How should I Practice?

[Burning Boom]

I recently managed to get my hands on Project M ( I've known about it for a while, but my old copy of Brawl had broke), and I'm loving it. However, I know I'm not that good at this game (no equipment to post vids of my play), and I don't have others to play with. What single player setting (character, mode, stage, etc.), do you guys suggest for getting better at the game. I use Sonic, and Charizard mostly, occaisionally playing Squirtle, Bowser, Donkey Kong, and Toon Link if that helps (I know big list, but it's so hard to choose).

Any contribution to this thread would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

 

[Kink-Link5]

Lab Work can work for a lot of stuff, but the decision making skills needed to play against humans can only be expanded upon by playing with other humans.

For your situation, do lab work and just practice tech skill.

CPUs, while good for very very little, can also at the least give you an idea of how move priority works since they're very predictable and you can capitalize on this fact 90% of the time. Since you use Charizard, seeing how the priority on nair, bair, fair, D-smash, Jab, and U-smash work is a good place to explore. Gaining information from frame data can be really helpful as well.

Visit the character specific boards for info pertaining to their movesets, strategies, and applications.

 

[BTmoney]

Check here and the melee boards for characters that coexist in both games.

I think picking up fox is a great thing to do even if you don't want to main him because he has a ridiculous amount of depth and learning curve. If you can handle fox and falco then all characters become more attainable and you are likely to attain many other skills that apply to PM/melee that can be learned through those characters(imo).

Watching matches of your characters is also very useful. Also picking up and learning terminology will do you wonders on this board.
(things like nair = neutral air, fair = forward air etc.)
Do you have a solid handle on the more advanced techniques?

 

[Kink-Link5]

Picking Fox because he's hard to use in order to learn how to use other characters is kind of a really bad idea lol

Just learn what you need to do with the character of your choice.

 

[Greenpoe]

Not sure how much you've played the game so I'll start at with the basics: learn to Wavedash and L-cancel consistently with each of your characters if you can't yet already do that. Then learn SHFFL'ing. Learn to ledgetech, and since you have spare time, you can learn to get really good at teching. To practice, just go on a level like Snake's and put yourself at really high damage, and try to tech on the walls whenever the bot hits you. If you practice against a bot, do it in training mode with the bot set to "attack" so you won't be worried about "winning" or "losing" but rather just focusing on whatever you're trying to practice, like approaches or edgeguarding or whatever else.

I would say pick Fox ONLY if you're interested in playing Fox-esque characters - like Captain Falcon, Wolf or Falco. I think Squirtile is a great character to play around with in Training mode because he can do so much with all the various things that transfer momentum that aren't a big deal for most characters, but turn into serious tactics for Squirtile.

 

[traffic.]

The only way to learn how to tech, Marth trips on Temple.

Basically, you should approach the universal systems first, DI, wavedashing/spacing tools, and ledgegame/recovery. Learning how the different aspects of the game works will give you the understanding you need to pick a character and playstyle.

Picking a character is going to involve playing many of them, and watching videos, to see what looks appealing to your specific style. Some people like technically involved characters that require deep skill and training (Fox, Falco, Falcon.) Some enjoy all-around characters who are more rounded in most areas, where their specific moves and how you use them will be what sets you apart (Pikachu, Toon Link.) Others like slower characters that require finesse, mindgames and tricky usage of a few tools (Bowser, Ganon,) and some people play Sonic.

Once you have an idea of where you want to start (being aware of your own strengths as a gamer really helps with this) you will have an idea of where to start with the advanced techs like wavedashing and shuffling. If you are starting the game from ground zero, you dont want to jump in and start trying to master high end techniques in hopes that it will make you better at the game, you really need to work into it. While they become mainstays in competitive play, they are in no way "the basics" like you may see them referred to here on the boards.

So, here's my list of basics of getting into a new game:

- Find out how you want to play - Research the game by watching videos of different characters, if you look through the brawl and melee character forums, there is a wealth of information about every character and plenty of videos provided by some of that character's top players in a variety of matchups. Until you can see someone really good doing what you want to do, you wont really know what you're aspiring to, which leads to frustration and boredom when you dont have a personal set of goals.

