Beginner Falco

[Schizophrenia]

Hi I literally just started playing Melee again like 2 days ago, I have decided to main Falco. I can wavedash somewhat consistently, but my quesiton is. What should i be training on? I usually do 45 minute training sessions around 3 times a day. I know my tech skill is god awful, but is that all I practice? When I get sick of tech skill it seems like I'm not sure what else to do. I end up just playing against the computer, but that doesn't seem to get my anywhere because I feel like im just doing combo's that would seemingly work, or im just treating it like sandbox mode without actually knowing what im doing. pls help

 

[FE_Hector]

First off, if you play against CPUs, please do not play against lvl9s. They teach you a lot of bad habits through their weird frae perfect stuff.

When starting with the game, it's good to goof off with your character for a while just so you can get a feeling for how they move, work, etc. It helps a lot. Outside of that, just begin with the basic tech: wavedashing, short hopping, and dash dancing. Nothing fancy yet. Once you get your short hops consistent, work on l-canceling and then start turning them into SHFFLs (short hop, fast fallen, l-canceled aerials). After that, I think it's useful to work on implementing them all in tandem against CPUs and people. Being able to do something nutty in practice doesn't mean much if you can't do it against other people.

 

[[yung] Link]

honestly, just get the feel of moving around first. try stuff on ledge, on platforms, on the ground, anywhere. maybe even play on weird stages just to learn to control yourself and gain ground.
move onto tech after you're really comfortable with your character.

 

[Denjinpachi]

A good training tool that I like to use, which is available on any version of melee, is to practice on the "heavy bowser" or "heavy ganon" CPUs. Just turn the handicap on, and adjust the ratio for damage to .5, then make sure your handicap is set to 1. Practice consistent drill shines first, then drill into wave shine, then when you're comfortable with your execution, try to implement more aerial attacks in and out of shine. Practice shine grabbing, and then just mix it all into a variable routine that works best for you. I typically just do it until I ensure I kill the dummy starting from zero. For general training, just try to do it for consistency. When you get farther along, go for making sure you are constantly striking the CPU, then finally, go for killing it, on any stage you are practicing on from zero. This is a simple plan, but is more tailored to getting you familiar with when to L-cancel, and what you can do out of shine on low percent characters. Its literally like weight training. once you start hitting normal weighted characters again, youll immediately see your improvements if you stick with it. A normal fox compared to a "heavy" CPU makes it feel like you're beating up a pillow in comparison. you can move faster, and make better choices in follow ups, because you'll be so used to the stricter timing of beating up the bowser or ganon. But, this is just a personal recommendation. Take it at your discretion.

 

[C-SAF]

If u have another controller to plug in, u should do that so the computer isnt pestering u. Any garbage controller will do, so if u dont have one just check out a thrift shop or get a cheap third party one, no need to be picky.

Its very hard to do combos if u dont have very good tech skill. Most of the combos u will do if u cant move properly are very escapable or kinda derpy. Learning to control ur dash, wavedash in to and out of shine and waveland on platforms to follow an opponent being combo'd is important for falco.

It is also much easier to learn to laser without a computer bothering u. Learn to dash back turnaround laser in place, dash fwd laser in place, laser through platforms of all hieghts and of course double lasers from the ledge. There are a ton of laser variations and they are all easier to practice without cps bugging u.

 

[GenNyan]

Something I recommend is playing through the single player stuff (classic, event modes, etc.) It will unlock whatever characters/stages you don't already have, but more importantly, it will get you comfortable with the game engine and encourage you to experiment with a variety of characters. Note: this is much more helpful if you use the 20XX mod, which enables usage of C-stick in single player.

I also think that it is very beneficial to watch and study high level play. Watching a bit before playing usually makes my training sessions more focused/enthused because I have a specific goal in mind and they get me hyped up in general.

Something that I think players new to any character should practice is jumping as far off the stage as you can, possibly attacking, and then recovering back to the stage (for added challenge, try recovering from below the stage, level with it, and above it). This will show how far you can go for an edge guard and teach you about some of the intricacies of falco's recovery. Don't get frustrated when you die a lot doing this though. In fact, if you don't die a bunch at first, you're likely not going as far as possible.

