licensetosmash

[licensetosmash]

30 Days of Apex: Get Low

One of the things I don't know the exact details of is the tier list in any Smash game. I can tell you who is high or low, but not in what order. I know that my main, Sheik, is considered high tier. But why does this matter? I am a dime-a-dozen player, a Sheik main among many. I started off playing Kirby, then Pikachu, then picked up Sheik when I first started learning competitive meta game.

Screenshot from The Flame of Courage New (Useless) Link Tech from CnB I Chandy When I was at a smashfest Friday night, I talked to Danny (Snap), a NorCal player who was previously ranked in 2006 and mains Game and Watch and Fox. I asked about why he plays Game and Watch - asking "Why?" in Smash always turns up an interesting story. He told me that he started playing Game and Watch because he always beat a friend with Marth, and it led to a lot of complaining. So he turned to playing "the worst character in the game" - Game and Watch.

One upon a time, I dreamed of getting to be the best with Kirby or Pikachu. But I'm honest with myself. I know I'm not going to put in the time to learn the characters and experiment. I want to put my focus into other areas. I do, however, love watching lesser-played matchups when I'm at a tournament. I spent Justice 4 watching a Donkey Kong and Jigglypuff player instead of Armada and Hax.

I then came across Chandler (CnB I Chandy), when Alison (WHISKEYTITS) kept posting about his videos of ~revolutionary tech~. The first video I watched of his was The Flame of Courage, and I was hooked. It's a move by Link that is admittedly maybe not useful, but it's cool that people still figure out how to pull off random/interesting combinations like this, 13 years into the game. He mains Donkey Kong, and also has a great story of where he came from to become a DK main today.

My high school smash friends, as much as I love them to death, were in that phase where you just started playing and the opinions of the competitive community are practically gospel. The tier list is basically law, and if you play characters that aren’t in the upper half then you’re either a troll or a casual, neither of which are particularly good labels to have when you’re constantly seeking recognition like I was at that point (not that I’m not constantly seeking recognition now, har har har).

Read the rest of his story by clicking "Read More" at the bottom!

Follow CnB I Chandy: Twitter - Twitch - YouTube

Comments, questions, suggestions? Talk to me on twitter @thehollybible!

----- Like pretty much everyone else, I started out playing the game casually with my brother and not knowing anything about the competitive scene. In the early days (when B-moves were the best moves and just about every important match was settled on Temple, 10 stocks, pokeballs and starman ONLY), I rotated between playing Luigi, Link, and Game and Watch and I was downright awful. As I started getting older I still knew nothing about the competitive scene but there comes a point where, as long as you play the game enough with your friends (and you actually want to win), you’ll start to figure out what works for you and what doesn’t (and then you go on the SSBM GameFAQs forums and tell everyone that you’re the best Link player in the world because you beat all 51 event matches). It was around late middle school/early high school that I started to gravitate towards DK, even though I was still more or less in the casual mindset. Regardless of the character I play, I’ve always liked getting grabs and comboing out of my grabs, even back then, so a character like DK with one of the most unique grab games out there seemed like the perfect choice.

Right around my sophomore year of high school I started playing Melee regularly with some guys who actually knew about the competitive scene. At that point Melee went from a party game to something I actually put time and effort into – during the early days it wouldn’t have been weird for me to have 3 or 4 Ssbwiki (back then it was super-smash-bros.wikia.com, so try typing that shit all the time, youngsters) tabs open on any given day. This was also right around the time that I was first told that nobody would take me seriously if I played DK. My high school smash friends, as much as I love them to death, were in that phase where you just started playing and the opinions of the competitive community are practically gospel. The tier list is basically law, and if you play characters that aren’t in the upper half then you’re either a troll or a casual, neither of which are particularly good labels to have when you’re constantly seeking recognition like I was at that point (not that I’m not constantly seeking recognition now, har har har).

I never really liked the tier list, if we’re going to be honest. I understand why it’s an important reference tool and I certainly don’t disagree with any of the rankings but at the same time I also feel like it has way too much influence on how people approach playing the game. It has always been my opinion that Smash, no matter how competitive and advanced it becomes, is about having fun. Don’t let some fucking wiki page tell you you can’t play the characters you enjoy, period, end quote, print that shit out because it’s gold. The argument can be made that playing a low tiered character isn’t fun, because it’s much harder to win and their playstyles can be countered in a way that makes certain match-ups frustrating (as a DK main, if you play Falco then I hate you, I hate the bands that you like, and I actively wish for your failure. #sorrynotsorry). It’s true that the life of a low tier main is frustrating sometimes, but that’s just part of the path you choose in the wacky world of B and F tiers.

Because of this influence from my friends I decided to sell out and play Marth. I like grabbing and juggling, so Marth was basically the closest approximation of DK that existed among the high tiers. Thank god I didn’t play Sheik; I don’t know how I would have lived with myself if I’d done that. Sheik is the boring 9 to 5 desk job of Melee; safe, unexciting, sufficient for the win and nothing more than that. You play Sheik when you want to say “I don’t want to have fun, and I don’t want anyone else to have fun either” and then you probably kick a dog or something because you play Sheik and that seems like the kind of thing you would do. I threw away my fresh, exciting, new-to-the-scene up-and-coming years as some unremarkable Marth player forever at the bottom of half of brackets in ATX Melee (thank god I had a different tag at the time, but I’ll never tell). I can’t honestly say I regretted my Marth years that much; the smash scene is just fun enough on its own that it didn’t really matter that my heart wasn’t entirely behind my character. Some of my Marth fundamentals really help my DK play today as well (which I think sets me apart from other DK players), so it wasn’t completely a wash. But I’ll always wonder what my career would have looked like if I stayed with DK from the start. The turning point in my Melee career came when I watched Phish-It vs The Moon at Zenith 2012, which remains the hypest set of high level DK play in Melee’s history (in my very educated opinion). Phish-It showed me that even some forgettable B tier character (in the hands of a skilled and knowledgeable player) can take down a top level Marth (and he beat The Moon again at Zenith 2014, along with Zanguzen HOW DOES HE DO IT?!?!?!?). Mind you, this was before aMSa exploded onto the scene and showed everyone the same thing (except with bigger wins and the whole subreddit behind him). This might sound really sappy, but that YouTube video pretty much made me decide that I would pursue Melee DK seriously from there on out. Side note, I’m the biggest Phish-It fan in the world. I will fight anyone who tries to challenge this claim. Unfortunately this decision came a little too late, and after graduating I had to move to a completely new place with a new scene.

