The Finer Points of Smashing: How to Move Beyond the Casual in Super Smash Bros

Most guys have at least some experience with Super Smash Bros., one of the most enduring multi-player games in the video game world. While the three games may seem easy enough to pick up and play in dorms and basements alike, they are detailed enough to facilitate tournaments across the globe. Here are a few bits of wisdom from the hardcore Smash realm to help you rise above the basics:

The Games

Choose Melee

Some prefer Brawl because it is the most modern of the Smash series, and some choose the original because they love the nostalgia of their old N64′s. But any serious Smash player (and the creator of the games as well) will tell you that melee was the “sharpest” and “[felt] the best” of the three games. As cool it may feel to break out an N64 in college and nostalgia-battle over who was the best Mario Kart player as a kid, or who remembers the most about Nicktoons, know that Melee is the Smash game with the most dimension.

The Characters

Don’t Play as Link

This is a common mistake, tracing back to our generation’s youthful naivety at the release of the first Smash Bros. (1999). Link was fresh out of the greatest quest in N64 history, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, making him an easy pick in a video game of Nintendo all-stars. Unfortunately, Link is pretty terrible. He may be the hero, and he may have the Master Sword, but if you play any Smash game for a few minutes you’ll notice that swords and guns aren’t necessarily any more effective than a slap or knee to the face. As such, Link has been listed as a lowest-tier character in each of the three games.

Wait, what are tiers?

“Isn’t my favorite character the one I should play with?” Nope. Not all Nintendo characters are created equally. The world’s best tournament Smash players meet in a metaphorical “back room” to determine a rank order of the characters in each game. That is to say, holding all else equal, who would outperform whom. And as the disparity between Link (on the bottom) and Meta-Knight (on top) would indicate, ability is not always based on popularity.

There is a major qualification to this list, though. Most of the top characters require a lot of skill on the player’s part to reach their potential. If you try playing as one of the space animals (Fox or Falco) for the first time, you will probably quick fall off the sides of the level, which could lead to raging.

Girly characters are not girly

Sure, you may have had a good laugh at playing as Jigglypuff or Princess Peach. Or maybe you furiously cried when you first learned that Samus was a lady. But Jigglypuff, Zelda, Peach and Samus are all deadly weapons and great characters. Learn to master them and then embarrass your macho friends with a firm bitch-slap or umbrella whack.

The Technique

Edge Guarding

In Smash, one’s instinct is to watch their opponents damage percentage, ticking it upward until they can power them off the sides or up into the heavens above. But keep in mind that the bottom line is to force someone off the edge, and there are smarter ways to do it. Learn to stand by the edge of the level whenever you can fling your opponent even slightly to the side and prepare to spike them back off upon their return.

Move Beyond the Roll-dodging

Okay, this move is cheap but too easy to turn down. Feel free to roll your way across Final D, avoiding all damage, but do yourself a favor and at least try to learn to Wave-Dash.

Don’t Overuse the C-Stick

Most characters in Super Smash Bros. can deal the most damage with a simple flick of the c-stick. Take it from a Marth player: it’s pretty easy to march up into a crowd and devastate with a quick forward smash. However, people will usually get wise to this kind of playing quickly and prepare for it. The amount of damage goes down every time you use it, too. Learn to be versatile and combo, you’ve got more buttons than one to mash around. Otherwise, you won’t have time for smashing when Sheik is grabbing, tossing and slapping you over and over again. And so on.

Playing on a slow Flatscreen TV

DON’T TOLERATE LAG. CRAIGSLIST YOURSELF A PROJECTION TV OR GET OUT.