Social SGD: The hedgehogs are back in town.

[Ripple]

Ripple's probably ****ing you up because your play style is pretty much downloaded into his head at this point. Try using different characters (see ) and see what kind of results you get.

it really doesn't matter who he uses OR who I use anymore.

sonic dittos anyone? we're 1-1. and I don't even know how to use side-b or down-b properly

 

[Tesh]

I did not read any of these walls of text, but Excel, keep some things in mind.

- Sometimes you won't get advice simply because you aren't flat out horrible and/or clueless. Alot of the advice given to new Sonics is like "btw you can hold the shield button to cancel that". I haven't gotten much critique either, but I did come up with some ideas of my own to try out (i dont get to play offline often though), and they worked out great. Just think of ways to diversify your playstyle in clever ways. New ways to approach a matchup. Remember to slow it down. In alot of videos I've seen from you, it looks like you are doing random stuff just for the sake of trying to mix things up. Slow down and watch your opponent. Don't be afraid to walk around and use tilts.

-Use other characters, picking up MK helped me a good bit with the basics and how to approach without spindashing like a madman and praying my opponent's screw up.

-I have had the same problem with watching videos. I used to agonize over Espy and __X__ vids and ask myself "how do they get away with that!? when I do it i get wrecked wtf!?". You know your options, but you need to know when and how to use them. Figure out what your opponents are reacting to and how. Then give them a little of what they are looking for. Obvious dash grab approach gets spotdodged every time? Run up to/behind and jab/tilt/smash/ASC.

I don't have much else that applies to all styles. Most of the specifics I've learned all come down to "camping mixups".

 

[WedginatorX]

Excel, if you're gonna quit, ****ing quit already. If not, stop *****ing. You've been doing this for a year or so and nothing has changed besides you ***** harder. Man up.

 

[Exceladon City]

Excel, I'm still worse than you. lessthanthree

Well, a worse Sonic anyway.

I highly doubt it.

Losing isn't fun, you can I see how the fun's been sucked out of the game due to losing so much. You seriously might need to find players that are not as good as the players you're playing now so that you can actually win and actually get some confidence back.

Hollow victories won't fix anything especially when the counter-productive "playing better people" is inevitable. I was always under the impression that playing better people would better me as a player. So wrong...so horribly wrong.

Theories about why you're not as good as the other Sonics:
1) You just might be trying to copy what they're doing so much that you don't even have your own style. You fall into predictable patterns because you're subconsciously too busy trying to mimic someone you saw that in the end, you're actually a generic Sonic that crazy easy to take out.
2) There might be something fundamental about either Sonic the character or the game in general that you're just not getting. Sonic seems like a relatively complex character for a relatively simple game. If there's something about the character you're not understanding, it could be why you come into patterns and why when you try to break out of said patterns you get rocked. Or maybe the game isn't as simple as it seems... and due to that and some kind of missing understanding about the game itself, you fall into patterns that are ****ing you over.

Y'know, this has applied to me on several occasions.

I've tried:
The X aka DownB 'Em - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=102i_S6pH3k
The Speed aka never approach - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MisCFN9UAI
The Kuraudo aka Hard Aggro - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgvx-yNpr4c

I had my own little thing going but then I was unable to play people for like 4-5 months and then I ended up losing all of that mojo.

Additionally, Sonic just might have a play style that simply isn't compatible with you. See what kind of play style you use in other fighting games and compare it to the play style that is Sonic the Hedgehog in Brawl. It just might not be what you're used to playing, and therefore, you'll have to put your Sonic fandom to the side... (see my Genesis Sonic that does down+B over side+B even though side+B is better)

I think in almost every fighter I've played, I've always used someone who is fast and nimble or has mad mix-up potential.

SFA3: Rolento/Cody/Karin
SF3S: Yang/Akuma
SFEX+: Skullo
Tekken: Lee/Bryan
Arcana Heart: Lilica
BlazBlue: Litchi
MvC: Captain Commando

You get the picture?

it really doesn't matter who he uses OR who I use anymore.

sonic dittos anyone? we're 1-1. and I don't even know how to use side-b or down-b properly

...

-Use other characters, picking up MK helped me a good bit with the basics and how to approach without spindashing like a madman and praying my opponent's screw up.

I've tried the whole "Don't spindash approach" thing. Worked about as well as it sounded...

Figure out what your opponents are reacting to and how. Then give them a little of what they are looking for. Obvious dash grab approach gets spotdodged every time? Run up to/behind and jab/tilt/smash/ASC.

