Critique my falco/fox

[Jasou]

Hello everyone, this is my first time i'm posting videos to critique because I really think I could use some. These videos were in our club's winners semis and losers finals, as we are not a high level smash club. The reason I say this is because I almost freeze up completely sometimes in the tournament setting, so advice on losing that fear of tournies would be good too.(going to try mm's this weekend)

Because the videos are long you can critique my worst or best round for either of those characters based from my tourny phobia.

Here is my falco: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nbJjrVg73g (please ignore the commentary, we get hyped over the smallest things)
12:27 for my best round as falco even though I lost
0:00 for my worst round as falco


Here is my fox: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_eOB3ljHWc&feature=relmfu
4:49 for my best round as fox even though I lost
10:40 for worst round as fox


Bad idea to upload rounds that arn't my best in general? Probably, but I need critiques for my best for tournament singles and these are it.
Also you can be as harsh as you want. The critiques can also be in general if you want to save time. Thanks!

 

[Eclectic Echo]

You need to approach differently than just cork (dair, not sure if others call it corkscrew). Mainly referring to the Sheik matchup.

Like mix it up, but don't throw moves out randomly. Because you kept going in with the cork-shine. And majority of the time he waited in his shield to just grab you. Throw a little bit of dash dances in there, little wavedash away from him then go in, or grab him when he waiting in his shield.


Hope this was decent advice.

 

[Neji]

Well I'm not a top level Falco player obviously because I didn't even go to my first tournament/smash fest until February of this year, but from what I have seen in top level Falco's I can help critique a little.

You approach with the intent to pillar (dair) which easily leaves you open for a shield grab or an easy gimp if your going toward Sheik at the edge. What you want to try to do is mix things up, you don't ALWAYS have to be the one approaching because your Falco, you can sit back and feed her your lasers. With more floaty characters (Peach, sheik, marth, mario and so on) it might be more wise to approach with a nair. However overshooting the nair to land behind the shield can be a wise decision if you know how to convert from it.

One thing I tend to notice with top level Falco's like PP is that he will go in and approach, but if he sees that it puts him in a bad situation (like for a shield grab, up smash out of shield, upb, etc etc), he wave shines back to avoid it. I notice Mango do that a lot as well and with that they can avoid setting their opponents up for combos.

Another lacking flaw with your Falco is tech skill. When I started out playing Falco I was DEFINITELY not technical. I couldn't even SHL properly. You can even see my old videos if you want lmfao. But improving your tech skill to a certain extent would help your game a lot more. If you lack tech skill, you lack some of what's required to avoid getting grabbed/combo'd, and having good tech skill allows you to perform ridiculous combos once you get good at reading and executing them.

Be careful with your techs too. A lot of sheiks combo game is reading your techs so you especially want to be careful against her. You don't want to tech toward the ledge against her at all. Falco players need to have excellent stage control because of his short recovery. You need to position yourself closer to the center of the stage and not allow for your opponent to guide you to the edge. Also be wise with your recoveries. Using side B to get back immediately is often a bad choice, as it gets very predictable. With your Up B you have your opponent guessing which direction you are going to take, making it harder to edge guard sometimes, even with the longer amount of time to react.

Shield pressure with Falco is important too. Do you know how to shinegrab? It's a difficult technique to master but it's well worth it if you can implement it into your play style. If you want to see perfect examples of it being used, just watch your Sion videos.

I don't know if I helped considering I'm not pro or anything, but if I did, let me know! Lmao. I'm in the process of learning the game myself because I'm new to competitive play.

 

[Jasou]

Both points from echo and neji I also find to be very true and I need to work on that.

I agree with all your points you've said neji and also heard a few points I didn't think despite being here for a while.

I definitely need to work on my technical skill. Outside tournament matches I do it more cleanly but I need to practice it to the point where I do it perfectly any time i'm playing.

Thanks for your time guys.

 

[Neji]

No problem. I know my best performance is always outside of tournament matches because I still can't shake the nerves and pressure of being in a tournament set where my placing is on the line.

Tech skill with Falco is definitely essential for you in many ways. Another thing is you should watch Falco videos that aren't top professional. Likewise you aren't going to be fighting top level players like Axe, M2k, Armada, Mango, Jman, Lucky, Hbox, etc etc etc. Look at players that DON'T have an enormous gap of skill over you, or aren't top professional anyways.

Players like Th0rn, Sion, possibly Mattdotzeb, and a few other Falco mains are worth watching.

Watch how they approach, what moves they use, how they execute lasers, how they follow up with and finish combos. How do they recover? Think what you would do if you were the edge guarding person. Have you noticed the percentages certain moves can almost guarantee a kill?

 

[Jasou]

Alright I'll try that as well. I'm too used to watching Dr.PP play because his combos for falco are the best in the world and they are extremely fun to see. He seems quite far from my skill level though.