�The Zenith of Melee�
The Unofficial Super Smash Bros. Melee guide �The Zenith of Melee� is a copyright of Arc Angel Gabriel. This guide may only appear on the website www.gaiaonline.com only, and may only be reproduced onto any other website with the permission of the author.
If you are viewing this guide from another website, then email me at the same address, and flame the dumbass copy cats for not removing this section =D
~Introduction~
Hi, I�m Arc Angel Gabriel, also known as vyse on Smashboards.com.
And I�m assuming that you, the person reading this, is either interested in becoming a better SSBM player, or you�re somebody who already knows this stuff like me and am merely interested in what I have to say. Either way, everyone is welcome to read what I have written, and either take from it if you belong to the former, or comment on it as an effective guide if you�re apart of the latter group.
This is the first guide I�ve tried to write, so comments are appreciated, I wouldn�t want to make the newbies who read this any worse off than they already are =D
~A Message to the Newbies~
This guide is designed to teach you how to play a tournament standard level of smash, or more specifically, train you to develop the mindset and skills required to aquire such a standard of smash.
But let me tell you a secret�I�ve never been to an SSBM tourney, not once O.o
At least, not one I haven�t organised myself that was larger than 7 or 8 (Hardcore) SSBM players.
However, there are many people who know me on these forums well enough to vouch for my in depth knowledge of the game. My smash crew �The Ward� is the best SSBM crew in Gold Coast, Australia, albeit the only one that has (Or tried) to make a name for itself. I have spent countless hours training myself, wether that be with human opponents, or in front of my computer, reading countless pages of info, strategies, and posting my own opinions about subjects like �Mindgames�, styles of play, the art of counter picking, and as such I justify my credibility.
However, if you feel I have not adequately justified my claim to be a good enough player to write a guide such as this, then I�m sorry, don�t waste your time reading this. Go to www.smashboards.com and find your way there.
On the other hand, if you think me good enough to show you the ropes, thank you, you�ve already made me a very happy person =D
So without further ado, I give you �The Zenith of Melee�
***
~Contents~
0: Introduction (You just read it!)
0: A Message to Newbies
1: Overview
2: Etiquette and Honourable smash
3: Proper use of the button layout
4: How to Wavedash � An SSBM Milestone
5: Short hopping
6: Fast Falling
7: L-Cancelling
8: Bringing it together � The Shuffl�
9: Off the edge � The Edgeguard, The Edgehog, The Ledgehop
10: Mindgames � Getting into your opponent�s head
11: Tying it together � Application
12: The Official Rules: Understanding Tournament Rules
13: The Finished product
14: Credits
A/N: Wow, that�s a lot to write about, and for you to read, let�s hope it�s worth it!
***
1: Overview
To reiterate � this guide is aimed at those who wish to learn how to play a tournament standard level of smash, or more specifically, train you to develop the mindset and skills required to aquire such a standard of smash.
You should also note that by tournament standard, I mean one on one elimination MLG standard tournaments, meaning 4 stock, 8 minutes, no items with the following banned stages.
Banned Stages: It doesn�t matter what tournaments you�re at, Hyrule Temple and Yoshi 64 should always be BANNED. Aside from that, here is a list (MLG) of banned stages.
�Fourside
�Brinstar Depths
�Icicle Mountain
�Termina
(Banned Stages Quoted from smashboards.com)
And depending on the tournament, they may decide to use neutral stages only.
Neutral Stages:
Final Destination
Battlefield
Pokemon Stadium
Fountain of Dreams
Kirby�s Dreamland 64
Yoshi�s Story
Mute City (Most tournaments do not use this stage)
Rainbow Ride (Most tournaments do not use this stage)
Pokefloats (Most tournaments do not use this stage)
The skills learned here are still ones you must apply to Free-for-all or Team battles, but you must also need to learn a new skill set to deal with the added factors.
***
Your first stop on your journey to SSBM excellence should be here:
www.smashboards.com
Sign up right now, and then go straight to the �Regional Discussion� sub-forum, and poke around your area, see what the American (Or European, or in my case, Australian) tournament scene is like in your area. (If it�s like mine, then it�ll be about a whole friggin state away�the smashfest scene in my area ain�t bad, but no tourney�s as of yet).
When you�re done with my guide and reckon yourself ready to go to a tournament, make yourself known in the threads about your area, or start one for your area if there isn�t already one. One of my goals with this guide is to help people get a kickstart into the SSBM scene of your surrounding area.
Four word meanings I�d like to point out at this point:
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Smashfest:
Not a tournament exactly, just a whole lot of guys (And a few chixorz if yer lucky) playing a whole lot of Super Smash Bros. Melee. As opposed to getting drunk as the name implies (Although at the last league tournament y0kai hosted, ratV3N0M bought along some Absinth, which was about 60% alcohol, as opposed to the 3.5% most normal alcohol has� Being the non-Alcoholic type of guy I am, I didn�t have any�nor did anyone�save ratV3N0M, crazy b*****d)
Crew: I�ve mentioned my crew �The Ward� before, a crew is basically the term used to describe a group of players, different from a team in that it has more players.
�Of the more notable crews in the country there are the DA (Deadly Alliance) in NY, H2Yl (Ha Ha You Lose) in VA, Ship of Fools in the MidWest, and Socal Elite 5 in CA�
(Quoted from Smashboards.com) � In reference to American crews obviously.
The main players in my crew are:
Arc Angel Gabriel: (Sheik, Marth, Peach) � ME!
Undead_moose: (Sheik, Zelda, Marth)
K-0S: (Sheik, Doctor Mario)
Azure Rune: (Fox)
y0kai: (Marth, Young Link)
ratV3N0M: (Young Link)
ACCELERATE: (Link)
Sieg00: (Samus)
Red Mage 32: (Samus)
Chronos_Chris: (Samus)
---
Money match:
Yes, people do in fact get rich off playing this game, money matches are the most common way of achieving this, both players put up an agreed amount of money and winner takes all. The richest SSBM player in history is most likely one of two people. Shigeru Miyamoto (Considering he owns Nintendo, and probably has played the final product of SSBM at some point � He wrote all the trophy descriptions himself, how cool!) The other person to get extremely rich off of this game is known far and wide as SephirothKen, who last I checked, has earned over US$100,000!
---
SephirothKen:
Richest, and consequently, the best SSBM player of all time, he is your god, and you shall fear him and his relentless Marth. He has won both MLG titles for Super Smash Bros. Melee, and is likely to go for a third this year.
Far from invincible, at least, that�s what the top 25 SSBM players would tell you, Isai and his Captain Falcon, even 15 year old Bombsoldier and his Falco have two stocked him before.
