How to Git Gud

[BigBubbs]

Hello.

I am a strange case when it comes to competitive Smash. I'm hot garbage at the game, but I LOVE the competitive scene and desperately want to be an active member of it.

Like I said, I'm terrible. I have a 30% win consistency in For Glory for Sm4sh, I've only won one online match in RoA (if that counts), and I'm absolutely terrified of what will happen to me if I walk into a melee tournament. Oh boy. I entered a Brawl tournament at Pax Prime 2012 and got 5-stock-bum-busted by a peach (I was the kid who would pick Bowser and down-b whenever I got knocked above my opponent). The dude even apologized after.

I love the tight physics of Melee, but there's multiple problems, especially when you take into account the intense speed and precision required to play. My reaction time is trash (and I heard it's hereditary, but it can be honed, slightly), I have dumb habits, and I live in a small town with no friends to play Smash with (all my friends want free-for-alls with items). My computer is laggy as all Hell, so I can't emulate and play Melee online with anyone. I'm just a kid (my profile says I'm 20, but if there's one thing I've learned, it's to always lie about your age on the internet), so my brain has some room to learn and develop. I was thinking of asking for Melee lessons on Craigslist or something, someone local who plays competitively and is willing to teach me an hour a day for lessons, but I figured that's a bad idea, as too many defenseless little boys are getting butt-buggered by people they met over the internet, and that's bad.

Anyway, what I'm trying to ask, is there anyone who can give me tips on how to become good enough for tournament level play? I want to main Jigglypuff, Marth, and Sheik, and maybe have my secondaries be Falco, Ice Climbers, and Pichu (for ****s and giggles). I desperately want to make this into a hobby or even a career. I'm not asking for anyone to make me as good as a god, but at least win some money. halp me plzkthx.

Thank you for reading, and thank you for answering!

 

[StaffofSmashing]

Ok, if you're starting, out, play 1 character. Ice Climbers is not a character you secondary ftr. Anyways, almost all towns and areas have some sort of local scene, so go searching for one, or start one yourself! I live in a small town and even we have one. If you live near a college, that may be a good place to start out. If you don't find one or can't make one, switch to Smash 4 and hit up a site called Anther's Ladder. It's basically where all the good people go to since For Glory is lame and laggy.

As Kira says, you are not born with slow reactions. There's something called Human Benchmark and they have a reaction time test. It's a good place to train reactions. Keep in mind about 16ms = 1 frame, so do some math to find out your average reaction time, and train it.

Speaking of Kira, SSBM Tutorials on YouTube is a good place to go. They teach you Melee things, including the #1 most important part of Smash.

Lastly, even the laggiest of computers can emulate Melee with the correct settings. Try it, and if it sucks, trash it. Nothing bad comes out of it.

Hope this helps!

 

[BigBubbs]

Thank you for your reply!

While playing Melee, I realized my one true main is Sheik (although later, I should pick up Marth to counter the Ice Climbers and the space animals).

And although lots of towns have Melee scenes, I don't think my town will (we don't even have any stoplights). I'll look for one, though.

I'll also check out that website and some tutorials.

Regarding the emulators, I can't get one running on my computer, for some reason.

 

[Stryker]

Hello.

I am a strange case when it comes to competitive Smash. I'm hot garbage at the game, but I LOVE the competitive scene and desperately want to be an active member of it.

Like I said, I'm terrible. I have a 30% win consistency in For Glory for Sm4sh, I've only won one online match in RoA (if that counts), and I'm absolutely terrified of what will happen to me if I walk into a melee tournament. Oh boy. I entered a Brawl tournament at Pax Prime 2012 and got 5-stock-bum-busted by a peach (I was the kid who would pick Bowser and down-b whenever I got knocked above my opponent). The dude even apologized after.

I love the tight physics of Melee, but there's multiple problems, especially when you take into account the intense speed and precision required to play. My reaction time is trash (and I heard it's hereditary, but it can be honed, slightly), I have dumb habits, and I live in a small town with no friends to play Smash with (all my friends want free-for-alls with items). My computer is laggy as all Hell, so I can't emulate and play Melee online with anyone. I'm just a kid (my profile says I'm 20, but if there's one thing I've learned, it's to always lie about your age on the internet), so my brain has some room to learn and develop. I was thinking of asking for Melee lessons on Craigslist or something, someone local who plays competitively and is willing to teach me an hour a day for lessons, but I figured that's a bad idea, as too many defenseless little boys are getting butt-buggered by people they met over the internet, and that's bad.

Anyway, what I'm trying to ask, is there anyone who can give me tips on how to become good enough for tournament level play? I want to main Jigglypuff, Marth, and Sheik, and maybe have my secondaries be Falco, Ice Climbers, and Pichu (for ****s and giggles). I desperately want to make this into a hobby or even a career. I'm not asking for anyone to make me as good as a god, but at least win some money. halp me plzkthx.

Thank you for reading, and thank you for answering!

Howdy!
Fun fact! Everyone is hot garbage in this game, and anyone who tells you otherwise had better be high on their local PR at the very least, but even that doesn't necessarily mean much depending on your region. (For example, I live in atlantic canada, and even our best player doesn't do very well at national level tournaments, so by that standard, we're all hot garbage)
Don't let being bad at the game discourage you!

I'm not sure where it comes from, but people seem to think you can't have fun while learning the game, and that's totally not true.

However good you think you are, just chuck it out the window. It literally doesn't matter. There are so many resources available to new players right now that you could have heard about this game yesterday, and you'll be on your way in no time.

I'mma break down these points one at a time
- Reaction time is not what you expect it to be, and it's something you train as you go, not something you have before you learn.
- Dumb habits are breakable. Part of the game.
- No friends to play with is semi-fixable. If you really enjoy the game, you can make solo training pretty fun. If you get good enough, maybe you can convince some friend to try to follow the scene and play with you.
- Age is not a factor.
- Pick 1 character to learn with. I would recommend either a spacie, marth, CF, or shiek. Even if you wanted to dual main, you have to learn the game first.

Shoot me a PM, and I'll hook you up with some other resources, or mentor you or whatevs. As of right now, the biggest thing I can think of is:
http://www.meleelibrary.com/

Edit:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CuIesuU84A
Also a great vid when it comes to realistic expectation and motivations in Smash

Also, if you happen to be able to get your hands on Skullgirls, play through the tutorial and a bit of it, and you'll start to get a solid grasp of fighter fundamentals. They transfer across pretty well.