@Jesiah: the moment you said a controller doesn't make a big difference, i stopped reading and immediately discredited you as bad.
lol i never said that dude, in fact quite the opposite. controllers make all the difference
he never said that lol
he said the opposite
lrn2read
@ chivalruse
lol
word, let em know jona
Very interesting, I love this fire that's growing and blazing stronger. But remember this, you are all also fighting other people like me that's trying to overcome the world. =)
There will be hell at RoM 3, I can garantee you guys that, I'm gonna punish so hard that no one is going to believe Ganon can do **** like that. =D
Oh yeah I have a lot of people IM'ing me telling me that they think I'll be the best or very close within 6 months to a year, and I tell them that just because I have a thread documenting my growth doesn't mean there aren't other people doing the exact same thing as me, so it's impossible to tell really.
It really is crazy how once you become obsessed with an idea, how much it takes over. I don't really go out to the clubs anymore when people ask me, in fact I don't really leave my room haha.
If anyone's seen Inuyasha I kind of almost feel like that if that makes sense. I mean, where one of the main characters, Kagome, has two worlds to travel between. I feel like playing Melee is another world to me now, one where I am slowly starting to prefer to the "real world" and where I feel more at home if that's even possible. (Don't worry I'm not going crazy, I still **** @ my job and hang out with ppl every now and then haha.)
Seriously though, the minute I get home the gamecube goes on, and even if I'm too tired to think of anything to consciously practice, I just practice my movement. In my head, every video I see of a pro doing anything, there's no excuse for me not to be able to play/move like that. Not exactly like them, but just have the ability to do what they do.
I played literally all weekend. From the time I woke up on Friday which was like at Nine until the time I went to bed which was like 3 AM I think. Same thing on Saturday and same thing on Sunday, although Sunday I woke up at like noon and played only till like 2 AM. There's breaks in there for food and stuff, but I always have the urge to be on the TV.
When you play that much, in addition to consciously practicing stuff, you just learn more random stuff that's really useful. Like with all of that time to practice I don't have to worry about doing "perfect" death combos 100% of the time. I mean, I practice them but sometimes I just go into "freeflow" mode, and when I start comboing I just go with it. I don't think about what's the lowest percent to kill them at, or when to switch from combo to tech chase. I just go with it, and the result is some pretty crazy and interesting stuff.
One cool thing I did near the edge, Marth vs Fox on FD, when Fox was at like 60% was Uthrow and he didn't DI so I spiked him down to the ground. He tech rolled into the stage and since I fastfell the Dair, by the time I landed he was right in front of me so I regrabbed, uthrow, reverse fair to spike.
Reverse fair to spike is actually kinda old now, but it's cool how I did the uthrow to dair tech chase first haha.
Another thing that happens when you play so much is that nothing really becomes hard to do anymore. Everything that you see in tournaments that people go hype over is just stuff that I do or stuff that happens like every match. It's not boring by any means, but the more I play the more I realize how human everyone is.
I think I created a mental block for myself starting a long time ago, when I started playing in December of 07. I saw matches of Ken and Isai and Azen and Chillen and since they were "professional MLG players" I thought they were unhuman, and it was just a childish dream to try and get to that level. Also I have so much respect and admiration for skill in Melee, when someone is really really good I used to tend to worship them lol, like "Oh man if I can only get to that level."
That reminds me of when Raynex told me a funny story. He's like "Yeah, at Pound was like my first huge OOS tourney and when I saw I had Zelgadis in my pool I ran to my friends and I was like OH **** ZELGADIS GUYS A LEGEND...Then I ended up 4 stocking him and I'm like wtf..." LOL yeah, just goes to show anyone can beat anyone.
When I play now, most of the time every game feels like some sort of Xbox 360 achievement with real value to it. What I mean by that is, I just try to play perfect, as close to a JV 5 stock as possible.
We start in neutral, and the first step is to outsmart them. Once I outsmart them once, then it's time for them to die. Either death combo or combo until they get out, then keep the pressure on for a psuedo combo. An example is if someone techs on a platform where you can't get to them, predicting what they're going to do Out of Shield and continuing the slaughter. Then the edgeguard until they die.
It's just "How perfect can I be this match?"
Oh another thing that has actually helped my mindset. I used to play Basketball and other sports before Smash. I was really good at sports, like, abnormally good. A prodigy if you will.
Haha, but seriously it just came so easily to me. No one could ever touch me even in high school.
When I came across Smash I wasn't naturally good. I just got ***** for so long. Having had an immense amount of talent in athletics, it's not like Smash where you have to practice everything like a science. You just play a lot and figure stuff out, at least that's what it's like to me. So, I never had a way to really "learn" Smash, which is what I felt held my growth back a lot in the beginning.
One thing was that I always got super pissed or angry when I messed up a combo or an edgeguard or something. I realized I had to stop that because even the best players mess up sometimes. I looked back to basketball as an answer.
Immediately when I think of Basketball, no matter what state I'm in I just feel confident, like no one can **** with me. Even if I'm walking home in the rain if I think about Basketball I just feel good and confident. So I'm like, "How do I replicate this feeling in Smash?" well, let me get more specific. "What used to happen when I missed a shot in Basketball?"
My answer was instant: Get the rebound immediately. There was no getting angry or upset with myself. Those thoughts never occurred, it was just, get the ball back and win.
I think that's how it has to be in Smash. If you **** something up, you regain position/control and begin the **** once more. I asked myself another question: "When (very rarely mind you) someone pulled a sick move on me and scored, what did I do?"
The answer again was simple...Just get the ball back and score.
That's the only thing that matters. Nerves come into play because I either feel like I don't deserve to be at the top level, or because big name players just intimidate you. You want to be good, you want people to see the results of your hard work, so inside when you play in front of people or a good player you just want to play your best, so that's what you're thinking about.
In reality, you've got to get as close to the feeling you get when you play a friendly with your friends. Take it more seriously in the actual game, don't **** around trying to do cool **** or fancy edgeguards or stuff, but don't feel pressured. If you've practiced enough chances are you've done anything you're going to do in tournament a thousand times over, there's just one difference: Now it matters.
If I could put it as simply as possible, I will say that those three words are the lone barrier to what separates someone from playing their best and playing nervous in tourney: Now it matters.
