EPTWombo combo! - An Introduction to Competitive Super Smash Bros. Melee
Intro
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Smash Bros. is a game with an almost perplexingly large tournament community. Despite the game's seemingly simplistic mechanics (let's face it, everyone has played it at a friend's house as a party game), the game has taken on a completely different form when played in a tournament setting. Watching tournament matches may be overwhelming, but this guide is here to help you understand the basics to competitive Smash Bros. While many of the techniques discussed translate well to all iterations, we will focus specifically on Smash Bros. Melee for the Nintendo Gamecube.
Game Basics
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You probably already know how Smash Bros is played, but here's a brief refresher for you. Players (up to 4, possibly on teams) fight each other on a set stage with boundaries along all 4 edges. Your goal is to accumulate damage, measured by an increasing percentage number (which is not capped at 100%), by attacking your opponents, and then using more powerful attacks to launch them past one of the stage's boundaries to KO them. The more damage they have accrued, the farther they are sent flying by attacks, and the easier they are to KO.
To attack, every character has a wealth of different moves which can be accessed by two buttons and a direction. The A button is your basic attack button, and every character has: a running attack, a standing attack, four "tilt" attacks, four "smash" attacks (one in each direction), and five "air" attacks (all directions + neutral). Tilt moves are activated by moving the stick gently off center, while smash attacks, often your most powerful launching attacks, are executed by quickly pushing the stick to a direction and pressing A at the same time (you can alternately use the C stick to smash). Each character also has four character-specific special moves by pressing B by itself or with up, down, or left/right.
On defense, your character has lots of options as well. You can block (or shield) by holding L or R, roll by pressing left/right while blocking, or dodge in place, rendering yourself temporarily invincible, by pressing down while blocking. Pressing L or R while in the air will dodge in the air -- you can even steer this in any direction, making it useful for other purposes -- but once you have done this, you will fall to the stage, unable to move and open for attack. Throwing a character is done by holding shield and pressing A; you can then pummel the character with A, and throw the character in any cardinal direction by pressing the analog stick. Throws are extremely useful for starting combos, many of which are unavoidable if set up correctly.
Jumping in Smash Bros is handled considerably differently from any other 2D fighting game, and is a special point of attention and strategy. Every character in the game can jump at least once while they are in mid-air; the vast majority of characters in the game can mid-air jump only once, while a select few have five jumps (Kirby, Jigglypuff) and Peach can hover after her mid-air jump. Once you have "used" your mid-air jump, you cannot use it again until you touch the ground. As such, it is a very important point of strategy to use your mid-air jump sparingly and wisely, as being knocked off the stage "without your jump" is a severe disadvantage and often leads to death. One of the main causes of death of amateur players, in fact, is poor use of the mid-air jump.
Tournament Rules
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While some tournaments have special variations, the standard 1-vs-1 ruleset is typically applied in most cases. Each player is given 4 lives, or "stocks", and the round timer is set to 8 minutes. Only a small subset of the available stages are used in tournament play, to minimize various elements of luck and to remove certain dominating, unfair, or uninteresting/boring strategies which guarantee victory for some characters. Character selection is done double-blind, and the stage is chosen at random from the list of playable stages. If the match is a best of 3 or more, the loser of the previous round is allowed to switch characters if he chooses, while the winner must keep the character from the previous match. The winner is then allowed to choose the stage from the list of available stages. These new selections give the losing player the opportunity to pick a character which he feels may perform better against the winner's character; this strategy is known as "counter-picking" and requires proficiency with a number of characters to be effective.
In all serious tournaments, items are disabled during play. This is a contentious point among amateurs or those not involved in the scene, who feel items require skill to use and would add an element of depth to the game. Most tournament regulars, however, agree that items create problems at high level play for three primary reasons:
- There is no way to turn off certain "container" items, which may spontaneously explode even if all explosive items are off. At random points during the match, such an item might fall directly on top of players engaged in a fight and explode without warning, at best disturbing the fight, or at worst unfairly KOing a player.
