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How Do I Teach My Girlfriend?

Sasurai_no_Hiroshi

Smash Rookie
Joined
Jul 17, 2007
Messages
24
Location
California
Hiya everybody! The name's Hiro.
This is my first post on SmashBoards.com, please excuse me if I act strange in any way.
My girlfriend and I started playing Brawl lately and it's a great game. She likes to play as Pikachu, but I personally think Pikachu's a little tough for her to play, seeing as she's got barely any gaming experience in the Super Smash Bros. games.
As such, I was wondering if anyone can offer tips, advice, info and all that stuff to help her get more comfortable with the game. I want to get her to play on my level.
Sorry if this was asked already, but thanks in advance!
 

Vaseline

Smash Cadet
Joined
Sep 29, 2007
Messages
26
Location
Houston
Teach her to spam the down taunt. It is so cute. Anyways, let her get some experience first so just let her play normally before you start trying to teach her more things. Normal people don't go straight to advanced without learning beginner stuff first.
 

Sasurai_no_Hiroshi

Smash Rookie
Joined
Jul 17, 2007
Messages
24
Location
California
First things first, thank you for posting on my topic. I thought it'd be too farfetched for people to even say anything to. *bows*

As for my girlfriend, she can play well enough to take on Level 4 computers and beat around 50 people, average in 100 man brawl with Pikachu. I need to help her some more with her recovery.
I don't know what moves are good finishers for Pikachu though. I tend to have her use Up-Smash, Down-Smash, and Thunder when the enemy is around 80% damage. Is that a fair idea?
Vaseline, she loooves the down taunt, lol. And IMS, what do you mean by that? Me no understand. xD
 

Metzger

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Mar 1, 2008
Messages
110
D-Smash is not a great finisher. It's better for racking damage IMO.

U-Smash is still a decent KO and comes out of a dash very well (C-Stick up while dashing). I'd have her practice spotting her F-Smash though, I think that will prove more reliable. Thunder is also great for getting vert KOs (since the bolt starts at the top it hits off the top of the screen pretty much instantly).

For recovery, remember that you can Side-B (multiple times if you're high enough) before jumping or Up-B'ing to get more horizontal coverage like Luigi in Melee. Beyond that it's just her getting used to using two directions to reach the ledge sweetspot or land safely to get around edgeguarding.
 

Vaseline

Smash Cadet
Joined
Sep 29, 2007
Messages
26
Location
Houston
So you want to know about recovery? For anything dealing with Quick Attacks consult Anther :). Otherwise, just have her sweetspot the ledge with either a skullbash or short quick attack. With the new instant ledge grab it shouldn't be too difficult.
 

Yukiwarashi

Smash Champion
Joined
Apr 24, 2005
Messages
2,119
Location
Brampton, Ontario, Canada
Hm...well to start off, did you let her read Pikachu's entry on smashbros.com? Sakurai's got some pretty good tips there for Pikachu.

But for killing moves, his forward smash and Thunder (when people are above you) are pretty much the best. As said earlier, Pikachu's down smash is good for racking up damage, and at high percentages it sends them flying into the air...if you can aim well, Thunder will be great for that.

Oh, and she should also know about priority. Pikachu's got some nice priority in the air with his forward air, and on the ground his forward A kick reaches out pretty far. Being able to move in on your opponent is important after all.

Well, I hope I helped you two in some way. I'm not the best Pikachu out there, but perhaps if we play online at a time where she's over, she can watch me play you?
 

Sasurai_no_Hiroshi

Smash Rookie
Joined
Jul 17, 2007
Messages
24
Location
California
Everyone, thank you all for the advice. I will definitely practice your suggestions with her. It's really strange to me when she plays since she gets good hits in randomly without meaning to. It'd be great to actually see her do some of her moves intentionally and beat up foes on purpose, not on accident. lol

@DGMavn : It's good to see I'm not the only one who's having this problem. =)
I will definitely show her the Target Tests.

@Vaseline : Thanks for the tips! I told her about the side-B and it's working pretty good for her right now. =)

@Anthur : I could let my girlfriend consult you literally, but she could be a little more than you can handle. xD
So are you implying that Quick Attack could be used differently than from what it's meant to be used as?

@Skazyrk - Will do! I'll show her some vids. Just gotta find some that won't confuse her. xD
I think maybe she needs to get used to the game a little more first.

Yukiwarashi, I'll be sure to show her the website as well. If you're up for a match or two, I'll gladly fight you when you have the chance. It'd be good experience for me too.

I'm going to look around this board a little more for things I can translate to her. I'll probably end up being a Pikachu user after this. =P
 

JoeTang

Smash Cadet
Joined
Feb 7, 2008
Messages
74
Location
MB, Canada
The most important thing is to have her move at a comfortable pace. Don't push her to learn too much, too fast, or it might not be fun for her.

For recoveries, she should almost always Skull Bash first before using her double jump, unless she's close enough to the edge to jump to it or Quick Attack on it right away. Don't use Skull Bash to attack. It has too much lag, little damage, and poor knock-back unless it's actually charged. Which means it will be predictable and shielded or dodged.

Teach her Aerial approaching as well as Ground approaches. See if she can Short Hop Forward Air well to approach, DIing back if you come up short. The idea is to be able to Short Hop Forward Air, but then land more or less where you jumped from, just by DIing. It gives you a good practice for control in your Aerial movement, and would be the only difficult DI to perform. Since the only others are DIing forward into the target which is if you connect, and Fast Falling, which isn't suggested. Your goal should be to maintain your body inside the target('s shield) for the entire Forward Air. Intercept Aerial targets with Neutral Air. It has good knock-back, but requires good forward momentum. You need a running start, and then you have to jump into them. You can practice better Aerial Interception this way, hitting people that are falling, jumping, or even just standing on the ground. Of course, targets on the ground can Shield your Neutral Air. You want to pass through the target, and not land in front of them since they'll be able to Shield Grab.

