Help me choose a character!

[Remco]

I've been playing melee for atleast 5 years now, and 1 year using AT's. And yet, I can't choose a main! I just don't know what character fits, there's always something wrong, and I need to get over it. Here's a list of all the negative and positive things about the chars I've been using.

Falco
Falco was my very first main in melee, mainly because I just rolled and smashed the whole time. But as soon as I started using AT's with friends of mine, it started to get harder. I can't seem to rack up damage with falco, with combo's.

Fox
Watching at the tier list, I reckoned I should try fox. He looks awesome when pro's jump around shuffling and shinnig their butt off, but I can't. Fox is just too fast to control, I can't control the waveshine correctly in a fight. and a short hop is just hard to do with fox.

Sheik
Sheik was fun to use, thought I had the same problem as with falco, racking up damage. I just seem to get shield grabbed every time I try to make a move, hence why I quit sheik aswell.

Marth
I really don't know about Marth, I just seek more in a character than just slashing around a bit. I'm more of a tech person I guess.


I think I have a main problem with all of these characters. When my opponent gets too close, I just freak out and start spamming dtilt :/ I'd appreciate some advice to get rid of this bad habit.

Anyway, could you guys more or less recommend me a character, even if it's not on the list. I think I'm more of a tech person than strategic. I've been switching main for a year 5 times a day, and I reckon I shoulds stop that asap.

 

[Ja]

My advice is try everyone mid-tier and higher. Play as just that one character for a week, and actually get a feel for them and learn some character specific techniques. If you can't find anyone you enjoy mid-tier+, do the same thing but with the low and bottom tiers.

 

[otg]

Yeah try playing around with different characters. Check out some mid-tiers, and than as you start to get comfortable with a few different characters you'll eventually get your tech to a point where you can begin to understand how to use the Top tiers effectively.

 

[Plazma]

what type of game do you liek more? air? ground? that is also a factor.
try luigi or pika, maybe even samus

 

[Geist]

From what you said above, I would reccomend maining Fox, Falco, Captain Falcon, Samus or Ice Climbers. All of them have pretty high technical requirements. In the right hands they can pull deadly zero to death combos (except Samus lolololol) and all of them are pretty high on the tier list.

EDIT: I reccomend playing as Captain Falcon out of that list. He's fast, has the highest combo potential in the game, and probably has the highest testosterone count of anything in the universe.


It really all comes down to who you favour playing though. I'll give you a few tips that helped me choose my main.

1) What do you want to accomplish in smash?
Do you want to do well in tournaments with the right effort? Pick a higher tier character. You don't necessarily have to pick a higher tier to do well, but it will definetly help, and you can maximize your potential.
Do you want to do well in tournaments, but hate doing fox dittos, or want a bit more variety? Choose a mid/high tier. They have good potential to do well, but usually take more effort to do as well as higher tiers, or just don't have the same metagame potential as the top tiers.
Do you want to completely gain individuality? Pick a lower tier. They can still be very demanding technically, but can take alot of time off your hands just to keep up with the higher tier players. Though being successful with them definetly has rewards. (like people watching you play, talking to eachother saying "wow wtf he's winning with Zelda")

2) What character fits your playing style?
You want your main to be enjoyable. After all, you're probably going to stick with them for a long time. A problem people have when they switch mains is usually they just don't feel satisfied with playing them, like there is always something missing. Play a character who matches your playing style. You can always adapt your playing style into characters, but that still may not make the connection you need.

3) Are there any characters you're familiar with outside smash?
This can be usefull to picking your main, and alot of people simply choose their main because they like that character. Being familiar with a character can be good for staying solid with them.

4) Watch videos of pros playing.
There's nothing more helpful for choosing a main than watching the pros play them at their full potential. You can learn things from them too.



About your downtilt habbit, I don't really know what to say. I had that habbit too once, but I can't even remember when I stopped. It may have been the first time I got waveshined. =/
read up on faqs to see your character's options in certain situations. You can do things alot more effective than the dtilt.
Try shield grabbing, spacing with wavedash, using priority advantages (like fox's utilt or sheik's needles).
Just react by thinking instead of reflex. Keep practicing against people or even just by yourself. Make sure you get the technical stuff down before you try to do it on people. An entire match can go wrong just because of one missed Lcancel.


Oh, also, never play computers. You probably know that though.

 

[victra♥]

Oh, also, never play computers.

Nah. Playing lv.1 computers makes for good practice. What you want to avoid is anything above that (especially lv. 9s.)

Obviously though, the best option is to play other people.

 

[Remco]

Wow, thanks for all your reply's, that was fast. I think I'll try going with fox again, guess I just need to practice his techs.

As for my "goal", I just play with friends, for fun. Nothing big heh.

But, ****, seriously, watching all those fox's on youtube. They're just so much faster than I am.

 

[debaser]

try out falcon, peach, samus and ice climbers, the mid to upper mid tiers. Those guys can all be pretty technical and good

 

[elvenarrow3000]

If you want a fast and flashy character, I'd say go with Falcon or Falco. They have crazy, variable combos and move very quickly and also take a fair bit of tech skill to play as, Falco somewhat more than Falcon, I think.

 

[Webster]

Well, since you play for fun like many other people it really depends who your friends main with.

 

[Remco]

My friend mains sheik and falcon.

