Eggggggggggbert
Smash Apprentice
Hey guys, now before you spiral into something about sticking with one character and its importance, lemme explain my train of thought and how I've come to this decision.
I've been playing Smash since 2005. Only started taking it seriously a year ago. Now when I played the casually, I played Ness. I loved Earthbound and like many casual players, I defaulted my character choice to my favourite series character. This stayed more or less the same until I dipped my toe into competitive waters. I held back my tears and understood that there is no way to make Ness a viable main in a tournament atmosphere. I began my (first) quest to find a new character who was relevant and comfortable to begin focusing on. I eventually was drawn to Peach. She was a cute character, she was reasonably high on the tier list, not too overplayed and she her wavedash sucked so I had an excuse to not use it. My time with Peach opened my eyes to this scene entirely, she got me through a number of netplay games and college locals so there will always be a place in my heart for her. Unfortunately, no matter how happy someone is with their current situation, a question in the back of their head always floats around saying "What if?".
The tempting mistress of my smash career was a much more beautiful, much more alluring, suave, stylish character by the name of Captain Falcon. To the eye of any smash player, the marvels of Captain Falcon's grace and finesse are so enticing but I never thought that my fundamentals were strong enough. Peach felt easier; I could d-smash all day, pull stitches, and just float all day. I didn't feel the need to wavedash or short hop or L-Cancel because my character didn't "require" it. I was dedicated to this middling nature because of what I didn't think I could do. Although, eventually when my school work lessened and I had the time, my curiosity pulled ahead of my fear of learning and I began playing Falcon on the side. This spiraled into using Falcon full time because his play style felt so addicting and rewarding. I constantly thirsted for those crisp knees so much that SHFFLing, which is so ingrained into his play, felt easy and only served as means to a satisfying end. I realized I've learned something new from playing a new character, something I wouldn't have otherwise thought was neccessary.
Suddenly, I felt I had my fundamentals down from Peach and my aerial game tightened from Falcon. I asked myself what else could I learn, what habit could I force myself into? I still didn't know how to wavedash or how it works, how can we fix that? I decided to try Ice Climbers, they have a good wave dash. Even though they didn't feel as fun or as comfortable as Falcon, they were cute and I like Hammers so why not. I played Falcon constantly and kept my Ice Climbers as a side tool. They showed my that my fingers were in fact fast enough to wave dash and that once again, how silly it was to be scared to try. While I never full translate to ICs, they are a part of my play today as come into play here and there.
Now that I've given that unnecessarily detailed history, I'll address my current issue.
Falcon is actually becoming dull. There is a lot of talk about how Falcon is truly not top 6 character material and how a lot of his game relies on the fault of others (I remember Leffen saying that when you try to recover, all you do is press Up-B and pray, there is no skill). While I don't believe all of this hoopla, I still believe that Falcon may not be the best thing to pick up. His aerial-only approaches, while fancy, are somewhat impracticable in nature. I've reached this wall with Falcon (and really with Melee) that I need to overcome. Rather than spend the next half of a year losing, I want to look for a character who will rejuvenate my passion. Someone who will make me learn something new and has more orthodox approaches. Falcon is making me hate the game because passing this wall is incredibly frustrating on a day to day basis. I might come back to him to eventually, I just need something to focus on right now, need some ceilings to break. Besides, M2K said playing all characters is the best practice, right?
TLDR: Lookin for a new dude 2 play cuz bad
I'm looking for some character suggestions keeping the following information in mind
I've been playing Smash since 2005. Only started taking it seriously a year ago. Now when I played the casually, I played Ness. I loved Earthbound and like many casual players, I defaulted my character choice to my favourite series character. This stayed more or less the same until I dipped my toe into competitive waters. I held back my tears and understood that there is no way to make Ness a viable main in a tournament atmosphere. I began my (first) quest to find a new character who was relevant and comfortable to begin focusing on. I eventually was drawn to Peach. She was a cute character, she was reasonably high on the tier list, not too overplayed and she her wavedash sucked so I had an excuse to not use it. My time with Peach opened my eyes to this scene entirely, she got me through a number of netplay games and college locals so there will always be a place in my heart for her. Unfortunately, no matter how happy someone is with their current situation, a question in the back of their head always floats around saying "What if?".
The tempting mistress of my smash career was a much more beautiful, much more alluring, suave, stylish character by the name of Captain Falcon. To the eye of any smash player, the marvels of Captain Falcon's grace and finesse are so enticing but I never thought that my fundamentals were strong enough. Peach felt easier; I could d-smash all day, pull stitches, and just float all day. I didn't feel the need to wavedash or short hop or L-Cancel because my character didn't "require" it. I was dedicated to this middling nature because of what I didn't think I could do. Although, eventually when my school work lessened and I had the time, my curiosity pulled ahead of my fear of learning and I began playing Falcon on the side. This spiraled into using Falcon full time because his play style felt so addicting and rewarding. I constantly thirsted for those crisp knees so much that SHFFLing, which is so ingrained into his play, felt easy and only served as means to a satisfying end. I realized I've learned something new from playing a new character, something I wouldn't have otherwise thought was neccessary.
Suddenly, I felt I had my fundamentals down from Peach and my aerial game tightened from Falcon. I asked myself what else could I learn, what habit could I force myself into? I still didn't know how to wavedash or how it works, how can we fix that? I decided to try Ice Climbers, they have a good wave dash. Even though they didn't feel as fun or as comfortable as Falcon, they were cute and I like Hammers so why not. I played Falcon constantly and kept my Ice Climbers as a side tool. They showed my that my fingers were in fact fast enough to wave dash and that once again, how silly it was to be scared to try. While I never full translate to ICs, they are a part of my play today as come into play here and there.
Now that I've given that unnecessarily detailed history, I'll address my current issue.
Falcon is actually becoming dull. There is a lot of talk about how Falcon is truly not top 6 character material and how a lot of his game relies on the fault of others (I remember Leffen saying that when you try to recover, all you do is press Up-B and pray, there is no skill). While I don't believe all of this hoopla, I still believe that Falcon may not be the best thing to pick up. His aerial-only approaches, while fancy, are somewhat impracticable in nature. I've reached this wall with Falcon (and really with Melee) that I need to overcome. Rather than spend the next half of a year losing, I want to look for a character who will rejuvenate my passion. Someone who will make me learn something new and has more orthodox approaches. Falcon is making me hate the game because passing this wall is incredibly frustrating on a day to day basis. I might come back to him to eventually, I just need something to focus on right now, need some ceilings to break. Besides, M2K said playing all characters is the best practice, right?
TLDR: Lookin for a new dude 2 play cuz bad
I'm looking for some character suggestions keeping the following information in mind
- Looking for a solid neutral and grounded approaches
- Looking for a character who is strongly dependant on spacing (I feel like this is maybe one of the best things I can sharpen at this point)
- I'm not afraid to play lower tier characters
- Maybe someone with stronger grabs