Despite heavily discussed tier lists and character match-ups, the variety of play style has been adding spice to Melee for years. Characters may have a particular toolkit and move set but play style can accentuate some of these tools and provide the player with their own strengths and weaknesses. On paper certain characters beat others, but playstyle continues to be the counter to many players around the world. To generalise, many give the idea that you can either play with a wacky, fast, and crazy style that's explosive and shocking to your opponent. Alternatively, you can play patiently or 'lame' which refers to using optimal strategies to win and utilising more defensive options, regardless of whether or not it's entertaining to the spectator's eye. However, this is a generalisation and many mix the two and add their own flavour and techniques to their character, creating thousands of ways to personalise your game play.

With competition heating up, understandably, many turn to the more optimal play to win their games. Captain Falcon players are a fantastic example of utilising different play styles. For example, Wizzrobe is considered an optimal player, using calculated options to safely secure his wins. Whereas the likes of S2J and n0ne favour explosive play style; n0ne being more read heavy while S2J implements both play styles to suit his agenda. With fans and players split on how different characters should be played, I've decided to provide some compromises as options. They do not favour those who 'play from the heart'; those who believe style is more important than the win. Additionally, they do not favour the 'optimal' play style either. They are neither brainlessly stylish nor boringly routine. I've provided techniques that are stylish and useful and hold well as a fantastic mix of the two!

Edge Cancelling

To start with what's likely the most useful technique, Edge Cancelling provides a player with faster options. This can be performed with any character with any aerial. To edge cancel, you only need an edge, be it the ends of the stage or a platform. Usually when landing, there will be a lag, whether it's just from jumping or performing an aerial. L-Cancelling reduces some of that lag but does not eliminate it completely. When near the edge of the stage or platform, you can use your momentum so that your character slides off the edge. Sliding off the edge will eliminate any lag and you can act immediately out of this, with literally any move.

Sadly, you cannot edge cancel every special move (B button moves). However, some can be edge cancelled, providing they are performed in the air. These B button moves are mainly side b or up b moves. Luckily for characters such as Captain Falcon and Luigi, both their side/up b moves can be edge cancelled while other characters don't have that luxury. As an extra stylish example, Westballz is well known for cancelling his side B phantasm with Falco in his famous combo against Leffen at Beast 6. Panda Global's Zain also regularly uses it in his gameplay. When applying this to your tournament matches, you can use this to make your movement faster, maximise your punish game and even use it as a stylish and disrespectful edgeguard.

T-Dropping

A technique only possible on Fountain of Dreams makes this option less useful than others. However, as it's so easy to learn and too stylish to leave out, let me introduce you to the 'Teeter Drop', known as T-Dropping or the Dingo Drop. This can be executed on the edge of Fountain of Dreams and is possible by teetering on the edge of the stage to start. You must then shield pivot which simply put is a dash back but you hit your shield two frames after the dash back animation comes out and this will cause your character to drop to the edge.

If you dash back and hit shield on the first frame, your character will shield in place. The third frame of the animation is too late as your character will have already started running from the edge. This can be useful in edgeguarding someone and making yourself the coolest Smasher in the room. Unfortunately, this does not work for a small number of characters: Peach, Ice Climbers, Link, Bowser, Jigglypuff and Zelda.

This move is only possible on Fountain of Dreams because of the grass at the edge of the stage. It changes the movement traction for each of the characters. The last few grassy pixels of the stage even make it so that you can't pivot and fall to the edge. The pixels on the stage interact differently with the characters in a way that the others do not, making some strange stuff, such as T-dropping, possible.

Hax Dashing

This tricky tech was made popular by crowd favourite Hax$ and people have been using it in tournament matches ever since. It can be very useful on the ledge and takes a little time out of your practice routine to master. Hax Dashing involves letting go of the ledge then immediately jumping. While jumping, you need to drift in towards the ledge. To finish, waveland back to the edge and fastfall to the regrab the ledge. Its intent is to be fully invincible, though if it's not frame perfect, there's a chance you won't have your invincibility for at least a few frames. It's especially useful for Captain Falcon and Marth as an addition to their ledge options.

