HELP: Can't seem to improve

[Duurg]

Hi ladies and gents.

I have been heavily playing the game since its release and mostly main Yoshi. I have a playing partner that I keep playing with all the time and he is a tad better than I am. He mostly wins but I take games here and there also, nothing too dramatic.

I attended a tournament recently and noticed how far behind everybody I was in terms of skill. Since then, I've been trying to improve but I feel like I've only been staling. I try For Glory from time to time but I always get rekt to a point where it's not fun at all and I learn nothing from the experience.

All I want to do is improve, and I can't seem to be able to. Does anyone have any advice ?

Thank you all

 

[Deleted member 269706]

For one thing, check out the Yoshi subforum here, and try to learn some new tricks and skills that will help you along the way. See if there's any combos you didn't know about before, or maybe see what moves autocancel. Another thing you should do is LEARN FROM YOUR LOSSES. See why you are losing. Do you roll a lot? Are you not spot dodging right? Did you airdodge too late for not airdodge at all? The small things really count. Smash is a learning process, and you have to learn one thing at a time. For the first few days focus on this. Then start to focus on that. And keep it simple for right now. Don't worry too much about the advanced tech like perfect pivoting or jump canceled upsmashing. Learn the basics: defensive options, aerial mobility, spacing, set-ups, and reads.

Another tip I have for you, along with other people who are trying to get better is to pick up different characters. I originally played Ike exclusively, and he's an awesome character, but he isn't perfect. When I eventually picked up Falcon, I learned a lot more about grabs, grab follow ups, combos, etc. and my experience of playing with Ike and his spacing allowed me to play Falcon better. When I started playing Rosalina, I started to learn how to DI properly as she's such a light character and dies much faster, so it was more important for me to understand. Now when I go back to playing Ike, I can apply the other skills I've learned through the other characters and vice versa.

And personally, I think that it's better to play with people who are better than you, rather than people who are worse than you. It forces you to think creatively and in new ways. Up until about yesterday I was really confident with my Ike. I was winning a significant majority of For Glory matches, and beating several friends. I even made it to winners finals in a minor online tourney, so I was pretty proud of myself. Well recently I ended up playing @san. If you don't know who San is, he was one of the best Ike mains in Brawl so naturally a lot of his skill transferred over to Sm4sh. On top of this he's been really active in the Ike Subforum helping all of us newbies understand the character and has been a leading force in the findings of Ike's metagame. To put it simply: he's really good. Well when we started playing this guy annihilated me. We probably played Ike Dittos for an hour, maybe more, and I didn't win a single game. But that's okay, because I understood how much better I can be with Ike. I saw him doing things I didn't know were possible. Yeah it sucks to lose, but it's awesome to know that it's possible to improve.

Moral of the story: get active in a community and play against people who will help you improve. If the Yoshi subforum has a Skype group, get involved in that. Add some people who are willing and play with them. And remember, it's okay to lose. Another great place to find Smashers is http://smashladder.com/ Tons of people there always wanting to play. But it's great because you help each other grow, and in time you are better than a lot of other players so you can help them improve!

Just remember, it's a learning process and it's going to take time. But if you stay dedicated and actively make an effort to get better, you will.

 

[Pale Tuna]

Try to look up notable Yoshi players and watch their matches on Youtube.
As for advice.. I assume you have the habit of rolling? Try to cut that out of your system and you'll be a significantly better player since the habit of rolling will lead to continuous punishes. I stopped playing For Glory due to this reason, everyone in their is brain dead and all I have to do is D-Smash nearly ever opponent I face. Or, when they snap on the ledge, I can hold my shield and constantly bait their ledge attack and easily grab them, throw them off, and repeat. For Glory players are also easily conditioned. I can play a character such as say.. Palutena. Her bread and butter combo is D-throw into Fair. After several of those, the opponent will try to air dodge. You can bait their air dodge just by D-throwing them and punish with an U-Smash. FG isn't the best for practice. Also, try to learn certain tech such as ledge trumping, which is very good since you can punish them if they regrab. Shield dropping, perfect pivoting, and buffered aerials also work well. There are videos of these techniques and more all over Youtube.

Then there is the fact that maybe Yoshi is not the right character for you? If you are really wanting to see some results and place better, player a higher tier character such as Sheik. Of course, staying dedicated to a specific character is always best in my eyes.

 

[MurderousCakes]

To really improve is to write down what you are doing wrong, study it, question it, and understand it. Then do the hard part which getting rid of your bad habits.
Also save all replays, even the ones you did not win in. Sorry if I wasn't much help.