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CPU Difficulty & Unlocking Characters: Too Hard?

W1ZARD

Smash Rookie
Joined
Dec 7, 2018
Messages
12
Okay, I admit it, I haven't played smash since melee was still relatively new. I'm also struggling to adjust to playing on the pro controller (feels weird as crap and keep pressing the wrong buttons and accidentally killing myself).

However, I'm definitely not "bad" at this game when compared to the general population - I was decent enough to win tournaments with my friends who all played all the time back in the day.

I'm in the process of unlocking all the characters using the reset method and now that I've got around 30 characters unlocked and the CPU difficulty is seriously starting to annoy me... I just played Ridley and he straight up KO'd me in under 10 seconds. On top of that, I don't know these freaking new stage designs and there's a million ways to die on each of them (see Wario's stage)

I feel like if I'M struggling how the heck are average players new to the series going to do this?? I just want to get the characters, figure out who I want to main, and get better.

Someone tell me I'm not alone - I know I'm bad, but am I really THAT bad??

Edit: Seems like Ike is the "easy button"
 
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Jasper the Tourist

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Aug 14, 2018
Messages
89
Location
Manchester, PA
They get harder as you go. It’s gotten to the point where I just spam with DK or keep landing Rests with Jiggs just so I can get them quickly.
 
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Wiziliz

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Sep 6, 2018
Messages
454
I've screwed up numerous times, and I've played most Smash games. It gets pretty difficult. However, sometimes I let my cockiness get the better of me, and just screw around, which stuffs me up (could have easily beaten Daisy numerous times in the fight with her, but instead, I dragged it out and got punished for it).
 

lucasla

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Jul 24, 2018
Messages
481
You may want to configure the mapping of the buttons on the options menu.

When I started playing on the Pro Controller on the WiiU version I was pressing some buttons pretty wrong and jumping when I wasn't intending because the Tap to Jump, and because my muscular memory of using B and A to jump, the buttons from bellow (since Mario World on SNES that used B to normal jump and A to rotatory jump), and not X and Y, that I preffer to use to attack.

My configuration is:

B and A : Jump
Y : Attack
X : Special Attack
L and R : Grab
ZL and ZR : Shield
Tap to Jump : OFF

So, my recomendation is for you to configure the buttons mapping to some that pleases you more.
 
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W1ZARD

Smash Rookie
Joined
Dec 7, 2018
Messages
12
You may want to configure the mapping of the buttons on the options menu.

When I started playing on the Pro Controller on the WiiU version I was pressing some buttons pretty wrong and jumping when I wasn't intending because the Tap to Jump, and because my muscular memory of using B and A to jump, the buttons from bellow (since Mario World on SNES that used B to normal jump and A to rotatory jump), and not X and Y, that I preffer to use to attack.

My configuration is:

B and A : Jump
Y : Attack
X : Special Attack
L and R : Grab
ZL and ZR : Shield
Tap to Jump : OFF

So, my recomendation if for you to configure the buttons mapping to some that pleases you more.
Yeah, that's actually exactly what I did! But I played for a while before I did that, so now my brain's all crossed up lol
 

Michael the Spikester

Smash Obsessed
Joined
Aug 31, 2018
Messages
29,097
Location
Canada
Switch FC
SW-0818-8347-0203
Tis a good thing my boi :ultkrool: is one of the earlier unlocks.

That's all that matters. I couldn't care less if I keep losing to everyone else even if I have to keep trying again and again to get them.
 
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RepStar

Banned via Warnings
Joined
Dec 4, 2018
Messages
422
Location
Houston
Switch FC
SW-5945-3794-8387
Tis a good thing my boi :ultkrool: is one of the earlier unlocks.

That's all that matters. I couldn't care less if I keep losing to everyone else even if I have to keep trying again and again to get them.
Lol, right, already got who i want too. But to TC, just play dumb. Run away and spam projectiles. Spam kirbies sword move.
 

P1ZZ4CHU

Smash Ace
Joined
Jun 12, 2018
Messages
508
Location
Dawn of the Tiberian Future
Switch FC
SW-7373-2961-4511
This is actually absurd. I have friends who play at tourneys and they're having trouble getting those last few unlocks. I've had ROB perfect shield a wall of projectiles, roll in, spotdodge a grab, and then downthrow upair me off the ceiling.

It's not even the fun challenging, it's just utterly busted.
 
D

Deleted member

Guest
Yeah, it's not just you LOL
But I'm glad that they made it really easy to go back to failed unlocks.
 

Smashnuub

Smash Rookie
Joined
Dec 8, 2018
Messages
3
Lol, only unlock 2 char and the AI is punishing me. Yes, new to the game and yes, get pretty frustrating.
 

