Tag Archives: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Fundamentals

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Before I get into the meat of this post, I just want to do a quick little update. I hopped on the Yo craze a few weeks ago (if you don’t know what Yo is, go look it up!) and just saw made an account for this blog. No longer will you have to wait via email or social media updates to know when the next post is out – if you have Yo and add this name to your list of Yo contacts, a Yo will be sent out (with the url to the blog) from the account! The name is JUSTSAYINBLOG!

Okay, time to get to the real post!

Time to turn on the heels of my last post about execution. I want to talk about something that I see a lot of new players in any competitive game I’ve watched struggle with. Because Super Smash Bros. is the primary game series I compete in, I’m going to use that as an example.

Imagine that you’re a new player for Super Smash Bros. Melee. You’ve been watching the pros for a while, and dream of doing all the crazy technical stuff that they can do. You start to practice wave dashing, dash dancing, L-canceling, ledge hops, jump cancels, ledge cancels. You go to a tournament, ready to show off your skills, and some guy who doesn’t do any of that tech stomps you.

What happened? You’ve become proficient in all the technical skills required of the game, and this guy didn’t even L-cancel his aerials! I’ll tell you what happened – that guy who doesn’t L-cancel has a greater understanding of the fundamentals of Super Smash Bros..

I think a big problem with getting into some competitive games is that there’s so much tech to learn that you become overwhelmed and focus on learning the tech instead of learning the fundamentals of that game. Instead of learning how to properly space aerials, zone, and maintain an advantageous stage position, new players are doing tech that even I can’t do, but they have no idea when to use it correctly – they just kinda flash around the stage and get beaten.

Every game is different in their specific physics and tech, but one thing remains constant: the need for good spacing, zoning, and stage position control. Every Super Smash Bros. game requires these skills to be a good player. Once you learn the fundamentals, you can transition between games because you have the option to play smart. You have the ability to take new techniques learned and apply them in a way that helps you instead of hinders you. As a kid, I learned how to wavedash in Melee and lost a lot because I had no idea when to use it. I just thought using it and knowing how to execute it would make me better. Then I came from Brawl to Melee and Project M once I had been playing Brawl competitively for a few years, and while I struggled with execution at first, I immediately realized the effectiveness dash dancing and wavedashing had on maintaining stage control and zoning and simply thought about when the application of those techniques would achieve those goals best.

Fundamentals are the most important thing to learn when approaching any activity, whether it be writing, competitive gaming, sports, programming…you name it! Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals, all the techniques you’ve been practicing will fall into place.

And you’ll find yourself succeeding.

Just Sayin’.

OPINION: Smash – the Items, the Stages, the Random

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Recently, thanks to the good graces of Smashboards on Facebook, I came upon a Super Smash Bros. for WiiU stage discussion thread. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, in competitive Smash certain stages are banned from competitive play, making stage lists an element when it comes to tournaments.

Generally, legal stages are “flat/plat” (flat or flat with platforms only) stages, such as Battlefield or Final Destination, and this causes a rift between more liberal and conservative (in terms of stages and even items) competitive players. The thread I was reading was basically an amalgamation of these two kinds of players arguing with each other about what stages should be legal (and some even saying items should be included).

I thought I’d chime in with my own opinion.

I don’t like stages with hazards (and when I mean hazards, I mean the F-Zero racers in Mute City/Port Town Aero Dive, the lava on Brinstar, the cannon and bombs on Halberd, the bullet bill on Peach’s Castle (in Super Smash Bros. Melee) and random stage changes (Pictochat, Brinstar Depths, WarioWare, to name a few). To me, I think these introduce a certain amount of randomness that not even the best players can avoid at times, and it leads to unfair advantages at no cost to the player given the advantage.

Some people will argue that these new elements introduce a new layer of depth to the competitive game. A player should not only know his character and match-ups, but also the hazards and timers for each stage (while random, many stages have a “timer” that tells the stage when to spawn a hazard or change the stage). The same case can be made for items.

The other argument for a more liberal stage list and items are that “there’s an equal chance that it will happen to everybody”.

I could have agreed with these two statements…but I also play Pokemon competitively.

