Yeah, okay, so you know that post just before the one before this? The one with the mindless rambling? Well, expect more of the same; aren't you excited to continue reading?
I've been playing Super Smash Bros. Melee again, after completing Metroid: Zero Mission. Again, the play sessions where I rack up 255 KOs using no one but Marth are back, and I'm still improving with him. And then, of course, I usually go on to rack up another 255 KOs using various other characters, heh. (255 is the max for what the game will display on the vs. mode character select screen.) I mean, I can't just desert Link, Samus, Ganondorf, Roy, Dr. Mario, Falco, Pikachu. ... Okay, so the list goes on for nearly all 25 characters, since I use most all of them at least every now and then. But you get the point.
There's two main things I've been practicing during my recent time with SSBM, and those are L-canceling (tapping L when you land after doing a mid-air move to quicken recovery time) and effectively using Marth's down+A air attack. They kind of go hand-in-hand in some cases, though I'm really trying to get good at L-canceling all the time. And the main thing I'm trying to get good at with Marth's down+A air attack is using it to knock someone quickly down and out of the arena while avoiding falling off myself.
The main problem with Marth's down+A air attack is that, after you execute the move, you've got about a full second of recovery time before you can do anything else. So, say you use both your normal jumps to jump out from over the platform, then use down+A to knock your opponent down into the pit while they're trying to jump back to the platform. Sounds like an easy KO, right? Well, that full second of recovery time means you're then left falling, out away from the platform, and you've got nothing but your up+B jump to use to get back after you finally do recover. And by that time, I'd usually have fallen into the pit for a -2 SD, which not only negates the point I got from the KO but also makes me lose one more point. (I play with self destructs set to -2 for exactly this sort of reason, ironically enough; to discourage cheap-ass suicide moves.)
So the trick is managing to jump out and hit them down into the pit while only using a single jump, which lets you stay close enough to the platform that you can just fall back and land on it or at least have enough time to jump back to it with your other jump and up+B move. And that's quite a bit harder since you don't get near as much range with a single jump, meaning you have to have better timing, along with the fact that your opponent is likely going to be, or will shortly be, executing his or her up+B move. But, after countless cries of "Argh! Jump, dangit!" while falling to -2 suicide deaths, I'm learning to really use the move effectively, and I can't wait till I get an opportunity to try it out on human players.
