How To Teach Someone Smash?

[Budget Player Cadet_]

So I'm trying to teach someone how to play Super Smash Bros WiiU. This is someone with virtually no prior experience in the series whatsoever (never played much, never watches streams, etc.), and I'm not entirely sure where to start, to be honest. We've tried just jumping right into it, but she does not know what to do in most situations, and I'm honestly at a loss when it comes to how to show her. I'd love to introduce her to this game, but I'm not sure where to start; where the most fundamental aspects lie. Any suggestions on how to go forward? How to explore this game from the perspective of a complete novice, with little to no understanding of the mechanics?

 

[The_Altrox]

You must recover.

No seriously, does she get recovering? Whenever I see somebody play these games for the first time, unless they watch streams or youtube vids, they often don't grasp the concept of recovery right away. I'd actually start there, but if she gets that...

Who does she like to play as? I'd say you'd want her to experiment with lots of characters, but who does she like atm?

 

[ParanoidDrone]

Maybe try some co-op classic mode on a low difficulty? Alternatively, team battles against a weak AI.

Either way, it's a combination of less pressure due to low difficulty and an extra body (you) to throw at the opponent and bodyguard your friend. Along the way, maybe try talking them through their moves. (Probably best if you pick the same character so you can demonstrate.)

Also what Altrox said about recovery being one of the first things to worry about teaching. I've also noticed in videos of "random people play Smash" is that the new players never use anything more than their double jump. Using an attack explicitly as a movement option isn't necessarily intuitive. Heaven help you if they're using Ness...

 

[Indigo Jeans]

The basics are always nice. I've found that for some reason people tend to have trouble jumping and getting back onstage. Show them how you jump, and that you can move while in the air. It's probably best to have them start off with tap jump since that's a pretty intuitive way of learning that. Then show them that you can do special moves by pressing B + a direction, and that most of the time you can get a third jump by pressing B at the same time you would do a regular jump.

Jumping and aerial mobility is flat out the most important thing to teach people imo. Shield stuff comes last.

 

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Is this person actually interested in becoming competitive, or are they just looking to have fun with the game? If it's the latter, I'd recommend the game's various cooperative modes. Maybe sit down to make some goofy stages in the stage creator, things like that. When it comes to introducing a game you like to somebody else, it's best not to not show off how serious you feel about Smash. You don't want this person to feel pressured to perform.

If they do want to become competitive, then I'd get to work finding great guides you could link for them, and extremely hype matches featuring prominent players and commentators. I remember thinking competitive Smash was lame until I was shown videos by this guy in high school. I had to have somebody show me that these players were still having fun with the game, despite how it looked from the outside. Do they have a favorite character? Find some matches showing off what the competitive scene does with that character, and it'll help them get an idea of what they should be doing. Maybe you can pop some popcorn and watch the Smash Bros. documentary. That's always fun. Drumming up interest for the game is the best way to keep their attention when you try to introduce general concepts to them.

 

[Budget Player Cadet_]

I'm in luck in that she does understand recovery to some degree (although she keeps on getting stuck under the stage). She's started on Sonic, who's probably a pretty good choice to figure out movement options, recovery, jumping, etc. - if you can handle Sonic's speed, you can get a pretty good feel for spacing with most characters. Yesterday we went over some of the options available, and we're getting somewhere. She's not exactly "never touched the series before" bad; she knows the basic inputs. Just... Not fluently. It's like a street fighter player who can't do a DP, but knows how a heavy punch works.

 

[mobilisq]

I'd start someone off on the n64 version, then graduate them to the current iteration so they can learn what was added and changed

 

[Raijinken]

Teaching people takes a lot of patience, but the important thing is they have to enjoy the game at least a bit to begin with. Do as much as you can to ensure that happens.

1. Find out which match format she enjoys most. 1v1 against humans, 1v1 against CPUs (or Amiibos), FFA, 2v2 with human teammate, 2v2 with CPU teammate, etc. Especially if this person is someone you want to be particularly, uh, friendly or affectionate toward, I suggest 2v2 against CPUs, no friendly fire. Leave pause on, timer off, let her pick the stage, and try to let her do as much of the fighting as you can. Classic can also be fine for this, now that I think about it.
2. Suggest she either play her favorite character (if she has one, based on out-of-Smash experience and preference), or Random until she finds one she likes.
3. Using the above, just play a lot. For that matter, if she wants to, just re-beat the game. Go through Event Mode, classic, lots of VS. Play casually but often. Casual level play is actually a really nice (if inefficient) way to learn the basics, as long as its frequent. Bump the difficulty up as you see her improving. Or, grab an Amiibo, reset it, and use that as her training partner.
4. Every now and then, do a 1v1 training fight. Not in Training Mode, but just set time to infinite, pick a stage (whatever works for her), and then test her on specific moves and whatnot. See if she can dodge a grab. See if she can dodge and punish a grab. Pretend it's like traditional fighting games' challenge mode or something like that. Come up with tasks, and see how well she can complete them.
5. Stay positive. Keep mental track of how far she's come and blow that up as needed for encouragement. If something isn't working, move on.
6. Use custom stages for specific tricks. If you want to teach wall-jumping, or planking, ledge trumping, etc, just make a stage for it. Then, once she knows the theory, go to a regular stage and practice there.

