Practice is only good if you practice the right things.

[Angry Drunk Chav]

Howdy guys. I'm pretty much brand new around here. I take my gaming seriously and have played other games at a pro level. I played Smash a lot back in the day but was never anything special.

Now my question here is, Are there bad habits that noobs have that we may need to get out of?

For example, I always used Up on the analog to jump, I assume that a lot of the better players use X in order to wavedash etc.

Also, Should i get OUT of the habit of using the C stick?

Also anything else you think noobs should know, We don't want to be practicing and fall further into bad habits.

Threads open to other noobs and obviously some of the better players.

Thanks guys,

 

[Comatose]

Tap jump is really disadvantageous, especially playing a spacie. For wavedashing/all purpose jumping, you should use x or y, spacie players generally prefer y because of its proximity to b.

The c-stick is useful, especially for aerials, as you can DI while doing a move, so you could use a fair and move backwards, falling uair, etc. It should not be a go to thing though, like you shouldn't just run around smashing the c stick.

Other bad habits I'd suggest avoiding:
Rolling too much
Not teching hits
Dash attacking over and over and over
Double jumping when approaching (if you get punished and knocked off the stage, you're off without a double jump)
Predictably recovering/getting back from the ledge

Will add if I think of anything else

 

[Angry Drunk Chav]

Big thanks bud. Id rather practice properly than just continue playing how I do and mess my self over.

I hate going from pro gaming to picking something new up and being trash at it lol.

 

[gravy]

Well here's what I did when I started. I learned that if you press the shield button down all the way to l cancel, you could be giving yourself a disadvantage for teching, so DON'T. Either press l or r lightly to l cancel, or use the z button. I also made it so that the button I waveland/wavedash with doesn't have a light shield (I just hold it down while I'm plugging the controller in) so that I don't get a light shield on accident. Decide how you want to lay your controller out, and how you want to hold it, and stick with it. I, for one, decided that claw was the best way to hold it because I don't ever have to move my fingers, making me faster and more consistent, but each player is different.

 

[Angry Drunk Chav]

Hmm was unaware of the holding it down while plugging it in technique. Guess that's the sorta stuff im here to learn, Much appreciated.


Did you pick your main early on and just practice or did you find your main after finding your play style and picking somebody that fits that and mastering them.

 

[Deleted member]

i've played other games at a top level too. i'll be brief:

- technical basics and form are hella important
- a lot of people suck at understanding why some things are better than other things in this game. don't be one of those people.
- most people plateau really hard at the intermediate level. the solution is almost always to remove some obvious bad habits to improve your punishment game. therefore, record yourself and remove your bad habits early.
- talk to as many known or talented players as you can.
- read my guide on this forum, Drastic Improvement.
- come back and keep asking questions.

 

[Alexo30]

Your main should always be a character that you find fun to use, not just because the character is good. Try all of the characters and spend time with each one. Only then will you find your main.

 

[Angry Drunk Chav]

Thanks guys, much respect for answering noobs questions.

It's strange being on the other side of this.

For sure will be back answering questions, Sadly no smashers in my area to help me learn and i'm much more of a hands on learner etc.

 

[Comatose]

Maybe check the regional threads. You'd be surprised at how many people play smash, there are pieces of the community everywhere. I'm from Long Island, until I checked the regional thread I was pretty sure I was the only smasher in the area (and a few of my close friends, but besides them). Turns out there are quite a few around here haha. A tourney series about 15mins from me regularly gets around 100 people total, about half for melee

 

[Alexo30]

Since you have no Smashers in the area, be sure to watch plenty of videos. After you find your main and once you get your basic techniques(wavedashing, L-cancelling, SHFFL, etc.) down, start watching videos of players using your main properly.

^Of course check the regional threads.

 

[Angry Drunk Chav]

Yeah i've checked the regional, was better off on Facebook joinin SmashUk and only 1 person round here is even slightly close and still a bit of a trek. The help is much appreciated guys I think this entire weekend is dedicated to Smash.

For an experienced gamer how long would you expect to learn basic l cancel, shffl etc with dedicated practice?

 

[Deleted member]

i learned how to proficiently wavedash in 15 minutes when i was 16.

the intro-level technical skills are way overrated in difficulty imo

where are you exactly

 

[Alexo30]

It took me about a week or two to get all of the important techniques down. I started out with just short hopping. Then aerials. Then try to hit L-cancels.And that is the SHFFL. Once you learn all these things, they will come naturally throughout your matches and practice. Same with wavedashing. After you practice a lot it will come naturally, and you will feel and look natural.

Damn, such a popular thread.

 

[Angry Drunk Chav]

I'm literally right at the begining with a little bit of a mess about trying out the different techniques.

I noticed while wave dashing i was traveling and incredibly short difference and my shield would pop up. Think I need to try that holding it down while plugging it in idea.

I think one of the reasons this is popular is because it's a noob asking what NOT to do rather than be spoon fed everything. Like I have no issues dedicating the time required to what I want to do.
It's just making sure I practice the correct things instead of spending all this time getting fluent with my gameplay but realising that i'm fluent in all of the wrong things.

