Smash Wii U Melee player looking for advice for Sm4sh

[Twunt]

A brief note on my situation: I'm primarily a melee player, but thought it would be fun to enter the singles tourney for Smash 4 at Pound. I've played a ton of smash since smash 64, but have only played Smash 4 maybe twice. My expectations are low but I'd like to give it the best shot I can given my limited opportunities to practice. I will probably only have a few hours to practice during the actual event, so I only plan on playing a handful of characters at most to figure out what might work for me.

So, my question to you experienced folk out there is primarily about the feel of the characters in the cast. Is there any characters that really "feel" like their melee counterparts that would make the transition fairly easy to this game? Maybe something like a similar moveset, playstyle, etc. I understand there are a ton of mechanical changes just between the games, but was looking for advice on where to start preferably from someone who has made the transition from melee to smash 4. I'm not interested in any long-term solutions, per se, as I'm really only looking for advice on how to best succeed in this one tournament with limited preparation.

Any advice or help given my situation would be much appreciated

 

[IntriguedGamer]

Honestly I would say Mario. He is good at just about everything and his combos are pretty easy to memorize (D-throw+U-tilt just for one). He is solid and can play the campy game or full on aggro. Although I am not well versed in Melee, Mario is a good character to start off learning the basics with.

 

[Twunt]

I was leaning toward Mario as well. He seems so fundamental and... basic? Plus the combo you mentioned as well as some Uair chains I've seen look similar to comparable melee combos.

I appreciate the input!

 

[Zarxrax]

I feel like Fox is probably the character who plays most similarly to melee IN GENERAL, in the sense that he is capable of very fast and crisp movement, but the character himself is completely different than melee fox. Here is a pretty solid video about his movement options: https://youtu.be/re9v_LyqG8k

But as for someone who's general moveset and stuff transfers over easily... I guess I would probably agree that mario is probably the character that plays most similarly to his melee counterpart. Maybe Peach as well. Just dont expect any melee combos or tech to transfer over.

 

[MrStardustRicon]

Mario, Falcon, and Fox are at least kinda close to their melee counterparts. Alternatively both Cloud and Corrin are kinda similar to melee Marth. Mario and Cloud are most likely the most "pick up and play" type characters so I would say those would be your best bet.

 

[Twunt]

This is great advice guys - exactly what I was looking for when making this thread. I really appreciate the help.

I'm probably going to go Mario since he has been the common denominator here, and will spend a bit on the others mentioned as well to see if I like the feel. I've spent a good amount of time in other games with Mario as well, so I'm pretty confident I can pick him up pretty quickly.

My goal is one win, wish me luck

 

[Zarxrax]

If you are going with mario, the basic strategy that people use against me on for glory all the time (and works pretty well actually) is as follows: Charge up your down-b immediately. Do fireballs and stuff in neutral until you can get a grab, then throw them off-stage. Try to do a forward air to spike, or catch their landing with an upsmash or another grab. If they have a recovery that doesn't ledge snap like cloud or shulk or little mac, use that water jet to push them away. Go for more grabs and keep throwing them off stage. Mario has a great grab. If you get caught in a combo maybe throw out a nair.

 

[Chief Hotsuin]

Overall, the game's much more defensive and slow than Melee (not as slow or polarized as Brawl, though), with much less hitstun. lf you want as "Melee" a character as you can have, try either maybe Cloud, Fox, or sorta Sheik, if you can edgeguard. Plus, look up Extended Dash Dancing, Perfect Pivots, and Bidou Tech from the My Smash Corner YouTube Channel. See if you can apply any of these, at least the dash dancing, which Cloud'll enjoy.

 

[DPKdebator]

I agree with the other posters here that Mario is a good character to start out with. Something that hasn't been mentioned yet is that when you respawn, you have just enough invincible time to recharge your down-b, so try and make sure that's the first thing you do. I you're charging and your foe comes to attack you, roll away by tilting the control stick (it's automatic) and your charge will be saved to finish up later if you do not get hit while charging (getting hit while not charging does not reset it). Another little tip I have for you is to finish the d-throw to u-tilt combo with a u-air or u-smash. I wish you luck with training!