I lack dedication.


You see, the only game I ever want to challenge my limits in was the original Super Smash Bros. However, playing online is a no-no and competition in my area is inexistent (closest being hours away). I was partially inspired by the Smash God Joel ''Isai'' Alvarado.





So there starts my journey through competitive Smash. Without anyone to play with, I left Smash64 until the community see how great a game it is again. So now that leaves me with Melee and Brawl.

Melee. Oh melee.

Melee is a fun game. Very, very fun. It has amazing depth for a seemingly mindless party-game, with discoveries still being made 8-9 years after the game came out, and the competition, even down from the golden age of 06-07, is still going strong. Europeans are challenging America's best, South America is getting up there and Japan, well Japan is nowhere to be found. Which is sad, because goddamn those guys were fun to watch.


Canada, well, we're all a bunch of chokers. (Except Kage, which is surprising since he never wins canadian tournaments.)




But why can't I dedicate myself to get pro at Melee? And what does this all have to do with raping noobs?

We're getting at the second part, don't worry. But the context is important.

You see, fighting games have these things called characters matchups and tier listings.



Top
Fox 9.88
Marth 9.85
Sheik 9.69
Falco 9.15

High
Peach 8.35
Captain Falcon 8.00
Jigglypuff 8.00
Ice Climbers 7.88

Middle
Samus 6.77
Dr. Mario 6.23
Ganondorf 6.04
Luigi 5.81
Donkey Kong 5.38
Mario 5.34

Low
Link 4.69
Pikachu 4.31
Young Link 4.15
Roy 3.60
Zelda 3.04
Game and Watch 3.00

Bottom
Ness 2.50
Yoshi 2.46
Bowser 2.17
Mewtwo 1.77
Kirby 1.50
Pichu 1.15

(Smash64 and Brawl have those too, we'll get to those.)

What you see in the bigass image is how ''good'' characters are if you are facing someone else that is your own level, assuming you both know what you are doing. The tier list is how good a character is in a tournament setting. This differs from other fighting game where tier lists are directly based on character matchups because characters are not the only variable - Picking the right stage against the right characters and banning the use of a certain stage against you is a very important part of competitive smash, and a huge factor on tournament results. Your opponent beats you in an opening random 'neutral' stage (stage with minimal changes) and you're not confident enough to think you can beat him on your character's best stage? Pick that rare stage you'll think your opponent never goes to but you practice on and he'll spend time adjusting to the stage when you don't, giving you the edge. Even if your opponent knows the matchup between the two characters inside out you will be more comfortable on that stage and maybe you'll win!




But matchups are still important. And the only way to overcome matchups is by dedicating yourself to a single character, and even then some of them are clearly disadvantaged, and pass a certain point (Middle of the tier list here, Ganondorf) your character's chances of winning tournaments with consistency dwindles to almost nothing...

...in singles.

Doubles (2v2 matches) is what makes Melee for me, and is what makes me go back to it. It makes a fast-paced fighting game even faster and dynamics change almost completely to where Teamwork single-handedly overcomes greater skill at the game. Smash64 doesn't need it, and Brawl's 2v2, while an improvement from the 1v1 game, is skewed by MK.

Brawl. Oh brawl brawl brawl.

Tripping. Meta Knight. Snake's utilt. I mean, seriously, seriously, just look :



I like brawl. It's just fucking stupid.

But again, what does this have to do with raping noobs?

Singles will always be the main part of smash and the place where you get to most recognition, but it's the part of Melee I like the least. I don't have the dedication, and in the future I won't have the time it would take to get 'good' (optimal tech skill).

So I decided that, in every game I enjoy, that have some sort of competitive head-to-head (No time records shit, hate that stuff, so dumb). FPS games, Fighting games, RPS games, I will get good enough to rape noobs.

So until I can find a game like Smash64, I just pick up stuff from every game I play.

Third Strike : Reaction speed, Timing.
Smash64 : Comboes
Melee : Movement, Reading.
SF2 : Spacing, Zoning, Cheese factor
Brawl : abusing shit
MvC2 : Memory for stupid ass long comboes/zoning stuff, abusing even more shit.
SF4 : Churning that butter, Hitboxes and frame tricks, Not jumping into the rape.
Stupid Third person shooter I won't name because you should not play that shit : Finger endurance.
TF2 : Patience.
Smash in general : Teamwork.

And with all of that and basic knowledge of whatever game I'm playing and what to watch out for, I rape noobs.

Pretty hard I might add.