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

[KAOSTAR]

are u talking about super doodleman? idk about any combo video, but he had enter the falcon, and perfect control 1 and 2.

 

[Bones0]

Whats the name of the combo video with the coloring guy that plays on hyrule?

Best video evar! It's by the Punch Crew, and I don't think they have any videos other than what's on THIS CHANNEL.

The video you're referring to:
Stupid Words

 

[Elliot]

My thread asking about how many hours professionals have logged of smash was closed before I got any satisfactory answers.

I was hoping for something more quantified instead of terrible three word responses. Maybe afterward we could possibly move on to a discussion of hour many they have left in them.

So my question reiterated: how many hours have you played melee?

e.g. 3 hours a day for a year is about 1000 hours.

 

[Pi]

^if you just look at how the game is played by everyone, even the professionals you can just tell that nobody has become a 'master'

PP I would say though is nearing the technical efficiency

but even he still makes minor technical errors here and there

Mango too was pretty close on his good days, idk about now though, his playstyle seems to be fairly superfluous

Hbox use to be spot on with all of his rests, but lately he's been slipping

M2K at his prime seemed to be able to do exactly what he wanted, but now he very clearly makes technical errors on a regular basis

Armada I might say is very very close to where PP is at, or even on the level, but falco just profits more from being technically consistent and having such an efficient playstyle because of how much control he brings to a match


As far as how many hours have been spent playing melee, in the records you can find on your gamedisc, on my old memory card, it was capped at like 9999 hrs or something

On my friends too or I believe

But that isn't to say that all 9999+ hours of that were spent practicing and refining the specific techincal aspects of the game needed to play in the most efficient and effective way possible

There are a lot of variables in every melee match, I honestly don't think 10,000 hrs is enough.

Given that you have to account for where on the stage you need to best position your character against every individual character in the game

What is the best means to punish every attack they throw out, and how to go about doing so

Picking up on individual player patterns, and committing them to memory, as well as how best to counter those playstyles

list goes on and on

I'd say the best players right now are around 80% in terms of playing perfectly each match

 

[Fortress | Sveet]

between summer 09 and summer 10 i played approx 3000 hours. My crew and I smashed for 5-10 hours every day with only 1 day off per week for about 7 months then toned it down to 6-8 hours 4-5 days a week. On top of that there were at least monthly tournaments and frequent smashfests during non-school time. This got me from total noob to making it out of pools and making it at least few rounds in bracket at every tournament. I've really cut down my playing since then, i'm probably only going to hit around 200 or 300 hours this year.

I think the large amount of playing is necessary in the beginning but as you get better you can learn things and get better without even playing, or with only limited amounts of play time. Once your combos and tech skill hits a certain point, all you can do is get better with your strategy, observation, patience, and other mental skills which aren't improved by simply grinding through hours of play time.

 

[MTKO]

I've been playing this game since around 2004 I think. I got a gamecube and melee for christmas when I was in 7th grade, which I think was in 2004. I ended up selling that copy of the game and the cube at some point and not having either for a while (can't remember how long), then I bought a cube again and melee. Sometime after that during the summer before I went to high school or maybe the summer after my freshman year I learned of the competitive melee scene and was amazed by wavedashing. From then on I've played melee on and off. So anyway, cutting to how many hours I've played. Probably anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 judging by the the memory cards I've played on and how many time I've had to restart files and stuff, as well as my time spent playing with other people on their memory cards.

 

[MTKO]

Can someone explain what ledge canceled aerials/lasers are and how to perform them?

 

[Fortress | Sveet]

you use a move and land near the edge of the platform/stage. after you land, you slide off and as soon as you are in the air you have no lag. SDM does this in perfect control with link's dair.

 

[MTKO]

you use a move and land near the edge of the platform/stage. after you land, you slide off and as soon as you are in the air you have no lag. SDM does this in perfect control with link's dair.

Thank you. I heard the term used before and didn't quite know what it was.

 

[beencake]

CAN SOME ONE EXPLAIN this to me.

marths ledge hope neutral B , and ledge hope u-air to regrab ledge, and samus' ledge hop missle regrab ledge... been trying for EVER..

