This week was mainly Joker. Tried to sharpen up my main and some fundamentals.
Night One
Off.
Night Two
Started out in Training Mode as always. Working on combos and that was pretty much it. Then continued the warm-up with three Level 9 CPUs. Lost each match, but I blame that partially on distractions.
Went online and didn’t do bad. Tried to play three sets of best 2 out of 3 but it didn’t quite pan out like that with my schedule. But I did win I think about four out of eight matches. It felt nice to be playing Joker again and having a chance to win. One match I 3-0’d the opponent (though they had beat me in the previous match). And there were two more matches I probably should have won, but I wasn’t patient enough.
This week I also tried to pay attention to mixing up my attacks and combo strings. And when I landed with my back to the opponents I tried to remember to throw out a backwards side smash as fast as possible. I didn’t do it everytime, but being aware helped me get some more hits in. Also since last week I was concentrating on where I landed, I think this week I was still avoiding attacks better.
Then I went to the Spirit Board and played through Joker’s Spirit Board. It did get pretty frustrating at times. Pretty much all of the challenges had a main fighter to defeat with additional fighters that would appear and annoy you. I put Spirits on for each match, but to some of the conditions felt so unfair. There was one I was having real trouble with until I just threw Captain Falcon offstage and footstooled him at the very beginning of the match. The last challenge, the Phantom Thieves Spirit, was the hardest. You had to fight six different fighters. A new one would appear at set intervals whether you defeated the previous one or not. I think the best strategy is try to take them out as soon as they appear, but I was having a lot of trouble. I finally beat it just as I was about to call it a night.
Night Three
Night Three I started out by working on some techniques I needed to sharpen up on. There were a still a few beginner fundamentals I needed to sharpen up like wall jumping footstools, offstage teching, and offstage jump teching. I’ve always struggled with wall jumping and footstooling with Joker. This video is a good overview of beginner techniques – Art of Smash Utlimate: Beginner Part 1. Izaw Smash has a number of good videos for learning Smash.
I also worked on what is called an “instant wall jump” but I don’t think that’s an appropriate name. Basically when hanging on a ledge you push back to let go of the ledge and then press jump within 3 frames. You can add aerials attacks as well. It’s a quick way to get back on stage and leaves you less vulnerable than if you just jumped forward. Though I suppose you could get two-framed in that three frame window.
Then after warming up against Level 9 CPUs I went online. A No Items Omega Stage Tournament Event was going on. So, I played five tournament games. I lost each one, including a Joker ditto. Well, that also including one where I just SDed because it was time for dinner.
But I noticed something during all my losses. I wasn’t pursuing my opponents offstage so they were getting free recoveries. I played a Snake and had him up to 149% on last stock and still lost. I just don’t know how to edgeguard Snake. So edgeguarding and offstage play is clearly something I need to work on.
Night Four
Busy.
Night Five
So because of how poorly I did, I reviewed some videos about how to edge guard with Joker. This video in particular I found helpful. So, one of things I practiced was just running offstage with Joker and seeing how many aerials I could do and still return to stage. It wasn’t three like in the video, but I got used to getting two off. I also, practiced some with Joker’s gun. I don’t use it enough as an offstage pressure tool. I pretty much have only been using it as a straight forward shot or a shot down to punish opponents ducking under aerials. But I don’t ever use the up shot or the spin-shot. I’m not sure but I think that will add some more dynamics to my Joker gameplay.
I also worked on some more advanced techniques I need to practice on. Some techniques from Izaw Smash’s Art of Smash: Expert video. I worked on mashing, wave dashing, B Reversing, Out of Shield Options, and Reverse Aerial Rushes. B Reversing I think is very important for playing both Joker and Rosalina since it allows you to cover both sides of the stage. RARs are important for pretty much every character, but the back air is one of Joker’s best kill moves with or without Arsene, so I really need to get that down.
Then I warmed up against Level 9 CPUs and then went Online. It was already past midnight so I couldn’t play too much. But I ended up playing five matches, and for the first time ever, I won every single match! And I did try to re-match, but no one wanted to re-match me. And I beat one person despite the fact that they clearly lag switched after I took their first two stocks.
I think the difference was pursuing off-stage. I was getting a lot of kills or causing SDs much earlier in the match. Though, I was also getting hit, and not stage teching, still something I need to work on.
Some nighst you’re off and some nights you’re on. I was on this night. I don’t think I’ll ever be this on again. I contemplated never playing online again.