Ken usually has a nice demeanour about him, so says most people I know who have met him. Unlike say�Wes, power to his powerful Samus and all, but erm�if you watch the first match of FC3 � East Coast vs. West Coast on smasboards.com, you�ll see what I mean. Lol, please don�t tell him I said that.
Although IMO, Chu_Dat and his aw3S0m3 Ice Climbers is the best =D
***
(The following is quoted from smashboards.com)
Quote:
Tier List
Intro: Alot of people ask about the tier list, so here it is. Just for a note though, do not make topics regarding the tier list, they will (99% of the time) be closed (For new people especially, PM me if you have any questions). Trust me, if you have a problem with this list (say the Ice Climbers placement), it is already known. If you think tiers in general are false, go to gamefaqs, cause that arguement will get closed here for sure. Ohh, and the link to the topic from March 19th, 2005:
Tier Topic
Top Tier
Sheik
Fox
Marth
Upper Tier
Peach
Falco
C. Falcon
Samus
High Tier
Jigglypuff
Dr. Mario
Ganondorf
Mario
Ice Climbers
Middle Tier
Luigi
Link
Roy
DK
Pikachu
Zelda
Lower Tier
Ness
Young Link
Yoshi
Kirby
Mr. Game & Watch
Bowser
Bottom Tier
Mewtwo
Pichu
Intro: Alot of people ask about the tier list, so here it is. Just for a note though, do not make topics regarding the tier list, they will (99% of the time) be closed (For new people especially, PM me if you have any questions). Trust me, if you have a problem with this list (say the Ice Climbers placement), it is already known. If you think tiers in general are false, go to gamefaqs, cause that arguement will get closed here for sure. Ohh, and the link to the topic from March 19th, 2005:
Tier Topic
Top Tier
Sheik
Fox
Marth
Upper Tier
Peach
Falco
C. Falcon
Samus
High Tier
Jigglypuff
Dr. Mario
Ganondorf
Mario
Ice Climbers
Middle Tier
Luigi
Link
Roy
DK
Pikachu
Zelda
Lower Tier
Ness
Young Link
Yoshi
Kirby
Mr. Game & Watch
Bowser
Bottom Tier
Mewtwo
Pichu
The Tier List a ranking order which places the characters into �tiers�, the characters go from 1st � Sheik to 26th � Pichu.
However this list only represents each character�s �Full potential� to win a match. This means that simply playing Sheik just won�t cut it. Your ability to play far outweighs the significance of your character�s placement on the tier list in most cases.
This list should act as a guide to help you determine which characters are more suited to handling more situations, and therefore are better choices for tournament play.
In representing a character�s �Full Potential� it also shows which characters are overbalanced and underbalanced.
It�s easy to reduce the characters like this
Sheik: Cheap
Fox: Very hard to master
Marth: Cheap
Peach: Cheap
But let me explain Sheik�s and Fox�s number one and number two spots.
Sheik:
Pros:
All of her attacks combo, she�s fast, a single needle is all that�s needed to destroy Samus�s full charged blast, Forward aerial attack kills very easily, she�s hard to edgeguard. Average wavedash. Can Chainthrow well.
Cons:
Only useful smash attack is the down smash.
---
Fox:
Pros:
Fast Faller, one of the best characters for mindgames, spamming the laser, reflector(Shine), Up air attack, and up smash kill at low percents, nice grabs, Shine spiking, At full mastery Fox is capable of Infinite shine combos including:
-Waveshine
-DrillShine
-Inverse DrillShine
-Jump cancelled shines
Cons:
Recovery is not that great, Fastfaller (Leads to �throw to attack combos� which tack on a lot of damage, he can even be thrown repeatedly)
---
The point I�m making here is these characters have strength, speed, and little to no drawbacks. When you compare the pros and cons to those of Bowser or Ness, then the reason why the tier list exists is clear.
No fighting game can perfectly balance every character.
And as a final note, If you are a Fox player, then I suggest you seriously consider a different character, in the hands of a veteran, Fox is unparalleled in almost every way. He has no weaknesses that the player can�t compensate for with skill, he kills at very low percents and is perfect for controlling how your opponent plays.
In the hands of someone who is say, reading this guide to become a better smash player, Fox WILL be a very hard character to learn the basics with. I suggest that you choose another character to learn these skills with and then apply them to Fox at a later date as you WILL become frustrated in the long run.
Fox is without a doubt, the hardest character to completely master in SSBM.
If you still want to use Fox to learn these skills, I wish you well.
***
Congratulations! You�ve successfully read the first lesson without putting a large object through your monitor =D.
I realise that subjects such as the tier list are very debateable, but it isn�t something that is avoidable, or can be denied.
Now that I have finished my general overview, we can move onto a subject that will relate to you.
***
2: Etiquette and Honourable smash
An important subject that I wish to deal with before we start with improving your actual playing skills. In this lesson, I will go over such things as proper tournament Etiquette and what should be considered appropriate and what not.
~ Again, forgive me if I am not very accurate, I have run league gatherings under tournament conditions, however, I have not played in any other tournament with which to gauge my own ability to run a proper tournament. However I am aware of basic smash etiquette, and so I shall pass that knowledge along here ~
1. BYOC
BYOC stands for �Bring your own controller� basically if you rock up to a smashfest without one, you�re going to be looking pretty stupid. If you�re lucky, and there�s a shred of humanity in one of the people there, they�ll let you use one of their controllers, but generally it is an expectation that you bring your own controller. Be especially mindful of this when going to a player run tournament.
2. Non-in game Mindgames
This is a subject that will have its own section later on, Mindgames is a term that relates to working your opponent�s mind to your advantage, and this can include non-in game provocation. Just be mindful of flailing your arms at someone every time you lose a stock, if it�s someone you don�t know, then they may be offended by it. This applies even more at tournaments.
So here�s what you should keep in mind.
- No physical contact with the opponent/s during the match
- Keep the decibel level down, trash talking is an acceptable Mindgame, but not if your mouth is covering their ear, whilst you yell at the top of your lungs.
3. No Johns
A �John� is what smashers describe any excuse for losing, �I was tired� �I was distracted� �My controllers acting up� �I�m too Drunk� �I�m trippin� The point is you decided to start the match with the present parameters.
4. No Pausing
You pause the game for no reason during a tournament match, you�ll be disqualified, avoid pausing, but if necessary, hold off until someone loses a stock.
***
There is not much more I wish to say at this point, however I will expand upon Mindgames later in the guide.
Now, we move along to the actual game play component of this guide, starting off with proper use of the controller.
***
3: Proper use of the button layout
First off I will list each button, and all of their uses. (During a fight obviously =P)
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A button:
-Description
Your bread, your butter, against a level one CPU, you could probably win an entire match by simply repeatedly pressing this button.
