Teaching a new smasher

[AKC12]

Link to original post: [drupal=2223]Teaching a new smasher[/drupal]



Teaching a girl how to play super smash bros. brawl. Scary isn't it? So yeah a few weeks ago I sent her all the essential links from here and AIB. Told her to watch videos and read certain articles. Today was her first lesson. She's 14 I think, has a wii but never really used the gamecube controller before. I let her borrow my copy of brawl.

Here's how it went down. First impression, she really needs to ease her thumb on the control stick. She had some trouble picking up the character select cursor. This is her second time playing. I wanted her to settle at first with battling low level CPUs while giving her advice and how tos. She picked Lucas and I knew she was going to have trouble with his recovery. Then I joined in with Lucas and tried to show her some stuff, like shield grabbing, SH aerials (she has trouble with the short hop part). Approaching, defending, when to use moves. Like most people they stick with the Ftilit, and I gotta teach her kill percentages since she usually racks up 200% before she kills. But she's progressing well, still getting used to the game.

I told her of DI and demonstrated it to her. I made her practice Lucas recovery for a while. She's starting to get it, but needs to be successful more often. She also tried Yoshi. She struggled hitting his fair while I'm on the ground. I tried to get her to edge guard but she just attacks from the edge.

I told her to do Sub Space and practice the things she struggled with. We haven't messed with items yet. I'm hoping one day she would be a contender at any tourney, but that will take a while.

So any teaching methods, strategies you guys suggest to me. Tutorial videos would be great, although I could probably find them here.

 

[Skadorski]

Don't tell her to DI or SDI until she knows all of the moves and stuff, it's kinda confusing.
show her every character and all the pro matches of them so she knows what character does what so she could choose her main.
I....wouldn't reccomend SSE.....
DON'T use items, unless she plays for fun.

Just make sure she knows all the characters and such before she chooses a main.

 

[Rappster]

make sure she can tilt and smash and ariel consistantly before showing her to cstick. i was teaching my 13 year old sister to play melee and was too lazy to do it that way, and now all she can do is recover and cstick (granted, she has down syndrome, so its harder for her to learn tilts etc. but i wish i'd taught those first)

 

[Wiscus]

Good for you and her. Need more females around, I guess.
Sounds like you are on the right track, just try not to overwhelm her with too many things at once. Make sure she knows one thing absolutely before moving on to another. (I know that's common knowledge but people tend to try to learn everything at once.)

Spoiler

You can be really cool and teach her Brawl and Melee, now that would be awesome

 

[lax guy5]

I would just tell her to use the "Random" button until she finds a character she really likes. Also, have her play on a variety of stages, from Final Destination to Green Greens. (Don't play on banned stages.) And I hope you're already doing this, but in case you're not, have ALL items off. Lastly, make sure you are familiar with all the character's move sets so you can explain them to her. Good Luck, dude!

(Nice idea starting her off with a GC controller by the way.)

 

[AKC12]

Well she has to unlock the characters, so it's unfortunate.
I'll find videos of the characters no doubt.
I don't see how DI is confusing. Yeah she still needs to learn of the different moves but she gotta escape those combos...

 

[Skadorski]

. Also, have her play on a variety of stages, from Final Destination to Green Greens. (Don't play on banned stages.)

Lolwhat?
But yeah, what he said, get her playing random before she chooses a main.
And yes, good job with giving her a GC controler.

Edit: Yes, but she doesn't even have all the characters and doesn't even know every move in the game.

 

[AKC12]

Good for you and her. Need more females around, I guess.
Sounds like you are on the right track, just try not to overwhelm her with too many things at once. Make sure she knows one thing absolutely before moving on to another. (I know that's common knowledge but people tend to try to learn everything at once.)

Spoiler

You can be really cool and teach her Brawl and Melee, now that would be awesome

Yeah I gave most of it to her at once. She'll take it in slowly. I'll teach her one by one. I guess I'll start with recovery and approaches for now.

I would just tell her to use the "Random" button until she finds a character she really likes. Also, have her play on a variety of stages, from Final Destination to Green Greens. (Don't play on banned stages.) And I hope you're already doing this, but in case you're not, have ALL items off. Lastly, make sure you are familiar with all the character's move sets so you can explain them to her. Good Luck, dude!

(Nice idea starting her off with a GC controller by the way.)

Random seems fine I suppose. I played on different neutral stages, I'll use counter picks soon. Yeah items are off. I'll do a lesson with items but it won't be long. Yeah she needs to learn the move sets and see which best suits her. I'll give a brief over view of all characters to her.

 

[Rappster]

i am in favor of teaching banned stages too, cause some of them can teach useful skills, and even if they don't, its easier to explain why they're banned by just playing on em

 

[AKC12]

good point.

