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

[Varist]

Currently,
/ajpanton
/MeleeAtlNorth
/stabbedbyahippie
/ChiboSempai

/TheWaffle77 used to be the golden channel for recent Melee tourney vids but he's stopped uploading and commentating (consequently breaking my heart).

If none of your friends play competitive melee, practice on CPUs. I just beat up level 7 foxes and captain falcons with Falco. Practice combos and fluid movement. Practice ATs like quick ledgehogs, l-cancels, retreating FH-pill, up-b out of shield wavedash out of shield etc etc etc. tons of stuff.

I thought I'd be doomed to practicing alone forever, but I was luckily contacted by someone who doesn't live very far from me at all who's also really into Melee. Try to search the boards for someone who lives near you. Since you live in California you shouldn't have to search long. Update your Location to a more specific area (include something like "near some popular urban cali spot") and post a bunch and they'll come looking for you.

 

[Fortress | Sveet]

Find friends who do play competitive melee. Go to a tournament and go to smashfests and thatll happen really fast.

 

[LowCarbs]

Okay, thanks. Hopefully I'll be able to find some people :3

 

[KAOSTAR]

there is also meleepacwest

 

[F A N G]

So... how many frames is normal shield drop?

 

[King5280]

g&w chair dont angle-fer-****

 

[E-102 Gamma]

g&w chair dont angle-fer-****

That's because it doesn't angle at all. Not all FTilts do.

 

[sirlaser]

Is it possible to SDI with the C-Stick? There seems to be conflicting answers on this

 

[Pi]

it is impossible to SDI with the c-stick
the c-stick only(?) applies to automatic smash di, aka ASDI

 

[sirlaser]

Thank you for replying.

How do people walltech to walljump at high % then? Like how SS does it here.

 

[Pi]

you can hold x or y during the tech and it will prompt the tech jump
alternatively there is a window to SDI and move the control stick up allotting for the jump
most likely though, there was no SDI involved in that particular tech
he was probably just holding diagonally up toward the stage, and had pressed R/L

 

[KAOSTAR]

So... how many frames is normal shield drop?

twelve. if u mean letting go of shield.

 

[sirlaser]

So...either 1/4 circle DI from left to up, or 1/8 circle DI then hold x or y? But you think he ASDI'd into the stage w/ c-stick, and was holding up with control stick? SS was at 132% and hit w/ Sheik's dsmash though...

Damn...guess it's time to go on FoD and practice w/ Motion Sensor Bombs.

 

[Pi]

twelve. if u mean letting go of shield.

i think it varies from char to char
cause i remember samus being on par w/ perfect wavedash
or 2 frames slower
which means 14 or 16
and yoshi's is definately faster than others

 

[sirlaser]

How do you Wavedash OOS?

 

[Pi]

Shield
Jump
input direction
air dodge
in that order

 

[Strong Badam]

So... how many frames is normal shield drop?

? why did you post this in here and in my thread?

twelve. if u mean letting go of shield.

No.

Group A
---14 frames recovery time
---3 characters: Jigglypuff / Peach / Zelda

Group B
---15 frames recovery time
---14 characters: DK / Dr. Mario / Falco / Fox / Ice Climbers / Kirby / Link / Luigi / Mario / Ness / Pichu / Pikachu / Sheik / Young Link

Group C
---16 frames recovery time
---8 characters: Bowser / Captain Falcon / Ganondorf / Marth / Mewtwo / Mr. Game & Watch / Roy / Samus

Group D
---17 frames recovery time
---1 character: Yoshi

Source

 

[Kaffei]

Can anyone tell me how teching works

Apparently you have like a 40 frame window to tech or something
but like sometimes when I get hit by stuff and I know I timed it correctly it won't tech
and I hit people with stuff and they don't tech it

idk

 

[john!]

your tech won't work if you pressed L shortly before trying to tech. this is so that you can't just mash L and tech every time. i don't know the exact frames; wait for a frame guru to come in here and tell you that

 

[Pi]

@stronbad check the IASA frames on yoshi's, it's pretty quick

@kaffei
in order to tech you have to press the R or L button down fully
once pressed, fully, you will then tech anything within the next 20 frames
i'm not exactly sure how hitlag affects this window, though I think that it eats it up
so if you press R/L 3 frames before you get hit by a fully charged samus shot (18 frames of hitlag)
you won't be teching anything

but yea also, after the 20 frames you have to tech, there is 40 frames where you cannot tech
so if you press R/L to tech, and 30 frames later you hit a wall, you will not tech it

so the whole process is
Press R
-tech for 20 frames-
-cool down for 40 frames, total of 60-
can tech again

also i think that if you press R/L during the 20/40 frame process, it resets the cool down?
I am not sure about this, maybe SB can answer

 

[Kaffei]

umm.. Ok. I kind of understand but not really. can you like give an example?
thank you btw.
also is there a way to force someone to miss a tech

 

[Pi]

okay, a good example is the jiggs upthrow upair trap vs. spacies on platforms

i'm looking for a video example...harder than i thought

any way, let's say ur on BF, under one of the side platforms as jiggs
you grab a fox, upthrow, he doesn't DI, but he's low %
you can't quite get to him in time to rest, so instead, you upair him
the fox player is JUST about to land on the platform so naturally he presses R or L to tech it
but you upair him before he lands, so now he's going through the tech process,
and being at low %, the upair doesn't send him very far and soon after you upair him he's forced to land on the platform again (in tumble)
but since he tried to tech not too long ago, he's going to miss this one
knowing this, you prepare for his inevitable missed tech, and rest, or w/e

this isn't an inescapable trap obviously, the upair is probably guarantee'd so if ur the fox player and know this, u can choose not to tech that first time, or choose to attempt a tech toward the end of the 20 frame window, which might give you enough time to eat the upair, and be out of tech cool down to be able to tech after/if the upair hits you

still trying to find that example...u'll know when u see it

 

[Kaffei]

ohhh ok. gotcha. that makes sense.
i wanna find some of those kinds of "traps" for sheik but idk..