Used to attack basically, if you can�t figure out what it does, then I�m surprised you have the dexterity to wield a mouse and keyboard. Go watch the instructional video under the Data menu.
-Best times to use it
For ground tilt attacks (Tilt meaning a non smash attack, an attack that is executed by holding in one of the directions using the directional stick and pressing A whilst grounded)
For some Aerial attacks, or for when you need to quickly execute one.
For charging a smash attack if you get the chance, but once you get to a tournament level of play, it�s likely you won�t have time to charge many smash attacks.
---
B button:
-Description
A good number of B attacks are useless, but nonetheless, what B attacks are good, are what give their characters the edge.
-Best times to use it
You tell me =D
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Directional Stick:
-Description
The stick you use to move silly =D
Seriously though, its uses include walking, dashing by pressing left and right, crouching by pressing down and jumping by pressing up. It is also used to influence your aerial movement, to make your character drift in the air.
-Best times to use it
Use it to crouch.
Use it to move.
DO NOT use it to jump.
Why? Because believe it or not, your skill level will go up leaps and bounds if you learn the art of DI.
DI is the acronym for �Directional Influence�
Directional Influence is the term given to the act of influencing your character�s aerial drift with the Directional stick.
The ability to properly manipulate DI is something you cannot achieve if you use the directional stick to jump, so do yourself a favour now and get into the habit of using the X button to jump.
When you can tell me you�re able to do a waveland, retreating, reverse DSHL with Fox using the Directional stick, then you�ll be the best player in the world.
---
X Button:
-Description
The button to the right of the A button, and the only button you should be using to jump
-Best times to use it
When you need to jump, short hop or wavedash.
I cannot stress enough how important this button is, it should be the only button you use to jump with, the only time that I find myself using the Directional stick to jump is when I jump cancel shines (Unless I�m wavedashing out of them, in which case I use X)
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Y Button:
All I have to say is look at your controller, see that grey button with a Y on it? Don�t use it.
---
Start Button:
ACCELERATE once used it as a mindgame, trying to throw me off my game by repeatedly pausing and unpausing the game. It worked suprisingly well, ratV3N0M helped me in my revenge by loading up Dead or Alive 3 on the X-Box next to the Cube, and played through all the movies with the hot chixorz in them, it worked suprisingly well.
I suggest you learn the moral of this story � Don�t do what ACCELERATE did, otherwise you will be punished with images of sexy DOA girls o.O
Best time to use it:
Before you answer the phone/the door/your mother.
---
Z Button:
-Description
Let me see, it can be used for a number of things, so we�ll get the obvious out of the way. It can be used to grab (Wow!) you�ll also notice that if you miss the grab, but continue to hold Z, it will create what is known as a �light shield�
A light shield offers a wider area of protection, at the cost of being knocked back more. It�s not the best way to light shield however; the quickest way to do this is to lightly hold either L or R.
The Z button can be used to grab out of a dash, this is known as a �Dash grab� and this is the only method available to do this, and is the most useful thing you can possibly do with Z.
You should also note now that you can grab enemies that are using their shield.
You can use the Z button to grab items whilst in mid-air, including Peach�s turnips and Link�s/Y. Link�s bombs, you also use it to drop items you�re holding, including Peach�s turnips and Link�s/Y. Link�s bombs.
Finally, when playing as Link, Y. Link or Samus, you can use Z to shoot out their Hook shot and grapple beam respectively whilst in the air. One use for this is that it does long range damage, although this is only effective with certain technique�s involving Samus and her bombs.
The more effective use for their aerial Z attacks is �Wall grappling�
This is done by shooting out the hook shot/grapple beam at any wall, (eg. Either side of Final Destination) and this will result in you hanging off the wall using the hook shot/grapple.
You can then pull yourself up with A or Z, giving you a little boost upwards, and then you can use your up B to recover if you wish.
Best times to use it:
Dash grabbing
Wall Grappling
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L button:
-Description
Used to bring up your shield, one of your most valuable assets, holding it lightly will bring up a light shield.
If you press left or right while holding L, you�ll dodge roll, pressing down will result in a �Side step� or �Spot dodge� or w/e.
Pressing it in the air will result in an air dodge, which can be influenced with DI
If you press A when shielding, you can �Shield grab� another of your most valuable tools; If you can teach yourself when to shield grab, then you�ll be heads and shoulders above your former self.
The concept is this, the opponent came at you with an attack (Eg. Fox�s dash attack) you shield the attack, and then while Fox is recovering from the attack, you grab him.
Grabs are one of the most important parts of any strategy, and shield grabbing is another of these important facets of play.
You can also use L to do something known as a �Tech�
Basically, if you�re hit hard, and you go flailing through the air, if you tap L just as you land against any surface in the game, you�ll jump off the ground, ceiling, or wall, ready to start fighting. If you hold left or right whilst hitting L, you�ll roll in that direction if you hit the ground first.
Last but not least, it can be used to L-cancel, which will be talked about in depth later in this guide.
Best times to use it:
Teching
L-Cancelling
Dodge rolling
Side stepping
Air dodge
Shield grabbing
---
R Button:
-Description
It is capable of all the things that the L button is capable of, plus it is also my preferred shoulder button whilst �wavedashing� so I�ll mention this here and not above. (Fear not wavedashing will be explained later in this guide)
Best times to use it:
For all the things above, and �wavedashing�
However, it is important that you find your own preferred style of play, and therefore whilst making choices about what trigger should handle what, just play a few matches, and you�ll probably decide sub-consciously.
---
C-Stick:
-Description
The small yellow stick =D
It is capable of a few little tricks, and is something no pro player goes without.
Obviously it can be used to do smash attacks, and that is one of its two primary functions.
Its ability to smash attacks is vital to the game of any pro, and no you aren�t a scrub for using it. The scrubs are the people who don�t know how to deal with a Marth walking at you, ready to c-stick a forward smash.
The reason why it�s so important is that it�s just quicker, and makes for a more efficient play style. When you watch say, PC Chris�s Fox against a Marth, you�ll see why it would be important for the Marth to be able to smack that C-stick into a Forward smash.
It�s because matches like that are incredibly fast.
The C-stick�s other primary use is for precision aerial attacks.
Yes, the C-stick is also used for aerial attacks.
For one, it�s quicker and more precise than using the A button, (Except for neutral air attacks that you can only do by leaving the Directional stick in a neutral position and pressing A)
Another reason is that you need the directional stick to DI while you attack, meaning you could be moving backwards whilst doing a forward aerial attack.
