Q&A Official FAQ and QnA Thread - Ask Your Questions Here!

[Acorn]

Lowell, one really important aspect of this game is thinking about what to do in any given situation, and being prepared for it. Being able to react to your opponent and punish will not only give you the edge, but make your opponent feel less confident in what they're doing. Wavedashing allows you to set these sorts of situations up, because it helps you gain the positioning you want while still having access to all of your main offensive and defensive options, plus you have the advantage of reaction time because you set the situation up. Defensively, you can wavedash away from aerials and grabs to get solid punishes, and this also forces your opponent to be more thoughtful and have to make guesses with their approaches. You can also use them offensively, like when you're in a neutral situation, run straight at your opponent and as soon as you enter your opponents attack/grab range, immediately wavedash back out. In a situation like this, you're testing your opponent to see what they'll do, and your superior positioning will allow you to follow up based off of the action they take. (This is especially helpful for Roy's superior range and his counter.) In this situation, for instance...
- If they shield with a large shield, you can dash jump-cancel grab them
- If they shield with a small/diminishing shield, you can safely dtilt them and possibly get a shield poke (or other forms of shield pressure)
- If they spotdodge, you can punish it (with roy, probably dtilt or dash JC grab since fsmash might be too slow)
- If they go for a grab, you'll easily avoid it and can whiff punish (with roy, usually fsmash)
- If they jump away, you can try to chase them with a f-air/u-air or just take stage control
- If they jump towards you, you can simply wavedash back again and act from there (fsmash is often good here)
- If they jump towards you and attack, you can counter them as Roy
- if they roll away, you can chase it and grab. If they roll towards, they'll literally roll right into you and you can do whatever

And these don't even begin to cover all of the options, let alone wanting to mixup and do less predictable things. This also doesn't consider stage positioning, abusing specific character matchups, and what you would do differently based on their current percent. And this, of course, is only one vague situation in a game with infinite any situations. Ultimately, this game is incredibly complex so don't worry about not understanding everything quite yet. It definitely comes with a LOT of time, experience, and most of all, thought. Hope this helps~

Wow thanks for this.

I'm coming off of getting kind of decent with Falco. Against most people I play against, extreme laser pressure and pure techskill is enough to just overwhelm them. In general, I'm pretty bad at playing against what the opponent is doing since it never used to really matter. With Roy I want to really learn about reading and covering options. Your scenario here is a nice example of what I'm trying to learn right now.

 

[Krynxe]

No problem, glad I could help

There's plenty of people on the smashboards that are more than willing to help out. In general, the more specific your question is, the better the answers you get will be

 

[Kim Steinbach-Reif]

Recently I've started playing SSBM and heard that a HDTV is not the optimal TV of choice to use because of input lag. So here's the question: Does it matter what kind of CRT I use, are there any specific kinds or will any make the job?

 

[Kim Steinbach-Reif]

I would highly appreciate it!

 

[xCardiac]

I would highly appreciate it!

A regular old box t.v. is perfect. I'm sure that a cheap CRT from ancient history MIGHT have lag, but any of the relatively newer CRT's are good. Just test it out and you'll be able to tell. ^^

 

[xCardiac]

No problem, glad I could help

There's plenty of people on the smashboards that are more than willing to help out. In general, the more specific your question is, the better the answers you get will be

Jeez, I wish everyone answered questions as in-depth as you did. Most of the specific questions I ask get the "get gud". We need more people like you. ^^

 

[Logicall]

May someone send me a good informative and colorful link on how stage banning works in SSBM and Project M because I played competitive a long time and I still have no idea how to do bans correctly or who picks next map and what not. If someone can send me some information regarding instructions on banning I would highly appreciate that. (Does not matter if colorful I was just hoping there is one out there that is colorful)

 

[Bones0]

May someone send me a good informative and colorful link on how stage banning works in SSBM and Project M because I played competitive a long time and I still have no idea how to do bans correctly or who picks next map and what not. If someone can send me some information regarding instructions on banning I would highly appreciate that. (Does not matter if colorful I was just hoping there is one out there that is colorful)

It depends on the ruleset. They usually spell it out quite clearly, but usually it is the following.

Stage Strike for Game 1:
1. Player A strikes 1 stage
2. Player B strikes 2 stages
3. Player A strikes 1 stage
4. The one remaining stage is chosen for game 1
--- This is often referred to as 1-2-2-1 striking where "2" signifies player 2, not the number of stages; don't get confused by that.
--- Battlefield, Dreamland, Fountain of Dreams, Final Destination, and Yoshi's Story are the stages being struck from (Pokemon Stadium is excluded).