Rack up damage on Ground targets with (Down Tilt ->) Down Smash, Up Tilt. You can rip through Shields quite safely with Down Smash, and Up Tilt Juggles easily early on. Spacing Forward Smashes is something to work on. You never want to be too close, and you should know and be comfortable with the reach it has. Up Smash as well can be used to kill, but it's potential is more useful in getting a target into the air to be Thundered. Hyphen Smashing (Up Smash out of Dash i.e. C-Stick Up out of Dash) is one of the more important things to do here. Everything else is spacing and timing.

Quick Attack can be tricky for newer players. They tend to have issues getting the second jump to come into play, and then directing it properly. I've played Pikachu and I still have some issues sometimes getting a second Quick Attack to kick in at certain angles. Target test wouldn't be a bad place to practice. I wouldn't suggest teaching her Quick Attack Canceling quite yet in any case. Maybe after she has a good feel for her Aerial Approach.

Hundred Man Melee isn't particularly good for practical use though. It can teach her what attacks have the best knockback though, of course, you can just end up spamming Thunder through the entire thing.
 

PokemonTrainerLisa

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jun 25, 2005
Messages
192
Location
Charleston, WV
I'm a Pikachu user (in fact, I've always main'ed as Pikachu in the Smash games).

However, I STILL can't get the Quick Attack Cancel to work. I've been trying and trying, and all I seem to be doing are normal Quick Attacks. O_O
 

b13lion

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Nov 9, 2005
Messages
98
Location
An hour drive away from New Orleans, LA
yea Pika's up+B is pretty tough to get both off correctly, I don't have much advice as I'm a Link mainer but I've been trying to learn Pika...my only advice is to just be thankful she is even playing Smash cause I could never get my wife to play it with me...only game she plays in Mario Kart, Mario Bros 3 and Brain Age.
And I know I just made myself sound old by saying my wife but we are both only 22 and just got married this December.
 

Sasurai_no_Hiroshi

Smash Rookie
Joined
Jul 17, 2007
Messages
24
Location
California
@Joetang - Wow, that's some pretty intense advice you've got there! I'll make sure to learn and follow it and then show my girlfriend. Do you know what's a good partner for Pikachu? I might want to play a team battle with my girlfriend against my friends. I use Captain Falcon, Lucas, Ike as my mains, but with my girlfriend, I tend to use the Pikachu with goggles. He looks funky, lol

@PokemonTrainerLisa - I studied the QAC a little bit and it's quite hard to pull off! It's really fun to use though, since most of my friends don't seem to expect it, so I tend to get a free thunder or two off'em. Practice makes perfect! That and videos will help you find your way. =)

@b13lion - lol Thanks for the comment, I am really grateful and lucky to have my girlfriend play Smash with me. Just the other day she said she wanted to play Brawl. Can't get any better than that, video game wise. xD
Congrats on getting married! I hope you two propser and do great together! If she ever plays Brawl too, let me know! Then we can do team battles! =D

I never really was a fan of using Pikachu, but thanks to you guys, I'm starting to like him. I might even start using him as one of my regular characters, lol! Thank you all so much, I really appreciate the help and advice!
 

Eten

Smash Ace
Joined
Aug 29, 2006
Messages
580
She should just play and enjoy the game! :turns on the zen:

Video games is something everybody can enjoy. Many video games are also naturally competitive. In fact, competition and enjoyment can go hand in hand. You'd be surprised how competitive you can turn a normally non-competitive person when they start enjoying the game. And with competition, there is the desire to win, and the desire to win makes one get better. Girls... are not an exception.

I know from experience.
 

b13lion

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Nov 9, 2005
Messages
98
Location
An hour drive away from New Orleans, LA
@b13lion - lol Thanks for the comment, I am really grateful and lucky to have my girlfriend play Smash with me. Just the other day she said she wanted to play Brawl. Can't get any better than that, video game wise. xD
Congrats on getting married! I hope you two propser and do great together! If she ever plays Brawl too, let me know! Then we can do team battles! =D
Thanks and I will definitely let you know if I can ever convince her to give smash a try, that would be awesome to play team battles like that...team battles are so much fun.
 

JoeTang

Smash Cadet
Joined
Feb 7, 2008
Messages
74
Location
MB, Canada
For a team match, I would say Lucas if Friendly Fire is on (Standard Tournament Team Setting) so she would be able to heal you, and you don't have an outrageously large hitbox that could accidentally kill her, i.e. Ike. You can both camp projectiles and apply multihit attacks which are frustrating because the hit frames last such long times. Lucas can help her recover too if you want to try hitting her back towards the stage with a PK Thunder if she can't make it back otherwise.

If Friendly Fire is off, I'd say go with Ike. You can abuse the long hit animations of Forward Air and Down Smash to land huge attacks. She can camp Thunder Jolts and you can approach for kills without as much worry either.
 

0RLY

A great conversation filler at bars and parties
Joined
Nov 18, 2007
Messages
2,681
Location
Temple University, Philadelphia
A basic idea of QAC. While on the ground, use B-up in any direction that's not remotely up. That means, left and right is fine, but nothing above that. As soon as you excecute it, mash B to use thunder jolt B-down for thunder, or c-stick down to hit with the landing animation of dair. No other aerials will work. In addition, you can also jump out of it.

Advanced QAC is when you use your double Quick Attack, which is somewhat difficult for begginers, so I'll leave it at that.
 
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