 

[MTKO]

CAN SOME ONE EXPLAIN this to me.

marths ledge hope neutral B , and ledge hope u-air to regrab ledge, and samus' ledge hop missle regrab ledge... been trying for EVER..

I'm testing this in debug right now. It has to be done very very quickly. If I let go for 3 frames then I have one frame to jump and one frame to press b. So if I let go for 2 frames I have 2 frames of jump and one to press b. And so on. That's for the neutral b regrab. The uair regrab is similar but you have one less frame to do it. So it has to be done even more quickly.

For the missle. You have only one frame to let go, two frames to jump and then do the missle.

 

[Orko]

Is there a quick way to get a hold of smashers in your community?

I live in Sacramento, and as far as I can tell, there is no smash scene! I would love to get in touch with somebody and see how I really compare.

 

[MTKO]

Is there a quick way to get a hold of smashers in your community?

I live in Sacramento, and as far as I can tell, there is no smash scene! I would love to get in touch with somebody and see how I really compare.

You could check the regional boards. I wish there were some people in my community that actually play often as well.

 

[Dimitris]

Is there a quick way to get a hold of smashers in your community?

I live in Sacramento, and as far as I can tell, there is no smash scene! I would love to get in touch with somebody and see how I really compare.

This is a social thread for Sacramento Melee: http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=296445&highlight=sacramento

Using the search option works pretty good on smashboards.

 

[Orko]

Hahaha I'm kind of a Forum junkie.
I did search, but I didn't find any leads. thanks for the link tho.

 

[N.A.G.A.C.E]

hey, i am going to Montreal from april 19-like the 23 or 23 (depends when my friend who is driving decides to leave) anyway i was thinking of trying to meet up with Montreal smashers but i am not sure how to get into contact with them. i would just put this in the regional zone thread but i feel people dont often look there, another part of me thinks about pming kage since i know thats were he is from, but i never met him so that might be weird. anyway just not sure how to do this to gt in contact with people so advice

 

[Pi]

^do those things that you weren't going to do

 

[Kaffei]

Can anyone tell me how to bait with dash dancing and stuff
like Mew2King does to Foxes

 

[L__]

stuff like that should probably be learned through experience

experimenting with that can be frustrating but really helpful

or just really fun haha

mainly though, you just wanna observe how the other person approaches and their habits then adjust your dashdances to suit them for punishes

 

[Sangoku]

Hello!

I've ordered the game on ebay today and I was wondering what char I should play in order to improve my techskill quickly (get the basics down at least). I am a 64 player and I heard sheik was 64ish. I was also thinking about fox as I he must be really technical, but I actually don't know. And is it better to switch a lot of char or stick to one main until I'm good with him?

Oh and I don't think there are many good players in my region... Is it possible to be good (or at least decent) by playing cpu/training mode/scrubs?

Finally I've read it was possible to shield platform drop. How do I do that without the dodging thing?

 

[MTKO]

Hello!

I've ordered the game on ebay today and I was wondering what char I should play in order to improve my techskill quickly (get the basics down at least). I am a 64 player and I heard sheik was 64ish. I was also thinking about fox as I he must be really technical, but I actually don't know. And is it better to switch a lot of char or stick to one main until I'm good with him?

Oh and I don't think there are many good players in my region... Is it possible to be good (or at least decent) by playing cpu/training mode/scrubs?

Finally I've read it was possible to shield platform drop. How do I do that without the dodging thing?

You can start playing with whomever you would like, but Sheik does have a lot of combos that you may find feel easier to do that some of the other character. Once you're comfortable playing the game and are familiar with all the characters and stages, try working on some basic technical things. Wavedashing, l-cancelling, short hopping. Then move onto the more advanced things.

Also you can only get so good playing against cpus and scrubs. For example, for 5 or 6 years I've played against the same 6 people (recently I met a 7th person who I practice with and we both have gotten much better). I would say my skill level has very slowly increased of the years because I don't get to play against different people and better people and I'm still a huge noob. I went to my first actual tournament recently and got wrecked by some great SoCal players, but I still was able to at least do all my technical stuff and hold my own for a bit in each match. So in short, playing other players is important. You can only get so good playing against cpus and scrubs.

