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Winning comes not from talent or luck, but from effort and strategies

Crystanium

Smash Hero
Joined
Apr 28, 2008
Messages
5,921
Location
California
Introduction
I've been taking an anger management class. This was a voluntary choice after a certain incident. Don't worry, no one was hurt. I suffer from mild OCD and I have anxiety with a tendency to depression. There's also a possibility that I have autism spectrum disorder, but that has yet to be ruled out. Why am I telling you this? Because I think these things were a set-back for me when I played Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I went into matches with the fear of losing. No one likes losing. It can be discouraging like it was for me and it can make one have an unpleasant experience. It's even worse if you continuously lose. "Why play if I keep losing? I'm told to have fun with the game, but I can't if I'm losing all the time."

I've been trying to take a different approach. You see, I've only been playing Super Smash Bros. 4 for at least a month while everyone else has been playing since the game has been released, or at least has a year of experience ahead of me. That means I need to catch up, so it's expected of me to lose, especially if I'm playing as Samus. It would seem Samus might be a mid-tier character, actually. I'm not too sure, yet. I have yet to see the new tier list. Anyway, I've been able to catch up with my brother, who has been playing Sm4sh on the 3DS and on the Wii U recently. His skill was easily transferable.

My brother, Uffe, plays as Ness. He's been playing as this character since Super Smash Bros. Melee. While my brother has been using Ganondorf and R.O.B. for me to practice against, he has played as Ness a few times against me. I was two-stocked easily. I've gotten better against Ganondorf and R.O.B., and I managed to at least win a couple of times against my brother's Ness, though. In spite of not having played Sm4sh for a year, and in spite of not playing for hours on end everyday, how is it that I've been able to catch up so quickly against my brother? It comes down to strategy.

Accepting loss
If you don't like to lose, stop playing. There is competition everywhere, and if you're competitive, you're going to lose a lot. This isn't just about Super Smash Bros, this is about life. Anything that involves you competing against someone else is competition and there's only room for one to be first place. Sorry, but participation points don't count. Losing is normal, but it's not the end of the world. You may know this, but do you really know it? Here's a litmus test. The next time you lose continuously, see how you respond. Do you blame yourself for being a terrible player? Do you blame your opponent for playing a character with an easy curve or a character with cheap attacks? Do you get discouraged? Is your controller the problem, or is the game the problem for your loss? How you respond will reveal whether or not you know that losing is normal and that you can still try.

It's time for you to stop coming up with excuses and just accept your loss as a loss. Learn from it because losers get the benefit of learning while winners don't focus a whole lot on it. However, this benefit only works if you try figuring out what you did wrong. Find out why you lost. It could be a number of reasons. Did you get upset during the match? You'll need to learn to let that go. Anger can skew your perception and cause you to act rashly. Stop getting angry. If you become easily irritable, perhaps you should find an anger management class. Did you fire a charge shot at Mario and have it thrown back at you, causing you to lose? Use homing missiles next time and wait for an opening. Homing missiles are safer against you if it's countered and they pester your opponent. This is playing it safe, which is better than taking the full force of a charge shot.

Growth mindset
If you've ever been told that you're good at something, or that someone is talented, drop these notions. These will affect you in the long run because these can give you the impression that your mindset is fixed. This mindset is essentially believing that your ability to perform better is set in stone. You cannot go beyond what has been given to you. People with talent will always be better than you and if you're not improving, it's because you can't. If you have a growth mindset, then you will perform better because you don't believe that your performance is static. If you've grown up in a setting where you're told, "You're really smart", or "You're so talented at drawing", or "Good job", then your mindset may already be affected.

If you see a really good player like Jonny Westside, you might think, "Man, he's really good with Samus." Why is he so good? It's not because of talent. It's not even because of luck. It's because he's been practicing and likely getting advice from other players. It's because he's using the correct strategies to do as well as he does. And you don't need to think to yourself, "I wish I could be that good." You can be if you put in the effort. You could even become better. If for whatever reason someone tells you, "You're a good player", respond, "I'm not good, it's the strategies that I use that are good. It's the effort I've put forth." Mistakes aren't a sign of failure, they're a sign of poor strategy and effort. That's what it really comes down to.

Before I move onto the next part, I want to also bring up risk. If you're not willing to challenge yourself, you will remain in your comfort zone and not perform as well as you could. When I played the previous SSB games, I would avoid using d-air against my opponents off stage because I was afraid of losing. Yet, this very thing could have been a strategy I could have used in order to win. So because I was unwilling to leave my comfort zone, I made it more difficult on myself to win, even though I wanted to win. Be willing to lose so that you may learn to win.

Observation
Being new to Sm4sh, I would get easily defeated by my brother. I thought back to an article that I read years ago when SSBB was the current game. It had to do with observing your opponent, not yourself. It's easy to watch what you're doing because you might feel that you need to know where you're at and what position you're facing. Like learning to type on a keyboard while looking at the monitor, so it is with any fighting game. You should know what you're going to be doing next. You should know what buttons you're pressing. When you can observe your opponent, you can perform more efficiently, just like you can type faster if you learn to type, rather than looking at the keys.

