Smash 3DS The Smash 3DS Help and Advice Thread

[rabbit.soaring]

So I came across a player with a very reactive playstyle. He played as only Mega Man and his playstyle consisted only of:

1. Keeping his distance and shield-grabbing whenever I would try to approach, ground or air
2. Followed by throwing me off stage and and edge-guarding with F-smash
3. Using dash attack to approach/punish
4. Neutral B if I tried to keep my distance

I know on paper this should be a very easy strategy to beat, but I just couldn't understand why I couldn't get around it. Maybe it's my own lack of experience, but I felt that I should have known how to win and not fallen to such basic tactics. Any advice on how to handle people who are being way too reactive/defensive?

I was playing as Robin if it matters.

I'm not the best player myself, so feel free to take what I have to say with a grain of salt. If you know Mega's going to try and shield grab, a running grab should be effective, and force them to mix up their strategy a bit. Edge guarding with Fsmash shouldn't be a problem unless you're in front of the stage, grabbing the edge will give you invincibility and make recovering a bit easier. If Mega spikes with Dair, trying going a bit below the stage and then recovering from there, this should be harder to stop. If he's constantly dash attacking, you can easily punish him with shield grabs or projectiles, Megaman's not too fast. Keeping your distance of you're having trouble up close seems like a good idea with Robin, your opponent probably won't want you charging a Thoron, and Elfire is pretty good against slower characters. Both of Megaman's options are easily dealt with, Metal Blade doesn't deal too much damage, and can be used as perfect shield practice, and Crash Bomber will disappear upon contact with a shield. Lastly don't bother approaching if you don't have to. If you have the long/mid range game to damage your opponent at a distance safely, play some keep-away. No need to take unnecessary risks.

 

[DiverseStyle]

I'm not the best player myself, so feel free to take what I have to say with a grain of salt. If you know Mega's going to try and shield grab, a running grab should be effective, and force them to mix up their strategy a bit. Edge guarding with Fsmash shouldn't be a problem unless you're in front of the stage, grabbing the edge will give you invincibility and make recovering a bit easier. If Mega spikes with Dair, trying going a bit below the stage and then recovering from there, this should be harder to stop. If he's constantly dash attacking, you can easily punish him with shield grabs or projectiles, Megaman's not too fast. Keeping your distance of you're having trouble up close seems like a good idea with Robin, your opponent probably won't want you charging a Thoron, and Elfire is pretty good against slower characters. Both of Megaman's options are easily dealt with, Metal Blade doesn't deal too much damage, and can be used as perfect shield process, and Crash Bomber will disappear upon contact with a shield. Lastly don't bother approaching if you don't have to. If you have the long/mid range game to damage your opponent at a distance safely, play some keep-away.

Not at all, I welcome any advice from the Smash community.

I'll keep your pointers in mind the next time I run into this situation, thanks! I am usually an approach-y type of player, like with aerials and whatnot, but I'm slowly learning Robin is not that type of character. It just means I need change to adapt to his/her playstyle.

 

[cinderwild]

So after getting my ass kicked in almost every For Glory game I've played I'm coming here. I've mostly played Bowser Jr. and Duck Hunt. The last game I played with Duck Hunt was against a Greninja who had so much speed and range that he just tossed me around for 30 seconds and had me at 100% and I felt completely helpless.

Against other characters they seem to have much better projectiles than I do (or at least, much more spammable and faster with less punishment for failure). I don't know, it feels like my projectiles are meant to be my damaging moves yet half the characters in the game seem to have a reflect or faster long range projectiles to harass me while I'm trying to damage them. Duck Hunt's normal attacks don't seem to have a lot of range either. What am I missing with this character?

 

[Saikyoshi]

I've had my spirit broken. I can hardly ever land any hits, and even when I do, I can't land any kill moves because any attack that has a startup longer than one frame can and will be perfect-shielded by my opponent. My win rate has gone from above 70% to below 40%, and I have given serious consideration to giving up and swearing off the series due to the constant humiliation. I should be able to beat these players, but I just can't.

What I'm asking is... Is there ever a situation where Smash attacks are viable now, and what characters have the most effective grabs?

