Choosing a main

[JayB]

I'm very new to the competitive Smash scene. I've watched all the Apex events from 2012 on-wards, but that's the extent of my Smash knowledge. Now, I recently decided that I'd like to at least attempt competitive Smash and see where it goes. I'm from the UK and I've no idea on the current state of the competitive scene around here.

Enough trivial content, on with the actual topic.

As you have probably read above, I'm new and I've no idea where to really main. I know that Fox, Falco and Marth are possibly the strongest, but I don't know which one would be best for me. Or anyone who is beginning at Smash melee. This topic's purpose is to be a discussion on how to select your main and perhaps some of you more experienced guys can talk about how you chose your main. I'd love to hear some of your guys' feedback on this!

 

[EPsilon933]

Choose the character who's the most fun, usually a tournament viable one because they can do things

More specifically, choose the character you have the most fun playing as who feels like they fit you best. You can only find out by playing a lot. There is no real strategy beyond just playing until 1 fits best

 

[JDavisR (NIX)]

Play each character in the higher teirs that you are considering, and choose the one that feels the most natural to you. This character doesn't have to necessarily the best, but the one you choose should be the one you enjoy playing the most. Other than that, I don't think there is any advice anyone can giveyou to choosing a main. I hope you enjoy ccompetitive melee ^-^

 

[Zink Imp]

Everyone has their own tastes. To get the most enjoyment I would say don't fall prey to just picking top tier characters. Try em all out and see which character is best for you.

Or pick Fox.
Sooner you start, the better the results.

 

[VegiLohrd]

Worry about fun, then about tiers. If you so don't have fun playing the game, then whats the point of trying to get better? And who knows? People get tons of notoriety if they play low tiers at their highest level.

Or pick Fox.
Sooner you start, the better the results.

20XX approaches.....

 

[.toasty]

Pick a character you love to play and practice until you can go to a tournament. (make this as soon as possible, don't be afraid.)

 

[oats_]

It depends on what you want, obviously who you find most fun is the #1 thing but

If you want to have immediate results with very little work, pick marth. Most new Marths are trash who just main fsmash, so you can easily do well against average players without any work. The problem with this is that its easy to get into a hole where you never improve because you don't need to. There's marth mains that I've gone even with, then a month later they play the exact same and I destroy them.

If you want to force yourself to improve, main fox. Not even because he is the best character, but because he is the hardest character by far. The fact that you can get chain grabbed and 0 to deathed extremely easily will make you learn to stop making mistakes really fast, and his reliance on tech skill forces you to learn things to do well, even against mediocre marth fsmashers, because fox doesn't have any really strong, spammable move.

Tl;dr, play fox.

 

[Ya Dad]

Or you could use Isai's mindset, say screw tiers, and wreck everyone with a low-tier character.

 

[d-man2292]

dont pay attention to tiers like at all, which ever character you feel most fluent with and have the most fun with, i main mario because the way he moves, the weight he falls, literally just by their movements, when i try and play with falco he's not as fluent for me but for some ppl he is, it all depends on your preference, then get good

 

[Zekk]

To be honest pick a character you enjoy playing I use Falco because he looks really cool and has fast combos

take your playstyle find a character and mold your playstyle into that character I did that and now I have a aggro Falco

 

[T-R3X]

Mess around with different characters till you find one that suits your playstyle/personality and that you have fun with. I started with marth and then puff because I heard they were good at first. Then I just tried to do whatever looked cool; first smash videos I watched were old bum things so I played DK. I liked the way he played but I ended up switching to ganondorf (because I used ganondorf to clear most of the event matches haha). Once I started learning advanced techniques and getting alright at the game I messed around with the other top tiers. Then when I started playing competitively I began to think more about play style. I favor speed and aggression but I didn't really want to main spacies so now I dual-main marth and falcon but I have solid spacies and a decent sheik to boot, in case of match up things.
*shrugs*

 

[X WaNtEd X]

Or you could use Isai's mindset, say screw tiers, and wreck everyone with a low-tier character.

>falcon
>low tier

alright bud

 

[.toasty]

>falcon
>low tier

alright bud

You realize that When Isai started playing, Captain Falcon was far from good, as can be seen clearly on the first tier list where he was considered 15th tier, certainly considered fairly low tier, (I should know seeing as I main the current 15th tier) tier lists change, and will continue to, just look at where Yoshi is currently sitting.

 

[JayB]

I've been reading the feedback on this thread constantly, I must say that I am happy to have received so much good and useful comments!
The general consensus seems to be to play something fun, and that's exactly what I'll do!
Thanks so much for all of your feedback! Feel free to continue posting if anyone has anymore thoughts on the matter which could possibly help other noobies such as myself!