A term description:
?air: The �?� is replaced with F for Forward, U for Up, B for Back, and D for Down, it is an abbreviation for aerial attacks. Eg. Dair refers to a Down aerial attack
Also you�ll commonly hear a Nair (Neutral air) being referred to as a �Sex kick� because the majority of Nair attacks involve the character �errecting� an attack which grows limp over time. Yes, Sex Kick�s are at the peak of their power as soon as they come out, except for Doctor Mario, whose Sex Kick grows stronger the longer it�s out.
The other things the C-stick can be used for are:
By using the C-stick in place of the directional stick you can Dodge roll and side step.
You can also charge a smash attack with the c-stick if you smash the c-stick and then press wither A or Z.
Neither are really practical uses.
Best times to use it:
Smash attacking
Preforming aerial attacks
---
Whew! That took a lot longer than I had expected.
So now that we know the button layout, I�m going to now move onto the actual game play and more specifically, how to do some of the more advanced techniques used in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
***
4: How to Wavedash � An SSBM Milestone
You often read the names of techniques like �Wavedashing� being thrown about (I�ve already used it repeatedly) and this technique has many variations and uses � you will learn them.
Wavedashing is an abstract form of movement possible in SSBM through the abuse of the game�s physics, so it isn�t a glitch, and therefore isn�t banned from tournament play.
Basically it involves the following steps to execute a wavedash.
1. You jump
2. You airdodge, using DI to make yourself dodge into the ground, preferably at a 30 degree angle
The end result of this action is that you will slide along the ground for a certain distance, retaining your current facing.
All the while you may perform any action whatsoever � This being the reason why it is an extremely useful skill to have.
However, you must perform the two actions EXTREMELY FAST.
The value of EXTRMELY fast differs between characters. Extra speed is required when doing it with a fast jumper like Fox. However slower (But still fast) timing is needed to wavedash with characters like Link and especially Bowser, as your character must actually leave the ground before you can airdodge into it.
Therefore characters with a longer animation for the leaving of the ground require slower (Yet still very fast) timing.
Also the distance granted by a wavedash is varied by their ability to slide.
This is my advice to you, start with Luigi. His ability to slide is greater than any other character, and he is therefore the best wavedasher.
Now go into a vs. Human match (So your opponent isn�t disturbing you while you wavedash � you could do it in training as well I suppose) on Final Destination (Or any flat stage)
Now here�s what I want you to do.
1. Use X to jump and R to airdodge � get your fingers in a position that will allow you to press them consecutively 1/10th of a second after each other, although you needn�t change the whole way you hold the controller, you may need to reposition your right thumb and index fingers.
2. Use your left thumb to hold the directional stick to either the Diagonal left or Diagonal right, your character should now be crouching.
3. Press X then R EXTREMELY FAST, did it work? If it did and the little green man slid across the ground, congratulations, if not, then you just joined the 95% of people who didn�t get it on their first try
All I can say is keep trying until you get it � If worse comes to worse and you�re ready to throw something large and damaging at the screen, restrain yourself, go into training mode and set it to 2/3 speed and try.
Once you manage to do it a few times, you should practice doing it consecutively.
A good way to describe wavedashing consecutively is this.
Instead of pressing X and R like this:
X R X R X R X R X R X R X R
It should be more like this:
XR XR XR XR XR XR XR XR
If that makes sense =D
I implore you to practice it, do it until your wrist hurts, do it until you get to a point where you don�t need to start by holding diagonal down before pressing X and R.
You need to get to a point where during any time during play you can go
X � diagonal down left/right + Airdodge
Continuously
---
There are also another way to wavedash,
Wave land:
This is when you�re already in the air, and just before you hit the ground, you air dodge into the ground at an angle like a wavedash. It will have the same effect but there is one thing I want to point out. You end up sliding further
And that�s the only difference, albeit not an important one.
When you think about it, there a multitude of ways you could apply wave landing, but for now it isn�t essentially important, you�ll figure out for yourself if this will have any benefit to your play style, so just know that you needn�t learn this right away � Just practice wavedashing.
---
This will conclude my tutorial for wavedashing for now.
I will be going over proper in game use for it later in the guide.
***
5: Short hopping
Short hopping entails what it implies in its name, it is a jump that is smaller than normal, and I�m sure that you yourself have done one before, or at least seen CPU Fox�s do a short hop into a down air attack.
To short hop, you basically have to lightly tap you choice of jump button (Which should be X).
And that�s all there is to it�sorta anyway.
Whether or not you do a short hop instead of a full jump is determined by how hard you press X, not necessarily by how long you press it, either way, it�s usually a good idea to press the button quickly to maximise the softness of the button press.
You should decide for yourself the best way to achieve as soft a button press as possible.
How soft you need to press the button to do a short hop is dependent on the character you�re using.
Short hopping with Bowser is easy as pie,
Short hopping with Fox is a lot harder than it is with Bowser.
Try working your way down this list:
Bowser
Gannondorf
Roy
Falco
Link
Peach
Doctor Mario
Marth
Fox
Like with wavedashing, it�s going to take A LOT of practice.
Once you�re at least competent at short hopping with the character that you�re going to be using mostly, you then need to practice doing an aerial A attack whilst short hopping. (It is preferable that you practice using the C-stick to do all the aerial attacks except for the neutral �No direction� A aerial attack)
(By aerial attack, I only mean the non-B attack ie: only the ones possible to do with the c-stick and neutral A.)
(You can�t use the c-stick in training mode, which is why I don�t bother with training mode much)
Once you�ve gotten this down pat, you�ll be ready for the second part of the equation, fast falling.
***
6: Fast Falling
Like the obviousness of short hopping, the aim of fast falling is to make your airborne character meet the ground � fast.
It�s simple, at the maximus height of any upward movement (Meaning you�ve stopped moving upwards) you press down, and unless you�re character is air dodging, spinning uncontrollably from an attack, or performing a B move, you�ll fall at a MUCH faster rate. If you are doing one of those three things, you�ll have to wait until your character is finished before you fast fall.
Try it, take a character into a mode that you won�t be disturbed in, make them jump, and at the top of the jump, press down, voila! A fast fall!
Now try fast falling from a short hop � too easy eh? If you�re using Bowser =D
Just practice it until you�re confident, and then onto the last adaptation,
Practice fast falling a short hopped attack.
Now is when my argument of using the C-stick to do aerial attacks should become clearer, it�s hard to perform a forward aerial attack whilst fast falling at the same time when using A to attack. (Unless it�s the neutral �No direction� A attack you�re using) Also whilst using the C-stick, you can DI as well.
If you can do this consistently with any aerial attack, after learning how to wavedash as well, you�re definitely on your way to becoming tournament material =D
Now for the last part of this equation � L-cancelling
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7: L-cancelling
Now for the last, and equally important part of this three part equation � The L-cancel.
