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Going back to Brawl after years of PM/Melee

SphericalCrusher

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SphericalCrusher
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Just wanted some input from the community... I've been playing PM for a couple of years now and Melee off and on this year. PM is my favorite Smash to play atm... but right now, I'm trying to relearn how to play Brawl. There's a big tourney in my area for Brawl next month, and I want to join it. I don't plan on playing Brawl after the tourney, so I'm trying to practice and relearn the game. The speed is what is messing me up the most. Granted, I'm not a super great player anyway, mostly casually-competitive, but still. Do you guys have any tips for playing Brawl after being away for so long? So far, it seems if I use a character I didn't use in PM, it makes it easier since I don't know that char as well. I usually main Link, so the speed difference is killing me. Thoughts? Thanks in advance everyone!
 

someonerandom

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Pick MK, spam B button. Alternatively, pick Snake and F-tilt until about 120%. Then U-tilt to kill.

... Seriously, you'll need to just play more to slowly re-adjust to the speed. Since you like projectiles (I assume Links love projectiles), just try a character with good ones (Snake, Falco, uh...). Though really, I haven't played Brawl in a while either so I don't really know what I'm talking about. ;)
 

shapular

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First off, welcome back to the good side.

Second, be sure to remember all the things you can do in Brawl that you can't do in the other games. Some of them are still in PM (RAR, glide toss, DACUS, pivot grab), but don't forget about platform cancelling, grabbing the ledge while facing away (and by extension, the run off fastfall edgehog), auto-sweetspot, and probably some other things I'm forgetting about. Depending on your character, you may need to pay attention to move staling so you don't use your kill moves too much at early percents. I wouldn't recommend choosing anybody below about C tier. Definitely not Link. To get used to the speed, it shouldn't take more than a few days of consistent playing. You probably won't run into a whole lot of great MKs or ICs in Georgia, so don't worry too much about that. In general, learn when you can follow up your attacks and when you can't. It's not like Melee or PM where you get three or four more hits for free after you land one. Follow-ups are possible but you have to know how to get them, when to go for them, and when to just hold your ground and anticipate their landing.
 

Thor

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Based on your main choices ,Toon Link may be a workable character, but given your "speed" complaints and the fact that TL often just wants to camp to hell, that may be a very poor choice for you. Falco can do a little bit better, but still often fairs best defensively. Snake is also often better off defensive, even though he hits hard up close. And even if you can do ICs CGs, the slowness will KO you before your opponent does. Marth is also a character who requires patience.

Either go MK and go ham (Nairo would be a good player to watch a bit of footage of - he's really aggressive, but still very safe and a strong player), or Zero Suit Samus (fairly fast, good strings, KO moves - if you can use the armor, serious bonus points). If you learn to QAC and some of the CGs, Pikachu may be in the realm of reasonable, but then Olimar is a nightmare to deal with (who is also campy, so probably no).

As a side note, If you can play Diddy Kong in PM, you might just choose to pick him - he's got good options with all his bananas and glide tossing, and you can play him rather aggressively since bananas can provide a good bit of safety for attacks or grabs.

Also what those above me said. Above all, pick someone at C tier or above (and if you pick Fox, Wolf, or Falco, you NEED to at least briefly prepare someone else not named Snake to fight Pikachu, as Pikachu can zero-death all three of them out of a grab at 0% if the Pikachu executes properly, and you can't do anything about it except not get grabbed). Also prepared to have to deal with not getting grabbed by ICs (with MK you can try to space rising dair on shield and nado to landing or just land to refresh jumps - with others things get stickier, though ZSS and Diddy Kong have a relatively easier time because ZSS has good range and Diddy Kong can throw stuff at them. Snake is also good at beating ICs)).

TL;DR:
You could make TL, Falco, or Snake work, but they're all strong when camping, so they might not fit you.
Marth requires a ton of patience, and ICs require more, and some training - probably not good choices.
MK, ZSS, and (possibly?) Pikachu can be somewhat aggressive and have good MUs - probably choose from this list
Diddy Kong is worth noting because his bananas and glide tossing allow him to be played aggressively, also a possiblity
If you pick not one of these three, don't go below Pit on the tier list, and be prepared to fight ICs by avoiding being grabbed
If you pick Fox, Falco, or Wolf (or Snake), have a backup to deal with Pikachu, who can more or less zero-death all of them out of a grab (you WILL take 100+% if they do it right, even if you manage to survive).
Characters who beat ICs/do well against them: MK, Diddy Kong, ZSS, Snake, Toon Link (all about camping them).
 
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shapular

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I don't think there are really any Olimars or Pikachus either, but that's just based on the power rankings and my one tournament playing against Georgia players. Pikachu is a pretty easy counterpick (minus the recovery), but I don't think it's something he needs to worry about that much with as little experience as he'll have.

Btw, is this the tournament on the 16th or do you mean September?
 

SphericalCrusher

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Thanks everyone for your input! It's really appreciated and helpful.


I don't think there are really any Olimars or Pikachus either, but that's just based on the power rankings and my one tournament playing against Georgia players. Pikachu is a pretty easy counterpick (minus the recovery), but I don't think it's something he needs to worry about that much with as little experience as he'll have.

Btw, is this the tournament on the 16th or do you mean September?
There's no way you can really say "GA does not have good <insert char> players here as a general statement. lol. Granted, it's a big local tourney, not EVO. ;) It's in September, which is why I mentioned next month, haha. September 7th I believe. And by big, I think we're expecting 40-50 players at it. I wish they did Melee or PM, but he's set on Brawl which is why I'm re-learning it. Thanks!
 
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shapular

Smash Ace
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There's no way you can really say "GA does not have good <insert char> players here as a general statement. lol. Granted, it's a big local tourney, not EVO. ;) It's in September, which is why I mentioned next month, haha. September 7th I believe. And by big, I think we're expecting 40-50 players at it. I wish they did Melee or PM, but he's set on Brawl which is why I'm re-learning it. Thanks!
It's true though, weirdly enough. Georgia likes weird characters. Check out their power rankings: http://smashboards.com/threads/georgia-alabama-merged-brawl-power-rankings-updated-9-17-2013.326335/ I don't think BigLou plays anymore (at least not Brawl), DRN's more of a ZSS I think, and Dyno plays MK but I think he's really a Wario main.

Do you have a link for this tournament? I want to go.
 

SphericalCrusher

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It's true though, weirdly enough. Georgia likes weird characters. Check out their power rankings: http://smashboards.com/threads/georgia-alabama-merged-brawl-power-rankings-updated-9-17-2013.326335/ I don't think BigLou plays anymore (at least not Brawl), DRN's more of a ZSS I think, and Dyno plays MK but I think he's really a Wario main.

Do you have a link for this tournament? I want to go.
I still wouldn't say it's true, since there's no way to know unless you just play everyone, you know? lol.

I'm not running it, but I did post it on the Event page here on Smash Boards. Browse out to September 7th events and you should find it man. Boss Fight Games in Adairsville, GA.
 

SphericalCrusher

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First of all, welcome back to Brawl.

Second, I'm a Pikachu player in Georgia, for the record.

Finally, we are also hosting a Brawl/PM tournament in *******, GA on August 16th if you would like to attend that as well. We are trying to give both games equal spotlight at this event: http://smashboards.com/threads/aug-16-2014-smash-of-ages-brawl-project-m-*******-ga.361188/
Thank you so much for the invite! I will see what I'm doing next weekend. I'd love to come, but I have to see.
 

pidgezero_one

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just wanted to say welcome back to brawl and enjoy your stay! ;)
 
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