People don't react to me unless I commit. If I don't commit, they just sit there and look at me.

 

[Life]

I highly doubt it.

0-2 /hope2
1-2 SN2
1-2 /hope3

My tournament results, in W-L format. IN PITTSBURGH.

Come at me bro

 

[Espy Rose]

Taokaka's the Soniciest BlazBlue character.
Choosing Litchi is being a filthy *****.

 

[MarKO X]

Taokaka's the Soniciest BlazBlue character.
Choosing Litchi is being a filthy *****.

Quoted for great truth.

 

[Exceladon City]

Taokaka's the Soniciest BlazBlue character.
Choosing Litchi is being a filthy *****.

Then I'm a filthy *****.

 

[[FBC] Papa Mink]

She's sexy

I approve of using any sexy characters in video games.

 

[Espy Rose]

Taokaka has a sexy body.

 

[WedginatorX]

I concur, espy.
But your I main hazama so I'm a filthy ***** as well.

 

[da K.I.D.]

Then I'm a filthy *****.

this goes double for me

She's sexy

I approve of using any sexy characters in video games.

this guy knows where its at.

Taokaka has a sexy body.

1. You cant tell cause she wears an oversized hoodie all the time.
2. What little you can see gives the impression of very much the opposite. She has the same body as Noel. Flat chested with a pancake butt.

 

[Exceladon City]

Man, there's not one guy on BB that I have the hots for...

 

[da K.I.D.]

thats because they all have severe mental illnesses.

Carl was deprived of love from his parents.
Ragna has rage issues, in addition to having guilt issues about his sister
Hazama is just the biggest douchebag/troll ever.
Arakune is a mutated glutton.
Jin is psychotically obsessed/in love with his brother.
Tager is just big and gross.
Bang is corny as hell and a narcissist.

Its like if winnie the pooh was an action anime.

 

[MarKO X]

you know, Oreo definitely did hit me with the Jedi Mind Trick with the Litchi post.

 

[WedginatorX]

It's apparent that goggles shares the same dislike for hazama that he does for me.
And jin's obsession with men is right up excel's alley.

 

[Exceladon City]

It's apparent that goggles shares the same dislike for hazama that he does for me.
And jin's obsession with men is right up excel's alley.

As you were saying?

 

[Ripple]

I don't know how you sonic mains ****ing enjoy playing through SA2:B. this game drives me insane to no end

 

[BSP]

What about it drives you insane? I know the treasure hunting parts drive me insane sometimes, but I like the shooting and running stages.

 

[da K.I.D.]

Jin isnt obsessed with men, hes obsessed with one man. and no matter how gay anybody could possibly be, that mess is not cute.

And yes, hazama and wedge are both trolls.

and ripple, if it makes you feel any better. I own a dreamcast, so I never played SA2:B.

treasure hunting was fun, they made knuckles the most fun character to play. so i never had a problem.

 

[MarKO X]

treasure hunting was fun, they made knuckles the most fun character to play. so i never had a problem.

I interpreted this as "Obvious trolling."

Treasure hunting was botched in SA2 compared to SA1.

 

[Espy Rose]

Several things have been made clear to me in the last 10 posts:

1) da KID has never seen official Taokaka Artwork beyond the character selection screen.
2) Ripple is bad at Sonic games.
3) Mark is trolling. SA2's treasure hunts were by far more fun than the crap on SA1, with the SOLE EXCEPTION of Sky Deck.

 

[Tesh]

Espy why are you not making an effort to win the Lone Star Championship so you can go to APEX?

All you have to do is place reasonably well at revolution and you are probably gonna get paid @ champs if you make it into the pro bracket.

Are you planning to fight your way from the bottom like @ MLG?

 

[Espy Rose]

Because I'm not as iron willed as I used to be.
This game kinda sucks now, but the people are too amazing to quit.

That, and Sonic's playable.

Life johns don't help the Apex situation, and a stipend at this point wouldn't persuade me.

 

[Tesh]

HoM3 isn't Road to Apex though. With the big OoS attendance and the pot bonus, you could win enough money to go to APEX. 1st place will likely get over 600 dollars. With Razer, Trela, Gnes, Illmatic, Dabuz, M2k and Ally all possibly there we need a pro Sonic to come in and rep!

But, if you don't care, what can I do...
I can't make the pro bracket with points, but I can try to make it through amatuers.

 

[Ripple]

2) Ripple is bad at Sonic games.

you're bad at pony games

:fluttershy:

 

[Espy Rose]

I'm gonna be the best Applejack mane when Fighting is Magic gets it's final release.