Dan

Smash Lord
Joined
Dec 26, 2013
Messages
1,937
It's absolutely brutal; where was this during Melee era when we were reliant on single player content to keep us occupied? Now, I just want all the characters and to play online, not to have to unlock 60+ of them.

Kind of unrelated, but a similar thing is the Wario Chargin' Chuck battle in WoL; I was getting absolutely bodied by that on Normal. Currently getting bodied by ROB's unlock on Wrecking Crew.

But I'm glad that they made it really easy to go back to failed unlocks.
Not really, because if you fail that match then it disappears for an unspecified period of time... I've already lost twice to Bowser, lol.
 

Trueshinobi

Smash Rookie
Joined
Dec 11, 2011
Messages
15
Location
1k lightyears away
Yep, the difficulty increases with each character unlocked. Ironically, the hardest for me was unlocking Captain Falcon, and that was only like 10 characters into the roster. He kept down spiking me which was annoying as heck. I’ve unlocked around 45 characters too.

I recommend getting the Switch GameCube controller...it feels better and it doesn’t have the input lag. I’ve used both controllers and the Pro controller gives me a difficult time.
 

.:~*Momo*~:.

Smash Ace
Joined
Dec 15, 2007
Messages
624
Location
Fairyland
I never liked the idea of unlocking all of the characters... I feel like the joy from unlocking characters is overshadowed by the sheer amount of them that you have to unlock. it also messes up my records, I'd like for my records to reflect the characters who I enjoy playing... not really a big fan of my records reflecting whoever was available who was likely my 2nd or 3rd choice.

Fortunately for me though it was relatively easy to unlock most of my mains, unfortunately I lost to my first match with Peach which was upsetting... I'm only so-so with Zelda and up to that point she was the best character I had... so losing out on Peach for like, 20 minutes was kind of frustrating.

I know that the idea of it is to maybe get people to try out different characters, but honestly... I feel like once a player finds a playstyle that suits them then that's what they're going to gravitate towards... I've tried getting used to Isabelle but she just isn't clicking for me, I imagine it must be difficult for players who's favorite characters are among the last to unlock, not having a character who you just click with can really drag down the enjoyability of the game.

Also the CPU is just... too much, I feel like the CPU shouldn't be harder than level 5, I'm not very good at Smash but there are A LOT of people who I imagine are worse than I am... if people who are adequately okay at the game are struggling then I can't imagine how much of a difficult time newcomers and casual players would have trying to beat these characters to unlock them...

I mean, the feeling of actually unlocking Peach, Daisy, and Isabelle was nice for me... but I dunno, it seems like more trouble than it's worth... I feel like I'd rather just have a larger starting roster and have to unlock some stages.
 

Erimir

Smash Lord
Joined
Nov 24, 2001
Messages
1,732
Location
DC
3DS FC
3823-8583-9137
There were definitely a few that gave me trouble, but I generally had success trying with different characters. Despite being a newcomer that I'm not too familiar with yet, I had decent success with K Rool. The superarmor on his moves probably helps?

Also spamming Mii Swordfighter's Gale Strike seems to be pretty good for cheesing the CPU with (works well in World of Light too). The CPU seems to be worse at avoiding it than, say, WFT's Sun Salutation, for whatever reason...

The worst ones were problematic based on the stage. Palutena's stage is just annoyingly large. She took me three tries (K Rool worked again).
 

Dan

Smash Lord
Joined
Dec 26, 2013
Messages
1,937
User was warned for this post; double posting(Please edit your messages)
Has anyone noticed that some are obscenely easy while others are obscenely difficult? Like my third unlock was Bowser and he trashed me twice and I've never seen him again, while my latest and like 25th (Meta Knight) was incredibly easy.

Bowser was giving me trouble for ages; Nabbit finally nabbed his ass. :laugh:
 
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Erimir

Smash Lord
Joined
Nov 24, 2001
Messages
1,732
Location
DC
3DS FC
3823-8583-9137
I definitely experienced variation that didn't seem to have any particular pattern. They say they get harder over time but some of my later ones were pretty easy. It is true that the first few were easy though.
 

soviet prince

I am the terror that flaps in the night
Premium
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Nov 10, 2007
Messages
3,142
Location
Kentucky
NNID
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was starting to think I was horrable at this game :p , man that luigi was nuts
 

Blu99

S***post King
Joined
Oct 25, 2018
Messages
110
Location
England
Switch FC
SW-7236-2735-6407
I don't understand the difficulty in all honesty, Falcon was really hard, but Ridley was way too easy and Dedede I managed to cheese by spamming Inkling's side special

I still don't have many of the good characters and I have about 45/50 characters now
 

DarthEnderX

Smash Hero
Joined
Nov 10, 2014
Messages
7,536
I think the main reason it's annoying is because it ignores all other attempts at setting the difficulty.

