New Character to Pick Up?

[BigHairyFart]

I'm thinking about picking up a new character in P:M. I'm already spread out between quite a few characters, but I was wondering if there was maybe one more character I could pick up to... I don't know, fill in the blanks where my characters don't shine? What do you guys think, any characters that are relatively easy to pick up/rewarding to master?

EDIT: Dropped Mewtwo, picked up Kirby, loving him.

 

[arcticfox8]

Meta Knight
Ike
Giga Bowser

 

[QQQQQQQ7777777]

Meta Knight
Ike
Pichu

FIX'D!

 

[Hinichii.ez.™]

Can we outlaw pichu? It's ****, stop begging for it to return. There will be no, "pichu returns movie." Give that **** up.

 

[QQQQQQQ7777777]

Can we outlaw pichu? It's ****, stop begging for it to return. There will be no, "pichu returns movie." Give that **** up.

It's hilarious how you have no sense of humor.

 

[Nausicaa]

Someone who can deal with pressure that you can't keep out.
Neither Link or FE character can do so.

SOPO

 

[ChristianStewarts#1fan]

I think pichu jokes are really funny

 

[QQQQQQQ7777777]

I think pichu jokes are really funny

Thank you for contributing such rich and enlightening commentary. I have never seen such a well crafted sentence in my life.

 

[Phoenix502]

I think pichu jokes are really funny

Welcome to Smashboards, now who are you, really?

 

[ChristianStewarts#1fan]

@op i dont really believe in counterpicking, but if youre wanting a character that adds something different to your skillset (which appears to be mostly more passive characters/spacing heavy) then id recommend someone like mario, meta knight, wolf, wario, pikachu, or luigi. All of them are reasonably fast in their movements and attack speed and for the most part have lasting hit boxes on their attacks bar meta knight. These kinds of characters handle pressure better and can respond with more direct pressure which for the most part is not a strong feature of your current characters, so if you find yourself getting restless and want to play the aggresor for a change/dont want to feel backed into a corner then id suggest some of these chars

 

[ChristianStewarts#1fan]

Welcome to Smashboards, now who are you, really?

A man who sheds tears of joy with me watching christian stewart movies will always be my brother. There are no names here, only love.

 

[arcticfox8]

Can we outlaw pichu? It's ****, stop begging for it to return. There will be no, "pichu returns movie." Give that **** up.

Of course there won't. What do you think we are, idiots?

Spoiler

It's gonna be a 13 episode Netflix series

 

[Fortress]

Rule #2: Pick your character, and stay with that character.

I don't care what anyone says, picking multiple characters hurts you in the long run. It's one thing to switch characters and to just focus on that character, but I'm talking about you people out there that can't decide between Fox and Marth, you will never be good at either if you try to excel at both. They are just too different and you will at some point see smash better through either one lens or the other. But more importantly, you can't have both. If you're worried that your character isn't good enough, you may very well be right and it's time for a change. But pick one character and run with it. It just hurts your focus to do otherwise.

 

[ChristianStewarts#1fan]

While i agree with that sentiment, i also believe that you can only improve so much in day, so once ive exhausted my practice in one character i can put a little bit of attention on my secondaries as well. You can also only learn so much character specific knowledge as well, to the point where the only things you can work on are mindgames, tech skill, and fundamentals. And all of those are not specific to any one character really. Though if you have very little time to practice or you want to improve fast from the bottom, then it is smarter to focus on one character.

 

[Fortress]

It's more than character-specific knowledge, it's mastering the game through one character, to the point where you're competent enough with the huge amount of fundamentals that you can effectively transition to a secondary. Just because you happen to know all of the Link tech you can know, can do it on cue, and can do it with razor-accuracy in terms of input, does not mean you're exhibiting a mastery of the game. Character knowledge and tech knowledge will only get you so far. It will take years to develop your gamesense. It's a lot more than playing a character for a week, knowing their tricks, and deciding you're experienced enough to move on.

The way you apply those mindgames, the way you utilize your fundamentals, are going to vary hugely from character-to-character, and you will never (read as: 'never ever') truly have a developed gamesense and mastery of said fundamentals if you're constantly spreading yourself thin between two characters, such that you're never utilizing either one to their fullest.