When I went to college there basically wasn’t a Melee scene in College Station (all the cool kids call it cstat), there was only PM. I’d played a little of the previous builds before but I was generally unimpressed. By necessity (and at the recommendation of my good friend and co-sponsored player CnB | SparkingZero) I picked up PM (my other option was to become a competitive Zoo Tycoon 3 player, and I’m not really about that life) and with it, I had an opportunity to play DK in a game where he wasn’t hot garbage and nobody laughed at me for choosing him. Say what you want about PM players, they are an accepting bunch of people and unless you played Lucas, Diddy, Mario, or Mewtwo (the 3.02 “we didn’t have time to balance them because Strong Bad was drunk during release week” club) nobody gave you shit for having a certain main. I won’t dwell on my PM career too much here, but within my first semester of playing the game I was ranked top 10 in College Station. By defeating Axxo in DK dittoes (at RoC2) I became the best PM DK in Texas, and at the end of KayB’s 3.02 PM top players by character redux thread, I was ranked the third best DK player in the nation, behind Strong Bad and POOB (shoutouts to POOB, luv u boo). PM was my primary game for a while (it even earned me a sponsorship from CnB Gaming), and I really enjoyed it. Melee will always be my one true love, though, and so when cstat’s Melee scene started picking up again (shoutouts to G-Rabbit for being an excellent community leader), I finally had an opportunity to give Melee DK a serious try.

Which brings us to today. The future is now! I’m very happy with where my DK play is at the moment, but I’m still working hard. I placed 49th at Forte 2, my first national, going all DK (even though hardly anyone expected me to make it out of pools). Because cstat hardly ever gets anything recorded or streamed, I’ve been trying to get my name out there with highlight reels and **REVOLUTIONARY** tech videos, and that seems to be going pretty well! The most recent one, The Flame of Courage, just recently broke 30k views on YouTube. I also recently got listed as a notable active DK player (alongside Phish-It and Green Ranger) on the Melee DK ssbwiki entry, so now I’m #wikifamous!!!!!!1111!!!11 Huge shoutouts to all my #chandyfandys for supporting me, and to all the people on the r/smashbros subreddit. For every five r/smashbros douchebags who goes around starting shit, there’s at least one nice guy who takes the time to thank me for making my videos, and that’s honestly enough for me to continue doing them.

My immediate goal right now is to become the best DK in Texas. I still have to officially challenge Mouf from Houston and JF from Round Rock to become King of the Jungle, but I have high hopes for how that’ll go. Watch for me on stream and stuff! Yeah! Fun!

[licensetosmash]

30 Days of Apex: Introduction

*In case it's not clear - I don't have anything to do with Apex other than being a future attendee. All my posts are personal and my own creation!*

The last time I wrote here in October, I was on the east coast for a school-related public relations conference. Instead of going to sessions like I should have (sorry, I love my field, I swear!), I found myself going to tournaments like Xanadu, Clarendon, and Justice 4, and meeting smashers I had only talked to online. I was blown away by the super friendly welcome I received from people who didn't know who I was, apart from the fact that I said I liked Smash.

I met a lot of people I had connected with through Twitter and the regional Facebook group and I still keep in contact with them today. When I went back home, I started watching streams on streams. I was - am - a fiend. Even if I wasn't playing Smash, I could watch and continue to connect with smashers all over the world.

One subject kept popping up everywhere: Apex. Apex is a yearly national tournament held on the east coast. It started in 2008 as a Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament, but has since grown and now includes other Smash Bros. titles and fighting games. This year (2015) for Smash Bros., it includes: 64, Melee, Brawl, and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Other games this year are: Pokemon Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire Ultra Street Fighter IV Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 Killer Instinct Guilty Gear Xrd

The friends I've met on the east coast are going. My friends at home on the west coast are going. Friends I have yet to meet are going. I was planning on going to EVO (still a possibility), but when I brought it up, everyone told me that Apex was THE place to be. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go. When smashers from all over the world are going to Apex, who am I to pass up a golden opportunity to hang out AND play Smash with ALL my friends from opposite coasts, in ONE place?

So I started planning. Money was the biggest issue, since I live in Northern California and Apex is held in New Jersey. I graduated this December, so I asked for my graduation/Christmas presents to be towards money for an Apex trip. I'll have fun paying off school debt when I get a job, amIright?!

I might start a series of photos: "Not Smashing With Smashers".

I love writing and I love Smash, and I think that Smash needs more writers to write about things that a lot of experienced Smashers take for granted. I have never attended a tournament on the large scale that Apex is at. I don't know half the things about playing Smash that I probably should. My 13-year-old cousin has now gotten into competitive Smash, and constantly asks me questions about match ups, meta game, and characters that I wish I had the answers to (sorry to disappoint you, fam). The point is, I'm willing to learn - not just about the technical aspects of Smash, but why they matter to Smashers and non-Smashers alike. I want to write about community. I want to write what I learn in a way that appeals to people who don't know what all this hype is about.

I'm taking the 30 days leading up to Apex 2015 to write about Smash.

The kind of topics I am likely to include:

- Previous Apex tournaments - All Smash titles (Smash 64/Melee/Brawl/PM/4) - Commentators - Streamers and stream monsters - Tournament organizing - Smash events I attend in January - Days of Apex itself

Is there something you think I should write about? Have any comments, questions or "other"? Let me know on Twitter at @thehollybible or send me an ask! I'm not just writing for me, I'm hopefully writing for YOU. :)

[licensetosmash]