L-cancelling: Basically when you hit the ground whilst in the middle of doing an aerial attack, your character suffers �Lag� which is the animation of the character returning to it�s standing position. However, you can cut this lag in half or even more by hitting L or R (Preferably L � hence the name) when your character hits the ground and the little dust clouds appear.
The best way to practice this is with Link�s down air attack (Where here plants his sword into the ground) as it has an incredible amount of lag due to him having to pull the sword out.
Try it yourself, and gauge how long it take for Link to pull the sword out � the lag time he suffers.
Now try it again, and this time, L-cancel it.
Hit L right when he hits the ground with his sword, and if you did it right, he�ll have pulled his sword out of the ground much faster than normal.
Practice it a few times once you get the timing right.
Then try it during a short hop.
Then once you�ve got that down, try it during a fast fall.
If you can manage to short hop, fast fall and L-cancel Link�s down air, you have just done what is commonly referred to as a Shuffl� and is possibly the most important skill you could learn.
***
8: Bringing it together � The Shuffl�
So now that you are capable of Shuffl�ing Link�s Down aerial attack, you must attempt shuffl�ing all of his other aerial attacks, and then move onto you own character.
Once you learn to do this at the drop of a hat, you should use it, and use it often, use it during any opening against an opponent. Know that it is likely that you will become worse at the game to begin with, and believe me, it happens to everyone.
I became worse, but after a while I kept getting better and better, and my most recent league/tournament gathering, I beat y0kai and K-0S 5 times in a row each, putting 10 wins on my record straight off.
Once you begin to see the results of your hard work, you�ll see that you�ve become much better than you were before.
You should also try incorporating wavedashing into your game, even if it�s not directly linked to the fighting, as it will train you to be able to do wavedashes whilst in battle and under pressure.
You should learn to use DI whilst shuffl�ing. Meaning you should try to pursue a fleeing opponent with a chasing Shuffl� retreat with a retreating Shuffl�.
Try downloading some of the vids found in the link in my sig and watching them.
You just need to practice applying these skills � that is the most important part.
***
9: Off the edge �
The Edgeguard, The Edgehog, The Edgehop
So you�ve your wavedashing ability to set up combos leading into shuffl�d aerial attacks, and now your opponent is off the stage, attempting to recover from the brink of death.
Now is the time for you to do one of two things:
Edgeguard or Edgehog.
The first half of this chapter will be spent learning of ways to deal with people trying to recover from the brink of death using their jump and various B moves.
The second half will deal with the mindset required to make a successful recovery against someone who is trying to stop you with the aforementioned techniques.
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Okay, your opponent is now off the edge and frantically trying to get back � You obviously don�t want this to happen, you want them to meet an ungratifying death.
Guarding the edge is a very legitimate strategy, and should always be employed, if someone disparages you for doing so, they are a n00b and should learn to do it themselves.
You can guard the edge in a number of ways depending on the character, so I�ll split it into three major categories.
1. Waiting at the edge
If you have a character that has an attack that reaches over the edge, like Link�s Up B sword spin, it can be very beneficial for you to simply stand and wait for your opponent at the edge. Especially if that opponent happens to have a very easily edge guarded recovery like Fox, Falco, C. Falcon and Gannondorf.
If the character is someone like Sheik and they use their recovery to land on the ground next to the edge, then you must make sure you attack them once they land, as they won�t be capable of doing anything at that point, making the whole process begin again, giving you another free hit every time this has to happen.
There�s not much more I can say in this section, once you master these three sections of edge guarding, this will become your last resort when trying to keep someone off the edge.
2. Shooting projectiles from the edge
Now this, this is the easy stuff, and the safest option. It can be very easily coupled with the first option, and can be very effective.
It�s simply a matter of aiming correctly, practice makes perfect =D
Something you should keep in mind is that once an enemy is hit with a projectile, they can use their Up B attack again if they already used it.
So just be wary of that the next time you�re spamming Falco�s laser at them.
3. Jumping from the edge
A risky gambit, but definitely worth doing. This involves you jumping off the edge at them, hitting them with an attack that will force them away, and then recovering yourself.
This is when your C-stick practice will shine, especially if you go for the dreaded spike.
A spike is any attack that sends an opponent down at an angle of at least 45 degrees, and usually, these are down air attacks.
{Now, if you�re even a little heavy handed with your Dair (Down air) attack, there�s a good chance that you�ll fast fall the attack and plummet to your doom.}
That is what would�ve been your scenario if you hadn�t practiced using the C-stick, with the C-stick you can be as heavy handed as you want with the Dair, and you won�t fast fall.
When using this method of edge guarding, it is wise to be weary of your character�s limitations in their recovery � Even I sometimes miscalculate my character�s ability to recover and fall to a needless death.
You could also attempt to come after them from a hanging position, this method is a subset of Edge hogging.
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Edge hogging:
The rule of thumb is this, only one person can hold the edge at a time.
So, if Sheik was aiming to use her Up B and hit the edge so she could hang from it, and avoid Link�s sword spin attack, you could jump down there yourself or even wavedash yourself backwards and hang off the edge.
If she goes to hang from the ledge, and you�re already there, then she won�t grab anything, she�ll fall and die.
So what if it�s an Up B attack that will hit you once you�re edge hogging like Marth�s Up B.
Well then you have to abuse what are called �Invincibility frames�
When you first grab a ledge, you become invincible for maybe a two or three seconds. Meaning if you grab the ledge a second or so before Marth Up B�s, he will simply pass through you and if he was aiming for the edge, he�ll fall and die like Sheik did.
However, this can be hard to time properly for most people, so there�s one more option.
So you�ve already wasted all of you invincibility frames waiting for Marth to use his Up B to recover, so you�re probably thinking it�s probably better to get back up and wait next to the edge.
Well you�re half right, when you�ve already wasted your invincibility, and your opponent is about to Up B, get back up again, Why? I�m glad you asked.
You see there are three way to get up. Pressing A or B will have you attack as you get up. Pressing towards the stage will have you simply stand up onto the edge, pressing R or L will have you roll onto the stage, and pressing X will have you jump up.
Whilst doing any of these actions, you gain invincibility frames, and whilst those frames last, the edge will remain hogged.
This is a much easier, and safer way to use invincibility frames to edge hog.
It all just takes practice.
Go into vs. and fight against a level 1, practice all the aforementioned techniques � It�ll definitely be worth it if you can apply these skills against a human player.
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Something I feel that I need to show you now is a technique called �Ledge hopping�
As you know, pressing down or away from the stage during a hanging position causes your character to let go and fall. The interesting thing about this is that if you press down to let go and then immediately press the jump button, you can jump back onto the stage (With most characters).