Pokemon is a game that, no matter what, randomness is an inherent part of the game. In Smash, you have the option of turning off items and stages. You do not have that option in Pokemon. In Pokemon, there is no choice to learn risk management and randomizer mitigation – you have to to be a successful player. The best players in Pokemon are consistent because of this. Yet, yet, there is always that time that something goes horribly wrong. “Hax” is a term thrown around in Pokemon, namely because of the randomness in the game. While consistent, some of the best players will lose games because of an unlucky critical hit, freeze, extra turn of sleep, full paralysis, miss, flinch, or confusion hit. All of these (except for critical hit) result in a wasted turn.

Despite all the training one can do, when it comes down to it that one critical hit or full paralysis can be completely game-changing, yet it stays at 25% chance for paralysis no matter what. There’s always a 10% chance Ice Beam will freeze, but sometimes it freezes two turns in a row, sometimes it never freezes. Sometimes a pokemon will hit itself 4 times in a row in confusion. It’s an equal 50% chance for every pokemon that is confused, but it’s still random. Sometimes, despite all efforts to mitigate risk and “hax”, it still happens, and you end up losing because of it, despite being the better player.

This is something that competitive Pokemon players have come to terms with, but in a game where you have the ability to test who is better with raw skill only by turning off random elements, I don’t see why you wouldn’t. Pokemon, while popular, can be scoffed at because of its inherent randomness. No one wants to lose a game they should have won because their opponent got the critical hit they needed to win the game (in fact, I lost a game of Pokemon I played this morning because of a critical hit). You’re playing the odds sometimes, and that takes no thought – all you’re thinking at that point is, “If I get a critical hit this turn, I’ll win.” Notice the ‘if’, there. You have no control over whether or not you get a critical hit the next turn. There’s no depth there. There’s a ton of depth in trying to mitigate odds and maximizing your risk/reward safely (which Pokemon has and is what makes it satisfying to play for me), but you can’t ‘mitigate’ odds in Smash. There’s no move that prevents the lava from rising or to make Pictochat have the spikes come and not the trampolines. All you can do is hope that that capsule you just grabbed is an explosive. Hopefully that Pokeball you just got isn’t Goldeen.

There’s something to be said about how Pokemon can deal with risk, despite the inherent randomness involved in playing it competitively. You can make plays to protect yourself from “hax”. There are moves in the game that stop status effects (Safeguard and Taunt, namely). You can’t do that in Smash, but what you can do in Smash is turn off items and stages that have random effects. Turning off items and hazardous stages is the Safegaurd in competitive Smash. It doesn’t matter that there’s an equal chance you’ll both get an item or hit by the stage hazards. There’s a 20% chance for every pokemon that’s frozen to thaw out but some thaw out the next turn, some never thaw out the rest of the match, and some thaw out the turn they’re frozen.

There’s clearly no skill involved in a pokemon being frozen. There’s no depth there. So, I ask you, where’s the depth in that % chance that your capsule’s an explosive one or that once the timer activates, Pictochat spawns the man’s head that blows wind instead of the piranha plant?

I love items in Smash. I love crazy stages that screw people over. I enjoy playing on them them. I do NOT enjoy playing on them when I want to prove that I’m better than someone else. I want to know that I won because I made the better plays; not because a bomb dropped on you while attacking my shield, and not because the Pictochat spikes appeared right as you were jumping to avoid an attack I made.

Just Sayin’.

Smash 4 thoughts

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So, last week was E3, and with it came a lot of really awesome stuff (my favorite of which was probably Sony sniping Microsoft about everything people were complaining about the Xbox One), including a trailer and a Nintendo Direct with Sakurai about the next installment of the Super Smash Bros. series. As a long-time fan and past competitor in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, I was excited. My thoughts:

– Villager is INSANELY hype. This was, by far, my favorite addition to the game. This man alone has spawned a ton of hype around the Internet at large depicting him as some sort of demonic figure, which I think is hilarious. I will definitely be using him as my main character or a secondary after Kirby.


– MegaMan was also a big surprise, and I think it’s cool they secured him He looks really cool, and I think he’ll be shaking up the metagame competitively. Of course, he won’t be able to do anything against Villager.