I'm in a different state...of mind

I’m in Maryland, staying at a smasher’s house whom I had never met in person until the day I came to stay for my trip. While this sounds dangerous at first glance — well, it is. I did my homework and saw that he was one of the co-founders of the Apex tournament series. After he offered me his place to stay at, I followed his social media profiles, I told family and friends I was staying there, I asked those in my area for reference, and made sure to make plans in advance and keep in contact with him about my travel plans. The important message here is, be safe. Over-prepare. Almost immediately after I arrived at Michael’s place, I was introduced to his roommate, Cava (pronounced Sahv-ah) and we were off to Xanadu (a weekly tournament in Maryland)! I played friendlies after standing around awkwardly watching for a bit, finally asking someone playing by himself. I entered the tournament and lost both sets, but they were respectful matches. The best part is that I got to meet and hang out with two people I’m Twitter friends with: EE/Phil and TKBreezy! After Xanadu, they took me to a bar. I drank some beers, hung out with their friends, and one of them bought me a Starburst shot and had me try it because I said I didn’t like Starbursts and would only eat the yellow ones. I was only able to stay an hour, but it was a fun night, and I hope - no, I KNOW Clarendon will be just as fun! It’s Smash at a bar, what’s not to love? In the spirit of my first east coast trip to include Smash, here are two tips to make your experience at a tournament/smashfest where you know little-to-no people a memorable one: Introduce yourself, start a conversation. Keep in mind that many people don’t typically introduce themselves to strangers. You are on “their” turf, and it’s easier for them to keep to themselves and the friends they have already made. HOWEVER, if you are friendly, they will emulate your attitude. Similarly, if you don’t say anything, they will also say nothing. You’re in a great position to make new friends - take it! Take that first step, because sometimes all people need is for you to begin. Get active online. Talk about yourself, show your personality, and connect with like-minded people and those you admire. Find Facebook Smash groups by area here. The Smash community is very active online. There are resources that can connect you to Facebook groups, and if you make a post introducing yourself on the area’s Facebook page or the event page itself, it is likely that a lot of smashers will attempt to welcome you when you are there because they already know you are coming. The Smash community has recently boomed on Twitter, and there is a plethora of smashers talking to each other, live-tweeting major events, and sharing their other interests as well I would love to see a listing of Smash twitters eventually made, but for now, finding the Facebook group for your area is the first step. I find that I have connected the most with people through Twitter. Although smashers are located around the world, Twitter is a place they can connect without releasing any more information about themselves than they post. Follow your favorite smashers and smashers in your area on Twitter, and if you have something to contribute to a tweet by all means reply to it! Not every single tweet - only if you think it would be interesting or helpful. Honestly, now I want to see that giant list of smashers’ Twitters. It’s a giant undertaking, but one I would love to see happen. I might start compiling data on my own… Tomorrow I’m going to Clarendon, a bi-weekly tournament in Arlington, VA. I hope to meet more smashers there and make more east coast friends, as well as meet more Twitter friends (shoutout to Redd, Clyde and more!). But most of all, shoutout to Michael Brancato, ultimate bro for housing me and being awesome. Also Cava for presumably also saying yes to letting me stay. ;D Remember to follow and talk to me on Twitter at @thehollybible!

[licensetosmash]

Honey, Xanadu This, Xanadu That

I’ll be in the Maryland/Virginia/D.C. area Oct. 8-11, Wednesday-Saturday next week, and I’m going to Xanadu & Clarendon!!!

I’m attending a national conference for PRSSA, the pre-professional organization of my major (public relations). I didn’t know the next time I’ll be on the east coast, so I had to find out if I could play Smash over there somehow, and meet more smashers!

I know that Xanadu is on the east coast, so I looked up the Facebook group…and it turns out it was (pretty) near where I was going to be for conference! I have a lot of people I talk to on Twitter from MD/VA, and I really wanted to attend these two well-known tournaments for maximum exposure in the time I have to get the east coast experience. I posted on the group for more information and also asked for the best place to stay, an I'm happy to say they were super welcoming and helpful. :)

In the meantime, I’ve been playing a lot with my friends (non-competitive), and it’s been really fun. They range in skill level and play Captain Falcon, Marth, Mario/Dr. Mario, and Falco. It’s pretty awesome to have them play different characters, so I can learn the basics of each matchup. They also don’t know any part of the metagame, so I’ve been trying to teach them the skills I think will be most helpful without them practicing on their own.

This includes how to tech, which is used right before a character hits the ground. By pressing the L, R or Z button within 20 frames of landing, the character can tech in place (allowing them to get up faster and be move right away) or tech left or right (allowing them to get out of being tech chased). This was one of the easiest things I thought I could teach, since I was practicing combos against them and was using their rolling to my advantage. They're not trying to play competitively, so shoving complicated moves down their throats just makes it a little less fun.

Aside from my inevitable east coast trip update, a future post from me will talk about how a lot of people, when trying to teach others how to play, use the word “just” quite a bit. A sample sentence: "Just back-air off the edge, easy kill!" More on that in the future.

I’m most excited for Xanadu/Clarendon, though!!! If you’re in the area or know someone who is, let them know to play me and/or definitely take me out to explore and have a drink. ;)

Follow me on Twitter at @thehollybible and let me know what you think!

[licensetosmash]

First Ever!

The SacTown Melee tournament was two weeks ago, and I won my FIRST EVER set in tourney!

I came through for you, Baby Alex (Wiz)! If you remember from this post, I made a promise when he was about to leave the Bay Area after his summer vacation that I would take at least one tourney set from someone before he left...and I failed. BUT I FINALLY MADE IT!

So on the night before the tournament, I practiced for a couple of hours. I was so ready. I might have been a little too excited to sleep. But I eventually did, because sleep is just as important as practice.

I knew a few of the Sacramento players there, but the ones I didn't were still accommodating. Every setup was full, and yet they still switched out to make room, so that everyone could get some friendlies in for warm-up. No one was a setup hog and no one demanded warm-up time because everyone was made a space at the table.

I'll skip ahead to my results: 0-2 CCDM 2-1 Puff Norris 0-2 JusterBuster

I played CCDM at the first STM I went to at the beginning of my competitive play journey. It was a clear-win-for-him set, I wasn't going to win, but I was happy with the way I played. Since I've gotten my own setup, I've been able to put a little more practice in on my combos and neutral game.

Before I played my tourney set with Puff Norris I had played one friendly with him, and I won the game. After the tourney started, he called out to me and said, "Don't get out of bracket too early; I want to play you again". I laughed, because I honestly doubted I would get to play him. But one round of matches after playing CCDM, I got called...to play Puff Norris.