 

[Alexo30]

The distance of the wavedash depends on the character and the angle of your air dodge. Luigi has the longest wd. Yeah start trying to SHFFL some aerials.

And wavedashes arent especially about distance, unless youre playing as Luigi. Wavedashes are more of a mind game. Use wavedashes to get precise spacing or fake out opponents with the jerky movement.

Your shield popping up may be that you are holding the shoulder too long. Or in my case, your shoulder button is sticky. I have 4 controllers with a sticky L.

 

[Angry Drunk Chav]

Hmm, until i practice it I don't think I could say exactly why it's doing it.

The other thing I think i may be in need of a list of the terminology.

Like I assume, tilts are C sticks?
FAir and BAir etc

Might be a thread with it all on somewhere a link could help me alot?

 

[gravy]

I got lucky and found my main right off the bat and never really played any other character.

 

[Angry Drunk Chav]

See after watching a lot of Falco plays he looks like a good choice.

I'd just be too tempted to try pick up a tier 1 for the sake of competitiveness instead of playing a more fun lower tier char.

I'm way too competitive with stuff like this lol

 

[Quad-K]

Hmm, until i practice it I don't think I could say exactly why it's doing it.

The other thing I think i may be in need of a list of the terminology.

Like I assume, tilts are C sticks?
FAir and BAir etc

Might be a thread with it all on somewhere a link could help me alot?

Tilts the result of lightly pressing a direction + pressing A, the c-stick/hard presses result in smash attacks.

Closest thing I know of the a complete list would be:
http://www.smashboards.com/threads/...the-terms-read-first-update-12-23-2007.42749/
but it's fairly old so some of the information might be dated.

 

[Zodiac]

Bad Habits -
You are going to form bad habits whether you try to avoid them or not, even the ones you've been warned about here, the good news is when you do form them you can identify them quickly and start working on changing them. The most important thing to remember though is to try not and change everything at once, you get to focused on not doing a particular bad habit and end up forgetting about the rest of the game.

So once you figure out "Hey I this bad habit of attacking someones shield." Then specifically work on that until its no longer a habit, and then work on fixing the next bad habit you see.

The same can be said for the advanced techniques, don't try to work out how to incorporate them into your game all at once, it will get overwhelming and even if you do it every AT you implement will be mediocre at best, Just practicing one at a time until you are comfortable with it is what will make you good in the long run.

Tap jump has its uses, I find is very useful when wanting shine oos, thats pretty much the only time I use it though.

Also in regards to the top tier characters, Falco is probably the most fun, to use, he is also, by far, the easiest to win with, once you have control of him.

As for picking a main, everyone has a different reason for picking their main, I first mained Link because I am a fan the zelda series. Then I just branched out from there with other characters.

 

[Angry Drunk Chav]

Genuinely shocked to see so many replies to this to be honest. It's a great help, thanks.

Yeah i'm sure I'm gonna pick up bad habits regardless, I guess it's easier to spot if I know what i'm looking for.

Well, guess I should crack on with day one of training. Thanks a bunch guys, I'm sure I will be back soon enough.

 

[Mahie]

Most tiers 1/2 characters are also really fun to play because of the variety of options they can work with.

Fox/Falco can literally do anything, they have the tools for offense/defense/combos/hit&run/camp/pokes/whateveryoufeellikedoing.

 

[Angry Drunk Chav]

Yeah I figured it would be worth learning somebody like that right off the bat.

My wave dashing on falco is incredibly short range and right now doesn't seem worth doing too much but working on it still. Probably just messing it up lol.

I need to get out the habit of relying on the my C stick to just constantly smash and need to try work on some reasonable combos.

 

[gravy]

Be warned, it is my experience that certain characters (falco sheik jiggs) prevent the player from growing mentally, often leading to plateaus early on, simply due to the ease and stupidity of the options those characters represent making it so the player doesn't come up with creative answers.

 

[Angry Drunk Chav]

I see what you mean, Sadly I think im waaaay too far behind to ever think about making it to the pro scene. Especially with my location it appears nothing is here.

I guess I would just like to be pretty far above average, even if it's only with a few chars

 

[Zodiac]

People will also hate you for playing falco, you have been warned.

 

[GCS Gaming Customs]

Be warned, it is my experience that certain characters (falco sheik jiggs) prevent the player from growing mentally, often leading to plateaus early on, simply due to the ease and stupidity of the options those characters represent making it so the player doesn't come up with creative answers.

That doesn't make any sense... Each char has dif focuses and dif ways to implement a strong metagame, and even tho some are easy to use *COUGH Sheik Ehmm* they will still help you improve your spacing and tech skill game, as well as identifying different options in dif situations with these chars.

Using a low tier at first isn't really going to help versus a spacie, especially when you can pick up more tech skills from spacies..

 

[4 Aces]

Not sure if covered yet, but: if you wanna main Fox/Falco, consider learning to get comfortable with Y and using Y as your primary jump button. It makes certain tech skills easier.

