Samus' Brickwalls & Fear-Inducing Ability

[Crystanium]

I was reading an article written by MookieRah called Playing to Learn. It was written back in 2006, but MookieRah updated it, likely due to the recent Super Smash Bros. installment. So, as I was reading what MookieRah had to say, I came across the third part called Establishing Momentum. What MookieRah mentions here are brickwalls, mind games and establishing fear. (For more on brickwalls and traps, please read Emblem Lord's article, Brickwalls and Traps: The Keys to Victory.) What I wanted to talk about here were two of the three things mentioned in MookieRah's article: brickwalls and establishing fear.

Brickwalls:

We know, as Samus mains, that Samus' way of approaching her opponent is by firing Homing Missiles. The best way for this is to use the Short Hop Homing Missile cancel, which allows you to fire one Homing Missile when you short hop, and then upon landing, the lag is canceled out, which allows you to fire another Homing Missile. With this, you have two Homing Missiles going after your opponent. There is also the Triple Homing Missile technique that has been mentioned several times around in this Character Chat sub-forum. These Homing Missiles make your opponent attempt to shield, spot-dodge, or roll. If your opponent happens to roll toward you, there is that second Homing Missile that forces your opponent to think of another way to escape.

Once Samus has created her brickwall, she can continue with a number of attacks, such as firing a Super Missile, a Charge Shot, or simply dash at her opponent and follow up with the Screw Attack. Heck, even z-airs are possible ways of approaching with this one. So, this, my friends, is Samus' brickwall. Your opponent can become familiar with it, but still, it's difficult for him or her to get through it. He or she could try to hit the Homing Missiles, but with the risk of getting hit by them. When the damage adds up, what you realize is that your opponent has been struggling, and he or she has gained more damage than you have. Or, he or she has gained enough damage.

Establishing Fear:

In his article, MookieRah gives an example of establishing fear. He mentions Wes, who played as Samus and would be able to walk up to his opponent and give him that f-smash. He also mentions Marth as an example, saying that people tend to fear the tip of Marth's sword. The reason is because the tip of his sword delivers more damage and knock-back. The same is with Samus, believe it or not. What do you notice when you are charging up your Charge Shot? Your opponent comes right at you as quickly as he or she can, correct? What your opponent is trying to do is keep you from having your Charge Shot fully charged, since it has KO potential.

When you charge up your Charge Shot, the way your opponent plays will likey differ. The reason is because he or she is aware that you have your Charge Shot set up and you can fire it at any time given. I know what it feels like, as most Samus players who have tried out ditto matches, that when that Charge Shot is fully charged, you are thinking to yourself, when is he or she going to fire that Charge Shot? You never know when. Even characters like Fox, Falco, Wolf, Pit, Ness, and Lucas sometimes wonder and will use their Reflector, Mirror Shield or PSI Magnet, even when it's unnecessary. With this in mind, you give yourself more options. Characters without the ability to reflect or absorb are just as susceptible, and you know in your mind that you can take them out.

 

[0RLY]

How to establish fear. Name yourself Tudor when you start a tournament match.

 

[n00b]

Interesting post, Dryn. About the brick wall, you're pretty much right in saying that sh hm cancel allows for a variety of setups and approaches, but let's be reminded that not every Samus main approaches that way..

As for fear, I definitely agree. For some reason, when I play opponents (not the really clever ones though) they assume that a Samus would fire a charge shot unprovoked and without a setup.. This leads to easy, alternative punishments. I think I'd like to add that once you spike an opponent off the stage, they'll be a bit more cautious when recovering from below the stage..

 

[MetaRidleyX]

I love using that fear tactic. You charge up a shot, but you just keep it there and fire off a missle every once in a while. It's a great way to psyche out your opponent. Even better when the person is right beside you because you can say stuff like Blamo! right as you're firing a missle, making them think your firing your charged shot.

 

[I feel asleep]

How to establish fear. Name yourself Tudor when you start a tournament match.

Taking credit for others is never a good idea. chancesa re people who do it would disgrace the name of said person.

Now, one of the most common "fear based kills" is when you just stand near the ledge when your opponent is recovering from above. people love to airdodge when you do this. and since they were coming in from an upwards+torwards the stage direction, if they airdodge it puts them below the lips/edges of some levels(FD, SV, PKMN Stad, etc) leading to a easy/free kill/ledgehog on some characters.
Now, even though it is incredibly basic and even somewhat laughable, it has worked on over a dozen people at tournaments.