Counterpicking for All Games After the First:
1. Winner bans stage
2. Loser picks stage
3. Winner picks character
4. Loser picks character


I'm not 100% clear on P:M's striking/counterpick process, but I believe it's mostly the same except you strike A-B-B-A-A-B or something like that. They also have more bans but the order of character/stage selection is the same.

 

[Krynxe]

There is also DSR where you can't counterpick to a stage you have won on and DSR Modified where you can't counterpick to the stage you've LAST won on. It depends on the tournament rules

 

[Dan]

This doesn't just go for Melee, but what level are the characters when you fight them 1v1 to unlock them?

 

[Hiphiphooray]

Where can I find the source code for Super Smash Bros Melee? I was hoping to make some of my own mods. Also, does anyone know exactly what language it is written in?

 

[Bones0]

Where can I find the source code for Super Smash Bros Melee? I was hoping to make some of my own mods. Also, does anyone know exactly what language it is written in?

You should ask in the Melee Workshop forum.

 

[hectohertz]

Where can I find the source code for Super Smash Bros Melee? I was hoping to make some of my own mods. Also, does anyone know exactly what language it is written in?

its never been published. you would have to ask nintendo. 0% chance of that working, but if you get it, share plz. also the GCN dev library was C/C++ IIRC, so its almost certainly written in one of those.

we hack melee based on using reverse engineering, editing data files and SOMETIMES doing assembly hacking. see the melee workshop for more info

 

[hectohertz]

A regular old box t.v. is perfect. I'm sure that a cheap CRT from ancient history MIGHT have lag, but any of the relatively newer CRT's are good. Just test it out and you'll be able to tell. ^^

its actually kind of the opposite, older tvs tend to have no lag, a newer crt has a greater chance of being digital/doing upscaling at some point in its display cycle, which tends to make them lag.

watch out for big tvs that are actually projection lcds. beware. crt or bust

 

[Kadano]

^This. Except Sony PVM/BVM CRTs, those are god tier in both input lag and picture quality. At least that’s what a few knowledgeable people wrote – can’t wait to get one myself.

 

[Substitution]

Howdy!
I've been trying to play Melee for a while. But sadly I don't own a Gamecube (or a Wii. Or a TV for that matter).
Are there any emulators for Melee? And if so, what's the best?

 

[Bones0]

Howdy!
I've been trying to play Melee for a while. But sadly I don't own a Gamecube (or a Wii. Or a TV for that matter).
Are there any emulators for Melee? And if so, what's the best?

Ask in the Melee Workshop forums.

 

[Substitution]

Ask in the Melee Workshop forums.

All right.
But it's mostly hacking. I'm looking for emulators...

 

[rpotts]

Dolphin is a GC emulator which can be used to play melee, even online.

 

[RADVILLIAN]

i tend to full hop with the intention of short hopping . is there a certain way to reduce this problem or do i just keep practicing tapping X ?

 

[Bones0]

i tend to full hop with the intention of short hopping . is there a certain way to reduce this problem or do i just keep practicing tapping X ?

It doesn't matter how hard you press the button. Just release it before your character leaves the ground. It is much harder with some characters than others because some spend more time squatting down, getting ready to jump before they actually get into the air. If you try SHing with Bowser, it is much easier than SHing with Fox, Sheik, ICs, Samus, etc. It just takes a lot of practice and muscle memory with the faster jumping characters.

Also, idk if you know already, but I think there are a decent number of Smashers in your area. You should check the pinned thread with FaceBook groups and join the Southern Virginia one. They're cool peeps.

 

[SAUS]

What prevents someone from just holding down (ASDI down) against something like Fox's up-smash and never dying to it? What causes the character to kind of just hit the ground when you ASDI an upward move down? For instance, Falcon's side-b will do this against fairly low damaged enemies if they hold down.

EDIT:
Another question. I've been trying to incorporate grabbing out of crouch cancelling because everyone who beats me does it I find that I end up jabbing a lot which is kind of annoying. Should I use shield+A to grab out of crouch cancel? Any tips regarding crouch cancelling and beating crouch cancelling would be nice too

 

[Munzu]

Excuse me for any inconvenience I'm causing, I'm pretty new here.

Does anybody have good ways on how to practice tech chasing? I'm think terrible at it and CPUs usually don't tech or recover well.

 

[Bones0]

Excuse me for any inconvenience I'm causing, I'm pretty new here.