Good luck!

 

[ParanoidDrone]

I'm in luck in that she does understand recovery to some degree (although she keeps on getting stuck under the stage). She's started on Sonic, who's probably a pretty good choice to figure out movement options, recovery, jumping, etc. - if you can handle Sonic's speed, you can get a pretty good feel for spacing with most characters. Yesterday we went over some of the options available, and we're getting somewhere. She's not exactly "never touched the series before" bad; she knows the basic inputs. Just... Not fluently. It's like a street fighter player who can't do a DP, but knows how a heavy punch works.

Ugh, DP motions are the devil. I still flub them half the time. And charge inputs are right out.

If she knows on an intellectual level how to do fsmash or uspecial or dair, then it seems like it's just a matter of practice more than anything.

 

[Luigi player]

1. explain what you have to do to win / not lose ((how to) beat stocks / have a lead when time runs out)
2. let her choose a main and teach her all the moves a character can do
3. teach her to recover
4. tell her about which moves beat which others (block > attacks; grab > block; dodge > attacks, some other moves have more disjointedness than others etc (tell her which ones have good range and often beat others etc))
5. when she's used to play, practice a lot with her until she's somewhat decent
6. go deeper into the mental aspect of Smash about reading your opponent / some setups to start combos / get kills etc.
7. practice even more (let her play more other people so she's not only playing one person)

 

[Wintropy]

This is a really good thread. Very noble goal, and we've got some good insights so far.

I know that, whenever I play a new fighting game for the first time, I try out every character and get accustomed to their moves and playstyle; then I play consistently until I find my favourite, and I focus on getting better with them for a while. Having a solid conduit for your efforts is a great first step. Though it seems like your friend has already got that covered, which helps.

If she understands the basics, I'd recommend engaging in some light sparring with her yourself. Don't go all-out and body her or anything, but demonstrate how an actual match works, and point out where she makes mistakes and how to improve on them. Teach through demonstration and learn through experience. When she's able to transform theory into practice and demonstrate her skills by herself, then you'll be able to move onto the next level and teach her the more complex stuff.

Baby steps. Everybody's still a student in some respects, and teaching others is a great way to learn in and of yourself.

 

[Ulevo]

You don't teach them anything until they are at a point where they can handle the basic game controls. If they're having trouble with things like doing neutral airs instead of forward airs, then teaching them game theory is not productive. If you want to help them with mechanics, give them tips on how you use the controller to perform certain actions. I often find players new to the game have difficulty doing things like say short hopping for a long time, only to discover its because they never realized they could use X and Y for jump. Don't overwhelm them with information, give them do's and don'ts in small, bite size pieces after a match or few. Explain why they need to do something, don't just instruct them on what to do. And recording replays helps a lot, because you can go back to them and watch from a third party perspective on what they did wrong and what they could do to improve. Positive reinforcement whenever they do something right or well. I also recommend that you try to encourage them playing a single character if possible so it accelerates their learning, and with a higher tier character if possible. Players new to the game that cripple themselves with low tier choices may have difficulty discerning between their own play being poor and their character choice holding them back when they fail to succeed, and more powerful characters help to curb this process.

Those are just basic things.

 

[ParanoidDrone]

Another idea:

What character has the most visually distinct moves? That is, instead of possibly stumbling over terminology, if you can simply refer to the moves by what they are (like Villager's fair/bair are both slingshots) then that maybe could help the learning process.

 

[Raijinken]

Another idea:

What character has the most visually distinct moves? That is, instead of possibly stumbling over terminology, if you can simply refer to the moves by what they are (like Villager's fair/bair are both slingshots) then that maybe could help the learning process.

Villager, aside from the slingshot, has entirely distinctive moves. Link and Toon Link are pretty good for that, too. Mr Game&Watch is also decent, and Zelda and Ness aren't bad for that either. Villager's recovery probably makes him the best choice in that selection, though.

 

[Nintendrone]

I am doing a similar thing, except I'm trying to teach my brother how to perform well, as he's played all the other games and knows the basics. I'm trying to teach him one competitive trick at a time (c-stick airs, which ledge getup to use, etc.), but he either uses it infrequently (needing to be reminded a lot), forgets it the next day, or simply never does it at all. I'm not sure how to get him to remember to do these things, as he simply reverts back to the basics, as in "dash attack everywhere, spam smashes, never shield/grab". I really want him to get his Ganon to the next level, because I want more skilled competitors at our tournaments with friends as well as a sparring partner.

 

[pixelatedcody]

A easy way I've taught people who were entirely new, is to explain the Technical stuff in a barebones manner, so it's easier for the new person to grasp.

