So I just got Brawl...

[Din]

Well, over the holiday season I got a gift card to the local mall. Among the things I got for myself, since I've wanted Brawl back when originally came out, I bought SSBB.
Fantastic game. In the past I've played both SSB and SSBM. I own Melee and still play it. And it's still fun.

I love Brawling against my sister and her boyfriend and I win 9 times out of 10. I would play on my WiFi, but I still don't feel like I've mastered fighting enough and I would lose easily. (I would watch some matches, but I keep getting an error when I go to watch them)

Now then. I don't normally post here, or regularly, but today is a different day.

Any tips for a new Brawl player?
Other than MetaKnight & Snake, what are good characters to use?
What are all the Brawl terms? (ex: 'utilt', I'm not familiar with all of them)

All of these questions probably make me sound like a total moron, but I'll ask them anyway.
:@

 

[Hylian]

Just read around on the forums, you will get used to everything eventually. Check out the regional zones for people in your area and you will learn stuff even faster.

Try looking at the stickies in general brawl/competitive brawl discussion for terminology.

 

[Jebu-95]

utilt = Upward Tilt (by tilting the stick up and pressing A)
Ftilt = Front Tilt
Dtilt = Down tilt

Uair = Up Air
Fair= Forward Air
Bair= Backward Air (Do and aerial in the opposite direction you're facing)
Nair = Neutral Air (just pressing A in the air)
And so Forth...

 

[Claire Diviner]

You can do what I did and - aside from playing with others - go to Smash Wiki and search various terms and techniques and then practice.

 

[Din]

Ok, thanks guys!
I didn't even know there was a Smash Wiki ... :o

 

[Blissard]

Smashwiki can be difficult to navigate at times, but it's a really good resource for general info on characters.

As for a main, just play everyone and use whichever you feel most comfortable with. If you plan on playing competitive Brawl, try only to main ONE character (cause that's what the word "main" is supposed to mean...), and 1-2 secondaries at most. A lot of people will pick mains based on the Tier List, but it's possible to win with any character in competitive play, though some will require more dedication.

Except for Ganon.

 

[Gatlin]

Honestly, you may want to stay away from Wifi, it is pretty laggy and has a lagged response time, so instead of doing an attack or jump right away, you'll do it a second after you register it. I personally never play on Wifi anymore because it is hard to actually play. Don't make that stop you though, and there is nothing really to be embarrassed about if you lose, it's not like you will ever see those people, and your ID is hidden, so it is all anonymous.

I recommend playing through the Subspace Emissary as a starting move. It will get you used to the controls, as well as mostly all of the characters seeing as you will play with 90% of them at least once. I used the Subspace Emissary to practice when I very first got the game, and it worked very well for me.

Good beginner characters would be Link, Pit, and Fox (practice not side-b'ing off the map though if you go with Fox ) Link has a very basic control scheme and takes 5 minutes to learn how to use him decently enough. Pit is one of the first characters you play with in Subspace, and has a good recovery as well as decent power and speed. I listed Fox because he was the first character I mained, and I have never changed, it was love at first play for me.

 

[Flutter NiTE]

http://www.smashboards.com/showthread.php?p=11889789#post11889789


A guide I am starting to write up, though, it is for more, newer players, I think you will know a chunk of it.

 

[Din]

Honestly, you may want to stay away from Wifi, it is pretty laggy and has a lagged response time, so instead of doing an attack or jump right away, you'll do it a second after you register it. I personally never play on Wifi anymore because it is hard to actually play. Don't make that stop you though, and there is nothing really to be embarrassed about if you lose, it's not like you will ever see those people, and your ID is hidden, so it is all anonymous.

I recommend playing through the Subspace Emissary as a starting move. It will get you used to the controls, as well as mostly all of the characters seeing as you will play with 90% of them at least once. I used the Subspace Emissary to practice when I very first got the game, and it worked very well for me.

Good beginner characters would be Link, Pit, and Fox (practice not side-b'ing off the map though if you go with Fox ) Link has a very basic control scheme and takes 5 minutes to learn how to use him decently enough. Pit is one of the first characters you play with in Subspace, and has a good recovery as well as decent power and speed. I listed Fox because he was the first character I mained, and I have never changed, it was love at first play for me.

Oh yes, the first thing I did was play the Subspace!
I had it done within a day. C:
&& Thanks for your help! I think Fox is fun to play, honestly.
I used to play as him on Melee, but with all the other guys on Brawl, I forgot about the little guy...