 

[Exceladon City]

I'm gonna be the best Applejack mane when Fighting is Magic gets it's final release.

I c wut u deed thar.

 

[Mr. Johan]

I found out my campus has a gaming club. Too good.

Looking at the roster of people, it looks like the two furries (or at least fury cosplayers) that I mentioned a year ago are part of this group. Maybe I can spite Espy by befriending them and taking pictures of them.

 

[Kuraudo]

Because I'm not as iron willed as I used to be.
This game kinda sucks now, but the people are too amazing to quit.

That, and Sonic's playable.

Life johns don't help the Apex situation, and a stipend at this point wouldn't persuade me.

.........

Maybe I need to rise up and carry on the will you used to have. I've been getting progressively better and better again; hoping to ride this momentum to something greater.

 

[Kinzer]

I'm gonna be the best Applejack mane when Fighting is Magic gets it's final release.

Might not be hard, once the novelty effect wears off and you're practically the only noteworthy player character in the entire U.S. by default. Or something so critically is wrong with the game that few will want to play it after it becomes well-known. Pray for a viable character, yes.

Also thank freaking God. I thought I was the only one that was kind of disappointed with how this game turned out to be. Still no excuse though, I apparently have the skills and the potential to get far, so I might as well see what I can do with it; especially considering I've very little else to do.

... You know it'd be kinda nice if Touhou got a new fighter. Hopefully one that's just as good if not better than everything seen so far. Needs new members for/from novelty. Or Hell, just let it pick up more in the U.S. in general, I'll be happy with that too.

I have to wonder how much wind Brawl picked up just because Melee was loved by so many, and the Nintendo/franchising label and whatnot. It could be like something to that effect too. S'okay but leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[Espy Rose]

I found out my campus has a gaming club. Too good.

Looking at the roster of people, it looks like the two furries (or at least fury cosplayers) that I mentioned a year ago are part of this group. Maybe I can spite Espy by befriending them and taking pictures of them.

What group? Your gaming club?
Because really, that wouldn't do much. There's plenty of furries in my little circle down here. I'd say about 90%.

.........

Maybe I need to rise up and carry on the will you used to have. I've been getting progressively better and better again; hoping to ride this momentum to something greater.

Do what you gotta do, man.
I still have fun with this game, there's no mistake about that, but ever since MLG Dallas' conclusion, I've prioritized having fun over everything else, because I feel like I've achieved most of the goals I've set for myself.

Maybe something will compel me to pick up the game super seriously again, who's to say? It's very possible, and I honestly wouldn't mind that, but for now, I'd rather just play for the fun factor. The competitive mentality of Brawl is currently destructive of my idea of fun, so I probably won't change until that does.

Might not be hard, once the novelty effect wears off and you're practically the only noteworthy player character in the entire U.S. by default. Or something so critically is wrong with the game that few will want to play it after it becomes well-known. Pray for a viable character, yes.

Someone here is underestimating the bronies. The game will probably be unbalanced or whatnot, but the opportunity for hot fixes exist. I'm expecting Applejack to be bottom tier based on some of the betas, but anything is still subject to change. In any case though, bronies will play it ad nauseam, because most of them are super-devoted tools. They're not the biggest "play to wins" in the competitive community either, so I doubt the metagame will cause them to quit.

Just because I can:
[yt]Zc_IHSg6-1E[/yt]

 

[Exceladon City]

What's your secret to having fun? I've lost sight of the fun factor.

In other news. I'm **** at Treasure Hunting.

 

[Espy Rose]

Playing the way I want to play is having fun.
Hard to do that when the competitive standard begs to play in a way I find deplorable.

Also, can you even get an A-Rank like that?
The time bonus would need to be around 9350, give or take (A-Rank on Security Hall is 12,000).

...yeah, you probably can.

 

[Exceladon City]

Playing the way I want to play is having fun.
Hard to do that when the competitive standard begs to play in a way I find deplorable.

Also, can you even get an A-Rank like that?
The time bonus would need to be around 9350, give or take (A-Rank on Security Hall is 12,000).

...yeah, you probably can.

That's not my screenshot. I A-Ranked it last night on Hard Mode for KID to rage at. I have never laughed so hard in my life.

So basically, I should just play however I enjoy? Why are the answers so simple and yet so difficult to find?

 

[Espy Rose]

Probably because you're trying too hard to play the way you need to play, and not the way you want.
Does anyone here remember Sonic back in 2008? The different type of Sonics we had back then?

