How do I get better at PM/Melee?

[_noname]

There probably are already a tons of threads about people asking how to get good at PM/Melee. One of the reasons why I'm making one though is because I want to talk to a large majority of people instead of posting in one of the "Question and Answer" threads.

One of the reasons why I even started playing smash competitively was just because how awesome and different smash is compared to any fighting game out there. The freedom and hype moments of people doing huge comebacks in general inspired me to play this game.
But for some reason, even how much time I spent into this game I don't really see myself improve. More than often, everytime I play in any tournament really I never even get out of the bracket. Which makes me mad/depressed since spending a ton of time into something, and later on it doesn't work out like it should, probably makes anyone feel like crap.

(tldr): So what should I do? How can I get a better mindset and actually start focusing on stuff that I need to improve?

 

[ilysm]

This is by no means the most comprehensive piece of advice, and certainly not the only one, but it's the one I always give...

Practice movement.

Movement is so critical, at least in my opinion. Know how to move around the stage, and how quickly, and from where and to where. Practice on different stages, with different characters. Know how quickly you can act after moving and what is best and safest for you to do and what attacks you should change position after and where you should be in order to make your next move. Once you can navigate the game and make the physics work for you the rest becomes a lot easier. For some characters, granted, this is more important than for others, but on a fundamental level everyone needs good and instinctual movement. I see you main Ganon; movement and spacing is critical for that character, because it's important to take advantage of the sneaky mobility options he has as a seemingly slow character. It'll take a while but man does it pay off. And when you feel comfortable moving, you'll notice.

And one more thing; slow tournament results and feeling like crap suck, and odds are it's a slouch. And it feels awful, it super does. The process of getting better means longer periods in between your slouches. Most of my Smash career is a slouch. I broke out of the slouch today but I'll likely be back by tomorrow. But the next time I bounce back, I have to be confident I'll bounce back for longer. Hell, even Mang0 is only the GOAT like 60% of the time. Maybe this doesn't help, and if not apologies for the ramble, but I hope you get out of the slouch soon.

I'll leave you with what is totally an unedited, direct Ghandi quote;

Be the hype you want to see in the world.

 

[_noname]

And one more thing; slow tournament results and feeling like crap suck, and odds are it's a slouch. And it feels awful, it super does. The process of getting better means longer periods in between your slouches. Most of my Smash career is a slouch. I broke out of the slouch today but I'll likely be back by tomorrow. But the next time I bounce back, I have to be confident I'll bounce back for longer. Hell, even Mang0 is only the GOAT like 60% of the time. Maybe this doesn't help, and if not apologies for the ramble, but I hope you get out of the slouch soon.

I'll leave you with what is totally an unedited, direct Ghandi quote;

Be the hype you want to see in the world.

Thanks man, you gave me some light and insperation with that post. One thing I noticed while I'm playing against other people (not in friendlies) is that I for the most part don't have a plan. Like in general I just think to myself that I just have to get close to him and hit him somehow. Which for the most part makes me get hit by some giant combo that sets me from 0 to 110%.

Also I tend to do stupid **** like side-b instead of upb on certain situations which makes me lose a stock. Even throwing out random attacks which I didn't ment to do. But I guess that type of stuff will happen less and less the more I play and gain experience.