Why I hate comparing players

It’s an often discussed topic in the smash community, and it’s not hard to see why. When players represent their crew, state, and region, the out come of a match means a lot more than advancing in the bracket. If an east coast player is better than a west coast player, everyone on the east coast feels just a little more confident in their game. However, when players discuss who is better on speculation and pseudo-facts, or making ignorant you tube comments, it becomes too much for me to handle.

First off, I want to say that I am not against the idea of comparing players, quite the contrary. I think it is healthy for the community because it promotes more active dedication to Smash as a whole. When players are involved with Smash, whether it be playing the game, running tournaments, recording matches, or just posting about it on smash boards, the community grows. So when players are involved in a discussion about the comparison between two players, that’s great. The only problem is that I would like to see a more articulate discussion and less emotion involved.

The classic example of failed logic is as follows:
X player beat Y player
Y player beat Z player
Therefore, X player will beat Z player.
It would be nice if the world worked this way, but it doesn’t. It simply doesn’t. There are too many factors that go into a match that make that match unique. For once I’d like to see people discuss how one players strengths in ledge guarding will lead them to victory because their opponent doesn’t have as much experience in that area as the other. What about the mental barriers that each player faces, will those affect the match? Will the pressure of fighting a big name player be too much for the challenger to handle? Or, will the favorite to win be too cocky against the up and comer to take him seriously, only to be blindsided to a first game lost, then counter picked on game 3 to lose the set?

None of this even address that we don’t have a concrete method to determine what makes a player directly better than another. The most obvious answer is that he beats the other player more than he loses to them, but at what point can we conclude the evidence is sufficient? A simple 2 out of 3 tournament set? 5 friendlies? A $5 money match? Sure, when two players meet up in a tournament, I will reflect on their previous match ups as a clue to who might win. But if you care to tell me your opinion, be careful how you do so, it’s easy to sound ignorant or biased.

This is where my biggest complaint lays in comparing players. More often than not, comparing players is an issue of pride for one’s region. That is why I find it refreshing to meet someone who favors a player that is not from their region to win against someone that is. It tells me that they are looking at the match up objectively, and not a biased one that is based on friendship or local pride. If you want to support your local players, please do. Cheer for them, hype them up, talk shit for them, but don’t expect to be taken seriously with your one liner you tube comments, you’re only a head count for their number of fans.

Just play the game

Just play the game. Play 50 more matches and you will understand it. You will see the patterns. You will develop the reflexes. I can’s stress it enough. If you want to improve, you have to play. Time spent not playing the game could be better spent playing the game. Thinking about the game also works. Time spent thinking about your homework, or that girl you have a crush on, could be better spent thinking about the game. Some of the best strategies I have developed came to me when I was not playing the game, only thinking about it. It is probably more beneficial than training alone on CPU’s or in training mode. That will only develop your tech skill, which is important, but will only get you so far.

All of the best players have amazing technical skill, but all of those with amazing technical skill are not the best players. The reason is simple, the most technical option is not always the best option. I have seen many players whose game suffers because of excessive movement, and even my game does at time. Perform only the actions that are necessary to execute your game plan. If you must trick your opponent into approaching you, do so with swift and flowing movements that they can understand, not hyper-fast technical skill. Concentrating too much on technical skill will also distract your mind from the more important issue at hand, what your opponent is thinking. At times I think the reason I was hit was because I was not fast enough. “If only I could turn > run > shuffle nair faster then I wouldn’t be hit when I do shield pressure!” However, I know this is not true. I was hit because the opponent predicted my next move. They knew I was thinking to bombard them with the fastest possible combination of movements and attacks. When you apply technical skill as a style, it will only hold you back. It becomes readable. I know what technical players are thinking when they play against me, they are thinking about how they can play fast. If you so blatantly tell me how you are going to play, do not expect me to play dead fish and be a part of your combo video, it’s not happening.

Any style besides pure adaptation is not going to work at the highest levels of play. Great players adapt to many pieces of their opponent that intermediate players often over look. It is not obvious, and most players probably don’t even notice themselves doing it, but there is more information to gather about your opponent than just their tech patterns or recovery. Do you notice how they react to using a single jump? What do they do when you turn your back towards them? What is their response when you start spacing for a nair? How do those reactions change based on their percentage? How do they change based on YOUR percentage? How do they change according to stage position? And so on. Not only do great players have keen observation, they are masters of stealth. They are always changing their moves and making sure not to reveal their own patterns.

