Having trouble learning some competitive "basics"

[Noctes]

(Sorry if this isn't in the right forum. Still somewhat new to posting here and it's pretty cluttered and confusing compared to other message boards I've been to.)

I don't know if it's me or just the fact the 3DS is a crappy controller to play Smash with, but there are just some things more skilled Smash players can do that I just cannot for the life of me perform the way I want to, when I want to. Some of these things I really cannot do split-second:

• Short-hopping (More often than not, thanks to the clicky-ness of the 3DS buttons, I often jump fully when I only mean to short-hop, and it just messes up my entire approach.)
• B-airs (Turning around, jumping, then tilting towards the direction I want to go just takes up so many precious miliseconds, and doing it quickly while positioning myself in the air properly for a Bair feels way more difficult than it needs to be.)
  
• Spot-dodging (No excuse for this one other than more often than not I forget this is even a thing. There's just an inherent instinct in me that would rather "move away" from danger rather than stay near it and try to dodge it and risk messing up and getting hit by it or staying near it)
• Tilts (sometimes.. 90%-95% of the time I perform a smash attack when I want to tilt)
• Pivoting anything but tilts (Pivot tilts are easy. Pivot grabs I get MAYBE 40% of the time. Pivot specials I have never once been able to do, not neutral specials anyway. The window you have to do those is just ridiculously small.)

It's likely just me being a not very skilled player. I know that's not a very good mindset to have, but I've been playing Smash Bros literally since Smash 64 released. That's longer than some players who have beaten me countless times have even been alive. I know I should be better than how I am currently, but I just cannot successfully perform these small things that could improve my play. I know what I want to do when I'm playing, I know where I want to be. I know the matchups (for the most part). I know the frames (for the most part). I watch streams and I watch tournaments and have for years. But I just cannot get the execution down, and it's starting to really get to me.

I know the best way to get better at something is to keep practicing it, to repeat it over and over, probably in training or against an AI opponent, but I've tried that, for hours upon hours, and it still just does not come to me. My old habits just take over and I fall back into some predictable pattern that actual skilled players can see and easily take advantage of, and it seems everyone but me can execute all of these tiny things that I can't and those small executions make all the difference most of the time, and the fact that I can't do those myself is starting to really get depressing.

I'm not striving to be the next MaNg0 or Mew2King, all I want is to be able to perform at a skill level worthy of someone who's been playing Smash as long as I have, because frankly I embarrass myself everytime I try and play with my friends, and that's not something that should happen.

Is there a way for me to get better at these things? Is there something I can do to break these old poor habits of mine and to actually start making progress in improving instead of plateauing at such a mediocre skill level?

 

[wingo]

1. Turn off 3ds
2. Wait for smash for Wii u
3. Buy smash for Wii u
4. Use GC controller
5. ???
6. Profit

 

[Jaedrik]

I know the best way to get better at something is to keep practicing it, to repeat it over and over, probably in training or against an AI opponent, but I've tried that, for hours upon hours, and it still just does not come to me. My old habits just take over and I fall back into some predictable pattern that actual skilled players can see and easily take advantage of, and it seems everyone but me can execute all of these tiny things that I can't and those small executions make all the difference most of the time, and the fact that I can't do those myself is starting to really get depressing.

I'm not striving to be the next MaNg0 or Mew2King, all I want is to be able to perform at a skill level worthy of someone who's been playing Smash as long as I have, because frankly I embarrass myself everytime I try and play with my friends, and that's not something that should happen.

Is there a way for me to get better at these things? Is there something I can do to break these old poor habits of mine and to actually start making progress in improving instead of plateauing at such a mediocre skill level?

Hmm, well. The first step is acknowledging your habits are bad. Which you do. But then you go on to say that you should not embarrass yourself for your bad habits, which is. . . contradictory. You must see that you have to completely dislike what you do in every way to truly want to form new habits, and for them to be effective.

New habits are scary, and very difficult, but unfortunately there is nothing outside of practice. You have to uproot your previous muscle memory training and implant new ones, and this takes a looooong time. But, once you learn how to do it, it should be easier to want to adjust yourself, and thus to adjust yourself.

You might want to practice elsewhere. Reverse neutral b is easy enough to do in Project M/Brawl if you practice, and it should be transferable to the Wii U version.

Edit: My journey to breaking these habits consisted of watching tournament streams for hours and getting excited about the matches. I watched before I played, most of the time. I slowly, slowly began to realize the scenarios in which I could apply things.
I realized how badly I'd get punished from throwing out smashes, and started hating them with a fiery passion. Those days I learned tilts, because I believed they were plainly superior, with Marth nonetheless! Of course, this isn't quite true, they all have their uses, but it was a good learning time for me. I did the same thing with aerials, much earlier in my career, when I watched pros and saw them using aerials, I disregarded ground attacks (even though they did them too) and tried to use aerial attacks only. It was silly, yes, dumb, but it broke my habits.

Then, one fateful day, I played Project M. Suddenly, I had no input lag (well, one frame)! Then, I could miraculously L-cancel even though I could never do it in Melee! This is because Project M has a flash on landing. Wavedashing too, for some reason, but that was because I just believed it was so good, and the inputs became easier with time. Feedback is important. This is the reason why something like the 20xx 'training' hack pack is THE BEST VERSION OF MELEE that should be used at all tournaments imo lolololol. Unfortunately, we don't have things for the techs you point out. But the feedback is simple for these in the default games.

For short-hopping, it means that you held the jump button for too long. You might want to drag your finger off the jump, like a flick.
Tilts, you must be gentle. And slow. This seems contrary to what we wish as fast execution, yes, but that's all part of it. Tilt is contrary to the habits we developed when we were scrubs, and didn't see any application for them. We pushed them to the wayside. First you must see the application, know its strategic use and value. You should practice walking too, this helps with tilts automatically, and it's safer spacing than running everywhere. With practice, your tilts will be come faster, so they will be a very controlled movement instead of a slow movement, while still gentle, just barely under a smash to execute the fastest tilt.
Back-airs are not just moves you can throw out from a pivot jump. Try practicing already being in the air for the execution. Falcon, Kirby, and Jigglypuff are three great bairers. Kirby, I would recommend practicing with, because his approaching bair is plainly good.
Pivot jump back air is returning from Brawl, so you should try pivot short hopping before pivot short hop back air. Practice them separately, then put them together!
But, it's not so useful with Lucina mind, so there's no use learning it! Bair may be good and all, even improved from Brawl with less landing lag, but don't force something that's not useful for your character.

Spot dodging might actually be the most difficult thing.
Again, you have to see the use for it. Your instinct is to get distance. You must remove that instinct first! Pick a character that has great close range, practice staying inside your opponent after approaching. Punishing does not exist without staying close, remember that!
Spot dodge is only really for grabs, or moves that are really, really obvious. If you thing your opponent is grab-happy, hit them with a spot dodge when you think they're going to approach with a dash-grab, and it's easy to see the application of a jab or tilt on them from there to punish!

Oh, find someone to practice with that knows how to do the things too, and will expressly try to do them to show you the applications against you.

 

[an1bal]

You know what Ive been having problemswith? facing the wrong way after I roll. Especially online. Im thinking its because it buffers the direction with the onlinelag. Something so simple like that costs me dearly often.