Joining Melee

[KetchupKaffei]

Hello, for a long time I have enjoyed playing Brawl and recently Smash 4 over the years now.
Along the way criticizing the competitive play in melee unaware of it's other side as I played brawl. I never knew super smash bros was competitive.
I sought the game to be unfair though, but after awhile I seemed to really enjoy the gameplay of top players.
Comparing all smash games, spectating wise, melee was by far superior in many ways, and later on I enjoyed the pro scene.
Though I never thought of playing because I feared the game is not as assessable/hands on as Brawl and Smash 4, so I had doubts of trying.
This week though, I decided to give it a try and buy the game.

I have several questions though, that I'm not sure of:

I'm thinking of buying a Wii instead of a gamecube since it has backwards compatibility and can play wii games. The thing I'm not sure of is the tvs we have now and days, including mine have hdmi ports and none of the color component cords for the Wii. Is there a Hdmi or some way to plug my wii into my tv?

When I get the game, I want to play fox, but recently I heard more information about Hax's situation on his wrist, which reminded me. So I'm little worried about ending up like him if I were to play fox and come to this. Yea, I know others play fox but I rather not risk it to be the one of the rare few that get hand surgerys for playing.

Last one, I don't really/ I don't know anyone around in my area that plays melee. I'm sure I could find some, but I'm not exactly sure. So I also plan on getting melee on my pc so I could play online, though I don't know how the online is. Is there input lag? Is it accurate? Is it playable?

These are questions from a newcomer that wants to play melee.

 

[Dolla Pills]

Welcome to the Melee boards! I'll try to answer your questions

1) Because Melee is a very fast and precise game input lag has a huge effect on the ability to play competitively. Most HDTV's have very noticeable input lag and make playing competitive Melee less enjoyable. Most people buy a CRT as these types of TV's are able to display the GC/Wii images very quickly and they have composite connections that you can hook your console up to. Recently, the Sewell HDMI adapter has risen in popularity. It allows you to get 480p HDMI signal from your Wii with virtually no extra lag, and when you couple that with a low lag gaming monitor you can have the CRT experience without the huge CRT. Unfortunately, most HDTV's add a significant amount of input lag in extra processes so even using this adapter in conjunction with a standard TV will likely be unsatisfactory.

2) I believe Hax's hand problems are not solely the cause of playing Melee, but rather is more than likely an unavoidable condition that he has to deal with. That being said, it is common for Melee players to over stress and experience pain in their hands, and this happens oftentimes regardless of character. However, siting with proper posture, keeping a loose grip, playing in moderation, and other practices can prevent hand pain / injuries.

3) You can play Melee online through use of the Netplay tool on the Dolphin emulator (for PC). It's not exactly like playing in person in terms of lag, but most people will say it's decent enough. Personally I don't really like it but many others enjoy it a lot especially with lower lag options like "Faster Melee" being available. It is still good to keep practicing with people in person though so even if you get into Netplay I'd advise you to find a local Melee scene and join in

 

[ThunderCat]

Welcome to Melee!

 

[Ezlo]

As Dolla Pills mentioned, you should invest in a CRT for melee (there's ways to fix or test some HDTVs or monitors to make them lagless, but most people just get CRTs anyways because you can find them for less than 10 dollars used.)

Don't stress about playing Fox because of hand health. Hax's condition is unique to say the least (barely documented in the history of people) and is not solely because of playing Fox. That being said, once you begin to get your tech skill down, it's not a bad idea to learn some ways to stretch your hand out before you play, be conscious of how you're sitting, etc. It'll help you in the long run (whether or not you play Fox or even play melee.)

Netplay is fine, but if you *possibly* can, attend tournaments or find people to play with. If you live in the US, chances are this won't be TOO difficult -- there aren't many cities where you have to drive more than 2-3 hours (MAX) to find a weekly or monthly tournament.
Most weeklies have a facebook group, or you can find them on Smashboards with the tournament finder ( https://smashboards.com/forums/tournament-listings.51/ )

 

[KetchupKaffei]

Oh, so even if I was able to plug it in, there would be input lag? I mean how bad is? Not a whole second or half is it? If it's less than half or a whole second, I'll try to cope.
I don't know where I could get a CRT and if I were to get one, I don't know where I put it honestly. I hope this doesn't stop me from getting into Melee.

So I can still play fox? Thats great, I might play as Falco too. I really miss this game, I was at least 11 when I played this game to death.

Is the netplay comparable to smash 4 or project 64? Playing netplay with Super smash bros for n64 was on point mostly. If it's also less than half or a whole second I could try to cope with it.

I live in Plantation, Florida.
Is there a way to look up online hang outs for melee?

 

[Dolla Pills]

Yeah Netplay is fine.

As for HDTV lag I have a TV that was also designed as a computer monitor (a long time ago though lol) and it has upwards of 28ms of lag which makes it not comfortable to play on (as an aside I currently play on a gaming monitor, not that TV). Some TV's may be more or less but I doubt that you have a low lag TV

 

[Ezlo]

Less than half a second is still a BIG deal when playing melee competitively. I honestly would just recommend going on Craig's List and finding one, they aren't obsolete like the virtual boy and there's a lot of people looking to get rid of them. For you right now it might not seem like a huge deal, but it can and will affect your playing. Take this post, for instance: https://smashboards.com/threads/issues-with-dexterity.438726/
tl;dr he thought he had issues with his own dexterity and skill, but in actuality he just had an LCD with lag. If you can, do your best to get something as lagless as possible.

 

[YamiFury]

Just drive down a few streets and you're sure to eventually find a CRT on the side of the road.