Anyone wanna help out my friend and critique his Kirby?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AZTNNEog80
Awright, LETS DO THIS @@@
i promised Iblis I'd critique it, so here goes
Match 1!
Things you did too much:
-UpB onstage (Incredibly punishable and easy to avoid)
-UpB offstage (before you run out of jumps)
-SideB everywhere (it's strong, but easy to avoid)
-Dair onstage (too much ending lag, easy to shield and punish)
-Nair (you can win easier if you don't use it)
-Nair offstage (never do this, ever)
-Foxtrot (dash, stop, dash, stop...)
-Throw out attacks and miss them (i'm not talking about spacing or zoning)
-Miss the vast majority of grabs (you even grabbed when your opponent was high above you)
Things you didn't do enough:
-Airdodge to avoid getting hit by your opponent's combos
-"Combo" your attacks together, string them together
-Shield your opponent's attacks.
-Use all your jumps before resorting to an upB offstage
Things you should improve on:
-Momentum Cancelling. Yes, it's a very important technique, and I never saw you do it.
-Improve on your DI and SDI. Ask Iblis to help you with this, I'm sure he's got it down by now.
-Increase your reaction speed. This is a MUST, you let a lot of chances just go because you weren't reacting fast enough.
-Read more about Kirby as a character. t!mmy's guide is a great place to start, then move from that to asking direct question to other veteran Kirby mainers.
-Watch videos to figure out the best situations to use certain attacks, or to notice which attacks should be used least.
Let's go into detail...
UpB is a kind of move that you only want to be using when you're recovering, and you are about to run out of jumps or just ran out of them. It's very punishable during startup, while you're at the top, and as soon as you land. What you want to do is to use this move to recover the vast majority of the time, and rarely if ever use it as an attacking move. You'll find that you're getting hit less after you stop using moves that take forever to end, and forever to start... Same goes for
sideB. It might be strong, and it might kill the opponent, but how many times have you hit people with it, out of the many times you've used it? And how many times have people hit you while you do it, or after you finish? Not to mention the horrible lag you get after you use the attack and land (known around here as phantom lag), this move should only be used if you're SURE it's gonna hit, or if using it will force your opponent into a very bad position.
Dair on-stage is only good if you know you're gonna hit with it, or if you're doing it while coming from high up due to the opponent not knowing if you'll land in front of them, or behind you. When you short-hop a dair and land in front of your opponent, You're practically telling them to hit you as hard as they can. The move takes a while to start, and it also takes a long time before it's finished. So, try cutting back on that nasty habit, what you want to be doing is hitting your opponent while still making sure they won't hit you back if they shield. The bad thing about
nair is that it's horrible at doing that same thing I just said... The attack has such small range, and it's out for so long, that the only reason to ever use this attack is to cancel the 'phantom lag' you use a sideB and are about to land. Usually, a bair will hit your opponents if they are in front of you (amazing, right?), or you could just simply fair, or land and do a grab. You should always think about
what would happen if your opponent shielded the attack, instead of
what will happen once you hit them with the attack, because the first one of the two is the most likely scenario.
Foxtrotting is a very nice thing to do every now and then, having the ability to dash and stop without having to wait until your character 'brakes' or takes forever turning around... But overly doing this, especially when there's no need to be doing it in the first place, will just end up in you missing your chances at scoring a hit or two on your opponent. It's nice to be on the move all the time, but what you really want to do is keep your opponent guessing what yo're gonna do. For example... When you're standing still, and your opponent is jumping towards you, he has to guess whether you're going to shield, attack, roll, spotdodge, jump, or just stand still and hit him when he airdodges. When you're dashing, your opponent doesn't have to worry about shielding, rolling or spotdodging, so that just leaves three easy-to-read options: attack, jump, and stand still, not to mention the added risk of tripping... What you just did was make sure your opponent hits you, because now you have no way of protecting yourself when he attacks due to you foxtrotting recklessly. If you MUST move, then try walking instead of running, this way you can keep an eye on your opponent and still shield if you think he's going to attack you.