Puff Norris is a Jigglypuff main. One thing I remember is that when he was knocked off the stage and he was high up, he would back air while coming back to the stage. I would jump and stay out of range of it while coming down with him, and f-air right after he did a b-air. It worked, so I kept doing it, and along with whatever else I did, I won that match.

The second match, he switched to Fox. He won the second match. I'm not sure exactly what he did, but I do know my history regarding Fox players. I'm used to crazy Fox combos with shines, up smashes, and up airs that give me zero to no room to move. When I kill a Fox, he can come back and up smash me right away because I suddenly never know what to do with myself when they have invincibility.

The third match, he stayed with Fox. We were suddenly at a loss for what to do for stage bans, though...neither of us had EVER gotten to the third game in a set! We had to ask someone to make sure, but that was funny in itself. I don't remember exactly what I did in that match, but I do remember that after the first game, I had caught on to his Fox play style as well. I was able to pull out more reads and punishes.

JusterBuster is a friend I've played against quite a bit. The first time we played over the summer, he barely beat me in a tourney set - it was so close for both games. Since then, he's played a lot and so have I - but he's still better than I am, and this tourney set was no different than usual.

This experience really solidified what I have been told over and over again: just put in the time. Build up your time of play and practice. Watch videos, Talk to people, get advice. Do what you can, if you love it!

If you like what I write (or maybe not?), tweet or follow me at @thehollybible or use #L2Smash!

[licensetosmash]

Patience, Padawan

I finally have a complete setup and went crazy. I've been playing EVERY DAY!

9/6 Saturday:

To kick things off with my new setup, I had a 6 hour smashfest with Danny (Durgen), Ricky (Delphiki), Justin (Justerbuster), David, and Sam (pkdownkicks).

I've played with all of these people before, so it was a good first step back into Sacramento Smash. With three setups in the room and six people, it was perfect! We played 1v1 until Ricky and Sam left, at which point we switched to doubles with Justin and I versus Danny and David. We lost every single game but for two, and we played until 2:30 a.m. when they left because they were hungry and we finally checked the time. Time FLIES playing Smash.

David and I yelled Justin’s name quite a bit when we were playing each other. “JUSTIN. Justin did you see what I did?? JUSTINNN. What’s your favorite color??” Yeah, I’m crazy. I ask people questions like that all the time.

For the record, Justin’s favorite color is blue. NOT GREEN, like some frauds! He said his favorite animal is a fox, like I've never heard that joke before.

9/7 Sunday:

I played with friends of mine who consistently beat me in Brawl, Bryan and Allen. Now that I'm into Melee, I wanted to try out my skills. Unlike a lot of competitive players, I have never been the best out of my friends. I was that one character is free-for-alls and team battles that got left for last because they needed to kill the other (stronger) person first, or I would always jump into the fray and get destroyed. I was able to see so many more combos I'm pulling out because I understand certain characters' hitstun and when I can or cannot execute a move. I can't say I'm completely better than them, but it's so nice to realize I was worse before - I can tell I'm MUCH better than before now!

9/8 Monday:

I played with Sam (KillerQueen) and Marc. I've played with Sam's crewmates before (Jannelle & Monica) and I wanted to see how she would fare against me, because she is a Ganondorf main. I have never played a competitive Ganon main, so this was a character I didn't really know the matchup for. I had practiced the last couple of days with other people and by myself against a level 3 computer. I think I was able to pull off good combos and was able to practice patience and tried to lessen repeat moves in order to switch up my approaches.

It was fun! I hope we get to play again - she was the only Sac State person I've gotten to play with so far. BUT…

I did meet Brian! I’m in another club at school, Sac State CKI, which is a community service club. In our first informal meeting, he came and introduced himself as the Rotaract club president - Rotaract being the other community service club on campus. We recognized each other because we connected through the newly formed CSUS Smash group on Facebook earlier that week - small world, right?

9/9-9/10 Tuesday/Wednesday:

I made myself try to Shino Stall.

Shino Stall is a Sheik move that uses her up-B move to “stall” while on the edge - repeatedly grabbing the edge to maintain the most invincibility. This increases the time and options Sheik has coming back onto the stage, and as an added bonus may hit an opponent who is standing too close to the edge or hitbox of the up-B move. I used this video and found it the shortest and best explanation: http://youtu.be/HQi3vH6oZkM

- Hit back on the control stick (away from ledge) - Up-B - Hold straight down on the control stick and let go (return to neutral) before the poof

Credit: Jenny (@SyphilisX) - give her a follow!

Between the up-B and pressing down, I had to try it a lot before finding my timing and getting into the rhythm. The most I have done it in a row is 6 times, but it’s not about how many times I can do it for now. It’s just nice to know I have the option to practice another skill now that I know, at the very least, how to do it!

I’m hoping to hold a small practice session on Friday, because on Saturday I’m planning to attend my second-ever SacTown Melee (STM XXII)!  It will be fun to play against some non-Bay Area players...but I miss the Foundry/the homies anyways. :(

[licensetosmash]

Smash Should Be Fun

Hey guys, Chukkaque again. One of the things I did a few weeks was I met up with my normal crew to hang out for the night.  This usually means we are either smashing or playing MK8 online.  But this night was all about Smash.  Earlier that day I spent a few hours trying and trying to learn how to Wave Dash.  You may remember that I mentioned I took a small break before resuming training.  Well, that break was an entire day.

I had spent the evening at a good friend’s house playing Brawl.  My wife has undergone a lot of the tech skill training and has been interested in fighting other people to try to get better and see what she can recall.  She’s actually doing a pretty fantastic job!  Anyways, after a few 1v1 and party fights my crew and I decide we should introduce those new to our group to “Draft Party” matches.

These matches are where we go turn off all items, and then everyone who is competing is allowed to turn one item on or off.  We always start with someone, then go down the list.  After we finish the list, we do the same thing in reverse order.  So 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st.  Turning on or turning off items.  Then we either switch out or use rotation mode and kick out the bottom 1 or 2 players.  It’s a lot of fun.

It’s actually been quite some time since I participated in a “Draft Party” match, but man did I have a great time!  Once it starts to get a little stale, and after some people quit, it’s just 4 peoples always, and once that starts to get dull it’s “Randos on Randos” which is random characters on random stages.  That’s when we put on more stages than just neutral and counter pick levels.

