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SHFFMC with slow stick movement

tauKhan

Smash Lord
Joined
Feb 9, 2014
Messages
1,349
SHFFMC (short hop fast fall missile cancel) is a powerful Samus technique, that allows her to get a low super missile out quickly with little lag after. To perform SHFFMC, you want to short hop, fast fall frame perfectly at the apex (frame 28), and fire a missile not later than 2 frames after.


Understanding the input requirements:

Initially the stick movement you need to perform may sound difficult, as you need to fast fall and then immediately side-b after. However, if you examine the actual relevant input zones in the input map below, (courtesy of @Kadano ) you'll notice that the dark green fast fall zone almost touches the red side-b zone. Thus you don't need to move your stick all that much to get from the fast fall zone to the side-b zone.



Another important thing to consider is that the fast fall input is active for 4 full frames once you enter the dark green fast fall zone.¹ Thus you can move your stick into the fast fall zone well in advance, which means that your stick movement doesn't need to be all that fast provided that you time the transition from ff zone to the side-b zone correctly. Additionally, the position of the control stick before entering the fast fall zone doesn't matter. So your stick can be in the grey/white/light green area in the input map for as long as you want, which allows even slower stick movement.

Samus doing shffmc in half speed. Red marks jumping, black is for the fast fall input window, green super missile window and pink is for landing. Purple is for the missile animation to distinguish when the missile window closes. GIF by @OddishGuy .

Performing the SHFFMC:

I recommend using a relaxed and deliberate control stick movement instead of slamming your stick down and then rolling it to the side along the edges of the octagonal gate. I move my stick down relatively slowly downwards. Then I start circling the stick toward the side-b zones without ever touching the downward bottom notch. The speed I do the motion with isn't that relevant; pretty much any speed can work if timed correctly. I believe it's easier to control the timing at which your stick transitions from the fast fall zone to the side-b zone with a more deliberate, slow motion. Another reason is that if you just slam your stick down for the ff input, you're probably applying considerable amount of force downward while your stick is already in the fast fall zone. That means that you'll be less likely to be able to roll your stick to the side-b zone in time, particularly if you smash the stick straight down into the corner notch. It's still of course possible to perform SHFFMC that way too, but I think it's probably harder to learn.


Practicing tips:

Since timing is the key for this technique, I find using some sort of metronome to aid learning very helpful. I personally used ikneedata.com/timeline set to beat on 1st frame for jump, 25th frame to notify the earliest time control stick can enter fast fall zone, and 29th frame for the b press for super missile. You can adjust the middle sound to fit better with the input speed you're using.

If you're having trouble getting the missile out while you're not touching the bottom notch and circling toward the side-b zone, it's very unlikely that you're doing the motion too slowly. Concentrate on getting the movement speed as consistent as possible, and adjust the timing of the control stick movement instead of trying to make it as fast as possible.

If the result of your attempt is no fast fall and homing missile, you're probably timing the control stick motion too early. If you're getting bombs, you're likely either starting the movement too late, or pressing b too early.



¹You're first allowed to fast fall at the apex of your jump. However you can move your stick into the fast fall zone up to 3 frames beforehand and still get the fast fall, as long as your stick is still in the fast fall zone when you reach the apex.


Thanks for @343 , @OddishGuy , @Ponkapa and butter for help with editing. And Kadano of course for creating the beautiful input map.
 
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