And wow, WiFi lags a lot? From all the videos I've seen, it seems to be okay-ish..

&&
@Blissard
xP
I sometimes play as Old-man-nondorf (Ganon with the white hair) against my sister just for laughs.


@NiTEWiNG
Oooo, thanks! This looks great and should help me a lot with understanding the terms used here. xD

 

[Amide]

Lots of good players use wi-fi, and it's usually not too harmful if it's almost lagless, but even unlaggy wi fi isn't perfect, and you shouldn't get used to it too much.

 

[Gatlin]

And wow, WiFi lags a lot? From all the videos I've seen, it seems to be okay-ish..

Hah, sorry, I didn't mean to make Wifi sound completely dreadful, it is there, and it does work, but there are matches I have played which are fairly lagless, and others I have played which are full of lag. I just don't really recommend playing it all the time though, because even though the registration for moves is a 'little' late, it can be enough to change the way you play offline if you get used to executing moves earlier than usual.

This is dealing with the "With Anyone" Wifi matches by the way, I have not messed with the "With Friends" one yet, which is probably what you are referring to if you watched a video of a match. Those involve those long friend codes, but I have heard the lag is a lot less, maybe even non-existent, depending on how close the person you are versing is to your location.

 

[Din]

Hah, sorry, I didn't mean to make Wifi sound completely dreadful, it is there, and it does work, but there are matches I have played which are fairly lagless, and others I have played which are full of lag. I just don't really recommend playing it all the time though, because even though the registration for moves is a 'little' late, it can be enough to change the way you play offline if you get used to executing moves earlier than usual.

This is dealing with the "With Anyone" Wifi matches by the way, I have not messed with the "With Friends" one yet, which is probably what you are referring to if you watched a video of a match. Those involve those long friend codes, but I have heard the lag is a lot less, maybe even non-existent, depending on how close the person you are versing is to your location.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm
/flees to scope some poor soul from tumblr to see how bad this lags
xD

 

[i8pie]

I'm pretty sure that it didn't look laggy because it was a replay that was recorded. When you play a Wi-Fi Match, it will be laggy and frustrating whilst if you record your replay of it, things run smoothly.
Also, aside from the lag, there's a good chance you will probably be playing with items, so yeah. Unless you like playing with items.

 

[U.K.L.]

you can fight with f.c. there's never items because you can costomize. oh yeah if you have a bro or sis that loves brawl that's a big big help or a friend

 

[Din]

I'm pretty sure that it didn't look laggy because it was a replay that was recorded. When you play a Wi-Fi Match, it will be laggy and frustrating whilst if you record your replay of it, things run smoothly.
Also, aside from the lag, there's a good chance you will probably be playing with items, so yeah. Unless you like playing with items.

Hmmmm I see...
& I don't really like playing with items, they're annoying to me
:/

 

[Flutter NiTE]

I updated my guide with a few new terms. going to take a break and re visit it later with more updates.

 

[Amide]

Hmmmm I see...
& I don't really like playing with items, they're annoying to me
:/

Then that's probably a good thing, because in competitive Brawl, people don't use items. And if you do wifi via All is Brawl, people don't use items.

 

[Flutter NiTE]

bleh, heck with All is Brawl. http://www.fsmash.org/ best website for finding wifi players IMO

 

[weigelct]

I have a piece of advice. Play dedede. The king needs representation; he's been steadily falling on the tier list since the first. Oh and if your friends show any interest in playing brawl competitively, tell them to play dedede. Play dedede dittos. Seriously.
/troll

Play metaknight.

(or play dedede if you want to make me and the gods happy... really that would be awesome)

 

[Amide]

Why do you like DeDeDe so much lol.

 

[TurnOneWrath]

I started with playing through the SSE, since playing through it gives you a large chunk of the game like extra characters and such, and it helps familiarize you with the movements of all the characters.
While that portion of the game has a good story (for a fighting game) and a decent set up, it was the most annoying portion of the game for me because being that each of the characters have the movements characteristic of a fighter, moving about and doing things in a platforming game environment was simply annoying at times. Personally, I really had no desire to do it other than unlocking various things in the game. I really didn't find it fun.

I would also at least experiment with all of the unfamiliar characters at least a few times to see what you do and don't like. You may be surprised at what you find (I had no idea I would ever like playing with Lucario, or that I would eventually grow to hate playing with Wolf). Once that's done, you can venture over to the character boards and find discussions about your favorite characters, like their more effective moves, and other, more advanced things if you are so inclined to go that far.