The match that we had to quit on was when my friend and I both got Sonic and we both agreed “Hey, let’s only press B.”  I kid you not, on Rainbow Cruise we literally did nothing but press B, raise ourselves up, hit someone, do it again, repeat.  We made it to the final two, and we all could not stop laughing at the ridiculousness that ensued!  We even ended up snagging smash balls and would should “You only need to press B to win HERE I’LL SHOW!” and Super Sonic.  Which is the only time we wouldn’t press B.  We became the final 2, final stock, and we ended up both Star KOing each other at the exact same time, into a sudden death, where I happened to press B just a bit quicker.

It was hilarious, our guts were busting, and the girls of the group were making fun of us because when we were crying out, voices went up like 8 octaves.  But man was it a good time.  Sometimes you really need a break from the tech skills, and the spacing and grinding, and just need to sit down and have fun.  Hey maybe those things are fun for you, but maybe they’re not.  Regardless, smash should always be fun.

[licensetosmash]

Bond. Games Bond.

This past Friday, Charles’ place was full of smashers again – I was there for 5 hours, but I only played Smash for 2 of them.

I spent two hours beating Monica (Phishy) and Jannelle (Clumsy). Just kidding, Monica beat me. ONCE! We played around with other characters for kicks, too. This was indicative for the rest of the night. After Monica took a game from me, we took a break and walked to the kitchen, and I didn't play again for the rest of the night.

In the next post I’ll tell you about how I’m learning, how I’m progressing, because I’m going to be playing Smash this weekend in Sacramento. In this post, I’m going to tell you something else.

We bonded.

Charles made this amazing Velveeta mac and cheese and chili combination that was fantastic after a couple of beers. Anson showed up, and I love Anson! Darren told me this is, like, the 5th time we've met and I don’t remember his name. Jannelle brings out the loud hype trash talk in me. I talked about relationships with Janelle & Monica. Declan and I caught up on life a little.

These names and little instances don’t seem to mean much, but my Friday night was fantastic. Smashers have become more than just other players, they’re friends I hang out with outside of playing Smash. Our humor is the same. We love friendly trash talk. We love games. We love food. We love Smash.

For someone who came into this community knowing smashers by tag name and player history alone, it was difficult for me to separate that from the very real people I was meeting. They were Smash-famous. I could recognize tags, but not names or faces. I could barely answer or keep up an interesting conversation if they asked me, "What's up?" or tell me they knew me from my social media activity. I got starstruck. I’m still a little starstruck. But was star-strikes me the most is that the more smashers I meet, the more proud I become of the worldwide Smash community. I have met so many captivating people through Twitter, Facebook, and at events that I would otherwise have never known. That’s a beautiful thing.

I’m also back in Sacramento because I've started my last semester at Sacramento State. After spending the summer with the Bay Area part of NorCal, it means I get back to the people who first got me into competitive Melee and show them I suck a little less. I mean, they saw me go down 0-2 in EVERY match of an ALL-ATTENDEES ROUND ROBIN in my first SacTown Melee Biweekly when I first started playing earlier this year and didn’t trash me or make me feel at all terrible. That’s what friends are for.

Next time I’ll be talking about meeting up with some Sac State smashers. They've finally come out of the woodwork!

[licensetosmash]

Dashers, Dashers

Hey guys Chukkaque here!  First off, I want to give a big apology for not yet posting the entire time we've been live.  I've had a lot of stuff going on here in the Midwest.  I got married on 8/1 and then went on my honeymoon and didn't get back into the states until 8/13.  Since then I've been a bit caught up with Iron Boots, which is a video gaming organization I run here.  So sincerely I apologize for taking so long to share my thoughts.  So let’s just get into it

For a while now I've been wondering what I should write and share with the community.  I think to get things started a little bit; I’ll give you a more in depth look at my history.

I started playing Smash back in the days of Melee, like literally when it came out.  I played a lot with my friends.  If we were not playing football, biking, or doing something outside we were inside smashing.  My best friend and I specifically.  I would stay at his house all the time smashing, day in and day out.  Dusk until Dawn, on the weekends for sure.  He taught me everything I knew about Melee and in Brawl we were fighting rivals.  I started playing Melee as a Link main.  Eventually moving to Young Link to Mario, to Roy, to eventually I jokingly said I’d main Luigi.  But I actually ended up falling in love with Luigi.  His movements, fighting style, lack of traction, everything.  There wasn't anything I disliked about him; I literally fell in love with the character.  So from there I strictly played Luigi only.  My best friend was a Marth main.  So I know a lot about Marth and because I fought him so much, he ended up my 2nd best character, with Mario as my 3rd.  Up until just recently he was always better than me, but he finally admitted I had him in Brawl.

Since we, Iron Boots, ran our Brawl tournament back in June I've been doing a lot of listening to smashers like Ken, Joe, KDJ, D1, and a few others.  I even had a friend ask me to come back and try Melee.  I had retired from Melee about a year before the release of Brawl, so I had been out of practice for almost 8 years but I decided to give it a chance.

Playing Melee, it was like coming home after being away for a long time.  The theme song, the BGM of the menus, everything just felt so familiar to me that I couldn't help but notice the smile that just came to me.  It was music to my ears.  Even getting into the matches;  I was 8 years out of practice, but it felt like I hadn't left at all.  All of Luigi’s and Marth's movements felt so natural and comfortable for me.

So that resparked my interest in Melee.  But ever since the Invitational I started following this totally cool gal named PeachyHime.  I’m sure you've heard of her.  Baller Peach player in PM, dating a crazy Snake main named Rolex.  She’s awesome, but it was her streams, and advertising a couple PM tourneys that seriously got me interested.  I eventually downloaded the game and fell in love with it.  So all thanks to PeachyHime I now play PM, Melee, and Brawl.

While I've been busy with life I've been keeping up on the Tumblr blog.  I'm happy to see that Holly has been getting a ton of action in the NorCal region!  Props to her for $1 MMs as well!