Example: Your opponent is running at you from across the stage. As he gets closer, he will either

A) Dash attack, up smash, B attack, or grab.

B) Shield

a. Dodge

b. Roll left or right

c. Jump

d. Wavedash away, towards, or in place.

C) Full jump

a. Double jump

b. Attack

D) Short hop

a. Double jump

b. Attack

E) Wavedash away, towards, or in place.

F) Crouch

G) Keep running

A novice player in this situation may feel panicked and on edge. The opponent has many options, and he probably cannot predict which one they will use. Even if he could predict them, he may not know the best way to counter it. As he gains more experience, he is no longer confused by the many options available to the opponent, and he may even know some great combos to counter with after he predicts them correctly. As he gets even better, he uses less concentration to land his combo, and his thoughts are now free to profile his opponent, where he records their habits and tendencies to better counter them in the future. Players of all level have a memory bank of previous encounters with opponents, characters, stages, stocks, positions, and percentage. The best players often have a plethora of experience to call upon mid match to make quick fixes on their style to suit their opponents.

Perhaps you may even “feel” your opponent. You sense that they are confident, which means he will usually try to fake you out. You can feel their fear, so you know he will be paralyzed as you run shield pressure on him like a freight train. Their frustration makes the air tingle, it is so obvious that he will spam the stupidest moves in a desperate attempt to counter. Worst of all is when you feel them surround you, corning you, hitting you from every direction, so all you can do is pray that they make a mistake.

There is so much information to collect. Calm your mind. Be patient. Observe.

So much smash!

I haven't had the time to update lately because I've been so busy playing the game. Now though, I think I have a moment to reflect back on the past week or so and give an update on my progress. Although, it is no longer just my progress that I am concerned with, but the entire city of Tucson. Competition breeds. It breeds new and fresh players, it breeds skill, it breeds innovation. The way that Tucson, and even Sierra Vista, has been playing lately, the state is on the brink of evolution.

I've been playing in long burst at a time. 5 hours here, 8 hours there, etc., usually with someone different. Each person I've played has made adjustments to their game, adding new strategies and improving their overall skill. I'm very happy to see everyone improving. I truely think that Tucson can become a great smash location and that we can generate a nice bunch of highly skilled players.

So with that said, I will now recollect on the time I spent smashers and the observations I made. It started on Monday I believe when the round robin was held. We bit off more than we could chew when we tried to throw about 22 players into it with only 4 tv's. We all learned a lesson though, and I think next time most people will be happy to do bracket style tournament when there are that many players. Anyways, I lost a couple rounds, but the only set I lost to was to Jeff. I wasn't too concerned with my performance that day since I had smoked and knew that I would later get many matches in with Jeff.

Fast forward a little bit and I'm in Sierra Vista. I must have lost a good 30 games or so against Jeff and played about 2-3 hours against the rest of the SV players until I was able to beat him again. My Fox/Falco combo is definitily rusty compared to what it used to be but during one match something clicked. I remember Jeff had just finished a combo on me when something in my mind just clicked. It was like a light bulb turned on, there was this new feeling in my brain and I knew that it was the key to winning. I couldn't put into words, not simple ones at least. Good smash players are beyond language. Yet I somehow knew all the right moves from this point on. I think my reflexes had just kicked back in and I was able to play at a fast pace again. It felt very, very good. Smash, what a satisfying experience.

I got a good ~12 hours of smash in that day, however, that's nothing compared to the grandaddy of all gaming days. The next day on my return home would be one to remember for a long time. Tim was coming back in to town (he's in the military), so Jeff, Joey, and I were headed to Tucson to pick him up. On the way to the airport we stopped by Chris's house and got him. Afterwards we headed back to my house to play smash. This was about 6pm. SV later left at about 11. Chris and I continued to play into the night, taking a couple breaks to eat, get energy drinks, and eat again when McDonalds opened... at 7am. Using coupons I was able to get 3 McCafe drinks, the caffeine I would need in order to play another 6 hours. My body was stiff and aching, but I was still able to game. All the motions had become 2nd nature, I barely had to think about it. Eventually, I ran out of fuel and passed out.

