I choose ... IDK - My continuous character crisis

[JacK from Canada]

Hello everyone my name is Jackson, tag JacK (JacKfromCanada) and I'm a smasher from Ontario and I would like to talk to you about a problem that has plagued my entire smash career the problem, The inability to find a Main.



Lets start when this problem began, it was almost 2 years ago when I entered the competitive scene and I was still very impressionable and was told to drop my casual main Kirby because,



"low tiers are a bad choice and cannot win".



That was where my problem began. After this point I was on the hunt for a Main a character who could represent me, but alas it wasn't so easy for me. Since a young age I have always SUCKED at making decisions, but my even bigger problem was and is STICKING to my decisions. How does this relate to Melee? you may be wondering, well this is the basis for my eternal character crisis.



Now it's time for the meat and potatoes of this post, my problem and how it relates to Melee. OK so after I was given the info by this PRed player in my region (#4) I wanted to find a character that would fit so I picked Ganon cause, I really don't know. After two days I saw Marth and was like "oooh shiney" and THAT is my problem. There is always something better. I always decide on a character and then see another who looks cooler and switch, never staying (usually switch after less than a week, even days in some cases either because of that or because I feel discouraged). That reason and the fact that I get bored when I play a character too long, for example the closest thing to a main I ever had was Peach who I played for a month because I needed an easy character for my first tourney in a new town, but after a month I got bored and am now back in this spiral of,



Pick, see something cool, switch, repeat



I've been at this for 2 years and feel like giving up at this point it sucks. Like it feels like the grass is always greener with another character.



Also I like but people say it sucks to play him, they will stunt my growth, and they suck. Like I have fun playing them but when I sit down and think about it I think

I'll never be good if I play this character




TL;DR I don't have a main and when I think I wanna main a character I ALWAYS inevitably switch

 

[JacK from Canada]

T E N - C H A R A C T E R S

 

[KEYLIME SSB]

My philosophy is that my I play several different characters for different Matchups. For example, I mostly play Luigi, but I will couterpick young link against Marth and puff players now occasion though, the only way to outspace marth players is to play Marth. (yes, this actually works.) against particularly good spacies players I'll play Puff as a mixup. If I feel like sandbagging, I play Game and watch. I also play pikachu against particularly clunky characters. My philosophy is that you don't strictly need a main. Just learn every character.

 

[Fearitself]

I spent pretty much the entirety of Brawl's existence playing random. I'm a former Fox main and I didn't like Fox in Brawl so I never truly had a main. I just wanna tell you that's ok. The vast majority of us aren't pros, we have lots of secondaries bc it's more fun to play different characters than to play the same character for hours. It's likely never going to be about money so just play whatever makes you happy that day. If you like kirby go kirby.

Now with that said kirby and roy are both trash. If you are entering tournies or playing friendlies, whatever it is those characters are bottom tier and will effect how good you can be. I could suggest marth instead of roy and puff instead of kirby. I personally think both marth and puff are fun to play.

Try not to worry about having a main as a means of your identity. There are dualmains and trimains out there so no reason you can't be a hexamain or decamain if you want. You can just say you're a "Jack of all trades" kinda main. =)

 

[Pauer]

It depends a lot on what you want personally. If your main goal ist to improve then sticking to one character from the top 8 is definitely the best option. You also talk about expressing yourself through the character you play and in my experience, that requires a thorough mastery of not only the control of your character but also a solid foundation in the more abstract sense of decision making that you will only achieve at a certain level of gameplay. So in that case, I would also recommend sticking to one character for most of your time playing so you can really internalize your character's movement and common tactics in micro-situations.
If you just want to have fun, then do whatever makes you happy.

