Help A Crusade Dev Not Suck at Sm4sh

Hello all, I would like some tips on playing Sm4sh. I've decided that instead of complaining about the meta, I would like to participate in it. The only problem is this: I suck.

So any tips for playing Sm4sh successfully? If anybody wants to set up some online matches to give me some tips, that would be great.

What's the main problems you're facing during gameplay?

- Go through the cast and see who you feel comfortable with. Don't worry about going for a 'top tier' pick like Sheik, as it won't matter if you can't use the character to begin with.

- Look up some basic combos and tactics with those characters you picked to 'main'. Basic bread and butter stuff (down throw combos, stuff like up tilt > up smash with Yoshi), your ideal kill moves (like Ness up aerial and back throw), safe attacks (low lag stuff you can hit a shield without worrying about a counter attack). Practice this stuff in training.

- Remember to use all your defensive options! Shielding in general is really useful, as it can only be beat by grabs (which you can bait with spot dodges). Know when to attack in midair or just air dodge. Don't roll too much on the ground, sometimes running gives you more options.

- A lot of mid-match play comes down to prediction. Try to understand your opponent's mindset and get an idea of when he's going to use certain moves. This can also come from the first step, if you know how each character plays. If you're playing against Falcon, you can expect more airborne attacks that are difficult to counter, so you might want to adapt your playstyle to air dodge rather than attack him while trying to get back to the stage. This is also player specific, though - does your opponent run at you and dash attack a lot (Little Mac)? If so, maybe you should shield as they run at you and punish the attack. Of course, a good opponent will read this after a few times and grab instead - this is where the mindgames come in, and it gets more complicated.

- Recovery. An important point to make is that, for most characters, don't use your double jump until you have to. Up special generally isn't enough, and your double jump is an important mobility tool to avoid attacks on the way back. That brings up another point: Edgeguarding. Depending on your character, you might have some really good off-stage game to prevent someone from recovering. It is almost always a good idea to contend the recovery, whether with projectiles or jumping off with an attack.

- There's a couple other 'important' things to know specific to each character, like out of shield options (best moves to use out of shield, a lot of times this is nair or a tilt, but ZSS can ^B for a kill) and ledge options (there are 4 ways to get up: Normal get up, attack, jump, or roll. A lot of moves can cover multiple options making it difficult to get back. Some characters like to drop down and use their double jump to do an aerial attack too [Villager in particular]). These aren't so important right away, but can make the difference in a match at higher skill levels.


Dunno how useful this is, kind of just typing up some stuff... I need to learn to utilt more myself since it adds yet another potentially safe move, and I need to be less predictable.

Save your matches for review and ask some simple questions when certain things occur (or once you get used to it, during the match even).

1. What is your opponent doing that you feel you could be punishing?

2. If you get hit, ask yourself why that happened. If it is often for the same reason, consider removing this from your list of options.

3. Is your opponent doing something often? Consider what you can do to punish it.

Okay so my favorite two character right now are Pikachu and Captain Falcon.

For Pikachu my biggest problem is getting the kill. It seems like I do really well until high percents when i drop the ball. I've learned that Pikachu's dash attack can kill, but I have trouble landing a dash attack without it being an obvious read, and it seems like everybody is fully aware of Pika's dash attack's kill potential. The other good kill option I see is the upsmash, which I need to learn how to set up. Maybe bait the enemy to attempt a grab?

For captain falcon I've learned some neat things, like dthrow>shorthop>nair,nair>forward jump>nair. I think I just need to slow down as Captain Falcon and focus on punishing rather than running in, which is very tempting considering his speed. I need to make my grabs less telegraphed and get better at canceling his aerials.

When playing around with Pikachu, I noticed his neutral aerial is a lot stronger than you'd think. It's fairly safe and really good for gimping off the stage with. Otherwise, you'll need to rely on up smashes and Thunder... Don't worry so much about getting the kill rather than just getting your opponent off stage, then work on stopping the recovery.

Falcon can alternate between being aggressive and punishing. This is where reading your opponent comes in, so you know when to attack. He's got the speed to do it, too.

Thanks for the help guys.

Here's a video of my Pikachu:

This one was a win, I can upload a loss later too if that would help.

The thing I noticed immediately is that you roll a lot. You should only roll when you really need to.

If you want to connect thunder from a grab, use up-throw. You'll need a really fast double jump to connect at KO percents, but it's possible.

Lastly don't be afraid to go off stage for KOs. An offstage opponent is a at a disadvantage.

Souji Seta wrote:

The thing I noticed immediately is that you roll a lot. You should only roll when you really need to.

If you want to connect thunder from a grab, use up-throw. You'll need a really fast double jump to connect at KO percents, but it's possible.

Lastly don't be afraid to go off stage for KOs. An offstage opponent is a at a disadvantage.

I used to roll alot to but that can leave you open for grabs sidestepping is more useful for escaping grabs.

thebuddyadrian wrote:

Souji Seta wrote:

The thing I noticed immediately is that you roll a lot. You should only roll when you really need to.

If you want to connect thunder from a grab, use up-throw. You'll need a really fast double jump to connect at KO percents, but it's possible.

Lastly don't be afraid to go off stage for KOs. An offstage opponent is a at a disadvantage.

I used to roll alot to but that can leave you open for grabs sidestepping is more useful for escaping grabs.

Sidestepping can also leave you open for grabs.

Souji Seta wrote:

The thing I noticed immediately is that you roll a lot. You should only roll when you really need to.

If you want to connect thunder from a grab, use up-throw. You'll need a really fast double jump to connect at KO percents, but it's possible.

Lastly don't be afraid to go off stage for KOs. An offstage opponent is a at a disadvantage.

Thanks for the advice!

Yeah if you think I roll a lot now, you should've seen me a week ago >.> I'm working on getting out of the habit.

I need to work on my off-stage game as Pikachu, my off-stage is much stronger as Falcon. Also I'm trying to balance taking it off stage with stage control, which I used to not consciously think about so that adds another layer to my hesitance.

Well something to also consider is in that video you usually kept rolling towards the edges, never a good thing, to stay a bit safer control the center and that way your opponent is forced to the edges, which is a lot easier to launch fighters at

When you go off stage, a nair is usually a good option.

Regarding the video, in addition to what has already been said, you got a bit too predictable with dash attacks, and skull bash is usually not a good idea to use grounded.

Yeah, I should work on the dash attacks.

And yeah, I know the skull bash is a risky move. I used it in the video to punish a roll, but there would be better options for that.

Souji Seta wrote:

thebuddyadrian wrote:

Souji Seta wrote:

The thing I noticed immediately is that you roll a lot. You should only roll when you really need to.

If you want to connect thunder from a grab, use up-throw. You'll need a really fast double jump to connect at KO percents, but it's possible.

Lastly don't be afraid to go off stage for KOs. An offstage opponent is a at a disadvantage.

I used to roll alot to but that can leave you open for grabs sidestepping is more useful for escaping grabs.

Sidestepping can also leave you open for grabs.

oh sorry