- There is an element of luck as to which items spawn, and where. When players are fighting at a distance (or one is recovering from off stage), a powerful item can spawn near to one player which can basically decide the match. Elements of chance and luck are a common occurrence in games, but tournament organizers feel it is within their ability to minimize the luck and maximize the skill as much as possible by removing items.
- Perhaps the biggest problem with items is that they are almost always "the best option". The game becomes focused on obtaining and using an item, rather than focusing on the interplay between the two characters, their spacing on the screen, and their relative damage. Two different situations with two different characters can be occurring, but if certain items spawn, your current problems are often universally solved by using the item. It becomes a "get out of jail free card", regardless of the situation your character is in, and the game degenerates and becomes increasingly one-dimensional as a result.
The Flow of a Match
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Melee is a 2D fighter at heart, and although the mechanics, presentation and style differ vastly from traditional fare, it is still important to have a good understanding of the mental aspects of the game. For example, the match ebbs and flows, and at each time you need to understand which options are available to your specific character, which ranges he is most/least comfortable fighting at, which ranges your opponent desperately wants to get into/avoid, and which areas of the map are most/least advantageous to hold.
In games like Street Fighter, there are certain character archetypes; some specialize in close range combat, while others specialize at ranged combat, and getting them in a different range makes them an ineffective fighter. In Melee, typically everyone is comfortable fighting up close, and although there are some characters who also succeed at ranged combat (Falco, Samus), there are no true ranged characters that lose horribly when they are rushed down. Nonetheless, characters tend to operate best at slightly different ranges, and facing different directions, and most everyone has a big advantage when they are under the opponent (many up-smashes and up-air moves are great KO moves with little chance at opponent retaliation). Understanding how to position your character to always be in his optimal range is what separates great Smash players from good ones. Everyone enjoys watching and practicing sexy combos in training mode, but good fundamentals will win you far more matches in the long run.
The Recovery Game
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Another area where Smash is truly unique is that your position on the stage plays greatly into your strategy. Since most stages have a limited playing surface, there will be times when you are launched from the stage and you must use a combination of your jumps and recovery-centric B special moves to return to the stage. Some characters excel at returning to the stage after being knocked away, while some struggle greatly. Similarly, there are some characters who are superb at preventing you from returning to the stage. The stage of the fight where someone is trying to return to the playing surface can be termed the recovery game or "edge (or ledge) game", because typically the person who has been knocked away is trying to grab the edge of the stage where he has a number of options. Simply returning directly to the stage is more dangerous and difficult, because you must return from above the opponent, who then has the advantage.
Characters have many tricks to effectively return to the stage. In addition to your jumps, every character aside from Jigglypuff and Yoshi can use their up-B move to cover substantial extra distance, and each character can air dodge towards the stage if an extra push is needed. Some characters can grapple onto the side of the stage (Link, Young Link, Samus) where they can gain their jump back, and many characters' side-B or down-B moves also give them extra mobility to cover extra distance, be deceptive with their trajectory, or alter the time at which they will return to the stage. The opponent may wish to jump out into a dangerous area and try to intercept you with an attack which launches you back out again (attacks which send you straight down are termed "spikes"), but this can be a risky strategy, as they may be attacked and put in danger themselves -- especially if they are careless with the use of their mid-air jump.
At all times, the edge of the stage can be grabbed and held by exactly one character. Should the person returning to the stage grab it, he has several different options. By pressing an attack button, he will get up off the stage and do an attack. By pressing jump, he will leap off from the ledge and gain his mid-air jump back. By pressing shield, he will roll onto the stage a few character lengths away. Each of these options has initial invincibility to get you through tight spaces, but if anticipated can be punished.
Perhaps the most widely used option is to press down or away from the stage on your analog stick. This will let go of the edge and your character will begin to fall as normal. However, you regain your mid-air jump, and can execute it immediately to bring yourself above the stage, at which point you may do an instant aerial attack to pressure your opponent, air-dodge and land immediately, or regrab the edge as the situation warrants. After grabbing the ledge, you are invincible to attacks for a brief period.
