Sideem Slingh
Smash Journeyman
I don't really know why I put out this post. I guess it's just because I want to be known, and although this information might not help people get better, it might show people the game behind the game. Also, I think of things like this, and the more I don't release this type of stuff, the more it gets pent up and released in some negative way. So these are my opinions on what is needed to be good at SSBM and what those things are.
When I first saw Smashboards, I did what most other people did straight away. I went and downloaded a video from a tournament, and saw my first video of Ken and Azen duking it out. I was in shock and awe at the level of skill these two had attained. Me and my friend thought we were as good as humanly possible (seriously) only 3 months earlier,and while he paid no heed to it, I became more and more interested. I went and directly started training as Falco, but switched to Fox after having problems with Falco's tactics. The first thing that ever confused me was the speed at which they fought. It was though they were gods at that game, and yet, as they were humans, that title seemed attainable. I knew that I had to get that good. And it wasn't the Foxes, Marths and Shieks which amazed me, but the DKs, and the Bowsers, and the Nesses, IC's, Links, and every character. Everyone of them seemed to move at unrealistic speeds that shouldn't be possible for them. The flawlessness of their fluid movements enticed me to look at the game a different way, and so I started my SSBM curiosity over from the start.
Its been over a year now since that moment, and I've officially worked for about 6 months of that year. I am much closer to my dream to be among the best, but I still have far to go. However, I have spent less time increasing my skills than gathering information on the game and characters. I am more knowledgable than skilled, so I spend most of my SSBM dream helping those on Smash Boards. I consider myself more a smash theoritician than anything. Unfortunately, I live in Manhattan, KS, and I have only one person who can be almost a challenge, and a person interested in taking up Marth. And since tournaments are held usually further away than I can afford to go, I have never been vastly outskilled, or played in a tournament. So I can't really rate myself on my skill because I have no one else to measure up to. So how can I make myself known? By handling information.
Lately my thoughts have gone back to the god speed of the best, and why these people are so fast. Of course, it's because they are so skilled. If you are skilled in every aspect of the game, you will be able to move faster than most people because the experience you have can help you cut every corner there is in order to gain incredible speed. But what skills are they good in? What makes a good smasher? So I spent my time thinking about this, and I think I came up with most, if not all, of the requirements to be among the best.
In truth, nearly every skill needed for a real fight is needed for this game. I have a friend who would beat me up for saying that because he is very pro-physical and hates video games and the like. The skills I found most necessary are Condition, Technical, Mindgames, Physical and Knowledge. I will go over these in detail to help in comprehending them.
CONDITION: This is very easily influenced, and also very easy to overlook. It's literally your physical and mental condition during playing. Obviously, someone who has eaten well, excercised and slept a good night's sleep will do much better than someone who has just been in a car crash, watched his family burn to death with his house, hasn't slept in four days and has a broken arm and leg and a hernia. However, the difference usually isn't that major. Most of the time, it's more like if your pet has died, and you liked it, your performance will be affected. All you have to do to be "good" is take good care of yourself.
TECHNICAL: The most oftenly referred to and most easily difficult skill. This contains everything from L-cancelling to a SHFFL'd aerial to grab to upthrow to uair. It is any individual move or combo which is to be commonly used in your move set. This is also seen as your attacks and other advanced techniques, such as a wavedash or short hop. Technical skills are only advanced by practicing them until they are easily used without error. This skill is just the most common to ask questions about. If you look in the character sections, about 1/3 to 1/2 of the threads are about techniques. So as long as you practice it, you've got nothing to worry about.
MINDGAMES: A very much debated point. As I see it, mindgames is everything in-game that isn't a technique. As I put it earlier, if a technique is the attack, then a mindgame would be the approach to the attack. Virtually anything can be called a mindgame, so the matter is very hard to pinpoint. However, one thing is certain. Mindgames are the tactics used against enemies, and so by playing against harder enemies, you'll learn more and better mindgames to help you along. Unfortunately, many people are isolated in smaller towns with no one to play with, so they have a harder time gathering effective mindgames (myself included). But in the long run, mindgames are every bit as important as techniques, and are gotten by merely playing with good people.
PHYSICAL: This one seems nearly irrevelant, but it can be important. By phsical, I mean your physical reflexes and how fast you can read into the game. For instance, people with faster reflexes can wavedash, l-cancel and the rest much easier. Also, people who can read into the game faster can react to situations faster. Usually reflexes are hard to work on, and seem to give no upper ledge. So it can be ignored and yet still yield a good gamer. Think of physical as being almost the same all the time. There is a way to be better, but it takes months of just reflex training, so it is usually not looked at.
KNOWLEDGE: This is very vital. Knowledge is the knowledge of the characters in the game. This knowledge can include lag times, jumping height, running speed, hitboxes and more of the like. The more knowledgable you are about all the characters, the more you know how the characters work, and therefore have a better chance at. If you don't know how long Roy's sword is, chances are you might overshoot and just miss the opponenet by horizontal length. Also, knowledge works for your enemy's character. If you know long Roy's sword is, you can calculate a circle around Roy that his sword can reach, and then avoid it. Knowledge is gained by either reading about certain things on guides or forums, or by playing as the character in game to familiarize yourself with them. So the more knowledge you have, the more you can preplan things, and create strategies to counter them.
These are the things that I believe create a good smasher. Whether you believe it or not, these points are vital to being a good fighter in any fighting game, so ignoring them is not advised. In the end, I don't really know why I posted this. It seems to me that it would have no purpose in furthering people's games. But maybe I want people to see SSBM from my eyes, to see what it takes to be good, and then work at it. I guess that I just want my opinion to be known. And here it is. Thanks for reading.