Though, it really doesn't matter too much, as there are plenty of examples of players who excel using whatever button/stick to jump. But since you're starting fresh, may as well keep it in mind. Use what's comfortable, but do note that Y is closer to B than X is.

 

[Angry Drunk Chav]

Hmm I always use X at the moment, I will certainly try that though, Thanks bud.

 

[Angry Drunk Chav]

God ****ing damn it, I can't even get the timing right for tWave dashing, I normally pick stuff up so quickly and everybody else picked it up in like 15 minutes, im sure if this is like, "I can occasionally do it" Or people can consistantly wave dash after 15 mins.

If this is the case then i'm an utter scrub lol. Like I play expert Guitar Hero at a competitive level, i have the finger dexterity and it's just not happening... Feels bad man.

 

[Alexo30]

Melee has a ton to do with timing. All techniques require good timing. Wavedashing is no exception. Once you get the timing down youll just be wavedashing mindlessly(without having to think about timing or inputs). Youll get it soon, just keep trying!

 

[SMOE]

Most people aren't like Umbreon. I can tell you it took me two weeks (albeit of sporadic practice) to get wavedashing down, and at least another couple weeks before I was at all proficient. I'd focus on SHFL before wavedashing though; it's much more important to being a good player than wavedashing. Also I can tell you that for aerials it's much better to use the c-stick. You should just use it for all your aerials (besides nair, for obvious reasons).

 

[Comatose]

I remember learning wavedashing haha. Took me quite a long time to get it right, and once I did in order to replicate the results I had to very actively think of what I was doing and take about 10 seconds to set myself up to wavedash.

Now, it's second nature, and I rarely mess up. It comes to you, just put effort into it. Try slowing yourself down (not the inputs, but take time to setup and stuff) and just wavedash back and forth across FD, each time trying to increase the speed just a little.

 

[Angry Drunk Chav]

Thanks a bunch guys, like seriously I don't think many people would of taken the time out to help me.

Ah it's just demotivating you know? Like I mastered a lot of other games incredibly quickly etc and for some reason seem to be struggling, i'd really like to see some footage of wave dashin and general shffl game play but with a control pad view to see how people are doing it in comparison to my self.

I noticed in videos that m2k uses his index finger to hit Y?? that looks like the most uncomfortable thing on the ****ing planet.

 

[atangerine]

Have youeatched the advanced how to play videos yet? Look them up it you havent.

 

[Frogman751]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n4s5yB7ZkE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiZLs2doK8E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFmGIOcWdsM

 

[JKJ]

Yo, dude, I made a Falco Trials video to help new Falco players get better.
You should try it out, I think it could really help.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb_B_2TEHBA

Also it's in my sig lol

I'd strongly recommend going through it, pausing at the instructions for each trial, and then watching and rewatching the video of what the trial should look like. Be prepared to pause/rewind a lot, because I go kind of fast in the interest of not having the video last 20 minutes.

 

[JKJ]

Also, to clarify all of our Smash lingo:

Neutral Aerial (A in midair, no directional input) - Nair
Forward Aerial (Forward on c-stick in midair) - Fair
Back Aerial (Back on c-stick in midair) - Bair
Up Aerial (Up on c-stick in midair) - Up Air
Down Aerial (Down on c-stick in midair) - Dair
Dashing back and forth repeatedly by tapping back and forth on the control stick - Dash dance
Landing on a platform or on the stage by airdodging diagonally down (the end of a wavedash, essentially) - waveland
Holding the ledge so that your opponent cannot grab it to recover - Ledgehog
Fox and Falco's down-b - Shine
Preventing someone from recovering by hitting them or ledgehogging - Edgeguarding
Pressing A while shielding to grab someone out of your shield - Shield Grab

now how things are done

Tilts: performed by gently holding a direction on the control stick (not c stick) and pressing A.
Smashes: performed by either smashing a direction on the control stick and pressing A at the same time, or by pressing a direction on the c-stick
Light Shield: performed either by gently holding the shoulder button, or by holding the Z button (must press Z while in the lag of another move, otherwise you will grab)
B-moves : performed by pressing B and a direction (or no direction if its neutral b)


Hope i helped

 

[Alexo30]

Yeah M2K uses his index finger to waveshine, but thats gonna be a while before you learn that. Using your index finger isnt necessary anyway, especially if you play Falco. Why I dont play Fox or Falco? Way too much B button.

Its always good to help out a player who is willing to learn and practice. Especially someone who doesnt have a training partner(like me lol) to observe, learn, and practice with.

 

[rawrimamonster]

If you've truly got no one in your area, and have a good PC with a decent processor along with good internet I recommend playing Melee online. The delay is odd and takes getting used to but playing against other players will help you correct mistakes you wouldnt be able to correct playing against CPU's. Go to the regional threads and look around for a thread about your area or even 1 or 2 states/provinces or w/e you have over and see if anyone else has melee set up to go online.

Also I recommend getting a adapter to plug in your gamecube controller to usb if you're going to be playing online for real.