Crouch Canceling is one of the most used and worst techniques in the game. And by extension, so is DI (directional influence = the ability for the player to control or influence the angle or direction that they fly away from attacks).
<p align="center"><a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/pikachu_070606b-l.jpg" title="pikachu_070606b-l.jpg"><img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/pikachu_070606b-l.jpg" alt="pikachu_070606b-l.jpg" /></a></p>
Naturally, this is a sensitive and tricky issue because without DI, the game would be a mess of predictability and combos. If you don’t believe me, try going back and playing smash64 again. Just seeing some of the combos in that game that are possible during competitive play remind me of Marvel vs Capcom 2. In other words, after the first successful hit, it’s just about over for you. However, as useful as DIing is, it’s a little too easy to execute. Do we really want a strategy like, “hold down = stay alive” to remain in Brawl? If not, what are the alternatives?
<!--more-->In Melee, each move has their own “tolerances” or ranges that the player can DI into. Math’s counter cannot be DIed. And on the other extreme, all of Kirby’s smash attacks can be DIed making them practically useless. I often smash my opponents at over 150%, and they’re able to DI even my forward smash straight up and survive without a problem. Does it make sense to be able to DI a forward smash straight up? In this case, the range of DI should be less extreme. DIing kirby’s attacks so extremely turns his already weak attacks into useless ones.
But DIing into the air isn’t the biggest problem. Crouch canceling, or DIing into the ground, has become increasingly more dangerous for the attacker, the character that successfully landed the attack. Most attacks in most situations can be countered just by holding down to reduce the knock back. I think this is a little too easy. Shouldn’t it take more precise timing to counter the wide variety of moves that Melee offers?
Don’t get me wrong. I like the idea of crouch canceling. Throwing the force of an attack into ground to prevent from flying away is fine. But when a light weight like Kirby can crouch cancel a clean hit at 130% and stay on the stage, something is wrong.
Perhaps the threshold needs to be lowered. We all know that 0% is the best time to “take a hit-give a hit.” We hardly expect a target to sail away from an attack at 0%. So, after a target is over 10-30% (depending on their weight) they shouldn’t be able to crouch cancel so effectively and so easily. This is one way to fix crouch canceling. Also, if the stun the character would have had flying through the air was transfered into being stunned while sliding on the stage, that would help balance things. As it is now, a Samus can crouch cancel a move even at high percentages, and almost immediately down smash the attacker.
Brawl has added new crouch and crouch-walk animations. I wonder if this means they’re changing how character interact with the ground. Perhaps, being able to crouch-walk eliminates our ability to crouch cancel.
<p align="center"><a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/pikachu_070606b-l.jpg" title="pikachu_070606b-l.jpg"><img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/pikachu_070606b-l.jpg" alt="pikachu_070606b-l.jpg" /></a></p>
Naturally, this is a sensitive and tricky issue because without DI, the game would be a mess of predictability and combos. If you don’t believe me, try going back and playing smash64 again. Just seeing some of the combos in that game that are possible during competitive play remind me of Marvel vs Capcom 2. In other words, after the first successful hit, it’s just about over for you. However, as useful as DIing is, it’s a little too easy to execute. Do we really want a strategy like, “hold down = stay alive” to remain in Brawl? If not, what are the alternatives?
<!--more-->In Melee, each move has their own “tolerances” or ranges that the player can DI into. Math’s counter cannot be DIed. And on the other extreme, all of Kirby’s smash attacks can be DIed making them practically useless. I often smash my opponents at over 150%, and they’re able to DI even my forward smash straight up and survive without a problem. Does it make sense to be able to DI a forward smash straight up? In this case, the range of DI should be less extreme. DIing kirby’s attacks so extremely turns his already weak attacks into useless ones.
But DIing into the air isn’t the biggest problem. Crouch canceling, or DIing into the ground, has become increasingly more dangerous for the attacker, the character that successfully landed the attack. Most attacks in most situations can be countered just by holding down to reduce the knock back. I think this is a little too easy. Shouldn’t it take more precise timing to counter the wide variety of moves that Melee offers?
Don’t get me wrong. I like the idea of crouch canceling. Throwing the force of an attack into ground to prevent from flying away is fine. But when a light weight like Kirby can crouch cancel a clean hit at 130% and stay on the stage, something is wrong.
Perhaps the threshold needs to be lowered. We all know that 0% is the best time to “take a hit-give a hit.” We hardly expect a target to sail away from an attack at 0%. So, after a target is over 10-30% (depending on their weight) they shouldn’t be able to crouch cancel so effectively and so easily. This is one way to fix crouch canceling. Also, if the stun the character would have had flying through the air was transfered into being stunned while sliding on the stage, that would help balance things. As it is now, a Samus can crouch cancel a move even at high percentages, and almost immediately down smash the attacker.
Brawl has added new crouch and crouch-walk animations. I wonder if this means they’re changing how character interact with the ground. Perhaps, being able to crouch-walk eliminates our ability to crouch cancel.