When I first saw Smashboards, I did what most other people did straight away. I went and downloaded a video from a tournament, and saw my first video of Ken and Azen duking it out. I was in shock and awe at the level of skill these two had attained. Me and my friend thought we were as good as humanly possible (seriously) only 3 months earlier,and while he paid no heed to it, I became more and more interested. I went and directly started training as Falco, but switched to Fox after having problems with Falco's tactics. The first thing that ever confused me was the speed at which they fought. It was though they were gods at that game, and yet, as they were humans, that title seemed attainable. I knew that I had to get that good. And it wasn't the Foxes, Marths and Shieks which amazed me, but the DKs, and the Bowsers, and the Nesses, IC's, Links, and every character. Everyone of them seemed to move at unrealistic speeds that shouldn't be possible for them. The flawlessness of their fluid movements enticed me to look at the game a different way, and so I started my SSBM curiosity over from the start.
Its been over a year now since that moment, and I've officially worked for about 6 months of that year. I am much closer to my dream to be among the best, but I still have far to go. However, I have spent less time increasing my skills than gathering information on the game and characters. I am more knowledgable than skilled, so I spend most of my SSBM dream helping those on Smash Boards. I consider myself more a smash theoritician than anything. Unfortunately, I live in Manhattan, KS, and I have only one person who can be almost a challenge, and a person interested in taking up Marth. And since tournaments are held usually further away than I can afford to go, I have never been vastly outskilled, or played in a tournament. So I can't really rate myself on my skill because I have no one else to measure up to. So how can I make myself known? By handling information.
Lately my thoughts have gone back to the god speed of the best, and why these people are so fast. Of course, it's because they are so skilled. If you are skilled in every aspect of the game, you will be able to move faster than most people because the experience you have can help you cut every corner there is in order to gain incredible speed. But what skills are they good in? What makes a good smasher? So I spent my time thinking about this, and I think I came up with most, if not all, of the requirements to be among the best.
In truth, nearly every skill needed for a real fight is needed for this game. I have a friend who would beat me up for saying that because he is very pro-physical and hates video games and the like. The skills I found most necessary are Condition, Technical, Mindgames, Physical and Knowledge. I will go over these in detail to help in comprehending them.
CONDITION: This is very easily influenced, and also very easy to overlook. It's literally your physical and mental condition during playing. Obviously, someone who has eaten well, excercised and slept a good night's sleep will do much better than someone who has just been in a car crash, watched his family burn to death with his house, hasn't slept in four days and has a broken arm and leg and a hernia. However, the difference usually isn't that major. Most of the time, it's more like if your pet has died, and you liked it, your performance will be affected. All you have to do to be "good" is take good care of yourself.
TECHNICAL: The most oftenly referred to and most easily difficult skill. This contains everything from L-cancelling to a SHFFL'd aerial to grab to upthrow to uair. It is any individual move or combo which is to be commonly used in your move set. This is also seen as your attacks and other advanced techniques, such as a wavedash or short hop. Technical skills are only advanced by practicing them until they are easily used without error. This skill is just the most common to ask questions about. If you look in the character sections, about 1/3 to 1/2 of the threads are about techniques. So as long as you practice it, you've got nothing to worry about.
MINDGAMES: A very much debated point. As I see it, mindgames is everything in-game that isn't a technique. As I put it earlier, if a technique is the attack, then a mindgame would be the approach to the attack. Virtually anything can be called a mindgame, so the matter is very hard to pinpoint. However, one thing is certain. Mindgames are the tactics used against enemies, and so by playing against harder enemies, you'll learn more and better mindgames to help you along. Unfortunately, many people are isolated in smaller towns with no one to play with, so they have a harder time gathering effective mindgames (myself included). But in the long run, mindgames are every bit as important as techniques, and are gotten by merely playing with good people.
PHYSICAL: This one seems nearly irrevelant, but it can be important. By phsical, I mean your physical reflexes and how fast you can read into the game. For instance, people with faster reflexes can wavedash, l-cancel and the rest much easier. Also, people who can read into the game faster can react to situations faster. Usually reflexes are hard to work on, and seem to give no upper ledge. So it can be ignored and yet still yield a good gamer. Think of physical as being almost the same all the time. There is a way to be better, but it takes months of just reflex training, so it is usually not looked at.
KNOWLEDGE: This is very vital. Knowledge is the knowledge of the characters in the game. This knowledge can include lag times, jumping height, running speed, hitboxes and more of the like. The more knowledgable you are about all the characters, the more you know how the characters work, and therefore have a better chance at. If you don't know how long Roy's sword is, chances are you might overshoot and just miss the opponenet by horizontal length. Also, knowledge works for your enemy's character. If you know long Roy's sword is, you can calculate a circle around Roy that his sword can reach, and then avoid it. Knowledge is gained by either reading about certain things on guides or forums, or by playing as the character in game to familiarize yourself with them. So the more knowledge you have, the more you can preplan things, and create strategies to counter them.
These are the things that I believe create a good smasher. Whether you believe it or not, these points are vital to being a good fighter in any fighting game, so ignoring them is not advised. In the end, I don't really know why I posted this. It seems to me that it would have no purpose in furthering people's games. But maybe I want people to see SSBM from my eyes, to see what it takes to be good, and then work at it. I guess that I just want my opinion to be known. And here it is. Thanks for reading.
<-----thats how good ur gonna be ( that mean u suck) 