– In what is probably the most ridiculous thing Sakurai has done (in a good way), the trainer from Wii Fit is now a character. While a lot of people have been complaining, I LOVE that Sakurai decided to put in such a well-known but obscure character. She looks really fun.


Before I head into the more mechanical side of the game, let me say what I want to be in this game. I like every Smash game. Brawl is my favorite, but it has some very noticeable flaws (as does Melee). This game, I’m hoping, will aim to correct some of those mistakes.


The three big things I want out of this game:


     – Brawl ledges with Melee ledge-grab mechanics.


Let me explain. In Brawl, there’s something know as “auto sweet spot”, which means a character doesn’t need to be perfect about recovery, and will instantly snap to the ledge and grab it. In Melee, this isn’t the case. You have to sweet spot the ledge yourself. However, in Melee, if you roll off the ledge and are CLEARLY off the ledge, your opponent cannot grab it until your roll animation has ended. That’s dumb. Combining the good parts about both games’ ledge mechanics will make for a better ledge-game.


     – Bring back hitstun


In Brawl, you can cancel your hitstun with an air dodge or move. This makes DI less important and combos nigh-impossible. Basically make it what Melee does, and give the characters real hitstun.


     – No grab armor


I don’t know if this is true in Melee, but in Brawl you can grab through a move so that you take the damage but get the grab. This is ridiculously overpowered and can ruin competitive play when it happens by chance since no one attempts to grab armor moves. Take it out so that grabs aren’t overpowered.


Luckily, I got to see a video of an actual match at the Nintendo show floor at E3, and luckily, it looks like at least one of my three has been met. There’s hitstun.


What I also noticed:


– No auto sweet spot


– Brawl’s air dodge


– No tripping


It’s been confirmed that there’s no tripping, which is good (although it never bothered me to begin with) for those who hated it. I’m very happy they kept Brawl’s air dodge. I think it’s way better than Melee’s. Overall, the game looks faster, too.


The art looks amazing. Even on the 3DS the game looks crisp, but on the Wii U it looks fantastic. The move particle effects are really nice, too, as Smash games have never really had particles come out with their moves. You can definitely see Namco’s influence, there.


The new Smash is really looking good to me. Hopefully my other two big criteria are met. Even if they aren’t, the game’s looking good enough for me to jump back into the competitive scene, so I’m very excited for its release. If you’re a Smash fan, I’d go check out smashbros.com for more info about the characters and some videos. It’s lookin’ hype!!


Just sayin’

Geek ‘Til Dawn 9 Recap

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Last Friday, DePaul‘s game club, DeFrag, hosted an event called Geek ‘Til Dawn (GtD), which is an all-night gaming event. From 8PM to 7AM, students at DePaul (and guests brought by students) can play anything from board games to video games. There’s anime viewing, group games, and even a raffle! It’s a very fun event, and this Spring’s (this was the 9th time they’ve held this event), instead of playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl all night, I went out and did more, and it was a lot of fun!

Here’s a quick recap:

– I hosted an impromptu single-elim Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament and found someone who wants to be part of the competitive scene at DePaul! That’s almost 4 people I’ve found this year who really want to improve, and that’s awesome to me. I won the tournament in style, and found out that you only get a silver trophy for winning Brawl’s in-game tournament. What a ripoff! Even though I won, I was (not so) secretly rooting for the girl playing red Link and the guy whom I chose the Marth color for (he actually faced me in the finals. LOL).

– I found someone who doesn’t think Yuzu from Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor is horrible character (but her ending does suck unless you play OverClocked)! I could write a paper on the cast of that game and I guarantee 2 pages would be dedicated to Yuzu and how she’s not a bad character.

– I finally beat my friend Pat in Snowboard Kids 2, which we’ve been talking about playing to see who’s better for the past year. He won game 1, then I won games 2 and 3. Swag hat coach with Balance Board lvl 3 da bess!

– I played 3 games of League of Legends, landing with friend who went AP Soraka. I went Support Ashe, and we won all three games. 3-0 Support Ashe/AP Soraka!! In the last game three of the five on the opponents team disconnected! LOL It was kinda sad, but at 5AM none of my team cared.

– I played Anime Name that Tune and won 1 point off of Clannad. At least I got a point off my favorite show! LOL.

