full_95
Smash Journeyman
Alright, I've been thinking about this for a while:
Just as a preface, when I say "smash," I am referring to Melee (the travesty that is Brawl need not be included). And sorry for the length, but it's not like the melee boards have much else going for them right now. There will be cake for those who finish it.
What puts a smasher on the very top? Obviously, those who practice the most and have a deep understanding where the intricacies of the game are concerned are the top players. However, among those top players, there are a few who just stand out both past and present including: PC, M2k, Ken, Shiz, Mango, Bum, BS, KDJ, Azen, Forward, Chu, Cactuar, Cort, Isai, Aniki,... etc (obviously, this list is longer, hope I don't offend the smash gods). Why are they the best?
A fairly large number of people constitute the top tier of smash as it were, but names like the ones mentioned before are different. They, for some reason, have set themselves apart from other top smashers. There are many who know just as much about the game, practice just as much, go to just as many tournaments, but cannot ever be as good as the very top smashers.
For purposes of the post, I am assuming that knowledge, understanding, experience, and skill are essentially equivalent among the, for lack of a better word, generic top smashers and the tippy top bestest smashers (again, not trying to offend anybody, any of those "generic" top players would whoop my a** in about a minute flat). How does one make that transition? How do you go from being great (which all of the generic top smashers are) to being among the best in the world? from my perspective, this is the hardest leap to make in all of smash.
I argue that most will never make it there no matter how much they play, no matter how much they know, no matter how smart they are. At the top level, it becomes a question of the physiology of the person rather than their experience or skill. Take Isai and SSB, for instance. Why was Isai undoubtedly the best at SSB? It is because, for whatever reason, that game spoke to him. He intuitively understands what to do in every situation at a level that most cannot dream to duplicate. It must be physiology because there are plenty of people with near equivalent skill at SSB, but he can pretty much 5 stock anybody with any character he chooses.
It is the same in Melee. Some people just intuitively know how to play the game. The game physics are the same for everybody. If we were all the same physiologically, then no prodigies like the ones previously mentioned would really emerge. However, the very top smashers are almost wired to play this game. For whatever reason, their brains can multitask much more efficiently than can the "generic" top smashers. What I mean by multi task is this:
1) Complex Analysis
- This is the ability to see what is happening right now and what will happen in the immediate future with great clarity. This would not be as hard but for the complicating factor of also having to extrapolate past analysis (that is, analysis that you have made before within the same match) in every present analysis. IE: X player did Y in Z situation, how will he react to this one?
2) Making of Decisions
- The ability to act on your analysis in a split second with the correct decision is perhaps the most paramount skill. Incorrect decisions are minimized by the cream of the crop. Many times, it is the player who makes less incorrect decisions that wins in matches between the very top players.
3) Reactions
- If you can analyze and make the correct decision in a split second, but your hands cannot keep up, you will never reach the very top.
4) Hand/Eye Coordination and Excecution
- While this may be an offshoot of #3, I think that it deserves its own spot. When the brain tells the hands to do a certain thing, your hands may be able to keep up, but they may not be as precise as needed. Your fingers must be able to precisely and efficiently press buttons with minimal wasted energy. The best of the best smashers excecute every movement (or almost every movement) on the controller nearly perfectly with their fingers.
I use the guitar as an analogy. When you reach a certain point, you realize that if you press too hard on the strings, you will never get faster. The fastest guitar players press as lightly as possible to produce a pitch on a given fret and also pluck with only the amount of energy necessary to produce the note and no more. This allows the fingers to move much more quickly and precisely because you are not wasting energy by pressing too hard or plucking too hard. It is the same for smash, the lighter you hit the buttons, the faster your fingers can move with precision. Essentially, you need to learn how to hit the buttons with just as much pressure as you need to perform the desired function and no more. If you are crushing the buttons every time you hit them, it will slow you down and make you imprecise.
5) Handling of Pressure
- This ability approaches the importance of decision-making. For instance, I can do every AT in the book fluidly and with little effort when im messing around against a comp. However, as soon as I am in a pressure situation (even if it's just me and my friends playing in my room), my hands become, for lack of a better word, ********. I start gripping harder and pressing buttons harder which inevitably decreases my precision and speed and leads to technical mistakes. Not only does my hand/eye decrease, my analysis becomes cluttered and leads to poor decision-making.
The ability for these top smashers to play even better in those situations (like the grand finals of large tournaments) that are mentally straining is something that 98.362% of smashers simply cannot do. The very top players have this skill to simply block out the rest of the world and focus purely on the game with a calm, clear state of mind. The worst part is that you cannot learn this. You either can or you cannot maintain a sound mental state in stressful environments.
Sorry I really got carried away, but I think I brought up some good points that can spawn some good conversation. Let me know what you guys think.
