Tag Archives: Nintendo

Closet Training

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Now that I’ve been back from teaching at summer camp, I’ve thrown myself back into my local competitive Smash scene at EXP Gaming (link to their Facebook page at the bottom of this post). They hold a weekly tournament for Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Project M called “Wavedash Wednesdays”, and while I haven’t been there in months, I’ve been able to keep up with Chicagoland’s better players by playing CPU’s every day. But what, some players might ask, do I practice?

Execution, or as I call it: “Closet Training”!

I’ll admit it – my neutral game isn’t always on-point because I don’t play with people a lot. Sometimes I revert to bad habits and spacing in neutral, but I make up for it in combo and edge guard execution, meaning my punishes are hard and I generally convert a hit confirm into really big damage or a KO. Playing CPU’s is notoriously bad for neutral and habit-forming because you become accustomed to fighting an opponent that generally reacts the same way to different stimulus. You can even manipulate a CPU with movement to KO itself.

What you can do with a CPU is practice DI follow-ups on combos, bad recovery edge-guarding, and tech-chasing.

A CPU Marth and a human-controlled Marth both only have 3 options out of a tech: tech in place, tech roll right, or tech roll left. This ends up being really useful. You can practice reacting to different rolls and techs in place on the whole cast as CPU’s, and when it actually happens in a tournament, you’ll be ready for any of the 3 options available to that human-controlled Marth player.

A CPU will DI horribly , but sometimes they’ll DI incredibly well and do techs you wouldn’t dream your opponents could perform. But if they ever do, you’ll know if you can follow up such good DI and if you can, how to follow it up the most effectively depending on the character. You get to try out a ton of different combo scenarios and test your reactions on DI mix-ups because even CPU opponents will change their DI.

You’ll be able to test your reactions on hit confirms when both of you are attacking each other. You can see match-up specific interactions for moves. Can your character’s move beat a certain character’s move at this range? Can you edge guard against a move effectively?

The point I’m trying to make here is that, while you can’t really practice your neutral game solo, you can practice your execution game, which is just as important as neutral. You can practice your edge game so that you don’t suicide during a tournament match because you tried wave landing from ledge to get an invincible tilt or grab in to punish an opponent’s attempt at edge guarding you. You can practice your combo and punish game to make sure you get the most out of every hit you make. High-level Smash involves being able to capitalize on every situation that favors you – you can practice all of those situations solo.

Even if you play with others and work on neutral, I recommend players who really want to start placing high to play for a half hour every day and focus on execution and combo game. You’ll be surprised how much more mileage you get once your punish game is refined. No one wins games in Melee or Project M simply be winning in neutral for 5 minutes. That’s only half the battle, and sometimes makes the difference between a win or a loss in tournament.

Closet Training helped me finally achieve one of my goals in Smash, which was reaching top 5 at a tournament. Think of how much it can help you, too!

Just Sayin’.

Coins in Mario Kart 8

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After 1 month, I’m finally done with summer camp! And while it was an awesome month, I’m glad to be back home, sitting at my computer and typing this blog post up. I was originally going to just do a little update, but I’ve been wanting to write about this since I left for camp: coins in Mario Kart 8.

I’ve enjoyed almost every game in the Mario Kart series since its inception, and Mario Kart 8 is the first one that I don’t really enjoy playing. I’ve only really played it once. There are a number of reasons why I don’t like this game (all gameplay related – the visuals and music are phenomenal, I think the biggest reason is the re-inclusion of coins from Super Mario Kart.

For those of you who don’t know, in Mario Kart 8 you can have up to 10 coins. These coins increase your maximum top speed as well as your boost speed. If you are hit or you fall off the map, you lose 3 coins. This opens up a couple problems right off the bat:

Speedier Karts/Bikes/Characters are better:

I love Toad. He’s one of my favorite Mario characters. However, he’s a light character, so he’s pretty slow. Normally, this is offset by having better acceleration and off road speed. With coins in play, having less coins than a speedier character/kart almost always results in me trailing farther and farther behind. Without coins at least I can try and get some items or do some skillful drifting to catch up, but that’s more difficult when you have 4 coins and they have 7 and are cruising on ahead considerably faster than you.

