Critique me. =X

[-Ran]

Here are a few matches from a previous tournament [less than a week ago]. Unfortunately my best match against Sudai [Rob player] wasn't recorded. Any help would be appreciated. At the tournament, I played six players, if I recall correctly. Unfortunately, only two of those matches were recorded. These were the final two. In the tournament I placed 5th, Eet placed 7th, and Cyphus placed 2nd.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zL6foxds1uI Eet [Olimar] vs Snake Round 1
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JwJ23PmzJN0 Eet [Olimar] vs Snake Round 2

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GhiErgwKpmM Cyphus [DK] vs Snake Round 1
http://youtube.com/watch?v=EwnFGqWy1v4 Cuphus [DK] vs Snake Round 2

Against DK, I had no experience at all against him. Really, I lost to myself the second round with the Nikita death. I wasn't able to capture the momentum back after that, and Cyphus took advantage of it.

 

[Union of Darkness]

Don't listen to DK lies fall for DK's tricks!

I'm no Snake expert but you didn't use your neutral A very much. I would think that since it comes out really fast it'd be useful at close range.

And stupid question: Why is there no music?

 

[-Ran]

Because, it happened to be on my Wii, and by default I have my music turned off at all times. There's enough back ground noise at a tournament to begin with.

I didn't use the Neutral A, since the range of it is too short against characters like Olimar [who I played keep away the entire match from] and DK. Tilts were the better option for the entire match. If I was in range to jab, it was better to grab. Mostly, I kept pacing the match with C4 against both of them, since I hadn't fought either characters before.

 

[Union of Darkness]

Being the best Snake in the world won't matter if you don't know how to handle an opponent. I think it's best to learn as much about all the characters as you can. As they say, know your enemy.

 

[Cat Fight]

Being the best Snake in the world won't matter if you don't know how to handle an opponent. I think it's best to learn as much about all the characters as you can. As they say, know your enemy.

How could you possibly even be the best Snake player in the world if you didn't know how to handle yr opponent?...

 

[-Ran]

Pretty much what I was thinking. Now, go watch my stuff Cat. =p

 

[Union of Darkness]

How could you possibly even be the best Snake player in the world if you didn't know how to handle yr opponent?...

As in you have full mastery of his moves and tricks.

 

[Cat Fight]

Pretty much what I was thinking. Now, go watch my stuff Cat. =p

I can't get on a PC atm so I'm not able to give you any tips but I'll check it out tomorrow morning. :"P

As in you have full mastery of his moves and tricks.

...:"/

 

[-Ran]

I look forward to it Cat.

 

[PK Hexagon]

I suggest you brush up on your spot dodging. There were also a couple of cringeworty moments that you actually rolled into him.

 

[Cat Fight]

Luckily I have some experience playing both these matchups in tourney/MMs, so I hope this helps:

I notice you cooking grenades against Olimar quite often. Unfortunately, him being such a small target it's relatively ineffective to just throw them if yr not getting the right timing down for the explosion to connect. Especially on Lylat with the tilting main platform, and what-not.

I suggest trying to grenade shield him if you want to connect with grenades, otherwise, plant them along the ground or platforms for stage control.

Another thing I noticed is that you spend a lot of time on the platforms or in the air. This is where Snake does his worst. Olimar was able to punish you with his Uair quite often because you kept jumping on platforms to C4 plant and continued to roll back and forth. If you are hit in the air, don't go for a landing on a platform. FF/airdodge through and get to safe ground. IDK, it just seemed like you were distracted by the idea of having to C4 plant everytime you blew one up - heh.

I've been able to bair out of Olimar's downthrow at somewhere mid % (I can't remember what, but I remember trying it at low percents and it not working too well/often), so to prevent follow up with Uair/Fair by Olimar you might as well try to bair instead of airdodge.

Perhaps you haven't gotten the technique down to perform a full Nair out of a short hop? I didn't see you get the last kick out but once, and that left you wide open to any attack.

Also, where was yr mortar slide? @___@

Learn to edgeguard. Everytime Olimar was coming back from being hit off the stage, you just seemed to run across the other stage to "cook a grenade" aka "wait one second and throw it over his head". Yr missing plenty of opportunities to gimp Olimar's recovery. Bair > quick hug, no?

Don't rely on Ftilt to get inside Olimar. He doesn't have to be anywhere near you to grab you. Fortunately for you yr opponent did not grab too much/all that well. Dash attack is the next safest way to get inside Olimar next to grenade shield. Dtilt works decently for mix up. Once yr inside, then worry about tilting/grabbing/jab combo. Not when yr in his grab range.

I don't really have much else to say. I don't wanna type too much. Alas, you have a lot to work on...

Next tourney yr at try recording s'more of the matches so I can see what you've worked on.

Lots of this information isn't just exclusive to the Olimar matchup, but universal, and I'm interested in seeing if yr able to apply this information to the other matchups.

Snake is not good in the air. Don't spend so much time in the air. I'll edit this later when I have s'more time.

 

[-Ran]

I appreciate the comments and the time it took to write all of that out. Worst case, I'll have new footage August 15th during the next monthly. I might invest in getting my own recording set up, but at the moment my laptop is in Oregon with my girlfriend. When she returns, I'll probably get a setup similar to what Sudai runs [cost him about thirty dollars.]

Few justifications:
1. Mortar Slide - I try to use it only a few times during a match. I've noticed that many players in our competitively circle have gained the timing for shielding it, or punishing it. I'm trying to find a better balance with using it.
2. Grenades - For some reason, my grenade skills were entirely subpar for the entire tournament. My internal timing was off. Usually against smaller characters, I time the 'nades to explode right on top of them. I realized that they were off, but just kept humming them anyways since it seemed to keep him from being too eager.
3. Snakes don't have Wings - I keep trying to tell myself that I need to stay grounded. It's bad habits I gained from playing level 7 computers too long during my hiatus from playing actual skilled players when my girlfriend was down for a month. Also gained a few other nasty habits that I'm still working out of. -.-; I intend to get them squared away on my next off day.
4. Olimar ftl - I knew the moment that he wasn't doing the easy 40% chain with Olimar vs Snake, that he didn't know the match up too well. He seemed very indecisive with the throws that he was trying to do, which is why I broke out of so many. I'm not planning to use this as a bench mark as to how to fight other Olimars.
5. Spot Dodge - I'm working on it. See number 3 as to why they started to occur more. I've already reduced the amount I do them drastically. My goal is to get down to less than five rolls a match on average. This is only due to some situations only being solved by a roll.