 

[Kaffei]

stuff like that should probably be learned through experience

experimenting with that can be frustrating but really helpful

or just really fun haha

mainly though, you just wanna observe how the other person approaches and their habits then adjust your dashdances to suit them for punishes

Thanks dude that actually makes sense

 

[Citizen Snips]

Hey guys. I've been playing for about a year now as a Peach main, but I've started playing around with Ganon, Falco, and Falcon recently. I realized that, when I don't have Peach's recovery, I have to think a lot harder about approaches (Lol Falco) and mindgames.

Is there a way to practice mindgames and approaching that would help me get a few tricks under my sleeve? I feel like everything I do is pretty obvious, and I want to have a less readable playstyle.

My biggest one with mindgames and baiting is Ganon, since I get combo'd pretty easily and he's fairly slow, but doesn't have Falco's pressure.

My tech skill is fairly well off (At least I think it is), and right now I'm working on getting multishine shield pressure down, but my games just feels lacking in higher level thought, and I was wondering if there was a way to boost that part of my game.

 

[Beat!]

Technical consistency>Being able to multishine shield pressure. There's more important stuff to learn.

Watch Luciens spacing videos on YT.

 

[Pi]

Hey guys. I've been playing for about a year now as a Peach main, but I've started playing around with Ganon, Falco, and Falcon recently. I realized that, when I don't have Peach's recovery, I have to think a lot harder about approaches (Lol Falco) and mindgames.

Is there a way to practice mindgames and approaching that would help me get a few tricks under my sleeve? I feel like everything I do is pretty obvious, and I want to have a less readable playstyle.

My biggest one with mindgames and baiting is Ganon, since I get combo'd pretty easily and he's fairly slow, but doesn't have Falco's pressure.

My tech skill is fairly well off (At least I think it is), and right now I'm working on getting multishine shield pressure down, but my games just feels lacking in higher level thought, and I was wondering if there was a way to boost that part of my game.

Honestly the best way to practice approaches and smarter play is to play vs. real people.
The biggest thing that I've realized is that you should not be throwing out attacks unless your opponent is vulnerable, or going to be vulnerable when you collide w/ your attack.

If your problem is that you keep getting hit, then you need to work on your movement around the stage. Dash dance a lot, fox trot, wavedash bait, you need your opponent to strike first so you can punish them for it. Stay unpredictable in your movement and completely focused on your opponent and how they are acting. Your goal is to be able to react to their approaches and counter them accordingly.

And yea, multishine shieldpressure is not important. The goal of shieldpressure in melee is not to break their shield, it's to force a punishable reaction out of shield, or to poke. But you need to be ready for the ladder. So if you're busy multishining on someones shield and they roll away, you're probably not going to be able to punish it. But if you're shine dashing, or jabbing, or something slower that requires less focus on your part you'll be ready to react to what they do out of shield and either continue the pressure or catch them in their mistake.

 

[Citizen Snips]

Just to clarify, I meant I was working on integrating double shines into my dair shine shieldpressure to mix it up a little

But in any case, thanks for the help. I'll definitely try working on my movement and my spacing when I can't find anyone to play against.

For baiting practice, is it still worthwhile to play against people who aren't very good, or should I not really hold any reactions in those matches as a possible reactions in a competitive match?

Basically, should I only work on baiting against good players, or is it fine if I practice it against bads, too?

 

[L__]

I think it's okay to practice picking up habits and playing actively. By playing actively I mean being aware of what's going on in the match. E.g., how your positioning affects players' mindsets, etc. Also, remember that every player is different and what you learned from playing one player will not be useful with another.

People who play passively tend to just go with the match unaware of minor nuances that can increase your level of play. These guys complain lots about never improving, and they usually fail to realize why. It's a shame, lol.

 

[Citizen Snips]

Watch Luciens spacing videos on YT.

Also, thank you for this. Those videos are so unbelievably helpful for me, I've already watched them three times each.

 

[Kaffei]

Also, thank you for this. Those videos are so unbelievably helpful for me, I've already watched them three times each.