 

[GreenFlame]

Does anyone know if the full game can play with the Demo? I'm assuming not, but I'm wondering if anyone with the unlimited Demo has tested if you can play Local Wireless with the full game (I don't have the unlimited demo but I do have the full game, and I'd rather not waste a Demo use).

 

[SpikedShell]

Does anyone know if the full game can play with the Demo? I'm assuming not, but I'm wondering if anyone with the unlimited Demo has tested if you can play Local Wireless with the full game (I don't have the unlimited demo but I do have the full game, and I'd rather not waste a Demo use).

Nope

 

[Funkermonster]

How to up smash out of shield? Never really did anything out of shield besides shield grabbing, and I think I may do something about that now.

 

[Ekans647]

How do you play online with a friend? I was trying to do this, but my friend was unable to join the room.

 

[Melonfrog]

Can someone link to me a thread that explains all these -or some of these terms? Such as Verctoring. Thanks, I can't find anything here, it's such a maze...

 

[Fatalize]

Hello everybody, I'm kinda running into the same issue that another fellow smasher mentioned.
In for glory, I'm just holding my grounds, defending a so so 50% win rate. But my games are rarely "close", and most of the time it's either me crushing the guy, or me feeling like I just can't do it.
I really want to get better, because I just can't stand my current level, I get totally destroyed by play styles that are predictable and really "simple".

I'm really aggressive, I go for the risky play all the time, because that's basically how I have fun playing smash. I'm that guy who goes for the ******** edge guard just in an attempt to pull off a shiny move for the show. And honnestly, against people under my level, it is really one-sided and I'm able to get some pretty satisfying combos out of my character.

But when I'm facing someone who knows his character, I get overwhelmed really fast, at least that's how I feel like.
I'm gonna take as example a friend of mine, who I just can't seem to be able to beat. I tried, and I tried again, but it's like I'm playing hands tied and I get really frustrated by his playstyle, more than I am when I'm getting my ass kicked in Melee for instance. I feel like my approaches are not rewarding at all. So I step back, and try to see what is costing me these games.

He sticks to a really reactive playstyle, and it is working so much against me. When I'm coming from the ground he immediatly prepares a defensive stance, and a cheap punish. When I'm flying towards him, I'm not even near that he's already shielding.
I mean, I probably sound dumb, but the defensive game he's forcing does not benefit me at all, and I can't seem to be able to reverse it. When I try to get a grab, which does work, sometimes he spotdodges and punish me. I feel like I'm the one taking the risks by approaching, and that he has no incentive in ever approaching me himself. I guess I could stick to throwing projectiles .. but it seems so depressing to me.
Same happened last time, I was against a Toon Link, and all he did was grab out of shield/up b out of shield when I was coming + throwing all kinds of stuff at my face when I was away. And I couldn't find a way to break this loop, it was a very frustrating experience.

I'm not complaining, I believe that right now I don't have the level, and I truely want to improve. But at the same time, the situations that block me are so disheartening that I'm wondering if it's really worth the effort. And what effort anyway ? I don't even know what to do, I can pull off nice combos and I'm rather fast and precise in my moves, but I get obliterated by people sticking to a simple gameplan. So what's the point of me trying to get good mechanics ?
So yea, after lurking a bit, I'm looking for someone who could give me the answer to break these reactive playstyles in order to level up the arsenal of an aggressive player like me.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Linkdude74]

Does anyone have general tips for playing against sheik?

 

[GreenFlame]

So me and my friend went through the entire cast in All-Star to try to get all their trophies and complete the "Clear All-Star with all characters" challenge. We got all of the trophies but...we didn't complete the challenge! I've come to the conclusion that this means each of us has to do each individual character, but this is my question: will we still be able to get the challenge if we both go through and do every character each in co-op All-Star, or does it have to be in Solo?

 

[Funkermonster]

The best way to practice gimping or edgeguarding people (particularly with Duck Hunt or Lucina)? I don't find training with CPUs very efficient since they all recover the same way mostly and are predictable. There was a time I could edgeguard with Lucy pretty well on a few people, but I think I'm somehow losing my magic touch.