As mentioned, only one character can hold the edge at any given time. Therefore, an incredibly useful strategy to prevent people from returning to the stage is to grab the edge yourself (called "edge-grabbing" or "edge-hogging") and vastly limit your opponent's options. Ideally, you should make use of your limited invincibility so your opponent cannot attack you off the ledge and then grab it himself, or you can repeatedly drop off the edge, throw out an attack aimed at your returning opponent, then grab the edge again. As your opponent attempts to grab the ledge, you can extend your invincibility window by rolling onto the stage as he gets near it; the game renders the ledge ungrabbable for the duration of your roll (even though your character is no longer holding on to it).
The recovery game is what makes Smash so interesting. A large percentage of the match is played near the edge, as good ledge-guarding characters try to lure opponents near it while trying to prevent being sent flying themselves. The aerial waltzes which take place during the recovery stage of the match, as both players daringly use their mid-air jumps and attacks while fighting for the edge, make for extremely exciting matches, and almost always end in someone being KOed. It's no surprise that the best players in the world have the best ledge-guarding games.
An Overview of Basic and Medium Techniques
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Of course, a fighting game isn't a fighting game without a bevy of execution-heavy techniques. Being a member of both the Smash and the Street Fighter communities for years, I've had the opportunity to play both at a reasonably high level, and many SF players misunderstand the supreme technical difficulty in executing some of Smash's advanced moves with consistency. Despite its seeming simplicity, Smash is an intensely dexterous game, and high-level play is not for the faint of heart, or for those unwilling to put in the practice time.
Character-specific moves or strategies (such as waveshining with Fox, short-hop-blaster with Falco, and so on) will not be covered; this is, after all, only an introduction to competitive Melee. There are many more resources on these topics should you be interested.
Each topic below will be explained in detail, including where it fits in the overall picture of a Smash match. Just like Starcraft, good players make hundreds and hundreds of split-second decisions, and all of the following techniques are involved as possible options.
- Directional Influence (DI): Smash is different from other fighters in that few combos are 100% prescribed after the first initial hit. The player taking damage can steer his trajectory away from the opponent by holding a direction on the analog stick to prevent further damage.
This is particularly important when being forcefully launched towards a stage boundary (the sides or the top in particular). You can DI back towards the stage and prevent yourself from being KOed even when you have very high damage. Of particular interest, both the left analog stick and the C-stick contribute to the DI, but surprisingly, pressing both sticks in the same direction is not the best way to stop your momentum.
Instead, by pressing the analog stick in one direction and the C-stick in a direction 90 degrees away, you can achieve a much better effect. For example, if you are launched out towards the right side of the stage, hold left on the analog stick and down on the C-stick. You will then resist your trajectory in two directions at the same time and greatly slow down your momentum. This turns out to be a much more effective way to prevent KOs than just holding left with both sticks. Use this trick to return to the stage with much more consistency!
- Shield Throw: Because grabbing and throwing is performed while holding the shield button, you can punish an unsafe attack by blocking and then simply pressing A at the right time to grab your opponent while he is recovering or attempting to start up another attack. This will then let you start a combo directly after defending for a quick offensive turnaround. If you are being shield thrown a lot, you can counter it by crossing the opponent over during your attacks. For example, if you are jumping at a grounded opponent and attempting to land a d-air move on them, be sure to land on the other side! If you choose to f-air, hit them in the front, but continue your momentum so you pass through their character.
- Teching/Okizeme: Okizeme is a general fighting game term for your options after you have been knocked on your back. In Smash, being hit with certain attacks while in the air will send your character into a tumbling state. In many cases, you can wiggle out of this tumbling state (or attack out of it) and land on your feet, but there are times when you cannot, or may not want to.
If you land on the stage in this tumbling state, you have two primary options: to tech or not to tech. Teching is performed by pressing the shield button slightly before contacting the stage, and you will immediately pop back up to your feet. Without teching, your character will land on his back and be initially vulnerable to follow-up attacks (during your tech animation, you are invincible). You can also tech-roll by holding a direction on the analog stick while teching, further expanding your evasion options. This roll has the same invincibility properties of normal rolls; they cannot be hit for the duration of the roll, but you are slightly vulnerable at the end before you are able to move again.