– And then… AND THEN… the most hype match of Jenga I have EVER SEEN! I can’t even describe it, so here’s a video of the last six minutes of Game 3:

Jenga Game 3

And that was my GtD! Now it’s time to finish my one month left of school and begin Summer Vacation!

Just sayin’

Con 101

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Anime Central (ACen) is in just five (including today) days, and since this is my 6th con, I figured I should share my own personal tools of the trade when it comes to planning for something like a con for all you who will be attending your very first con. So, without further adieu, here’s some things I think you should do to prepare for (and while at) a con!

Before the Con:

SCHEDULE!!!

Make a schedule a week or two before the con.

There are going to be some of you who say, “I’ll just do what I feel like doing.” I did that my fourth year at Youmacon and regretted it. I felt so rushed and never really could decide what I wanted to do. Even if you’re not the type to plan out things, keeping a schedule will REALLY help you. Trust me. You’ll feel much better if you’ve got some idea of what you’ll be doing throughout the day.

If you’re a gamer, this is even more crucial, because if you want to go to a tournament you can’t be late. Con tournaments may be more casual, but they’re strict because they’re usually running on a super-tight schedule, and it’s disappointing when you miss out. You may also want to schedule time to just play, so keep that in mind.

You want to schedule time to go eat, too.

And if there’s a movie or show playing you wouldn’t want to miss that!

And you might want to schedule time to sleep (more on that later).

Don’t try to go to go to everything!

There’s a lot of panels and events that are held at cons: fan panels, quizzes, games, concerts, Q&A with guests. With so much to do, it’s hard to not feel overwhelmed when you want to see everything, so what I find really useful is to make a list and write down everything you want to see. Then, begin crossing off things that you feel you could do without. If you’re going with a group, try to coordinate with them if they’d like to go to the same panels.

My second and third year I went to a LOT of panels and felt exhausted afterwards since I didn’t have a lot of downtime. Right now, I’ve got 7 panels I’d like to go see. That’s it. Just 7.

With that said, let’s talk about one kind of panel that I’ve only been to once.

Fan Panels

I still remember my very first fan panel at Youmacon – my father and I walked in, sat down, and proceeded to waste away an hour as the panelists kind of circled around and didn’t really talk about anything interesting. Since it was a Naruto fan panel, topics like Sasuke or (Name of one ninja I will find later): who was hotter?, what’s going to happen in the current chapter of the manga (this is pre-Shippuden, and people were talking endings already), and then a half hour was dedicated to some fighting game that had characters from Naruto, One Piece, Dragonball Z, etc… and watching a trailer video and talking about it instead of Naruto.

I’ve never gone to a fan panel since.

Obviously, this is one example, and a personal one, so my advice is in no way right or definitive, but I just want to warn you that fan panels can be like that, and if that sounds like your cup of tea, then do go! I’m one for more serious discussion, so any fan panel that has deep discussion about plots, subplots, and character would be awesome, so that first experience was just awful for me, and I know that there are some that might be super-awesome, but I don’t want to take that risk when I can go to a panel about Japanese culture and learn something that, to me, might be interesting and cool.

So, just keep that in mind when you’re laying out your schedule.

Gaming

For all of you who love to game and are going to a con, this is REALLY important.

If you like anime and games, then making a schedule is really important so you can get to what you want to go to and have plenty of time to game (or enter a tournament!)

This year I’ll be spending a lot of time gaming because I’m holding a challenge in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, so being there is important for me. Obviously, I won’t be there all the time, but I have planned out significant chunks of time to go and play and meet new Smashers.

If you’re going to a con just for gaming, this isn’t really a problem, but…don’t stay in the game room for long periods of time.

This is your warning. Do not plan on staying there for long periods of time.

For whatever reason, some kids think that one day without a shower isn’t bad. Now, if you’re sitting around all day at home, then yeah, missing a day isn’t too bad. But factor in all the other kids whom may or may not have showered, all walking, talking, and sweating while playing games in one room…

Yeah, don’t stay in there for too long. Go get some fresh air – take some time to walk around the con and just explore. Make sure to add that into your schedule.

You’ll thank me later.

