How to improve in a game like smash 4?

[Unicorn Choke-Slam]

I have been playing smash 4 since its japanese release, and epople say that i am pretty good, but i can't settle for that. i want to be THE BEST. it seems that so many people improve faster than i do, and the one thing i have been trying to improve to keep up with the young metagame is my ability to read people and knwo when and how to use my atacks. I also wanna know some common dangerous habits of gameplay that can cause me to get punished. Basically, the best smash players have this sense of how to read their opponents and adapt to be able to get an edge, and i wann aknow how to hone that sense sharply myself.

If this post doesn't belong here, can this be moved to SMash Bros. for 3ds General Discussion?

 

[SaintChairface]

Play against more people. It helps with matchups and instincts.

Also, as the metagame is still too young to have matchup threads, try reading through matchup threads from other games like PM. If you can understand how the information there was constructed you can apply similar technique to constructing matchup info for Sm4sh.

If you feel comfortable with that concept play around with CPU opponents of varying levels and see how they react in various situations, what options they have against your attacks and what options you have against theirs. Focus on this as a playing to learn phase though and don't worry about winning. Try weird stuff just to find the quirks of the matchup. For instance try punching your way through a fireball to see if you lose, clink, or win in that clash. This sort of tidbit alone could win you a tourney.

In the end its really just about getting comfortable with your character in every situation. So just practice whatever you need to to get there

 

[Unicorn Choke-Slam]

thanks mate. i appreciate it. now one mroe question, any in game habits that i should break that i can be punished for? like rolling?

 

[A Lucky Person]

thanks mate. i appreciate it. now one mroe question, any in game habits that i should break that i can be punished for? like rolling?

Good players will be able to punish anything you spam - especially rolls. If you get slammed in a match, save it and look back to see what it is you did (or didn't do) that gave your opponent the win.

Always be mixing up everything you do as you face people. The moment you become predictable is exactly when a good player will wreck you.

 

[Raijinken]

Basically, the more of a character's full arsenal and moveset you know how to use effectively, the better you'll be at mixing up your playstyle and becoming less predictable. Use that to your advantage.

But really, just play a lot. Play everyone at least once (beating Classic as everyone is a good way to get that out of the way while scoring some trophies). And just play against people as often as you can. Wifi will help with that.

 

[KaZe_DaRKWIND]

Look at your mistakes is the best thing I can say. Especially since the replays are long now.

 

[K-45]

Just play every character know their straight and weaknesses. Then main the characters that feels comfortable for your game play style.

Also turn off tap jump and a lot more players are going to get better one the New 3DS is out just because of the c stick.

 

[SaintChairface]

Look at your mistakes is the best thing I can say. Especially since the replays are long now.

I saw somewhere recently that a few of the professional level crews train in 3s. They have one on one bouts while a neutral party watches and takes notes. After the match the 3rd explains what he saw as good and bad that the two playing may not have caught in the heat of the moment.

Just play every character know their straight and weaknesses. Then main the characters that feels comfortable for your game play style.

Also turn off tap jump and a lot more players are going to get better one the New 3DS is out just because of the c stick.

A lot of people seem to think turning tap jump off is a short cut to success, but if you can already tilt without smashing, you can utilt, usmash or uair without jumping. Just don't mash your stick, it only has to be off center to be considered a tilt. A lot of characters gain options with tap jump because it makes jump canceling much easier, especially since trying to claw grip a 3DS is particularly non ideal.

 

[SaintChairface]

thanks mate. i appreciate it. now one mroe question, any in game habits that i should break that i can be punished for? like rolling?

I'm gonna just have to go with the other folks here and say just don't be predictable. The devs worked hard on this iteration to see that shielding and rolling were both more viable options, so it's now less of a "don't do it" and even more of an issue of knowing when its the right thing to do. And this in itself will also vary by character, I've seen some characters that I still wouldn't want to roll with in almost any situation, where as others it can almost seem like the movement option of choice.

It all comes down to feeling the flow of the fight with whatever character you're playing against whichever opponent your facing, the player and the character. Whatever you can't feel, try to know, and whatever you don't know, you try to learn.

 

[Reila]

Just play every character know their straight and weaknesses. Then main the characters that feels comfortable for your game play style.

Also turn off tap jump and a lot more players are going to get better one the New 3DS is out just because of the c stick.

C-stick is extremely overestimated. With practice, you can pull off tilts and smashes whenever you want just fine.

 

[Azizibesmashing]

I saw somewhere recently that a few of the professional level crews train in 3s. They have one on one bouts while a neutral party watches and takes notes. After the match the 3rd explains what he saw as good and bad that the two playing may not have caught in the heat of the moment.



A lot of people seem to think turning tap jump off is a short cut to success, but if you can already tilt without smashing, you can utilt, usmash or uair without jumping. Just don't mash your stick, it only has to be off center to be considered a tilt. A lot of characters gain options with tap jump because it makes jump canceling much easier, especially since trying to claw grip a 3DS is particularly non ideal.

So in competitive play you mr alloud to turn tap jump off?

Was this an option in earlier smashes??

If so which ones. I don't wanna take it off an be considered a cheater

 

[Morbi]

The best way to vastly improve would be to play against players that are better than you, practice makes perfect.You learn from your mistakes, and you learn from what the opponent is doing properly. You learn by doing.

#SuperObviousAdvice

But seriously, if you roll a lot, you are going to want to "unlearn" that bad habit. Rolling is certainly useful from time to time; however, it is extremely predictable if you use it a lot... or consecutively.