Teching is not limited to simply falling towards the stage. In some stages, you may be launched from an attack directly into a ceiling or other stage element, which you can tech to immediately stop your movement and drop back towards the stage. You will also see experts tech certain attacks while they are hanging on the edge!
- Wavedashing: One of the most controversial techniques in all of 2D fighting, people throw this Smash buzzword around even if they don't know what it means.
Remember that you are able to steer your air dodge by pressing a direction while pressing L or R. The game has also programmed a slight sliding effect for characters when they land on the ground with any horizontal velocity. These two facts are the sole contributors to wavedashing. To perform a wavedash, you jump, then air dodge immediately after leaving the ground and steer your character at a downward angle (either down-right or down-left). When performed correctly, your character will appear to never leave the ground, and instead slide horizontally along the ground in the direction you chose during your air dodge.
The benefits of this technique are numerous. Some characters have very little friction (for example, Luigi), and therefore, a strong wavedash is capable of moving them farther and faster than simply running in that direction. Secondly, even though your character is sliding in a direction, your character himself is not in any movement state, and can therefore perform any attack he can do while he is standing still (such as smashing); normally, while running or dashing, you are not able to smash. You can therefore use wavedashing to move forward (or backward) AND smash at the same time. Thirdly, you can move your character in both directions without ever turning around, which can be useful for executing certain air attacks or throws that require you to be facing a certain direction.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, wavedashing allows you to control space in a much more effective manner. Remember that controlling the space your character operates in is one of the most important skills to learn in Melee. If your character is not in his optimal range, wavedashing is the optimal way to reposition your character, because you can move your position without limiting any of your options to block, smash, or jump. It is a great way to move out of the way of an opponent's attack, and be instantly ready for a counterattack without the recovery time of a dash or a jump. It is the quintessential way to instantly grab a ledge without the long delay of a jump; you simply turn around and wavedash backwards off the ledge, and you will fall and instantly grab it. Wavedashing can be overused by players, but it is no doubt essential to high-level play for each of these reasons above. Without it, you are imposing on your character a much more limited set of options for locomotion, counterattacks, and positioning.
Contrary to popular opinion, wavedashing is not a glitch, but rather an unintended abuse of the physics system. Remember that in order to remove wavedashing, you must either remove the character's ability to air dodge in a direction (as Brawl has done), or remove the slide after a character lands with horizontal momentum, which breaks the laws of friction and would make the game feel static and unnatural. The designers built in this functionality, but almost assuredly did not foresee it being used in such a powerful manner. Those who call wavedashing a glitch are uneducated to either high-level Melee play, the definition of "glitch", or both.
Here is a video showing a step-by-step method for wavedashing:
+ Show Spoiler +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVHGl4x-XnY
(Note: I did not create this video nor do I take credit for it.)
(Note: I did not create this video nor do I take credit for it.)
- Dash-dancing: Dashing forward is done by quickly moving the stick either left or right. After executing a dash, the character will be in an initial animation where he can quickly turn around and dash in the opposite direction. The duration of this animation varies by character; characters like Marth are known for their ability to dash-dance long after the input of the first dash. The term represents the fast back-and-forth movement as the character switches directions of his dash repeatedly. It can be useful for a number of things, including spacing, faking someone out, or keeping your opponent off balance. You can end a dash-dance by a throw (particularly useful with characters like Marth), or with a wavedash into smash. Because you can change directions so fast, your opponent is left guessing what you will do, and when you will do it. Coupled with a wavedash, you are able to smash out of a dash-dance for a particularly potent attack.
- Short-hopping: There are actually two heights of jumps in Melee. By pressing and releasing the jump button quickly, you will short-hop and stay close to the ground. This is more practical to mount offense than a full jump, because you are able to attack with air moves quickly after leaving the ground, and land faster than a full jump.
- Fast-falling: After the peak of any jump, you are able to hold down on the analog stick to fall back to the stage at a faster rate than your normal aerial descent.
- L-canceling: Some people argue the L stands for "lag", while others say it stands for the button you press to perform it. Either way, L-canceling is probably the first technique you need to learn as a competitive Melee player. After executing any aerial A attack (not B attacks), landing while the attack is still animating or recovering will cause your character to be in a recovery state where he cannot move or block. By pressing the shield button a split second before you touch the ground, you will significantly reduce the recovery your character endures (that is, you cancel the lag of your air move).