- Get involved - Unless you happen to live on a farm 150 miles out of nowhere, Iowa, well, I'm sorry, but you probably wont get good at any competitive skill, because that requires competition. You can practice a set of skills, but the most important part of practice is to have a test to see if its paid off. It will surprise you how many people in (probably) your area love playing video games and think there's no one around to play with. Find out more about your local scene, and look for interested gamers to practice with. When I started playing, we just invited everyone we could find who played Smash, most of them stopped coming around because they weren't really interested in getting better, but we definitely ended up with a few friends who really enjoy working hard and practising with us.

- Figure out your next step - Always have something that you are working on. Read up on techs with your character, and try to do it in as many situations as you can, until it really feels good and starts to happen effortlessly. Once you're happy with it, pick something else. Always have something that you are working on. If you do not keep yourself accountable in this regard, you will fall off from practice, because you will just be playing the game over and over and not actually practising anything. Practice is having a specific task and making it easier. Always have something that you are working on. The more skills you can fill your little black book with, the more you will know about what you should be working on next, and the more knowledge you will have to pass on to whoever you are practising with or training.

 

[ItalianStallion]

I agree with Tactician. Pick up Fox and Falco just to learn them. Once you've learned them, learning whatever characters you want to learn will be a smoother process technically as well as "meta-wise." Of course, there are different opinions on this. I'll just say that learning Fox, Falco, and Falcon made learning my mains, Mewtwo for Melee and Luigi for PM, a lot easier.

EDIT: Also, while no substitute for humans, Project M CPU's are not bad training partners. Do not be afraid of playing mock sets against them and other stuff like that to get you more used to how tournaments work. Many who advise against playing matches against CPU's may be thinking too much about Melee CPU's (Which are terrible to play matches with). PM CPU's are adequate training buddies if you have no one to play with.

 

[SpiderMad]

I got good at Melee doing Falco dittos with an old friend who I found out played the game and knew all the Falco stuff more than I did. A serious step in my game I remember more than anything else (besides first trying to L-cancel) was the ability to be consistent: every time you'd have the opponent recovering and could kill him with a SH Dair with the specific amount of FFall you needed, he would always get it and I sometimes wouldn't and that costed me the games. Same thing went for being able to Waveshine/SH Laser.

I mean nothing aggravates you more to learn how to play than wanting to Falco on a Falco who's being all Falco on you.

I DO remember reading somewhere though that some current Falco/Fox player wish he didn't start out with a spacie though since he believed he didn't learn the fundamentals of spacing things or something. I already had a solid foundation of spacing with so many years of being good at casual play I guess though, so I can't feel what he went through but I kind of believe that you could over-extend your gameplay beyond your basic ability to think about straight spacing your moves/not getting hit or whatever: but that just could be an intrinsic trait you're just naturally born with. I seriously wouldn't consider "maining/sticking to a single character" until you actually consider yourself good as a whole: because my Falco friend would barely ever switch characters and I feel he almost ruined a part of himself to be able to handle other characters decently even if he really wanted to.

Brawl/P:M Wifi kind of helps the being able to think/spacing aspect lol, in horrible lag you literally rely on just spacing and punishing simple stuff: with a lot of CrouchCanel going on as well. Horrible lag also slows the game down by a lot, so I guess that kind of helps with some of the learning aspect lol.

 

[Bad Cupboard]

Just practice tech skill. Mindlessly beating up on a computer will do more harm than good.

 

[Burning Boom]

Thanks guys! I've read through all the replies so far, and I'll answer some of the things I've read.
1. I have ability with some of the simpler advanced techniques (L-canceling, Wavedashing, DI, FF, SH), but haven't learned yet much about when/how to use them.
2. When it comes to playing as Fox or Falco, I actually do a bit of play as the latter in Melee, but I haven't really touched the space animals in PM, I guess I'll give my bird of prey another go.
3. When it comes to playing in competitive games against real opponets, well traffic, you had the right idea with the farm 150 miles away from civilization. I live in a small town with a population of about 500, I know everybody here, and I know that they don't play Smash. I'm 15, and because of how the Quebec education system works this is my second to last year here. I plan to find some competition when I move to a big city for college and stuff, but until then I'm just doing basic honing of skills.
4. While much related to the last point, I want to assure you guys I do know of the lackings of AI. They're predictable, but I've noticed a big improvement in PM over Melee (ie, PM AI doesn't randomly kill itself), but they're great for just mastering techniques on as some of you stated.
5. SpiderMad mentioned horrible lag, well, my internet barely cuts it for online play, but when playing Smash with lag I usually just take Bowser, stand in the center of the stage, and attack, as movement becomes unreliable.