I've got all of the time in the world to improve my game, and no improvement or serious skill developments happen 'fast from the bottom', which is why I have completely dropped Link as a secondary, and am now going to focus on learning the game through Sheik, and not just learning how to play my character. Trust me, focusing on one character helps.

 

[QQQQQQQ7777777]

M2K

 

[Fortress]

M2K

There are obvious exceptions to this, but even with those exceptions the one-character method of developing still applies. M2K played for many, many years, and during those many, many years, he played Marth. It was once he developed such a mastery of the game that he moved on to play Fox and Sheik.

These household names that we've grown accustom to, you look at any of them, and they mained their one character for a huge part of their careers.

 

[Renji64]

Donkey kong he is awesome in P:M.

 

[ChristianStewarts#1fan]

It's more than character-specific knowledge, it's mastering the game through one character, to the point where you're competent enough with the huge amount of fundamentals that you can effectively transition to a secondary. Just because you happen to know all of the Link tech you can know, can do it on cue, and can do it with razor-accuracy in terms of input, does not mean you're exhibiting a mastery of the game. Character knowledge and tech knowledge will only get you so far. It will take years to develop your gamesense. It's a lot more than playing a character for a week, knowing their tricks, and deciding you're experienced enough to move on.

The way you apply those mindgames, the way you utilize your fundamentals, are going to vary hugely from character-to-character, and you will never (read as: 'never ever') truly have a developed gamesense and mastery of said fundamentals if you're constantly spreading yourself thin between two characters, such that you're never utilizing either one to their fullest.

I've got all of the time in the world to improve my game, and no improvement or serious skill developments happen 'fast from the bottom', which is why I have completely dropped Link as a secondary, and am now going to focus on learning the game through Sheik, and not just learning how to play my character. Trust me, focusing on one character helps.

I respect your mentality, and i always admire that kind of dedication players have. However like others have described there are exceptions of course such as mango and m2k. Myself i have improved consistently and quickly without plateau and consider myself pretty strong while still being fairly young and new to the scene. I play a total of 6 characters in melee excluding low tiers and picked up 4 newones in pm, and am fairly solid with most of them and imo a few like my link are the strongest in their region. Though it might just be an experience thing since ive played most of these characters from an early age before i was competetive except for falcon falco and fox, and the former two are my worst characters and very mediocre whereas my fox is only good because ive been prioritizing him over the others and he has improved quickly. Though fundamentals and tech skill improve even when not playing a specific character, and as long as i practice at least a little bit of all my characters, they will continue to improve without much attention

 

[Fortress]

I respect your mentality, and i always admire that kind of dedication players have. However like others have described there are exceptions of course such as mango and m2k.

You are not Mango or M2K, I am not Mango or M2K. I dislike the notion that people think they can use these S-Tier players as an example for themselves. These players did not improve overnight, and they certainly did not do it by playing the board. These players played for years, and they played hard, traveled much more than you or I, played more intensely than you or I. Nobody has heard of you or I.

You say you're the strongest Link in your region, but who are you? You say that you've got this wealth of experience from playing the game since you were younger, but do you? A lot of us have played since we were much younger, and more than half of us didn't even know what an L-cancel was until we started taking it seriously. Playing six characters is going to seriously stunt your growth, trust me. You might know some dopey tech with a wider selection of characters than the next guy, but without a focused and developed gamesense through a single one of them, you will plateau, I promise.

Saying you've got these tertiary characters who have 'improved quickly' since you've focused on them means nothing. You played them for a month, okay, whatever. You learned how to shine-cancel with Fox, neat-o. Saying you've 'improved quickly' with that character means nothing, it's not relative. "I improved quickly with X roster member", compared to whom, and at what point in their career? Saying that you've 'improved' on your game with the eighteenth member of the cast doesn't mean anything.

 

[ChristianStewarts#1fan]

Yeah ive heard stuff like that before, but from everyone ive played (best in their region) theyve been impressed by my general skill and knowledge of the game, and these kinds of things were ages ago by now. So as hard as it may be to believe me (not that i need anybody to) im being as truthful as i can be to myself without having any results. However i do practice a lot, at least 3 hours at minimum every weekend, and i constantly try to improve my outlook on the game and how i perceive its mechanics. I feel like its my perspective and understanding of the game thats allowed me to improve so quickly. While i might just be another clueless scrub, i also feel like there is some truth to what i said earlier. It is possible to play several characters as long as you train correctly, just as you would train for anything else.

