Advice on picking a main, L-canceling and other basic skills

[SevereScreamo]

I'm still very new to competitive melee by that I mean I started today at 5 and have been practicing till now my wave dash is close to perfect with Luigi and Fox, L-canceling however is proving to be very tricky but I'm sure I'll get it I'm just wondering if anyone could give me some ideas for who to main. in Smash 4 I main Yoshi but he is so different in Melee I don't know if he'd be a good main any ideas?

 

[m0ll0y]

Your off to really good start if you already got wavedashes . And what was your play style like in smash 4 ? Agressive ,defensive ?

 

[AirFair]

I would advise you to just WATCH Melee for the time being if you are having trouble. Look at pros who are great with different characters. PPMD's Marth and Falco. M2K's Marth and Sheik. Mango's Fox. Leffen's Fox. Armada's Peach () and the like. If you are having trouble finding good players with certain characters just ask. There are LOADS of videos all over the boards.

 

[EPsilon933]

You might want to choose a character among the tournament viable 8 (Fox, Falco, Jigglypuff, Sheik, Marth, Peach, Ice Climbers, Captain Falcon). Just keep playing the ones you like against human opponents until you're certain which fits you best

 

[Zellpree]

What I did was literally play about 2-3 matches with each character on the roster. And whoever I had the most fun with, I choose to play as. Just because a character you have fun with is "Low Tier" does not make them bad at all - it's the effort you put in that character.

Whoever is most fun to play is, is who you should main

 

[SevereScreamo]

Your off to really good start if you already got wavedashes . And what was your play style like in smash 4 ? Agressive ,defensive ?

I love to play aggressive in smash 4 and fast.

 

[SevereScreamo]

I would advise you to just WATCH Melee for the time being if you are having trouble. Look at pros who are great with different characters. PPMD's Marth and Falco. M2K's Marth and Sheik. Mango's Fox. Leffen's Fox. Armada's Peach () and the like. If you are having trouble finding good players with certain characters just ask. There are LOADS of videos all over the boards.

well I have been watching competitive smash for like a year or 2 and i love aMSa's Yoshi but that seems way to difficult for a beginner to learn and fox seems fun but peach is way to like slow paced I find at the moment I am leaning towards Fox/Falco or Falcon and maybe Yoshi but he just seems really hard to play competitively

 

[SevereScreamo]

Puff seems fun to. Grrr... To many options hahahaha thanks for the great advice though everyone. By the way does anyone have any advice for how to preform L-cancels consistently, I can't get the timing and am having trouble finding good video tutorials.

 

[Roukiske]

Puff seems fun to. Grrr... To many options hahahaha thanks for the great advice though everyone. By the way does anyone have any advice for how to preform L-cancels consistently, I can't get the timing and am having trouble finding good video tutorials.

To be honest, L-canceling never came to me or any of my friends day 1. Just keep L-canceling in mind when you play and the more you play the more second nature it will become, because now its second nature and I can't stop doing it even in Sm4sh.

As far as timing I guess you could just play Link and practice fast fall and non fast fall dairs. Once you get the timing its pretty much the same as everyone, the adjusting is just knowing when you're going to land and putting in the input beforehand. But if you don't wanna do that then seriously just play and you'll get it. You should be able to tell whether you did it or not with certain moves, hell I still miss some.

 

[SevereScreamo]

To be honest, L-canceling never came to me or any of my friends day 1. Just keep L-canceling in mind when you play and the more you play the more second nature it will become, because now its second nature and I can't stop doing it even in Sm4sh.

As far as timing I guess you could just play Link and practice fast fall and non fast fall dairs. Once you get the timing its pretty much the same as everyone, the adjusting is just knowing when you're going to land and putting in the input beforehand. But if you don't wanna do that then seriously just play and you'll get it. You should be able to tell whether you did it or not with certain moves, hell I still miss some.

so you just have to soft click L any time before you hit the ground? And with Link what should I follow up with, with B. Because i have been practicing with Fox and doing his dair then L into shine and i hit them randomly but I have not tried it with Link thanks for the advice I will definitely have to try it out.

 

[Roukiske]

so you just have to soft click L any time before you hit the ground? And with Link what should I follow up with, with B. Because i have been practicing with Fox and doing his dair then L into shine and i hit them randomly but I have not tried it with Link thanks for the advice I will definitely have to try it out.

