Ok, I meant to post this a while ago. Next week, I’ll update with how SmashCon went!
We’re counting down the days to SuperSmashCon now. After this week, I’ll only have one full week to prep for the tournament since I’ll be at the beach the week of.
Mixing it up this week, let’s start with Ultimate. As much as I appreciate N64Josh’s long road Smash enlightenment he followed in Smash Bros Cast A Smash Bros Podcast, I no longer have time. So on Night One, I watched Zero’s How to Play Smash Ultimate video. I tried to follow along while I watched and then practiced a few of the items in Training afterward, specifically Parrying and ledge tethering.
Then I went into online quickplay and it felt like everything clicked. In the video, Zero talks about knowing what kind of character you play and playing into their strength’s. I really tried to keep that in mind and tried to keep distance with Ness and punish my opponent when they came in with aerials and smash attacks. And I went 5-1 for what must have been the first time ever. Then I lost the sixth match but it was on the F-Zero level, so who really cares? But, the fights were still pretty evenly matched, I felt like everyone I played was my skill level, just I was making better decisions this time around.
On Night Two I watched Zero’s Basic Movement Guide video. I was pretty tired after that but I tried to play one online game as Lucina. I won, but was so tired I had to go straight to sleep after that.
On Night Three I watched Zero’s How to Play Neutral Game Guide video. Then I went into Online Quickplay and played what would have basically been two sets. I went 2-3 so I would have won a match and lost a match. I played a Marth three times in a row. I won the first game but lost the final two. It really showed how terrible Ness can be against sword characters. But I don’t have time to pick up a pocket for swordies.
On Night Four I didn’t have time to practice Ultimate or watch any more videos.
On Night Five I watched Zero’s How to Combo in Smash Ultimate video. Then I went into online quickplay. I had some mixed experiences. The first match was a lagfest so I didn’t’ count that one. And one of the matches was on one of the weird Mario Bros. levels with the Koopas and Crabs so I didn’t count that one either. Anyway, I went 2-4 overall. It was the first time in a long while I didn’t feel like my button presses transferred correctly. Maybe it was because I didn’t warm up that much, or maybe it was just lag.
On Night Six I watched Zero’s How to Ledgetrap in Smash Ultimate video. Then I practiced ledge recoveries and ledgetraps in Practice mode. Then I went into Online Quickplay. I did pretty well, in terms of Best of 3 I would have gone 2-2. Though, I didn’t count one 0-2 loss where it was just not tournament levels and I ended up self-destructing to complete it. I feel like I’m constantly improving, but still seeing holes in Ness’s game. I played against almost all Zero Suit Samus and sword characters this night. I was able to get some wins in, but Ness really struggles with ZS Samus’s speed and has hard time ledge guarding or recovering against swordies. Ness usually wants to below characters as well, since he’s so floaty, but against Zero Suit Samus she can attack from above or below. I’m also not getting every input I put in right, I think I may need to go back to some basic drills. And I’m still losing some stocks by just poor PKThunders or not timing my jumps correctly. Though some of it was just good edgeplay by the sword characters.
On Night Seven I watched Zero’s How to Parry in Smash Ultimate video. Then I practiced parrying for a bit and then went to Online Quickplay. Didn’t do to great this night, would have gone 1-2 in the tournament. Also, ran into one opponent where the third and deciding match was real laggy, so I just had to self destruct and then re-match for a fourth. The lag was better, but I still lost.
I feel like I’m improving every night but I still have a ways to go. I’m still missing inputs. I feel like I’m missing more inputs with my Smash Bros. GameCube controller, maybe after the tournament, I’ll go back to the PDP Fight Pad Pro. I’m also not hitting all of my PKThunder recoveries. I really need to grind that out more. I’m also running into more and more people who are meteor smashing me or putting me in tumbling states where I just can’t recover. Ness will probably always be my main in Ultimate, but after the tournament, I think I’m going to play more Marth/Lucina and Pikachu.
And some thoughts on Elite Smash and online in general. Nintendo refuses to elucidate the Elite Smash requirements, but the best guesses are anywhere from the top 1.5% to 3% or top 10% of online players. I’m never going to be in top 3% of Smash players for any character, and even if it’s top ten percent, that’s fairly unlikely as well. So, reaching Elite Smash doesn’t seem like a realistic goal for me. It would be nice if there was a tier system or something other than GSP so I could tangibly see my improvement. I am improving at Ness, but my GSP is staying pretty consistently below 100K because I’m playing against others of my skill levels. Who are also improving and not gaining GSP.
Online has more options than before, especially if you include Arenas. But it would be nice if there was another basic Online option where you only play tournament legal stages with items off. Because even if you have your Preferences set to Items Off and Stages set to only Battlefield or Final Destination forms, you’re still placed in matches that don’t match those rulesets. And sometimes that causes some really weird setups like Final Destination forms with Items on, or Items Off on a level with tons of Stage Hazards. Not sure who enjoys these settings?
So often when I stuck in a laggy match or put on a non-legal stage, I just self-destruct. Otherwise, I’m just wasting seven minutes I could be prepping for the tournament. And then my GSP goes down.
There’s a lot Nintendo could to do by updating Ultimate Online to appease the Smash fighting game community. But they’re not going to do that since they don’t support it.
In 64 I continued pretty much the same way. On Night One I started with drilling Z-Cancels, Shield-dropping, and Pivoting. Then I duked it out with Link. Barely able to beat Level 6 and 7, and mostly because I was gimping the recovery. Level 8 destroyed me. I know Link is very low-tier but he can generate a ton pressure. The CPU was throwing out boomerangs and bombs all the time, my Pikachu was constantly getting hit by the boomerang coming back. And then Link was outreaching me with his sword before I could land attacks. Maybe it’s just against Pikachu, but Link seems like he can be good if a really good player is controlling him.
On Night Two I drilled short-hopping, fast-falling, pivoting, Z-Cancelling, and ledge guarding. Then I went back against Level 8 Link and was able to beat him on the second try. Using a lot of shieldingand throwing him off the ledge as much as possible. Also, got few combos in, but I need to work for on that. Bumped it up to Level 9, was able to get it tothe last stock, but couldn’t’ close out.
On Night three I had very little time, so I jumped straight into a match against a Level 9 Link. Not ideal, I got bodied, barely got any hits in before I lost. I started this when I should have been in bed.
On Night Four had to skip practice for Super Smash Bros. as well.
On Night Six I faced off against Level 9 Link again and finally beat him.
On Night Six I finished watching Nate L’s videos and created a drill list. Then I ran the drills and then beat Samus Level 6,7, 8, and 9. Without dropping a game!
On Night Seven I didn’t have time to warm up. I went straight into fighting Ness. Beat Level 6 and Level 7, but lost to Level 8.
Next week, I’m going to try to finalize my drills in both 64 and Ultimate. And I’m going to start my practices earlier at night before I’m so tired. I’m also going to try to figure out some bread and butter combos for Ness in Ultimate and Pikachu in 64. I mean I know of them, I just can’t perform any.
I still have a lot to learn in both Super Smash Bros. and Ultimate. To be honest, I don’t feel ready for the tournament and I’m now wishing I had picked one game to laser focus on. I’m pretty much resigned to going 0-2 in both games now. The goal now is to be good enough not to embarrass myself too much.
I’m not going to update next week or the week after. I’m going to be drilling a lot for Smash Con and then on vacation. This series will return to recap my Smash Con experience and then hopefully I’ll finish the Smash game marathon and release my final Smash Bros. game rankings. And maybe an update on the Smash Controller rankings.