And last, but not even close to least (and one of the most important, and applied to every single character you plan on using), is
missing grabs. I know you can't help throwing out a grab and your opponent expecting it punishes you for it, but when your opponent is in the air above you, then suddenly you look the other way and run off grabbing nothing, there's a problem right there. You also don't want to grab the air expecting your opponent to jump into your arms, the majority of the time you should be grabbing
out of a shield. If you successfully shield an opponent's attack and they're right in front of you, it's the perfect moment to grab them, and there's a 100% guarantee that you'll grab them as long as they're inside your grab range... But if you grab and miss, you're committed to the grab, and have to wait out the whole time it takes for you to finally be able to move again. During this time, your opponent might be thinking of attacking you for making that mistake, possibly even taking your stock with a well-aimed smash... So, even though grabs are a MUST for every Kirby main, keep an eye out for when grabs are best used, and best not used.
Match 2!
Things you did too much:
-SideB. (already covered this)
-Dash Attack (if your opponent shields it, you're definitely eating some attack or a grab. Try and use it only when your opponent has no chance of shielding, like while he lands or something)
-DownB (it's a nice attack, but if you miss, your opponent WILL hit you for it, possibly even kill you. best to use it rarely)
-Airdodge (airdodging is good for when you're high in the air, trying to reach the floor, and your opponent won't let you. If you just got hit by a weak attack and didn't get sent far at all, don't airdodge. You can't fastfall while airdodging, and you're vulnerable to your opponent's attacks while you do it.)
-Nair (already covered this)
-Dair onstage (already covered this)
Things you didn't do enough:
-Airdodge through your opponent's attacks while coming back onto the stage. You airdodged while on the stage already, when your opponent hit you with weak attacks, leaving you vulnerable to even more attacks.
-Use all your jumps before using upB. Already covered this, but just wanted to point out how you lost a stock because of this yet again. This is important, your upB is much more vulnerable than it seems, leave it as a last resort.
-Tilts. In this match, you stuck to the air more than the ground. This isn't bad, but it's not good either. You need to balance out your grounded game with your aerial game, and in this match, your grounded game was severely lacking in everything. Every tilt of Kirby's is an important asset to him, and dominating these is important to shutting down your opponent's options. How would he have approached if you utilted his approaches? Or ftilted him from out of his range? Or dtilted him, he tripped, and you ran in and grabbed him immediately?
Thing you should improve on:
-Reaction speed. Once again, you lost a lot of chances to outplay your opponent and punish him, just because you're not reacting fast enough. Might I suggest using faster characters for a secondary, then going back to Kirby once you can use that character well enough? I would suggest, out of personal preference, ZSS/Fox/MK/Marth/Diddy... Or play some puzzle games, or a shooter or something.
-Short hopping. This is an IMPORTANT part of every character, and even more so of Kirby's. Sometimes you want to jump and remain in front of your opponent so that your attacks create a 'wall' where your opponent will have a very tough time bypassing. If he gets close, he gets hit. If he stays away, he doesn't get hit but he doesn't hit you either. If he jumps over you, you land and raise your shields then hit him depending on what he decides to do... Short hopping creates many situations in which full-hopping doesn't help at all. heck, the times you jumped your opponent took advantage of it and coled down from your beatings, or just jumped right after you!
-Watch videos so you know what you should work on.
Dash attack is an OK move. It has a longlasting hitbox, meaning that if your opponent expected you to run in and grab, or do a single attack, they would dodge or shield and punish, but with Dash attack if they do that same thing, they're gonna get hit and knocked away for it. The bad thing about it is that if your opponent knows its coming, they'll hit it from above, from out of your range, or shield the whole thing and grab you afterwards... And your goal with attacks is to deal the most damage possible, while being as safe as you can. Now dash attacks aren't safe at all, if you miss them, you're going to get hurt, and the reward you get isn't great either. So, just keep them until you know you're gonna connect one.
DownB is a very risky move. Not much to say about this move, except that if you miss, you're going to get hurt bad for it. It's very linear, meaning that there's not much you can do with this move due to it just going straight down, and nothing else. Try to use this move as less as possible, it's very punishable and only really safe offstage, and in very few situations is it better than every other move you have.