 

[GreenFlame]

The best way to practice gimping or edgeguarding people (particularly with Duck Hunt or Lucina)? I don't find training with CPUs very efficient since they all recover the same way mostly and are predictable. There was a time I could edgeguard with Lucy pretty well on a few people, but I think I'm somehow losing my magic touch.

The best way to practice your edgeguarding is probably through playing friendlies with people on Smashboards of all sorts of playstyles/characters, and since it's just a friendly match try and take the risks of edgeguarding. If you think you can hit them off stage, go for it, then try your best to recover safely. That said, don't just jump off and spam attacks (especially as Lucina) because then you won't be able to recover. But if you're just playing friendlies, take reasonable risks. Hope I helped a bit (unless you're talking about on-stage edgeguarding only, in which case I didn't help that much).

Hello everybody, I'm kinda running into the same issue that another fellow smasher mentioned.
In for glory, I'm just holding my grounds, defending a so so 50% win rate. But my games are rarely "close", and most of the time it's either me crushing the guy, or me feeling like I just can't do it.
I really want to get better, because I just can't stand my current level, I get totally destroyed by play styles that are predictable and really "simple".

I'm really aggressive, I go for the risky play all the time, because that's basically how I have fun playing smash. I'm that guy who goes for the ******** edge guard just in an attempt to pull off a shiny move for the show. And honnestly, against people under my level, it is really one-sided and I'm able to get some pretty satisfying combos out of my character.

But when I'm facing someone who knows his character, I get overwhelmed really fast, at least that's how I feel like.
I'm gonna take as example a friend of mine, who I just can't seem to be able to beat. I tried, and I tried again, but it's like I'm playing hands tied and I get really frustrated by his playstyle, more than I am when I'm getting my *** kicked in Melee for instance. I feel like my approaches are not rewarding at all. So I step back, and try to see what is costing me these games.

He sticks to a really reactive playstyle, and it is working so much against me. When I'm coming from the ground he immediatly prepares a defensive stance, and a cheap punish. When I'm flying towards him, I'm not even near that he's already shielding.
I mean, I probably sound dumb, but the defensive game he's forcing does not benefit me at all, and I can't seem to be able to reverse it. When I try to get a grab, which does work, sometimes he spotdodges and punish me. I feel like I'm the one taking the risks by approaching, and that he has no incentive in ever approaching me himself. I guess I could stick to throwing projectiles .. but it seems so depressing to me.
Same happened last time, I was against a Toon Link, and all he did was grab out of shield/up b out of shield when I was coming + throwing all kinds of stuff at my face when I was away. And I couldn't find a way to break this loop, it was a very frustrating experience.

I'm not complaining, I believe that right now I don't have the level, and I truely want to improve. But at the same time, the situations that block me are so disheartening that I'm wondering if it's really worth the effort. And what effort anyway ? I don't even know what to do, I can pull off nice combos and I'm rather fast and precise in my moves, but I get obliterated by people sticking to a simple gameplan. So what's the point of me trying to get good mechanics ?
So yea, after lurking a bit, I'm looking for someone who could give me the answer to break these reactive playstyles in order to level up the arsenal of an aggressive player like me.

Thanks in advance.

I'm not usually one to give advice because I'm not excellent at Smash, but I'll just try and give you some tips. I know you seem to like an aggressive playstyle (which is perfectly reasonable), but it sounds like your friend knows how to deal with aggressive opponents. You play Sheik, right (I do as well)? Sheik is a rush-down character. That means she suits aggressive play excellently. However, that does not mean only rushing in and never defending. I usually start with applying the pressure and forcing an approach with needles, unless the opponent has a better projectile than Sheik, in which case I might rush them down with a Dash-attack (or feint one, then do it for real). You have to keep up the pressure with Sheik, but you can also make them come to you then sheildgrab them or juggle them. Hope I could help you with my advice (I hope everything I said above was not completely incorrect and misleading).

 

[Jugo]

So I want to get into the competitive side of Sm4sh and I want to know how to do some basic tech, like auto canceling and such. Any advise is greatly appreciated!

 

[SapphSabre777]

I feel like I am garbage right now...30 hours into the game online and I can never seem to win for the life of me. I've practice online, offline, and locally, read the character tutorials of the main (Kirby), and even watch others and my own replays, but I just feel that it is all for naught. I have been 2 stocked a whopping 18 times in a row.