Challengers that show up after playing Classic are hard even if you started at 0.0.

Challengers that show up when you leave WoL aren't effected by your difficulty setting for WoL.

If either of these actually relfected the difficulty you were actually playing at when the showed up, this wouldn't be nearly so annoying.


I will say, unlocking characters INSIDE WoL is a lot more reasonable difficulty-wise. Those fights actually seem to be effected by WoL's difficulty setting, plus, if you fail, you can just keep trying again immediately, plus plus, you get the benefit of equipping Spirits.

Yes, going through WoL takes a lot longer, but that would be a perfectly fine tradeoff for the decreased difficulty.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of characters that simply aren't in WoL...which...I don't understand why. It's sure as hell long enough that they could have easily fit everyone in.
 
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Frost Ace

Smash Rookie
Joined
Dec 9, 2018
Messages
6
NNID
Frost Ace
I haven't played a smash game since January 2014 and I had it chalked up to that im severely out of practice. Isabelle and Pokemon Trainer were disgustingly difficult for me for whatever reason. Other than that, I was screwed over on some by items or stage hazards, which was pretty frustrating. After I picked up Roy, things have gotten better.

Really though, Im just putting down as I'm just bad and out of practice.
 
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Coolboy

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Aug 27, 2018
Messages
382
Location
Netherlands
well..they don't get stronger on the way,if you ask me each character already has a CPU level attached to them ^^''

Young Link & Pit were a huge pain for me...but in my rematch i defeated Young Link more easier with Zelda and for Pit i picked Peach,we were equal damage wise but i won cause i made sure that Pit couldn't come back on the stage,Isabelle was suprisingly hard too but was able to easily defeat her with my rematch as Toon Link cause i was more familiar with her moves now :D

while with Ganondorf i easily dominated him with Wolf without getting damage,Sonic was easy too haha,and Lucina was no match for Ganon xD

for me Shulk and Incineroar were silly fights,i defeated Shulk with Villager and Incineroar with Bowser jr and believe me...i am not that great with both of them so i was kinda suprised about that lol

but i heard that Roy,Palutena & Sheik are hard to unlock too..haven't been challenged by them yet but is this true?
 
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Admiral Pit

Smash Hero
Joined
Feb 20, 2008
Messages
8,722
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Skyworld
NNID
GoldAngelPit
3DS FC
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Some of those AI do get more difficult than others... *glares at mean old Lucina and Chrom* It was to the point where I had to use Incineroar or Bowser instead of Pit to get some of them. Maybe it's just their movement is more random than predictable in this game that gets me.
 

VexTheHex

Smash Ace
Joined
Mar 30, 2018
Messages
567
Unfortunately, there's a lot of characters that simply aren't in WoL...which...I don't understand why. It's sure as hell long enough that they could have easily fit everyone in.
Not sure if this is true or false. I googled it and found a map (Grr, spoilers) and people pointing out there was more maps and everyone is in the mode, that some people are simply taking Map 1 as it, but that's not it.
 

Tree Gelbman

100 Percent Done
Joined
Nov 3, 2007
Messages
15,352
If they ever do this **** again. I swear to god.

The randomness in how difficulty some are is just annoying. Then you have ones set to a stage where stage hazards and effects help them out.

Greninja straight up keeps killing me because of his stupid stage. Then Pac Man was easy peasy. But then immediately after Olimar is difficult again.

I just don't understand. It's not even fun at this point. Once you get down to the teenage digits for unlocks you're just ready for it to be done with.
 

Fell God

Smash Ace
Joined
Jul 26, 2018
Messages
749
Location
Ylisse
Switch FC
SW-4200-0492-3739
They're...oddly challenging, I admit. But most of my failures against them have been my own fault (trying to style on CPU Chrom and then getting dragged to my death, trying to Ganoncide K. Rool only for the water to break our fall and have him survive, trying to style on Pichu but accidentally save him and then die at 70, etc.) but there was one time when I was unlocking Jigglypuff that the CPU made the slickest comeback ever. Drag down dair into Rest is devastating...

On top of that, I've been tricked offstage numerous times only to be dunked myself, team combo'd into kill setups, and generally getting outplayed by a machine. They're...getting smarter...almost...too smart...

The end times are upon us...
 

praline

the white witch
Joined
Feb 16, 2014
Messages
50,853
Location
the underworld
Switch FC
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I had to spam flare blade on some of them. DDD ate like 3 flare blades before getting ko'ed.
 

Tree Gelbman

100 Percent Done
Joined
Nov 3, 2007
Messages
15,352
I've taken to someone's advice of just spamming Mii Swordfighter's Gale Attack. It mostly works like a charm.

Dark Samus kind of got wise though and I lost her because of it. I had her to near 200 health too.
 