More games, more games, more games, more games, and more games. I'm sure I left some out but blah, there's more to it than how much you play. It's about what you do with that time when you play. What are you working on? What tech skill are you perfecting? What new branches are you reading out? I know what I'm doing.

I have modified my goal. I want to be the best spacies player in the world, Fox and Falco are so incredibly similar that it is not hard to play both of them equally well. Right now, it may very well be Zhu. It seems that DSW may have the upper hand in Falco dittos, but their matches at Genesis were so close and Falco dittos can go either way that I find it is simply too hard to say. Either way, Zhu also has one of the best Foxs. Aiming to surpass Zhu is a good goal, not too easy, not too hard. Attainable, but challenging.

I'll just compile some of the in-game stuff I'm working on into a list...

-Dsmash on platforms while they are underneath. Works likes Peach's dmsash, except everyone expects that. I got the idea to add this when I realized that people messing up their fall through dairs was working out in their favor. (See game 2.5 of DSW vs Forward from LTEC2 (Johns))

-WD out of pillar fsmash. Use this in Falco dittos. I'm trying to learn more setups for the fsmash from watching DSW play, this one works pretty well.

-Fox dtilt. Surprisingly good but only for a few matches. Goes undershields, works well after jabs, pops up for upair.

-Shine > JC grab (Falco). Old trick, but I'm taking it seriously this time. I usually brushed this one off, considering that there were better options. However, I remember a time when I used to tell myself that there is a use for everything. No need to hold myself back, right?

-Running shine > sh bair. I've seen lots of Foxs using running shine lately, especially in teams, but they always follow it up with a wd. I think I have found a better option.

-Running drops. The new name for running drop through platforms. I give credit of the name to Eggz. Anyways, it's super good. I'm finding a lot of uses for it.

-Shine stalling recovery. Another move I used to brush off. Again, I need that winning mentality that every tool is useful.

-Forward facing up tilts. Most people hit with the uptilt when the opponent is behind them. You have quicker recovery with you hit with the tip of it.

That's about all I can think of for now. I'll make a more stragegy-oriented up date soon.

Muscle soreness

I spent the night at Rusty's house yesterday. I think we played a good 5 or 6 hours worth of matches, taking a couple of breaks between them to eat junk food. When I played this morning against Spencer the base of my left thumb was sore. Perhaps I need a protien shake.

Playing last night was great practice. Even though Rusty is not the best opponent, he still had the vitality to play against me for as long as he did without losing his cool. I even JV5 stocked him once, and he was such a good sport he took a picture of it on his phone. Anyways, I made a few notes from that gaming session.

My JC grabs are not 100%. I'd say ~85%. Hopefully this number will increase as time moves on. These moves are too important to ever miss.

Thunders combo at about 40-50%. This is actually a pretty good number for having recently got back into fox. The waveshine > jab reset is one of his hardest combos to pull off consistently, and even landing it half of the time means an extra 40% on half of waveshines. I even landed the combo when he was behind me on several occasions, which is great. Landing the combo when they are behind you might be impossible if they di the shine away, but it's within human capabilities to land it all the time if they miss the di. I would be very dangerous if I could do this.

I've been finding openings for the running platform drop. I'm very happy about this, as I don't think there are any Fox players who are using the technique. Nair and bair are the best attacks use. Dair might be good as well, but the technique is still new in development.

My dash dance is coming along very well. At Pound 3 it was my pride and joy, I felt that there was not a single person there who could read my dash dance. I would like to once again be at that level. I used to practice at night before I went to sleep, and first thing in the morning, just whenever I had a half hour to kill. I'd use the markings on the floor of Kanto (pokemon stadium lol) to mark my dashes. I wrote down rythms to practice, 1 1-2-3 1 1-2-3. My dash dance has always been a key to countering the opponents approach by giving the illusion of attack. However, I noticed recently that the illusion I make is not very effective when I control ~2/3 of the stage. I either end up tracing so far back that I am back to controling half of the stage, or I simply rush in and attack. I don't have many ideas as to why this is, but being aware of it is the 1st step to changing it.