Oh the way you're doing it is perfect actually. Good on you for starting with something you will actually use. I don't know the frame specifics, but yes, just press L (your way) before you hit the ground ( I believe its 6 frames before hitting the ground?).

 

[SevereScreamo]

Oh the way you're doing it is perfect actually. Good on you for starting with something you will actually use. I don't know the frame specifics, but yes, just press L (your way) before you hit the ground ( I believe its 6 frames before hitting the ground?).

maybe using the slow-mo in practice mode would help with timing. Thanks for the help!

 

[Roukiske]

maybe using the slow-mo in practice mode would help with timing. Thanks for the help!

No no no don't use slow-mo. Lol you're fine as is! It might mess with your timings. Also if you want to practice L-canceling with Fox also practice nair L-cancel shine, that's like a staple, but really you can practice L-canceling with anyone. One thing though since it sounds like you're playing alone: putting L-cancels in your game against human opponents is also another step to look out for.

 

[SevereScreamo]

No no no don't use slow-mo. Lol you're fine as is! It might mess with your timings. Also if you want to practice L-canceling with Fox also practice nair L-cancel shine, that's like a staple, but really you can practice L-canceling with anyone. One thing though since it sounds like you're playing alone: putting L-cancels in your game against human opponents is also another step to look out for.

well i notice L-cancels being used to shield pressure by using dair L-cancel shine and also to air juggle with upairs and L-cancel to return to the ground quickly so you can get the next jump and upair in before the enemy (fast faller) can reach the ground again and to chase them when they DI right so i can practice the juggles myself but not so much the shield pressuring.

 

[SevereScreamo]

Well just an update for anyone who cares who cares I think i have decided on Luigi at least for not but all the characters are fun so who knows I may decide to change it in the future thanks everyone who posted for all the great help!

 

[AirFair]

Great! good luck with your training.

 

[-Philip Coast Philip-]

Combo videos are basically a condensed version of what that character is capable of, which is pretty cool.

You might want to choose a character among the tournament viable 8 (Fox, Falco, Jigglypuff, Sheik, Marth, Peach, Ice Climbers, Captain Falcon). Just keep playing the ones you like against human opponents until you're certain which fits you best

i herd u liek tears

also try lightning melee for a few rounds, then play normal melee, it'll 'slow down' everything, it's pretty cool.

 

[EPsilon933]

i herd u liek tears

I love tears!

Also, Hax was probably the 6th best player in the world from Genesis 1 - EVO 2013, back when he played Falcon. He was just below God status for a long time. He placed top 8 in most of the nationals that happened during that time frame

Then he went to the dark side

 

[Crawfiish]

Well just an update for anyone who cares who cares I think i have decided on Luigi at least for not but all the characters are fun so who knows I may decide to change it in the future thanks everyone who posted for all the great help!

Be warned: you may change your main a billion times in the first few months of playing. Don't be afraid of switching your character if you find you are having more fun with another.

Source: During my first two months i tried to be a doc, shiek, fox, falco, falcon, icies, samus, gdubs, puff, gdorf, and peach main.

 

[SevereScreamo]

Be warned: you may change your main a billion times in the first few months of playing. Don't be afraid of switching your character if you find you are having more fun with another.

Source: During my first two months i tried to be a doc, shiek, fox, falco, falcon, icies, samus, gdubs, puff, gdorf, and peach main.

I know I am already jumping back and forth between different characters the amount of things to learn is so over whelming too and then you have to learn to implement all the different Technics so that they flow and you are efficient in real matches the skill you need for Melee is crazy and I'm either stupid or new but i can only find like a hand full of melee character guides on this site.

 

[SevereScreamo]

I wish I was a better player so i could make solid detailed video guides for people who are new. Oh well maybe soon once I'm good enough!

 

[jonnobigz]

If you like fast and aggressive, most will recommend the spacies. If you like fast and strategic, Falcon and Pikachu. If you like fast and disjointed, Marth. If you like fast and well rounded, Sheik.

 

[mel0]

Fox only
It really all depends on your play style and personality. Just whatever you do, try to avoid bottom-tier characters for mains, they're down there for a reason.

Also, hi EPsilon933, like your vids!

 

[LegendarySquid]

If you're having trouble with improving, I would definitely suggest attempting to master one character (preferably a top tier character). Once you fully understand the fundamentals of that character, you have the choice to either master them even further or branch out and try others on the roster. Also, only play a character if you have fun playing them.

 

[Cool]

Lol

Who keeps reviving these threads?