How to "read" movements?

[Frenzy]

I just saw a bunch of guys talking about how they read movements? Do they just mean they see which way their opponent is going and anticipate, or what?

 

[ECHOnce]

Here's a nice vid to help sum up your answer (:

 

[Frenzy]

to help sum up your answer (:

So basically, look for a person's style of play? If they do something after being sent back, they will probably repeat it?

And also, people who are shielding are expecting something to happen. You can just tap it, or wait for the shield to get low before springing for the attack?

 

[ECHOnce]

EDIT: Just in case you misunderstand, I used the term "habit" and the like more than just a few times, but it's not a common or official term by any means. I just used them to better explain things. Also, sorry for choppy/repetitive language if there is any; was half-asleep from just waking up when I wrote this lol.

Couldn't exactly remember what was covered in the vid so I had to rewatch it aha.

In short, reading your opponent is basically as you said in the OP; it's predicting what your opponent is about to do. The things the vid covers are methods of improving how effectively you can predict their movements, and how you can punish them for it. They're just good examples you should keep in mind.

A person's "style", as he puts it, refers to their habits. It's bad to have habits; it means that they follow a certain pattern that can be observed and punished, just like how he pointed out that Fox rolls away after F-throw and punished by running forwards and attacking the next time.

Reads at low-mid level of play are often not very frequent; most people don't naturally think to look out for and notice these things, so when you hear friends talking about reads, they're probably referring to how they consider their opponents available options and punish what they think would be the most effective one. That differs from reading "styles", in that it doesn't necessarily consider the opponent's habits, but usually just guessing out of whichever options they're limited to.

As long as you don't punish habits in the exact same way every time, they probably won't notice they're being read on that level, unless they know to look out for habit-reads. So, if you mixup what you use to punish a given habit ever so often, then yes - they'll probably keep repeating it. That's what the guy meant by assuming they're always stupid instead of smart. Even if they do catch on to being read, it'll often work due to habits being hard to break. Muscle-memory reactions can be a ***** aha.

That's right. You can either preemptively approach their shield and use quick attacks like jabs (just tapping the A button) or sometimes tilts. That way, if they planned to grab you, you might catch them with a jab hit before they can grab. If they planned to spot dodge or roll away, you can have enough time to follow-up and grab/attack wherever they end up before they can move again. If you feel like they were planning on staying in shield longer (e.g. You notice a habit of waiting for you to do X-number of jabs on their shield before they do something, like an OoS attack), you can grab them (before completing X-number of jabs, etc.). Alternatively, if they always seem to just wait for you to approach, you can mix it up by just not approaching them; you don't have to play to their game by letting them react to you. Turn it around by making them impatient and have them approach you. If you notice the shield is small, whether it shrank from being held out too long or from your jabs, go for the shield-pierce as you said.

 

[-Dubs]

A common habit for many is to always tech into center stage.

 

[xXSciophobiaXx]

A common habit for many is to always tech into center stage.

Thats interesting. I would have stated that most people prefer to tech away. (if that happens to be toward centre stage, then yes, but most often you aren't hit toward centre stage)

I find this is because teching toward you opponent (most often toward centre stage) if read can result in a charged smash or heavier punish than the alternatives of teching in place or away. On average increasing the distance between you and your opponent prevents a punishment from being more devastating and thus i feel like i've observed most players prefer to tech away and accept a dash attack, dash grab or chasing aerial if read correctly.

In a general sense unpredictability is king.

Also important to consider, the neutral tech (tech-in-place) is shortest animation. I had games against a falco where all he would ever do is tech (or standup, if he missed a tech) in place. It took me forever to analyze the habits of his play style because it seemed so silly to do the same thing repeatedly. I repeatedly tried to bait out the getup attack, or either roll, and never once succeeded. Had I realized this earlier, the ability to punish heavily would have been mine, rather than suffer endless standup--> jabs.

 

[CORY]

the tech to center habit (and roll to center, as well) is because most people at least subconciously associate the center of the stage with safety and the edges with danger, due to how much easier it is to die near the sides.

so, when put into a panic situation, the muscle memory for most people is "get to safety (center)!" and not necessarily "maximize distance from the attacker!"

 

[Phaiyte]

Forcibly limit their options and take guesses when those options are finally limited. In a common example, on knockdowns. They only have a couple things they can do in this situation, so it becomes way easier to read your opponents. Once you do it enough you'll start seeing patterns coming from them, like some noobs always use the get up attack, or always make it a goal to roll behind you.

 

[ECHOnce]

the tech to center habit (and roll to center, as well) is because most people at least subconciously associate the center of the stage with safety and the edges with danger, due to how much easier it is to die near the sides.

so, when put into a panic situation, the muscle memory for most people is "get to safety (center)!" and not necessarily "maximize distance from the attacker!"

I've been playing the game for years, and I never noticed I tech rolled towards the center of the stage on reaction either until my friend pointed it out in several replays 2-3 months ago. It's crazy to think about how there's probably a lot of other bad habits we all do subconsciously that get read by more aware players. Creepy stuff.