 

[Jake The Preacher]

Choose someone you like a lot, have fun with, and are good with or you feel you have potential with. Me personally, I can't stand people who play as characters they don't like other than because they're good. One way or another the guys I play as, I like. Just anything that works for you I think you should pick. Not trying to bash anyone on my opinion on character choice

 

[WumpaWolfy]

Choose someone you like a lot, have fun with, and are good with or you feel you have potential with. Me personally, I can't stand people who play as characters they don't like other than because they're good. One way or another the guys I play as, I like. Just anything that works for you I think you should pick. Not trying to bash anyone on my opinion on character choice

What do you mean by character's that they don't like? I used to have the mindset that I should only play characters that I liked prior to smash but I eventually found it to be a dumb way to restrict myself since that limited my options to about...five characters among the cast. Each character has their own feel and capabilities that felt more and more divorced from my background with the character the more I played. I mained Fox from smash 64 until I went back to melee after dabbling in competitive Brawl. I switched to Doc not because of any appreciation for Doc as a character but because I loved the way it felt to play him. I loved his weight, wavedash length, down smash, pills, cape gimps, bair WoP, and kobe finishers. There is a certain control and fluidity to his movement that I just didn't have with Fox. People can learn to like characters is what I'm trying to say. As shallow as it sounds when a player says that they chose to play a character because they are good, what they really mean to me is that the options, feel, and move set of a particular character are the best suited to their playstyle and competing to the highest degree they are capable of. For different people that will mean different characters. After maining Doc for the last four years he's gone from being the 'biggest waste of a character slot in melee' to me, to the character I associate with my best memories and performances playing smash. I genuinely feel I can compete at a much higher level with Doc than I ever could with Fox.

In regards to the OP, I highly recommend watching videos of the top players of the characters you are interested in picking up. Find the ones that you find the most exciting and make you think "I want to do that!!!". It also has the advantage of giving you someone to emulate and learn from in the early stages as you develop your own style. Just don't forget to experiment!

 

[T-R3X]

What do you mean by character's that they don't like?!

I think he meant like as in, like to play with. Different people approach the game differently, and some characters don't fit people's playstyles.

 

[jakestan]

i'm also new to competitive smash and the course of action i'm taking to pick my mains/secondary is to learn advanced techniques and be able to apply them to many characters and then weeding out characters I don't enjoy playing and then picking my mains with who i'm best at

right now i'm working on a Fox & falcon for main and Luigi as my secondary

 

[Ziodyne]

Keep an open mind as you play. As you get better, you kind of "unlock" things about the game because you know more when you get better. And when you get better, you might drift away from your original pick just because you know more about the game to make such a choice.

 

[Jake The Preacher]

What I mean is if you played Doctor mario, but hate the mario series and Dr. Mario and the 64 version, that kind of play characters you don't like

 

[Massive]

Every time one of these threads comes up people say "play whoever is fun" or "play whoever you like".
These are not terrible ideas, but they sort of gloss over the point of choosing a main.

Your main doesn't have to be a character you like or even enjoy playing, your main should be the character that you have the most innate talent with, at least initially.

Here's the trick to picking successfully: Play against people, switch characters until you find the one that you feel is the "cheapest, most annoying, all I do is X and I win" and play that one. Going with who you like or what you think will be cool can work, but it can also be a recipe for disappointment if you're playing a character that does not cater to your strengths.

Also, do not be afraid to switch mains if you hit a wall with your current one. Your accrued skill transfers between characters, and even with new-strategy set backs, there is no sunk-cost (lost value from switching) in melee.

 

[Elyssa Xey Hexen]

I've been reading the feedback on this thread constantly, I must say that I am happy to have received so much good and useful comments!
The general consensus seems to be to play something fun, and that's exactly what I'll do!
Thanks so much for all of your feedback! Feel free to continue posting if anyone has anymore thoughts on the matter which could possibly help other noobies such as myself!

I'll be the guy to deviant and give you a different opinion.

Determine your goals.

Seriously, why do even bother trying to pick out a main at all? If you are asking this question I feel you must have some sort of direction behind it. If not, then you should probably ask yourself that question and it will help out greatly in a choice. If your goal is to win tournaments, then drop with the "play whoever you want" mentality. At least, if your goal is nationals or regional wins. There are people out there who do spend hours trying to figure out how to get better. They will use the best methods available to them in order to accomplish this which typically means playing a good character. The good news is that as far as I can tell there are 6 viable choices for making this happen. Marth, Jiggs, Sheik, Peach, Fox, and Falco. All of which have unique styles of play (imo) and shouldn't be hard to find one of them. So, if your goal is to win tournaments I suggest you pick one of these 6 characters and stick with it.