The advantage of this is that you could then immediately air dodge past your opponent, or even trickier, if your opponent is still away from the edge, you could ledge hop into a wavedash.
One of the best uses is that whilst ledge hopping onto the stage, you could use an aerial attack with most characters.
Practice it,
You can even ledge hop and land on the ledge again.
In time, and application, you�ll realise that the most important use for this is the ability to get back onto the stage very quickly, swatting away the enemy, and unlike pressing A or B, there is lesser lag involved (As long as you L-cancel!)
So to refer back to a statement I made about attacking from a hanging position:
You could drop from the ledge, double jump, attack and then Up B recover if you�re using the right character for the job.
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So after edge guarding that n00b over there for the win, you think you�re the top of North Cal, but then The Germ tricks you into a money match, and you find out that he isn�t the arrogant n00b he was making you believe he was.
He�s not an arrogant n00b, he is in fact kicking your a**.
So much so that you�ve just been thrown off the edge by his Link and now you must find a way to recover or perish into the abyss.
So what options do you have, Link is easily one of the best edge guarders in the game as he has access to all types of edge guarding, so you�ll have to pull something special from your bag of tricks.
First though, I�ll help you pack.
This section is dedicated to recovery techniques that you can adopt to help against edge guarders and edge hoggers.
1. Don�t let this happen, whatever you do
Obviously, you want to avoid being forced off as much as possible, stay a measurable distance away from the edge if possible, don�t be shielding next to the edge, dodge roll around that Mofo!
Unless of course you�re like me and you like to use the ledge on purpose, but more on that a little later.
2. Go for the edge!
If you�re currently below the edge, aim for the edge, but also try to be unpredictable.
For example, if a Marth is just dying to stop your Fox from recovering with his forward smash, instead of going straight for the edge, go straight up, faking out their Forward smash and DI�ing towards the edge once you start falling.
Once you�re hanging from the edge, you�ve got plenty of options to work with, you may think that getting up onto the edge is simple, but it the opponent knows what they�re doing, it won�t be simple at all.
3. Be aware of all your options.
Once you�re hanging off the edge, you�ve got your usual options
- Jump: Jumps up and over the opponent
- L or R: Roll past the opponent
- Press towards the stage: Climb back on
- Press B or A: Attack as you get back on
But then you�ve got several other options
- You can Ledge hop into an airdodge
- You can Ledge hop into an aerial attack
- You could drop from the ledge and wall jump away from the stage if you�re a character like Fox or Falco, and then Across B recover.
So just be aware of these options when assessing your situation.
4. Delay your recovery
So you think Link is going to try and jump off and land a sex kick to stop you from recovering, well then you should delay your recovery!
You could do a multitude of things, especially if you�re playing a character like Samus, Peach or Jigglypuff, or simply zip through the air with Recovery moves Like Sheik�s, Zelda�s, Pika and Pichu�s and Mewtwo�s recoveries.
But let�s say you�re playing Doctor Mario.
If I was recovering with Doc, I�d be waiting until the last second before using the Double jump, and then the last second before using Up B, so as to stay out of Link�s range.
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There�s not much more I can say about this but just try to keep a cool head when recovering.
So now we move onto our tenth lesson together, and as in that famous manga where the roles of male teacher and meek female student begin to blur as they find themselves thinking about each other every night. Then one day he finally gives in to the young girl�s advances, alone in the private tutoring room, he takes his hand down from caressing her face, to pull loose the ribbon that held her uniform �Sorry, just messing with your head =D
10: Mindgames � Getting into your opponent�s head
(To clarify any misunderstanding � I don�t write Lemon fan fics, I just read them >.>)
Mindgames.
There are two categories in which to separate mindgames.
1. In game
2. Out of game
So first I�ll cover the easiest section.
Out of game:
Mindgames that are removed from the actual playing of the game, and have more to with interacting with your opponent during a match, with the purpose of giving yourself a mental advantage through the disruption of the opponent�s train of thought.
If you remember my anecdote about the DOA girls with unrealistically large breasts (Which doesn�t make them any MORE attractive in my opinion � years of anime desensitises a man to beast size, and more to cute seductive faces. I don�t care if she�s sixteen and looks like a twelve year old >.>)
(Kone didn�t at the Sweeden smash tournament >.>)
(Actually I do care � it�s just that there isn�t much difference between 16 and 12 year old in anime)
(Japanese girls are always hotter though)
(Mmm�����Japanese girls)
*Dazes off*
If I had recited that during a match, then the opponent would�ve been at the very least listening to my strange monologue involving a Lolita complex and a fetish for Japanese girls. Taking your opponents focus off the game, even when they don�t realise it, will work in your favour, and in SSBM every advantage helps.
Now this may seem like a petty thing to do, but when you�re at a tourney with prizes within the hundreds of dollars (Or nearly $3000 from MLG tourneys) I wouldn�t be too concerned with my morality.
Although you may be questioning my morality considering my apparent Lolita Complex (WHICH ISN�T TRUE!!! I merely used it to supplement my example >.>) and fetish for Japanese girls (Teh H4w7 � I wouldn�t deny that one =D not to say I�m open to most women, but Jap chicks are at the top of my Tier list)
See what has become of this section of the mindgames lesson? Just one big �mess with your head� piece of writing.
-Is this person serious or joking?
-If he�s serious, is he some strange 16 year old who�s into jacking off to the tune of 12 year old hentai?
-Eww that�s disgusting! Why�d he write that!
-Oh crap, now I�m thinking about naked 12 year old anime girls!
-Oh god, what am I even reading again?
And so if you can apply that to your smash game, you�ll definitely have the mental advantage.
You really only needed to read the first paragraph under �Out of game:�
The same way you could simply say:
�Miyuki-chan has been gone for a while�
Instead of:
�I bet her tutor finally gave in to her and that�s why they�ve been in the tutoring room so long�
If you catch my drift. >.>
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In game Mindgames:
This section of the lesson will be about mindgames that are preformed within the confines of the actual on screen play itself, it involves predicting your opponent�s actions through study of their actions or by fooling them into your own ploys.
So let�s start with an example.
�You dash at an opponent, who sees this and gets ready to hit your haphazard dash with a forward smash. You allow yourself to get just within range and when they forward smash, you wavedash back, then run in for a grab.�
You have performed a mindgame, How? I�m glad you asked.
What you did, was �trick� your opponent, you predicted that they would attempt to stop your dash with an attack, so you wavedashed back.
Reverse Psychology is one of your main draw cards, and something that will work more often than not.
Another mindgame that was discussed recently on smashboards.com was called �Conditioning�
E.g. You�re training a dog to sit.