I want to win, but I feel that because of my disability, which slows my reaction speed, that I will never be able to reach even a decent level of competitivity; and this is the reason why I lose, because people have superior reactions to me. Now people are pretty much saying the only way I'd ever win was to "use the top tier characters," which I don't. It is a mental impasse, I want to win, but I want to use who I want to use. I have limitations, and my character has limitations, but I feel the limitations I have imposed upon myself just make me mediocre at best.

Should I just throw in the towel in competition since it will just lead to me wasting time on what I need to do and just stick to being a filthy casual?

 

[Fangblade]

Every so often as I'm sent off the stage, I'll attempt to jump, but for some reason I've lost my jump. This usually ends up with me recovering just short of the ledge. I had enough of this so after reviewing a replay here's what I found:

As I grab (I'm Toon Link) my opponent (Palutena) rolls behind me and gets me in a jab. Her jab finisher sends me flying offstage and I throw a boomerang to cover any approaching, though as I start falling I try to use my jump but it's gone, and I end of using my recovery too late.

My question is do Jump inputs count even where there's no jumping involved?

 

[A wild Spycrab appeared!]

Can someone link to me a thread that explains all these -or some of these terms? Such as Verctoring. Thanks, I can't find anything here, it's such a maze...

First post here, might as well use it to mention something I know. Vectoring is inputting a certain direction after being launched, with the goal of influencing your trajectory. There's a nice guide about this by StrongBad (can't post links yet, try googling vectoring Strong Bad smashboards).

If there are any other terms you do not know the meaning of, try the smash terminology guide by IGN (again, no link, got too few posts for that).

I feel like I am garbage right now...30 hours into the game online and I can never seem to win for the life of me. I've practice online, offline, and locally, read the character tutorials of the main (Kirby), and even watch others and my own replays, but I just feel that it is all for naught. I have been 2 stocked a whopping 18 times in a row.

I want to win, but I feel that because of my disability, which slows my reaction speed, that I will never be able to reach even a decent level of competitivity; and this is the reason why I lose, because people have superior reactions to me. Now people are pretty much saying the only way I'd ever win was to "use the top tier characters," which I don't. It is a mental impasse, I want to win, but I want to use who I want to use. I have limitations, and my character has limitations, but I feel the limitations I have imposed upon myself just make me mediocre at best.

Should I just throw in the towel in competition since it will just lead to me wasting time on what I need to do and just stick to being a filthy casual?

First of all, can I know what kind of disability you are talking about? It would probably help a great deal if people knew what it was, so they can think up a solution.Obviously, in Smash, like in any fighting game, reaction time is very important. However, I personally think being able to read your opponent is ten times more important. Try watching replays and tournaments, and try to predict their moves. It's a great mental exercise, and good reads can somewhat compensate for slow reaction time. Second, From what I can see in your post, a change in attitude wouldn't hurt either. I am not a competitive player, but I can guarantee you that even when you play to win, you should not focus on a loss or a win, but on the enjoyment you got from it. Sure, it's not a problem to try to learn from your mistakes, but instead look at what you did right, and what the opponent did right during and after a match. You're absolutely right in choosing whatever character you want to play as. While there are no tier lists yet, Sm4sh is quite balanced, so every character at least has some kind of niche it can fulfill. If you do not enjoy the game anymore, don't play, but don't feel let down when you are not winning consistently, it is a matter of trial and error.

tl;dr Try learning to read your opponent, don't give up, positive attitude in a match helps, play the game however you want to play it.


Oh and I've got a question myself, do people know how to mitigate the following control problems?

- Inputting a smash or a dash attack instead of a tilt during a heated battle (caused way too many suicides to happen for me)
- Fastfalling immediately during an aerial without turning it into a dair
- A lack of grip on the circle pad
- Resolving the 'loss of second jump' issue that @ Fangblade mentioned

 

[SapphSabre777]

First post here, might as well use it to mention something I know. Vectoring is inputting a certain direction after being launched, with the goal of influencing your trajectory. There's a nice guide about this by StrongBad (can't post links yet, try googling vectoring Strong Bad smashboards).

