Much much better than the last one. But unfortunately, now for the moment of truth. You and your friend both need to learn advanced techniques. Try to find them in all the various guides in this section and in the Melee General forum; to become a good player all of the information is necessary.
Short Hop (SH): If you tap the X or Y button really quickly to jump, your character will jump shorter than it usually would. This is called the short hop. Most characters who utilize their aerial ('air moves') game need this. You might want to practice with a character where it is more visible, such as Falco. Basically what it does is keep your character closer to the ground so you can perform your next move more quickly.
_-air: F-air, b-air, u-air, d-air, n-air. These stand for your aerial moves. Forward, back, up, down, and neutral, respectively. You do them either by using the c-stick in the air or 'A' button+direction in the air.
Smashes: A strong ground move. (Again, if you see a letter dash smash, it means that direction and smash move. There are only 3 smashes: Up, down, and forward.) You do these either by using the c-stick on the ground, or pressing 'A'+direction at the same time. If you use A+control stick, you can charge the smash by holding them and releasing when you want to attack.
Tilts: A weaker, yet generally faster ground attack. You do these by holding a direction on the control stick and then pressing 'A'. You can also just hit A, which is considered a neutral tilt.
Fast-Fall (FF): If you do an aerial, you can get back to the ground quicker by mashing the control stick down (the control stick is the analog controller, not the yellow c-stick, in case you missed that).
L-cancel: Basically, if you hit L after an aerial as you hit the ground, it reduced the lag afterwards allowing you to recover faster. This is harder to see... so try it using Link's d-air first to see its effects. Together with Short Hopping (SH), Fast-falling (FF), L-cancel (L), you have the SHFFL. This is generally the best way to perform an aerial, because it shortens the time you are vulnerable by a ****load.
Air-dodge: By hitting L or R in the air you do an air-dodge, which is like a sidestep but in the air. By hitting L/R+direction you can move yourself in that direction while dodging.
Wavedash: You do a wavedash by jumping, and immediately "waveland" (direct an airdodge diagonally into the ground) so you can't actually see the jump. What this does is cause your character to slide along the ground. For certain characters this moves them faster than running. Running has ending lag before you can move after it (minute but still noticeable), and wavedashing eliminates it. Some characters, like Zelda, have terrible, worthless wavedashes, and others, like Luigi have such long ones that it completely changes how you play them.
Teching: When you are stunned in the air, you can hit L or L+direction to tech. If you would hit the ground you either pop back up if you hit L, or pop up and roll to the side if you used the control stick. Also, if someone hit you into the wall you can push yourself away from it. This is much easier to see in game. You'll know if you did it right if you see a flash of green.
Directional Influence (DI): When someone hits you, you can push the control stick to a certain direction which changes the trajectory in which you are hit. For example, if someone smashes you off the stage, you can DI upwards which would reduce distance horizontally and cause you to be sent more vertically to help you recover. It also helps you escape combos and chain grabs.
If you want to become a competitive player, you read everything you can and actually take the time to learn this. It takes a while to perfect everything and it may be frustrating (and seem like it isn't helping) but once you finish you'll see that you are much much better. Watch all the videos of pro matches as you can and you'll start to recognize all the advanced techs they use which will hopefully improve your game.
Also, Kirby isn't exactly the best character. You can learn him if you want, but you should take a look at the tier list and also take the time to learn a higher tier character.