Uffe helped me out by telling me that I need to stop landing onto the stage, that I need to stop landing in front of him, and that I need to space more. Using these strategies have helped me improve at a fast rate and I've been able to survive. I've even been willing to tell my brother what he's doing wrong, something we both should have done from the very beginning when we started to play competitively. It helps us form new strategies to play better.

So how can you observe your opponent? Well, you need to make sure you're watching him/her. You need to see how your opponent is going to approach you. Does he/she jump a lot to get to you? Does he/she run at you? Does he/she use projectiles? Let's consider Sheik. She can throw needles at you, but notice that this is only effective if she's grounded. As a Samus main, you have the freedom to fire your beams and missiles whether in the air or not. Sheik's needles will fly diagonally downward if she's in the air. Her close combat may be better than Samus', so you might want to keep her at a distance or utilize your close-range attacks properly.

Perhaps you're fighting Kirby. He seems to fly toward you and you know this, but while you know this, you need to figure out quickly on how to respond. Is he jumping too high for you to z-air? Try a u-air or wait for him to run out of jumping. Peach is notorious for hovering toward you. A z-air should suffice, but if she gets too close, try a short hop backwards f-air. The flames are disjointed and it's a multi-hit. Whatever opponent you may be facing, observe how he/she approaches, what attacks he/she uses most, how he she returns to the stage. These can be beneficial to your success. I'll admit, even if you know what your opponent is doing, it can be easy to succumb to because you probably haven't figured out what to do.

Final thoughts
If you find yourself getting discouraged, back away from the game and gather your thoughts. Don't let it get to you. A friend of mine who used to defeat me when my brother and I would play free-for-all with him ended up losing more than me. (I clearly improved.) He got frustrated and angry with the mechanics of the game, blaming it, rather than his strategies. This is a recurring thing because my brother more often than not wins. It's important to back away from something if it's getting to you. It'll help you return with perhaps a new method. Think to yourself, "I lost, but I'll do better next time." Believe me, even playing Sm4sh, I've told my brother, "Samus isn't good. I'm just going to drop her." This mentality occurred when I played SSBB when I was new to it, but I kept going. And when I said the aforementioned sentence, later that night I told my brother, "No, I'm not going to drop Samus. **** that. I'm going to become the best Samus main." I'm still here.
 

Katuro117

Smash Rookie
Joined
May 20, 2016
Messages
16
I saw something around, a quote somewhere from another user. It read "Winning is not final, losing is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts."

I've usually been a calm sort, who tends to keep his mood in check when playing someone else. Even if they get mad, and talk **** to me. I've been swimming in salt water for a long time, and I wonder when it'll eventually get to me too.

But no less, this was a good read. Practice lots. Play hard.

Also uughghghg. This video is fun to watch for samus training: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A-VChjUNcg
 
Last edited:
D

Deleted member

Guest
thank you so much for this post. it was really inspiring.
 

Crystanium

Smash Hero
Joined
Apr 28, 2008
Messages
5,921
Location
California
thank you so much for this post. it was really inspiring.
You're welcome. Anyone can become good at anything. If you become discouraged, push those thoughts aside and don't be afraid to ask for help. Losing is part of learning. Learning is part of winning.
 

Anatase

Smash Cadet
Joined
Nov 17, 2015
Messages
25
Location
Hampshire, England
NNID
SilentHuntsman
I agree with everything here, but I'm a little iffy on the "Don't accept compliments" bit. This may just be my low self-esteem talking, but as of recent years, I've learned to respond to someone saying "You're good!" with "Thank you very much!", rather than with "No I'm not"; as far as I can tell, it's healthier and better for your mental state to just accept compliments rather than tell them why they're wrong.

But what do I know, I still suck at this game.
 

Crystanium

Smash Hero
Joined
Apr 28, 2008
Messages
5,921
Location
California
I agree with everything here, but I'm a little iffy on the "Don't accept compliments" bit. This may just be my low self-esteem talking, but as of recent years, I've learned to respond to someone saying "You're good!" with "Thank you very much!", rather than with "No I'm not"; as far as I can tell, it's healthier and better for your mental state to just accept compliments rather than tell them why they're wrong.

But what do I know, I still suck at this game.
Just be sure to have a growth mindset. This may be different from what you were taught. I'm letting other parents know about this approach and they think it's odd. But it's what studies are showing. You say you suck at Sm4sh. Why? Try thinking of mistakes as a learning tool, not as failure. If it helps, try talking to someone who can help you with your low self-esteem. Tell him/her why you feel the way you do. Ask for advice to learn to cope. Your skill is just as mental as it is physical.
 

Katuro117

Smash Rookie
Joined
May 20, 2016
Messages
16
I agree with everything here, but I'm a little iffy on the "Don't accept compliments" bit. This may just be my low self-esteem talking, but as of recent years, I've learned to respond to someone saying "You're good!" with "Thank you very much!", rather than with "No I'm not"; as far as I can tell, it's healthier and better for your mental state to just accept compliments rather than tell them why they're wrong.

But what do I know, I still suck at this game.
I agree with this. If I had a good time regardless why wouldn't I compliment my opponent? It kinda delves into a bigger topic, but I think win or lose, be a positive person.
 
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