 

[MikeHaggarTHAKJB]

Your problem seems to be your tech skill which is a problem that will be present regardless of what character you're playing.
My advice is to learn to SHFFL and WD and all that until it's no longer hard for you: But don't rush it, accept that it will take some time and don't worry about the fact that you're bad at it now, because in time it will be easy.

 

[Webster]

Use falco shinin is da shizz against sheik

 

[AlcyoNite]

EDIT: I reccomend playing as Captain Falcon out of that list. He's fast, has the highest combo potential in the game, and probably has the highest testosterone count of anything in the universe.

I loled

To thread creator: The characters whom you have designated are all top tier; no doubting that. With that comes the fact that the top tier metagame is the most highly evolved metagame in Smash history. Therefore, on your journey to mastery, your path will be filled with pages, records, and videos archived from the inception of the Smash Advanced Techniques following. You will go through the likes of Azen's Sheik in 2003, to Eddie's Ganon in 2004, to Ken's Marth in 2005, to PC Chris's Fox in 2006, to M2K's Marth in 2007, to DaShizWiz's Falco in 2008, with changes in leading styles of play throughout. What you need to be able to do is watch people like Bombsoldier and then view how his style influenced the likes of PC Chris and Forward and why they didn't just straight up copy his style. Also view why totally different styles of play can be equally effective, i.e. Ken's and M2K's Marth play styles. Finally, as you are deciding who to main, pick whichever character appeals to you most. Also remember that you don't HAVE to pick a top tier. You could go out on a limb and main ICs, Link, or Doc.

You have stated that you cannot decide who to main because of various reasons such as (non-verbatim) "Fox is way too fast and hard to control" or "I can't combo with Falco." This mindset will NEVER provide a feasible means for you with which to improve. You must always believe that you, with practice, will be able to pull off any sort of "crazy trick" or lightning fast combo. A year ago I never would have thought that I would have the finger dexterity to do the things I am able to do with Fox. Nor did I ever think I would expand my mains to Marth, Falco, and Shiek (but who doesn't use Shiek?). Again, choose a character based on what LOOKS good. To me, it's like picking a spouse. I'm not gonna marry a fat chick if I don't prefer the pushin' cushion, and I won't marry some "fast" girl because she has great !@#$ (fill in the blank).

Moreover, when you do decide on a main, STICK WITH IT! You will NOT improve if you are not committed to learning in depth about a specific character. It may sound again like marriage, but if you ever wanted to expand your mains, you could later more easily because you have already had so much experience with different matchups that your study of a particular character will make learning others much easier.

This, my friends, is essentially the beauty of Smash. This whole Smash community formed from an attraction of this aspect of a video game. The simple fact that people can come together, have a blast playing an awesome game, do research on the game, hypothesize and perform "experiments" on the game, and then share newfound ideas and aspects about the game to enhance the blast that is being had in the same awesome game.

This is why Melee should never die. Years of evolution in fanbase and metagame could never be erased by some crowd-pleaser game that people fall all over simply because its predecessor was amazing. It was fun while it lasted, but please, SWF, come off it now.

 

[~rh]

I've always like Ganon players. Try him out.

 

[Leech]

If you want a fast/weaker char pick a fast/weaker char like Fox and CF (I play both)
If you want an all around char pick like Mario
Slow and strong i'd say Gannon and Bowser..

All of the Chars fit in one of those categories i just didn't want to name them all..

 

[AlcyoNite]

If you want a fast/weaker char pick a fast/weaker char like Fox and CF (I play both)
If you want an all around char pick like Mario
Slow and strong i'd say Gannon and Bowser..

All of the Chars fit in one of those categories i just didn't want to name them all..

Fox is in no way weak. And wtf CF!? CF and Chuck Norris have protein drinks together on Christmas!

If you want a weak character, pick Mario.

Ganon=Strong

Useless=Bowser
Slow=Bowser
Slow+Strong=GimpyFish

But u can't use GimpyFish, so I recommend Chuck Norris

 

[otg]

If you want a fast/weaker char pick a fast/weaker char like Fox and CF (I play both)
If you want an all around char pick like Mario
Slow and strong i'd say Gannon and Bowser..

All of the Chars fit in one of those categories i just didn't want to name them all..

Fox weak? lol No way, he's a little too strong for his own good. Same with Falcon, I'm sure you've heard of the Knee.

Mario isn't weak, he's just average and lacks finishers. I would say go Peach or Doc if you're looking for overall balance. Honestly though, if you're just starting out in Melee go with Sheik. She's way too good for her own good and doesn't require a lot of tech.

 

[Vodage]

Main Pichu. You Know You Want To.

 

[Exypnos]

use who you like the most and then keep practicing and improve until those problems you have with the character are gone
it seems to me you are giving up too easily over a minor inconvenience with all these characters.

 

[AlcyoNite]

use who you like the most and then keep practicing and improve until those problems you have with the character are gone
it seems to me you are giving up too easily over a minor inconvenience with all these characters.

Agreed

10BrawlSux

 

[Jun.]

there's more to marth than slashing around....

slash and GRAB around =D

 

[Corigames]

I suggest playing all the characters you want against people and seeing which one you do best with. Then expand upon that. If that isn't enough, pick a character that counterpicks the characters that counterpicks your now main character.

That should do well.

 

[elvenarrow3000]

Actually it's a good idea to have a rudimentary understanding of every character (hitboxes, launch trajectories, common approaches and follow-ups) just so that you can play against them as well.

So play around.