Thinking And Planning VS. Reaction

[Jim & Watch]

I've been playing for about 4 or 5 years now, and recently it's gotten to the point that i've started to look at smash in a slightly different way.
The way played for the majority of these years, was that i would see a situation, and i would react accordingly, and adapt to the situations following that presented themselves. A constant chain of reactions, adaptations, and interactions with the way the opponent was playing. Most of the time i would lose.
Recently I have been starting to play "smart", planning my moves, keeping in mind the moves afterwords, trying to combo in my head before comboing on the screen. I've been winning a lot more than normal with this, and as soon as i start to go back to how i used to play, (instinctively, as I would like to appropriately put it), i start to lose again.
Although, I have talked to a lot of smashers, some more, some less experienced than me, i seem to see a lot of both sides, the top smashers seem to be the ones who think, but there are a lot of other players that are pretty high up there, some who beat me consistently, that play instinctively.
How do you; Smash boards members, play? With your mind? With your instincts? With both? I'd love to hear any opinions on this

 

[VA]

I'm inclined to say that for high level players the distinction between "planning" and reacting doesn't really exist.

The reason I say this is that once you reach a certain level planning loses a lot of relevance as a way of playing. For example, when you hit with an attack, it is likely you have encountered the situation before. Planning does not need to come into it because you know the options. You then proceed to react to your opponents DI or tech roll (what have you).

At least I find this the most effective way of playing. Knowing the options means you can switch off that part of your brain that "plans" and leave the majority of your playing to observing opponent patterns and reacting to DI and tech rolls.

I dunno, at least that's my understanding of it. But I'm a bit of a noob :/

 

[INSANE CARZY GUY]

I think plan as you go is pretty nice. Like sheik will 2nd jump away from your upair as marth when forced up high I noticed that and would empty jump FF into bair sheik off the stage. Plan as you go seems pretty good.

 

[CloneHat]

Know your options in every situation, and react to put them into play.

 

[PB&J]

well i always have certain plans to what i want to do, but every opponent i play is different then i react to what they are doing or make them react to every move i do...it is situational like someone rolling or spot dodging,get up attack,but it also comes with exp because most players have the same habbits for some reason and sometimes things dont go as you planned so u have to improvise at times like i do alot

 

[ryuu seika]

The reason I say this is that once you reach a certain level planning loses a lot of relevance as a way of playing. For example, when you hit with an attack, it is likely you have encountered the situation before. Planning does not need to come into it because you know the options. You then proceed to react to your opponents DI or tech roll (what have you).

At least I find this the most effective way of playing. Knowing the options means you can switch off that part of your brain that "plans" and leave the majority of your playing to observing opponent patterns and reacting to DI and tech rolls.

While you know your options at any given point, you still need to think about which to use at any moment, simply because otherwise you eventually become predictable.

My view is that you plan your oppening, react to what happens, plan response if you can and go back to planning whenever there's a gap in the action. I'm by no means a tournament player though.

 

[oakleaf]

The better player is the one who pictured more moves ahead, like in Chess. What you call "instinct" is just the appropriation of a number of situations, so that the player doesn't have to consciously think about it, and concentrate on one more move ahead.

 

[LLDL]

Reaction takes priority over planning. You just have to have a plan ready for every reaction that takes place.

 

[Moooose]

Reaction takes priority over planning. You just have to have a plan ready for every reaction that takes place.

yea that's pretty much how i would put it
you need a plan for whatever they do
but you have to react to what they do

 

[Zodiac]

Reaction takes priority over planning. You just have to have a plan ready for every reaction that takes place.

In a nutshell this is what I would have said.