PS: The cake is a lie
Just as a preface, when I say "smash," I am referring to Melee (the travesty that is Brawl need not be included). And sorry for the length, but it's not like the melee boards have much else going for them right now. There will be cake for those who finish it.
What puts a smasher on the very top? Obviously, those who practice the most and have a deep understanding where the intricacies of the game are concerned are the top players. However, among those top players, there are a few who just stand out both past and present including: PC, M2k, Ken, Shiz, Mango, Bum, BS, KDJ, Azen, Forward, Chu, Cactuar, Cort, Isai, Aniki,... etc (obviously, this list is longer, hope I don't offend the smash gods). Why are they the best?
A fairly large number of people constitute the top tier of smash as it were, but names like the ones mentioned before are different. They, for some reason, have set themselves apart from other top smashers. There are many who know just as much about the game, practice just as much, go to just as many tournaments, but cannot ever be as good as the very top smashers.
For purposes of the post, I am assuming that knowledge, understanding, experience, and skill are essentially equivalent among the, for lack of a better word, generic top smashers and the tippy top bestest smashers (again, not trying to offend anybody, any of those "generic" top players would whoop my a** in about a minute flat). How does one make that transition? How do you go from being great (which all of the generic top smashers are) to being among the best in the world? from my perspective, this is the hardest leap to make in all of smash.
I argue that most will never make it there no matter how much they play, no matter how much they know, no matter how smart they are. At the top level, it becomes a question of the physiology of the person rather than their experience or skill. Take Isai and SSB, for instance. Why was Isai undoubtedly the best at SSB? It is because, for whatever reason, that game spoke to him. He intuitively understands what to do in every situation at a level that most cannot dream to duplicate. It must be physiology because there are plenty of people with near equivalent skill at SSB, but he can pretty much 5 stock anybody with any character he chooses.
It is the same in Melee. Some people just intuitively know how to play the game. The game physics are the same for everybody. If we were all the same physiologically, then no prodigies like the ones previously mentioned would really emerge. However, the very top smashers are almost wired to play this game. For whatever reason, their brains can multitask much more efficiently than can the "generic" top smashers. What I mean by multi task is this:
1) Complex Analysis
- This is the ability to see what is happening right now and what will happen in the immediate future with great clarity. This would not be as hard but for the complicating factor of also having to extrapolate past analysis (that is, analysis that you have made before within the same match) in every present analysis. IE: X player did Y in Z situation, how will he react to this one?
2) Making of Decisions
- The ability to act on your analysis in a split second with the correct decision is perhaps the most paramount skill. Incorrect decisions are minimized by the cream of the crop. Many times, it is the player who makes less incorrect decisions that wins in matches between the very top players.
3) Reactions
- If you can analyze and make the correct decision in a split second, but your hands cannot keep up, you will never reach the very top.
4) Hand/Eye Coordination and Excecution
- While this may be an offshoot of #3, I think that it deserves its own spot. When the brain tells the hands to do a certain thing, your hands may be able to keep up, but they may not be as precise as needed. Your fingers must be able to precisely and efficiently press buttons with minimal wasted energy. The best of the best smashers excecute every movement (or almost every movement) on the controller nearly perfectly with their fingers.
I use the guitar as an analogy. When you reach a certain point, you realize that if you press too hard on the strings, you will never get faster. The fastest guitar players press as lightly as possible to produce a pitch on a given fret and also pluck with only the amount of energy necessary to produce the note and no more. This allows the fingers to move much more quickly and precisely because you are not wasting energy by pressing too hard or plucking too hard. It is the same for smash, the lighter you hit the buttons, the faster your fingers can move with precision. Essentially, you need to learn how to hit the buttons with just as much pressure as you need to perform the desired function and no more. If you are crushing the buttons every time you hit them, it will slow you down and make you imprecise.
5) Handling of Pressure
- This ability approaches the importance of decision-making. For instance, I can do every AT in the book fluidly and with little effort when im messing around against a comp. However, as soon as I am in a pressure situation (even if it's just me and my friends playing in my room), my hands become, for lack of a better word, ********. I start gripping harder and pressing buttons harder which inevitably decreases my precision and speed and leads to technical mistakes. Not only does my hand/eye decrease, my analysis becomes cluttered and leads to poor decision-making.
The ability for these top smashers to play even better in those situations (like the grand finals of large tournaments) that are mentally straining is something that 98.362% of smashers simply cannot do. The very top players have this skill to simply block out the rest of the world and focus purely on the game with a calm, clear state of mind. The worst part is that you cannot learn this. You either can or you cannot maintain a sound mental state in stressful environments.
Sorry I really got carried away, but I think I brought up some good points that can spawn some good conversation. Let me know what you guys think.
PS: The cake is a lie