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- Jul 21, 2005
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It is amazing to see how far along the community has come. Precision, mind games, and technical prowess have all surged even in the last couple years with Brawl on the horizon. Today, I am going to show some of the contrasts between a match from 2005 and one from 2007.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMrgv8xQCqE">Husband (Marth) vs Isai (Captain Falcon)</a> - the old sample
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWJj6AzHCHY"> Mew2King (Marth) vs PC Chris (Captain Falcon)</a> - the new sample
In both matches, Captain Falcon defeats Marth (2 stock) on Pokemon Stadium in three minutes, so they are excellent specimens for this analysis (sorry for the early spoiler, but hey, they even have identical colors!). Let us break out the smash microscope, shall we?<!--more-->
First, look at the most obvious differences: the KO methods. In the old sample, Falcon KO’d Marth three times with the forward-air (the knee) and once with up-air. Marth KO’d Falcon both times with a forward-smash. These are pretty standard KO tactics. Most everyone focuses on setting their opponents up to be hit with their most powerful attacks. However, take a look at the new sample! Falcon KO’d Marth once with a down-air meteor, once with an up-tilt, and twice with the light shield edge-hog trick (custom fit for edge-guarding Marth). Marth KO’d Falcon once with a tipper (perfectly placed forward-smash) and once with an aerial attack (to interrupt Falcon’s recovery) followed by an edge-hog. How interesting is that? The old match featured very run-of-the-mill power KO setups, but the more recent one featured KOs that require much more precision to execute. The latter examples were much less forgiving and demonstrated how far the players have come in recent years. Husband and Isai tended to shy away from the edge as the opponent recovered since ledge-hops are so dangerous. PC Chris and Mew2King preferred to horde the edges in hopes of gimping the opponent. (A “gimp” is a KO that generally disregards how much damage the victim has, so it can be done even if the opponent has little or no damage. PC Chris ‘gimped’ Mew2King twice with the shield trick.)
Next, observe the amount of technical accuracy the players had. Actually, check out the difference in approaches in both matches! The 2005 match featured many SHFFL’d neutral-airs in hopes of nicking the opponent to start a combo. Isai failed a short-hop. Husband missed many attack opportunities (primarily grabs). In the 2007 match, both players went crazy with dash dance grabs and aerials. The mind games are just so much more evolved today
Brawl will most definitely follow similar trends. After a year or two, the community at large will more than likely assume they have “hit the top”, but soon after, there will be more breakthroughs. Tactics thought to be broken will become easily blockable, low tier characters will have outbreak players, and the game will radically change overall as new styles are developed and refined.
(Pardon the absence of SmashTV last weekend. Thanksgiving was wonderfully fulfilling, and the break from school was much needed.)
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMrgv8xQCqE">Husband (Marth) vs Isai (Captain Falcon)</a> - the old sample
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWJj6AzHCHY"> Mew2King (Marth) vs PC Chris (Captain Falcon)</a> - the new sample
In both matches, Captain Falcon defeats Marth (2 stock) on Pokemon Stadium in three minutes, so they are excellent specimens for this analysis (sorry for the early spoiler, but hey, they even have identical colors!). Let us break out the smash microscope, shall we?<!--more-->
First, look at the most obvious differences: the KO methods. In the old sample, Falcon KO’d Marth three times with the forward-air (the knee) and once with up-air. Marth KO’d Falcon both times with a forward-smash. These are pretty standard KO tactics. Most everyone focuses on setting their opponents up to be hit with their most powerful attacks. However, take a look at the new sample! Falcon KO’d Marth once with a down-air meteor, once with an up-tilt, and twice with the light shield edge-hog trick (custom fit for edge-guarding Marth). Marth KO’d Falcon once with a tipper (perfectly placed forward-smash) and once with an aerial attack (to interrupt Falcon’s recovery) followed by an edge-hog. How interesting is that? The old match featured very run-of-the-mill power KO setups, but the more recent one featured KOs that require much more precision to execute. The latter examples were much less forgiving and demonstrated how far the players have come in recent years. Husband and Isai tended to shy away from the edge as the opponent recovered since ledge-hops are so dangerous. PC Chris and Mew2King preferred to horde the edges in hopes of gimping the opponent. (A “gimp” is a KO that generally disregards how much damage the victim has, so it can be done even if the opponent has little or no damage. PC Chris ‘gimped’ Mew2King twice with the shield trick.)
Next, observe the amount of technical accuracy the players had. Actually, check out the difference in approaches in both matches! The 2005 match featured many SHFFL’d neutral-airs in hopes of nicking the opponent to start a combo. Isai failed a short-hop. Husband missed many attack opportunities (primarily grabs). In the 2007 match, both players went crazy with dash dance grabs and aerials. The mind games are just so much more evolved today
Brawl will most definitely follow similar trends. After a year or two, the community at large will more than likely assume they have “hit the top”, but soon after, there will be more breakthroughs. Tactics thought to be broken will become easily blockable, low tier characters will have outbreak players, and the game will radically change overall as new styles are developed and refined.
(Pardon the absence of SmashTV last weekend. Thanksgiving was wonderfully fulfilling, and the break from school was much needed.)