Otherwise, if you have a different scope play anyone else you like. Shroom/Hax I think are good examples of making top 8 at regional/nationals with characters that are not those 6 (Doc Mario/Falcon),but I feel these characters have too many limitations. Maybe you can be like Taj though and be like the best Mewtwo player out there despite not being able to take top place at regional/national with that character. The point I am making is that for strictly competitive play characters will have its limitations.

Determine your goals and let that help you guide you into picking a character to play.

Besides, maybe the game is just most fun playing all sorts of characters. Or maybe you just like to troll people in this game.

 

[T-R3X]

Every time one of these threads comes up people say "play whoever is fun" or "play whoever you like".
These are not terrible ideas, but they sort of gloss over the point of choosing a main.

Your main doesn't have to be a character you like or even enjoy playing, your main should be the character that you have the most innate talent with, at least initially.

Here's the trick to picking successfully: Play against people, switch characters until you find the one that you feel is the "cheapest, most annoying, all I do is X and I win" and play that one. Going with who you like or what you think will be cool can work, but it can also be a recipe for disappointment if you're playing a character that does not cater to your strengths.

Also, do not be afraid to switch mains if you hit a wall with your current one. Your accrued skill transfers between characters, and even with new-strategy set backs, there is no sunk-cost (lost value from switching) in melee.

I think you kinda need to enjoy playing the game; otherwise what's the point?
I mean, luckily I think there is such a wide variety of things you can do with the various "tournament viable" character that figuring out someone you enjoy playing and still win. Besides, I think as you learn more about the game your strengths can change or develop.

 

[JayB]

After 2 weeks of play, I found that Sheik is someone I enjoy who I can do well with. Obviously after just two weeks I know I have a LOT of work to do to improve and may even end up changing main if I hit a wall in the future. I find her to be very fun, I love the agility and combos of the character. How I decided was first I unlocked all the characters (besides Mewtwo and Mr G&W) then played 5 games with each character. I had a list of them all on a notepad document and deleted the ones which I didn't like. It left only a few characters but that's good when deciding something. I then played 10 more games with the remaining 3 and eventually found that I enjoyed Sheik the most while doing the best out of the 3.
Winning is fun, I'm sure we all know that. So when choosing someone who is fun, make sure to keep in mind what is fun to you in a game situation. Is it annoying your opponent? Is it winning? Is it crazy combos? Is it something else? Then choose your main based on that criteria. If you prefer trolling to winning (in terms of 'fun') then play the characters and see which is better for trolling.
Anyway, that's just how I view it.
Still, lots of good points being made in this thread by everyone! :D

 

[Globe]

I see it as on whoever you like playing as. I like to mess around with Pichu so that is why I somewhat main him.

 

[WumpaWolfy]

What I mean is if you played Doctor mario, but hate the mario series and Dr. Mario and the 64 version, that kind of play characters you don't like

Well I've never played a Doctor Mario game before and I don't like the Mario series (excluding Mario Kart and Mario Tennis 64 for some reason). Part of why I like playing black Doctor Mario so much is because he looks like an anti Mario lol. I guess that puts me in your camp of players you hate. But like I've said before you can learn to genuinely like a character, especially in a game that's been around as long as melee has. I love Doc as a smash character, that's all that matters to me.

 

[Jake The Preacher]

Well I've never played a Doctor Mario game before and I don't like the Mario series (excluding Mario Kart and Mario Tennis 64 for some reason). Part of why I like playing black Doctor Mario so much is because he looks like an anti Mario lol. I guess that puts me in your camp of players you hate. But like I've said before you can learn to genuinely like a character, especially in a game that's been around as long as melee has. I love Doc as a smash character, that's all that matters to me.

I guess since there aren't really any Dr. Mario games that's no problem. Mario kart is more than good enough, luckily you didn't say Mario party since that tears friendships. But I can easily grow to like people no problem :D

 

[Charlesz]

Fox McCloud

 

[SpiderJerusalem]

I think for me speed was the biggest factor. I am starting to get better w/spacies, but initially I was totally turned off to them because they were just so darn fast. I couldn't (and still can't) do some of the crazy things you see spacie players like Mango, PP, etc. do because I just didn't have that reactionary time or ability to compute that fast. I liked Marth because he's reasonably fast but he's not Sanic levels like spacies or C.Falcon yet he can still pull off some great combos. I now main Falco along with Marth as my ability to keep up has gotten better, but I am still much better with Marth than Falco.

I kinda went on a tangent, but I think speed and weight of a character is important and whichever caters to your abilities best should be a first pick. And have fun.