I want to make a correction on the last post. The combo finisher I wrote about of nair > fj bair does not work, at all. I have staying up late johns though, so it's ok. Instead what I like after the up tilt is shuffle nair > grab.

I did some testing and found out that you cannot CC once you are in the stun of a shine. So that means if you are peach and you get shined, you won't be able to mash out a dsmash. Well, you could... but don't. This is not about technicalities.

The last thing I want to touch on is something I have briefly discussed in the last post. The result of shuffle nair > shine. It's dangerous! If you follow it up with a wd against Peach you run the risk of running into dsmash! Falcon can jab after that. I don't think there is a safe solution after the wd, so I think the best option would be to follow the nair up with different attacks besides the shine. Peach would be up tilt, Falcon would be up smash. I'll just have to train myself to see the hit stun more clearly. I use the shine, and I assume most do, because it's safe on block. I'm going for efficiency though, and to me, efficient is deadly, efficient deals maximum damage.

The combo goes like this.

Fox vs Marth. 0%. Left side of FD. Fox is on the left side.

dair > shine > wd towards > shuffle nair > up tilt > ?

The combo does about 35%. I'm trying to find out the best way to finish this. This is also assuming that Marth cannot CC the nair. I am not positive if you can CC when you are already stunned, but I am fairly certain that you can. Regardless, I do not see that CC would be common for a Marth after being shined. Marth should expect a grab > up throw and therefor di left or right. In this case the nair would pop Marth off of the ground. If his di was away then you may have to turn before you up tilt, to extend the range. If his di was towards you, he may end up behind you after nair and your up tilt is in position to hit him.

Unfortunately, although a dair will combo after the up tilt, it is impossible to combo afterwards. Characters seem to gain instant recovery the moment they land on their feet. Hence the reason that nair > shine > wd any attack can always be avoided. If the nair pops them up, the shine knocks them to the ground and they regain control. The dair acts the same way the shine does, it brings them to the ground and they regain control. Even if you went for a grab after the dair, the dair is too risky in the first place since the di is too hard to track. Still though, it looks sweet.

I experimented by ending with shuffle nair > fj bair. This brings the combo to do ~52%, iirc, and seems to hit marth safely away (relatively). This is solid, it's legit, it's a real baby-maker, yet I just can't shake the feeling there is a better option. I'm thinking that there is potential mix up in the final fj bair. What if you can mix up which direction you hit them with the bair? Say they di towards you as you run in for bair, then you'd want to hit them with Fox's crotch to keep them close, and possibly set up for another hit. If they di away as you approach for the bair then you could time it later, so that it hits when you reach the other side and they once again di towards you.

Of course, none of this may be useful at all. What if shine > wd > grab > up throw is simply a better option? In Melee, consistency = win, not flash or tech skill. The player who capitalizes the hardest and most consistently will win. To be consistent you need to have all options covered, and one of the easiest ways to do that is through grabs. The up throw may prove to be more consistent than the shuffle nair. So it becomes a choice. Do I grab and get that guarenteed damage? Or do I take a risk on their di for a possibly larger reward?

Only one way to find out.

Introduction

This is a test. I'm making this blog to help track the progress that I make with Fox for Super Smash Bros. Melee. For some reason my interest has been piqued and I am now intent on being the best Fox player in the world. It may or may not happen; I am the type of person where ideas outweigh the action.

The idea behind this is that it will help motivate me and keep me focused on my goal. It will also provide information that may help other smashers around the world. Aside from that, it is simply entertainment. I enjoy writing so long as the topic is fun. Smash is fun to play and an outlet for creativity, I hope it is also fun to write about it and inspires creativtiy.

The title of the blog is loosely based off a quote from a discussion Hugo and I once had. We were discussing some deeper aspects of the game, and I was thoroughly enjoying the conversation. It then struck me that I usually cannot enjoy these conversations with just everyone. It takes someone of a certain skill and certain awareness to talk about it as we had.

So I asked him "Why? Why are we good at smash and why do we understand this stuff?"

He replied "That's just the way it is. Bill Gates is good at making money, we're good at smash."