Ok, so I took a week off, mostly to play Fire Emblem:Three Houses. That game is so relaxing compared to Smash. It’s also the first time I’ve actually played a Fire Emblem game and I don’t think there’s a Smash character in there! Though I have a feeling Bylteth will be in Smash 6.
I didn’t take a full break from Smash. After dropping Pikachu as a possible main and I did train with Lucina in Training mode and against the CPUs. And I re-watched IzawSmash’s Art of Smash Ultimate: Beginner video again. And in doing so, I realized there are things in the BEGINNER video I still haven’t mastered after nine months.
So this week I decided I needed to start mastering those beginner skills first. Night One I started out practicing dash pivoting until I got 20 in a row without the turnaround animations. I also did my normal practice of doing each move a few times, trying a few combos, etc. Then I went online for some OMnline Quickplay.
This week, following the N64Josh path I tried to think more during my matches. Think about what my opponents were doing to respond. It took me longer to react because of this, but I think I played better even if I didn’t get results. I also told myself be patient, don’t overreach for the kill just because the opponent is over 100% damage, it’s the opponent’s last stock, or it’s your last stock and your opponent hasn’t died once (the more common scenario).
So anyway, went 0-4 Night One. I was only able to rematch one opponent because of the terrible lag. I really wish in your preferences you could set whether you wanted to prioritize opponent skill matching or opponent Internet connection. I hate when the match freezes in the middle of the battle and nothing happens for like 10 seconds. And I’ve lost a couple of close battles (not many), because of significant input lag. And I’m wired through ethernet so this is an opponent internet issue.
No time for Smash Nights Two or Three. On Night Four I practiced Spot-Doding for a bit. Was able to get eight in a row, but not 20. Have to keep practicing. 20 seems to be a consensus amount of “if you can do this technique 20 times in a row you’ve got it”. Then I did normal practice.
Then I headed to Online Quickplay with Lucina. Really tried to think my first two matches and then just react on the second two. The first match I was playing against a Mii Swordfighter who was also being very deliberate and seemed to be thinking through their moves. I lost, but it was pretty close. Then I lost three more matches, including one infuriating one to a Wolf on an Omega stage. The person clearly had optimized there play style for Omega Forms and was trying to play only those. Didn’t get destroyed, but pretty well handled, and that was kind of irritating. Congrats man, you’ve figured out one legal stage! Good luck in a tournament.
It was also irritating to continue to run into laggy matches online. There was one match where the lag interrupted what had been a good match so far. And there was another match were the lag was so bad, I basically gave up. These people who seem to be purposely using a laggy connection to get to Elite Smash are real trash.
But at the end of the night, I noticed that my top GSP was Bowser. Which didn’t seem possible, but I thought I’d play a game or two with him and see if a loss or two would knock him out of the top spot.
Well, the first match was the laggy match I just self-destructed the last stock. But the second match was hilarious. I was up against a pretty decent Fox, who got in a few decent combos on me. But I kept doing Bowser’s two kill Special options – the Bowser Bomb and the Flying Slam. I took the first stock with a pretty well placed and timed Bowser Bomb. I took the second stock with a Flying Slam that I purposely suicided myself off the edge so Fox couldn’t recover. Then I took the final stock when by trying to avoid my Bowser Bomb, the Fox player mistimed his Fire Fox and couldn’t recover to the edge.
It was a pretty hilarious match. My opponent was clearly better than I was. They were dodging the majority of my attacks pretty well. They got in a few good combo chains. They just got caught twice and missed an input. I didn’t feel like my win showed any type of skill really, and I wouldn’t blame my opponent for being salty. But it was the perfect way to end the night.
I played a few games with Bowser later in the week and didn’t get the same hilarious results. And he did lose his top GSP spot. Now it’s Villager, which seems even more odd. I don’t remember ever winning an online or offline game with that character.
On Nights Five and Six I continued to practice spot dodging and testing out Lucina out online. I got to 14 spot dodges in a row, so I’m getting there.
I think going forward I’m going to continue to play Battlefield forms the majority of the time in Online Quickplay. But one night a week I’m going to switch my preferences to Omega Forms and on one other night, I’m going to switch my preferences to just Hazards off. Omega Forms is a good way to really hone fundamentals. Hazards Off runs the risk of bringing in some really annoying levels, but all this Battefield and Final Destination forms are getting monotonous. It’s really only two stages.
On Night Seven, I didn’t play at all, carpal tunnel was really bothering my hands and wrist. I think from a combo of too much work, Smash, and Fire Emblem this week. I’m going to take the next week off of Smash because that GameCube controller isn’t made for long gaming marathons.
Just to go off on a tangent here – I wish there were some more official Nintendo controller options. Especially ones that would be tournament legal. The only consistent options across tournamenst are the GameCube Controller and the Switch Pro controller. I usually use my official Smash GameCube controller with a MayFlash adapter, but like I said, it’s not ideal when I’m playing Smash for a long period of time. And I’m not sure what’s up with the Switch Pro Controller, but my fingers start to fall asleep just minutes after using it. That doesn’t happen with any other controller I’ve ever used. I can’t use it for long sessions – even when it’s a game that doesn’t require quick inputs. Just holding it gets uncomfortable quickly. If only there was a wired ergonomic first-party Nintendo controller. I don’t have similar issues when playing for long periods of time with a Ps4 or XboxOne controller.
Ok, I have to admit, I’ve strayed from the original purpose of this marathon. The original purpose was to play each game in the series to completion and then rate them all. I got sidetracked – first with my Super Smash Con prep and now with choosing a new main and attempting to improve as an Ultimate competitor. So, when I come back to Smash no more side quests, time return to the main main quest. Next, it’s concentrating on finishing World of Light.
Whenever I finally finish World of Light I’m finally going rank all the games. And that may be the end of this series. I may continue with it as I strive to improve as an Ultimate competitior. But probably not. There are no locals closer to me than Smash Con actually was. And no locals that really fit my schedule. I have a job, I have kids, I have other content I try to work on monthly. I can’t really drive a couple of hours away on the weekend or an hour away on a weeknight. And how interesting would the blog be anyway if it was just lists of match results and drill updates?
So, break next week, and then back to the main goal – finish World of Light!