memories of this place)


Anyways, for this month, gonna revisit Lucario. Sure he might have the most hours in him than any character when it comes to the lab for me, but ya know, I don't think I was getting enough sleep to make those hours worth it before. Now I am getting that sleep, so let's see if I can learn some things with him. Definitely will start with the b-reversing shenanigans with him though. Even if he doesn't end up being a main, I'll be able to use him as a refresher if I need to b-reverse with other characters again.
Gonna start off with watching the Lucario movie again tomorrow to see what made me love Lucario so much in the first place. See if I can kickstart some extra motivation.

Still learning sonic and ran into another sonic around my skill level with him. Adding Sonic dittos as one of my favorite dittos to play now since it just feels like a more mobile Fox ditto, and especially since this is one matchup where Sonic doesn't have the option of just running away from the opponent so neither sonic is able to camp.

My question to you is, what are your favorite dittos and why?

Currently in the first week of learning sonic for 1 month before swapping to the next character Lucario next month. Probably gonna do a twice a month thing trying out/improving at characters to hopefully find a main.

So far Sonic been feeling amazing. Though it does feel like I'm missing something though.

Spoiler for my current thoughts on Sonic

Played some BOTW for a bit and then later Tears of the Kingdom the other day. Games put me near to sleep because it's been a while since I've experienced something so pleasantly relaxing. Making me realize just how off-track I've been with sleep trying to get stuff done. Especially when I went to look back at day 1 Ultimate for funsies to look at my old Link, and had a good shock as I realize just how much I've been coasting off my mostly Smash 4 knowledge/experience (since previous games I wasn't playing all that competitively).

Things I'm planning for the next year

Curious, how common is it for someone to have some blatantly overpowered/dishonest character as their main to have an easy time beating people, but have a secondary that is underpowered/honest so their skills as a player improve better for their main?

Storytime for the curious:

I love playing just about everyone in the roster, but gosh darn, just got done practicing some Bayo combos 'cuz a Bayo main wanted me to experience the suffering they go through for style. Not playing Bayo and Bayo being rare I always appreciated their combos looking kinda neat. However after trying to do side b -> up b -> up b - up air -> up air -> side b -> downward side b -> into fair. It really just feels like I'm just doing twitter combos since it feels like just a frame or two off makes bayo or the opponent get sent flying in a completely different area, and this is before DI even gets involved.

It's like the uncanny valley between reliable bread and butter combos, and freeform combos. It's driving me insane ^_^"
(though, worked on the first try when I tried it on Mewtwo. So perhaps they were giving me a general combo that is weird on Ridley)

What do you guys do to make it so you can focus so you can be more competitive when you've gotten too complacent with your skills?

Storytime for the curious

Kinda curious, of the following characters, which ones would you prefer to fight the most and why?
Kirby
Lucario
Yoshi
Sonic
Meta Knight
Ridley
Sephiroth
Snake
Mii Gunner (Particularly 1332)
Inkling
R.O.B.

Wait wut, Tear of the Kingdom getting released today!? I thought it was gonna be a couple more weeks. Heck, time to go into overdrive on zelda for a while.
#1 Champion's Ballad DLC - I finished everything else, but DLC came out too late and I was too busy, now I gotta do it. Unfortunately one boss that would've hyped the heck out of me was already spoiled. May end up just watching footage though, since it's going to take a while to get the shrines and beasts done so I can get to the DLC.
#2 Hyrule Warriors, BOTW edition - Just the story mode. I don't have 300+ hours to spend on the side missions, as much as I'd like to.
#3 Tear of the Kingdom, assuming the hype train hasn't disappeared by the time I get to it. Hopefully I can complete it enough to be satisfied before Armored Core 6 comes out. Might be able to squeeze in Metroid Fusion and Dread before that comes out though.

Really glad they are doing the whole arm thing in the new game. I saw that in the concept art and was fanboying over the idea. Looking forward to whatever it does. Gonna keep myself in the dark as much as possible until I play the game.

2 things
1. Found some opponents that were slightly better than me, so now I've re-ignited the flame to want to improve since they forced me to think about my options more carefully.
2. The word "fundamentals" has lost all meaning to me. Everyone has jank in their move set in one way or another. Of course a character like Snake is not fundamental, but trying to actually sit down and define what is "fundamental" in Smash feels like an impossible task. Since Mario, Wolf, Fox, Lucina, Ike. Pits, Cloud, are just a few of the characters I hear that are "fundamental" but they all have jank in their own way that is important to how they play. Smash just has a lot of jank in it in general, it kinda makes each character unique.

Been playing the Doom Slayer past couple nights and loving the heck out of him, and realizing he fits the explosions the gunner has by default the best out of the available costumes. However, once I started looking up guides for Mii Gunner, I realized there was a lot of hate for the character, with other people calling them boring. I just totally forgot, because it's always been interesting when I've fought them (though to be fair, I never fought any super amazing mii gunners).
Heck last night, people would rage quit before the match even began. It was so weird because it's like they were all so angry before I ever started doing any attacks. Like the hate was on par like when I was playing Corrin for 100 matches in Smash 4. It's really weird because you can generally feel how much they are bothered through gameplay. Makes it such a huge difference when I start going up against someone very good, who doesn't give a dang who they fight, so they don't get tilted. Just kinda funny because a lot of characters I usually play never have to deal with rage quitters like this.