Grump

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Mar 15, 2008
Messages
131
Location
Florida
I’m not the best but I was able to take most of them down on the first or second try. I predict the cpu’s shuffle around various personalities or levels of difficulty, and the harder ones get chunked in there too. I do think, in general, the ai’s work with zoning a lot better than previous ai’s.

My little brother resorted to cheese. Kirby’s good ol’ inhale seems to work an awful lot, even for the “better” ai’s.
 

Unisex

Smash Rookie
Joined
Dec 5, 2018
Messages
19
Projectiles. Im tellin you now, they dont know how to handle them. I had to go Link and spam till they kill themselves, or die easily.

LIttle. Mac. Though. I wish I recorded those matches because he made me looking like the biggest fool. I felt like Rocky going into the ring. I was air boxing in my room, prepping with hand stretches, listening to motivational music during each match. It might have been a challenger approching for most people, but for me, this was a boss battle.
 

Losnar

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Feb 3, 2008
Messages
384
Location
Philly
I lose maybe 1/10, I'm honestly shocked people are having this much trouble with the unlocks. I'm not that good at smash.
 

Justin Allen Goldschmidt

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Sep 20, 2015
Messages
309
Projectiles. Im tellin you now, they dont know how to handle them. I had to go Link and spam till they kill themselves, or die easily.

LIttle. Mac. Though. I wish I recorded those matches because he made me looking like the biggest fool. I felt like Rocky going into the ring. I was air boxing in my room, prepping with hand stretches, listening to motivational music during each match. It might have been a challenger approching for most people, but for me, this was a boss battle.
This is one of the funniest things I've ever read on this site. Thank you for gracing us all with this anecdote!

As for me, I think Rob gave me the most trouble for unlocks so far (maybe 30 characters in), I've lost to him three times and haven't had a rematch yet. For the level 9 CPUs though, Donkey Kong seems absolutely bonkers in this game. I only won about half of my matches against him until I unlocked my main boy Roy and started styling all over him lol.
 

Craft_Mesa

Smash Rookie
Joined
Sep 25, 2018
Messages
18
Location
Guar Plains, Bionis Leg, Bionis
While I haven't played yet, all of your stories are convincing me that I'm gonna be glad to get Shulk early on.

I'm fully ready to maul and be mauled.


Or who knows, maybe Shulk'll be too hard to defeat and I'll just never be able to unlock the characters I'm comfortable with.
 
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SonicMario

Smash Master
Joined
Jun 28, 2007
Messages
4,063
Location
Mushroom Square
No character took more then 3 tries to beat for me. Albeit I had close calls here and there. A good majority I beat on the first try with the classic mode character that unlocked them. When I failed the first time, I went to Sonic, my main, to get them. And there were only 2 I failed to beat even with Sonic: :ultkingdedede::ultlucas: Dedede's on Fountain of Dreams so a bit of a small stage to fight with Sonic reliably, so I used Pikachu to get Dedede instead and Lucas on the other hand is too large of a stage. Where it's hard to get Lucas in a good spot to KO unless you get lucky and Lucas runs into the Ultimate Chimera. I needed someine with a bit more power so I used Cloud to get Lucas

Sonic even has kind of a neat way to cheese. His homing attack can be charged in ultimate. If you spam the quickest homing attack. You can rack up their damage to 100 or more without getting too damaged yourself and then try to get a good shot with an Fsmash
 

Justin Allen Goldschmidt

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Sep 20, 2015
Messages
309
They get harder as you progress. Ness and Zelda are easy, Cloud and Palutena are bull**** hard.
Palutena's AI had no clue how to deal with rush-down and anti-airs when I played her. She made my mediocre Fox look like flak cannon every time she was above me on the far left side of her stage.
 

Mogisthelioma

Smash Master
Joined
Aug 24, 2018
Messages
3,596
Location
Ravnica
Palutena's AI had no clue how to deal with rush-down and anti-airs when I played her. She made my mediocre Fox look like flak cannon every time she was above me on the far left side of her stage.
I played against her as Doctor Mario. Although I wasn't using my custom controls and at a disadvantage, I still had a pretty good chance. The thing was, the forward smashed me when I was at like 200, I bounced off 5 or 6 surfaces unable to tech, then somehow I angled right back to where she was and I got upsmashed. The AI was big brained for her.
 

Justin Allen Goldschmidt

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Sep 20, 2015
Messages
309
I played against her as Doctor Mario. Although I wasn't using my custom controls and at a disadvantage, I still had a pretty good chance. The thing was, the forward smashed me when I was at like 200, I bounced off 5 or 6 surfaces unable to tech, then somehow I angled right back to where she was and I got upsmashed. The AI was big brained for her.
Jeeeesus, that would've been a sick replay though. The AI has done some very bad things to me in this game. Get dunked on often.
 
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