Rubber Banding (or same place syndrome):

Because of how significant the speed boost is from coins, the rubber banding from items is diminished in its effectiveness. Given two characters of same character and vehicle, one with 10 coins can go about the same speed as one with 0 coins and a Star/Mushroom. That’s absolutely ridiculous, and can sometimes lead to what I call Same Place Syndrome. Let’s say you’re in 2nd place, and you get hit with a red shell and a green shell at 10 coins. You now have 4, and people speed on by you with more coins. If this happens, you may find yourself in 6th/7th/8th place for the rest of the race. This has happened to me and a bunch of people I’ve observed playing a lot, and it’s incredibly frustrating when you feel like the items can’t help propel you forward just because you’ve got less coins.

Conversely, if you’re in first with 10 coins, sometimes you can rocket so far ahead of the pack (assuming they’re not collecting coins like you are) that being hit with two blue shells won’t even come close to putting you in 2nd, especially since one of the items you get commonly in first place are a coin item that gives you two coins.

The first lap becomes a coin collecting contest:

The first lap, I think, is pretty crucial. The players that collect more coins will stay at the top (unless combo’d hard by items), and those that don’t will find themselves struggling until they collect more for the whole race.

It’s disappointing that a game I was really looking forward to has, in my opinion, an awful mechanic for what the series stands for. It looks great, plays great (controls are amazing), and has a memorable soundtrack, but coins really take a lot of fun out of the game for me. I will say that I think coins are an amazing addition to Time Trials, as I think strategic collection of coins leads to increased depth in that area, but otherwise, coins need to go.

Just Sayin’.

My Super Smash Bros Wii U/3DS demo consensus

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E3 has come and gone, the Super Smash Bros. Invitational has passed, and I got to play both the 3DS and Wii U versions of  the new Super Smash Bros. game (which I will be labeling as “Smash 4“). Here’s my take:

NOTE: This game is not in its final stage. It is still in development! Mechanics can (and probably will) change.

What is it like?

It’s like Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Brawl). It felt less floaty and faster, but it definitely retained the Brawl feel. The music and the overall look is great. The move streaks are an awesome touch, and I’m loving some of the new characters. I only got to play as Kirby (my old Brawl main) and Villager, but I had fun playing both!

Also Smash Run is going to be the best mode of all time.

Game Mechanics:

The Good:

– A lot of people were complaining about aerial landing lag, but I didn’t see a lot of it. With both Villager and Kirby, landing on the ground with an aerial felt exactly like it did in Brawl. I was still able to link Kirby’s Back Air -> Forward Tilt, which requires little landing lag on the Back Air. Some characters have a lot of landing lag (See: Marth), but overall the game didn’t look like a total lag fest when landing with aerials. I have no idea why everyone’s complaining when it seems to be only a few characters.

– The hit lag, while more than Brawl, feels really satisfying when you hit. Grabbing someone also feels satisfying.

– Air dodging into the ground produces significant lag. This is great because it used to be an incredibly safe option in Brawl, and now it can be punished. Also they appear to be much shorter, which is great.

– The jab finishers are really cool. I hated all the rapid-jabs, so I’m glad they’re gone.

– Hit Stun can’t be canceled with an air dodge. Combos do exist!

– The new ledge mechanics to prevent sharking are cool. I’m actually on board with the whole “kick-off” mechanic, too.

The Bad: 

– No dash dancing. I think this is something Smash 4 needs so that the primary movement isn’t air-based.

– Throws are really odd. It’s very hard to follow up with them and it doesn’t really put the thrown opponent in a bad spot so it feels like they’re always the less superior choice. A few characters, however (MegaMan and Villager are the two that come to mind) have some follow ups out of throws.

– KO’ing takes a very long time. I saw people live up to 150% from Smash attacks.

– Auto sweet spot ledges with Up B.

And that’s really all I have to say about it. Overall, I’m really hopefully for Smash 4. I was worried I wasn’t going to like it, but after watching the Invitational and playing both versions myself, I can confidently say that I’m very excited for this game!