#LessObviousAdviceThatIsStillExtremelyCommon

 

[HeavyLobster]

C-stick is extremely overestimated. With practice, you can pull off tilts and smashes whenever you want just fine.

C-stick honestly helps more with aerials than anything else. It makes retreating and fastfalled aerials significantly easier to pull off consistently, though of course even that can be done without it with enough practice.

 

[RascalTheCharizard]

In regards to predictability:
Even the most seemingly insignificant patterns can get you punished. Do you almost always rush in after shooting 2 Fireballs as Mario? Do you almost always dash off of platforms rather than drop underneath? These little things get picked up on by the better players. Start counting how many projectiles you use and mix up their usage. Notice how you move around the stage and mix up those up too. If you can realise you own habits, you can make yourself much harder to read and even condition your opponent into expecting a certain action from you, not do it and then punish their incorrect prediction (this is how I got a footstool + followup in the neutral in Project M once lol).

I don't know if this is helpful or even necessary lol, but I wanted to elaborate just to give an idea of how specific mixups can be. I used to believe it was as simple as "use a different attack every once in a while", but it isn't. Not at all.

 

[K-45]

A lot of people seem to think turning tap jump off is a short cut to success, but if you can already tilt without smashing, you can utilt, usmash or uair without jumping. Just don't mash your stick, it only has to be off center to be considered a tilt. A lot of characters gain options with tap jump because it makes jump canceling much easier, especially since trying to claw grip a 3DS is particularly non ideal.

I never said its a short cut to success. What I ment was it messes with combos and also makes it a little harder to up tilt. In fact it's almost a hinder some players of learning bad habits before they get into the competitive seen. Just because u have tap jump off doesn't mean anything besides I find it easier to do short hop combos when I have tap jump off.

 

[SaintChairface]

So in competitive play you mr alloud to turn tap jump off?

Was this an option in earlier smashes??

If so which ones. I don't wanna take it off an be considered a cheater

Tap jump has always been the default, and iirc the option of turning tap jump off was only added in brawl. Turning it off isn't illegal in any tournaments I've heard of. It's not unheard of for players to use custom controls, but a lot of the top pros just use the default because they've basically always been the same. Even 64 had a fairly similar button layout to the way the cube controls default.

 

[PingPongCop]

Look at your mistakes is the best thing I can say. Especially since the replays are long now.

HOW LONG PLZ TELL ME

Tap jump has always been the default, and iirc the option of turning tap jump off was only added in brawl. Turning it off isn't illegal in any tournaments I've heard of. It's not unheard of for players to use custom controls, but a lot of the top pros just use the default because they've basically always been the same. Even 64 had a fairly similar button layout to the way the cube controls default.

I don't see why either. Guess no up tilts for the pro players, then.

 

[KaZe_DaRKWIND]

HOW LONG PLZ TELL ME

If what people have said is correct, it's 18 minutes. For some reason nobody finds this a big deal to confirm but People who have the game and are streaming and some people on these boards have said it's 18 minutes. Could still be wrong but I hope it's true.

 

[SaintChairface]

I don't see why either. Guess no up tilts for the pro players, then.

You can tilt without tap jumping, just don't mash the stick upwards. Just push gently off center, the same way you get side tilt or down tilt without smashing.
Tap jump being optional is fairly new. utilts, usmashes, and uairs have always been around and possible.

And now some knowledge drop:
The way smash attacks work with tap jump is with a mechanic called jump canceling. During the initial frames of a character's jump animation they can cancel the jump into an up smash or up special. I haven't actually tried this in any other iteration of the game, but in smash for 3ds this is also applied on aerials; you can mash the stick as hard as you want in the air and not accidentally jump as long as the attack button is used within a certain number of frames.

The real benefit of jump canceling is that it allows you to use an up smash or up special from shield, which would not otherwise be possible. You're actually jumping out of shield but then canceling that jump into an attack. This is has been an essential technique for certain characters in the past. In the past it could also be accomplished on a cube controller by using a claw grip so you could hit a jump button and the c-stick at the same time, but since 3ds lacks a c-stick its no longer an option.

While using a jump canceled up smash or up special may not be as important as it used to be for relieving shield pressure since shields break so quickly that "pressure" may be the wrong term, being able to use an up smash or up special out of shield, frame perfect without first having to wait for the shield to drop can still be an essential counter attacking technique.

TL;DR
I'm not saying it's the only way to play. There are some players who get by at the highest levels of competition that use little or no advanced tech or movement options. What I'm saying is that tap jump adds options to the game that are not otherwise possible, and the stock response of "turn off tap jump" when people ask for advice to improve, is incorrect.

 

[Unicorn Choke-Slam]

I saw somewhere recently that a few of the professional level crews train in 3s. They have one on one bouts while a neutral party watches and takes notes. After the match the 3rd explains what he saw as good and bad that the two playing may not have caught in the heat of the moment.



A lot of people seem to think turning tap jump off is a short cut to success, but if you can already tilt without smashing, you can utilt, usmash or uair without jumping. Just don't mash your stick, it only has to be off center to be considered a tilt. A lot of characters gain options with tap jump because it makes jump canceling much easier, especially since trying to claw grip a 3DS is particularly non ideal.

My lord, that actually exists? i would love to be in one of those.

 

[PingPongCop]

C-stick is extremely overestimated. With practice, you can pull off tilts and smashes whenever you want just fine.

Uh, random and totally off topic question but, where does the clip in your signature come from?

 

[SaintChairface]

Uh, random and totally off topic question but, where does the clip in your signature come from?

the Japanese New 3DS commercial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MpQSvaduzk