***** I have them on my iPod

 

[Citizen Snips]

***** I have them on my iPod

We can't afford an iPod.

My mom hits me every time my stomach growls. It's so cold

 

[Kaffei]

We can't afford an iPod.

My mom hits me every time my stomach growls. It's so cold

Play melee with me
then ur mom will go away

 

[Citizen Snips]

Play melee with me
then ur mom will go away

This can be arranged.

 

[MTKO]

I was reading through Marth's frame data thread and came upon an interesting post from several months ago. It was about making a list of how many frames hitlag lasts for certain attacks and how long a character would remain in hitstun from being hit by a certain attack. I'm not very familiar with the topic, but I'm pretty sure certain moves (like Samus' charge shot) induce much longer hitstun than a move like fox's jab, for instance. So my question is, as long as I'm not completely wrong about this, would anyone be interested in making a list of how many frames hitstun and hitlag last for all the moves in the game. And when a move hits a shield does it have a a different amount of hitlag? And would the player suffer a different length of stun than if he or she was hit without shielding? Maybe a list of those frames could be made as well if anyone would want to help me. Anyway it would be nice to know what things can be done after being hit or hitting someone that come out faster than something your opponent can do.

Sorry if this post is completely confusing, I kind of confused myself a bit while typing that. If you get what I'm saying maybe you could help me make a list like this if you have access to the debug menu as well.

 

[Twinkles]

Hello, I'm fairly new to the competitive scene in Melee, so I'm still trying to get comfortable with AT's (SHFFL especially). Since I can't normally play with other people, I'm trying to use CPUs to incorporate AT's into my gampeplay. What's a good level CPU to practice AT's against? I already know level 9s are horrible for practice, but level 1s are boring and use no DI whatsoever ):

One person suggested to me level 5 CPUs. Anyone care to offer a second opinion?

 

[MTKO]

Hello, I'm fairly new to the competitive scene in Melee, so I'm still trying to get comfortable with AT's (SHFFL especially). Since I can't normally play with other people, I'm trying to use CPUs to incorporate AT's into my gampeplay. What's a good level CPU to practice AT's against? I already know level 9s are horrible for practice, but level 1s are boring and use no DI whatsoever ):

One person suggested to me level 5 CPUs. Anyone care to offer a second opinion?

Someone mentioned before that level 4 or 5 CPUs have the most human-like DI; however, it's no substitute for playing a real player because different people will DI in different ways in real life, so you'll need to be able practice following that against real opponents. But for now practicing against level 4 or 5s can give you a chance to work on some tech skill. Also level 1s can be really good to practice making up creative combos with and figuring out what combos work on certain characters, since level 1s just walk around and mostly jab.

Do any of your friends play smash? You could also check the regional boards to see if there's anyone close by that could smash with you sometimes. I know how it is when there aren't a lot of people to play.

 

[Fortress | Sveet]

MTKO, i'm pretty sure anyone who suggests anything other than lvl1 cpu is just trolling.

As for the hitstun/hitlag stuff you were asking about, i know strong_bad has posted the formulas for determining the exact number of frames for all of that. If you are really interested, you might want to PM him instead of brute forcing your way through the values.

 

[MTKO]

MTKO, i'm pretty sure anyone who suggests anything other than lvl1 cpu is just trolling.

As for the hitstun/hitlag stuff you were asking about, i know strong_bad has posted the formulas for determining the exact number of frames for all of that. If you are really interested, you might want to PM him instead of brute forcing your way through the values.

Thanks! I'm pretty interested in it, so I'll PM him sometime.

 

[KAOSTAR]

lvl 4 computers have stronger survival di while still being very realistic to human skill.

lvl 1's have good combo di.


best training for combos is training mode with cpu on evade. they mix up the di.

for practicing with hit stun there are better methods using dummy comps.

 

[Citizen Snips]

lvl 4 computers have stronger survival di while still being very realistic to human skill.

lvl 1's have good combo di.


best training for combos is training mode with cpu on evade. they mix up the di.

for practicing with hit stun there are better methods using dummy comps.

If only c-stick worked in training mode

 

[Pi]

^

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