Smash Bros and the Act of Telepathy

[Foxus]

It is the trait that separates the weak and the meek from the champions. Before you think this is hot air, bear with me.

You hear all the time about "reading your opponent" or "conditioning your opponent," using very select words to describe the competitive side of Smash Bros. What fellow Smash peeps and gurus are really getting at, whether they realize it or not, is practicing the act of telepathy. What is telepathy? The definition is the thoughts or ideas expressed through communication other than the known senses.

Online you can't see your opponent, you can't smell your opponent, you can't hear your opponent, none of the known senses online are being used. Simply put, "reading" or "conditioning" your opponent are referring to the act of telepathy. Someone might be exercising telepathic power without even realizing it. While someone could argue that practice is what builds up tech muscle memory in a player is what makes them good, that's only part of the equation. The not so sweet news, however, is not everyone is born with the ability to exercise telepathic powers, and this often can be the barrier between top tier players and novices.

While muscle memory can be attained, telepathy cannot. I would be lying to your face if I said it could. Does that mean you can't become good at Smash? Of course not/ But does it mean lacking that telepathic trait won't guarantee you wins on a competitive level every single time? More than likely, yes. Zero, Hungrybox, all of the top players at Comic Con, or Apex, or whatever national tournament did not attain that status from muscle memory and hours of practice alone. A special sense those peeps were gifted at birth with was with them at that moment as well.

No one person knows whether or not they bear the gift of telepathy, or forever remain on auto pilot, until they go online, and take on those who possess that trait. People ask all the time whether they could become a Smash "God" or a top level player, well this is the answer. It comes down to being able to exercise the act of telepathy in real time, then and there, and muscle memory alone won't cut it.

Smash Bros and the Act of Telepathy are two peas in a pod, and the latter a separation between the gods and the novices of Smash. Hopefully this gave you some better perspective when someone talks about the ability to "read" or "condition" your opponent. Best of luck seeking out that inner telepathic power.

 

[KirbCider]

It doesn't really have to do with Telepathy at all really, but more along the lines of:

A. Learning how your opponent plays and figuring out how they react

Once you figure out how your opponent plays it becomes easier to handle them, especially if they refuse to change it up after it has become clear certain tactics are no longer as effective. A lot of people on For Glory have a nasty habit of trying the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over... And well, you know how the saying goes: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." This is why adaptation is important and it helps with "Reads" quite a lot if you can adapt to whatever tactics they use.

For example, most Ness's and Links (that I've noticed) like to roll to the edge, shield attacks, and immediately grab you and attempt to throw you off. Once they do this enough times it becomes obvious because you learn from it. Unless they change it up it will no longer be effective and give them a sense you are reading them when you kind of aren't, they're just being dumb by trying to do it repeatedly.

B. Knowing how the character they are using works

Knowing how a character works, and knowing what moves have lag, what moves are unsafe in certain situations, and so on improve your chances greatly. I've seen a ton of King Dededes who played rather sloppily. Some of them were really good, but they were sloppy in the sense of using all the wrong moves at the wrong time. Since I main King Dedede, not only do I know his match-ups (more or less) I also know what moves to take advantage of when the opponent throws them out if done sloppily. Knowing how they work helps.

Of course, you also have to put into consideration how your character works as well. You may know you can punish a move, but figuring out what to punish it with is also important. If you use a move with lag, then you're most likely going to miss your chance. Essentially, you need to think "If A happens, then I should do B". It takes trial and error but you get the hang of it eventually, I can promise you that.

C. It can sometimes just take a lot of guessing

Sometimes you just have to take a leap and just guess on what your opponent is doing. I had to do this several times on severely tough opponents who didn't have predictable play-styles. There are times where I say in my head "Okay, they'll try to do this or this, so I should probably either wait or do this as a counter measure." Sometimes I'm right, sometimes I'm wrong. This is where safe moves can come in handy sometimes. If you guess wrong and use an easily punishable move then you'll be in a world of hurt no doubt.

I have a friend who I can hardly beat at all that plays an outstanding Charizard. There are rare moments where I will be on point and tear him limb from limb, but 90% of the time I get destroyed because of how unpredictable he can be. He knows what to do in each situation, knows what moves are 100% safe, and knows how to take advantage of my poor decisions. He's not really a mind reader at all.

I don't have a lot of knowledge on Charizard as I barely encounter any of them (or if I do they spam). I don't know what moves I should take advantage of, although I'm slowly learning. Again there have been rare moments I made him the punching bag for once, but sometimes it's just lucky guesses and good set-ups from my end. Sometimes I had to outright change my play-style just to do something.

It literally has nothing to do with telepathy.

Knowledge and experience will do wonders and help in the long run. The more of that you have the easier it will be to counter what the opponents try to throw at you. Never be afraid to adapt, and never be afraid to change up your own tactics as well.

 

[E-Mann]

This made me both laugh and also think about your statement at the same time. Does telepathy even exist? Technically, yes... If we had better technology.

 

[Xermo]

I'll have what you're smoking

 

[Jeronado]

All reading is is paying attention to your opponent and then making an educated guess on what they'll do based on what you've noticed.

"Oh my opponent has been mashing airdodge every time I throw them. The next time I throw them I'm gonna wait for them to airdodge and them hit them with a smash attack."

"Wow my opponent has chosen to getup roll every time they're on the ledge. Next time they're on the ledge I'm gonna watch for the getup roll and punish it."

It's not quite as obvious as this when you start facing stronger players without terrible habits but the overall concept is the same.