- SHFFL: This Smash acronym stands for short-hop, fast-fall, L-cancel, and refers to the sequence of commands the player inputs to have the most potent aerial attack. You initiate an aerial attack by first short-hopping, giving you the best trajectory to hit your opponent. Then, you execute your air attack of choice. After the peak of your jump, you fast-fall to return to the ground as quickly as possible. And lastly, because your air attack will still be animating, you must L-cancel it to regain control of your character immediately. By SHFFLing attacks, you can throw out high-priority, fast air moves with high combo potential in rapid succession and with incredible precision. The dexterity to perform this reliably requires much practice, but it is work that must be put in. In high-level play, every single aerial attack thrown out is SHFFLed, unless there is express reason not to.
- Chain-throwing: Because of certain characters' throw trajectories and opposing characters' weights, it is often possible to throw someone at a low percentage and have them fall directly in front of you, capable of being grabbed out of mid-air and thrown once more. The process of grabbing and throwing your opponent repeatedly is called chain-throwing. This does not continue to work as your opponent accrues damage, because eventually he will be thrown too far, will recover, and escape the trap. Your opponent can also use DI to adjust how he falls, with the hope that you will miss grabbing him. With some matchups, though (for example, Sheik vs. Pikachu, or Marth vs. Fox), one throw at low percentage sets up a chain throw situation which is nigh unescapable for several iterations, and builds up damage for easier KOs later. This technique is used with impunity in tournament matches. Know the matchups for the character you want to learn, and understand the percentages when chain throwing works for and against you.
- Crouch-canceling: This technique is sort of a "ground-based DI", if you will. By crouching (holding down) while on the ground, your character becomes less resistant to being launched. If you predict you will be hit with a launching move and have no way to avoid it, holding down will "crouch-cancel" the move. Depending on the percentage you are at, and the attack used to launch you, you may travel a significantly shorter distance, or may not move at all! In fact, this technique can be used to "absorb" certain enemy attacks at certain percentages, and then counterattack with your own while your opponent is recovering. Beware, though, as some attacks become even more potent if they are crouch-canceled; Peach's d-smash will hit even more times and launch you at a more dangerous trajectory, so holding down against Peach is a bad idea!
- Using the C-stick: It is not required to use the C-stick at all to play a Melee match, but adapting your control style to incorporate it could make you a much more effective player. The C-stick will smash when you are on the ground, or do an air attack when airborne. The benefits of using the C-stick are several. For smash attacks, the C-stick is guaranteed to execute the attack as fast as possible, and it is easy to smash in the opposite direction to which you are facing (something more difficult to do with the analog stick). Smashing out of a wavedash almost requires the C-stick, since your hand is holding down-forward on the analog stick to perform the wavedash and is not in a position to effectively smash. For aerial attacks, you are able to control your character's aerial trajectory separately from the air attack you plan to execute; otherwise, to execute a forward-air attack, you will be holding forward and moving your character in that direction. By using the C-stick, you can, for example, jump forward and execute a back-air attack. This is very important for some characters, whose back-air move is one of their best zoning or KO moves.
- Double-jump canceling: Some characters have somewhat floaty mid-air jumps (Ness, Mewtwo, Peach and Yoshi), and if an aerial attack is executed during the "floaty part" of their jump, it will eliminate all vertical momentum of their jump and force them to fall towards the ground. This property can be used to execute air moves hovering just inches above the ground; by pressing jump twice very close together, and then executing an air move (preferably followed with an L-cancel), you will jump once, then use your mid-air floaty jump immediately after, then cancel the floaty part with the air move. When done properly, you will barely leave the ground before executing your aerial move, and then immediately land again. It must be used carefully, however, because if you are hit during your move, you will be launched without the use of your mid-air jump (with Yoshi, who has no up-B recovery, this can be particularly dangerous). Because some "floaty" characters have some air moves with good launching potential, learning to DJC is an important part of these characters' game (it can be considered an improvement to SHFFL in some cases, since you are even closer to the ground).