For me though, there really isn't a smash scene.  I recently discovered that, during the school year only, the college in my town has some smashers get together every Monday for Melee.  But being a FT student and a FT employee, plus running IB it’s difficult and almost impossible for me to meet their schedule.  So more often than not I have to create the smash scene where I live.  It was actually thanks to guys like Hugz and Joe answering some of my ask.fm questions that I decided to just get it rolling myself.  A lot of people in my area, after the IB Brawl Tournament, came up and started thanking us for being there.  They all mentioned how it’s great to finally see something happening in this area for once.  So we have a couple plans to get a league or something started this Jan., but we will see what happens.  At the very least it has gotten a lot of smashers out and exchanging credentials with one another.

When I began training in PM I noticed that my wavedashing wasn't spot on.  Granted it never was, even in my prime of Melee.   I played a Brutal Luigi, but WDing wasn't something I had mastered yet.  So in PM it was something I knew I was going to need for that and Melee.  I was having some hard times getting it down.  I would either WD in place, or I could sort of slide but not far.  I couldn't ever get it off for spacing purposes or for approaching like the pros do.  I remember one afternoon very vividly because I was getting so frustrated with myself for not being able to short hop, air dodge, WD forward and then I would attempt to do it backwards and I just couldn't get it.

Just so you know I use X/Y to jump, and I normally shield with R.  So I was attempting to get all this work done on my right hand and it just was not working for me.  I couldn't do it.  But that is when I remember that L is also a shield/dodge button.  So I decided I would take a break and give it a shot again later.  BEHOLD I discovered my problem.  It’s very possible that this was just a personal limit I couldn't surpass.  Once I remembered that I could use L I was set.  WDing became drastically easier.  Since then, even in the world of Melee, WDing is a piece of cake for me.  Granted, I am nowhere near frame perfect or any of that jazz, but I finally discovered how to WD without too many issues.  Occasionally I still accidentally full jump, but that will come with time.

My only issue now is that I still have no one but my normal crew to play Melee with, especially because of the schedule and even then I am typically slammed.  But I am hoping that come January I can start touring the Midwest for tournaments and meeting more players!  Wish me luck fellow Smashers!  My next article will be much more game centralized.

[licensetosmash]

Never Surrender

It’s so easy to feel like you want to quit competitive Melee - but should you?

The game has been out for about 13 years, and there are people who have been playing for almost the entire time. There are people who have been playing competitively for almost the entire time. This puts someone pretty new to the scene at a disadvantage. Learning the basics of how to play is one thing, but the skills of competitive play are quite another. Anyone can play Melee given the basic functions of how to jump, hit, and shield. There are a multitude of things that make competitive gameplay a different monster.

It can be an expensive habit. This includes getting any combination of a Gamecube or Wii, the controller, and the game. Some people circumvent this by playing on Dolphin Netplay, but even that requires a willing computer and buying cables.

If you only get the bare necessity, the controller, you must then look for people to play with. I’m lucky enough to live in an area with a lot of people, but if you’re the only one in your area who plays, it requires travel expenses. I’m close to San Francisco, and going to the city still sucks the money out of my wallet.

Aside from smashfests, because I want to be competitive, I also try to enter tournaments. These are more highly attended because of the allure of a cash prize, since people pay to enter, and because ranked players (top players in a region) usually attend to maintain their ranked status. This usually costs around $10, which includes both venue and tournament fee.

Now, I know I’m going to lose at these tournaments. I’m a beginner player in a stacked region. I know I am paying to learn. However, this means I’m constantly bleeding money to the top placers in that tournament. That’s a hard reality to forget.

Your spirit gets crushed. I believe this happens to every player at some point. Many, MANY people have told me since the beginning of my competitive Smash journey (which started in March) that they believe I will quit. I was indignant at first, thinking “Who do you think you are, underestimating my ability to learn this game and play well? How easily defeated do you think I am? “. They’re not right, but they’re not wrong.

In any other game, especially fighting games, if you lose repeatedly you probably end up not having any fun. In Melee, this is not always the case - I can lose five hours’ worth of games straight and still have fun.

HOWEVER, there have been many times when I lose a game I had a chance of winning in. When this happens, I hate myself. I remember the thousand of things I could have done differently, I think I’m the worst player in the world, I compare myself to other new players that are further along than I am, and I think I’m unteachable. It’s why the term “salty” exists at all and never seems overused - it’s true. It describes every single time someone loses and rages, whether internally or externally. It describes the feeling you get when you feel like your hardest isn’t good enough. Sometimes it even translates to the feeling like you don’t belong in this community, and it makes you want to play even less.

It takes an inordinate amount of willpower to continue to play Melee despite these factors and more. But above all, you should be having fun when you play. If you’re not having fun, there are ways to unwind and remember why you wanted to play in the first place. Play on some banned from tournament stages - mess around on Hyrule Temple and Mute City. Play a coin battle. Go back to playing with friends you enjoy being around for a smashfest instead of a tournament. You can even take a break from playing. If you’re not having fun, what are you doing?

This is by no means a complete train of thought, so let me know what you think! Comment here or tweet me @thehollybible. I would love to hear your stories and thoughts.

[licensetosmash]

Mindset & Moxie

I went to my first Bay Area Monthlies/BAM (first big tournament).

I was excited to go to BAM because the expected turnout included a lot of smasher friends. I felt familiar enough with the tournament scene, rules and etiquette to not feel too out of place when I was there. Entering smaller tourneys before has helped me become familiar with the scene and luckily I've made a lot of friends who are really encouraging.

The Monthlies was about 90 entrants strong in a small venue, but I liked that I saw a lot of familiar faces. I still can’t ask to play friendlies on a TV of strangers unless I see that they’re around my level. That intimidation is still there.

I got to play my obligatory two sets before I was out of the tournament. I almost played teams with my boyfriend Marc, but I chickened out. I know that there’s a lot of different things you have to be good at to play teams, and I’m not even up to speed on my singles play, so… I had warmed up before this and played friendlies against people who were close to my skill level and then some who were obviously better.

My first match was against Irish, whose real name is Max if I remember correctly. His Fox vs. my Sheik. I got 2-stocked the first game, 1-stocked the second game. This was the second person in tournament I've taken the stocks so closely and almost won a game – and I haven’t won a single game in tournament yet.

My second match I played against Alex (Wiz), a friend I've made at SF Game Night who plays Ice Climbers. He can wobble. He didn't have to wobble against me to win, as he knew from playing friendlies with me before (what a jerk! :P). It was a lot of fun playing with someone I knew in a tournament match, as it took a lot of pressure off and helped me remember to enjoy myself while at a tournament.