If there are any other terms you do not know the meaning of, try the smash terminology guide by IGN (again, no link, got too few posts for that).


First of all, can I know what kind of disability you are talking about? It would probably help a great deal if people knew what it was, so they can think up a solution.Obviously, in Smash, like in any fighting game, reaction time is very important. However, I personally think being able to read your opponent is ten times more important. Try watching replays and tournaments, and try to predict their moves. It's a great mental exercise, and good reads can somewhat compensate for slow reaction time. Second, From what I can see in your post, a change in attitude wouldn't hurt either. I am not a competitive player, but I can guarantee you that even when you play to win, you should not focus on a loss or a win, but on the enjoyment you got from it. Sure, it's not a problem to try to learn from your mistakes, but instead look at what you did right, and what the opponent did right during and after a match. You're absolutely right in choosing whatever character you want to play as. While there are no tier lists yet, Sm4sh is quite balanced, so every character at least has some kind of niche it can fulfill. If you do not enjoy the game anymore, don't play, but don't feel let down when you are not winning consistently, it is a matter of trial and error.

tl;dr Try learning to read your opponent, don't give up, positive attitude in a match helps, play the game however you want to play it.

You know what, you are absolutely right. Forget this mentality of just quitting. I've stepped back and thought about what you have said, and I agree...I need to look at my forthcomings and see if I can expand upon them.

What I really need is a sparring partner...someone who can help me and coach me about each matchup. I can easily say that going back to FG is a bad idea, since it seems like I won't learn as much that way. I need to find out a playstyle that best suits me and covers my weaknesses to the best extent.

Which leads me to this next question...is there anyone that is willing to be a sparring partner (or rather, is there a place in SB where I can find one)?

 

[PeachPlumPear]

Can someone link to me a thread that explains all these -or some of these terms? Such as Verctoring. Thanks, I can't find anything here, it's such a maze...

http://smashboards.com/threads/the-smash-dictionary.374538/
Here you go.

You know what, you are absolutely right. Forget this mentality of just quitting. I've stepped back and thought about what you have said, and I agree...I need to look at my forthcomings and see if I can expand upon them.

What I really need is a sparring partner...someone who can help me and coach me about each matchup. I can easily say that going back to FG is a bad idea, since it seems like I won't learn as much that way. I need to find out a playstyle that best suits me and covers my weaknesses to the best extent.

Which leads me to this next question...is there anyone that is willing to be a sparring partner (or rather, is there a place in SB where I can find one)?

http://smashboards.com/threads/sparring-partners.371753/
This thread seems to have become somewhat of a lobby for finding sparring partners.

Also if you need to practice general mechanics or finding out the playstyle of a fighter, try going against Level 7 bots or watching YouTube videos of that character. For reads and such, you can only do that against real players, so your best bet would be going to local tournaments.

For Glory matches are a whole different beast than actual competitive gameplay. I experience frequent lag and a lot of the people I get matched against seem to have a better grasp on game mechanics than I do. However, you do improve even the slightest bit as long as you are trying to look for your mistakes (Ex: I use air dodge or rolling too much, I have trouble doing tilts instead of smashes, I don't know how to avoid getting gimped, etc). Take each loss as an opportunity to learn.

 

[SapphSabre777]

This thread seems to have become somewhat of a lobby for finding sparring partners.

Also if you need to practice general mechanics or finding out the playstyle of a fighter, try going against Level 7 bots or watching YouTube videos of that character. For reads and such, you can only do that against real players, so your best bet would be going to local tournaments.

For Glory matches are a whole different beast than actual competitive gameplay. I experience frequent lag and a lot of the people I get matched against seem to have a better grasp on game mechanics than I do. However, you do improve even the slightest bit as long as you are trying to look for your mistakes (Ex: I use air dodge or rolling too much, I have trouble doing tilts instead of smashes, I don't know how to avoid getting gimped, etc). Take each loss as an opportunity to learn.

I understand, and hopefully my partner will outline some of my mistakes as well. Again, thanks for the help!

Question...why Level 7 CPU?

 

[Saikyoshi]

I'm in a much better state of mind than my last post, but I'm still having trouble with one thing; How do I fight Diddy Kong? He's getting increasingly popular online by the day, and I get crushed by each one's pivot grab->banana->aerial mixups.

