Link to original post: [drupal=849]Surprises[/drupal]
I'm not able to attend tournaments (sadly), though I do enjoy playing Melee and Brawl against friends. One thing I've learned about how people play, in the process, is that you can honestly surprise people and come out on top by playing a bad character well.
I do not believe that every character is equal or that there's no such thing as a bad match-up. But it can honestly be effective to break out a low-tier character that you know isn't completely massacred by your opponent. (Samus v. King Dedede: don't even try it.)
Why? It honestly has a lot to do with match-up experience and how unusually some of the really bad characters play. Some examples:
+My Melee main is Mewtwo, a character that is honestly sub-par (only Taj seems to have enough patience to get really good with him, though I'm trying
). But if you've played as him or against him, you know that his moveset is crazy.
One time, I beat a rather formidable Sheik as said crazy psychic. It wasn't exactly "easy", but the guy using her had little practice against Mewtwo's insane antics and wasn't entirely ready for what I did.
Another time, I thoroughly demolished a Marth as Mewtwo. Same reason for my victory: he didn't know what was coming.
I also heard of Taj beating the best Jigglypuff (King, I believe) because he had no idea what Mewtwo did.
Gimpyfish, world-famous Bowser main in Melee, also did the same thing...nobody really played against Bowser, so he came in and surprised a lot of people that way.
+I've been trying to get down Yoshi in Brawl. Nobody else I play against plays as Yoshi, so that's very jarring for them...Yoshi doesn't play like anyone else, so past experience isn't usually common.
I've seen Dededes, Kirbys, Falcos, and Zeldas, with usually the same result. I know Yoshi's not too bad against anyone except Mr. Game & Watch (and Marth), but being the only Yoshi is a boon. Half the time, I use an attack that makes their jaw drop.
So, what's the moral of the story?
Even a bad character can be helpful if you know how to play them well enough.
However, there are probably two things to keep in mind, if anything...
Actually know how to use the character.
Surprises do you no good if you're surprised by the character you use!
Suppose you want to surprise someone by using one of the PK kids, Ness or Lucas. They don't play very much like anyone else on the cast.
That's fine...but you haven't really made use of Ness. You're surprised by what he does half of the time. Your opponent may not face him a lot, but your ineptitude gets you killed.
Avoid that.
It's little surprise if the character plays a lot like a character they face normally.
Case in point: Pichu, Young Link, and Roy. They are clones that are clearly worse than their original model. But they do play a lot like their better halves, so it's not too tough for them to be handled. Especially Roy, with Marth being as common as he is.
Brawl doesn't have many situations like this, though Ganondorf really has it bad. He gets murdered by prominent cast members, and Captain Falcon (despite how godawful he is) isn't as rare as you'd expect. Fox is similar enough to Falco that those that whip Falco don't do badly against Fox.
This may be a bit muddled, but the moral is simple: a unique, bad character can, if played well, provide you an edge if your opponent has NO idea as to how they play.
Cheers.
I'm not able to attend tournaments (sadly), though I do enjoy playing Melee and Brawl against friends. One thing I've learned about how people play, in the process, is that you can honestly surprise people and come out on top by playing a bad character well.
I do not believe that every character is equal or that there's no such thing as a bad match-up. But it can honestly be effective to break out a low-tier character that you know isn't completely massacred by your opponent. (Samus v. King Dedede: don't even try it.)
Why? It honestly has a lot to do with match-up experience and how unusually some of the really bad characters play. Some examples:
+My Melee main is Mewtwo, a character that is honestly sub-par (only Taj seems to have enough patience to get really good with him, though I'm trying
One time, I beat a rather formidable Sheik as said crazy psychic. It wasn't exactly "easy", but the guy using her had little practice against Mewtwo's insane antics and wasn't entirely ready for what I did.
Another time, I thoroughly demolished a Marth as Mewtwo. Same reason for my victory: he didn't know what was coming.
I also heard of Taj beating the best Jigglypuff (King, I believe) because he had no idea what Mewtwo did.
Gimpyfish, world-famous Bowser main in Melee, also did the same thing...nobody really played against Bowser, so he came in and surprised a lot of people that way.
+I've been trying to get down Yoshi in Brawl. Nobody else I play against plays as Yoshi, so that's very jarring for them...Yoshi doesn't play like anyone else, so past experience isn't usually common.
I've seen Dededes, Kirbys, Falcos, and Zeldas, with usually the same result. I know Yoshi's not too bad against anyone except Mr. Game & Watch (and Marth), but being the only Yoshi is a boon. Half the time, I use an attack that makes their jaw drop.
So, what's the moral of the story?
Even a bad character can be helpful if you know how to play them well enough.
However, there are probably two things to keep in mind, if anything...
Actually know how to use the character.
Surprises do you no good if you're surprised by the character you use!
Suppose you want to surprise someone by using one of the PK kids, Ness or Lucas. They don't play very much like anyone else on the cast.
That's fine...but you haven't really made use of Ness. You're surprised by what he does half of the time. Your opponent may not face him a lot, but your ineptitude gets you killed.
Avoid that.
It's little surprise if the character plays a lot like a character they face normally.
Case in point: Pichu, Young Link, and Roy. They are clones that are clearly worse than their original model. But they do play a lot like their better halves, so it's not too tough for them to be handled. Especially Roy, with Marth being as common as he is.
Brawl doesn't have many situations like this, though Ganondorf really has it bad. He gets murdered by prominent cast members, and Captain Falcon (despite how godawful he is) isn't as rare as you'd expect. Fox is similar enough to Falco that those that whip Falco don't do badly against Fox.
This may be a bit muddled, but the moral is simple: a unique, bad character can, if played well, provide you an edge if your opponent has NO idea as to how they play.
Cheers.