The sum of what I felt that day was epitomized in what Eric (Violence) was asking me and other smashers about how our matches went. He asked:

“Are you happy with how you played? Did you play like YOU?”

The question doesn't ask by how much you won or lost. It asks if you played like you normally do, if you were consistent in your play even though you’re in the tournament environment. It makes you stop and think not about the match results, but rather about your consistent techs, your edge guards, your recoveries, and makes you analyze your game play at a much more helpful level.

He ended up teaching me a few tricks for Sheik I am trying to incorporate more often – simple things like needles in the air to a grab or attack. But really, a focused mindset is the best thing I wanted to remember and highlight.

Even though I don’t practice at home (yet!), I've been using the extremely active NorCal scene to my advantage. Being able to play at least every couple of days for hours at a time has shown that I've made significant progress.

I’ve been getting close to this, but here is my goal for next week: Take one game in the tournament at SF Game Night. JUST ONE GAME. At the very least. A step up and in the right direction.

Shoutouts

Kevin, Bobby, Jenny, and Susanna – it was really nice to meet you all, and you are cool with me being kind of awkward at first...I hope!

Alex/Baby Alex/Wiz – I’m going to take ONE GAME like I promised! I’ll miss you when you go back to UPenn next week, but kick butts and come back next summer so I can destroy your ICs.

Eric – You are quite the motivational and inspirational force! I aim to be as well-spoken and thoughtful as you.

[licensetosmash]

Chillin' At Charles'

This week, I talk of money matches and an impromptu NorCal Melee crew battle!

The doodles in this post are drawn by Manda - not a competitive Smasher, but a VFX/Motion Graphics Artist. This collaboration is intended to break up the text with something other than just another picture of a group of smashers or CRTs. You can learn more about her on the side, or in our “About Us” page. I’m going to be using game-specific terms, so I will prepare a glossary of terms soon for those that aren’t familiar with them.

On Saturday, I attended a smashfest in San Francisco at my friend Charles’ place. Going into it, I expected some great fun…because I challenged a newcomer to NorCal Melee and their crew to $1 MMs to create some excitement on top of our mutual love for the game.

MMs stand for money matches - two people playing each other with tournament rules, with the winner decided by winning best 2 out of 3 games or best 3/5. Any amount of money can be wagered, but it's common that the higher the wager, the more HYPE the match!

I was able to meet and talk to Janelle (Clumsy) and Monica (Phishy) before we started our money matches. Yes, that’s right - we had never met, and don’t know how the other person plays at all, and we’re still MMing for $1. It was fun for us as newbies to the scene to get to hype up our matches. We can learn how we are under pressure, we got to self-commentate (commentate while playing at the same time) some matches, and most of all, we had FUN.

“Holly rich with 2 dollas”

I won both MMs, and Janelle gave me her dollar in the form of a ring she had already made. Cool, right? Jannelle played Ness and Monica played Marth. If you don’t remember, I main Sheik.

Playing Jannelle: I was able to chain grab because I wasn’t dealing with an opponent who knew how to DI, but my reaction time was still very slow to tech chase. My f-airs are also terrible, since my reaction time is slow and I try to f-air way too late, missing my opportunity to kill after racking up percentage. Since then I have had someone teach me my options when chain grabbing, so I think I’ll be working on perfecting that along with one other skill.

Playing Monica: Playing a Marth means that your spacing has to be especially exact. Marth’s sword tip does the most damage, so you have to be in a spot where you can avoid the hit and be able to attack afterwards. I have no such spacing in my play. My lack of edgeguarding also comes into play here; by simply grabbing the edge, I can net easy kills. Wavedashing to the edge has become more of a viable option for me, but I am not yet practiced to the point that it is automatic after they are off the stage.

Both MMs reminded me that I have a multitude of bad habits from my casual days that are carried over when I try to adapt to a more competitive play style. Being able to see what I do wrong has come only with experience and time put into playing and watching gameplay.

Sheik, Ness and Marth according to Manda

There was also an impromptu crew battle set up between all the people at the smashfest, divided into two: Brandon (HomeMadeWaffles) vs. Jeff (SilentSpectre).

In crew battles, players are drafted in alternate order by each captain. Each crew gets a set number of stocks (4 x # of members) and must take into account each player’s character, usually locked in before the start, to enable effective counter picking and strategy from the captain.

I ended up on HMW’s side. Here’s a video of the crew battle, and I’ve fast forwarded to the time I played. If you have time, watch the whole thing - NorCal is a fun group of people!

I took two stocks overall from the other crew. I was disappointed because I could have done better (GRAB THE LEDGE HOLLY!), but of course you always can.

I now understand firsthand the craziness that is being able to hear people commentating your match and yelling at you while trying to play. In a way, it was kind of nice - I got immediate feedback about my gameplay. Was it helpful immediately? NOPE! It adds pressure that I haven’t yet learned to deal with - I bet that comes with time and a lot of self-reminders to keep calm and focused.

Playing on stream is daunting - not only am I a new player, but I’m also female. If you’ve ever watched a stream when a girl appears onscreen, you might know what I’m talking about. I am subject to far more scrutiny and criticism than normal, and strangers have no boundaries. I’ll probably talk about this more at a different time.

So what?

Go back to basics.

I haven’t learned to play Smash competitively at a basic level. I learned all the advanced techniques in one fell swoop, but I haven’t taken the time to master each skill. Wavedashing, techs, L-canceling, among other skills, are the bread and butter of competitive Smash. These basic skills have to be learned separately and practiced vigorously. I need to play way, way, WAY more consistently.

Accept that I will say or do stupid things.

I do not play well and I don’t know everything there is to know about Melee. TELL ME SOMETHING I DON’T KNOW. :P Stream monsters and rude people WILL talk trash. Just remind yourself how cool you are. I’m cooler than cool. I’m ice, ice, baby.

Shoutouts

- Jannelle & Monica for stepping up to answer my MM challenge. It was so much fun! Follow Jannelle’s blog about her Smash journey, too.

- Charles for hosting the best smashfests I have ever been too. Beer, Smash and friends is a combination that will never get old.

- Anson, because hearing your encouraging words about this project really makes a big difference.