Night Six
Night Six I tried out Mewtwo. In Training Mode I continued to practice some of the more advanced techniques I need to work on. I also continued to work on playing offstage. I worked on his combos and kill confirms. It seems like since he’s been buffed a few times and now he has some more combos and confirms than at release.
Than I played three matches against Level 6 CPUs and really had fun. Mewtwo’s moveset allows for what they refer to sometimes as build-a-bear combos – there are multiple options to keep chaining moves together. And his floatiness makes it easy to attack opponents offstage.
Well after that I played Classic Mode and took a bit of a break. Then I went online and played 10 matches of Online Quickplay. This did not go well. I think I only one two or three matches and I played well over 10 because I kept getting dumb rulesets. Getting non Omega or Battefield stages. Getting Final Smashes on. It happened about four matches in a row it got irritating.
Mewtwo is not for me. Even when I got the correct ruleset I did not do well. I had fun playing Mewtwo, but I didn’t win with him, and he has a lot of the same issues that made me drop Ness as a Main.
Mewtwo’s main strength is his aerial mobility – he has great recovery and can cover seemingly the whole stage with it. He can zone okay with his Shadow Ball. And Shadow Ball uncharged can be used for spacing/zoning, but charged can either take stocks or setup confirms. His tilts have good good range. His up smash is a great anti-air attacks. He can pursue opponents offstage and interrupt their recovery. He can two-frame ledgegrabs with down smash. That is very hard to time though.
But he has so many weakness. He’s very light and has a huge hurtbox. He is so easy to combo and has very poor disadvantage state. His overall moveset is slow so he can’t really hard punish opponents. It seems like he has a lot of bad match-ups, just in the few matches I played a few just seemed like they weren’t possible because of the opponent fighter’s strengths. And finally, his kill confirms are cool and satisfying to pull off but you’re almost never going to pull them off in match against a human. They all involve incredibly obvious and slightly slow setups.
Mewtwo is definitely crossed off the list.
Night Seven
Night Seven I tried out adult Link. I’ve always liked Link as a character, seeing as how the Legend of Zelda series has given us some of my favorite games of all time, but he’s always been kind of a trash fighter in Smash. If you’ve been following this blog you may recall that Young Link was my secondary at one point but I dropped him. And I have out Toon Link. I was hoping that this try-out would go better, since I still need a counter-pick for sword characters and the Links aren’t bad choices for that.
So I practiced his moves, combos, and confirms in Training Mode first. I also worked on Z-dropping bombs. Then I warmed up against the CPU. I was feeling it against the CPU.
Then I went online. And I did about normal. I won three out of 10 matches. Not terrible, not great. Doesn’t stand out enough to make me love or hate the character. Doesn’t stand out enough to determine which Link I like better even.
I played Classic Mode and was doing well until the end when I couldn’t beat Ganon without dying like four times. There was just no way to hit him.
I finished the night training my Breath of the Wild Link Amiibo form Level 0 to 50. And wow, he’s powerful. When he reached Level 40 I trained him against my Amiibos that were already at Level 50 and he never lost. He even beat my Bowser and Ness and they were the strongest by far. So if anything, I’ve got an insane Amiibo to train against out of this.
Let’s review Link’s attributes. He has a great zoning game with his boomerangs, arrows, and bombs. He can really ledgetrap and edgeguard well with his projectiles. His weight gives him an okay disadvantage state. He’s got an okay combo game with his tilts and aerials. He can kill early with his Up Smash and Forward Smash. But he’s very slow. He runs barely faster than he walks. He has very few fast moves. His smash attacks don’t have much range, save up smash.
All in all, none of the Links are for me. The quest for the perfect secondary or main replacement continues.
Wrap-Up
Something I’ve noticed when trying out new characters is that I’ve become a bit reliant on Joker’s kit. Joker is so fast, he has such great recovery, and he can take hits with his Down-B it’s given me a few bad habits. I’m always trying to rely on speed, even when the character I’m playing doesn’t have it. I’m too eager to go offstage and try for a kill sometimes when I shouldn’t. And I’m not mashing out of disadvantage as fast I should because Joker can just take the damage to bring Arsene out. Going forward I have to remember to try to play the other fighters as themselves instead of as Joker.
Next week I suppose I’ll continue trying out new characters, but I’m going on vacation at the end of the week so I may skip the blog for a week or two.