Smash 3DS Been playing for quite some time, Very discouraged. Help to get better?

[JosephWhyy]

I've been playing smash on the 3DS almost everyday now, practicing and trying to get better, but nothing is happening. Every time I play for glory I lose without fail. I struggle to even beat a level nine CPU. what am I doing wrong? Sheik is the only character I can really use, and it's still minimum. Already 50+ hours in the game and I still see little to no improvement. are there any tips or advice for getting better at the game. I'm starting to get very discouraged and want to continue, but I just get so tired of losing it gets harder to keep playing.

TL;DR All I do is lose, and I'm starting to lose hope. Please help with tips, thank you.

 

[HYP3R]

JosephWhyy
Izaw's Art of Smash video series would be your best bet. Start out with Beginner of course and don't move on to the next video until you can do everything shown. Although the footage is WiiU and not 3DS mostly everything is still the same.

As for tips specific to you, don't play against the CPU, they have frame perfect reaction time and aren't very good practice.

I also recommend you shouldn't use Sheik, she isn't a beginner friendly character. You have to know precise spacing and all of her various combos to be effective with her. Start out learning to use a more simple character like Mario or Pit. It will be a lot more rewarding for you that way.

 

[MercuryPenny]

Already 50+ hours in the game and I still see little to no improvement.

...that's all?

playing smash is a skill. like all skills, some are naturals and some require lots of time to grow. take myself for instance - just a year ago i was pretty much completely incompetent at playing against humans and could only beat level 7 computers and one of my friends who didn't (and still doesn't) even own the game. nowadays, i basically have a ~47% winrate on for glory (estimating - the sample pool is polluted by my brother's slightly superior rankings).

point is, you need to let yourself take time to grow. just dumping - and this is a quick guess here, about a week's worth of gameplay - into a game as complex and nuanced as smash bros and expecting to become great at it is unrealistic outside a very small group of people who are practically born naturals. and sometimes, the hard truth is, you're simply not a born natural and will have to work towards growth. and that takes time.

you can help speed the process up by practicing more, reading up on tutorials, looking up tips from top players, playing against players around your skill level - but the inevitable and inescapable truth is that the driving force behind improvement is time. give it time.

also practice.

 

[JosephWhyy]

I also recommend you shouldn't use Sheik, she isn't a beginner friendly character.

Thank you for the reply. Do you think Bayonetta would be good? I bought her because I like her play style and she's generally fun to play. Is she beginner friendly enough to develop as my main?

 

[KirbCider]

I've been playing smash on the 3DS almost everyday now, practicing and trying to get better, but nothing is happening. Every time I play for glory I lose without fail. I struggle to even beat a level nine CPU. what am I doing wrong? Sheik is the only character I can really use, and it's still minimum. Already 50+ hours in the game and I still see little to no improvement. are there any tips or advice for getting better at the game. I'm starting to get very discouraged and want to continue, but I just get so tired of losing it gets harder to keep playing.

TL;DR All I do is lose, and I'm starting to lose hope. Please help with tips, thank you.

Smash takes a lot of practice and patience to get better in, just like any other skill out there.

Do not rush yourself to improving or you will end up getting frustrated at every twist and turn on the road of improvement. Great players aren't made the moment they pick up a controller. They earn experience, learn, practice, and pour their hearts into it.

It's gonna take so much more than 50+ hours to be good at this game or anything else might I add.

You also shouldn't go against CPUs unless it's to learn combos, certain techs, etc. Essentially you should really only go against CPUs in training mode. They will not act like real players. They won't adapt to you. They won't use certain moves to their advantages. Heck, they won't even try to do the majority of the combos or follow ups an actual player will do against you!

You want real players.

You also have to accept the fact there's so many people out there that's going to be better than you. You need to be prepared to lose and get bodied a lot and not allow your losses to get the best of you. Losing really is just a part of the experience, you know.

Shiek definitely isn't a beginner character like H HYP3R has stated, and as someone who mains Bayonetta I don't quite think she's beginner material either. A lot of people make the mistake of believing shes easy, but a lot of her combos are actually a little difficult to preform aside from her basic one. Not only that you have to be quite patient with her and not be super reckless.

She requires a bit of knowledge to use and you really need to be able to read your opponent well, plus be able to bait well.

 

[Baby_Sneak]

Thank you for the reply. Do you think Bayonetta would be good? I bought her because I like her play style and she's generally fun to play. Is she beginner friendly enough to develop as my main?

Ignore that, every character in smash is pretty easy to play.

Play against training mode dummies/lvl 3 cpus, you NEED punching bags. Watch martial art training montages and see how they train and you'll see the way you should practice. Movement and fluidity are key.