 

[PeachPlumPear]

I understand, and hopefully my partner will outline some of my mistakes as well. Again, thanks for the help!

Question...why Level 7 CPU?

Anything below it makes really dumb mistakes and anything above it has stupid inhumane reaction times. Level 7 I've heard is the closest to humans of all the bots due to that, so after Level 7 you're learning to fight the bots and their AI instead of learning mechanics and such for the character.

 

[rabbit.soaring]

So I hear people talking about reading rolls a lot of the time, and I was just wondering, when people say "read", do they mean predicting the roll, or are people actually seeing the roll start, registering it, and punishing accordingly? I managed to do this in FG against a Samus, but it seems a like a bit much to expect people to do that against characters with fast/teleport rolls.

 

[PeachPlumPear]

So I hear people talking about reading rolls a lot of the time, and I was just wondering, when people say "read", do they mean predicting the roll, or are people actually seeing the roll start, registering it, and punishing accordingly? I managed to do this in FG against a Samus, but it seems a like a bit much to expect people to do that against characters with fast/teleport rolls.

Reading means predicting, but if you're on a good connection with little/no lag you can usually react to a roll when you see it start anyways.

 

[CommanderVimes]

My friend watched me get blown up by a far superior Ike on stream, and told me that the next thing I need to do to improve is "move more." I understand this to be true, I'm a sluggish fighter in both brain and thumb, but being a learner that craves specificity and structure, I am having trouble planning out just how I will practice this aspect. What are some good ways to make myself into a better mover?

My idea mechanics-wise is to perfect my RCG with characters that benefit from it and fast fall a lot more. Gameplay-wise, I am just going to try and move and bounce around a lot more and commit to attacking my opponents less often, to see what they do. Now this goes against my mindset built up in other fighting games where I sit back and react more, but the jumping in smash makes this difficult. Is this idea a good way to start my moving/spacing odyssey, or are there other tips and ideas I should try instead?

 

[Funkermonster]

What is the best way to explain to someone the basic controls and techniques needed to be at least decent at this game? I have a younger cousin who is around 11 or 12 years old and doesn't have any of the Smash games at her home and can only play it while visiting me. I try to help her master the basics of the game and show her the "how to play" video, but I don't think my coaching is really helping her and I'm not very good at explaining this kind of stuff. She doesn't really seem to have a main yet (technically I don't think she should, since mastering the basics of a game should come first before that), but from what I could tell she seems most interested in: and . Specific things she needs help with are:

• Performing Smash attacks consistently (she can do them with a c-stick in the other games though)
• Utilizing the shield
• Breaking the habit of overusing special moves and pressing the B button
• Being able to use all 5 aerial attacks
• Her recovery techniques need serious work

How would you describe to a kid how to play the game at least adequately? I just wanna help her out to become remotely competent and so she can fully enjoy this game. To help her out, I'll probably let her borrow my game when the Wii U version comes out for a few days so she can practice it at home.. The only thing I do know what to tell her is "practice makes perfect"

 

[Reiyalin]

Hey there, I'm new here (at least to posting) but I figured now was as good time any since I just got the new smash game a day and a half ago. I'm been wanting to get better at the smash games for a while now so I've read and watched videos about different mechanics and things. And reading advice like watch tournament games and the like.

However, I feel like I understand that these mechanics exist and I can understand the theory of what they are good for, but I cannot for the life of me understand how to perform them sometimes. Or maybe I just misunderstand the technique and think I'm doing it and end up doing something else altogether...

Meanwhile, I also have this secondary issue of having really bad muscle memory with using rolls because that's how I played before I found out about competitive smash. And I also seem to have a complete fear/distaste/I-don't-really-know-why of using grabs (even though that's a very important option on Sheik who I play the most).

So I'm wondering, what can I do to better understand what I'm doing wrong when I'm trying to learn techniques? For example, I play Sheik so I went over to the 3DS Sheik section and read up on some moves. I found a video on ledge flipping and bouncing fish edge cancel so I figured I would try it out with the video. I think I understand the ledge flipping part and have been able to do it (probably just need to practice more) but I don't really even know what I'm looking for with the edge cancel.