 

[Pi]

heyyy an example :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c893mlqqsvw#t=19m16s

hbox upthrows him
and i can't be sure, but for the sake of the example lets assume PP tried to tech on the the platform
but hbox upairs him so now his tech window is gone and he misses the next tech

that one was kinda dragged out but hopefully it serves it's purpose as an example

 

[Squirt]

Is there a powershielding guide someone can refer me to? Is there any advise on training besides lv 1 falco cpu?

 

[Fortress | Sveet]

if u have action replay u can set the falco's AI mode to "defensive" which causes him to turtle and shoot lasers more often.

Best method is to just find a campy falco player who likes to stand on the other side of the stage lasering and just eat 500% damage while you learn the timing.

 

[Squirt]

Don't have AR but thanks for quick reply. I guess it would help if I was training with a human.
I also had another quick question: How do you unlock the little option that allows you to select the random stages?

 

[Xyzz]

someone suggested plugging in a 2nd controller and shooting (standing) lasers with your toe, and trying to PS them. (Unless you're shiz. I guess he could shoot short hop lasers including the fast fall with his toes! :D)
Should be fine

edit:
http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=94511 here's every information on unlockable stuff you might need =)
and here is a guide to unlock everything http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=231761 (I suggest you do so, if your techskill training doesn't have anything more important to do then to learn how to PS lasers, 1p stuff will be really easy :D)

 

[donny!]

If you have nothing but lame cpu's to practice with how would you practice?


I usually go into training mode, and Wavedash/waveland as fast and smoothly as possible, practice SHFFLing, and ledge teching by dropping a motion sensor bomb on the edge, Dashdancing, Foxtrotting.

Now im going to do the Power shield thing and using my toes to shoot the laser haha.


Question
I have not moonwalked yet, is this a good technique to learn ( i main sheik) or is this just flashy icing on the cake?


Bigger Question,

What am i missing, and how would you practice if you were me right now?

 

[LittleBoyLarry]

Try to smash with other people, and attend local tournaments.

 

[donny!]

Yeah thats the problem, I only have one semi good player and i play with him once or twice a year and we are about equal.

and all my friends are Call of Duty buttheads, they are too afriad to play me, and they dont like the graphics. and they "grew out of it"

 

[Pi]

gotta go to tourneys
see if there is a facebook group for ur local scene
find anyone and everyone in ur area who plays and play them

aside from that, when u have to practice on ur own time
perfect ur tech skill, have a notebook handy for any ideas you get, and write them down
ask questions in ur character boards, and in other appropriate threads

watch videos w/ ur notebook and write down ideas/combos to try out

bring ur notebook when u play vs. others so u don't forget to practice the things u intended to practice

 

[Varist]

that notebook **** is stupid quit talking about it

 

[john!]

donny, go to regional zones to look for people in your area:

http://www.smashboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=89

 

[Pi]

varist MM?

 

[Varist]

if you want, i have plenty of money from all the smart things that i did.

 

[Pi]

nice! that's good to hear :D
see u at apex

 

[Xyzz]

Foxtrotting.
[...]

Question
I have not moonwalked yet, is this a good technique to learn ( i main sheik) or is this just flashy icing on the cake?


Bigger Question,

What am i missing, and how would you practice if you were me right now?

@donny:
foxtrot: nobody does it; it's just not worth to focus your attention into doing it in a serious match
moonwalking: probably only worth to learn if you main falcon. If you can do it, there are some applications, but I doubt it'll get you edge guards you wouldn't have gotten anyways as sheik.
what are you missing: practice against human players, duh. Most important thing imo. I always feel like I learned tons of useful stuff, when playing somebody whom I don't regularly play. Even if they are a bit behind you, you can still gain valuable ideas.
What you might also want to do some, is watching tournament matches of good players playing Sheik (for example Amsah, M2k, kirbykaze, ...). That way you'll see what techniques they really use, and where they do so. At least I guess you could do so some more, since you are bothering about foxtrotting
But ultimately, nothing can replace playing against other competitive smashers yourself. Nothing.

 

[Squirt]

Can someone explain how to shine oos as both fox and falco? I can do it standing still as both but during a fight i just can't, I end up jumping. Is it just about practicing more or am I missing something.

Also is moonwalking as fox that hard or do I just suck?

 

[Xyzz]

Can someone explain how to shine oos as both fox and falco? I can do it standing still as both but during a fight i just can't, I end up jumping. Is it just about practicing more or am I missing something.

Also is moonwalking as fox that hard or do I just suck?

Jump out of shield. Press down and b :trollface:

More serious:
If you just end up jumping, you are inputting the down b too early.

If you want a grounded shine, your timing has to be frame precise. You need to shine on the frame before your jump causes you to leave the ground (4 for fox, 6 for falco?).