Rides and Rooms

If this is your first year, I don’t recommend rooming with random kids. Just my personal preference, though.

I stayed in a room with my father my first con, stayed with my ex in her house the next two years, and then stayed by myself my fourth year when I went to Youmacon. Last year, at my first ACen, I stayed at a friend’s house.

This year, I’ll be staying in a hotel room with friends.

My point is, do think about whether you want to stay at the con or stay near it, especially if money is an issue.

Now, let’s move onto the actual con!

At the con:

Don’t get disappointed when things don’t go as planned

Sticking to your schedule is a good idea, but don’t get too disappointed if you miss something because you met someone awesome while walking around/at a photo shoot/playing games/etc… and you end up missing a panel or event. Trust me, meeting new people is really rewarding, and that should be one of the reasons you go to cons – to be around people who share your interests.

Just go with whatever happens if something doesn’t go as planned. Anything can happen, but you shouldn’t let any mishaps ruin the rest of your day!

Eating

Eat.

Don’t eat two meals.

Don’t snack.

Eat three meals.

Yeah, it may be hard, but it’s worth it.

A lot of kids eat HORRIBLY during the weekend of a con, and it does take a toll when you’re doing so much in one day. If you absolutely must bring snacks, don’t make them junk food. This may seem hard, but with a little bit of effort you’ll be feeling great all con.

A funny story that concerns money issues – I didn’t have money to spend on food at the con because of how expensive everything was. So, to make sure I wasn’t eating crap, I bought a jar of peanut butter, a jar of Smucker’s strawberry jam, and a loaf of bread, and ate nothing but PB&J all weekend for the measly price of $5. LOL. That’s right, an entire weekend’s worth of food for $5, and it was AWESOME. My friends and I still laugh at it because by the time Saturday rolled around, my loaf of bread turned into a flatted mush of bread.

If you don’t have money, bring your meals. You may not want to do PB&J all weekend, but that’s better than bringing candy, chips, and soda all weekend. I brought 5 bottles of water that year, and it was worth it.

This year, I’m still debating… but I am definitely going out a couple times since I have the money.

Sleeping

This may be the most important piece of advice I’m going to give you (besides the one about personal hygiene)

SLEEP!

FOR THE LOVE OF…um…ANYTHING: SLEEP!!

Don’t stay up too late – try to go to bed by at least 2AM. That way you’re getting at least 6 hours of sleep if you wake up at 8AM, and that should be enough to keep your body happy.

You may be thinking, “Yooo… I don’t need to sleep!” Oh yes, you do. I don’t even need to explain this one. Go ahead and get as little sleep as possible. Go ahead, stay up until 4AM.

I dare you.

Get a Program Guide

This is pretty self-explanatory, but some people don’t get a program guide and then get lost. Program guides are a great way to look over everything quickly while at the con, and it has a map for you to use, which is really important, because you may get lost while looking for a specific room.

And probably the MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF ADVICE…

Personal Hygiene

Shower Friday, shower Saturday, and shower Sunday. All three days, yo. You’re doing no one any favors by thinking that you can skip one day, because you’ll be doing a lot of moving around and being in crowds of people in just one day, and you’ll need to clean yourself. Hell, you don’t even need to shower – bathing works just as well! Just clean yourself.

I could go on, but I think you get it. Don’t even THINK of shirking off personal hygiene for even a day while at a con.

Conclusion

Cons are a great way to engage with people who share your interests and expand your horizons on anime and gaming. Just remember to keep a schedule and try and be as healthy as possible when it comes to eating and sleeping, and remember to clean yourself every day, and hopefully you’ll have a good time at any con you go to!

P.S. If you want to find me at ACen this weekend, I’ll be wearing an old-school Ash Hat (from the first generation of the Pokémon anime) with plaid. I’m always happy to meet new people!

Just sayin’.

REVIEW: Kid Icarus Uprising

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I remember two years ago, during the summer, I woke up, poured myself a bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats, and watched Nintendo’s E3 press conference, where they unveiled something I’ve been excited for since it was announced – Kid Icarus: Uprising.

Now, weeks after its release, and I’ve finally gotten around to beating it. That means it’s time for a review!