Does anybody have good ways on how to practice tech chasing? I'm think terrible at it and CPUs usually don't tech or recover well.

Playing humans is the only really effective way. Check out the FaceBook group thread pinned at the top of Melee Discussion, or go to the regional section for your area. There's almost assuredly people near you to practice with.

 

[Jigglybrute]

Hello,
I have a question about Jigglypuff
I often watch Hungrybox playing and when he is going to make a rest, he jumps, even if the opponent is on the ground. Why ? Is it just maybe because he can't make it immediatly while dashing or is there an other reason ?
(example : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vdMp_9aySI&feature=youtu.be&t=7m09s 2 rests)

 

[Xyzz]

The rest hitbox is really small, and it's easier to carry it into the opponent via jumping than by running into them.

 

[rpotts]

Exactly, when two characters are standing next to eachother they sort of push each other away rather than overlap. Rest's hitbox is so small that walking up to someone to rest them usually ends up pushing them away too far to hit them. If you're in the air you can overlap characters much easier as you don't push a standing character away like you do when you're walking, allowing you to get your little puff ball inside of another character, lol.

 

[thundrio]

I've been reading the "Best players of all time" thread for the past couple days and there seems to be a good amount of hate/impatience towards people new to the scene/coming from the doc who don't fully understand the history of the scene. There have been people posting in the thread suggesting that people "watch the recent big modern matches" on yt/twitch before coming in praising isai or ken as being able to compete nowadays. From the perspective of someone new to the scene, this isn't very helpful, as there are so many matches to sift through it can be daunting (I personally have no idea where to begin really).

So my question is, what should someone do after watching the smash doc to learn more about the history of melee and the people in it? What are some important/big sets that have happened that should be watched, and are their any other videos we should be watching. Is there maybe a thread or two on Smashboards that could be read to learn more about the community and history behind smash (For example, if I could find it (maybe its on archive.org somewhere) I would love to read through the first couple posts ken made, claiming to be the best (this

 

[Jigglybrute]

Thank you for the answers

 

[otter]

I'm pretty lost when it comes to what I should be doing during doubles matches. Do the players typically just pair up and play two 1v1 matches, or does it become more of a "zone" thing were you take a spot at attack anything that comes near you?

Watch the Melee It On Me episodes about teams. I forget the video names, but they are on YouTube.

*two months later*

do you remember what season it was? I don't mind taking it into my own hands, but I also don't want to watch 50 hours before finding it....

 

[Bones0]

*two months later*

do you remember what season it was? I don't mind taking it into my own hands, but I also don't want to watch 50 hours before finding it....

It was surprisingly hard to find 'cause it's on Scar's channel (it was before they had the MioM channel, I guess).

Here's Scar's channel for the rest of the Smash Labs. These vids are also probably on his or MioM's Twitch account if you want to watch there.

 

[otter]

It was surprisingly hard to find 'cause it's on Scar's channel (it was before they had the MioM channel, I guess).

Here's Scar's channel for the rest of the Smash Labs. These vids are also probably on his or MioM's Twitch account if you want to watch there.

i never would have found that, I appreciate your time

 

[-ShadowPhoenix-]

I've been reading the "Best players of all time" thread for the past couple days and there seems to be a good amount of hate/impatience towards people new to the scene/coming from the doc who don't fully understand the history of the scene. There have been people posting in the thread suggesting that people "watch the recent big modern matches" on yt/twitch before coming in praising isai or ken as being able to compete nowadays. From the perspective of someone new to the scene, this isn't very helpful, as there are so many matches to sift through it can be daunting (I personally have no idea where to begin really).

So my question is, what should someone do after watching the smash doc to learn more about the history of melee and the people in it? What are some important/big sets that have happened that should be watched, and are their any other videos we should be watching. Is there maybe a thread or two on Smashboards that could be read to learn more about the community and history behind smash (For example, if I could find it (maybe its on archive.org somewhere) I would love to read through the first couple posts ken made, claiming to be the best (this

Any tourneys featuring two or more of the big 5 (Mango, PP, M2k, Hbox, Armada) are super important imo. I would just watch every single national(regionals as well if you want to be super thorough) from Pound3 til now. Anything further back is mostly only to be watched for nostalgia reasons (even stuff like ROM1 seems slow compared to 2013-2014).