Everything's beginning to funnel in on an optimal style of play, and I can't stand that. Back when I started to play Sonic, I played in the way I found most comfortable and enjoyable for my character, then expanded on the mechanics within that playstyle in order to become a more effective player. Rather than simply adapt the "best way to win", I observed other top PLAYERS (mostly Sonic, but ANYONE is fine to observe) to find strategies and setups that mimicked my own, then worked with the tools I had for Sonic in order to replicate those scenarios in, again, ways I found comfortable. By doing that, I begun to create my own strategies and technique that just ended up working out for me.

I'm not saying that copying a winning playstyle is BAD in and of itself. I honestly think it's a great way to begin to learn your character. It's just not something I've personally found GOOD for ME past that stage. Hell, back when I was WiFi only, I copied Malcolm, Lucky, and dNES constantly before developing any further.

I rarely try anything I'm not comfortable with, which is probably why I'm so awful at timing people out. Plus, that defeats the purpose of the game to me.

=====

And I know it's not your screenshot, I'm just questioning the A-Rank possibility.
You just BARELY A-Ranked the 5th mission? I've already beaten SA2 100% at least...5 times.

...the first 3 I blame on my Dreamcast deleting my VMU data constantly, despite that I have THREE of them. Chao battling was fun.

Then the fourth time was again on the DC after I dusted it off, with the 5th being on the Gamecube once I bought SA2B.

 

[Exceladon City]

Between my cousin and I and my buddy Trevor and I, I've completed the game 100% twice.

I really only play it now for Chao.

I didn't barely complete it. I beasted it. KID couldn't do it, so I showed him the ropes. (smirk)



Well, that's something I should work on then. I've gotten too caught up in doing what I need to do to win instead of doing what I need to do to enjoy myself.

Now, I've gotta eradicate that hair trigger rage that pops up when I don't get things right.

Also LOL @ dNES. That dude was so cool. I think I might watch some of his old stuff. I wish he never quit playing, he had a pretty smooth hedgehog.

 

[Espy Rose]

If I can call anyone my teacher in Smash Bros, it was definitely dNES.
Good times, good times.

[yt]gzMVsk035tU[/yt]

 

[Exceladon City]

If I can call anyone my teacher in Smash Bros, it was definitely dNES.
Good times, good times.

[yt]gzMVsk035tU[/yt]

Well, I definitely did learn everything I know now from watching you, Shugo, Malcolm, Umby and Camalange.

The good ol' days.

Come back to us!

 

[FRiSKruns]

For me, the first player I'd heard of that was good, was Malcolm(although by the time I heard of him, he had already dropped Sonic). It wasn't until the beginning of 2010 that I had got my disc. I started out playing basic brawls, since I didn't realize SWF or AIB existed lol, and around March I joined SWF, didn't actually use it til like late April, eventually I heard of Malcolm, checked out vids, was amazed, heard about Espy from my friend JRUGS (who now lives in Maryland), I checked out some vids was amazed and was pretty hyped that he lived in our same city :D eventually ended up seeing other Sonics eventually, and found a fondness for Kojin's gameplay/combo vids especially :3

Around August of last year I went to my first smashfest, got ***** by pretty much everybody lol.
While I kept on trying my best to improve, Espy did too, no matter how hard I tried, he always seemed ridiculously good, to the point where at times I almost doubted that I could ever get even near his level XD, eventually grew out of that, accepted that he's good because he'd put in work just like anyone else. When MLG Dallas happened I was about as happy as every other Sonic here, maybe a bit more, because he's been one of the Sonics I looked up to and wanted to succeed (also city pride). At the same time I was envious because he'd accomplished something pretty amazing while I didn't feel like I'd been making much progress.

Now, here we are in 2011, I feel like I've improved quite a bit since then, the game may have changed some too with more rules being applied and what not, MK maybe being banned. New playstyles, new players, and new skill levels. Espy's still much better though, hoping to catch him soon, guess I'm still too slow haha. Hopefully, (for me) Espy doesn't pull a Malcolm on us and do a character switch (it'd suck because then I'd never get the chance to really surpass him), though with as much as Espy likes Sonic, I can't say I'd see him drop Sonic before I'd see him drop brawl.

I guess for me though, I can't exactly 100% relate because I haven't been around as long, but, I'd say brawl's been pretty fun for me through and through, cool people to hang with just as Espy mentioned, and I guess I haven't gotten bored yet simply because unlike Espy, I haven't exactly accomplished the goals I've set for myself yet.

Edit:
TL;DR

Brawl Career's story+ I learned from Malcolm, Espy, Kojin, and some other Sonics :D