Just Sayin’

My thoughts on the Super Smash Bros. Invitational

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A few days ago, Nintendo posted a video about the Super Smash Bros. International, a tournament hosted by Nintendo at E3 this year to showcase the next installment of the Super Smash Bros. series. It will feature 16 players that receive an invite from Nintendo, and feature casting by well-known competitive Smash Bros. casters Prog, Scar, and D1. I think this tournament is awesome, and to see them including Prog and D1, my two favorite casters, is really cool. Really, the whole idea that Nintendo is trying to embrace competitive Smash Bros. is a good feeling. Other competitive games are usually supported by their creators; it’s nice to see Smash Bros. is finally getting some of that support.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMQySEjyCUw

I’m not going to dive into the players invited, but there are a lot of big names and I’m mostly happy with Nintendo’s choices. A lot of the players not only help with the community but are long-time players of competitive Smash Bros., with a few new names thrown in there that I don’t know at all.

Now, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of the Invitational: the rules.

Draft:

Basically, there are 20 characters and 16 players. Each player picks a number and then picks a character in the order of the number (starting with 1). The player’s aren’t allowed to switch characters – they must use the same character throughout the duration of the tournament.

Here’s a quick list of the characters (in alphabetical order):

– Bowser
– Donkey Kong
– Fox
– Greninja
– Kirby
– Link
– Little Mac
– Mario
– Marth
– Mega Man
– Pikachu
– Pikmin & Olimar
– Pit
– Rosalina & Luma
– Samus
– Sonic
– Villager
– Wii Fit Trainer
– Zelda
– Zero Suit Samus

So that means that 4 characters will be left out. That’s nice because then the last person still has characters to choose from rather than just being stuck with whichever character isn’t picked. I’m predicting that some characters like Mario, Pikachu, Link, Donkey Kong, Fox, and other old names will be less favored than the new characters. At least, I hope they choose the new characters over the old ones.

Gameplay:

– Single-Elimination
– 4 player Free-For-All (FFA), 4 stocks, 5 minute timer (top 2 advance)
– Winner is determined by score?
– A tie-breaker for second involves most KO’s, and if that’s a tie, then by a fan vote.
– Quaterfinals have Items on Medium
– Semifinals and Finals have Items on Low
– Grand Finals have no items.

And taken directly from Nintendo’s E3 website with the rules:

“Grand Finals is a 4-stock, 8-minute, 1-on-1 match on Battlefield as an homage to the competitive Smash Bros. community.”

How cool is that? That’s a really big deal for me as a competitive Smash Bros. player.

So, the rules aren’t exactly crystal clear on how the winner is determined. Is it the last player standing, or the player with the most KO’s? I don’t know, but I’m going ahead and assuming it’s whomever is last standing. Also I have no idea whether or not the matches before Quarterfinals have items on or off. I’m pretty sure it’s on, all things considered, but we’ll see. The stages used will be shown off at the event, which I’m okay with.

There’s also this “Fan Favorite Bracket”, which is basically fans wanting their favorite players to play again in a separate bracket where the second place winner is determined by a vote. The Fan Favorite Bracket matches are timed FFA’s instead of stock, so the winner is the person with the highest score. Items are always on Medium.

All in all, the rules are looking good. I didn’t expect any kind of hyper-competitive rules, so the FFA matches are fine with me. I’m just happy they’re paying an homage to the competitive Smash Bros. community.

I’m very excited for this tournament. If you want to check it out, it’ll be streamed on Nintendo’s Twitch channel next Tuesday, June 10th, at 4 PM PT. I’ll be tuning in and probably updating my Twitter as I do, and I’ll (hopefully) be going to the Best Buy Smashfest in my area to write a post about my thoughts on it in the next couple of weeks.

Just Sayin’.

Link to Nintendo’s E3 website: http://e3.nintendo.com/

Link to the Super Smash Bros. Invitational Rules: http://e3.nintendo.com/invitational/info.html

REVIEW: Super Mario 3D World

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Apologies for last week; school has just started and so I was a little preoccupied with transitioning into school mode. But, enough of that, it’s time to review Super Mario 3D World!

I won’t bore you with the plot or characters. It’s standard Mario fare, except Peach is a character you play and the victims are a group of fairies. What’s really important is the gameplay.