As for the charge shot. people aren't nearly as fearful of it as they used to be. but it still makes em think "when's it coming, when's it coming"

I miss the day's of melee where people feared me even more than they do in brawl x_x

 

[Julz]

I love seeing my friends randomly use their reflector. Takes the pressure off.

 

[Pi]

Some times if I know my friends think I'm about to fire...I'll mash a button or say 'now!' or 'boom!'

 

[Gum]

Interesting thread. Knowing the psychological effects of things is a huge part of the game, especially when using Samus, and I feel like many forget that.

 

[I feel asleep]

Interesting thread. Knowing the psychological effects of things is a huge part of the game, especially when using Samus, and I feel like many forget that.

MINDGAMES SON!

Anyways, Wobbles made a guide to melee way back when, bringing up points about tech skill/=\mindgames. really well thought out, and writen well. made some people stop arguing about stuff, made others argue. but thats beside the point.

Seeing as how brawl IS less technical than melee by quite a large margin, mindgames play a bigger role. everything from fakeouts, slowly walking towards your oppenent, shouting stuff, doing 4 z-airs then a bunch of empty short hops, etc are all just small parts of a larger picture. mindgames as a whole are not just about placement/randomness and such. it's about controlling your opponent, and making them do what you want.

I know DSF used to watch people hands in melee to freak em out, some people listen for the "click" of the triggers when opponents are on the ledge and react accordingly. other's try and dance around a lot with brawls dashdancing(x_x) to be unpredictable. all these things are helpful if used right, but if your opponent can notice it, they can trick you. suck as with the "click" they could simply have L/R set to do nothing and press that to make the sound.

 

[Orichalcum]

Yeah i noticed that aswell sometimes i wouldnt play some enemies the way i would just because its that XYZ person and i often get locked in hopeless situations. Fear is deadly :D
When im put in such scenario i tend to play defensly and avoid or run, after realizing i change to play more offensive and get smacked for that, i think fear in brawl is just when you play someone who is obviously superior to you

 

[Gum]

In terms of brickwalls, a pretty good practical usage of that is to missils cancel two homing missiles and approach with a grab after the first missile. It is almost a gauranteed grab and the second missile has you covered if they spot dodge or try to punish the grab.

 

[0RLY]

When I play Samus, my brickwalls feel more like... giant fluffy pillows. Two homing missiles, two bombs, repeated zairs, shff fairs, lots of up-Bs OoS, sh double bair, stuff like that. If Samus could do these things faster, and with more priority, then yeah, it would be a brick wall. Samus' ability to control your opponent's actions aren't as effective as say, divebombing with Wario. You can't get through that kinda stuff without a disjointed hitbox. Samus's projectiles can be dodged, jumped over, and outprioritized. Not necessarily a brick wall, more like a red cape held by a matador and Samus is shouting "TORO! TORO!"

 

[n00b]

Not necessarily a brick wall, more like a red cape held by a maTudor and Samus is shouting "TORO! TORO!"

fixed 10dors

 

[PK-ow!]

I know DSF used to watch people hands in melee to freak em out, some people listen for the "click" of the triggers when opponents are on the ledge and react accordingly. other's try and dance around a lot with brawls dashdancing(x_x) to be unpredictable. all these things are helpful if used right, but if your opponent can notice it, they can trick you. suck as with the "click" they could simply have L/R set to do nothing and press that to make the sound.

You can't set a button to do nothing.

This is an interesting element of competition. In some sense it's an unavoidable impurity - really, players' only interaction should be what's on-screen - but whaddrya gonna do?

 

[Johnthegalactic]

When you charge up your Charge Shot, the way your opponent plays will likey differ. The reason is because he or she is aware that you have your Charge Shot set up and you can fire it at any time given. I know what it feels like, as most Samus players who have tried out ditto matches, that when that Charge Shot is fully charged, you are thinking to yourself, when is he or she going to fire that Charge Shot? You never know when. Even characters like Fox, Falco, Wolf, Pit, Ness, and Lucas sometimes wonder and will use their Reflector, Mirror Shield or PSI Magnet, even when it's unnecessary. With this in mind, you give yourself more options. Characters without the ability to reflect or absorb are just as susceptible, and you know in your mind that you can take them out.

This is definately true, I use Samus for fun, and Lucario for matches where I don't feel like using ZS Samus, and with a charged aura sphere, you opponent sure acts silly.

 

[Rohins]

Just throw on a tank top and look angry before your match starts. That's a pretty good way to establish fear in your opponent.

 

[Subach]

Just throw on a tank top and look angry before your match starts. That's a pretty good way to establish fear in your opponent.

Not all of us have physiques suitably impressive enough for this purpose, though.