You encourage it by giving it treats.
You tell it to sit, it sits and you reward it.
You tell it to sit, it sits and you reward it.
You tell it to sit, it sits and you reward it.
You hold out the reward, it sits and you kick it in the face.
That�s how it would apply to SSBM anyway.
You dash at the opponent with a shuffl�d Nair, he shields and you roll away.
You dash at the opponent with a shuffl�d Nair, he shields and you roll away.
You dash at the opponent with a shuffl�d Nair, he shields and you roll away.
You dash at the opponent and dash grab him.
Another example of a mindgame is the example I gave about recovery, Using your Fire Fox upwards, so Marth will trigger his forward smash prematurely, and you can DI onto the edge.
The main thing is that you�re always trying to predict the actions of your opponent, and then trying to manipulate their mindset.
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Well that was a somewhat strange Lesson wasn�t it? Are the girls reading this put off by it, or are they somewhat a little excited about the true feelings of their (16 and Single) sensei?
(Okay I�m 15, but I�m turning 16 in May ^_^)
Well guess what? If you haven�t left the screen because my piece of literature is so stimulating you couldn�t stop, I�m asking you to do so. The next section will require you to actually be capable of the aforementioned techniques, so go and practice!
11: Tying it together � Application
Well I suppose you�re either now well learned in the above techniques, already well learned in them and wanting to critique my literary masterpiece that is something I jotted down because I had writers block, or you�re cheating and skipping ahead to here without having practiced the above techniques.
Whatever the reason, you�re reading this =D
This section is designed as a guide to learning how to properly apply these skills and many more skills during a match.
So I will separate this into the following categories:
-The Most Important Advice
-More Techniques and things you should keep in mind
-Offensive
-Defensive
-Controlling
Wow, amazing lineup no? =D
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The Most Important Advice:
Is that you should know that you will not become good overnight, I know I�ve said this before, but I�ll say it now, and then probably again later. In fact, it may take a while before you start becoming comfortable using these techniques, don�t expect to win every single match just because you can Shuffl� and wavedash, a C-sticking Marth could still easily beat you if you aren�t used to applying these skills.
Trying to learn how to apply these techniques during real matches against real opponents will likely cause you to become an even worse player than you are now to begin with, but don�t fret, expect the losses and take them as they come in your stride.
I remember learning how to wavedash and then my friends (Especially K-0S) used to say, �Come on, where�s your wavedashing now?� as they proceeded to kick the crap out of me in SSBM, but now, I can beat K-0S five times in a row.
Just remember that as crap as you may become to begin with when trying to apply these techniques, you�ll eventually gain back abilities that will increase your current abilities ten fold, if not more.
To get as good as I am now, it has taken roughly 6 months. 6 months included a lot of playing SSBM, a lot of discussing SSBM, reading about and learning the techniques associated with individual characters of SSBM, and reading guides like this, teaching myself to Shuffl� and wavedash, and learning to apply these skills properly.
And now I�m writing this in hopes that all who wish to benefit from this will become as good as I am, or even better, even I am learning every day.
So all I can say is practice, and against humans as much as you can � I can thank my brother Chronos_Chris for practising with me a lot, and my younger (8 year old) brother who still wows me with his Shine spiking abilities.
I know practising against humans may be hard for some (If not, a lot of you) and if you can, you will definitely become very good. If you can�t practice against humans, then don�t play against lvl 9 CPU�s to practice with, practice with lvl 1�s, and I�ll tell you why.
-Lvl 9 CPU�s WILL make you develop very bad habits (I�ve seen it happen myself, and it happens to people all the time, they go from awesome to craptacular because of it) and are an unrealistic enemy as they are incapable of the advanced techniques humans are, and are capable of some advanced techniques that humans can�t do. What they can do that humans can�t includes power-shielding (Where they use their shield to perfectly reflect projectiles back at you, if you can do this fluently, congratulations, you are probably the apart of the 0.0001% of smashers that can. SephirothKen and the rest of the top twenty five fall in the category you�re most likely in)
-After being hit, Lvl 9�s do not DI except for when they�re trapped in a natural combo (Like Pikachu�s continual A �headbut�) Whereas lvl 1�s seem to DI perfectly, giving much better practice when chain throwing and comboing. This is one of the reasons they develop bad habits.
There�s not much more I can say here for now, so I hope you will take my words to heart the first time you only just get beaten by somebody you usually wipe the floor with.
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More Techniques and things you should keep in mind:
What do you mean there�s more techniques? How many more could there be for this bloody game?
Well just be glad you�re learning this, and not something like IASA frames (Something you should learn, but I won�t cover them yet, maybe in an update?)
(For people who do know what IASA frames are, I found out that Yoshi�s taunt can actually be cancelled on something like the 63rd frame, cool? Maybe not)
So, let us start our lesson.
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A simple one for you to learn to begin with.
Dash-cancelling:
Have you ever been in an item match (Which I suggest you get out of the habit of doing, because tournament matches are never played with items on) where there is a single item that you and you�re opponent are going for. However when you dash for it, you never seem to stop quick enough to grab it, and are forced to bat away your opponent before you feel safe enough to endure the stopping animation.
Well I have, maybe I�m just weird, but the point is that you needn�t worry anymore because there is a better way to deal with this, and it�s called �Dash-cancelling�
It�s easy as pie. Go to Final Destination, and dash with any character (Except Bowser, it may be hard to identify visually what is happening) then during the dash, hold down on the directional stick, and you will stop your run immediately and crouch.
AM4Z1NG!!1
Now what can you do from a crouch, (Well for one, you can pick up items with A even when crouching) but you can also use the C-stick to do a smash attack. With this technique you can effectively do a running smash attack!
The only other ways to dash cancel is to run into something, or be attacked, or run off an edge razz
But the only other useful way to dash cancel is to jump,
-You could jump
-You could short hop
-You could wavedash
All three of these require an action that requires you to press a jump button.
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- Dash dancing and Wave dancing -
The best way to learn dash dancing is to do it yourself.
-Turn on your cube. Then go into your preferred mode for practicing. Pick say, Fox and go to Final Destination or a similar stage.
-Now that you�re on a flat ground, try smashing left or right, as though you were to do a smash attack, and you should see that Fox does the opening animation of his dash, taking a big step in one direction, and then will stop
-Now this time, smash the stick (Conservatively as to not damage it of course) left and right very quickly, and you should see that Fox seems to be spinning around on the spot really quickly, as though he�s ready to run in either direction, but constantly changing direction.
That is a dash dance � try it with a few characters, I�ll explain its uses in a little while.
