Input Assist

[AlgonquinArto]

I been playing Project M for about 3 weeks now. In the second week I stumbled upon the menu option for the input assist and decided I definitely want to "Play with precise timing on controller inputs" I changed the option and have had it on since. Yesterday my room mate brings over two of her friends who also play P:m. I boot up the game head for the menu switched the input assist "ON" and one of them looks at me like i burned the bible. "Dude don't be a scrub" is the first thing he says to me so I turn it off, they are guests and I was just going to let how i play speak for me.. My question to you rich $90,000 dollar having smash community is how do you guys feel about it (input assist)? Upon further research i realized a a lot of the P:M tournaments leave the assist off... Do pros not wan't to "play with precise timing on their controller inputs"?!

Thank you.

 

[Rikana]

If by "precise timing" you mean "preferred timing" then yes. Its a norm within the smash community to have buffer, aka input assist, turned off for tournaments. We're not stopping you from using it, but it definitely does make some technical things easier. Project M is already much easier than Melee in terms of tech skills.. so I don't see much of a reason why people would want it on.

Everyone I play with in person doesn't turn it on.

 

[-Ran]

Most players I know prefer to have their precise timing earned, not given by an option. It is provided as a means to aid people who cannot access the tech levels required to play the game on their own. It will never be a tournament enabled option; by most player's standards it's a handicap system.

 

[DvarakElt]

It's a training tool. You probably shouldn't use it in real matches.

 

[Greenpoe]

It might be more difficult in the short term to play with it off, but it'll definitely help you in the long term to leave it off.

 

[Tlock]

It was put in the game as a help for brawl players to get use to playing without buffer, it is not beneficial to use IMO as you are gimping yourself from playing the game to its fullest. I do not know of anyone who plays with it on honestly.

Brawl has 10 frames of buffer. (google "buffer ssbb" if you want to know what buffer actually does)

Input assist is 3 frames of buffer.

PM without input assist on has 0 frames of buffer.

Melee has 0 frames of buffer.

Input assist is not turned on at tournaments and high level players do not play with it on. There was a very good sonic player who used it back in 2.1 before they changed it to be universal to every player if it was turned on. His amazing play was more or less chopped down and he was not given any credit because he had buffer on.

 

[AlgonquinArto]

Thanks for the feedback gentlemen I have been playing without the input assist and after a couple of days my timing was no longer an issue.

 

[TheReflexWonder]

Something unique about Melee compared to other fighting games is that there are no buffer frames to cover slight timing mistakes. Other fighting game players would argue that it's miniscule and allows players to actually focus on the gameplay, rather than what buttons you're pressing, but, most Melee players herald it as a chance to master button presses completely.

I personally think being so unnecessarily strict is a little silly, forcing people to spend hours practicing things something you already know you want to do, but can't because the inputs are so tight. I'd much rather focus on ways to improve my overall gameplay instead of spending an awful lot of time practicing muscle memory by rote practice to do something I already know how to do.

In my experience, a lot of people don't really care either way. Gentlemen's Rule at tournaments allows people to turn it on if the other guy doesn't mind, and I've seen that happen a lot for newer players. It shouldn't really affect gameplay in a significant, game-changing way.