Maybe I'm just getting overwhelmed by trying to read too much info and apply everything at once but I don't really know where to start or what to consider basics to get down and what to wait until later. Sorry about the giant essay but I would like to learn how to be more competitive since at least I have slightly less muscle memory with a new game and all.

 

[MidnightLover]

Any Marth mains here who want to play a few rounds against my marth and want to help me improve with marth? I have mixed results in for glory, at the moment more wins than losses but when I lose i usually get thrown around the stage until I get two-stocked. Guess these are really experienced competitive player, but I still aim to get "competitive-good" too. So i could need someone who would say he is fairly experienced with sm4sh marth and with competitive play as a whole. At the moment I try to get used to marths range and to get some combos going with him.

 

[Dillo64]

Guys, I'm going insane. HOW do you unlock headgear in this game?

My only challenge left is the "get all the hats" challenge. I've done all of the other challenges fine without using any gold hammers (except the "play 50 hours in Smash mode" one, I ain't got time fo dat) but I can't seem to do this one, despite playing loads Smash Run and beating Classic on 8-9 difficulty non-stop and getting only Wrench icons.

Honestly starting to think my game might be broken, because according this list I'm missing nearly a dozen different hats, yet it's been like a hundred Smash Runs since I've seen a new one (plenty of doubles though...). even though I was getting them at a steady amount before. They just seemed to stop coming. I already have every outfit, every custom move, every Smash Run power, and almost every trophy, but it seems impossible for me to get new headgear.

Are the odds different depending on what character you use? I've been using my Mii most of the time because she doesn't get dummy custom move repeats as frequently as other characters, and it's Mii hats I'm trying to get so yeah...

Also I noticed that sometimes, after a Smash Run where it shows what items you got, some of the menu boxes showing the items are glowing while others are not.... what does that mean exactly?

 

[Zubbe]

So I'm trying to main Pac-Man right now, but I keep going to characters I know like Mega Man and Little Mac just because I don't really win with him in For Glory. However, I really want to main as him. What are the bare bones of using this character in a competitive scenario? I feel like I've tried almost every combo and trick I can think of and nothing seems to be working (I win only 20% of my fights).

 

[CommanderVimes]

So I'm trying to main Pac-Man right now, but I keep going to characters I know like Mega Man and Little Mac just because I don't really win with him in For Glory. However, I really want to main as him. What are the bare bones of using this character in a competitive scenario? I feel like I've tried almost every combo and trick I can think of and nothing seems to be working (I win only 20% of my fights).

Have you looked at the Pac-Man character forum? It has some really great, well-structured information about the character and some tips, even some images of good hydrant setups and uses for his best moves.

 

[Zenopo]

I am a newcomer to the competitive side of Smash and wish to better myself. I have read all posts prior to me posting this and it would seem that just playing online against better players would be the best course of action.
I however, do not think this is helping me, but I also have no way of proving if it's working or not since I only ever fight players who stomp me, or players who have never played Smash before.
My trouble may lie in the character I want to main (until Mewtwo), Bowser Jr. I also find myself unable to punish people from rolling, everytime they want to move, timing aerials, and I always get punished whenever I do an aerial by the person blocking until it's over, then grabbing me.

 

[CaptainTalon 447]

First before I ask for anything, hello everyone you can call me Talon. I'm pretty bad at Smash as I am just an unlearned player. I want to be able to play competively but I have such a rudimentary to next to no knowledge about the game that I basically only know "find opportunity then attack" with no regards to things like quick recovery or making maneuvers that I shouldn't be doing.

So my question to you guys besides the whole play more online games and learn from mistakes speel is,is there anything that I can start practining to get better?

Edit: Btw I main Lucario who is a character fits with how I play and I want alt Charizard since both fit to an aggressive style I play

 

[Dillo64]

Sooooo, can anyone give me any tips on the hats? Still got nothing. I also keep getting the Pirate Hat over and over and over for some reason. Something is really weird here.

First before I ask for anything, hello everyone you can call me Talon. I'm pretty bad at Smash as I am just an unlearned player. I want to be able to play competively but I have such a rudimentary to next to no knowledge about the game that I basically only know "find opportunity then attack" with no regards to things like quick recovery or making maneuvers that I shouldn't be doing.