Gameplay:

If I were to sum up the gameplay of Super Mario 3D World, it’d be “wow”. With this addition each character (Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad) has different properties – Mario is the most balanced, Luigi jumps the highest (but is a little slippery), Peach can float (but is the slowest), and Toad is the fastest (but jumps the lowest). This allows for some pretty interesting gameplay choices within each level, as some characters have a vastly easier time with certain platforming elements depending on the level.

Speaking of levels, the level design is fantastic, and you can see the thought put into the 4-player co-op with each level. While the worlds are pretty standard (Grassy, water, desert, lava, etc…), I loved most of the designs, some of them proving to be quite challenging.

Because each level doesn’t brutally murder you for having 4 players (like New Super Mario. Bros), playing with friends is very fun. The twist to playing with multiple players is that, instead of everyone having their own lives, the players are share them. That means that playing with friends, while more fun, is also much more dangerous. Expect game overs, even if you’re experienced with Mario games. My brother and I probably accumulated 3 or 4 game overs throughout the main portion of the game due to us sharing lives.

Thankfully, unlike in New Super Mario Bros., you cannot bubble in the air. This is great because it means you can’t just haphazardly attempt to make a jump and just bubble to safety. I always hated that feature because it decreased the game’s difficulty while playing multiplayer. I like how punishing it is now, because it forces cooperation. The ONLY problem with bubbling is that you can get out yourself, and sometimes, the bubble will hover above an abyss and you’ll pop out yourself and die again (I can’t tell you how many times this happened to me). Even near land, the bubble would literally hover just off the ledge and so you had to wait until you popped out. I would rather get back to the action as fast as possible, not wait 10 seconds for the bubble to be over land so I don’t die again.

Oh, and let’s not forget the new power up, the Cat Bell, which transforms Mario and co. into a cat that can dive and climb walls. This is, without a doubt, the best power up Mario has ever used. Platforming is a breeze once you master how to use the cat suit. It’s an awesome power up, and the little “meow!” that Mario and co. say after beating a level is absolutely priceless.

Atmosphere:

There’s not a lot to say, unfortunately. Pretty standard Mario fare, although I liked a lot of the level designs and the art. Nothing really captured me, but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it.

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All in all, Super Mario 3D World is a fantastic game, especially for co-op. If you’re a Mario fan that still loves the series or even someone who’s been a little bored with the series, I recommend it. It’s a breath of fresh air to the Mario franchise co-op wise, and that’s something, I think, a lot of Mario fans have been yearning for since New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

Gameplay: 10/10
Atmosphere: 7/10
Final Score: 9/10

Just Sayin’

REVIEW: Mario Party Island Tour

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I apologize for this being late, I was busy Friday and Saturday. Onto the review!

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I haven’t really played any of the recent Mario Party games. Mario Party DS I played a bit, but not too much. The newest installment into the series, Mario Party Island Tour, however, is shaping up to be a Mario Party I will play quite often.

Mario Party Island Tour, like Mario Party 9, completely offs the classic gather stars and circle a game board. Instead, they’re replaced with “race” boards, as I call them, where the first player to reach the finish line wins. However, unlike Mario party 9, where everyone rides that dumb vehicle together, it hearkens back to the classic style of moving, where everyone takes their own turn and uses dice…or cards on certain boards. Because of this style, there are no blue and red spaces that give out coins, instead having item spaces, move back spaces, and other various spaces that switch places with opponents, summon Bowser, etc… It’s actually pretty refreshing, and I find myself not missing the old style because, really, I can play the old ones on the virtual console.

So that’s all great, but what really makes this game awesome are the mini games, which are surprisingly great. I didn’t think the mini-games would be spectacular, but they’ve all been really fun and I haven’t been disappointed by one yet, and I’ve played through almost every board.

That’s really it. The music has some cool throwbacks to old games, and the graphics are pretty good (the Mario Galaxy board is awesome!), but there’s really nothing else to write about.

If you’re looking for a Mario Party experience not quite the classics, but refreshing and new with some awesome mini games, consider picking up Mario Party Island Tour. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Final Score: 7/10

Just Sayin’.