the Smash Bros Diaries – Week 4: Super Smash Bros. Melee (GameCube)

So I’m still on Melee. The only thing that I really want to unlock is the Final Destination stage which means I need to beat every Event Match. Which won’t be easy. I’m going to try to work through the remaining tasks one at a time.

Chronologically, the first one to beat is Event Match 33 Lethal Marathon where you have to race Captain Falcon to the finish, avoiding the F-Zero cars. It is a pain. On Night One I played it for almost an hour and did not come close to completing it. You can’t make any mistakes and have to dash pretty much the whole time. I finally moved on to Event Match 34 Seven Years.

Last time I played Event 34 I was very frustrated, you play as Young Link versus normal Link and normal Link is aggressive. I lost pretty quickly last time. This time I was able to win after only a few tries but just by running away constantly and letting Link kill himself.

On Night Two, I needed a break from Melee, so I went back to Super Smash Bros. 64. I wanted to sharpen my skills and work on advanced techniques. There are a lot of advanced techniques to learn in this series.

I’m not going to learn every advanced technique for each game, but I do want to learn all the advanced techniques that are still in use in Ultimate and the advanced techniques of my mains. And since Ness is horrendous in 64 I need to learn the advanced techniques for both him and Pikachu for that game. So, I practiced around five techniques in Training Mode and then played a few games against Level 9 CPU. And I got bodied on every one. Got to keep practiing.

On, Night Three I beat the Lethal Marathon Event on the second try! I guess I just needed a break from it. Then it took me a little bit longer but I was able to finish Event Match 35 Time for a Checkup. I just kept jumping by the edges until Dr. Mario and Peach killed themselves. I tried Event Match 36 for the rest of the night with no luck. I can get past Samus and Kirby with almost 0 damage but Fox always damages me to at least 80% and then I can’t make it through Captain Falcon and Falco. I got to the last opponent a few times but never coudl quite make it.

On Night Four, I played Ultimate online for a bit to see if all of this has improved my skills on the current game. That and watching all those tournaments. I lost eight matches in a row, but was never 3-0’d which had been happening a lot before. I’m getting a lot better at reading my opponent, mixing up my approaches, and weaving in attacks between the opponent’s. I still have a long way to go though. I’m getting two, sometimes three attacks in a row, but still not getting real combos. I’m still getting juggled online and having truble getting out of it. Elite Smash doesn’t seem like its ever going to happen. But as long as I can beat my friends…

On Night Five, I played Event Match 36 a few times failed and then gave up on it. Went back to 64 and practiced some more advanced moves in Training and then took on some more Level 9 CPUs. Didn’t go so well. But I am starting to appreciate 64 as a comptetive game more. Right now, I’m actually liking it a bit more than Melee, but that might just be nostaltic.

On Night Six, I started by playing Ultimate online again. Just going to play each character online one more time and see if anyone other than Ness clicks. Lost with five characters and then lost with Ness five times. I’m not getting killed and I’m taking stocks each match, but my recovery really has to get better.

Then later I played Melee some more. Tried Event Matches 36, 37, and 38 a few more times, with no luck. Then tried Event 36 again and did even worse. I think I may be giving up on unlocking Final Destination soon.

Then I went back to 64 for some more advanced technique practice, this time with Pikachu. Then lost to level 9 CPUs with Pikachu as well. I want to get good enough to be able to consistently beat Level 9 CPUs in tournament conditions in each game. Hopefully, by the time this is over, I will be able to; and I will be able to actually beat people online.

On the last night I played Event Match 36 Space Traveler’s, Event Match 39 Jigglypuff Live!, and Event Match 40 All-Star Match 4 multiple times. I’m getting worse every night at Space Travelers, not even getting to the second stage anymore. On Event 39 I got all the other Jiggflypuffs down to one life but lost. In fact, I kept losing to bombs or item capsules that are bombs; it’s very annoying. Event Match 40 I’m having lots of trouble getting past Marth and Luigi and suually don’t have damage left to take by the time I get to Mewtwo. Then I gave up.

I’m giving Melee one more week. If I don’t make any more progress on these Event Matches, I’m packing it in. These Events are really sucking all the phone out of Smash Bros.