So my question to you guys besides the whole play more online games and learn from mistakes speel is,is there anything that I can start practining to get better?

Edit: Btw I main Lucario who is a character fits with how I play and I want alt Charizard since both fit to an aggressive style I play

Playing online isn't really indicative to how competitive play works. There is lag and input delay that doesn't really make it legitimate SSB. Honestly I say just use the 3DS version to familiarize yourself with everything in the game and how it works, and wait till the Wii U version is out with GC controller and proper local play support before really trying to get good at the game. That's just my opinion though.

 

[CommanderVimes]

...

I'm in a similar spot, plateaued a bit and it is really frustrating. Have you tried looking at replays of some of your matches? It is a really good way to see how your mind works when fighting in an attempt to change it (my biggest problem I feel). Also look at what your opponent was doing that either gave you trouble or you managed to stop and if you changed/reacted to these things.

As for aerials always being blocked, it means you are telegraphing them or jumping from too far away (mine are always blocked these days as well). Try to short hop your aerials and mix in more attackless jumps. If you have success here let me know, I really need it.

...

The first few thing I would do is keep practicing your moves and movement options until they become second nature. Tilts vs. smashes, short/full hops, fast falls, etc. It's hard to get much better if you do not feel you are in full control of your character. Doing this should also give you ideas about which moves are good at what time, which will help you start developing a game plan.

 

[Zenopo]

@ CommanderVimes
I have not. Do all my matches get automatically recorded so I can go back and watch, or do I have to manually set it?

Will do my best, I just find short-hopping hard to do on the 3DS.

 

[CommanderVimes]

Whenever you finish a match, off or online, it will give you the option to record it by pressing Y. You can watch replays in the Vault.

 

[SapphSabre777]

Hello again! I can say that I am a lot happier than my last time around here. I've just come across a bit of a mind teaser of a question based upon characters, mains and such.

I have started to read on other SmashBoards topics that Kirby is a very underwhelming character (low to arguably bottom, according to some, even Japan acknowledges this), and there seems to be no redeeming quality to use him over other characters that are easier and more effective to use (say...the "Big Four" and such). I like Kirby, but I acknowledge that Kirby will very likely never reach the big stage competitively because the big guns in the game absolutely wreck him. This ultimately causes me to become discouraged on the matter of even using Kirby.

I like to have fun, but I get a little too overwhelmed in an overly competitive environment, and I know people are going to be better than me. I want to be better, but I feel that since Kirby is one of those "rather not-good" characters, I feel that there is a very low skill growth ceiling when compared to other characters that have been mentioned to death in Sm4sh.

What should I do? Should I keep Kirby or switch mains?

 

[CommanderVimes]

Hello again! I can say that I am a lot happier than my last time around here. I've just come across a bit of a mind teaser of a question based upon characters, mains and such.

I have started to read on other SmashBoards topics that Kirby is a very underwhelming character (low to arguably bottom, according to some, even Japan acknowledges this), and there seems to be no redeeming quality to use him over other characters that are easier and more effective to use (say...the "Big Four" and such). I like Kirby, but I acknowledge that Kirby will very likely never reach the big stage competitively because the big guns in the game absolutely wreck him. This ultimately causes me to become discouraged on the matter of even using Kirby.

I like to have fun, but I get a little too overwhelmed in an overly competitive environment, and I know people are going to be better than me. I want to be better, but I feel that since Kirby is one of those "rather not-good" characters, I feel that there is a very low skill growth ceiling when compared to other characters that have been mentioned to death in Sm4sh.

What should I do? Should I keep Kirby or switch mains?

If you enjoy Kirby you should keep playing Kirby, unless you want to win Apex or something. Even then it isn't out of the question, the game is young. It really should just be your decision: if you keep practicing a character you want to use it will be better in the long run, but if you want to use a "better" character that is fine too.
Really, the only wrong answer would be to dread over the decision too much and find yourself in character purgatory or blaming all your losses on "using a bad character." I was in the former category for months in SFxT because I wanted to find the perfect main, and the result was that was all I cared about and I never really practiced.