 

[Skittles03]

Choosing a main is extremely difficult because you have to balance a variety of factors to choose. Viability, Fun Level, Matchups, Tech Skill etc. I would recommend starting with a character that teaches you the fundamentals of the game fairly well (ex. Falcon or Sheik). When you have the basic techniques down like Wavedashing and L-Cancelling with your character, you could either stay with that character or move to another character. In my opinion, the most fun characters are Falco (when you have all the required tech skill) Peach (mostly for Float-Cancels and sick edgeguards) and Mario (for his straightforward combo game and SCORP!!!) For your problem with sticking with decisions, perhaps dual maining wouldn’t be a terrible idea (wouldn’t recommend though). Also keep your pocket pocket Roy, cause he’s dope and everyone will be embarrassed losing to a Roy .

 

[Oskurito]

It depends on your goals. If you are in only for the fun, keep switching into whatever you feel like playing at the moment. If you want to get good at the game, pick a couple of characters and try to learn every trick and tech with them. Who knows, you might find leaning towards one of them cause you enjoy him/her more.

 

[Actem]

Maybe just choose a few characters that you like. They don't have to be top-tier, but definitely not trash characters and should be competitively viable.

So not Kirby.

It's okay to change your character depending on the matchup. Just make sure you know the mandatory ins-and-outs of the character you are using.

Maybe you will finally settle then and hone in your skills with 1-2 characters. You really should do this if you want to git supr gud.

You don't have to represent yourself with a main. You can represent yourself with your style of play, character choices, etc.

 

[Lukingordex]

If you don't care about serious competition then pick whatever you like.

If you do, do the following:
Pretend that the only playable characters in the game are Fox, Falco, Marth, Sheik, Puff, Peach, Falcon and ICs. Try all of those characters and choose the one you will feel more confortable with. After that, you should stay with just that one character.

 

[AAAAAA]

Hello everyone my name is Jackson, tag JacK (JacKfromCanada) and I'm a smasher from Ontario and I would like to talk to you about a problem that has plagued my entire smash career the problem, The inability to find a Main.



Lets start when this problem began, it was almost 2 years ago when I entered the competitive scene and I was still very impressionable and was told to drop my casual main Kirby because,



"low tiers are a bad choice and cannot win".



That was where my problem began. After this point I was on the hunt for a Main a character who could represent me, but alas it wasn't so easy for me. Since a young age I have always SUCKED at making decisions, but my even bigger problem was and is STICKING to my decisions. How does this relate to Melee? you may be wondering, well this is the basis for my eternal character crisis.



Now it's time for the meat and potatoes of this post, my problem and how it relates to Melee. OK so after I was given the info by this PRed player in my region (#4) I wanted to find a character that would fit so I picked Ganon cause, I really don't know. After two days I saw Marth and was like "oooh shiney" and THAT is my problem. There is always something better. I always decide on a character and then see another who looks cooler and switch, never staying (usually switch after less than a week, even days in some cases either because of that or because I feel discouraged). That reason and the fact that I get bored when I play a character too long, for example the closest thing to a main I ever had was Peach who I played for a month because I needed an easy character for my first tourney in a new town, but after a month I got bored and am now back in this spiral of,



Pick, see something cool, switch, repeat



I've been at this for 2 years and feel like giving up at this point it sucks. Like it feels like the grass is always greener with another character.



Also I like but people say it sucks to play him, they will stunt my growth, and they suck. Like I have fun playing them but when I sit down and think about it I think

I'll never be good if I play this character




TL;DR I don't have a main and when I think I wanna main a character I ALWAYS inevitably switch

I would just try comparing the pros and cons of everyone then make a final decision. I would also try to keep low tiers just for friendlies, because youll have a hard time winning no matter how good you are.

 

[usuk]

My philosophy is that my I play several different characters for different Matchups. For example, I mostly play Luigi, but I will couterpick young link against Marth and puff players now occasion though, the only way to outspace marth players is to play Marth. (yes, this actually works.) against particularly good spacies players I'll play Puff as a mixup. If I feel like sandbagging, I play Game and watch. I also play pikachu against particularly clunky characters. My philosophy is that you don't strictly need a main. Just learn every character.

I don't think that's the right philosophy for improvement, ask most top players and they'll tell you that sticking to one char helps a person improve the most ( low level people don't lose based on matchups, they lose based on skill)