 

[タオー]

One thing to keep in mind that a few people had touched on already, is that you should focus on realistic gains. Set short term and long term goals when you schedule a practice session, and try you best to meet them. For example, with Wave Dashing, start by focusing on executing as perfectly as you can. Many people find it beneficial to get the timing down by WDing in place, and then working on doing it side to side. after you feel comfortable with the execution, then try and WD your way all across FD, both WD forward and backwards. Finally, learn how to integrate this new tech into your own movement and style. Fundamentals are the most important things to get down, so remember to focus on refining those aspects first, and then you can start exploring all the crazy stuff.

Aside from a stringent practice regiment, watching high level play can help, but you need to know what you're looking for. There are a few guides and videos out there explaining the basics of what is considered to be "neutral game" in fighting games. This is the part where neither opponent has a distinct advantage over the other, and is attempting to gain advantage by stage positioning, spacing, footsies, option coverage and reads. These things are very helpful when analyzing the game and your own gameplay, which is honestly what you need to learn how to do if you plan on making it anywhere in the current meta. Anyways, hope that helps, and best of luck getting gud!

 

[Klemes]

As said earlier, you have to set realistic goals for yourself and stick to them.
Here is a tournament live right now (and tomorrow) featuring a few good players. https://www.twitch.tv/sxswgamingesports It's called "Battle of the Five Gods", you should definitely take a look !

Let's say you practice efficiently every day. If you can't beat the guys on this stream in, let's say 2 weeks, do you think you should keep playing this game, at least in a competitive fashion ? That would be a good test to see if you should bother playing Melee at all, I think.



EDIT : ^ JK

Seriously though, I'd have been glad to spit my knowledge, but the good people here actually said about everything you'd have to know right now and beyond. So what I'd like to add is never forget to have fun playing, play friends IRL a lot and exchange about what you learn, and do watch high level Melee, like 5gods for example (20 man tournament in which 18 of them are top20 in the latest top100 players rating), it doesn't get any more inspirationnal than that !

 

[Dr3amSm4sher]

Step 1: Get 20XX. This will make training and everything else much easier. Infinite Shields. Opponents holding shield. Invincibility (nobody takes knockback). Are all great things that help certain techs.

Step 2: Work on basic tech. Do not learn any falco things just yet. You are learning Super Smash Brothers Melee. Not Falco Lombardi. Get your Melee basics to the point you can do them with your eyes closed.

1. Learn to Short Hop first. This is the most basic tech and is necessary in most tech. I recommend using Y but if you are already acclimated to X you can keep doing this. But also don't forget how to full hop.
2. Learn to Aerial and Fastfall. Fastfalling is a huge part of aerials in melee especially falco's.
3. Learn to Lcancel. On and off hit/shield. This will allow for quicker movement after an aerial and helps you learn the timings on hit or miss. (20XX has a flash red on miss L cancel feature that is really good. You can practice with a bowser dummy or with infinite shield, or even invincible characters.) SHFFL's
4. Learn to JC grab/upsmash out of a dash or run at all times.
5. Learn to dash dance, wavedash, waveland(not as necessary but very necessary to advanced falco combos) to keep your movement up. New players struggle with hit confirms and neutral as they aren't ready to move instantly after their actions. Melee is a fast game and you have to keep up with it.

Once you can do all of this with your eyes closed or not focused on the screen then move to step 3.

Step 3: After you can do all this start mixing in shines. These are some thing to get you used to jumping out of shine and acting ASAP. Also remember to practice these on characters or shield as shine generates hitlag which eats your jump input if too early.

1. You have to learn to SHFFL in to shine and wavedash out.
2. Shine into aerial.
3. Shine into JC Grab.

Step 4: This the step that makes falco into falco. Learn to SH laser. And when to not SH lasers. (When they get too close.)

1. Learn to do lasers at different heights and spacings.
2. Learn to do retreating and advancing lasers.
3. Lasers into jab, grab (Standing normal grab), shine, ftilt, dtilt, turnaround utilt, and if they are in the air, Smash attacks.

You can look online to see basic falco combos. Just follow those.

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