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Now for wave dancing
-Pick Luigi, or (preferably) the character you intend to play as � if that character happens to be a character like Link, Falco, Gannondorf, Bowser, or any character you think has a poor wavedash when compared to say, Mario, then you should try it with Luigi.
-Try Wave dashing back an forth in quick succession,
This is a wave dance o.O
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So what?
Well, dash dancing and wave dancing happen to be forms of effective mindgames.
Now if your opponent, Zelgadis, has his Fox hanging off the right edge of Final Destination, he has a few tricks up his sleve. However, you were the one skilled enough to force him off the edge, and are now waiting for a chance to stop him from getting up from the edge by waiting near it and watching for what he does.
He could use one of the four main ways to get back up (Jump � X, Climb up � Press towards the stage, Attack whilst getting up � A or B, or Roll on � L or R) but it�s likely that he knows that you know that they aren�t invincible the entire time they�re getting up. That you can just forward smash them off again when it wears off or attack him when he jumps into the air.
He can ledge hop in a rising sex kick, or an airdodge.
He could let go, jump up some distance, wall jump off the edge and either Fox illusion/phantasm or Fire Fox back on as he jumps up and to the right.
So he�s got a multitude of possible courses of action, and he�s trying to read into what you�re going to do about it.
So you dash dance on the spot, no really.
This will give him less insight into what you�re going to do �Is s/he going to forward smash me, is s/he going to wait me out, is s/he going to try and trick me, well yes s/he is, so what is s/he going to do it. I mean, I�ve never played against a s/he, let alone meet one before. The only thing I ever remember being to referred to as a s/he was named �Quina� and all it did was eat� I�m feeling kinda hungry right now actually, DieSuperFly better not have come without any munchies again�
See, a successful mind game, so he decides to be all flash about it and wall jump off the wall and into an across B Fox phantasm to recover from the hanging position. So you dash-cancel your dash dance by pressing down and then forward smash, hitting him out of his phantasm and off the edge again.
Wave dancing is a technique to be combined with dash dancing, as you can preform any attack our of it.
Also, try taking Marth and dash dancing with him, fast at first.
Then try just smashing it in one direction, see how far he goes?
Now try dash dancing slowly like that, this is one of my favourite mind games and has helped me control the flow of many matches whilst using Marth. (I even do it with Roy as well)
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Jump-cancelling:
Here�s one you may find helpful.
You can cancel the opening animation of the jump for any character by doing something else, one the most practical being an up smash.
So let me explain it to you.
-The easiest way to do it is during a run, so start dashing across Final Destination. (Do it with Fox for now, his is probably the most used).
-Rotate the stick up, normally this would cause your character to jump
-as you rotate it up, press and/or hold A, if you pressed it, Fox�s dash will stop and he�ll up smash, if you held A, he�ll stop running and slide a small distance, all the while charging his up smash.
It also serves as a dash-canceller in this case o.O
The most I use it with is Gannondorf at the beginning of his homerun contest.
I�ve gotten 996 metres with Gannondorf, which equates to 3267 ft in America�s version.
Anyway, another great use for it is Jump cancelling grabs with Z, as it is a lot faster and more effective, but maybe something you needn�t learn for now, but would benefit from in the long run.
JC�d grabs are pretty much standing grabs done while dashing, the advantage is that standing grabs are always going to be faster and have less lag.
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Double Jump cancelling:
This has little to do with what�s involved with Jump cancelling.
It has to do with the unique jumps that Ness, Peach and Mewtwo are capable of.
-Take Peach onto Final Destination
-Hold left or right, then Jump and then immediately double jump, and then use her Fair (Forward aerial attack � and make sure you do it with the C-stick, no lazy whiners!)
You�ll have moved in a fairly horizontal distance through the air, and yet still close to the ground.
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Crouch Cancelling:
This is a no brainer
Crouching = Less Knockback
This is a very effective strategy when at low damage. Simply crouch when the opponent is about to do an attack, and you won�t be sent back far, so then you could try a �Crouch Cancel Counter� which is using an attack. (Usually either Down tilt or down smash) to take the damage with little knock back, and then hit the opponent with your attack.
I used to find this very effective with Doctor Mario, wavedash to down smash, and if I was heading into an attack of theirs, I didn�t really care at all, because I would be in a crouching position when they hit, and I would reward them with a down smash that would hit them off the edge of the stage.
This is definitely something to keep in mind.
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Things to keep in mind:
-You can press down to fall through platforms o.O
-You can fast fall though platforms O.O
-Peach can float in the air if you hold down and press X, then let go of down
-If Peach begins an attack whilst floating and then ends the float by letting go of X and hits the ground before the attack is finished, she will �Float Cancel� which also happens to be faster than L-cancelling
-I eat Peach every morning,
-Then have some fruit to go along with her o.O
-Just kidding, but seriously, every morning I have rice bubbles with Peach and custard o.O
-These dot points will have more (relevant) dot points added when I think of more things to add
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That�s it for my �More techniques� section, next up on the agenda is my guide to offensive play.
***
The Offensive Playstyle:
For the person who want�s to kick a**�by literally kicking a**:
So when the battle starts, are you usually the type of person to initiate the offensive?
Then this section is for you!
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If you�re going to play offensively, you�re still going to need a certain amount of restraint, an unfocussed attack will mean nothing against high level players.
So what are your best offensive techniques?
At long range, start off with a projectile (If you can) and then charge in with an attack, preferably a shuffl�d Fair or Sex Kick to begin with.
If you hit them to the ground, then wait for them to get up before nailing a forward smash (Wait until they�ve begun to get up as they may decide to do a rising attack from a lying position)
If they lie on the ground waiting for you, start dash dancing, and then react when they do get up, and if they still persist on lying down, forward/down smash them again, or whatever works best with your character.
Be sure to be constantly applying the pressure, be focussed with bringing the fight to them to defend against ALL the time, don�t let them start to launch an offensive.
Don�t stagnate, in other words, don�t be standing still, always be doing something during a match, even if it�s just dash dancing, or pull off a shuffl�d attack or two while waiting for them to come back from a lost stock.
Always be mixing up your attacks, don�t rely on just one or two attacks, make sure you�re capable of a few different approaches.
The minute the enemy starts to shield your attacks to shield grab you, start dash grabbing.
Never let the opponent think they have found any flaw in your style, be flexible in your strategies to handle opponents, and don�t be afraid to change your play style during a match.
A great example of this is a match up between Doctor Mario and Jigglypuff.
Basically, if the Doctor Mario player is inflexible in his play style, he�s almost assured a loss, as Jigglypuff forces him to abandon most, if not all of his main play styles.
I�m going to have to say that being able to master a fluent, and effective �Offensive� style of play is a hard task, and a hard thing to learn as well, however, if you do become used to an offe
