How do I motivate myself to stick to one character

[Citricide]

How do i motivate myself to stay with one character? I have a tendancy to switch characters every other week. My problem is if i have a bad day with a character I get that mentality that that character might be bad and then i switch over or I counter-pick characters between sets after I lose a game. Do I just convince myself that there are good/bad days?

Here is my lifetime tournament results
http://smashboards.com/rankings/lemonlust.233943/user?id=4

 

[Mikkelmann]

Try practicing with only that one character and be confident in your skill with that character if you're about to get counter-picked. A good way to stick to a character is the find out new things about it to keep things fresh and new .

 

[Hinichii.ez.™]

Just be like
Ight
-pick top 10 character
If you lose, just be like, it's me, not the character.
Most of the time, it is the player, but, there are those loop sided MU, so it isn't always you.

Right now you have doubts about the character, but I mean, if you pick a top 10, it's more than likely you. That's one way to go about it. Or you can just find someone fun, and force yourself to endure the bad times, like the rest of us.

 

[zFrost]

^ just find a few character that you REALLY like and learn their ins and outs

 

[Usopp]

Honestly, you don't have to just stick to one character. Theres pros and cons to maining one or multiple people

 

[lain]

While playing multiple characters can help give you a higher range of matchup advantages, IMO it's more important (and more practical) to get insanely good with 1 character if they have a pretty good matchup spread, 2 if they don't since PM has really volatile matchups. The ability can transfer over much easier later since you went so in-depth with those 1 or 2 characters.

If you have a bad day, you have a bad day. Character switch isn't going to change it. In fact it makes it harder trying to stay crispy with everyone.

Stick with Samus if that's your favorite (from what I gleam). Pick up someone that covers her bad matchups (bad matchups include people with swords, spacies to a degree, and other random PM characters I'm sure). Personally, I don't think any of the other characters I see on your page cover those matchups particularly well, so maybe try finding inspiration elsewhere.

 

[Broasty]

Based off your uses of characters, I'd say pick either Samus or Lucario as a main (since you appear to favor them) to get to know them on an incredibly indepth level. I've noticed that in just about all cases, if you can use your character well enough, you'll have the tools to fight any matchup, at that point it's all a matter of adapting to the opponent. Once you've gotten a good grasp on your main, feel free to put some time on secondaries so you can counter the matchups you've seen time and time again give you trouble with your main.

 

[Altanic]

Stick to one character and get really good with them. Learn all their combos and options. Once you've gotten a pretty solid grasp on that character then you could try out different characters. The only character I played in PM for so long was Mario when I started. Now, about 6 or so months later I've gotten a pretty solid grasp on his moves, combos, and options (although even now I'm still learning and realizing new things I can do.) But now I'm trying to learn characters like Captain Falcon, Wario, Roy, and a hint of Luigi. Usually I practice with a character I'm trying to use as a secondary for a while and then switch back to Mario to make sure I can still effectively play him (things like movement and combos.)
I think learning more than 1 character is beneficial in some ways. Certain characters force you to learn different playstyles. Mario has pretty much everything he needs (solid spacing and approach game, great neutral and combo game) but characters like Captain Falcon force you to play a more punish-based yet offensive and combo-based playstyle because he lacks some effective approach options that Mario has. Roy makes you learn proper spacing and effectively dashdancing. The vibe I'm getting from Wario is sort of like a punish-type game, and he kind of makes you learn when you should approach someone and to look for openings since he doesn't really have super good approach options (like Mario's fireballs, but correct me if I'm wrong.)

TL;DR Stick to 1 character, get a solid understanding of them and then learn new characters if you feel comfortable. Other characters can help you learn different playstyles IMO.

 

[1FD]

Binges
That is all

 

[pooch182]

Discipline and patience go a long way for becoming a better player. I feel like you understand the reason behind sticking to one character, so I won't necessarily touch on that at all. What I would like to offer you, is my own personal experience with questioning my main, and how I dealt with my issue and came to the conclusion that I did.

I play Samus in Melee, mainly because I tend to favor a more passive-aggressive style in anything I play, and she fits the bill very well. Naturally, because I'd put a couple months into learning her movements and ATs, I felt like I should try her out in PM. She felt amazing, but very different at the same time. I decided to pick her up and use her as my exclusive main in both games. What ended up happening was, I fell into a sort of rut, where I was consistently placing 17th and 13th at every weekly, and barely scraping into bracket at monthlies. I went through a pseudo-cycle of the stages of grief. At first, I pretty much shook it off as being new blood, telling myself that all I need is more practice and experience (this is basically the right answer). I got impatient though (impatience is the bane of progress) and started to question whether it was me or my character.

At this point, I felt as though I had reached my potential with Samus, and it was her lack of tools, primarily in Melee, holding me from placing higher in bracket. I had begun to ask my peers for advice, searching for a new main to try out. Basically, every vet that I talked to told me to stick with Samus for a few more weeks at the very least, but experiment in friendlies with new characters, using only one other character every week.

I heeded their advice, and I ended up playing a few characters that play totally different from how Samus plays. I had a sort of epiphany, and instead of pursuing these new characters, I sought to apply techniques and styles that I naturally developed with these "alts" to my Samus. I saw significant improvement in gameplay (although not necessarily in my placements).

Basically, it's alright to explore your options, but, IMO, 95% of your effort should be being put into one character, and you should really try to work that other 5% into said character's game play for you. Don't get impatient with yourself, or you'll never see improvement in whatever character you decide to play.

 

[1FD]

Locally, we call Squirtle 'Sheik-Turtle' and Wario is 'Flying-Squirtle'
So it's like playing 2 characters in 1

 

[9Blades]

Well, there's nothing wrong with using other characters too. But if you wanna use specifically one:

Learn everything and anything they can do. Get people together and play against any and all characters they use. Get to know what you can do against stronger characters.

Above all else: Don't give up!

 

[Citricide]

Thank you everyone

 

[Mystic-]

I found it almost impossible to pick just one character when I enjoyed so many. But after looking at everyone I found Falcon, a character which teaches fundamentals and universally applicable tech in case I wanted to learn more people in the future. More importantly, I never won a match the first time I played but I found myself enjoying the game anyways. I used to get really mad in other games I played but I found the character which I enjoyed regardless of the outcome and fell in love with Falcon. I might learn a secondary but basically I picked the character with which I could always have fun.

 

[Zujx]

Play against better players, you'll get sick of loosing all the time.

 

[thatoneguy1]

what i do is stick to one character but only play the others if i'm not going try hard mode. It's better to be super good with one character than to be alright with half the roster.