Here is a tutorial video that demonstrates several of the techniques that have been covered in this guide. It is intended to be a visual aid for the explanations, as the video contains no explanations of its own. It does not cover everything in this guide, and it also covers some character specific tricks that I do not include.
+ Show Spoiler +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fLbJTnV3IE
(Note: I did not create this video nor do I take credit for it.)
(Note: I did not create this video nor do I take credit for it.)
Current Tier List
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Tiers are a controversial topic; they try to put a ranking on the best and worst characters in the game, but many people treat them inappropriately. The point of a tier list is to evaluate the current entire pool of knowledge as it relates to the characters; in a way, it pretends that someone could play each character perfectly and pits them all against each other. Tiers change, as new knowledge is discovered. Low tier characters can still win, though they have to "work harder" to do so, such as making fewer mistakes in a match or requiring your opponent to make more mistakes. If the skill gap between two players is large, tiers become effectively immaterial, as skill is always the most contributing factor in deciding the winner of a match.
The current tier list, as of October 2008, is below:
Top Tier:
1. Fox
2. Marth
3. Sheik
4. Falco
High Tier:
5. Peach
6-7. Captain Falcon
6-7. Jigglypuff
8. Ice Climbers
Middle Tier:
9. Samus
10. Dr. Mario
11. Ganondorf
12. Luigi
13. Donkey Kong
14. Mario
Low Tier:
15. Link
16. Pikachu
17. Young Link
18. Roy
19. Zelda
20. Mr. Game & Watch
Bottom Tier:
21. Ness
22. Yoshi
23. Bowser
24. Mewtwo
25. Kirby
26. Pichu
Here are some extremely oversimplified explanations for why the top four characters are as high as they are.
Fox: One of the fastest characters in the game. Very good horizontal KO potential (f-smash, d-smash, b-air) and upwards KO potential (up-air, up-smash). Above average recovery. Incredibly devastating edge game, with the use of the "shine" (down-B), which sends players irrecoverably away from the stage even at low percentages. Combined with his speed, he is able to shine-spike players and recover with ease.
Marth: Excellent wavedash which helps him position. The best forward-smash in the game, which hits extremely hard, has insane range, and cannot be counter-hit. The best dash-dance which, when combined with wavedash, sets up guessing games strongly in his favor. Forward-air move has insane juggle and combo potential and sets up devastating forward-smash or d-air. Can chain-throw some characters (including Fox and Falco) that show up in tournaments often. Below average recovery makes it difficult to avoid good edge-guarders, especially shine-spiking.
Sheik: Fast, fast, fast. Can chain-throw virtually the entire cast. Has the best run move in the game that cannot be block thrown when used properly and sets up KOs. Best forward-air move in the game, which sends players at a downward-horizontal angle with heavy stun; KOs very effectively at all percentages. Can use needles (B special move) to edge-guard without ever putting herself in danger, in addition to a strong edge-guard game (excellent b-air).
Falco: Slower than Fox and with a worse recovery. Can fire his laser (B) in a particular way to virtually pin players in place while he slowly approaches them for a combo. His shine (down-B) operates differently from Fox: his pops the opponent right above his head, where he can jump up and combo. Some combos send the opponent straight back down again, where Falco can land and pop them back up (a technique called "pillaring"). Down-air sends players directly down without any chance of recovery at very low percentages; combined with shine, laser, and d-smash he is a KO force anywhere near the ledge.
Conclusion
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Learning to play Smash at a tournament level is a pretty time-consuming and demanding process, especially if you are just starting now, but the game is very fun and the rewards for practicing techniques and strategy are well worth the investment. The game is fast, the techniques are plentiful, the matchups are entertaining and diverse, the knowledge base is extremely vast, and the characters are likable. All that's left is to dive in!
I hope you enjoyed reading this guide, and found it informative, helpful, or both! If you have any questions, please PM me, or preferably post them in this thread since others probably have a similar question. I'll answer them as soon as I can. Happy Smashing!
A huge shoutout to my brother for helping me compose this guide!
. If you can get a group of guys who love the game and are willing to put that stuff aside, I find that's when some of the most fun matches happen. 