 

[BigHairyFart]

@op i dont really believe in counterpicking, but if youre wanting a character that adds something different to your skillset (which appears to be mostly more passive characters/spacing heavy) then id recommend someone like mario, meta knight, wolf, wario, pikachu, or luigi. All of them are reasonably fast in their movements and attack speed and for the most part have lasting hit boxes on their attacks bar meta knight. These kinds of characters handle pressure better and can respond with more direct pressure which for the most part is not a strong feature of your current characters, so if you find yourself getting restless and want to play the aggresor for a change/dont want to feel backed into a corner then id suggest some of these chars

I wanna thank you for being one of the few people in this thread to provide a constructive answer. I was thinking the same thing, about needing a character that can better handle pressure/rushdown characters. At this point, I've narrowed it down to Kirby and Mario, and to be honest, I'm leaning more towards Kirby.

 

[arcticfox8]

"Don't" is a constructive answer

 

[Fortress]

Yeah ive heard stuff like that before, but from everyone ive played (best in their region) theyve been impressed by my general skill and knowledge of the game, and these kinds of things were ages ago by now. So as hard as it may be to believe me (not that i need anybody to) im being as truthful as i can be to myself without having any results. However i do practice a lot, at least 3 hours at minimum every weekend, and i constantly try to improve my outlook on the game and how i perceive its mechanics. I feel like its my perspective and understanding of the game thats allowed me to improve so quickly. While i might just be another clueless scrub, i also feel like there is some truth to what i said earlier. It is possible to play several characters as long as you train correctly, just as you would train for anything else.

Who is 'everyone I've played', what region is this? 'Best in their region' narrows it down a lot, but who are these players? It is hard to believe you, because no player in the history of the game has so thoroughly dominated the game with eight characters. You don't have results, you've provided nothing concrete to support the merits of spreading yourself thin between eight characters. Three hours a weekend is not much, on top of things. Your perspective on the game can be one thing, you could have the best perspective on it for all it's worth, but you're not going to get near mastery of the game while playing the board.

 

[ChristianStewarts#1fan]

I wanna thank you for being one of the few people in this thread to provide a constructive answer. I was thinking the same thing, about needing a character that can better handle pressure/rushdown characters. At this point, I've narrowed it down to Kirby and Mario, and to be honest, I'm leaning more towards Kirby.

Kirby is extremely solid and versatile, hell do you good. When it comes down to picking between two character that offer the same benefits, playing the one who youll enjoy practicing and improving with will make you all the stronger because of it

 

[ChristianStewarts#1fan]

Who is 'everyone I've played', what region is this? 'Best in their region' narrows it down a lot, but who are these players? It is hard to believe you, because no player in the history of the game has so thoroughly dominated the game with eight characters. You don't have results, you've provided nothing concrete to support the merits of spreading yourself thin between eight characters. Three hours a weekend is not much, on top of things. Your perspective on the game can be one thing, you could have the best perspective on it for all it's worth, but you're not going to get near mastery of the game while playing the board.

Lol we'll see. Theres a tournament coming up that ive been looking forward to for some time, so i guess only time will tell. Its fairly large for a regional, and im pretty sure i can make top 5, which would be respectable for my first tournament and relative inexperience

 

[BigHairyFart]

Lol we'll see. Theres a tournament coming up that ive been looking forward to for some time, so i guess only time will tell. Its fairly large for a regional, and im pretty sure i can make top 5, which would be respectable for my first tournament and relative inexperience

Word of advice: don't get too cocky. I was in the same position a few weeks ago. People that I faced told me I did well for my first time, but I only wound up getting 5th in the Losers bracket.

 

[arcticfox8]

Lol we'll see. Theres a tournament coming up that ive been looking forward to for some time, so i guess only time will tell. Its fairly large for a regional, and im pretty sure i can make top 5, which would be respectable for my first tournament and relative inexperience

How do you know you're one of the best in your region if you've never been to a tournament?

 

[QQQQQQQ7777777]

How do you know you're one of the best in your region if you've never been to a tournament?

Because he's Papa+Stone...

 

[arcticfox8]

Because he's Papa+Stone...

I don't get it.

 

[QQQQQQQ7777777]

I don't get it.

Papa+Stone was a troll who said he was the best player in the world even though he admitted that he has never been to a tournament.

