Smash update

Well its been a little while since my last update.
Lately I've been investing more time in finding a job than playing smash, but I still manage to get at least an hour in a day. My tech skill has improved a quite a bit, to the point where I can wavedash 95% of the time and SHFFL reliably. I've had a hard time deciding on a main still. I've got it narrowed down to four, friends tend to tell me my Peach is best though.


My second best character, and the one I have practiced the most is probably Dr. Mario, pillrushing is very enjoyable.


Behind those two my skill level drops off a bit, I really enjoy playing Ice Climbers though. My tech skill on them is pretty good, and I am starting to figure out a few good chain throws and wobbling (infinite damage throw, generally banned).


My Marth is probably my current fourth best character. I need to work on consistently being able to chain throw and FF after all of his attacks, as of now he is too slow and predictable, since most players have a lot of experience vs him.


There will be a smash tourney in about 2 weeks, so hopefully I will create a new update with videos of my play after that.

Sometime between then and now I will try and make an update on Starcraft or the film I have been watching.


Toodles. : P

Smash Prelude

Some of my best gaming memories come from when a friend or two and I back when we were little noobs together would just smash it out in the original Super Smash Brothers and Super Smash Brothers Melee. We lived in ignorant bliss thinking we were pros at a game rolling around the screen, little did we know the game had so much more potential. In around 2006 I started watching youtube videos of Ken and Isai duking it out, at speeds that I thought were unbelieveable. After seeing these videos and attempting to emulate their speed, I truly began to understand just how great of a game SSBM was and how skillbased it was.

Then Brawl came, it did away with all of the tactics that made a person considered good in melee, favoring a more new player friendly approach, and offering less character balance. The new game made a rift in the smash community about half the players went to brawl and half continue to play melee. Because brawl is ridiculously bad, my goals lie in melee. I am giving myself three months to become the best Smash player in the state, this will be a difficult task, but luckily I know the presiding state champion and he lives in close proximity so I will be able to test my skill multiple times.

My skill as of now, while sufficient to beat the average player, is nowhere near that which I would need to be the best player in the state, so I must practice on my technical ability before I can even pretend to focus on mindgames.

A lot of people probably don't understand just how technical of a game SSBM is, most characters require at high levels of play, players to constantly SHFFL and wavedash around the screen.

In an effort to help others learn how to play proficiently, it is important to learn each of the techniques in the follwing videos. Many of these techniques require a great deal of practice, and most of them I can only do around 80% of the time, while a good player should accomplish them around 99% of the time.

Advance How to Play Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n4s5yB7ZkE
Advanced How to Play Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiZLs2doK8E&feature=related
Advanced How to Play Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFmGIOcWdsM&feature=related
All videos made by Wak017.

After playing around four hours a day for the past three or so days my thumbs are pretty blistered, and I see that my play clearly needs some work. I am consistently losing to my friend a Falco/Sheik player that is around the 10th best in the state.

I am also having a hard time deciding which character to main, I am proficient with Doc, Marth, Peach and decent with Fox, Link, and Ice Climbers. So hopefully soon I will decide.

Getting started.

About Me:

I am a 19 year old Biology major at the University of Iowa, named Brian. Many of friends call me Juice. I have decided to create this blog in the hopes to help my friends and fellow bloggers learn how to play Starcraft and Super Smash Bros Melee effectively and to their fullest potential. I will also be documenting my progression as a gamer in each scene. I will try to teach certain tactics and jargon for each game, and give links to resources that will provide valuable learning opportunities for each game.

Because not everyone is a gamer, I would also like to take some time to look at film and make suggestions for what I think people should watch. Over the last semester film truly became the latest passion of mine, and hopefully I will even find time to work on creating a movie script of my own.