Unfortunately, it's harder for Marth players to execute a fully invincible hax dash as his double jump is slower than Captain Falcon's fall speed so his execution has to be more precise. The difficulty you may get as a Falcon player is that you can't fastfall if your waveland is early as you'll just fall below the ledge. It should take around 29 frames to execute the perfect hax dash for Captain Falcon. You can use hax dashing to mix up and confuse your opponent on your positioning when you manage to get back to the stage; for instance, they may expect a ledge dash so hax dashing and then jumping to the top platform gives you a better chance at the surviving.

Multishining

A stylish must-have of spacie mains everywhere! Regardless of whether or not it's useful, Fox and Falco mains across the world are guaranteed to have their own personal record of how many they can do in a row! Many see it as just a number for their own personal record and some spam multishining between stocks but it can be useful in tournament matches. Having the fastest move in the game that's also invincible and being able to spam it at least a few times definitely has it's benefits in game.

To begin, they're great for shield pressure. When you shine the opponent's shield, they suffer from shield stun which will become problematic for them. It will be slower for them to get out of shield, so they're trapped for a few extra frames. Notably, double shine grab is something favoured by higher level plays when putting pressure on a shield. As many players know, grab will beat shield. Having the ability to shine on a shield to prevent them from moving out of the shield faster followed by a grab is more likely to be successful and in this game; one grab can ultimately lead to the end of your stock.

Multishining can also be used as an edgeguard! When at the edge of the stage, Fox can shine twice to send the opponent further downwards. When using one shine, the opponent will go further outwards at a sideways angle, but the extra shine will send them further down, making their recovery much harder.

Moonwalking

This technique is most popular with Captain Falcon mains and believed to be just used for style points! Fear not, it can be useful. After moonwalking, your momentum is increased more than usual and allows your character to travel faster and further while moving backwards, which is fantastic for back air edgeguards with Captain Falcon in particular. Moonwalk also offers us a mix up to add to our Melee tech toolkit. Moonwalking can make it tricky for an opponent to figure out where you'll be positioning yourself and when.

Captain Falcon is a powerhouse. In a game where a slight misplacing inside his effective range could lead to a stock loss, this can be hard to deal with and potentially fatal to those who fall to it. Furthermore, it can be used as an edgeguard, a simple moonwalk and fastfall to ledge. Though not necessarily the option you may go for as an optimal choice, if you're confident in mastering the art of moonwalking and you're going for the style points, feel free to Michael Jackson your way to a free stock instead!

Wall Jumping

Wall jumps bring the element of surprise to any game. When you think your favourite player is on death's door and then manages a shocking wall jump combo to save himself from the heartbreak of a defeated set, crowds will pop off. A wall jump is when a character comes in connection with a wall, and then flicks the directional stick away from it.

Only a select few characters can wall jump: Captain Falcon, Falco, Fox, Pichu, Mario, Sheik, Samus and Young Link. You have fourteen frames of invincibility when you bounce off the wall, so you can learn to use those frames wisely in whichever situation you're in. Six of those frames are spent on the wall getting ready to do the jump itself. A good technique that uses its invincibility well is the Doraki Wall Jump. Doraki uses the invincibility to edgeguard safely but can only be used on Final Destination. Though you can wall jump as many times as you want, it's not an ideal strategy because you lose height with each wall jump and ultimately, you will fall to your death if you're doing it on the stage wall.

They can be used for tricky and stylish edgeguards or recovery. You can also wall jump after a wall tech, so you have options to survive even if you've been hit hard while recovering. Many people use this technique in Scar Jumping. This technique can save your second jump, so it can be very effective. There are some pretty creative ways to use wall jumps, so keep your mind open and you should be styling on your opponents in no time.

Although I've only listed a few, there are plenty of stylish options that you can get creative with in game. Some are harder to master than others and give significantly less reward. Thankfully, some options may not be quite as stylish but may give you the stock lead in an intense situation. These moves include Addy Dashing, PC Dropping, Pivot Dashing, Chillin Dashing, Amsah Teching, Vudu Dashing and many others. These can be great to implement into gameplay. They can also be entirely useless and unnecessary when not used correctly. Choose your techniques wisely before investing time into a useless but super stylish move!

Credits to Setchi, Chillindude, and NMW.

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