 

[POKE40]

Go with extreme basics:

-Button Basics (which button does what)
-Running, walking.
-KO'ing
-Smash attacks/special attacks/attacking.
-Shield => rolls/spot dodge
-Jumping
-Recovering from being knocked off stage.
-Up B's importance
-Ledge grabbing.
-How to get up from ledge grab => different things to get back to stage via ledge grab.

Basics part 2:

- Airdodge: "you can dodge in the air!"
- Grab and throw.
- Taunting (for the lulz)
- Different Stages
-Aerials: "you can attack in the air!"

Basics part 3:

-Characters: "So many different kinds of chars w/ different abilities"
-Shield => grab
-Shield => grab => beat up

(This process takes a while^^^)

Intermediate:

-Very broad teaching section: getting more than familiar w/ the character you like playing as.

Pre-Advanced:

-Based on char. Character main's basic ATs
-DI/SDI: living is good, surviving is better.
-Short Hop: jumping short.
-Chain throws: chaining your throws.
-Gimping: The opponent must die.
-Spacing: No more of just running directly to your opponent
-Teching: surviving the fall
-Edge hogging: Being cheap.
-Basic knowledge of counter-picking
-Banned stages: The stages that tournaments don't allow

Advanced:

-All char based. Contains main char's ATs.
-Knowledge of character match-ups
-Knowledge of stage counterpicking
-Knowledge of what to do w/ main char in any given situation.

Advanced 2:

-Enter tournaments
-pick up and learn more characters.

Master:

-Study character frames.
-Own a lot of people in large tournaments.



------------NOTICE!---------------

All of the above is just general.
All of the above are possible to change to the reader's taste.

 

[Grey Belnades]

POKE40, I approve of your awesome teaching list.

 

[POKE40]

POKE40, I approve of your awesome teaching list.

Thanks

 

[Rappster]

that list is awesome.
i'll keep it in mind next time i teach some1

 

[Johnknight1]

*snip*

^ What POKE said, really. Another simple thing that I found EXTREMELY HELPFUL is to teach her shield grabbing AT THE SAME TIME as grabbing. It really gets you in the habbit of being able to use it easily (I didn't do that with myself, & that was a pain to get into as a "habbit;" I taught my it brother asap, & he still uses it much better than me, despite being not as good as me).

The same things goes with using a variety of stages. Back when Brawl came out, I faced a lot of people who played only FD, & they were good on it-but whenever I counter-picked with say Delfino Plaza, Rainbow Ride, or even just Lylat Cruise they would get really upset & lose by huge amounts.

And don't be afraid to go at any pace, & be willing to be patient & go at a rate suitable for her. Remember, the mark of a good teacher is patience.

As for a final teaching tip, you should show her the basics of each character, & how they can be applied at lower levels of play (with a outline of how you improve with them possibly?). Then show her combo videos of the best players with each character, to show her where she could end up with each character. That way she'll have a "feel" for how the said character will progress.

Also, once you teach her Brawl, you should show her the rest of the series...backwards...

Spoiler

Also, teach her how to "John" like a pro! :D

 

[j0s3ph]

is she hot?
Just follow Poke's list

 

[lax guy5]

Lolwhat?
But yeah, what he said, get her playing random before she chooses a main.
And yes, good job with giving her a GC controler.

Edit: Yes, but she doesn't even have all the characters and doesn't even know every move in the game.

GG is a counterpick in a lot of tournies. I'm just saying that it's an extreme counterpick but one that many tournements accept.

Maybe I should have said "From Final Destionation to Rainbow Cruise".

 

[Skadorski]

^^^
THAT WOULD BE WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But yeah follow Poke40's list.

 

[RyuReiatsu]

is she hot?
Just follow Poke's list

She's 14, give her some time to grow something...

Poke's a genius. Awesome list .

 

[AKC12]

15 actually. but yeah thanks for all the input.

 

[AKC12]

is she hot?
Just follow Poke's list

Not extremely, but she's very cute.

 

[RyuReiatsu]

Not extremely, but she's very cute.

And that's the reason I've told you all to let her grow up :embarrass.

 

[Meru.]

... I think will end in another way than you've expected or not.

Spoiler

Someone had to say it

Good luck anyway.

 

[tsilver33]

This is a helpful thread. Poke's list is absolute genius and I think I'll save a copy in Word.

As for advice, can't really give you much. Seems everything I can think of has already been covered. Excellent!

 

[Aurasmash14]

Im teaching my 8 year old sister to play brawl.... then i got harsh and made her fight 3 lvl 9's teamed up against her with team attack off lol. It payed off anyway, after 6 months she can hold her own against people 2-3 times her age.