If you are seeking improvement at Melee, you probably think that grinding out hours upon hours of solo practice and playing people is the golden ticket to success. This is, to an extent, correct. But just playing leaves out critical components of improvement that will leave your growth stunted.

Taking a step away from your controller is important in order to see the bigger picture of the game and what you need to do to improve. Between watching and discussing, developing your mind will make improving your play focused and more fruitful.

Watching the Game

Watching high-level players gives you a lot of value. Whether it be in tournament sets, friendlies on stream, or just practicing while talking to chat on stream, there is something to learn from seeing what top players do.

Sitting down and viewing majors like Genesis or The Big House is almost always a great time for a Melee fan. Watching live really makes it a hype experience. But if there is a set that involves your character, make note of it. Then after the tournament is over, go back and analyze situations in the game. Look for things that you personally struggle with and see what that player did. If you are a Sheik who struggles with edge-guarding Marth, watch what Leffen does to edge-guard when he plays against Zain or Kodorin.

Trying to take in everything all at once can prevent you from retaining useful information, so focused analysis is great to get the most out of your viewing. Even if that means going back to the same set multiple times for different aspects of the players gameplan, it is a good mentality to have when reviewing their matches.

Watching top players' streams is also great to see their thought process when they are playing. When they are playing friendlies, they often try new things or things they typically would not attempt in tournaments. Some of these things are not optimal but could spark your brain on ideas for your own play. These players also are typically interacting with their chat, answering questions about the game and such. Either you can listen to their answers to other people’s questions, or you can ask your own.

When players are streaming their solo practice, they are usually talking about their ideas in the situations they are practicing. You can listen to their ideas to spark your own. You can also see what exercises they do and implement them for yourself if you feel like your training regimen needs improvement.

Studying the Data

Getting in tune with every aspect of your character is important to playing at any level, and a great way to do that is to research your character’s frame data. While you could do it the old-fashioned way of grinding out hours doing moves over and over seeing how many frames each one has, that work has already been done and published. You can find this data at meleeframedata.com.

Knowing how long your moves have an active hitbox out, what the start-up on the moves is, and how many frames of end lag are all vital to knowing what moves work in various spots. Also knowing how many frames your jump squat is, the specifics on your rolls and spot-dodge, and miscellaneous information about your character can help your understanding of the micro-game of your character and open up new ideas for your gameplay.

Source: Meleeframedata.com

While you’re at it, study the frame data of other characters. Knowing how your opponent’s character functions will increase the chances of picking the correct option in situations. A great example of this is knowing if their attacks on your shield are positive for them or negative. If you know an option they are doing is negative on shield, you can either escape the pressure or get a punish off it.

Having a general awareness of the frame data of both characters on stage will help to give you an edge at earlier stages and level the playing field as you move up the ranks. It will also help you lab out combos and pressure since you will have a better idea of the flow of your moves.

Talking to Other Players

Reaching out to members of the Melee community is always a great way to expand your knowledge. Finding people both locally and in the greater Melee scene to talk to about the game will help boost your improvement.

A great time to talk to players is of course at tournaments. While you’re playing friendlies, right after you lose a set or while you’re waiting for your next match are all good times to pick someone’s brain. Talking to the person you just lost to might sound like it would be a bad experience, but if they have insight into what is lacking in your game, then it would be in your best interest to see what they think.

Joining Discord servers within the Melee community is also a great way to discuss the game with players from all over. You can start with your local scene’s Discord if they have one or join a character specific discord. The Cookbook is an example of a Captain Falcon Discord, where they talk about pretty much every aspect of the character and learn from each other. You do not even necessarily have to be involved in the conversations. Just watching them unfold and seeing what fellow mains of your character are saying or practicing could be all you need to unlock new aspects of the game.

Staying in your own bubble will stunt your growth in Melee since it is such a deep game. Do not be afraid to branch out and find people to grow with. There are always new players and players seeking to help people improve.

Conclusion

Training your mind is just as important as training your hands when it comes to Melee. Finding a healthy balance of playing and learning will aid your improvement immensely. It will also help you to not hurt your hands from overplaying. Keeping your knowledge of the game up to speed with your muscle memory is what will push you forward. Good luck in your efforts to improve.