The Mentality behind Jigglypuff

[RoxburyGuy58]

(If this is posted in the wrong place, mods can move it. This just seemed like the appropriate board).

It's been a long four years since I last visited SmashBoards (and it looks like people are still doing that '10char' crap), or even played Smash competitively. A lot has changed since then: namely, I'm now in college, and a proud member of Phi Delta Theta.
Now, in our house, Super Smash Bros. is a big thing. So big, in fact, that it is the deciding factor in who has to clean the basement or do the humiliating grunt work (of which will remain secret). I bet you can tell where this is going.
Basically, I've never been great at Melee......apparently these guys weren't, either. But I'm on break between trimesters this week - a perfect week to practice Smash! The only two characters I have a good handle on are Jigglypuff and Dr. Mario (so yeah there will be a clone of this thread in the Dr. Mario boards soon). Now I know that there are plenty of resources for learning on this site, but I was wondering if anyone had any tips for Jiggs or Smash mindgames that a total n00b could understand. Here's a quick bulleted list of what we're dealing with:

- Everyone blows at this game. I'm not up against any high-level competition. Most of them I would say are just as good at fighting as lv. 9 computers (however, they are far less exploitable; like, I can get away with a fully charged Rollout into a lv. 9 and they don't even dodge, but of course a person would). We have ONE really good Sheik to worry about, but that's it. There's a pretty decent Fox, but he can't finish a match, and is easily punished when off the edge.

- On another note, I think this guy has figured out how to DI out of my Uthrow, because I barely ever throw him straight-up anymore (he goes at an angle). How do I go into a Fox matchup without the "Space Animal Slayer"?

- Nobody knows about or gives a crap about the tier list. Heck, the list barely even applies to this house. To put things in perspective: we have people winning with Ness, everyone thinks the Ice Climbers are awful (b/c no one knows how to use them), and stages are always selected at random so that the glorious Icicle Mountain has a chance to rear its head.

- The only accepted form of Smash is 4-players, 5 lives each, no time limit, no items (well I guess that last one was a given). So Rollout, in some cases, becomes a viable move. 1v1 matches can happen upon challenge and/or request, but most of the time it's a 4-player bout.

- I can wavedash in place for a brief second, and even wavedashed backward about two steps once. But I can't do it as a habit. Also I only did it with Luigi, which isn't a huge help since I play with Jigglypuff.

- I can L-cancel.

- My DI isn't fantastic....I mostly use it just to get back to the stage after being launched. And for the "Space Animal Slayer" (Uthrow -> Rest on fast-fallers). But I cannot do a Wall of Pain correctly. Apparently it's not as simple as spamming Bair or Fair. I can't figure out how to nail this.

- I'm good, but not great. I've managed to come up with a few neat tricks with Jiggs: Dthrow -> Pound -> Rest works really well at low damages (otherwise I have to DI into them to get a Rest off). Also, at around 25-40%, this works: Dthrow -> Sing -> Bthrow (or Fthrow, whichever gets them off the edge) -> edgeguarding with aerials.

- I have a problem fighting people that run away on a large stage. I focus on catching them rather than fighting, and if I make a wrong move and don't get a good combo going, they just get away again. This always happens with Samus and Mewtwo, those ******s run away so they can charge their energy balls. Losing to cowards like that is humiliating, to say the least.

- I use Pound as my approach, as it's a rather good move with a range that belies its animation. I usually follow it up with aerials.


So that's about it. I just wanna beat on some big man babies who think they have a right to get an ego at this game.
So how can a Jigglypuff player in my situation improve in a mere week? What are some good tips and mindgames that a player of my experience could comprehend? Thanks in advance for any help =).

 

[Landry]

lol frat bros

edit:

in response - at the level you're describing I think you should just work on movements and spacing. You're gonna need to cut out stuff like pound spamming. If you can outspace your opponents and get good openings that'll lead to easy bair chain edgeguards and rest setups.

 

[Massive]

If you need to win four-for-alls, focus mainly on survivability.
Playing jigglypuff is a fantastic way to accomplish that, you can recover from nearly anything just by using your 5 jumps and pound.

Practice alternating rising pound (upward angle) followed by a jump (you have 5, get used to counting them) to recover from what looks like impossible distances. Jigglypuff rarely needs to use any jumps to get back onto the stage if it's at or above stage level, since pound loses almost no vertical distance if angled upward. Try stuff like going all the way under dreamland and grabbing the ledge on the other side of the stage to practice.

The easiest way to learn wall of pain is to start with single jump bairs. Do a shorthop, bair, and land. Do not fast fall, you will auto-cancel if you time it correctly. You can do these repeatedly with almost immediately after landing if you get the timing down. After that you can graduate to hitting aerials at the same time as your jump, and jumping multiple times this way. Keep in mind that building a wall-of-pain with no holes in it is an incredibly difficult task that you probably can't accomplish in a week.

Additionally, Jigglypuff can duck under most of the bigger character's grabs by just holding down, most projectiles too. This is very useful, try it.

Finally, there's always the tried and true scrub-killer from my early smash days. Walk (don't run) away from your opponent. When they approach, push towards them (left or right) on the C-stick, fsmashing them in a counter-intuitive way and possibly killing them. It sounds retardedly simple, but it does work very well, even at higher levels. I did this so much when I started playing smash with people in college (waaaaay back in 2003) that they called the maneuver "The Massive".

That should be more than enough information to get to or beyond "I beat all my friends" level.

 

[AppleAppleAZ]

Don't play Jiggs in free for all. Just go falcon and spam falcon punch; even when you lose, you won't lose.

Seriously, space bair and don't rest too much. Practice air mobility (the control stick is your best friend).

 

[Landry]

Also - your friends probably don't know how to punish your rest very well. Do they just wake you up with normal attacks or do they charge smashes on you? If they don't hit you very hard on the punish then you can go around spamming rest with very little risk.

 

[TheGoat]

You know for 4 player ffas, it boils down to just outplaying them. If you know your character, know the game, and have more experience, it's really just easy to avoid attacks and connect with them at the right times, while incorporating useful things like teching, DI, and smart recoveries.

 

[V-K]

Here is one important tip: If your opponent is off the stage, just follow him outside and kick him in the face. You will pretty much always be able to return with your jumps.

 

[RoxburyGuy58]

Thanks a lot guys, some of this stuff I sort of knew (like what V-K said), but it was good advice nonetheless.
Also, I learned how to Wavedash this week (took about two days of practicing when I had free time). I can Wavedash backwards out of a shield and Wavedash forward into a grab, but that's about it. Right now it's something I can do and not necessarily something I really incorporated into my game that much.

 

[snex]

if you want to win FFAs, go with ganondorf. or, since all stages are used, go fox and hope you get a stupid stage you can just abuse like hyrule temple, yoshi 64, or pipes