 

[arcticfox8]

Papa+Stone was a troll who said he was the best player in the world even though he admitted that he has never been to a tournament.

Thanks for the history lesson pops

 

[QQQQQQQ7777777]

Thanks for the history lesson pops

HELLO! I am Professor QQQQQQQ7777777, your professor, and today I shall be teaching you all about the history of the holy grounds of Asgard!

 

[BigHairyFart]

This thread got off-topic fast...

 

[GP&B]

It's really easy to want to play a lot of characters if you're a low/mid level player (not to assume such of you, but it's a general sentiment). You like to get a feel for things and your current level of skill allows you to learn a lot of fun things with a bunch of different characters. But as Fortress put it, it's very easy to plateau from here. You simply won't have a focus to work with. As you start trying to develop your skills, it's more and more important to narrow your efforts down into one primary and maybe a secondary for counterpicks. Mixups and matchups are things that you can only learn from spending a lot of time on one character. You will greatly obscure your understanding of fighting other characters by spreading yourself thin. There's no proper sort of training to somehow make this work. You need to play and observe matchups between your dedicated character and another character many times to get a grip on it, especially when it comes to counterpicks.

If you want to play around with those characters more in friendlies (I occasionally play around with Link and T. Link as I used to play them both a lot), there's certainly nothing wrong with that. If you want to actively improve past the point of technical know-how, you need experience and you need it in one character so it's much, much easier to keep track of how your character interacts with others. As a note, don't feel discouraged if you feel like you aren't 100% locking into a character choice. My switch to Ike was only two months ago if even that. I've only recently significantly improved with him because I funnel almost all of my play time into him.

As for character choices, run a secondary that counteracts some of Link's major problems (namely dealing with pressure and speed in general) if you stick with him. I run a pocket Mario (based off my Melee Doc experience) to work with Ike's otherwise abysmal options against rushdown and when I know I'm not dealing with range. The relevant counterpicks I choose him for also easily transfer over to Melee so it's a lot less effort on my side as well. Otherwise, 90% of my PM time is put into Ike.

 

[ChristianStewarts#1fan]

Word of advice: don't get too cocky. I was in the same position a few weeks ago. People that I faced told me I did well for my first time, but I only wound up getting 5th in the Losers bracket.

I play better with a few enemies. Gives me something to work towards. Plus i have actually played with high level players who consistently place high at tournaments and i can safely say that im stronger than anyone on these boards. Especially haters like fortress

 

[Vashimus]

Fortress, you've just been put on notice. Stop hatin.

 

[Deleted member]

I play better with a few enemies. Gives me something to work towards. Plus i have actually played with high level players who consistently place high at tournaments and i can safely say that im stronger than anyone on these boards. Especially haters like fortress

I almost had the same exact attitude as you, thinking I would wreck everyone at my first tournament. (I actually thought I would get 1st at Road To WHOBO #5, even though I haven't played Brawl since 2011)

I went to my first tournament, with a broken wrist, and got a reality check. I learned that they're are people way better than me and if I wanted to beat them or be in the same league as them, I had to become better.

I don't suggest going to a tournament with that attitude, you're going to get bodied and you will get upset thinking that there's no way you'll ever catch up to top players and you'll quit. Trust me, I had about three friends from school do that and they don't play competitive Smash anymore.

 

[Fortress]

Fortress, you've just been put on notice. Stop hatin.

Bah, we'll see about that.

I play better with a few enemies. Gives me something to work towards. Plus i have actually played with high level players who consistently place high at tournaments and i can safely say that im stronger than anyone on these boards. Especially haters like fortress

We'll see, when this 'major tournament' with 'major players' in this undisclosed location gets played out. If you are Papa+Stone, then I reeeeeeeeeally hope for your sake that you actually did improve. Though, last I was aware, you mained strictly Mario.

 

[ChristianStewarts#1fan]

Papa+Stone was a troll who said he was the best player in the world even though he admitted that he has never been to a tournament.

I would only be a troll if i had no results to back up my claims, but luckily i do, ive sparred against the top players of my region and they would all tell you how good i am if you ask them. I know how much people hate a prodigy or being shown up by someone who is more recent to the scene, but im pretty much the mango of pm lmao. Im keeping record of any and all nonbelievers so once i break the ive and expose my raw naked talent itll be me, not you calling the shots.