Try to make sure they have the basics down pat, then do the above, find a character they enjoy ( I always send new people to Kirby as a start, due to his recovering ability)
and then just slowly teach them the other aspects of Smash.

Patience is key.

 

[Raijinken]

A easy way I've taught people who were entirely new, is to explain the Technical stuff in a barebones manner, so it's easier for the new person to grasp.

Try to make sure they have the basics down pat, then do the above, find a character they enjoy ( I always send new people to Kirby as a start, due to his recovering ability)
and then just slowly teach them the other aspects of Smash.

Patience is key.

The barebones explanations help some people a lot. Especially if you can demonstrate the effects.

 

[rosetta_stoned]

ill share what worked for teaching my gf. While im much more into the game, and for a much longer time she is at a level where i can experiment with some moves or characters and still feel threatened, she even beats me sometimes.

Made her choose a char she was into after fooling around with a few that interested her. Made her stick with that char.

Played the same char as her for awhile vs her mostly. Didnt teach her ****, let her figure it out on her own for days. Kept the intensity waaaay down just enough to barely win but still trying to demonstrate good habbits that she could mimic - especially recovery.

Luckily we played almost every day for a bit and the first thing i explained was recovery. Kept adjusting the intensity and started to punish basic bad habbits - severly. Id verbally go over 1 or 2 things everytime we played that were things i felt i had demonstrated in my play many times so she had seen already what i was talking about - important to not overload. Let her win sometimes to not demoralize.

Needless to say i found it very effective for someone brand new to the franchise. She consistantly beats some of my friends that have been playing for a much longer time its hilarious.

 

[19_]

In terms of characters, I like to think that , , and are the best characters for a new players to pick up due to their easy recoveries, but I believe may be the best pick as a starter character.

has the most jumps (with her up b being useless) which makes her recovery the easiest to understand. Have the most air mobility also helps because it give an easier out when escaping pressure from other players. Jiggs' game plan is mostly about hit and run and with great air mobility she is easy to grasp. I honestly believe her only confusing move is rest (and sing lol), otherwise she is a very straightforward character. She also has rollout which is actually a very important move as it teaches newer players about punishment, mindgames, and control. Newer players will spam this move because of this reason but over time they will learn that that Jiggs has more than just rollout. Once they are punished enough for using rollout newer players will slowly start adding more of her options into their gameplan. Unlike Kirby who new players will do nothing but spam b moves because of there power and versatility (and I don't know about Yoshi), Jigglypuff has a moveset that is not just easy to understand but also encourages players to learn.

Add Rest to the equation and is the definition of an easy to learn - hard to master character.

Yea I won't lie, I love Smash jiggs.

 

[Sodo]

As others have mentioned, Villager is an easy character to start someone off with. All of his moves are distinct and have an item associated with them. For example, you can say "Bowling ball!" instead of "Forward Smash!" or "Turnips!" instead of "Down air!" Once the player is comfortable with the concepts of moves and their advantages/disadvantages, the game becomes much easier in my opinion. And, of course, teaching them to recover should be step one.

 

[RedBeefBaron]

Explain vital techniques like rolls, air dodges, short hopping, grabs, pivoting, perfect pivots, perfect sheilding, out of sheild options, the differences between jabs tilts smashes aerials and specials, and anything else that can be applied to all characters really. Then teach her how to practice on her own. Tell her start with low cpus and work her way up as high as she can. Once she can beat like a 6 show her the lab and how to lab (investigating how individual moves function and figuring out which part of the kit is most useful/important as a start.) Also, if she is having trouble mastering certain important normals, like nair and fair on greninja for example, tell her to fight the cpu while using only those normals and specials. This can be pretty hard but its the best way of mastering specific parts of the character. Then move onto combos and more advanced setups.

 

[Daybreak]

The 'How to play' video in the special video section is actually pretty decent. Just play Co-Op modes together and play through Classic(etc). Let her ask questions and build off of that, it's more or less something that needs to be learned by herself (she has to want it). Eventually people get tired of not recovering and soon controls will be muscle memory. The basics need to be established before any gamebreaking tech is taught. It'll come with time

Most importantly: Have fun. ( There is nothing more important than a fun learning environment).

 

[FEMARTH]

I taught my cousins how to play using a different method.

Absolutely destroying them showing no mercy. In no time at all they learned the basics and how to prevent utter annihilation

 

[Zionaze]

Falco and pit is super beginner friendly. They got that multi/high jumps, projectile, reflector, good recovery, honest moveset, and super armor move for pit.

 

[Purin a.k.a. José]

Show the commands to her, and use Mario as the base. Even Dr. Mario is good because FLUDD is more of a strategy attack, but, on the other hand, Doc's recovery sucks.

 

[axelalexzander]

I just started playing last December. Just explain the basics to them, after that it's just tons of practice. Looking back, I wish someone would have taught me how to properly dodge, power shield and grab items. That stuff took me a while to figure out.

 

[JayWon]

I wrote this awhile ago. It may help. http://smashboards.com/threads/my-e...ister-how-to-play-sm4sh.380298/#post-18080422