This thread has a decent outline to help you out. http://smashboards.com/threads/melee-genealogy-a-unique-history-of-melee.345237/#post-16190362

 

[SAUS]

I've been reading the "Best players of all time" thread for the past couple days and there seems to be a good amount of hate/impatience towards people new to the scene/coming from the doc who don't fully understand the history of the scene. There have been people posting in the thread suggesting that people "watch the recent big modern matches" on yt/twitch before coming in praising isai or ken as being able to compete nowadays. From the perspective of someone new to the scene, this isn't very helpful, as there are so many matches to sift through it can be daunting (I personally have no idea where to begin really).

So my question is, what should someone do after watching the smash doc to learn more about the history of melee and the people in it? What are some important/big sets that have happened that should be watched, and are their any other videos we should be watching. Is there maybe a thread or two on Smashboards that could be read to learn more about the community and history behind smash (For example, if I could find it (maybe its on archive.org somewhere) I would love to read through the first couple posts ken made, claiming to be the best (this

What -ShadowPhoenix- said.

But also, I think it is important to understand that this isn't like boxing or something where people retire and are replaced mostly because they are no longer in their prime. In Melee, the way the game is played has evolved drastically. The game is way faster than it used to be. Everybody is better at the game than before. It's not just that new people moved in and took the throne after others retired from it, it's also that the game is entirely different because of how much has been discovered, and how much the game has been pushed. That's what people are trying to say in that other thread. I don't like that they do it in such a mocking manner, but I know exactly what they are trying to say. Hopefully I have worded it well enough that you can understand.

 

[Xyzz]

There isn't really much point to say that "newcomer's should just watch the recent sets, so they can see why the champions of earlier days wouldn't be able to compete anymore". I don't know about other people, but when I started out, I sure as hell couldn't tell how good somebody was in relation to somebody else unless they were playing each other.
Ken vs Isai doesn't really look all that different from Armada vs Mango until you get fairly good. Sure, the later move faster, but that's certainly not the defining criteria for how good somebody is (at least last time I checked Hax/Axe/Westballz weren't the top3 players ).

 

[Pwii]

Hey guys, just joined. I have a question regarding the Dolphin emulator. Is there a guide to installing it/jailbreaking my wii/getting homebrew? Also, can I use my 3ds SD card without running out of space/messing up my 3ds game data? Also is there a video capture software compatible with dolphin, or would I go through normal channels for that?

 

[Bones0]

Hey guys, just joined. I have a question regarding the Dolphin emulator. Is there a guide to installing it/jailbreaking my wii/getting homebrew? Also, can I use my 3ds SD card without running out of space/messing up my 3ds game data? Also is there a video capture software compatible with dolphin, or would I go through normal channels for that?

Welcome! Check the Melee Workshop forum for all your hacking needs (located under Smash Workshop).

 

[SAUS]

What prevents someone from just holding down (ASDI down) against something like Fox's up-smash and never dying to it? What causes the character to kind of just hit the ground when you ASDI an upward move down? For instance, Falcon's side-b will do this against fairly low damaged enemies if they hold down.

EDIT:
Another question. I've been trying to incorporate grabbing out of crouch cancelling because everyone who beats me does it I find that I end up jabbing a lot which is kind of annoying. Should I use shield+A to grab out of crouch cancel? Any tips regarding crouch cancelling and beating crouch cancelling would be nice too

Still looking for answers on these

But what I have concluded so far from my friend's knowledge and from experimenting:
1) It is because you move with a high enough speed so that on the first frame, your ASDI is less distance than your distance travelled by the attack, so you can't reach the ground with ASDI. Is this correct?
2) Shield + a is soooo much easier in this situation lol

Got another question, though. Are some moves more DI'able than others? What I mean is that DI affects some moves more than others. Is that true? I remember seeing a marth vs spacie game where one of the commentators said "Marth's up-air is one of the least DI'able moves". I also find that with certain moves, the trajectory changes a ton. For example, with Link's down-air, I find that you can almost go straight sideways against it, but if you don't DI, it basically sends you straight up. It is similar with Falco's up-air. But then with Link's up-air, it is like Falco's shine. You can change it clearly, but you don't go pretty much straight sideways like you do with the other moves I mentioned.

 

[Xyzz]

The only moves you can't DI as well as any move are those where the required perpendicular DI is prevented by snapping to the cardinal axis. Everything else is just as DIable as any other move.

The main difference in DI tends to be that most people tend to just use the octagon nubs, instead of DI actually perpendicular to the trajectory, I think.

 

[Bones0]

It's also worth mentioning that moves that send you exactly vertical or horizontal are extra easy to get the perpendicular DI for because of the effect Xyzz described.

Also, here is a visual so you can understand what angles you aren't able to DI at:

Spoiler

Source: ajp_anton