How hard is it to get into competitive Melee?

[Kurodyne]

I literally haven't touched a copy of Melee in years, but P:M doesn't seem to have a very large scene and while Smash 4 is certainly fun, it's pretty much "pick diddy" when it comes to competitive play.

I'm interested in getting into Melee, but I feel like everyone would have 10 years of experience ahead of me. Is it almost hopeless to get into it by this point?

 

[kingPiano]

I see that you main Shaq

wise choice

 

[trilok]

PM's Scene as well as melee's depends on where you are. Try checking the local facebook groups to see the representation near you.
Smash4 is not just pick diddy. Sheik, rosaluma, ness, and pikachu have also done well, and customs adds more variability.

The majority of people playing in melee tournaments right now are not 10+ year veterans, but rather relative newcomers within 2 years in the competitive scene. I think tafokints or someone had stats on this. While you might be disadvantaged at first, its still a game you will be able to enjoy and get better at.

 

[IdkLmao]

Most people who have played this game for a long time have not been committed to getting really good at the game.

At this point in the games meta any random average person could pick up this game and be top 10 in a year of playing.

The leffen call out on chillindude never getting good because hes not deciding to or trying to be good actually pretty much applies to most of our "good" players who have been here for years and about 98% or more of our entire playerbase as a community. That is the hard truth. But it is a good truth because it means nearly all of our respected players are capable of making huge leaps in their gameplay because they're not yet trying to actually be good.

 

[kingPiano]

Yes I agree with all, this same exact thread was started by another new person only 4-5 days ago called "Too late to join the fun?". The same answers you will find there as well.

Competitive Melee is not easy at all.
It really depends on how high your melee IQ is, if you have good reaction time, how dedicated you are to practicing, how active your scene is, and how many clutch free-throws you can make.

okay maybe the last one is optional.

 

[Kurodyne]

PM's Scene as well as melee's depends on where you are. Try checking the local facebook groups to see the representation near you.
Smash4 is not just pick diddy. Sheik, rosaluma, ness, and pikachu have also done well, and customs adds more variability.

The majority of people playing in melee tournaments right now are not 10+ year veterans, but rather relative newcomers within 2 years in the competitive scene. I think tafokints or someone had stats on this. While you might be disadvantaged at first, its still a game you will be able to enjoy and get better at.

I know they're doing well, but with how things seem to be going it's seeming that way. With the balance patch though, I suppose I'll wait a little while and see how things work out.

Thanks for the info though, I might consider actually gittin gud

 

[Spak]

At this point in the games meta any random average person could pick up this game and be top 10 in a year of playing.

But it is a good truth because it means nearly all of our respected players are capable of making huge leaps in their gameplay because they're not yet trying to actually be good.

You could NOT be top 10 in a year if you just pick up the game. Everyone in the top 20 have been smashing for more than 5 years and they all try REALLY hard. A lot of the Smashers in the top 10 have their own stream (everyone in the top 5 is streaming regularly, although sometimes M2K just stays on PB&J's stream whenever he's traveling) and a couple people have even quit their jobs to dedicate their lives to Smash.

Competitive Melee takes a lot of time to get decent at, but once you get to a decent competitive level and start winning sets in weeklies, you start to feel the payoff.

 

[Quadobot]

It's hard but it's so much fun trying to do so

 

[BBOY15]

How long it will take to get into competitive Melee depends mostly on how often and how many people you are able to play with. It also matters how good your regular opponents are. If you can play like 10 hours a week against people who are better than you, you will get good really fast, as long as you're willing to try extremely hard at the game.

 

[m0ll0y]

It helps alot if you have someone to play with , like practicing with a friend for a week is equal to practicing alone for like 2 months, also leffen has only been playing since 2009 and look at him now

 

[Walbytamer11]

From the outside, you may think that your poor results may come off discouraging, but for anyone I've ever talked to ever, it's more of an incentive to improve.

The game's hard to start, but the fire it'll inspire is something to behold.

There's a lot of players with your mentality too, so there's a bunch of people out there around your skill level.

 

[Mastodon]

I've seen that experience does not directly equate to results (same goes for outside of melee). A lot of people who are good at melee may have a lot of experience, but really you can catch up to their level of knowledge in a year or two if you are learning in a smart way. That means you study the game, you ask people what you're doing right and wrong, you PRACTICE WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT (which is usually not multishining or moonwalking), you watch videos of yourself and others, you learn fundamentals and try to implement them. It means you don't: play endless friendlies with no goal or structure, you watch videos without taking notes, leave the venue after getting knocked out of a tournament. There's a big sticky'd thread on here, I'd recommend reading that.

Just be prepared to have your ass whooped. But make sure you spend time figuring out why you got your ass whooped, or it'll take a lot longer for you to stop getting your ass whooped.

I'm proud to say I get to play with PR people in my state pretty frequently (and contrary to popular belief, they're not free), and although sometimes its frustrating and I still lose a lot to other good players around here, I can definitely tell I've noticeably improved over the past 5 or 6 months...and not just my wavedashing/moonwalking/etc.

 

[Spak]

also leffen has only been playing since 2009 and look at him now

That's still over half a decade.

 

[m0ll0y]

That's still over half a decade.

Yeah but within a few years he his name was known world wide

 

[Spak]

Yeah but within a few years he his name was known world wide

I would consider him being well-known in 2014. Five years of playing specifically one game with most of your free time is still a HUGE commitment.

 

[EPsilon933]

Competitive Melee is not easy at all.

Unless you play Peach

It's a really simple game to learn on the surface because it's plays a lot on intuition. Also, a lot of new players are still joining, so no one gets demolished by everyone

 

[Ed94]

I learned most of the advanced techs in about a few hours in training mode. Currently mastering them now. Honestly with a friend who is willing, you can get good in a matter of weeks if you follow some of the guides on here.

 

[kingPiano]

Unless you play Peach

It's a really simple game to learn on the surface because it's plays a lot on intuition. Also, a lot of new players are still joining, so no one gets demolished by everyone

Yea that's true although Peach's double jump is unwieldy at first.

Sheik also is almost too easy to own with. Her SHFF auto-cancelled fair and her needles alone can wreck people much more skilled. Don't really even need to do a single wave dash, L-cancel, or DD.

 

[Nokturnith]

No it isn't. Just be good.