 

[HYP3R]

Ignore that, every character in smash is pretty easy to play.

Play against training mode dummies/lvl 3 cpus, you NEED punching bags. Watch martial art training montages and see how they train and you'll see the way you should practice. Movement and fluidity are key.

Sorry, but no. He shouldn't "ignore" my post.

Someone who has just started playing this game would be completely overwhelmed trying to learn Sheik. You have to know correct spacing, % based combos, as well as all the different movement options. This person NEEDS fundamentals first before they try to learn a character as complicated as Sheik.

And CPUs are bad practice in general. Training mode is fine, but winning over and over against CPUs will give a false sense of security that what they are doing is working, and then tries it on real players and gets bodied.

 

[Baby_Sneak]

Hol up

Sorry, but no. He shouldn't "ignore" my post.

Someone who has just started playing this game would be completely overwhelmed trying to learn Sheik. You have to know correct spacing, % based combos, as well as all the different movement options. This person NEEDS fundamentals first before they try to learn a character as complicated as Sheik.

When do % based combos start to matter? And why are they only something sheik has to wprry about? Mario has % specfic kill combos, % based combos, and nuanced things. Every character does. Every character can also just thrive off fundamentals. Which sheik can also do. That stuff only matters at the highest of levels.

And CPUs are bad practice in general. Training mode is fine, but winning over and over against CPUs will give a false sense of security that what they are doing is working, and then tries it on real players and gets bodied.

M2K practiced with CPUs when he played melee. Nuff said.

CPUs should be treated as sandbags. Not real opponents. That's why you use low numbers like 3 amd below. Of course you need people to play. But, you can't practice execution against real people. You can't practice fluidity with real people.

There's a reason why martial artists have dummies to practice stuff on.

[/QUOTE

 

[HYP3R]

Baby_Sneak You're missing the point. You said "every character in Smash is easy to play." Why do you think giving a beginner one of the most technical characters in the game is a good idea? Sheik NEEDS those % based combos in order to be played well. A basic Mario doesn't demand anything more of you than simple up tilt to up air combos. And those percentages aren't even strict to begin with, it isn't the same comparison here.

 

[Baby_Sneak]

Baby_Sneak You're missing the point. You said "every character in Smash is easy to play." Why do you think giving a beginner one of the most technical characters in the game is a good idea? Sheik NEEDS those % based combos in order to be played well. A basic Mario doesn't demand anything more of you than simple up tilt to up air combos. And those percentages aren't even strict to begin with, it isn't the same comparison here.

Every character is easy to play. There's nothing wrong with that. They're all also hard to master. Nothing wrong with that either. Just learning spacing and basic combo flow ain't hard.

I didn't miss anything, but you did: "When do % based combos start to matter? And why are they only something sheik has to wprry about? Mario has % specfic kill combos, % based combos, and nuanced things. Every character does. Every character can also just thrive off fundamentals. Which sheik can also do. That stuff only matters at the highest of levels."

The first quesrion has yet to be addressed. And as a matter of fact, sheik doesn't NEED any % based combos. At all. What you mean to say is she needs % based kill combos at the highest levels. Sheik's normals set up imto each other effortlessly, and needles help set up traps pretty much instinctively at higher percents.


EDIT: OP. if this discussion is distracting to you, then read this: https://smashboards.com/guides/practical-practice.1059/ i was looking for a guide for u

 

[HYP3R]

Every character is easy to play. There's nothing wrong with that. They're all also hard to master. Nothing wrong with that either. Just learning spacing and basic combo flow ain't hard.

Are you still trying to tell me Sheik is easy? Where on earth are you getting this from? Have you ever seen a Sheik guide? It's a headache, especially for a beginner. He will spend all of his time learning how to micro-space FAir and Needle Cancel and other pointless things when he could be playing Mario for less work and more reward. Mario is designed for beginners, Sheik is designed for players that already know what they are doing.

The first quesrion has yet to be addressed. And as a matter of fact, sheik doesn't NEED any % based combos. At all. What you mean to say is she needs % based kill combos at the highest levels. Sheik's normals set up imto each other effortlessly, and needles help set up traps pretty much instinctively at higher percents.

I'm not talking about high level, I'm talking about his skill level right now. So you want him to play Sheik sub-optimal? You don't want him to learn all of those combos because he doesn't have to? Then he should just play Mario.