I'm having a huge blast though . Watched a few videos of gunners being used well and currently watching MVD's snake vs Capitancito's Mii gunner and I'm absolutely loving it. Projectiles and explosions everywhere while they duke it out up close, and the damage racks up so fast out of no where.

Moveset talk and first impressions about what moves I'm selecting first.
I think tonight I'll give Ray Mk III some love so I can test out laser blaze and stealth burst with a 2232 setup even though I'm not expecting much from laser blaze and stealth burst since they seem pretty basic for projectiles. Had myself a strong nostalgia trip for Custom Robo on the gamecube before I got the Quake 2/Doom nostalgia trip. Also Armored Core 6 hype.

I spent practically all my free time and then some the past couple weeks looking into the different characters in Smash so I can stop dwelling on who to main once and for all. I now hearby ban myself from gawking at the roster for the rest of the year so I will actually stick to someone!

Storytime!

So the 10 characters I am restricting myself to using for the rest of the year and the reasonings: (oh and warning, large wall of text)

Just saw protogen skin for wolf. Outside of smash, protogens are usually what I use to represent myself 'cuz cool robot stuff. Was so tempted to mod the switch then and there, but then realized how much Nintendo hates mods compared to most companies I'm used to playing games with. Not gonna risk bricking my console for that.
Though this did make me realize how R.O.B. is the only real robot/mech type representative in Smash. However, when I look at other robots/mechs in other games/movies, R.O.B. is nothing like any of them and is his own thing. Samus is kinda like a robot, but she's a person in a suit. Mega Man is a robot, but he looks more like a kid trying to cosplay (even if I do love his games). Outside of that it's just Ridley's Mecha Ridley alt.

It's a gift and a curse to enjoy literally everyone's gameplay in smash, and not really have any strong strengths or weaknesses to help me decide who to play. So hard to settle down with one character.

Ermagerd, getting absolutely bombarded by Armored Core 6 stuff lately. Though I gotta say, I wonder if Ray really was planned to make it into Smash 4. Would make sense if Custom Robo got a rep in the game that introduced custom moves. Though, I don't know if that would be like tiny mii gunner on steroids or not =p

Question: How much time do you think should be spent labbing vs time spent playing players?


I went waaaay overboard with this wall of text. Was gonna be a little back story + my hours that smash says I have, and that'd be it. Then I got carried away. Read what's in the spoiler only if you are really curious =p

For those who got over their character crisis, how long did it take you to do so? Asking for a friend

Just a little mini-vent/pop off about trying out Joker lately since I haven't used him in a hot minute.

I should have started playing Snake so much sooner. I love playing chess all the time. So hearing people say "Snake is chess in smash" I thought they were overhyping him, but he does really feel that way. He's such a blast to play! Also those explosions are hilarious.

Quick question: Is there an "official" list of gameplay archetypes for characters anywhere?

Quick question:
Anyone know to show inputs in Smash without modding the switch?


I've been having troubles finding information anywhere about this topic, and it'd help me teach my new casual friends how to play much faster, especially the ones that prefer harder characters.

Simple question
What various things influence your decision to secondary a character/duo main?


And as for the curious click the spoilers if ya want

Why I'm looking for one now:

Characters I'm considering: (Warning, Huge wall of text!)

I don't got the time to play all day everyday anymore. Just got back from not being able to play for months, and now I'm atrocious at inputs, and I keep newbie mistakes all the time. I'm even doubting my choice for a main again, just when I thought I've settled down, will probably go searching once again.

Give it to me straight doc, is 30 minutes a day, for 3 days out of the week enough time to get good at smash again?

Question: Have you ever picked up a character in a game, specifically because it'll help you get used to playing another character in a different video game?


I'm in the mood to ramble, so spoiler for the curious:

I always hear how Smash players never play any other fighting games. So I'm curious, do you guys play any other fighting games? If so which ones? (and who do you main and such?)

Just this has been on my brain since I'm thinking about trying out another game so I can come back to smash refreshed and with new ideas.
Here's some of the games that have been tempting me:

Well, all characters are finally released, who have you ended up maining? Any secondaries/pockets? Is this different from what you expected when the game came out? Is this different from your previous games?

My main is Sephiroth, even if part of me just has a hard time believing how much of a perfect fit he is for me. Originally I was planning on duo-maining Meta Knight and Lucario. Then when Ridley was announced I thought I was going to main him, and for a while he was an "accidental main" because when I didn't schedule someone to train as for a while my emotions kept picking him since he feels like a perfect character that can be played casually or competitively.
Currently searching around for a secondary because I know I am just unable to stick to one character. Here's some I'm considering for a secondary since these were all tempting to main before Sephiroth showed up:

As for my smash history:

Sephiroth is considered my "main", but I still haven't given everyone in the roster a good chance. So it'll be hard to stay on him until I do that. Been doing DLC when they come out, but now that Sora and Doom Slayer are the last ones, it's been making me wonder who's next. So I had a thought:

Should I focus on trying to main characters that my smash friends play until I get their characters a decent way into Elite Smash?

Welp, was planning on Day 1 Sora Ditto shenanigans (maybe with a little Sephiroth main causing PTSD to sora players sprinkled in).
I guess I'll just try to make a knockoff Doom Guy and learn how to get good with him while waiting for the Doom Slayer Mii Costume to come out since that looks good. I'm going to try my hardest to try to make a playstyle with the gunner that focuses on getting up close and personal, compared to the campy playstyle they are normally known for.