- Marc, for listening to all of my crazy and reading through my blog drafts when we’re supposed to be playing Diablo 3.

[licensetosmash]

A Short Introduction

You have room for two more player backgrounds in your head, right? Before we answer some basic questions, I'd like everyone to know...Chuck is getting MARRIED in a few days! Between that and the honeymoon (anyone know Smashers in Jamaica he can meet up with?), I (Holly) will be the one posting the next few entries until he returns.

I'm attending a smashfest in SF this Saturday, so unless I come up with a cooler topic in the next week, I think my post next week will summarize the Smash events I've been to in the past few weeks and tell you what happened and what I learned.

Feel free to utilize the "Ask Us Anything" link at the top of the page if you want to know anything more, have a comment/suggestion for the blog or a post, etc. We want to know!

Right now the blog is a bit plain, but I have a great collaboration coming up that will remedy that situation. Get psyched for some unique visuals!

You can also follow us on Twitter at @thehollybible & @Chukkaque.

Click "Read More" to see our short Q&A!

Who is your main character?

HOLLY: Sheik. When I first played Smash, I mained Kirby. I first started to learn competitive play in Sacramento and I played around with Pikachu and Sheik. Sheik ended up fitting my playing style and I felt comfortable with the moves.

CHUCK: Luigi. When I first started playing smash back in 2001 I loved Link and Young Link. I am a huge Zelda fan so I instantly wanted to be those guys. As time went on over Melee I went from Link, to Young Link, to Roy, to Mario, etc.  I really went all over the place.  Eventually I got pretty good with Mario, and since I was good with Mario I figured I should be good with Luigi.  Once I started playing and learning Luigi I fell in love with all his quirkiness that a lot of my friends didn't like. “Oh I don’t like how slippery he his.” “I don’t like how random his side B is.” But me, I loved those things about Luigi and since then he has always been my Main.

How did you start playing Smash Bros.?

HOLLY: My friends and I played starting my sophomore year of high school in 2003. We’d always play at our hangouts – SSB64, Melee, and Brawl. There were a core group of us at parties that just sat around playing Smash all night. I helped TO a few Brawl team tournaments as fundraisers for Sac State CKI and started my descent back into Smash madness.

CHUCK: For me I started playing because a good friend of mine had a GCN and Melee. All our friends were playing, so I obviously played too. We were always really competitive with one another, and since I had the easiest schedule I hung out at my buddy's place A LOT. Basically sun up to sun down playing smash. We did other stuff too, but at the end of the day, or during bad weather we always played smash.

What made you decide you wanted to play competitively?

HOLLY: I played for fun with my friends and I got knocked around in teams, but 1v1 I could hold my own...sort of. I could beat them with Kirby, but we were nowhere near using technical skills you can find in Melee today. Nothing, not even something 'basic' like wavedashing. When I saw how competitive players played with all of their technical skill, it became so much MORE fun to play. It was a whole new game with new things to learn, and each thing you learn brings you rewards. You become a better player and leave a lot less up to luck; it becomes more about skill. I'm a bit of a below-average to average player, but I'm slowly learning more!

CHUCK: Well, like a lot of people you always play your friends, and so you think you’re good. But I've watched a lot of videos, I listen to tourney stories from my buddy a lot, so I've always known in the grand scheme of the Smash Bros universe, I am probably average or below average. I know a lot about the game; L-cancel, DI, Smash DI, etc. and I think I am pretty good, but I know that I’ll need a lot of work to be considered average or pro.  But I saw all the hype and excitement that went into the competitive smash scene and decided that “Hey, I could be a part of that. I'm not the best, but I am good I want to be a part of that!” So here I am!

What region are you in?

HOLLY: I live in Northern California, in Union City. I started learning competitive Smash in Sacramento, CA, so I think of Sacramento as the place my Melee love is rooted.

CHUCK: Midwest. I live in Moorhead, Minnesota, but some people might be more familiar with Fargo, ND which is right across the river from my city. So you’ll hear people from this area refer to it as the “FM area”.

What Smash games do you play?

HOLLY: I play Melee competitively, but I play them all for fun! 64, Melee, Brawl, Project M, and I’ll play Smash 4 too. :)

CHUCK: Mostly Brawl, well I should say up until recently mostly Brawl. I retired from Melee in 2005 when Brawl was announced.  We always took Smash really seriously, so when Melee came out, we retired 64, when Brawl was coming we retired Melee, and it looked like we would progress with the same tradition to Smash 4 is coming, retiring from Brawl. But this year I think my mind changed on that. A lot of my friends might follow our tradition but recently I tried out PM and I liked it a lot. I also tried Melee again after all these years and it was like I never skipped a beat. I was able to pull off wave dashing, soft (light) shielding, and it all just came back to me.  I've played Brawl for so long and it's so familiar, but playing Melee, literally, gave me the feeling of “Home”. So I play Brawl, I'm relearning Melee, and I've just started playing PM because of how highly Peachyhime speaks of it.

[licensetosmash]

Welcome to License To Smash!

We are Chuck and Holly, two Super Smash Bros. players who have recently entered the world of competitive Smash. We live about 1,800 miles apart and became fast friends through Twitter; Chuck is in Minnesota, and I (Holly) am in Northern California.

Talking about Smash, we reached a bit of frustration - we love talking to established Smash leaders and players on Twitter, but where were the casuals and beginners? Tips and stories from advanced players are interesting, but far from what we can do ourselves. Where was someone else who was feeling what we were feeling as beginners in the scene today?

We hope that by writing about our experiences other people will find our insight helpful not only to their gameplay, but to their experience in their local Smash scene in general. The two of us have different backgrounds and experiences in Smash. Our common goal is to have fun and become better at Smash.

Along with the mechanics of the game, we will focus on the mindset of a new player and all of its ups and downs. If you’re a beginner, you’re not alone.

We will introduce ourselves in the next post. You’ll find out:

- Who our main characters are - How we started playing Super Smash Bros. - What made us want to start playing competitively - Which Smash game we play the most (although we plan to cover all the games!)

Our future posts will include:

- Tournament/smashfest experiences - Training/progress videos or stream - Experiences/thoughts on being a beginner

Let's get our License To Smash. Get to know us before the next post by following us on Twitter! Holly: @thehollybible Chuck: @Chukkaque