Improving at Smash Bros : Friendly Advice

[Conda]

Have you been finding Online Play a little bit frustrating? Feel like you've hit a brick wall? You know you need to improve, but simply practicing doesn't seem to be doing it.

The best way to improve at playing Super Smash Bros, whether you are a casual or competitive players, is to practice. Of course. But how can you guide your practice and learn WHAT to practice?

Watch videos.
Seriously, watch to learn what to practice and how. Seeing high level players fight with commentary is a very different experience from watching For Glory replays on your own.

There are so many good Smash videos being made on twitch and youtube. Just google video search "Competitive Smash Bros" and sort by videos posted in the past month or two. If you did it right - and it's not rocket science - you'll find a ton of videos that will help you quickly learn how to improve.

Just by watching higher level play with commentary, and watching consciously and paying attention, you can get better. Watching gameplay with non-player commentary is helpful for this. You'll be subconsciously adjusting your playstyle and adapting new tricks, and will know what to practice and improve upon. After watching, go out and practice. Rinse and repeat.

Things you can learn:

• clever ways to use seemingly weak attacks
• when to and when *not* to roll
• how to overcome certain matchups
• how to defeat characters that seem very powerful
• when to grab and how often
• safest ways to recover when your opponent is edgeguarding
• how to punish people who repeatedly use certain moves, such as grabs, rolls, projectiles, etc
• how to utilize fastfalling and shorthops
• how to utilize platforms in new and useful ways
• item throwing tricks
• how to trick your opponent and bait them into being hit
• etc

Dota 2, Starcraft 2, and LoL players know how important it is to stay up to date on how competitive players are playing and what new strategies are working.

So hop on google (or whatever you use) and find yourself some Competitive Smash Bros videos. If you're a competitive minded player, you'll be learning from other players and listening to helpful commentary. If you are a casual player, you'll learn things that help you beat your friends!

Watch, then practice. Practice, then watch.

No pro basketball player doesn't watch other players play to learn how to improve, and no street basketball player as a kid didn't learn new tricks from watching NBA games.

From pro sports like Basketball and Football to pro games like Starcraft 2 to LoL, it is clear that watching other players play with good commentary is very important and helpful. And it's enjoyable too!

- Cobbs, your friendly neighbourhood Smash commentator.
Channel: www.youtube.com/cobbsgames

 

[<π]

Nice post. I like adding my two cents though. Practice is HUGE. But keep this in mind practice does not make you perfect. Practice makes you consistent. Learning through studying what others have done before you (videos, posts like this one, percentage data, frame data, adv. tech, top players (and even low level players once you have a good understanding of the game) opinions on match ups) and also learning through experimenting with new things. Does this work? That doesn't work? Should they work? And they figuring out the why to all of those through repetition and observation. THAT is huge too.

Study, experiment, and then practice what you learn until it is consistent.

 

[ATH_]

Practice matchups online and by watching said matchups.
Practice consistency of ATs and tricks offline (Training mode) and general skill building with a buddy offline.

I'd also like to point out that I love this thread's OP, because I've ALWAYS told my friends to do this, but they always seem to be bored of watching a high level Smasher. I don't understand it. I totally get them having a different way of learning, but watching people will always teach unique techniques to people who are inexperienced. Idk. It bothers me a bit, but I don't pressure them into it anymore. I just sort of say, "*insert twitch channel* is streaming a Smash tournament. Here's the link if you wanna watch." at this point.

 

[Conda]

Practice matchups online and by watching said matchups.
Practice consistency of ATs and tricks offline (Training mode) and general skill building with a buddy offline.

I'd also like to point out that I love this thread's OP, because I've ALWAYS told my friends to do this, but they always seem to be bored of watching a high level Smasher. I don't understand it. I totally get them having a different way of learning, but watching people will always teach unique techniques to people who are inexperienced. Idk. It bothers me a bit, but I don't pressure them into it anymore. I just sort of say, "*insert twitch channel* is streaming a Smash tournament. Here's the link if you wanna watch." at this point.

I think part of it is that so much of the great Smash content is on twitch or livestream VODs, which for many people may not be their desired way to watch gaming content, even if it's tournament content. Making competitive content more accessible and enjoyable for those who don't find Twitch VODs to be their thing is part of my deallio. It's a lot of work but it's great that we're all working together to share great Smash content for a wide variety of people.

At the end of the day, the more players who seek to improve, the healthier the Smash scene is. Spectating is a huge part of what makes a successful e-sport/pro-game.

 

[Conda]

Good comment from reddit:

Don't just "watch" footage, watch consciously, watch with an aim, watch for specifics and don't be afraid to rewatch parts of videos.

 

[FimPhym]

If you are playing for glory, whenever you lose save the replay. Always. Watch it and see what you were doing that got punished and what they were doing that you didn't pick up on during the match. Once you start to recognise patterns in replays out of games, you will become faster at spotting it in the heat of battle.

If you are playing people offline, talk to them. Anyone with a desire to improve will be happy to give feedback on what stuff you need to do less, and scary stuff you are not using enough.

 

[Henry Ehlers]

Question: how do you propose one practices proper technique implementation?
I agree that watching competitive matches and pro-players is extremely beneficial, but this doesn't qualify as practice - it's research of sorts. Implementing what you have seen is the problem: playing online is the "brick wall" you describe and I feel playing CPU's hardly emulates the experience of online play, even at level 9.
I am asking primarily because I am in exactly this situation^^