Plot:

Let’s start with the plot. It’s been 25 years since Medusa took over Sky World and imprisoned Paulutena, the Goddess of Light. Now, she’s returned with a vengeance, and Pit must stop her once again! The actual plot is actually pretty awesome, especially once you hit Hades and Pyyhron. It’s not too serious, and the characters play off the plot really well. Actually, it’s awesome to see that the characters are what really drive the plot this time. The entire plot is set in motion through Hades, and it’s driven by Paulutena, Hades, and Viridi. It’s good, but it gets crazy and outlandish (space pirates? Really?), and while those outlandish parts can be pretty cool, it just didn’t really strike me as coherent to the world.

Characters:

This is where Uprising really shines. The characters are, in short, fantastic. They’re full of color and vibrance, both in appearance and in personalities. The way Paulutena and Pit joke around while you’re beating up enemies really gives a sense of how confident the two are. The way they grow serious during a few boss battles also gives way to show that they never mess around. It’s funny. Scratch that, it’s hilarious. Hades, Viridi, Pyyrhon (oh my god Pyyrhon), and even Medusa all make the game’s campaign so, so enjoyable. Don’t even get me started on some of the bosses!

The dialogue is flawless. The way the characters play off of each other (especially Pit and Viridi) is incredibly well-done, and the writing is nothing short of fantastic. And the best part is, despite the comedic dialogue, the characters do grow and mature. To see Pit not rely on Paulutena, to see Dark Pit accept Paulutena, to see Viridi grow to help Pit instead of oppose him (despite her denying it) all really facilitate good plot and character development, and to be able to do all that with a comedy act is really impressive. If you’ve been looking for good dialogue and character in a game, stop reading this right now and go get Uprising. It’s shortcomings will not stop this game from pleasing you.

Atmosphere (Music/Graphics):

Uprising smashes this category into pieces. The music is great for every level and every boss battle. The graphics, from the Underworld to space, are incredibly done, and everything looks crisp in 3D. DId I mention how good the 3D is? It’s fantastic. Everything about the music and graphics are fantastic. Then only gripe I can see is that the menu looks almost exactly like Super Smash Bros. Brawl‘s menu, which actually makes sense given that both were made by the same team.

Gameplay:

This is Uprising’s weakest point, but even at its weakest point, it’s still good. There are a lot of plusses to Uprising, from the difficulty scale (for those who want to enjoy the story and those who want a real challenge) to weapon fusing. The difficulty scale affects items received and rewards given – the more hearts (money) you bet, the better the rewards.

Weapon Fusing allows you to fuse together two weapons to create a more powerful weapon with abilities gained from the two fused weapons. It’s an awesome feature, and while we’re at it, let’s talk about the amount of weapons: bows, blades, clubs, palms, claws, staffs, cannons, orbiters – there’s so many, and each with a different aesthetic look (including shots fired) and different individual stats that you can’t help but try to test them all out! I found myself liking the bows, clubs, orbiters, and palms the best.

And then there are abilities, which grant Pit status boosts and the ability to inflict status on others for a short amount of time. All of them are pretty useful, and they’re all fun to use.

But, there are some downfalls. Let’s talk about the controls, which by no means are bad. They’re actually pretty intuitive and make sense. Hold the L button to fire, joystick to move, and touch screen to aim. Pretty nice, yeah? Here’s the problem: holding your 3DS like that can get a bit…uncomfortable. You almost HAVE to use that stand, and even then it felt weird to me. Of course, I found a way that works for me (by setting it on my lap), but I never truly felt comfortable while playing Uprising, especially during ground battles.

And the Multiplayer…well, I haven’t really played it much because I didn’t get hooked when I played. It’s fun, but it wasn’t fun enough for me to want to continue playing it. I enjoyed the campaign much, much more.

All in all, Kid Icarus: Uprising is sure to please, I think. Whether you’re new to the series or familiar thanks to Super Smash Bros. Brawl or the original Kid Icarus, you’ll enjoy a lot of what Uprising has to offer. And unlike me, you may even find the Multiplayer more captivating the controls less uncomfortable.

I highly recommend!

Score:

Plot: 8/10

Characters: 10/10

Atmosphere: 10/10

Gameplay: 7/10

Overall: 9/10

Just sayin’.