 

[FamilyTeam]

Generally speaking you need hundreds of hours of good practice (good: not the kind playing against Level 9 CPUs or For Glory randoms provide) to start really understanding the game. I must have some 700 total hours in Smash 4 between the Wii U and the 3DS version, and I'm still only alright. Fighting games in general are big commitment if you want to get good at them.
That said, you need to start them right and starting by playing Sheik of all characters is... kind of complicated. I don't think it's straight up a terrible idea, but generally speaking, in this game, Sheik is an advanced character. She's got very pronounced strengths but weaknesses that are crippling if you don't know how to play around them (She's got a lot of combos, but light weight>gets comboed easily>can't kill well is one of them).
Also, seeing how reliant Sheik is on 50-50s and human mistakes in general for her gameplan, I assume that playing against CPUs which always guess right in every situation must be hell as her.

 

[Baby_Sneak]

Are you still trying to tell me Sheik is easy? Where on earth are you getting this from? Have you ever seen a Sheik guide? It's a headache, especially for a beginner. He will spend all of his time learning how to micro-space FAir and Needle Cancel and other pointless things when he could be playing Mario for less work and more reward. Mario is designed for beginners, Sheik is designed for players that already know what they are doing.

No he won't because it's not applicable at his level. You keep thinking sheik will force him to learn every tech she has to offer when he could just learn spacing and basic things and thrive off that. The only reason sheik is more advanced is because of her options. He don't need to use them right away. He could grow into them.

I'm not talking about high level, I'm talking about his skill level right now. So you want him to play Sheik sub-optimal? You don't want him to learn all of those combos because he doesn't have to? Then he should just play Mario.

He'll play sub-optimal regardless of who he chooses ( mario has % based Dthrow kill combos and setups and reverse jump canceled Usmashes). But, he wants to play sheik. Last time I checked, you don't have to play an advanced character "advanced" to succeed in smash. You won't find an example at the top level obviously, but at the local tourny/FG level, you could practically do what you want.

 

[LeWaddleDee]

Don't practice on level 9 computers. They will dodge most attacks perfectly with perfect shields or dodges.

Not that I'm the best person to ask on this, but from what I've seen on here, the best thing to do is to play people on smashboards or other smash dedicated sites. They will give you the best idea of what to expect and may help you get better.

 

[portalsammy]

If you would like I could send you a conversation of a discord link for a Smash 3ds group.

 

[Ruben Samich]

I think training mode is a wonderful thing to help.

Back in the Brawl days, I didn't feel like I was very good at the game, so I went into training mode and practiced for hours on end just using combos on a still CPU. It helped so much. Sadly, I'm not very good at Brawl anymore because the physics are very different compared to Sm4sh so I'm not used to it.

 

[JosephWhyy]

If you would like I could send you a conversation of a discord link for a Smash 3ds group.

that would be very nice, thank you.

 

[JosephWhyy]

JosephWhyy
Izaw's Art of Smash video series would be your best bet. Start out with Beginner of course and don't move on to the next video until you can do everything shown. Although the footage is WiiU and not 3DS mostly everything is still the same.

As for tips specific to you, don't play against the CPU, they have frame perfect reaction time and aren't very good practice.

I also recommend you shouldn't use Sheik, she isn't a beginner friendly character. You have to know precise spacing and all of her various combos to be effective with her. Start out learning to use a more simple character like Mario or Pit. It will be a lot more rewarding for you that way.

Ignore that, every character in smash is pretty easy to play.

Play against training mode dummies/lvl 3 cpus, you NEED punching bags. Watch martial art training montages and see how they train and you'll see the way you should practice. Movement and fluidity are key.

thank you for both of your guys input, and I see where both of you are coming from. The thing is why I wanted to play Sheik is simply because I cannot find a character that is similar or close to her playstyle, and so far in playing this game, I love her playstyle overall, and it makes to game most fun for me overall. Besides that point, I do also want to get good and be able to get more consistent. Any suggestions, or any characters you'd think I'd like since I love Sheiks style?

 

[JosephWhyy]

I think training mode is a wonderful thing to help.

Back in the Brawl days, I didn't feel like I was very good at the game, so I went into training mode and practiced for hours on end just using combos on a still CPU. It helped so much. Sadly, I'm not very good at Brawl anymore because the physics are very different compared to Sm4sh so I'm not used to it.

Thank you for the suggestion, I'll try it out.

 

[Baby_Sneak]

thank you for both of your guys input, and I see where both of you are coming from. The thing is why I wanted to play Sheik is simply because I cannot find a character that is similar or close to her playstyle, and so far in playing this game, I love her playstyle overall, and it makes to game most fun for me overall. Besides that point, I do also want to get good and be able to get more consistent. Any suggestions, or any characters you'd think I'd like since I love Sheiks style?

You don't really NEED to switch, you can use Mario if you want to, but regardless of who you use, you gotta work on the CPUs (lvl 3 and below).