Do it Till it works Mentality

[joejoe22802]

I was playing some third strike and it just cemented some of the thoughts I've had recently.

Defensive players have a tendency to bottleneck approaches with one counter which in turn makes them play mindlessly. For example takes sheiks that WD back against fox to counter a variety of approaches. At the end of the day, they don't really know what the fox did (different aerials, different timings for aerials fast falls or not, early or late aerials). All they are left with is a hit confirm and no addition information.

The same happens with offensive players. Someone might want to really force a drill shine up smash.

This is opposed to just choosing the right option, the punish that will always work.

In my mind if you get good at choosing the right option you will improve your game much more than if you just exploit general problems. To me this is the difference between being good and getting tournament wins. Of course there is some overlap but this is for long term improvement and steady gains.

Hope this helps some people, I haven't used this advice for too long but we'll see how it goes.

 

[Blu]

I've mulled over similar theories a few months ago, when I first really got a grasp of where I was skill-wise and what I could do to better my game.

I'm a very aggressive player by nature--it comes across rather well in my character choices--but having only one opponent to play against (my cousin), who strictly plays Sheik, I began to realize that my approach to the matchup was very inappropriate.

I gave no concern to what to do afterwards if my approach failed--which a majority of them did--because I'd enter a sort of tunnel vision. Once I set my mind on a specific approach, I'd make that one work... usually at the cost of a stock. The only moments in which I'd regain the wheel over my previous "autopilot" was when my mistakes were capitalized upon. This would cause me to become extremely frustrated.

Playing mindlessly, playing angrily, playing Sheik... there were obviously a few problems I wasn't dealing with appropriately. From what I understood, the spiral would initiate with, well, my mistakes. That being said, the most vulnerable times during my game, where I'd have to fully commit even to incorrect choices, was when I would approach. At this point I came to the conclusion that I was approaching frivolously; this was key.

Aggressive players who make the right choices are deemed smart and entertaining; aggressive players who aren't so lucky? Well, we all just look like idiots.

 

[KrIsP!]

Well if it works...

 

[Kal]

It's the American way, of course.

 

[Massive]

I'd argue that this is actually a metric of the amount of experience/ability you have in terms of gameplay.

When players are first starting out, they opt for a heuristic to simplify something that is arguably very complicated: reacting to or implementing what are a nearly overwhelming number of retaliation/approach options. That's something that most people probably can't do in their first year or so.

As one gets more experience being in situations where they are forced to use these simplified options, it will take less and less effort to reproduce. The stress from handling an approach or approaching will be reduced as you become more comfortable doing it. Eventually one is able to examine their methods and make different decisions based on context.

I'd wager that this segues into to what is effectively the "mid-level" of play ability where people either have to examine their playstyle and begin to play at a "high level" or halt their progression and become mired in their tactics.

tl;dr: Using catch-all tactics is actually a pretty clever shortcut to hit well above your weight.
They can develop into much better tactics later when you're more comfortable with them.

 

[choknater]

this is pretty much how macd got good

he spammed dsmash and dash attack because he thought they were broken-*** moves. he kept doing it and doing it and never changed his play style. he incorporated some other moves (like fair and more fairs) and some edgeguarding, and suddenly he became hella good without changing how he plays at all.


AHHHHH MACD

 

[Kink-Link5]

In my mind if you get good at choosing the right option you will improve your game much more than if you just exploit general problems.

This sounds like day one obvious stuff honestly. Your advise is basically "Play smart."



In the end though a perfect defense will always beat a perfect offense if the game does not offer guard break strings.

Oh hey look it's Fox and Peach.